It has wings, so less of its guns would be on the sides, and more could be facing in the forward direction...

I dunno, discuss!

I certainly hope so. It would give the rebels a "stand up And fight" style ship.

It could have 5 shields in the front! They were super tanky, and would need to be in order to last against those star destroyers.

I could see something like 5/3/1, or if going for the more balanced shield approach, 5/4/2 and the attack strength of a victory or guppy (or both).

So less firepower than a similar ship of its size (like home one or Impstarduce), but more defense than the rest.

But a conservative estimate would be 4 shields :/

I guess that's another question, what is the possibility of seeing 5 shields on this thing?

We'll see given that there's at least 3 seperately identifiable types of MC80 in RotJ: 'Liberty' type, 'Home One / Independence' type, and unknown type that's similar to the Home One type but with a large cowling over it's rear engines instead of that cluster-around-a-bulb setup (and IMO the prettiest)

So, if you were to design a MC80 "Liberty" Star Cruiser, and to make it different from the Home One, and less firepower than the ISD, how would you go about balancing that?

Shield dial goes up to 6 so 5 might be possible. 6 might be only achivable with upgrade cards for example.

We'll see given that there's at least 3 seperately identifiable types of MC80 in RotJ: 'Liberty' type, 'Home One / Independence' type, and unknown type that's similar to the Home One type but with a large cowling over it's rear engines instead of that cluster-around-a-bulb setup (and IMO the prettiest)

That "unknown type" is actually a wingless liberty. Just imagine the liberty without the wing extensions. I'm a fan of that one because of how little we see of it outside the fleeting (ha) scenes where it appears (hyper-spacing to Endor, fleet rally scene where it is on the right, a few shots during the battle).

Can't say how I would stat the liberty but I guess a forward firing arc makes sense? the MC series so far are categorized by powerful broadsides, so I'd expect a respectable broadside with at least decent forward attacks. Maybe the same dice pool over the front three arcs?

Give it 4 shields in the front but more front firing firepower. HomeOne focuses side arcs. Have the liberty more frontal firepower.

I feel like it should be a "Medium" ship for armada, in game terms being a medium-ranged Ion brawler, bristling with Ion Cannons, with similar carrier capacity to the Vic and Assault Frigate and command 3. 4, 3, 3, 1 shields with two redirects and a brace. 5 Blue dice on the front and 3 on the sides and 2 on the back. Would have a large front arc, maybe not as wide as the Vic, but it would be speed 2 and turn slightly faster than the vic. with it's speed 2 having a click available on the first joint of the manoeuvre tool (as opposed to the vic having none on the first joint).

Other questions to answer -

How would the A and B variants differ? (one could have a little extra shielding or engineering but have less squadron other could add an extra squadron and a Hangar upgrade slot)

What would the title cards do? (Have a title that allows a one turn extra speed one manoeuvre like a one use engine techs on a medium ship, other title could allow blue crits to reduce the targets speed by 1, also a good idea for a new ion cannon upgrade card!)

On the other hand I really really want an Ion cannon dreadnaught with 4 blue dice broadsides, probably 2 red on the front and back. Ideally this pack would come with an officer or engine upgrade that could enable an extra click on the manoeuvre tool to enable effective "broadside strafing". The dreadnaught would have Squadron 2 and command 3.

Other questions to answer -

How would the A and B variants differ? (One could replace the two reds on the front with 3 blues, other could have one extra shield on each side arc.)

What would the title cards do? (Have one title that generates nav tokens to enable the "strafing engine tech card" to be used every turn, other title could allow blue crits to reduce the targets speed by 1, I like this idea!)

Or... why not have both? Dreadnaught for the empire and MC80 Liberty for the rebels?? Both Ion 'brawlers' These would also be the packs that include the "Ion Armaments"we've been expecting (to make it different from Enhanced Armament it could be 15 or more points for (Add one blue dice to your attack pool). Or 7ish points for (Exhaust this card to add one blue dice to your attack pool).

Interesting concept but a 1200+ meter ship probably won't fall under "medium" like the dreadnaught would. MC40 maybe?

The Home-One type (I hate that name. It really should be a callsign for the Independence, which is a 'real' ship name) has primarily broadside armament and firing arcs from corner to corner. It's frontal weapons are weak.

I'd say the Liberty-type should use the VSD/ISD 'wide front' firing arcs, but probably have even amounts weapons for all 3 of it's forward facings. To differentiate itself from the SDs, which are more heavily firing in just the forward arc. Or perhaps that but just a few fewer weapons, and higher speed, to be a 'super' assault frigate.

Interesting concept but a 1200+ meter ship probably won't fall under "medium" like the dreadnaught would. MC40 maybe?

Yeah, that would work, I love the MC40. As long as it has that winged mon-cal design - I just feel like the medium 'Ion Brawler' would fit snugly in the design space.

Edit - MC40 with a bit more of a 'wingspan' to justify the forward firing arc, plus I think the liberty style mon cal is pretty **** iconic and needs to happen at some point

I think I'm about to be that guy worrying about homogenization. I think a huge achievement of wave one is providing different ways to reach the same goal. As a quick tangent, the shield strength vs. hull strength dynamic is one of my favorite things in the game right now. I think it was a fantastic solution to differentiate between the factions by varying hull and shield values while maintaining similar enough durability. So looking at the ships, if only the "Move Shields" repair action was allowed you can get a sort-of "effective health" value - making 18hp "available" to the AFMkII and Victory while the MC80 and ISD both have 23hp. Obviously, how this plays out on the table between the further variations in defense tokens, facings, and player choice in repair actions is where it all gets bananas - but they begin with similar building blocks that are pieced together totally differently.

So what am I even talking about? I like that these basic building blocks are imposing a difference in fighting style with deviations coming at a cost. Wave two is planting the Rebel flag pretty firmly in broadside fighting, while the ISD and Raider both boast their deadliest arcs in the front. The Rebellion has an option to fight head-on with the Nebulon-B, but it comes at the cost of maintaining range and the terrifying fragility of the long sides. I don't know if this view is shared around here, but with the raw damage potential of black dice, I think of the Gladiator-I's as broadside fighters with that 4 black battery. The trade of course would be totally sacrificing the evade token to be all up ins, but Rebel black dice could eventually also be a problem.

I do agree that the Liberty variant is a perfect choice for a second head-on brawler, but how can it be built so it isn't simply a big Neb-B or a Star Destroyer clone? I guess I will try my hand here...

Starting with hp, as a large ship it would fall in line with the MC80 as a "variant model" and be allocated 23 points. Sticking with the Rebel strength of heavy shielding, it would have facings of 5/3/3/3. I would give the Liberty 9 hull so they finally have something slightly sturdier than a Victory while still falling short of matching up to an ISD. Despite the imposing front shield, the sides are no stronger than that of the medium ships. So the slightly more expensive version would be a blue/red dice ship. I would make the front arc 4 blue/2 red, the side arcs would have 2 red, and the rear arc would consist of 2 blue/2 red. The alternate version could be a missile retrofit and (as far as we know) the first really big Rebel ship to carry black dice in place of the blues and the Ordnance upgrade, opening up an absurd (an expensive) possibility of matching the ISD front arc at close range for sheer number of dice rolled through an Expanded Launchers 6 black/2 red battery.

Why doesn't it have the same shooting capabilities as the Home One variant? I'm justifying this by calling it the brawler. With limited red dice options, and side arcs even more limited than the VSD/ISD to prevent abusing the 2 red dice on the sides with Enhanced Armament, it should be trying to get right in the thick of things. As such, the slight sacrifice in all around firepower is made up for with an additional hull point. You still don't want to be flanked, but the well-rounded shields and the additional durability underneath them should steel the hearts of Rebel admirals who are used to strafing runs with their Orcas.

The defense tokens would be 2x Redirect with a Brace and Contain. It would only be capable of speed 2, but possess surprising ability to turn. Perhaps 'II' at the first joint for speed 1 and 'I' - 'II' at speed 2.

...

Okay, for the Empire, I have a kernel of a thought. I will turn to "Empire at War" and propose the Broadside Cruiser. What?!?! But isn't she the same size as a Gladiator? Why another small ship? Bear with me! Here's my thought that can turn this into a long range sniper in the vein of the Nebulon-B while still maintaining the fluff of a missile platform.

The front and rear hull zones would have Neb-B style fragile shields - Maybe even looking at a 1/3/3/1 so the Empire can share in the pain of hiding a pair of truly terrible hull zones... but in keeping with the Imperial strength it would maintain the same hull as the Gladiator at 5 points.

Front Arc: 1 Red. Side Arcs: 3 Black. Rear Arc: 1 Red. Not crazy impressive while naked and still not a long range platform, I know.

Broadside Cruiser-only Ordnance Upgrade, Modification: Bombardment - Exhaust this card. On your next attack, the black dice in your battery armament can be used at any range. Cost: 12.

So this would take up the Ordnance slot to present an important fleet building option. You can take the cheaper ACMs and play a dangerous game supporting Gladiators up close despite increased vulnerability, or you can take Bombardment and hang back to snipe at range. Because it would only buff a single attack, a quick build would be a line of Broadside Cruisers only showing a single side-arc facing with Bombardment to try to beat the Rebels at their own game, attempting to strafe with maybe three Cruisers throwing a huge amount of powerful black dice (representing those long-range diamond tipped missiles!).

As to not obsolete the Gladiator, Broadside Cruisers with Bombardment would be cost prohibitive, carry few upgrade slots and not be conducive to many card synergies. I'm thinking only Officer/Ordnance/Defensive Retrofit in addition to the obvious Commander/Title slots. In order to play the Rebel game, you would have to abandon the Screed/ACM tandem with their black dice. Additionally, I think the "low end" model would cost 62 points, making the Bombardment addition practically a whole Victory-I at 74 points but not providing much else with Command - 2, Squadron - 1 and Engineering - 2. Also experiencing the pain of the poor Nebulon, the Broadside would carry 2x Brace and an Evade defense token. However, perhaps it would also have a Defensive Retrofit slot so that Rebels too can face the delightfully obnoxious ECM keeping the Evade alive when it has no right to be! Another unique touch could be that it uses 2 black anti-squadron armament that are able to be buffed by the Bombardment upgrade... Even worse - give it a title upgrade that allows it to count critical hits against squadrons as hits so it can be a situationally amazing fighter-killer. Keyan or Luke about to cause trouble? Suddenly you have the potential to lay four hits on him from long range.

It would also serve its purpose as a complimentary piece, as a Broadside Cruiser looming in the distance could deny huge areas of the board with the threat of long range black dice and even herd your opponent towards waiting Star Destroyers.

I'm up way too late thinking about this stuff, but I would really like to see the Broadside Cruiser implemented kind of like this! But yeah, it's late and this was long - I hope I was coherent.