Oh, another upgrade card for Spies and Saboteurs:

Long Range Sensors

System

3 points

When attacking at range 3, your opponent does not receive an additional defence dice.

Droid QT-KT. Ship can not be targeted by missiles or Torpedos.

Droid U9-C4. Droid can perform an independent attack with the Autoblaster profile (may not use tokens to change dice). Then discard this card.

Droid M5-BZ. Ship gains a crew slot.

Young Obi Wan Kenobi: Y-Wing. EPT. PS7. Ship can not be targeted while another friendly ship is on the board (Kenobi dies last).

Old Kenobi: Crew. Ship gains an additional Agility dice (this is not the ship you want to shoot).

Saesee Tiin: E-Wing. EPT. PS6. Ship may perform a free Barrel Roll prior to movement. Ship may perform a second BR in the Action phase.

BTL-S3: Y-Wing Title. Ship loses astromech but gains crew slot.

Tseebo: Crew. Before setting your dial you may look at any opponent dial. That dial may not be changed. Then discard this card.

Buzz Droid. Missile. 3 Attack. Focus. Cancel all unsaved damage but one. Each subsequent turn adds 1 damage at start of the combat phase. Action: Remove Droids from ship. No further damage allocated.

Agent Kallus: Crew. When another ship targets his ship, gain a Free Focus.

If you let Jonus' ability work on himself he's just strictly better than Horton Salm, I think he's fine as he is now. Agree than Rhymer needs to be cheaper though.

But the Jonus Bonus only effects secondary weapons. Bombers also can't use turrets. Maybe Horton needs a point reduction? Idk, I've never used him.

Horton could stand to be a point cheaper and give him an EPT base I think the EPT is the biggest weakness for him though, having to lose your R2 if you are going for a stress inducing EPT (well just in general losing your R2 to have to get an EPT on the highest PS Y-wing in the game sorta sucks)

Agree on Rhymer, either he needs to be made cheaper or APTs need to be made cheaper, Personally I think 5 points for APTs would be reasonable compared to the other ordnance and dropping Rhymer to 23/24 would be better

My first instinct is to say that I'd design the TIE Avenger, because it's one of my favorite ships. But I feel like it just wouldn't have any use beyond being an aesthetic badass. It comes down as basically being an Interceptor with shields, and trying to points cost it is next to impossible.

So I think my creative energies would go to designing the Missile Boat. Sure, Maarek Stele is already a pilot on another ship, but that doesn't mean that we can't design an awesome ship from one of the best computer games ever made.

Missile Boat

1 Attack

3 Defense

3 Hull

3 Shields

Stat Bar: Focus, Target Lock, Evade, Boost

Upgrade Bar: Torpedo, Torpedo, Missile, Missile, System

EPT on named pilots only

Tau Squadron Pilot (PS3) - 22 pts.

Lancer Squadron Pilot (PS5) - 24 pts.

Named Pilot 1 (PS7) - 27 pts.

After performing an attack with a secondary weapon, you may perform a free boost action

Named Pilot 2 (PS8) - 28 pts.

When you spend a target lock to attack with a secondary weapon, you may perform a second free attack with another secondary weapon against the same target

Thoughts?

I would design the website back.

ninj'd

I'd design a little robot that hunts web designers for sport.

I think FFG did just hire some gorram n00b off the street to their design team - their web design team. Are they in league with the corrected vision industry?

On the flip side, I can now use this website on my phone as a flashlight.

My first instinct is to say that I'd design the TIE Avenger, because it's one of my favorite ships. But I feel like it just wouldn't have any use beyond being an aesthetic badass. It comes down as basically being an Interceptor with shields, and trying to points cost it is next to impossible.

So I think my creative energies would go to designing the Missile Boat. Sure, Maarek Stele is already a pilot on another ship, but that doesn't mean that we can't design an awesome ship from one of the best computer games ever made.

Missile Boat

1 Attack

3 Defense

3 Hull

3 Shields

Stat Bar: Focus, Target Lock, Evade, Boost

Upgrade Bar: Torpedo, Torpedo, Missile, Missile, System

EPT on named pilots only

Tau Squadron Pilot (PS3) - 22 pts.

Lancer Squadron Pilot (PS5) - 24 pts.

Named Pilot 1 (PS7) - 27 pts.

After performing an attack with a secondary weapon, you may perform a free boost action

Named Pilot 2 (PS8) - 28 pts.

When you spend a target lock to attack with a secondary weapon, you may perform a second free attack with another secondary weapon against the same target

Thoughts?

You need to add a special card of some kind for the Missile Boat. Make it truly worth taking expendable secondary weapons. If you don't make it a system upgrade, it'd be an opportunity to sneak a fix in for TIE Bombers and such as well.

What about an upgrade that uses up a torpedo slot but makes all equipped ordnance on the vessel cost less? I know the TIE bomber would love that, and making it a torpedo slot would allow rebels to use it.

Alternatively make it a modification, and cost it in a way that its efficient for multi ordnance vessels but not others.

My first instinct is to say that I'd design the TIE Avenger, because it's one of my favorite ships. But I feel like it just wouldn't have any use beyond being an aesthetic badass. It comes down as basically being an Interceptor with shields, and trying to points cost it is next to impossible.

So I think my creative energies would go to designing the Missile Boat. Sure, Maarek Stele is already a pilot on another ship, but that doesn't mean that we can't design an awesome ship from one of the best computer games ever made.

Missile Boat

1 Attack

3 Defense

3 Hull

3 Shields

Stat Bar: Focus, Target Lock, Evade, Boost

Upgrade Bar: Torpedo, Torpedo, Missile, Missile, System

EPT on named pilots only

Tau Squadron Pilot (PS3) - 22 pts.

Lancer Squadron Pilot (PS5) - 24 pts.

Named Pilot 1 (PS7) - 27 pts.

After performing an attack with a secondary weapon, you may perform a free boost action

Named Pilot 2 (PS8) - 28 pts.

When you spend a target lock to attack with a secondary weapon, you may perform a second free attack with another secondary weapon against the same target

Thoughts?

Weapons

The Missile Boat was armed with two high-capacity twin warhead launchers and a single nose-mounted laser cannon. The secondary pair of warhead launchers was exclusively assigned to carry a payload of concussion missiles, while the primary could be outfitted with an array of space-borne projectiles. Each individual launcher had a concussion missile capacity of twenty missiles, affording the Missile Boat a maximum load of eighty concussion missiles; the primary launchers could alternatively hold fifteen proton torpedoes, ten heavy rockets, or five heavy space bombs. This immense warhead capacity greatly overshadowed the TIE Bomber and Assault Gunboat magazines by more than sixty missiles. By the time of its deployment, the Missile Boat was afforded the use of advanced concussion missiles and advanced proton torpedoes. These projectiles fielded larger payloads and increased agility than their predecessors. Advanced concussion missiles offered Missile Boat pilots the ability to suppress more advanced starfighters such as Rebel A-Wings and rogue TIE Defenders.

The abundance of missiles led to the development of unorthodox tactics. Missile Boat pilots, armed exclusively for anti-starfighter work, often used advanced missiles as dumb-fire rockets against capital ships and space stations, supplementing their accompanying Assault Gunboats or TIE Bombers. Unlike their TIE pilot brethren, Missile Boat pilots could easily afford the use of missiles to overwhelm space station anti-warhead defensive systems, or defend targets from pursuing warheads.

The most noteworthy weakness of the Missile Boat was its single laser cannon. Should the craft's warhead stores run empty, pilots were forced to dogfight with a single cannon. Dogfighting in general could be problematic due to the fact the that Missile Boat pilots had only a single cannon reserve from which energy could be transferred to deflector shields. However, this single laser cannon did fire faster and could charge to full capacity in just ninety seconds, a major improvement over other laser cannons found in Imperial fighters.

Missile Boats were frequently equipped with a beam weapon system. The tractor beam was another tool the Missile Boat employed against TIE Defenders, robbing the Defender of its superior maneuverability and holding them on course while Missile Boat pilots attained missile locks. Alternatively, Missile Boats could be fitted with a jamming beam, a weapon that disrupted the fire-control systems of spacecraft, which allowed Missile Boats safer transit on bombing runs against capital ships

Armament

Medium laser cannon (1)

Advanced concussion missile launchers (2)

Standard load: 20 advanced concussion missiles each

General purpose warhead launchers (2)

20 advanced concussion missiles each;

15 advanced proton torpedoes each;

10 heavy rockets each; or

5 heavy space bombs each

Optional beam weapon mounting (1)

Tractor beam; or

Jamming beam

After reviewing the info on this ship a couple of things stand out.

This might have the jam action, if you want to interpret the Jamming beam that way.

Your Attack • 1 seems right but it has the bulk of an X-wing

and there is mention of lower maneuverability so Defense • 2 seems more correct to me.

It also stood out that it's supposed to have over twice the shielding of an X-wing (120 vs 50).

Maybe something more like this:

Would be interesting to have full-customization ships, in that you could "remove" any upgrade slots for negative costs. However, this would mess with (in a bad way) the current values of everything in the game and it would make the generic TIE Fighter less valuable (since there are no upgrade slots on it, unlike it's 12pt enemy, the Z-95).

Hm. I'm not sure what I would do. This is an interesting discussion.

So I figured out what I would make. Take into account I'm not fantastic with math or understanding how to balance things in a game. I am merely interested in coming up with unique and fun ideas.

Cheap Shot

Illicit Upgrade

4pts

At the beginning of the Activation phase, choose 1 enemy ship in your firing arc at Range 1. You may receive 1 stress token to roll 2 Attack dice. The defender suffers all Damage (hit) and (crit) rolled.

(You may not use this Upgrade if you already have a stress token.)

I wanted to design an upgrade card for fun. My immediate thoughts were somehow firing before the normal Combat phase. While I thought about making this an Elite Talent, it makes more sense at least thematically that this Upgrade should be Unique to Scum & Villainy. Therefore, I chose that it should be an Illicit Upgrade. Doing so restricts the use of the Upgrade to 17 of the different (current) Scum Pilots, with the Y-Wing and M3-A Interceptor being the two ships that cannot use it. Choosing for it to be an Illicit Upgrade also prevents you from stacking it with Feedback Array or Hotshot Blaster on the same Ship.

Considering this Upgrade has the potential for 2 Crits on the defender, I figured it would need some heavier restrictions so that it won’t be an Auto-Include type of Upgrade.

Firstly, your target needs to be in Range 1 and within your firing arc. So already, you need to maneuver well to get into the correct Range with them in your sights.

Secondly, you take stress in order to use this Upgrade, meaning you will not be able to perform any red maneuvers on the turn you use it, nor will you have access to Advanced Sensors if you choose to use this first. This doesn’t just prevent you from using red maneuvers; it also prevents you from taking any Actions this round unless you had chosen a green maneuver.

Thirdly, you cannot use this Upgrade while stressed. Had you just spent your previous turn performing a K-Turn, S-Loop or using some Ability in which you receive stress, you would not be able to use Cheap Shot.

Fourth, this is not an attack, so neither player can modify the results of the dice roll.

Finally, I set the cost at 4 points, mainly because this is a powerful Upgrade despite all the restrictions and it needed a higher cost.

I understand this Upgrade is similar to Feedback Array, only instead of suffering 1 Damage and 1 Ion token, you suffer 1 stress token. This also is further different in that you need to have the ship you are targeting within your firing arc, you need to be unstressed and the Damage the chosen ship suffers is based upon an unmodified dice roll, which could, in all likeliness, end up with 2 blanks/focus.

Even with all this, I feel this Upgrade is too strong. You could field 6 Binayre Pilots with Cheap Shot at 96 points. After all the restrictions I’ve made, the only ways I see about making this Upgrade more balanced is to make it a higher cost, reduce the dice rolled to 1, force you to discard it after use similar to Hotshot Blaster or make it a Unique Upgrade.

So, what are your thoughts?

I think the idea is a good one, and it's very scummy, but I think it might be a tad too powerful, even for four points. It feels much more like an EPT than an illicit upgrade, but there's nothing stopping it being a Scum Only EPT to keep it factionally pure.

I think that the changes I would make would be to make it an action, rather than something that comes free at the start of the combat phase. I'd also try to succinctly state the the player can not modify his rolled dice. Finally, for the thematic element, I'd also specify that you could shoot at a ship you were touching.Finally, to balance the touching part, I'd make it 5 points.

So my card would look like this:

Cheap Shot

Elite Talent

Scume only.

5 points.

Action: Select a ship at range 1 in your forward arc (even if you are you are touching). You may receive one stress token to roll two attack dice against this ship. You may not use this ability when stressed.

First of all I would go into the break room fridge and eat the piece of pie with the label "Alex Davy's, please don't eat".

Next I would chuckle at all the ridiculously overly-complex balancing mechanisms on board for the X-Wing. I would clear the dry erase board and write "Incom Refit 0 points. You may replace your warhead slot with one shield".

I would walk over to Franks's desk and say "hey man, you still got that microphone from FFG Worlds?" Then when he handed it to me, I would point to the dry erase board, drop it, and say "If anybody needs anything else I'll be at my desk watching cat videos on youtube".

I think the idea is a good one, and it's very scummy, but I think it might be a tad too powerful, even for four points. It feels much more like an EPT than an illicit upgrade, but there's nothing stopping it being a Scum Only EPT to keep it factionally pure.

I think that the changes I would make would be to make it an action, rather than something that comes free at the start of the combat phase. I'd also try to succinctly state the the player can not modify his rolled dice. Finally, for the thematic element, I'd also specify that you could shoot at a ship you were touching.Finally, to balance the touching part, I'd make it 5 points.

So my card would look like this:

Cheap Shot

Elite Talent

Scume only.

5 points.

Action: Select a ship at range 1 in your forward arc (even if you are you are touching). You may receive one stress token to roll two attack dice against this ship. You may not use this ability when stressed.

While I agree it feels more like it should be an Elite Talent, I was hoping to prevent the combination of Feedback Array + Cheap Shot or Hotshot Blaster + Cheap Shot.

Making it an Action is an interesting concept, you sacrifice your regular Action and receive a stress to get a free, unmodified roll of 2 attack dice, for which the defender cannot roll Agility dice.

I'd like to explain my reasoning on why I set this Upgrade up this way. I had it setup to be used at the beginning of the Activation phase because you could then clear off the stress you received that round with a green maneuver and then perform your actions as normal.

Making it an Action means you have to sit for a single turn with no way to modify your dice at all, no way to reposition your ship.

To even be able to perform this you would either have to A: move before your intended target, into Range 1 or B: accurately guess where they are going to be once they have activated, before your own maneuver.

With your idea of making this an Elite Talent, this will mainly be going on the higher PS Pilots. High Pilot Skill means you move later than your intended target, meaning you have a higher chance of crashing into them if you are trying to maneuver within Range 1. If you are the one that overlaps your intended target, you skip your Action, which prevents you from using Cheap Shot. If you don't overlap your target, you have to make sure you are within Range 1 of them to even use the Action and then you cannot boost, barrel roll, focus, evade, etc. You're likely to either suffer a Range 1 shot from your opponent with no way to modify your own dice if you're moving after them (higher pilot skill) or you're positioning poorly so that your only way of damaging them this round would be with Cheap Shot, because they will move after you (lower pilot skill).

Reasons to consider it happening at the beginning of the Activation phase:

1. You can clear off that stress this round if you chose a green maneuver, preventing your opponent from finding a way of stacking 2 stress on you during this turn.

2. If you cleared off the stress, you can still take your normal action.

3. You're not likely to get a normal attack on them this round, because you're at Range 1 of one another before either ship is going to maneuver. The only possibility you would actually have an attack on this round as well would be if your target was maneuvering in the same direction that you were.

4. It wouldn't be a "Cheap Shot" if it costed you an Action. (okay I admit this one is just thinking thematically.)

Reasons to consider it costing your Illicit slot:

1. Prevention of pairing this with Feedback Array (potential for 3 damage suffered, the defender having no way of evading it).

2. Prevention of pairing this with Hotshot Blaster (Cheap Shot, maneuver 1 speed away, Hotshot Blaster attack).

3. Prevention of pairing this with Inertial Dampeners (beginning of Activation phase, use Cheap Shot, before revealing your maneuver use Inertial Dampeners to move 0).

4. It frees up your Elite Talent slot for something more useful and rather than making a Scum & Villainy only Elite Talent you could just use the unique to S&V Upgrade slot.

5. Prevents you from making a very unlikely 3 attacks in 1 turn with Kavil, the Elite Y-Wing Pilot. (Cheap Shot, normal attack, BTL-A4).

6. Helps the damage output of all 3 named Scum HWK-290 Pilots.

I think an additional restriction to it that would help balance it out would be that only Pilot Skill 3 and up can take it. That way, the max Z-95's that can take it if it costs 5 points would be 5 Black Sun Soldiers at 90 points.

So my current thoughts would be:

Cheap Shot

Illicit Upgrade

5 points

"Action: Choose 1 enemy ship within your firing arc at Range 1 (even a ship you are touching). If you have no stress tokens, you may receive 1 stress token to roll 2 Attack dice. That ship suffers all Damage (hit) and (crit) rolled.

This dice roll cannot be modified.

Only Pilots with the Elite Talent Upgrade slot can equip this Upgrade."

Your thoughts?

*Updated to reflect recent changes in my thinking. After further discussions, I can see why making this an Action would be more balanced. I also took off the minimum Pilot Skill restriction and replaced it with an "Elite Pilot only" restriction. This is to discourage lists that spam Cheap Shot.

So, while it is potential 2 damage that cannot be evaded, the downsides to balance it out are:

1. It costs your Action, leaving you no way to modify your Attack and Agility rolls that turn without either PtL (you use up your Elite Talent slot and would gain another stress token) or some other means of dice modification that can be done while stressed.

2. You receive stress, meaning you won't get any Actions (even free ones) after this point and you will be restricted in maneuvers in following rounds until you recover that stress.

3. You must be unstressed to perform this Action, meaning you cannot spam Cheap Shot over and over, ignoring the stacks of stress tokens you receive. It also means you cannot perform a K-Turn or S-Loop and then use Cheap Shot.

4. You have to be an Elite Pilot to equip it, meaning you cannot build a squad that spams this upgrade on cheap costing ships.

5. It costs 5 points

6. It costs your Illicit slot, which could be used for other, cheaper options like Inertial Dampeners, Hotshot Blaster, Feedback Array, etc.

7. It is not guaranteed damage like Feedback Array. It is based upon an unmodified dice roll, with a max Damage of 2.

8. You need to be at Range 1 of the ship you are targeting and that ship needs to be within your firing arc.

Honestly I don't like the chardaan refit. It just further nerfs ordnance because now a procket essentially costs 5 points.

All these upgrades you guys want that cost an ordnance slot to use further nerf ordnance. Also, while the X wing itself is kind of meh, it has some of the best pilot abilities in the game.

If I were to design an an x wing buff, it would be a zero point mod that allows it to gain a 5 straight, the boost action, and an extra agility die when it closes its s foils, however whenever it does this it cannot attack. It is an action to open them before moving, and an action to close them during the activation phase.

Honestly I don't like the chardaan refit. It just further nerfs ordnance because now a procket essentially costs 5 points.

6 if you include Munitions Failsafe. I really can't see any reason not to take it either. If you're already sinking so many points into your ship for a Missile, you had better make sure you actually hit with it.