Stop Gap measure for S&V Epic ships (House rules for S&V GR-75 transport)

By Marinealver, in X-Wing

Part 3 of the kit. Taking another look at the death merchant.

So too many words too much points for a single upgrade. Got to fix it.

So looking at the Death Merchant on Wookiepedia and saw the captain as well as some comics of the captain Arns Grimwalker. So looking for some art that doesn't look like the cheap villain knock-off from centurions.

So remaking the Death Merchant to 30 points upgrade bar removes <cargo><cargo and gains <hardpoint><hardpoint><team> and a firing arc.

death_merchant_II.jpg

As for Arns Grimwalker 15 point <crew> Scum Only GR-75 Only, [Energy] Once per round you may spend 1 energy to make an attack with a <hardpoint> secondary weapon outside your firing arc at range 1-3.

and since I am making crew upgrades as well in adition to the 5 titles crew might as well have a look at the Captain of the Vasudra also.

ERATTA

Mispelled the name Vasudra, also took this oppertunity to change the card art instead of what some might recognize as the Luminous from Empire strikes back.

Vasudra.png

Edited by Marinealver

The idea of making the out-of-arc a separate crew member is pretty good.

But remember it's now taking up an extra, vital slot - you could afford to make him more potent accordingly; At the very least ditch the range limit, so he can play with all (three) of the toys out there. Remember: The ship has to still actually pay for those hardpoints, and will then pay for every single out-of-arc shot fired too... that's not cheap on a ship that isn't exactly overloaded with energy (And needs to keep its shields up!) to start with.

The idea of making the out-of-arc a separate crew member is pretty good.

But remember it's now taking up an extra, vital slot - you could afford to make him more potent accordingly; At the very least ditch the range limit, so he can play with all (three) of the toys out there. Remember: The ship has to still actually pay for those hardpoints, and will then pay for every single out-of-arc shot fired too... that's not cheap on a ship that isn't exactly overloaded with energy (And needs to keep its shields up!) to start with.

yup I was thinking of that but that is also why I think this crew upgrade would work best on the death merchant as it has 2 crew slots while the Black Sun Escort Q-ship has only 1. The only down side is that it only has 1 cargo slot and it cost more than 10 points. But with 2 crew slots and 2 hardpoints it just makes sense to keep Arns Grimwaker with his ship.

So looking for artwork I found a cover that mentioned Arns Grimraker (I got to remeber double check on proof reading these names) and came up with this for the picture art.

Arns_Grimwalker.jpg

IMHO this is much better than the Doc Terror rip off used on Wookiepedia.

Edited by Marinealver

Okay so finished the artwork on Arns Grimwalker Grimwaker. So taking a look back at the Death Merchant. Too much for 1 upgrade card so it has to be changed at least split into 2. So I am looking for this

death_merchant.jpg to turn into this

death_merchant_II.jpg Arns_Grimraker_crew.jpg

This makes much more sense and is actually viable as something that well works as a card. The Death merchant retains the 2 crew slots and brings in 2 hardpoints plus extra energy so it really works well with Arns Grimwalker. You could put Arns on the Q-ship but with only 1 hardpoint Arns is very restrictive.

Also here is a small spoiler for another crew card to finish this kit (I mean it this time) So upon completion of this kit there should be:

  • 1 Ship Card GR-75 Medium Transport Scum & Villainy Faction
  • 2 Ship tiles overlays (one S&V GR-75 and one S&V GR-75 with a Gold Firing arc)
  • 5 titles (3 unique*) Black Market, *Bloody Credit, *Vasudra, Escort Q-ship, *Death Merchant
  • 2 huge ship only crew upgrades (coming soon)

I think that should be enough for now.

Thomas_Azzameen.png

note this will not cost one point at the end. Got to clean it up a little first. Still working on it.

Edited by Marinealver

Love the artwork.

Serious question: What specifically about that fifteen point crew member scares you too much to let it attack beyond Range 3? I ask because two of the three guns you could use are built to fire further than that, and the other one never reached range 3 to start with, so it seems a very odd restriction, even if we put balance issues aside.

Love the artwork.

Serious question: What specifically about that fifteen point crew member scares you too much to let it attack beyond Range 3? I ask because two of the three guns you could use are built to fire further than that, and the other one never reached range 3 to start with, so it seems a very odd restriction, even if we put balance issues aside.

Out of firing arc gives a lot of area especially with the larger base huge ships. Not to mention that higher range bands have more area than lower range bands by sheer nature of circumference relationship with the radius. It is supposed to be paired up with the Death-merchant which allows for crew like Greedo or Bossik as well as give 2 hardpoint slots so the hardpoints can be set up to cover all range bands 1-5. Being able to fire out of arc at range 5 will probably be too much. I am just trying to make a S&V huge ship that can make use of all the other huge ship upgrades that are out there, I'm not trying to make the Scum version of the CR-90.

Given the Blue Line already limits the firing arcs, I'd actually keep GR-75s as firing-arc free and have their hardpoints operate as turrets. Just be sure to specify which section, as GR-75s lack separate ship cards to do that for you.

Yeah, you kinda are.

I get that you want to be careful, but there's overkill. Especially on the most expensive ship-per-hitpoint in the game, eh?

Edit: My mistake, quite a few of the small-ship aces exceed that value (Hello, Soontir Fel). However, you're still talking a cost ratio smilar to an Alpha Squadron Interceptor... only with 0 agility.

Yeah. ;)

Well let me rephrase, it could fill a similar roll but will not fill the exact roll. It won't be the counterpart to the CR-90/Raider, but it will be a filler to a huge combat ship role.

On the contrary, it absolutely should be this Scum expansions CR-90 equivalent - for pilot and ship it's 75pts - only 15 less than a full-blown CR-90. I'm not saying it needs to be the explicit equal of the big capital ships in every way, but if you're buying the Death Merchant instead of a Black Sun Q-ship, that's exactly the niche you're trying to fill.

Slap a Single Turbolaser on both ships, and now the Death Merchant can hit Range 5... and so can the CR-90. Twice . And the CR-90 can re-enforce a vulnerable section the same round it grabs a Target Lock to boost the accuracy of one of those attacks, too; the Death Merchant has no such luxury.

The Death Merchant, for the fifteen point discount, is losing a sections worth of HP, a second action per turn, and a primary attack. Even if it could fire at Range 3, it's a pretty rough deal. Of course, it'd make up for it in other ways - dirty tricks and a firepower:toughness ratio that leans far enough to 'glass cannon' that it's practically a Shuttle carrying the Emperor in terms of 'kill this first' for the enemy fleet - but it certainly doesn't risk breaking much. :)

Edited by Reiver

Keep in mind those ships start at 90 and 100 points. Also since the CR-90 and Raider cost 3 epic points you can only take 1 of those ships with Epic Dogfight restrictions. You can take 2 Transports and since the Black Sun Escort Q-ship is non-unique you should have no problem taking 2 if you don't want to make one of them the Death Merchant.

Either way I think I found a nice upgrade for Thomas Azzameen to make use of him with support ships. It might be ready this Friday.

Edited by Marinealver

I like the Black Sun Q-ship just fine - it'll do its job well. :)

It's the Death Merchant that bothers me at 75pts+turrets that I worry is going to be undercooked.

My wife is going to kill you.

For making me want to buy the transport.

Freaking good job.

• It's Grimraker, not Grimwaker.

21003972126_1633e61779.jpg 21033985591_a56b610a13.jpg

My take, which is based on the Imperial Gozanti Carrier being worth 10 points more

than the Rebel GR-75 and it has one harpoint slot, ergo 10 points per hardpoint slot.

The Gozanti arc is close to 180 so the blue line is fair for an arc.

Arns ability should sound familiar since it's Major Rhymer's ability bumped up to range 5.

Of all the images I could have used for Arns Grimraker,

this one is the one that inspired me the most:

20843542159_a18917a266.jpg

I just couldn't bring myself to use this one:

20843624869_ec7be9f820.jpg

I like the Black Sun Q-ship just fine - it'll do its job well. :)

It's the Death Merchant that bothers me at 75pts+turrets that I worry is going to be undercooked.

GR-75 Medium Transport...30

Death Merchant..................20

Arns Grimraker....................5

Shield Technician................1

WED-15 Repair Droid..........2

Gunnery Team....................4

Single Turbolasers..............8

Ion Cannon Battery.............6

EM Emitter..........................3

Ship Total: 79

Edited by gabe69velasquez

Yup I know I missed-spelled Grimraker twice, I actually got it fixed now I just haven't posted it up. As for Arns I'm just keeping him as a trick shot crew upgrade, however if some people are confused by the wording as ment to attack an enemy at range 1-3 instead of making a weapon range 1-3 then thanks for bringing it up.

I know the firing arc on the Gozanti is wider and only 10 points more for the firing arc hardpoint team and stat increases. For the Armed versions of the GR-75 I just imagine them as having cargo containers removed to strap up starship weapons inside which would give it a much limited firing range being inside the shell. Arns just knows how to jury rigg cannons so that they can fire from the lateral gaps between the outer hull.

But as for Arns yeah I couldn't see myself using the Doc Terror clone.

2582575403_2fe5b9e610_z.jpg?zz=1

@gabe: Not bad! Though I suspect you're better off just declaring the fore arc in its entirety; which gun is which is going to get messy quick. And at that price, total coverage isn't really needed.

That captain is a little too handy, though - it puts the Ion Cannon Batteries to being range 1-5! Perhaps restrict it a touch - let it reduce ranges, but not increase. This makes Single Turbolasers 2-5, and Ion Batteries 1-4; if you want to load the ship with Quad Lasers, you'll go find a different crew member. Which feels 'about right', I think.

Edit: Though on the passing thought this can make a gun very nearly count as a second gun, maybe 6pts is reasonable. Makes him a reasonable deal on an Ion Cannon-packing ship (Fill that range 1 hole without buying quad lasers!), but less awesome on a single-hardpoint ship. Hm, I really don't know. Whatcha think?

Edited by Reiver

@gabe: Not bad! Though I suspect you're better off just declaring the fore arc in its entirety; which gun is which is going to get messy quick. And at that price, total coverage isn't really needed.

That captain is a little too handy, though - it puts the Ion Cannon Batteries to being range 1-5! Perhaps restrict it a touch - let it reduce ranges, but not increase. This makes Single Turbolasers 2-5, and Ion Batteries 1-4; if you want to load the ship with Quad Lasers, you'll go find a different crew member. Which feels 'about right', I think.

Ion Cannon Batteries are range 2-4. So anyways I am looking at the card again to see if the arrangement of the wording is giving some confusion into what that upgrade allows for you to do.

What Arns is supposed to do is allow you to use one hardpoint weapon to fire out of arc within the secondary weapons range at an enemy ship within range 1-3. It was not intended to modify the range of any hardpoint weapon. So you still can't use Quad Laser Turrets at range 3 or Single Laser Turret at range 1 just because the ship is out of arc. If that is the mistake being made well I got a few days before the 4th so I'll be looking into it.

So here is the edited version of Arns Grimraker, (I still like the idea of him fighting off Wampas at Hoth)

Arns_Grimraker.jpg

along with a teaser of the final crew card for the kit.

Thomas_Azzameen_teaser.png

Edited by Marinealver

@gabe: Not bad! Though I suspect you're better off just declaring the fore arc in its entirety; which gun is which is going to get messy quick. And at that price, total coverage isn't really needed.

That captain is a little too handy, though - it puts the Ion Cannon Batteries to being range 1-5! Perhaps restrict it a touch - let it reduce ranges, but not increase. This makes Single Turbolasers 2-5, and Ion Batteries 1-4; if you want to load the ship with Quad Lasers, you'll go find a different crew member. Which feels 'about right', I think.

Ion Cannon Batteries are range 2-4. So anyways I am looking at the card again to see if the arrangement of the wording is giving some confusion into what that upgrade allows for you to do.

What Arns is supposed to do is allow you to use one hardpoint weapon to fire out of arc within the secondary weapons range at an enemy ship within range 1-3. It was not intended to modify the range of any hardpoint weapon. So you still can't use Quad Laser Turrets at range 3 or Single Laser Turret at range 1 just because the ship is out of arc. If that is the mistake being made well I got a few days before the 4th so I'll be looking into it.

I was replying to gabe's card suggestions, not yours :P

I understand what your card is doing just fine. Although I still maintain quite firmly that the range 1-3 limitation on your version is silly, at this point I get the feeling you're firmly determined to keep it; not the end of the world. I don't play enough Epic to be sad about one of four unique ships being a dud, and I like the Q-ship just fine. ;)

@gabe: Not bad! Though I suspect you're better off just declaring the fore arc in its entirety; which gun is which is going to get messy quick. And at that price, total coverage isn't really needed.

Not sure what you mean, "declaring the fore arc," I don't agree with the arc he's proposing as it's not a huge ship arc. There are several ways a person can declare which hardpoint is fore and which is aft, it doesn't have to get messy at all, you can putting it above the pilot card for fore, or use a token, or to the other side of all the other upgrades for the fore, as long as your opponent understands before you begin. The GR-75 is big but slow moving and there is no reason to have such a large rear blind spot.

That captain is a little too handy, though - it puts the Ion Cannon Batteries to being range 1-5! Perhaps restrict it a touch - let it reduce ranges, but not increase. This makes Single Turbolasers 2-5, and Ion Batteries 1-4; if you want to load the ship with Quad Lasers, you'll go find a different crew member. Which feels 'about right', I think.

Edit: Though on the passing thought this can make a gun very nearly count as a second gun, maybe 6pts is reasonable. Makes him a reasonable deal on an Ion Cannon-packing ship (Fill that range 1 hole without buying quad lasers!), but less awesome on a single-hardpoint ship. Hm, I really don't know. Whatcha think?

I'm not all impressed by Ion Cannon Batteries, so

I don't have a big problem with them being range 1-5.

But I think this is more like what you mean,

though it's a lot wordier than Major Rhymer:

21113567171_7be95e7020.jpg Major-rhymer.png

Weapon Range

Quad Laser Cannon 1-4

Ion Cannon Battery 1-4

Single Turbolaser 2-5

On another note, I decided on the Twin Suns Transport Service title ability.

20918378619_a5168ea0b2.jpg

along with a teaser of the final crew card for the kit.

Thomas_Azzameen_teaser.png

It's actually Tomaas Azzameen, not Thomas Azzameen.

21211003901_6df476b046.jpg

This may seem like too much but it's just Comms Booster folded into Toryn Farr.

Toryn-farr.png Comms-booster.png

Scaled down copies.

21113567171_7be95e7020_n.jpg 20918378619_a5168ea0b2_n.jpg 21211003901_6df476b046_n.jpg

Edited by gabe69velasquez

Fixed the name, working on the mission control editor trying to get it to post up some starting scenarios.

Okay well right before midnight I've added the 2 crew cards to complete the kit.

Tomaas_Azzameen.png Arns_Grimraker.jpg

That should wrap it up. I'm off to target to see about this release event they have. I have also posted it on Game Board Geek and Team Covenant (pending approval). Hope you guys like it enjoy.

Edited by Marinealver

Truly amazing. Epic game opens to scums

I also had to change my sig. I kept calling it a CR-90 because I'm an idiot. :unsure:

As for should the Scum have access to the CR-90. Well it would make since since the CR-90 was a civilian ship and both Rebels as well as organized criminals liek the Black Sun did use civilian ships. but as for gameplay wise I think it is best just to let scum re-purpose transport ships into smuggling blockade runners and pirate ships. I am certain Scum will get at least two huge ships of their own so not really a need to make a CR-90 conversion although if someone else does that would be fine.

Again this is just supposed to last until S&V have their own huge ship.

Okay well right before midnight I've added the 2 crew cards to complete the kit.

Tomaas_Azzameen.png Arns_Grimraker.jpg

That should wrap it up. I'm off to target to see about this release event they have. I have also posted it on Game Board Geek and Team Covenant (pending approval). Hope you guys like it enjoy.

With Tomaas Azzameen, if the targeted ship has a stress token before you jam it and you choose to assign ion token(s), are you able to assign 2 ion tokens, or can you only assign 1 because [1 ion] + [1 stress] = [2 total nastybad tokens]?

This ability is cool, but seems very weird to have as a crew upgrade. This guy's presence on the ship is enough to ionize nearby enemy ships?

Okay well right before midnight I've added the 2 crew cards to complete the kit.

Tomaas_Azzameen.png Arns_Grimraker.jpg

That should wrap it up. I'm off to target to see about this release event they have. I have also posted it on Game Board Geek and Team Covenant (pending approval). Hope you guys like it enjoy.

With Tomaas Azzameen, if the targeted ship has a stress token before you jam it and you choose to assign ion token(s), are you able to assign 2 ion tokens, or can you only assign 1 because [1 ion] + [1 stress] = [2 total nastybad tokens]?

This ability is cool, but seems very weird to have as a crew upgrade. This guy's presence on the ship is enough to ionize nearby enemy ships?

Well with Tomaass I wanted to do 2 things. I wanted to make it a Scum type upgrade for crew so I didn't just have Grimraker as the only crew slot (but then again FFG can make an upgrade slot and put only 1 upgrade card in it), also I wanted to make the jam action something that can work against other huge ships as well. Since Jam adds stress until there is 2 stress tokens (then huge ships discard it) it would not be effective if you jammed a ship that already has a stress token. Using Tomaass to do ionization will have the same effect.

Also since the scum faction was supposed to be more for control while the rebels faction is more for support it just makes sense to throw in the ionization effect. At first I was thinking of something like assigning all focus tokens an evade tokens but I don't think that fits with scum. Now I know that some might argue that Tomaas was a rebel sympathizer thus making him more aligned with the Rebel faction instead of the Scum but still the Azaameen family did not join the rebels until SPOILER ALERT after Tomaas death. Also it dare I say "seals" Tomaas Fate as this kit is supposed to be discontinued once Scum & Villainy gets their huge ship for their own faction.

Is there any intent to make any Scum Only cargo? I think 1 or 2 could really round this whole segment out nicely. I tried to think of some but only came up with ones that I believe would be too broken. The best I have so far is:

Signal Overload: 4 points, Energy: Spend 2 energy, remove a red target lock, the ship with a blue target lock receives 1 damage.