Completely redesign ordinance: Go!

By R22, in X-Wing

I don't think it's a matter of the ammo magically replenishing. More like the launchers loading/arming another set of missiles.

The way R2 ShihTzu formulated his solution munitions could be used infinitely, requiring only an action to flip the card back over, thus relying only on the amount of actions a player wants to spend on this instead of a hard limit:

Fix: Ordnance is not discarded when used, but flipped face down once fired. As an action, you can "rearm" the ordnance, flipping it faceup to be used again.

I am perfectly fine with a munitions pod modification carrying finite reloads - I just want the solution to fit the game thematically as well.

Most of the ships that carry munitions can carry a small magazine's worth. The X wing can carry 6 torpedoes, for example. Over the course of a game are you likely to fire more than 6? Infinite shots may actually end up being more "thematic" or real to the source material, as currently an x-wing can carry one. Ok, while they are often meant to have fewer than that due to logistical issues, unless it is meant to be representing them firing a whole spread at once all the ships should actually be able to fire a whole load more missiles than they do in the game.

Ok, if I was looking to be a stickler I would probably have a card have a certain number of shots (2 or 3), and maybe increase the number of missile or torpedo slots on many of the fighters.

Truthfully I was a bit miffed they actually had a difference between torpedo tubes and missile tubes anyway... I know it is quite specific about what ships carry what weapons, and there may be balancing elements at work, but with loose treatment of the ships anyway I don't see the issue with giving X-wings missiles or A wings torpedoes.

On hit: calculate damage by canceling all defense dice.

You still have the same chance to hit, but if you do, you hit a _lot_ harder (unless both players flub their rolls!). And it makes munitions different from all the other weapons on the game, without introducing whole new mechanics.

The designers could, in theory, FAQ this one tomorrow. :)

I like it. Simple, elegant.

APT is scarey but at 5 points, range 1, spends a target lock and requires a focus to maximize, it really should be.

Blount also becomes decidedly scarey too. Which is good.

The only 'worry' is that proton rockets go from pretty good to amazing. As a general rule I don't usually play test Internet house rules but I really want to try this.

Will let you know how it goes. :)

****, I actually really like what I just came up with. Only requires printing an Errata/Rules card or FAQ'ing it, no change to anything else. Would really appreciate people's thoughts on this:

Errata for Ordinance:

If your ship has the [torpedo] or [missile] icon in its equipment bar, it automatically gains the Ordinance Action. An Ordinance Action may be taken one of two ways: as a Snap Shot or Targeted Shot.

When firing a Snap Shot, first declare an Ordinance Action and then announce you are making a Snap Shot. Immediately resolve the attack then, in the activation phase, while ignoring Focus tokens.

When firing a Targeted Shot, first declare an Ordinance Action and then announce you will be making a Targeted Shot. Immediately assign your ship a free focus token and lower your ships agility by 1, to a minimum of 0, until immediately after the ordinance has been fired.

Ordinance that fails to hit is retained. Ordinance that hits is immediately discarded.

Errata for Types of Ordinance:

Each torpedo hit against huge base ships causes the defender to suffer double the damage, either two hits or two critical hits respectively. When defending against torpedoes, large base ships gain +2 agility and small base ships gain +4 agility.

Each missile hit against small and large base ships causes the defender to suffer double the damage, either two hits or two critical hits respectively.

Justification:

I don't know about the rest of you, but when I played XvT and heard a dreaded "beep beep" accompanied by the words, "Incoming torpedo/missile. Press [spacebar] to target?," I **** near crapped myself. It caused me to break off my attack, abandon my wingman, and generally drop everything to attend to the "Mission Failed" screen currently hauling ass toward my ship. Likewise, in the "X-wing: Rogue Squadron" series of novels torpedoes were used against fighters pretty effectively but always in the initial contact with each side's closing velocity making the speed of usually slow torpedoes that much deadlier. However, it also required the defender to get a lock and so become briefly vulnerable. Snap shots happened but, without the steady bead and tone of a lock, usually missed. So when seeking to redesign ordinance I wanted to incorporate both the "oh sh*t" feeling of having ordinance fired at you from XvT because being hit was a serious affair and balance that power with respective checks against that power: both for the attacker and defender.

For the attacker, I buffed damage in a way true to the respective roles of torpedoes and missiles. I used the presence of either in a ship's equipment bar to justify the presence of an "Ordinance Action" to keep it elegant. I give the attacker the option of using it as a Snap Shot in the action phase, causing an immediate roll for damage. Focus tokens are barred from the fight because it's a snap shot catching the defender off guard and rushed by the attacker. Evade tokens can still come into play since a defender may just be cautious. Meanwhile, Target Shots grant a Focus token to reflect the attacker's concentration but, as such, also lower his/her agility by -1 until they take the shot. This should be easy enough to remember since you must take the shot but it didn't get immediately resolved like a Snap Shot and your opponent is going to be biting at the bit to take advantage of your temporary loss of agility with any ship he can of the requisite PS. This also reinforces higher PS and reflects who would be better at taking a targeted shot (Wedge, not you, Bob). Both Snap Shots and Target Shots result in a feeling of "oh sh*t" for the defender in fluffy ways but carry a balance to keep ordinance from finishing games in round 2.

Finally, I altered the damage outputs in a manner consistent with the intended purposes of torpedoes and missiles. They are devestating enough now that, when they hit, it genuinely matters.* Plus, the damage is such that it ushers them and their respective ships closer to their intended roles, making it functionable and fluffy. To reel in that power, it still gets discarded -- if it hits. That's built in, sorry 'Munitions Failsafe.'

*Credit to Levi Porphyrogenitus for the numbers on the buffs in torpedo/missile rolls. Elegant and I'm no good at math.

A note about Bombs:

Yeah, I have no freaking idea. That's just cray.

Edited by R22

I agree with two of them.

I like when firing ordinance, do not remove the target lock until the end of your action, even if you don't use it

or

If a target is hit, suffer all damage rolled.

I tend to like the 2nd one, because it is very simple and will make using evade, useful again.

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After giving it some more thought.

When hit suffer all damage rolled is good, but is it too good for ordinance weapons range 1 and 2. And especially the Proton rockets or other weapons that almost always hit. Plus pilots who always hit become utterly nasty.

I still think the Target lock not be removed until after all damage is dealt is the most balanced since it would allow you to use it for the attack re-roll if you needed to. It makes sense too.

So I change my vote to Target lock not be removed until after all damage is dealt.

Edited by eagletsi111

I have posted this elswhere, and it has been touched on above, but separating accuracy from damage would be good.

A proton torp is not as accurate but more powerful

roll 2 attack dice in the usual way, if a hit occurs, ignore dice rolls and assign 5 damage to the target

concussion 3 attack dice, 4 auto damage

you get the idea. now this may need to be balanced, but I think separating accuracy and having ordnance to a set amount of auto damage is the way to go.

its still expensive and action heavy, but worth it.

who hear thinks a tie anything ought to survive a hit from a proton torpedo? not me.

Honestly, I do kind of like the idea of a separate Ordnance die. FFG is known for their variety of wacky dice. I think I remember from another one of their games where some of the dice had more blanks but the sides with hits showed multiple hit symbols.

It may not even take that much errata. "When firing Ordnance, roll the Black Dice." The die could have a Focus, a Hit, a Crit, and a Hit+Critical and four blank sides or some combination. 2 Focus, 2 Hits, 1 Crit, and 1 Hit+Crit.

Ok, here is an idea that is inspired by playing X-wing vs Tie fighters on my PC. Whenever we fired missiles and they missed, they would turn around and bug the pilot until they either connected, ran out of fuel or were shot down (forcing the pilot to "focus" on actually dodging the thing for a while). A mechanic that would simulate that "locked on" behavior into the following round would be interesting.

Edited by dotswarlock

I doubt they would ever redesign ordinance unless the entire game was being re-launched as a 2nd edition.

So rather than revamp existing stuff, what is more likely, is that they will find a new addition which will influence the meta enough to make it work.

MultiPhase Warheads

Modification - 2 points

Secondary weapons that require you to discard the card when used, now bypass shields when dealing damage.

This would be huge for early game and useless for late game. Thus only 2 points.

Heavy Payload

Modification - 3 points

When you spend (and discard) a secondary weapon, you may add [CRIT] to your attacks this turn.

The Heavy payload costs 3, but has synergy with Cluster Missiles, Marek Steele, Corran Horn, and Gunner, and would really help make ordinance more valuable.

... there is a slight difference between ORDNANCE and ORDINANCE :rolleyes:

Let's make an Ordnance Ordinance. Members of the forum are henceforth required to spell Ordnance correctly.

On hit: calculate damage by canceling all defense dice.

You still have the same chance to hit, but if you do, you hit a _lot_ harder (unless both players flub their rolls!). And it makes munitions different from all the other weapons on the game, without introducing whole new mechanics.

The designers could, in theory, FAQ this one tomorrow. :)

I actually like this idea, but it would have to be heavily play tested. I think it might make ordnance too good. If you can get an ATP shot off with a focus, its likely to kill most small based ships in one go. Fat Falcons would be in trouble as well, which might be a good thing.

Maybe you could incorporate this but keep the range buff for defensive dice at range 3. It kind of makes sense that at range 3 it would be harder to land a missile/torp. Like what others have said is it makes the Evade action actually very useful.

Edited by Jo Jo

Fixing ordnance would destroy the game. X-Wing, as Star Wars, is modelled on WWII dogfighting. Utterly stupid for sci-fi fighters, but fun. Functioning ordnance would put an end to dogfighting, as you can't outmaneuver missiles. To be viable, ordnance would have to bring a lot more bang for the buck. Right now you get hardly more than a measly red die above your primary attack. Minimum punch would oné-shot a tie, at least. You don't want that in this game.

How about ordnance rolls 2 more Attack dice if attacking from the target's rear arc and one more if from the side, to simulate the fact ordnance is more likely to hit when shot at someone's tailpipe and less likely to hit when shot at someone coming straight at you. Rewards maneuvering.

How about add 1 Attack die to all ordinance that require a target lock being spent to fire them.

Another option, the defender may not use focus tokens against ordinance

Edited by eagletsi111

One of the problems I see with ordinance is that the ships that it generally works OK with are high PS named pilots - but they generally have enough going on not to need any ordinance. However the low ps alternatives that you might want to use as missile boats often struggle to get the target lock needed in order to get the shot off.

How about an upgrade limited to pilots of PS4 or lower that allows them to treat all attacks with the Missile or Torp header as if they already have a target lock even if one is not present.

Something like this

Autolocking Ordinance - Modification - 1pt

You may declare an attack with a secondary weapon with the Missile or Torpedo header even if you do not have a target lock on the defender.

If you do have a target lock on the defender you are not required to spend it in order to declare the attack.

This card cannot be equipped by any pilot with greater than PS4.

Something my friend just came up with.

In the combat phase, Ordinance fires first before any primary weapons and in order of highest pilot skill to lowest.

No cards are affected, but now it's possible for a 1 ps to fire before a 9 ps, if using ordinance!

I actually like this one alot!