UGLY DUCKLING?

The E-Wing doesn't get a lot of love. There are a few fans out there, myself included, but there is a pretty strong dislike out there for this rebel ship. (No need to rehash that here, by the way)

There have been pages and pages of spirited discussion over the questionable configuration of its laser cannons, but not so much discussion about how it is largely a failed ship.

Only handful of E-Wings saw competitive play this season, to my knowledge all were named pilots probably selected more for their pilot abilities more than any other reason. Corran Horn is doing quite well, in fact.

According to the best mathwing data we have, all E-Wings are over-costed to varying degrees, and the problem is especially bad with the generic pilots, which are estimated to be over-costed by 4 points. No wonder they are absent from competitive tables!

From what I can gather from the articles surrounding the E-Wing's release, it was meant to be an advanced ship, highly maneuverable and packing a variable bag of tricks derived from astromechs and the highly-regarded systems upgrade slot.

The E-Wing has the capacity to be an interesting platform for upgrade combinations, but its main problem- cost, is only exacerbated by additional points spent on upgrades. So we don't see E-Wings in the role they were meant for (we hardly see them at all, actually).

I think they deserve a fix.

Can they make a comeback?

From a homebrew perspective, the easiest way to fix the E-Wing would be a simple points adjustment, bringing the cost of generics down, and lowering the cost of named pilots to a lesser degree. But that sort of direct cost adjustment is not possible outside the realm of a second edition of X-Wing (a dubious proposition; even if it is coming it is probably a long ways off). Also, a direct cost adjustment without incentivizing the use of the upgrade slots moves the E-Wing away from the design space it was intended for- an elite fighter packing a bag of tricks.

Also, any fix will be troublesome to implement, given the power of Corran Horn's ability.

So what fix could realistically applied by FFG?

I'm so glad you asked, Babaganoosh!

The problem of an over-costed ship can be addressed in two basic ways: They can have their cost reduced (i.e. chaardan refit), or their abilities can be modified (i.e. BTL-A4 title).

Any fix also has to come in the form of an upgrade card. E-Wings have access to title, modification, astromech, system, and torpedo cards. And the fix should be as specific as possible to the E-wing (and bonus points if it can favor the generics over the named pilots).

The E-Wing was intended to be an advanced, elite fighter. With that in mind, I've got plenty of hare-brained ideas. Here's a couple of the better ones:

Title: E-Wing series II

Cost: -2

E-Wing only

"An astromech or systems upgrade card must be equipped on this ship."

-This is a mild cost reduction that encourages players to equip astromechs or systems cards, resulting in more appropriately costed E-Wings that have special abilities. It might not do enough to adjust cost though. (Should it be -3? That sounds crazy to me!).

Modification: Engine Retrofit

Cost: 0

E-Wing only

"Replace the evade action in your action bar with the boost action."

-This is a favorable trade of maneuverability for survivability. Focus is also a good defensive option for a 3-agility ship, so the loss of the evade ability is not too bad. On the other hand, picking up boost greatly increases maneuverability, especially in conjunction with advanced sensors. Note that because this is a modification it prevents the use of autothrusters.

What do you think? Can the E-Wing be fixed without compromising its' envisioned role? And can you come up with a better fix than what I've cooked up?

*Edits in red*

Corran is doing pretty well. I think Etahn is doing okay as well. Just because the generics are as good as you want doesn't mean they need to be fixed.

Just because it isn't currently in tournaments means it needs a fix.

honestly giving the second generic pilot an EPT would fix them

Might actually be the worst generics in the game. I have never seen anyone even consider playing them. I think free advanced sensors would make them decent, but short of something like that, nobody will play them.

I do love my E-wings, but I do think they are a bit too pricy points-wise for their own good. I've been flying Etahn with 4 prototype A-wings, but I'm away to swap that out for a YT2400 with HLC. Is an E-wing worth a YT with HLC?

According to the best mathwing data we have, all E-Wings are over-costed, and the problem is especially bad with the generic pilots, which estimated to be over-costed by 4 points. No wonder they are absent from competitive tables!

Slight clarification, I don't think my numbers conclude that Corran is really overcosted, because:

1. The predicted value is 33.6 vs a printed cost of 35, which is within 4%. So Corran is no more overcosted than Blue Squadron pilots are. Even if he would be OK at 34 points, his cost is still close enough.
2. His ability goes REALLY well with FCS and R2-D2, better than any other pilot in the game. The total cost coefficients assume the same relative boost to all pilots for having a droid slot or a System Upgrade, but he gets far more out of it.
3. You could argue that his double-tap ability is worth 4 points, not 3, in which case his cost would be spot-on.

Also, tournament results - he obviously gets taken reasonably often.

I do think that Etahn could use a point or two taken off.

Edit: the generics are very over costed though. My House Rules take 3 points off of both generics. And there were exactly ZERO present at Worlds, out of ~240 squads.

Double-edit: you could always just make an E-wing only modification or title, -3 points, that can only be equipped by PS3 or lower. That fixes the generics.

The problem with E fixes is you have to balance them around the R2-D2-loaded named ones. That's hard to do. Even now a sensor jammer/r2d2 generic can be a real bear to bring down.

Corran is doing pretty well. I think Etahn is doing okay as well. Just because the generics are as good as you want doesn't mean they need to be fixed.

The generics are more than 'not good'; they're quite badly priced. Corran and Etahn are used to the small extent that they are because they have good pilot abilities. Corran does pretty well (he was in the TCO finals), but that doesn't mean there is no serious problem with the E-Wing in general.

I'd like to see any fix, speculative or real, target generics in some way.

Just because it isn't currently in tournaments means it needs a fix.

True, but I think there is plenty of evidence out there, anecdotal and statistical that is really damning specifically for the E-Wing generics. The only evidence that really contradicts the theory that E-Wings are in general over-costed is Corran's success, and I think that is more readily explained by a superior pilot ability more than anything else.

According to the best mathwing data we have, all E-Wings are over-costed, and the problem is especially bad with the generic pilots, which estimated to be over-costed by 4 points. No wonder they are absent from competitive tables!

Slight clarification, I don't think my numbers conclude that Corran is really overcosted, because:

1. The predicted value is 33.6 vs a printed cost of 35, which is within 4%. So Corran is no more overcosted than Blue Squadron pilots are. Even if he would be OK at 34 points, his cost is still close enough.
2. His ability goes REALLY well with FCS and R2-D2, better than any other pilot in the game. The total cost coefficients assume the same relative boost to all pilots for having a droid slot or a System Upgrade, but he gets far more out of it.
3. You could argue that his double-tap ability is worth 4 points, not 3, in which case his cost would be spot-on.

Also, tournament results - he obviously gets taken reasonably often.

I do think that Etahn could use a point or two taken off.

Edit: the generics are very over costed though. My House Rules take 3 points off of both generics. And there were exactly ZERO present at Worlds, out of ~240 squads.

Right, I should probably make it more clear that Corran is doing just fine, and Etahn is tolerable, but the generics are really in terrible shape.

It's almost analogous to the TIE advanced's position in the meta a couple years ago I think. Generics are trash, and there is one pilot with a great ability that is doing quite well. I'll be really interested to see what FFG has in the pipe for fixing the TIE advanced, since the two situations are so similar.

The TIE Advanced is still currently worse off than the E-wing.

Flight Contol System: 0pts

E-Wing only

All 1 and 2-speed maneuvers are treated as green maneuvers.

Seems small, but it would be a significant bump to loaded generic builds.

(You may only equip this card if your pilot skill is 5 or lower) would probably hit every pilot it needs to and fluff-wise Corran wouldn't want some apple update taking the stick in combat.

The TIE Advanced is still currently worse off than the E-wing.

Vader is better than Knave.

Flight Contol System: 0pts

E-Wing only

All 1 and 2-speed maneuvers are treated as green maneuvers.

Seems small, but it would be a significant bump to loaded generic builds.

(You may only equip this card if your pilot skill is 5 or lower) would probably hit every pilot it needs to and fluff-wise Corran wouldn't want some apple update taking the stick in combat.

I don't know if that fix would really make generics playable, but I do like the interesting justification for limiting the upgrade to generics.

Personally I haven't come up with any good reasons why any upgrade should only be available to generic pilots.

The TIE Advanced is still currently worse off than the E-wing.

Vader is better than Knave.

Yeah, true, I meant comparing apples to apples though.

Corran > Vader

Knave > Tempest

The TIE Advanced is still currently worse off than the E-wing.

Vader is better than Knave.

Yeah, true, I meant comparing apples to apples though.

Corran > Vader

Knave > Tempest

I feel like the TIE advanced deserves a haiku:

Poor, poor TIE Advanced

Your awfulness is legend

Mareek is so bad

It seems like eveything that struggles on the rebel side has an astromech slot, there's definitly some room for improvement through that slot.

The best fix for the ewing would be a lump hammer.... oh you mean its game performance.?

It seems like eveything that struggles on the rebel side has an astromech slot, there's definitly some room for improvement through that slot.

Maaaybe, but the problems are different, if you agree that Ys, Xs, and Es all have problems. Ys are getting BTL-A4 which may open them up for non-turret play, X-wing generics are in trouble but not to the same degree E-wing generics are. It would be problematic to implement an astromech that fixed all three without breaking one or more.

The TIE Advanced is still currently worse off than the E-wing.

Vader is better than Knave.

Yeah, true, I meant comparing apples to apples though.

Corran > Vader

Knave > Tempest

Corran = 35pts, Vader = 29.

Knave = 27. Add push the limit to add a flavour of vader, and you are 30 to vader's 29

apples to apples for me is in the point cost.

3x Knave Squadron Pilot (27)

+ Accuracy Corrector (3)

+ Hull Upgrade (3)

I don't have 3 E-Wings yet, nor Accuracy Correctors, obviously. But I will definitely be flying the above at some point in the future. Take Evade actions, and you're guaranteed at least 2 hits and 1 evade per ship per turn.

The TIE Advanced is still currently worse off than the E-wing.

Vader is better than Knave.

Yeah, true, I meant comparing apples to apples though.

Corran > Vader

Knave > Tempest

Corran = 35pts, Vader = 29.

Knave = 27. Add push the limit to add a flavour of vader, and you are 30 to vader's 29

apples to apples for me is in the point cost.

But knave can't take ptl.

The TIE Advanced is still currently worse off than the E-wing.

Vader is better than Knave.

Yeah, true, I meant comparing apples to apples though.

Corran > Vader

Knave > Tempest

Corran = 35pts, Vader = 29.

Knave = 27. Add push the limit to add a flavour of vader, and you are 30 to vader's 29

apples to apples for me is in the point cost.

I think I would rather have knave with ptl than Vader.

But knave can't take ptl.

One could but who in their right mind put R2-D6 on a knave.

The TIE Advanced is still currently worse off than the E-wing.

Vader is better than Knave.

Yeah, true, I meant comparing apples to apples though.

Corran > Vader

Knave > Tempest

Corran = 35pts, Vader = 29.

Knave = 27. Add push the limit to add a flavour of vader, and you are 30 to vader's 29

apples to apples for me is in the point cost.

I think I would rather have knave with ptl than Vader.

But knave can't take ptl.

One could but who in their right mind put R2-D6 on a knave.

R2d6 requires ps3, knave is 1.

On the topic of generic pilot specific upgrades, I was thinking of something just now...

Some sort of title card that represents squadron training, with a benefit that applies to other ships with the same pilot, sort of like how the IG-2000 title works.

for example:

Title: "Defensive Tactics" (working name; ideally I want something that makes a little more sense on a title upgrade)

E-Wing only

Cost: 0

"For each friendly ship with the same pilot card as you that has this title equipped at range 1-2, you may re-roll one defense dice when you are defending."

That's a generic-specific upgrade, if nothing else. This particular text ability is probably too powerful, but the more important thing is the generic-specific effect of the card. The same exact mechanism could be applied to any ship with troubled generics, actually. It also encourages homogenous squads, which I'm OK with. What it mainly needs is better justification as a 'title' upgrade.

I guess you could make a new class of cards called 'tactics' to accommodate this sort of upgrade, but I'd rather work inside the existing framework. Thoughts?

3x Knave Squadron Pilot (27)

+ Accuracy Corrector (3)

+ Hull Upgrade (3)

I don't have 3 E-Wings yet, nor Accuracy Correctors, obviously. But I will definitely be flying the above at some point in the future. Take Evade actions, and you're guaranteed at least 2 hits and 1 evade per ship per turn.

Accuracy corrector is interesting but I don't think it's going to save E-Wing generics; the total price is still a dealbreaker.

Interesting little build though. I think you may be better off with focus actions each turn though. That way, if the enemy focuses fire on one ship, the others will have a better chance to use their actions. Also, I think that statistically you do better with a focus than an evade when you have three defense dice. The evade token guarantees one evade, but the focus token has more potential benefit, especially on three dice. I'm pretty sure I worked that out a while ago on my abbacus but I can't find where i wrote it down.