I would love to see the Assault Gunboat and the Muurian Transport. (http://xvtedicion.es/basededatos/ingles/c_vehiculo_ing.php?id=111 I just think it looks really neat)

"I once had a guy come in here looking to buy an 'original' CloakShape. I just laughed and told him that there's no such thing as an 'original' Cloakshape." ―Mechanic Shug Ninx

The same customer probably insists on listening to Figrin D'an on vinyl, but only the early stuff. Frickin' Star Wars hipsters...

Don't you mean Transpairsteely D'an.

"I once had a guy come in here looking to buy an 'original' CloakShape. I just laughed and told him that there's no such thing as an 'original' Cloakshape." ―Mechanic Shug Ninx

The same customer probably insists on listening to Figrin D'an on vinyl, but only the early stuff. Frickin' Star Wars hipsters...

The only Modal Nodes I acknowledge are the underground live recordings.

Pfft, everyone knows the New Modal Nodes were better anyway.

We have to be mindful, a lot of this discussion is about ships that the average SW fan won't recognise. FFG has to walk a fine line here. If the game stops looking like the SW that most people know then it loses a major factor that attracts new players.

FFG has to keep X-Wings and Ties at the forefront of the game or simply becomes another tabletop game like the Star Trek or the D&D dragon one.

I would argue that this is one of the reasons why the Raider has kept that distinctive Star Destroyer shape.

The game still has lots of X-wings and TIE Fighters; I don't see those going away. If you're actually a Star Wars fan rather than just a person that's familiar with the movies then you'll probably recognize the other stuff (No True Scotsman, I know). So not really seeing the problem, unless the suggestion is that we stop getting new ships to play with (not happening with this component-driven business model) just so that casual fans don't see anything they don't recognize.

I'm not saying stop, I'm just saying that FFG has to be mindful.

I partly disagree with your first comment. I myself am an avid SW fan. A majority of my t-shirts are SW, I drink my coffee from an R2D2 mug, I used to purchase and read the SW novels religiously and I still play Xwing Alliance on PC. I love SW. Yet a lot of these ships are obscure to me. If I extend my vision to family and friends we have a bunch of people ranging from casual fan to big fan (I kid you not, my mate Jason named his daughter Leia). I can confidently say that none of them would identify these ships as SW.

I understand I am referring to a very small and specific focus group .. but it could be argued that members of this forum are also a very small and specific group of fans and not representative of the majority of 'SW fans'.

I 100% agree with your second point though. Until we see x-wing 2.0 there will be a constant flow of new ships for this game.

All right I'm going to commit to my opinion. I'll feel better if it turns out I'm right!

Looking at the last couple releases I think FFG has a few solid options for Scum and Rebels, and depending on their direction they'll either release something with dual-faction status again (the Skipray is a good candidate for this) or some of the further obscure EU ships, one for each. I don't know enough about Galaxies to really make a solid call there, frankly.

But the thing I'm most confident about is the Imperials getting the Assault Gunboat. I'm something like 90% sure this is the Imperial Wave VII ship. It's one of my personal favorites, but I think it stands to be the Imperial B-Wing: something relatively hardy, decent firepower, mid-20 point range for the generics. I think they're going to do something to distinguish it from the TIE Advanced, and if pressed I'd say it would be a combination of a "worse" dial with better firepower. The X1 title is granting a systems slot to the Advanced, so I don't think the Gunboat is going to qualify for systems as well, but I definitely anticipate something on par with a cannon.

The thing that really clinched it for me was when I was watching some Scum unboxing (thanks Crabbok) and realized both the Scum and Rebels now have something the Imperials definitely don't: the Warthog. The BTL-A4 title for the Y-Wing is the only ship in the game that can attack twice and possibly hit both times, Cluster Missiles and Corran Horn notwithstanding. The Imperials sort of have Vader (Crew) for that little extra damage after an attack, but sucking two damage to deal a crit definitely isn't the same as rolling more dice.

I think the Gunboat is going to be a platform for a similar mechanic. It would be one thing to just have a cannon slot, but then we're starting to edge in on Defender/Firespray territory. The Gunboat was stock issued with two laser cannons and two ion cannons, as well as a missile payload. A missile slot or two would make plenty of sense, but I think they're going to do something a bit more radical for the primary attack. I think the two subsequent attacks of the BTL title is probably the way to go, one with regular damage and then a follow-up attack with the ions, but I think they might actually print both attacks on the card. A red 2 and a blue 2 in the same space, for example, to indicate two damaging dice and two ion dice. Both would increase by one at Range 1, which would match dice thrown from a Range 1 shot from a BTL. This included ion attack would replace the option of a cannon a lot, and you could choose the order in which you use the two attacks.

Now, what I think would really seal the deal, would be to include a mod or title that would directly impact how you use the attack dice. Some kind of Power Rerouting Matrix that would read something like: "If you have not performed any attacks yet this round, you may roll two additional dice when you attack. If you do, you may not attack again this round." This would grant you a 4 dice primary attack or even a 4 dice ion attack at the expense of only shooting once that round. As an upgrade I think it would have to be costed appropriately to mimic the HLC or Phantom guns, and I would expect it to be a modification to also exclude the Engine Upgrade (opportunity cost!). A title would be pretty neat but might make it too strong.

I think something that can mimic the BTL twofer would be a great addition to the Imperial hangar, but also having the option of one HLC shot or even a 4-dice ion shot would make it really very versatile. Something throwing a 4 dice ion at a cloaked Phantom? If you can get pointed at it I think that offers a great chance of really messing up that Phantom's plans.

Round out the stats with two green dice, four hull, two shields maybe? B-Wing dial or thereabouts, Focus and Target Lock actions, start with a PS2 generic in the 22-24 point range.

My votes in my signature in green.

Based on the packaging design, I doubt FFG will release a ship for 2 factions. So far each faction has a unique box design.

Imperial: Blue lines, over grey/black stripes

Rebels: Red lines, over grey gradient

Scum: Gold lines, over brown damaged panels.

So if they do a Skipray, it will be for one faction only.

Ah... Firesprays, Y-wings, ZS-95s, HWK are all dual faction ships.

I can see them releasing a scum/empire ship. Just include dual faction cards and dual dials/bases. Sell it for $5-10 more depending on size of ship.