Looking at some lists suggested like '4x basic interceptor + howlrunner', it just seems thematically wierd that the pilot is nearly always 'glued' to the ship.

Like why would you put your best pilot in a TIE/ln when the lore states that the best fly interceptors.

In the game however loads of pilots flying bombers and line TIEs are better than the interceptor crews.

Obviously we have mulitple roles for Luke and Han, both as pilots and crew (and others characters i cant think off off the top of my head)

But i think fi a 2nd edition were to come out (and i'm not sure we need one , just surmising) that a cool thing would be to cost the ship and the pilot seperately.

I would muck up with ship bases but no more than having a shield upgrade does and add to book keeping but it would massively increase the variable in a fleet build.

For example in the EU Luke flys and E wing for a while, you can't currently replicate that legally.

Equally it would be cool to be able to have the chassis of say 'TIE Interceptor' and then a list of 'pilots' in the pool able to fly it.

I've not massively thought this one out, i'm just speculating while lying up in bed ill so it might be a terrible idea... thoughts?

That is what they do in Attack Wing with the Captains, and I think it works well. The only problems there are when you start mixing Captains between factions, but I think as long as the pilots for X-Wing were kept faction specific, it could work. Maybe break ships down into different classes, and each pilot can only fly in certain classes. That could avoid weird stuff like Howlrunner flying a Shuttle, and also help reduce the risk of broken combos.

yeah that could work.

Like on the pilot card have 'qualifictations' and the ship be in a a category.

So like

fighter

interceptor

bomber

support ship

large ship

huge ship

as categories maybe with colour code spots and then for example if fighter is a red spot and interceptor and ornage one then howlrunner has a red and orange dot under her name. Or symbols... whatever.

What could work is to use the rear 'tombstone' slot on the base to put in a 'pilot chit', with the name, PSskill etc on it.

when we just had the basic game and some A wings we used to use the clips on the base for ship Id to put the shields on so it was more obvious how many you had left.

Isnt so workable with ships with more than two shields but for a while it looked great.

FFG attempted this in their original prototype. The disappearance of it means the designers, after throughly testing it, decided fixed pilots were for the best.

Fair play, still seems a shame though.

I can only imagine it was because of the additonal bookeeping and possibly because it *very* hard to point cost stuff up with lots of combinations. Its why 'points cost formulas' rarely work as the value of a piece is generally situational.

A skill that is critical in ddefeating one ship might be pointless against another so you have to choose the average and tweak it.

It theory it's a great idea in practice it's tricky because a pilot ability might be fair in one ship and broken in another.

Mareek stele has a good ability that rarely works because of two fire power, now put him in a phantom with a merc co-pilot and he's getting one or more crit every attack and becomes an incredibly effective killer.

Soontir with PTL in a defender...

It would be nice but you'd have to throw away any notion of balance.

Fair play, still seems a shame though.

I can only imagine it was because of the additonal bookeeping and possibly because it *very* hard to point cost stuff up with lots of combinations. Its why 'points cost formulas' rarely work as the value of a piece is generally situational.

A skill that is critical in ddefeating one ship might be pointless against another so you have to choose the average and tweak it.

Plus you either have the best combo be the ship they go with, in which case you might as well lock them to that ship, or the best combo be not the ship they go with, in which case Wedge could end up primarily an A-wing pilot, Vader always flies an Interceptor and Soontir Fel only likes the phantom.

Plus pilots like Echo wouldn't be possible.

Imagine Wedge in a YT-1300, or YT-2400 with Outrider Title and HLC.

It's just too much variability to add without any really benefit other than serving the fluff. From a game perspective having the pilots cross craft doesn't provide anything. The Pilot vs Crew is kind of cool. You have to choose where best to use Dash, as a pilot or as a crew member. But that's at least something that can be playtested since it's one instance of each, and you can't equip both on a single ship (that would be broken).

Yeah, more things would be broken by this than improved. The occasional alternate card for a named pilot, Corran Horn in an X-wing for example, or Marek in a ship worth flying, would make me really happy from a thematic point of view though.

From a thematic point of view it's just crazy that the fighter/ships (TIE ints, advanced, phantoms and defenders) that 'only the best pilots fly' for imperials... *arn't* flown by the best pilots

The designers definitely decided against it.

But it would be nice to see some same pilots in different ships really. Luke in a Y. Wedge in a Tie Defender. Maarek Stele doing something useful. Soontir in a X.

No. Bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

I'm not against pilots reappearing in different ships, with different abilities, but Attack Wing has shown just how bad of an idea it is to move pilots around. And it's a bigger deal in this game, because the ships are very different from each other, and can easily cause imbalances.

No. Bad, bad, bad, bad idea.

I'm not against pilots reappearing in different ships, with different abilities, but Attack Wing has shown just how bad of an idea it is to move pilots around. And it's a bigger deal in this game, because the ships are very different from each other, and can easily cause imbalances.

Not a fan of Star Trek, but I've heard that Picard in a Borg cube is quite a game breaker.

The irony, that is one of the very few good combos that is actually thematic. Though, the Borg on the whole really screw up Attack Wing. That's what happens when you use a simplistic math formula that disregards a lot of things to determine cost.

What how could a single faction with the only ships that move and shoot 360 ever unbalance the game...

They could just do what they did for the scum and villainy version of boba fett. I would like to see another luke card with a different ability.

I wish Tycho could fly a B-wing/Y-wing

I don't like this idea.

But I understand why some might. It works better thematically. I just think it breaks the games balance and attractive playability.

Jacob

What how could a single faction with the only ships that move and shoot 360 ever unbalance the game...

When I was looking at X wing models, the store was also trying to sell me Atack Wing. The employe told me all I needed was the base box and the Borg ship and I would never lose. I thought I was rather simple if everyone I asks says that the Borg is the ship to have if you want to win. Seems like the Borg is the super fat han of Atack Wing.

The flaw in that vendors logic is that if he sells *everyone* the game under the premise 'with X+Y you'll get Z' then how can you all never lose?

I like the concept but Biggs in a yt-1300 would be broken. (And we thought falcons were bad already) mix and match wouldn't work.

I wouldn't be opposed to expansions with pilots matched to different ships with different or similar abilities with a cost adjustment. Like scum boba.

I think it would *somewhat* make sense to have pilots in different ships, but also different abilities. Pilots may be able to work a ship differently...maybe luke in a ywing can't maneuver as well, but he's at home with the weapons systems. His ability could be the offesnive version of his current one.

I'd be ok with alt pilot cards, but not mix and match combos where the ability follows the pilot.

I actually thought we would have seen something like this before now. when this game started I thought we would see small expansions of just pilots like luke in a y-wing with a different ability, same dial for movement and such just different pilot.

Also sill waiting for a leia pilot for falcon..

Biggs in the Falcon with Chewie and C-3PO as crew. Urgh.

Also scary: Wedge in an A-Wing, with PTL, Test Pilot, and Outmanoeuvre

Vader in an Interceptor or maybe even a Bomber (TL+F and launch all in one turn)

Soontir in a Phantom

Maarek in anything with 3+ attack dice

Corran with the ability to equip the HLC

Support pilots like Abaht or the HWK pilots in a cheap ship like the Headhunter, so you can use two or even three of them and still have a respectable group of fighting ships...or you could just follow Abaht's example and put them all in solid performers like the X-Wing and let them contribute even more

One guy had an interesting idea by saying that pilots could be barred from flying certain ships, but that could be an issue if they say that Soontir can fly whatever type of ship and then release something that he's utterly broken in that also fits that classification (Interceptors and Phantoms would probably be in the same category).

I do like the idea of certain pilots getting rereleased with new abilities and/or in different ships. A lot of people were upset at Corran not flying an X-Wing. Seeing Rogue Squadron flying ships they stole from the Empire would be cool, and seeing Soontir join them in an X-Wing with a new ability would be awesome.