Why not let the defender attach an extra ion token to any damage dealt at all? Flechette cannon? Stress + ion. HLC: 4 red dice + ion. Mango? Crit + ion. Cluster missiles? Double the attacks = double the ion fun. Huge ships won't like the Ion Pulse missile that hands out 3 ion tokens. And a regular ol' ion cannon is now handing out damage plus 2 ion tokens.

2+ ion tokens makes no difference. The main concept is simplicity of the language and application. Excepting 1 token on a large ship they all go away at the end of round anyway. Just makes it smoother 1 dmg= 1 token, needed or not.

Loving some of these ideas.

Assuming we are aiming to make the Defender dedicated secondary weapons platforms (or cannons specifically), I'd look at giving them a bonus to all Secondary weapons, rather than just making it Ion specific.

I'll throw an idea into the mixing pot;

"You may roll 1 additional attack dice at Range 1 with cannon secondary weapons. If a weapon cancels attack dice on a hit, it deals 1 additional damage to the defender"

The idea started as 'let the Defender claim range 1 attack bonus with cannon secondary weapons' but I figured that only really made Ion and Flechette cannons more accurate, not necessarily more effective, hence the second sentence. If I've worded it correctly, Ion, Flechette and Autoblaster Cannons roll 4 dice at Range 1, and if they hit, Ion and Flechette cannons do 2 damage + their respective effects.

I wanted to give Autoblaster a bit of a boost, and I don't think HLC necessarily needs more power, even on the Defender.

Letting a ship claim Range 1 bonus on secondary weapons is, as far as I know, a unique ability.

- Edit -

Perhaps a better version would be;

"If your cannon secondary weapon hits a defender at range 1, the defender suffers 1 additional point of damage"

Makes it less likely to hit vs the previous version (4 dice vs 3) but means all cannon damage is minimum 2.

That would also make Proton Rockets 6 dice on the Defender.

Free hlc. You know it would fix.

You laugh, but at ~34 points, I'm paying for it already.

That would also make Proton Rockets 6 dice on the Defender.

Rockets explicitly state that you can never add more than three dice to the attack.

Free hlc. You know it would fix.

You laugh, but at ~34 points, I'm paying for it already.

You pay ~4 points + worse dial for the white k-turn.

A discount of 4 points on one upgrade would be an oprion.

That would also make Proton Rockets 6 dice on the Defender.

I meant just cannons.

Juno is the fix

I got a fix.

150 point standard.

A higher point limit doesn't fix fundamentally over-costed options; you just take more of the more point efficient choices and still come out on top.

Juno is the fix