I like the idea of Epic pilot talents. They would only fit on pilots that already have EPT slots but they would be epic only, and gain leadership abilities that could be passed to squad mates. Perhaps make them cost an epic point, but make the ability worth the increase in squad ability. All ships of the same kind get bonuses, or something along those lines. Something like,

Rogue leader

Rebel only

Xwing only

Epic only

All friendly Xwings range 1 - 3 from you gain a free target lock when you perform a target lock action.

6 pts

1 epic point

#1 A flight is composed of a named pilot plus 2 generics or else 4 generics

#2 A pair is composed of two named pilots

I like a couple of your suggestions, but I think squadrons should be a way to make Generics more interesting/better and move away from named pilots, particularly the midrange PS ones that no-one ever takes. On a slightly cynical note, it would mean that people have a reason to buy more than 1 E-Wing, but it means we'd see a larger variety of ships on the table. For example if they gave Blackmoon (E), Red (X), Storm (Adv), Gamma (Bomber) and Avenger (Squint) Squadron pilots decent abilities when used in multiples (even in non-epic games) then it would motivate people to give them a spin.

No-one needs more benefits to taking Fel, or Wedge, or whatever. They're fine as-is.

Double sided 3x3 playmat for cinematic play.

On one side you have a Death Star II approach.

On the other the trench run.

3x turbo laser batteries

Mission booklet

Purchase two and combine them for 6x3

Realistically I would like to see a large hounds tooth sized scum and villainy epic that is also usable by imperials and is used as an armored transport similar to the rebel transport but it also has defensive weapon batteries and maybe finally a tractor beam.

#1 A flight is composed of a named pilot plus 2 generics or else 4 generics

#2 A pair is composed of two named pilots

I like a couple of your suggestions, but I think squadrons should be a way to make Generics more interesting/better and move away from named pilots, particularly the midrange PS ones that no-one ever takes. On a slightly cynical note, it would mean that people have a reason to buy more than 1 E-Wing, but it means we'd see a larger variety of ships on the table. For example if they gave Blackmoon (E), Red (X), Storm (Adv), Gamma (Bomber) and Avenger (Squint) Squadron pilots decent abilities when used in multiples (even in non-epic games) then it would motivate people to give them a spin.

No-one needs more benefits to taking Fel, or Wedge, or whatever. They're fine as-is.

I understand where you are coming from on this, but partly I think it makes sense for the best, most famous pilots to be represented.

Second, I didn't flesh this part out in the message but...

There would be a EPT card that was 'flight leader' and would allow the pilot to use the flight formation rules, as well as provide an additional EPT slot.

For generics, I was thinking a modification card that said 'non-unique pilot only' but such a card could be like Ch Refit, provide a point cost reduction. Also note generics would run in flights of 4 so once one member of your flight gets in range, you are bringing more guns to bear.

Someone else - I don't recall who - once suggested that the Skipray Blastboat be a large (rather than huge) Imperial epic ship, given that it sported a capital ship power core. I always loved that idea - a large ship with energy, a forward arc, missiles, and a turret - and it could work for Scum, too.

I really would like for them to include the Skipray for both Scum and Empire. However, I think it should just be a large-base ship, and not necessarily epic.

I know the source you're talking about regarding how it has capital-ship level output. I don't know why they did that, but it seems ill-considered to me.

Fractalsponge has a great digital mock-up of the Skipray that I really like. It kind of reminds me of Airwolf, from when I was a kid.

Now that I'm thinking about it, giving that to the empire would fix that they are the only faction to lack the new double attack introduced by the Y-wing. Mmmm, delicious heavy ion cannons... Also I like that Skipray, but everyone always makes the darned thing too boxy. In the Timothy Zahn comics and the Micro Machine, the front was downright curvey, and it's sleeker.

[/img]

Not to insult Gosric (whom I have purchased from), but even he mucked up the shape.

I'm all about the scenery. Get some more obstacles in here! I recently nabbed a nifty custom-made blown-up rebel transport from eBay because I absolutely had to have it. Adding more junk to my table for cosmetics is lovely (wish I could afford to play 40k, just for the scenery designing)

So some sort of 3D obstacle pack would be sweet.

I'm highly against your ice cube tray here. If something like that is going to be a thing, it should be no more than 3-4 ships. Even then, I don't like it because maneuvering is a core concept of the game. I know epic is slow. Just...try to speed it up however possible, without bending the rules TOO much

Squadron Upgrade Cards.

You spend X amount, and it upgrades all generics of a specific type.

For example:

Black Squadron Veterans - When they are attacked, any Black Squadron TIE Fighters may reroll one defensive die.

Red Squadron Veterans - When they attack, any Red Squadron X-wings may spend a Focus token to turn one blank result to a critical hit result.

Alpha Squadron Veterans - When any Alpha Squadron TIE Interceptor makes a Barrel Roll action, it may immediately make a free Boost action.

And so on. You'd have to price each one carefully, maybe by having them add a point or two to each ship you take that is affected, or maybe with a flat fee to encourage bringing more ships from the same squadron.

We tried squadron/tray/locked formation flying to speed up our 3,000 point epic game last summer...

Basically assault missiles wrecked anything flying in that kind of formation.

*EDIT*

Some quotes from our experience:

"Squadron & Squadron Activation Phase: We allowed each side to group their small ships into base-to-base contact and move in unison as a single, extended base and the squadron would move when the lowest PS ship would move in a normal game. If the squadron were to break formation by no longer maintaining base-to-base contact, individual dials would be used once again. We also used "Squadron Actions" where the whole squadron would choose the same action- nothing different here."

The worst decision, and im not saying that a 3000 point game was a great decision, was flying rebels in swarms/squads like they were imps. Those assault missiles just ripped our x-wings to shreds. B-Wings held their own. With out an Epic ship on the imperial side there are just too many points to fill with ships and upgrades, which translates into A LOT of dice and the imps put stealth devices on just about everything

Full thread here: http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/113789-beyond-epic-x-wing-apocalypse-3000-point-game/

Not saying that you should go out and play a 3,000 point game, but the tray idea just did not work out well for many reasons, such as Pilot Skill movement, actions, bumping, etc..

I'm all about the scenery. Get some more obstacles in here! I recently nabbed a nifty custom-made blown-up rebel transport from eBay because I absolutely had to have it. Adding more junk to my table for cosmetics is lovely (wish I could afford to play 40k, just for the scenery designing)

So some sort of 3D obstacle pack would be sweet.

I'm highly against your ice cube tray here. If something like that is going to be a thing, it should be no more than 3-4 ships. Even then, I don't like it because maneuvering is a core concept of the game. I know epic is slow. Just...try to speed it up however possible, without bending the rules TOO much

I like the trio of small ships on a large ship base. It works for all of the neat little hero'ish squadrons. In my games these can start in formation but may break up and reform as needed.

I like the idea of Epic pilot talents. They would only fit on pilots that already have EPT slots but they would be epic only, and gain leadership abilities that could be passed to squad mates. Perhaps make them cost an epic point, but make the ability worth the increase in squad ability. All ships of the same kind get bonuses, or something along those lines. Something like,

Rogue leader

Rebel only

Xwing only

Epic only

All friendly Xwings range 1 - 3 from you gain a free target lock when you perform a target lock action.

6 pts

1 epic point