To poke fun at OT purists, from now on whenever I kill a ship i'm going to quote "now this is podracing"

I was 10 when the phantom menace came out. Loved it then. Still do. Fight me.

The midichlorians are strong in you.

If the Naboo fighter hits the table I'm out.

I was 10 when the phantom menace came out. Loved it then. Still do. Fight me.

meesa people gonna rant ani?

Are you an angel? (my version of that quote has a typo and "are you an" is replaced by "do you do").

Space chinese with an army of wussyrobots.

Battle droids that sucked so much it made the Terminator roll so fast in it's grave that the centrifugal force caused a gravity well?

Little kid in a retro 20's ship blowing up a mothership in ridiculous with next to no drama or tension at all.

Ridiculous CGI aliens.

Phantom menace DOES get some of the plot right, and the ships are pretty cool. I did like Darth Maul and Qui Gon, I did enjoy young Obi, I did love that it was all a plot so that Sidious get power. But that film had a lot of things wrong with it.

I maintain that the best thing that's came from the prequel era were the TCW TV Series.

If the Naboo fighter hits the table I'm out.

And rid yourself the opportunity to blast the ever living f**k out of some cheesy grinning good guy nabooish a**hole?

Your loss.

You say that, but based on what? Do you have market research numbers? Hard data? Or are you just assuming what you think is what everybodymust think? The reality is that these sorts of games are primarily marketed at that oh-so-important male 18-35 demographic, i.e. people born from 1980 - 1993. Remember that The Phantom Menace came out in 1999. A large and growing part of that demographic grew up with the prequels being far, far more prominent in their childhoods than the original trilogy. That's not a fact that FFG can or will ignore forever.

I dunno if only there were some kind of review site that took the meta opinion of critics, or a site that used some sort of fruit as a measurement...or a community site where people post video's giving their opinions like a tube for you's.

Or if they'd re-released the movie so we knew if a decade later people wanted to see it again like they did for the special edition.

But yeah sadly i have noo evidence...

Firstly to the OP,

Well written and thought out. You raise some very valid points.

However<

Much as I would love to see the Old Republic Era ships hit the mat, they would do just that, hit the mat. To keep things right you would have the ARC with the stats of an M3A and the dial of a lambda. Not because it's a bad shiip but because it's an old ship based on out dated tech.
Base them in their own sort of xpac or derivative game and Im all in. But they have no place in Xwing as it is now. Or rather they shouldnt have a place in Xwing as it is now.

The new trilogy (E7-9) will no doubt provide us with a veritable barrage of new ships. The 30 year gaps does present a problem though.
The New Order TIEs for example, are going to be superior to our current versions. So why bother having the current versions anymore?

I say that to point out that by going into the EU, FFG can balance the game by basically making the stats on those ships anything they want. The game is balanced on two ships and their lore/technical stats. The Xwing and the TIE fighter.
Throwing out these newer ships will make the current GCW era ships a thing of the past. FFG cant afford to do that.

My honest thought it that there will be stand alone games with stats and rules tweeked just enough to be incompatable with Xwing as we know it. This will allow both an "Advanced Age" Game and an Old Republic Era game as stand alones. Provided FFG ever get the rights to TOR.

I dunno if only there were some kind of review site that took the meta opinion of critics, or a site that used some sort of fruit as a measurement...or a community site where people post video's giving their opinions like a tube for you's.

Or if they'd re-released the movie so we knew if a decade later people wanted to see it again like they did for the special edition.

But yeah sadly i have noo evidence...

I'm not arguing that the prequels were good movies. I'm arguing that there is a large cohort of people for whom they have a significant amount of nostalgia value, enough that that cohort would happily buy and fly prequel ships in X Wing.

That those are two entirely different and almost unrelated facts is the core of my point, and you aren't even trying to address that point.

The thing that makes this game so succesfulll is Star Wars theme.

The thing that limits this game so hard is also Star Wars theme.

I love star wars, but I play this game because is about Starfighters. So I don't mind where they come from, I want more starfighters!

FFG seems to have the good sense to keep away from prequel related releases, in all thier Star Wars products. More over, Lucusfilms/Disney signs off on every Star Wars related anything FFG does (from ships to FAQ even) and frankly they very well may not sign off on prequel related material. They may view it in thier interests to continue to distance themselves from those movies.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyBlOe2cT1Y

I don't understand how people think an X year gap will affect anything besides story, which ffg doesn't care about in the first place, a fix for this already exists in point cost. Ok a naboo fighter may not be your cup of tea and a weaker ship so make it cost 10 points to field. It can't be that much weaker than a single tie or z95. The new movie ships are more advanced? Ok then a super xwing is 30 base to field a tie 20 and so on. The sky is not falling because of a technology gap. More ships for years to come, so it is written so shall it be done.

I don't see any problem with it, honestly.

More ships is more better and there are some TCW ships that are just beautiful.

The percentage of fans that like the prequels is small and easily outnumbered by those that hate them

I hate the prequels.

None of that hate comes from the ships in those movies. And in fact I find a lot of those ships to be really cool.

I don't even really think that's a problem with all prequel ships though. It's mostly just a problem with ships made by Theed Palace engineering, like the N-1, or Amidala's various ships. And even then, I don't really consider it a problem, because it totally fits thematically.

Those ships are designed by a wealthy, artistic society, for use by their planet's royal forces, it makes sense for them to be super glossy and smooth.

The ships the Clone army use and whatnot is a lot more in line with the OT. Which is appropriate given that it's is all mass-produced military hardware.

That's always my complaint when people complain about a ship not "fitting" the look of the SW universe. I always want to point out that SW is an entire galaxy filled with countless different races, and different ship manufacturers, each with their own design aesthetic.

The tech gap cant be figured out by just adding or taking off points.
Take the Naboo starfighter, it's basic armament alone makes it more potent than your standard TIE. The missles and shields make it more on par with the T-Advanced.The cost would have to follow the pattern of current point-ability costs.

The tech gap cant be figured out by just adding or taking off points.

Course it can. points, stats and upgrade slots.

Thematically it's the same way that you can field the mil falcon and an ORS. Look at the point costs, stats and other special abilities.

This thread is giving me all the deja vu.

My original point is if the ship exists now but gets an upgrade it should start where the other left off as would any car line. X wings and ties could have an entire point legacy across the board. As for naboo, ffg would figure out a balance and cost it's what I and us all pay them for. I stand by my original statement though that ships will fit into the given rules the fact it's old or new means nothing.

N-1 would basically be an X-Wing with only 2 attack instead of 3, and 1 Shield instead of 2.

The Eta-Actis Interceptor would be a TIE Interceptor, with 2 attack instead of 3, 2 hull instead of 3, and cannon(for ions) and astromech upgrade slots.

The V-wing would be a TIE Fighter with 1 shield, and an astromech slot.

The percentage of fans that like the prequels is small and easily outnumbered by those that hate them

I hate the prequels.

None of that hate comes from the ships in those movies. And in fact I find a lot of those ships to be really cool.

The problem with the ships from the PT is they look and feel more advanced than the OT stuff, and that's due to the excessive about of CGI and Lucus only caring about making toys not consistency

I don't even really think that's a problem with all prequel ships though. It's mostly just a problem with ships made by Theed Palace engineering, like the N-1, or Amidala's various ships. And even then, I don't really consider it a problem, because it totally fits thematically.

I've considered PT ships for awhile and one thing I could never figure out is how the queen's ship could actually be used in game. I guess like a smaller version of the epic transport. All support, all the time.

And I absolutely agree on why the prequels are bad- it isn't the awesome ships.

Same way my DX9 get's used.

For missions in replacement of the abassador shuttle until it gets it's own cards.

OK, I am officially a prequel trilogy hater, but I like a lot of the ships. I'm not sure that's allowed, but I even like the N-1. I think it's design very much reflects the culture that built it, and that makes sense to me. We have a number of aircraft that have been in service for more than 20 years, and many parts of our military technology our way older than that. I enlisted in 1989 and was handed an M-16A2. guess what I qualified with this year at annual training? you got it, an M-16A2. that's 26 years and counting. Granted, the active side gets newer, better stuff but not the good old national guard. we make do. Like the rebels would.

they fly old Y-wings because that is what they have, or what they can afford. If they found a couple of squadrons of ARC-170s sitting around, I bet they would fly them too. So would scum, for that matter.

I will say this- I hope that the identity of the factions does not get diluted by analogs. (An imperial Y-wing) for instance. I like the the factions are different in ways that are more than simply visual, and one of my concerns would be the dilution of faction play style through the introduction of multiple factions.

I agree with the OP about brand recognition as well. You could easily see a game going on and not know it's star wars unless you are a die hard like us, and I'm not sure that's a good thing either.

I think the OP makes some good points. I would prefer for them to take the high road, pronounce the game essentially complete, and make minor tweaks, aces packs, etc rather than another syck or kiraxz.

Complete need not equal dead, and there are a lot of new people getting into this as well, so I doubt they are losing their income stream.

If this game loses it's core identity, it may lose players. I know a few who bailed when scum came out, and while I don't agree with them, I understand the sentiment of "I don't want a bunch of newly invented or very obscure ships I've never heard of, I want Star Wars."

Lose your identity to greed or sell out the brand, you ruin what drew people in in the first place. more is not always better.

for my money, I'd much sooner see the N-1 and ARC-170 on the table than something only 1% of star wars fans even recognize. My 2 cents.

Excellent post! I've been a big supporter of adding prequel ships from a personal standpoint. But I like how you address many of the practical reasons as well. As you and others have said they are already stretching their "era" by adding ewings and now kwings. If they add sequel ships the time gap between them is BIGGER than the gap between the pt and ot that many are worried about.

I'm not worried about sales either. Some gnashed their teeth when EU ships began coming out but it never hurt their sales.

And I do strongly agree the game needs more recognisable ships again.

I could go either way on multiple factions. Using them would make adding the ships much easier, however they could also add them to existing factions (especially scum) without much trouble.

Empire vs Empire or Rebel vs Rebel can't be avoided fairly in a tournament setting. Allowing anachronistic Separatists vs Rebel or Republic vs Empire is avoidable. It's too ridiculous for me.

The ARC-170 is an ugly flapping insect and the N-1 is is a glittering mosquito, but the avoidable absurdity would be too much for me.

The CEO stated his intentions not to include them. But if you think he's making a mistake because you happen like them, then by all means continue to believe he'll change his mind.

The OP addresses the 'why' question of new factions, but not the 'what'.

IE., FFG didn't release a third faction just so they could put out a bunch of ships similar to what we already have. They released a new faction because they wanted to explore different play styles. Scum is the 'every man for himself' faction, that - with relatively few exceptions - doesn't particularly focus on formation flying the way the Empire does, or support synergy like the Rebellion does.

Saying 'oh, FFG could do faction x, y, and z with ships 1, 2, and 3' is great and all, but...what would make those factions FEEL DIFFERENT from what we already have?

I'm not against the idea of a new faction, but I think you would need to address that point before proposing them. IMHO, you'd make a better case pointing to examples of factions that would PLAY differently - the Ssi-ruuk, for example, with their command vessels and 'starfighter' equivalents being swarms of battle drones. You could even make a better case for the (although I'd rather not, as it heavily breaks continuity with the new movies) Vong as a faction.

But the Old Republic, Separatists, First Order, and Resistance? Eh...not so much. Sure, I rather expect we'll see some of those ships in the game, but more likely associated with one of the major factions already present.