Surely the A-Wing had already been buffed, with Chardaan refit? It's not meant to have a high attack value, after all. If you want it to have more red dice, give it some proton rockets.

If I was magically transported to work for FFG and given the opportunity to work on X-Wing I would change the rules completely for all One-Off Ordnance. Make them either half the cost they currently are, or give them two or three uses per card.

Surely the A-Wing had already been buffed, with Chardaan refit? It's not meant to have a high attack value, after all. If you want it to have more red dice, give it some proton rockets.

Well, I'd imagine that Modification wouldn't be free so you'd be paying for an offensive buff.

Personally I think there should be more Ship restricted upgrades. It makes each ship feel more unique.

Rouge Squadron Pilot (2)

X-Wing Title only

Your Upgrade Bar gains the Boost and Barrel Roll icons.

too cheap for its ability to move close to that of an interceptor that can take one hell of a punishment

at least 6-8 points for that upgrade

think of the bigger picture. x wings with engine upgrade are already fairly strong and with that kind of title, you now free up your modification slot, while also gaining the barrel roll and all for a measly 2 points? that enters the "broken" territory

2 points may have been to cheap but 6-8 is also too high. At 4 points it will limit the number to 4 in any squad and no room left for other upgrades. Even 3 in a list at 12pts takes a large portion of the squad.

By adding boost and barrel roll to the action bar via title, you allow the X-Wing to take Autothrusters as a modification. I love the X-Wing, but this seems a bit much.

I'm ok with Autothrusters being avaliable for a total of 6 points on an Xwing. This will be far less dangerous then a ship with 3 agility of 4 as in the case with Interceptors with stealth and Autothrusters. If you decided to get in the 6 points for Autothrusters your only getting 3 ships in and likely only one named X-Wing.

A bit late to ever change this, but I would have made the HWK a large base ship, keeping everything else about it the same.

I'd focus on stopping power creep. Adjusting points cost in line with major jugglers rules. Perhaps a 3 point astro that grants boost. Fix ordnance so that a hit deals consistent damage. I would not change the defender, but might reduce the cost of the generic defs and E wings as stated above. I would consider nerfing the Phantom and errating c3po so you could not guess 0

I'd release stand-alone upgrade expansions, maybe throw in one or two new ones to make sure players buy it.

I'd also separate the reference grid on expansions so that players have an easier time keeping them handy during games.

It should probably be about a 2 point cost modification. It takes up a modification slot that a-wings would probably otherwise use for autothrusters, so it should compete with it. e.g. an ordnance-equipped a-wing may want autothrusters, whereas a dogfighter might want this mod.

Surely the A-Wing had already been buffed, with Chardaan refit? It's not meant to have a high attack value, after all. If you want it to have more red dice, give it some proton rockets.

Well, I'd imagine that Modification wouldn't be free so you'd be paying for an offensive buff.

Personally I think there should be more Ship restricted upgrades. It makes each ship feel more unique.

EPT*

Sharp Shooter (Unique)

When you have an uncanceled Crit on an attack you may roll 1 attack dice if the result is a hit you may cancel all damage done by the attack and instead have the target discard an upgrade card of the defenders choice.

cost (4)

While I appreciate this kind of analysis, it's mostly only an issue for top tournament players. Sure, fix the ships that are really out there balance wise, but I'd rather have a slightly unbalanced game with lots of variety than a perfectly balanced game.

What do you want x-wing to be? A perfectly 'balanced' game which distills down to pure maneuvering and dice rolling, effectively killing the point of the meta, or a game with lots of undiscovered combos that might 'unbalance' it in your favor (or your opponents)?

It partly depends on FFG I suppose. Without card packs, the meta just isn't large enough, so the most effective combos are too easily found. I think it's getting better though.

I'd focus on stopping power creep. Adjusting points cost in line with major jugglers rules. Perhaps a 3 point astro that grants boost. Fix ordnance so that a hit deals consistent damage. I would not change the defender, but might reduce the cost of the generic defs and E wings as stated above. I would consider nerfing the Phantom and errating c3po so you could not guess 0

To help the X-wing I would suggest a unique droid that does this:

When you declare a target, if that target will roll +1 more evade dice than your attack dice, gain a free TL on the defender. 2 points.

The wording is a bit wonky, but essentially if they are going to roll 4+ dice, you gain a free TL on them to be used on the attack. Will make hitting Phantoms/ATing Interceptors a lot easier. Makes the X-wing or even the E-wing a better long range sniper.

Having thought about it a bit more, more pilots instead of new upgrades. For each of the ship with only two or three named pilots I'd try to release booster packs with pilot cards and a selection of existing upgrades.

Start that with releasing the Tie Advanced pilots and upgrades (for people like me who aren't interested in Epic scale ships). My personal interest would be in pilots for the rebel Y-wing and the HWK-290, but the same would be done for the E-wing, z95 Headhunter, Tie Bomber, Tie Defender and the Tie Phantom.

The aim would be to encourage different ways of playing some ships and revitalising interest in some of the older ships.

A couple of ideas for the Y-wing.

When attacking with your primary weapon, if you have a target lock on the defender you may spend that target lock to reduce the defenders agility by one (to a minimum of 0) for this attack only.

The following borrows from an earlier idea for boosting the A-wing attack slightly and re-tasks it to the Y-wing evade.

When defending you may roll one additional defence die. Immediately before damage resolution you must discard one of the defence die.

This is the point where I get fired from Fantasy Flight games as I'm unable to deliver on ideas for new pilots after saying "We MUST have more pilots".

"Rogue Squadron"

X-wing only

1 point

When the highest Pilot Skill ship on your squad with this title acquires a Target Lock all other ships with this title may immediately also acquire a Target Lock normally OR my target the same ship regardless of range.

When reading the books this seems like something the Rogues would do frequently, pick their targets before the fight is engaged or share targeting data to bring down a big threat swiftly.

*"Emperor's Reach" (title)---(or Emperor's Hand, whatever the final secret rank you can achieve in the TIE Fighter PC game)

Non-unique TIE Defender ONLY
4 points

This ship's printed Pilot Skill becomes 9 and your Action Bar gains the Boost action.

"Rogue Squadron"

X-wing only

1 point

When the highest Pilot Skill ship on your squad with this title acquires a Target Lock all other ships with this title may immediately also acquire a Target Lock normally OR my target the same ship regardless of range.

When reading the books this seems like something the Rogues would do frequently, pick their targets before the fight is engaged or share targeting data to bring down a big threat swiftly.

*"Emperor's Reach" (title)---(or Emperor's Hand, whatever the final secret rank you can achieve in the TIE Fighter PC game)

Non-unique TIE Defender ONLY

4 points

This ship's printed Pilot Skill becomes 9 and your Action Bar gains the Boost action.

That rogue squadron upgrade would be way too powerful. That would hit really hard on the initial engagement.

The Defender title is interesting. I wouldn't make it PS 9 across the boards, but PS + 2. So it would be a VI + Boost for the price of just an Engine Upgrade.

If I were on the design team, I wouldn't want to go back and fix old stuff, but do new stuff. So much of the game as it is is great, and doesn't need retroactive repair.

I *would* try to come up with stuff to put more life and relevance into epic play, though.

Easy fix, in 2016 X-wing's Organized Play events will all be conducted using the Epic Tournament rules (I can hear the screams of people who would just call this a money grab)

Better Solution: Add Team Epic Organized Play events (while maintaining the traditional single player dogfights)

For each of the ship with only two or three named pilots I'd try to release booster packs with pilot cards and a selection of existing upgrades.

Start that with releasing the Tie Advanced pilots and upgrades (for people like me who aren't interested in Epic scale ships).

Actually, I think this might be the point at which you're fired, for trying to convince them to sell what will almost certainly be extremely popular cards in a $20 card pack rather than the $160 Raider pack. Don't forget that while FFG isn't completely mercenary (4 X1 cards in the pack, for example) they are out to make a profit. I don't think that the Raider is at an unreasonable price point, given what's on offer.

Rogue Squadron Pilot (2)

X-Wing Title only

Your Upgrade Bar gains the Boost and Barrel Roll icons.

edit for the grammar Nazi

Way too much for only 2 points. Needs to nerf it a little This is what I would do.

Rouge Squadron Pilot

X-wing Title Only

Your Upgrade Bar gains the Boost and Barrel Roll Icon

You cannot equip this upgrade if your pilot skill value is "2" or lower.

(2 points)

So it adds the barrel roll. It can combine well with expert handling removing target locks. You could also pair it up with R2-D6 for ships like Biggs who don't have EPT slots.

We got enough ships with boost. If you really want boost on the X-wing give it Engine Upgrade it takes a modification slot so it is still usable with Rouge Squadron Barrel Rolling combo.

If I were on the design team, I wouldn't want to go back and fix old stuff, but do new stuff. So much of the game as it is is great, and doesn't need retroactive repair.

I *would* try to come up with stuff to put more life and relevance into epic play, though.

If it's not broken, don't fix it? That sounds familiar.

Hehe, wasn't that your argument for not introducing a third faction?

But, yeah, I don't think the game is broken. I think that we can continue to get cool new stuff, and I think they should focus on that. Of course, I don't want them to break the game in the process of doing so, but I think they know they have a good thing and will be careful not to break it (too much).

For each of the ship with only two or three named pilots I'd try to release booster packs with pilot cards and a selection of existing upgrades.

Start that with releasing the Tie Advanced pilots and upgrades (for people like me who aren't interested in Epic scale ships).

Actually, I think this might be the point at which you're fired, for trying to convince them to sell what will almost certainly be extremely popular cards in a $20 card pack rather than the $160 Raider pack. Don't forget that while FFG isn't completely mercenary (4 X1 cards in the pack, for example) they are out to make a profit. I don't think that the Raider is at an unreasonable price point, given what's on offer.

Yeah, I can dream though. And if they don't fire me on that, I've got plenty of other really good ideas I'd get fired on

Realistically I'll probably end up proxying the Tie Advanced cards in friendly games. If I manage to trade or buy the pilot cards and upgrades that'd be grand but eh, plenty of other ships to fly.

Rogue Squadron Pilot (2)

X-Wing Title only

Your Upgrade Bar gains the Boost and Barrel Roll icons.

edit for the grammar Nazi

Way too much for only 2 points. Needs to nerf it a little This is what I would do.

Rouge Squadron Pilot

X-wing Title Only

Your Upgrade Bar gains the Boost and Barrel Roll Icon

You cannot equip this upgrade if your pilot skill value is "2" or lower.

(2 points)

So it adds the barrel roll. It can combine well with expert handling removing target locks. You could also pair it up with R2-D6 for ships like Biggs who don't have EPT slots.

We got enough ships with boost. If you really want boost on the X-wing give it Engine Upgrade it takes a modification slot so it is still usable with Rouge Squadron Barrel Rolling combo.

Also that would prevent the pairing of autothrusters with this title; that would be a bit too much I think.

For each of the ship with only two or three named pilots I'd try to release booster packs with pilot cards and a selection of existing upgrades.

Start that with releasing the Tie Advanced pilots and upgrades (for people like me who aren't interested in Epic scale ships).

Actually, I think this might be the point at which you're fired, for trying to convince them to sell what will almost certainly be extremely popular cards in a $20 card pack rather than the $160 Raider pack. Don't forget that while FFG isn't completely mercenary (4 X1 cards in the pack, for example) they are out to make a profit. I don't think that the Raider is at an unreasonable price point, given what's on offer.

I was going to ask what planet you're on that the Raider costs $160. But then I looked at your profile and saw: Australia. Sorry man. PPP sucks.

I like bombers and I want to like ordinance... I think a modification for bombers that let them carry two for one would be great. Five points then nets you two proton bombs. I would call it expanded magazine, or increased load out.

And/or bombers could have a title that gives them the deadeye EPT.

I'd errata ordnance to something like:

"If a secondary weapon requires you to spend a Target Lock to perform the attack, you may choose between changing 1 of your Focus results to a Damage result or re-rolling one attack die."

This keeps the old ordnance relevant while allowing room for development and not over-powering Proton Rockets or Ion Pulse Missiles (which don't require you to spend the required action).

If I was hired by the X-Wing design team I'd keep my head down and do as I'm told, that's an awesome job and its near my old hometown and high school friends (and VERY far away from where I am now)

Modification

TIE/D only

At the start of the activation phase, you may remove a shield token to perform a boost action or roll an additional attack die. Place token on this card. At the end of the End phase, return this token to your ship.

Similar to the Divert Power idea from earlier, but using it to give the TIE/D two things it is missing, extra punch or extra maneuverability. Also only works for half of your HP and makes you a vulnerable target.

On a separate note, I like the idea of rebel titles that can span multiple ships. Adds a cohesion that would make them feel more like they are supposed to.