If FFG Ever release any Episode VII - IX ships I believe they will create new factions to represent the state of the galaxy in these films, so First Order and The Resistance.

My guess is they would have new faction logo on their ship cards but they would be backwards compatible, so The Resistance as a faction would be able to incorporate Rebel ships in to their squadrons and First Order would be able to incorporate Imperial ships in to their squadrons.

In effect they would be re-naming the factions yet still keeping the Rebellion and Imperial factions intact for OT only fans, whilst simultaneously allowing new players the new movies attract to play the game using the familiar ships and faction names.

I obviously don't know how this will be handled, but I will say that my take on "New Faction" is what I have described, I can't imagine FFG begin able to introduce 2 new factions to the game that are totally independent of the others, like they did with Scum, as there just wouldn't be enough ships to use at the start, and it would take far too long to bring out ships, and in the mean time, people wanting to play games based on the new film would be wondering why they can't take a Minellian Falcon with their new X-Wings since there's a perfectly good model available for it.

What's the general opinion of the forum on this subject?

Your way makes the most sense.

We'll have to wait and see.

Talonbane Cobra, is it true that before your ace pilot career you led the Cobra Kai Dojo and beat the hell out of the Karate Kid?

Your way makes the most sense.

We'll have to wait and see.

Talonbane Cobra, is it true that before your ace pilot career you led the Cobra Kai Dojo and beat the hell out of the Karate Kid?

Good one.

Hmm, your topic title is deceiving. What you have described are not new factions at all, just renaming old ones. So I agree with you. It's the only way that makes sense to me unless they decided to make it a totally separate game which doesn't seem likely.

Privateer Press did something similar to this with Monsterpocalypse. There were multiple factions within each ideal (like Invaders and Protectors).

FFG could do something similar here: each could have their own faction symbols but be100% compatible with the other factions in their ideal.

Maybe. But if they make "resistance" faction ships that can incorporate rebel ships in their squads then why not just call them the same faction as Rebels. The effect on the table is identical. I guess it would still technically be new factions, but in practice it really isn't. Maybe after a few years worth of new rebel and resistance expansions they could just change the rules to split the two for realsies?

Makes more sense to do that than any of the other suggestions I've heard. I'm sure whatever happens FFG will see us alright. I Don't think for one minute that they are set to be the next games workshop and screw us "loyal" customers over.

Hmm, your topic title is deceiving. What you have described are not new factions at all, just renaming old ones. So I agree with you. It's the only way that makes sense to me unless they decided to make it a totally separate game which doesn't seem likely.

I think what a lot of people are saying about "New Faction" is purely this, there's clearly a difference in faction (for instance X-wing in Rebels and X-Wing in Resistance with same name but different stats) that doesn't automatically imply completely separate incompatible entities.

I guess it would still technically be new factions, but in practice it really isn't.

It could be about the era you chose to play your game in, and maybe additions to the rules for the era? Or maybe to keep the new release out of tournaments right away, or maybe simply just becasue Disney want to be pushing the new films faction names.

Maybe. But if they make "resistance" faction ships that can incorporate rebel ships in their squads then why not just call them the same faction as Rebels.

Mechanically it would be because then they could isolate upgrades. Under such a theoretical scheme you could still have "rebel only" upgrades that can't be taken by resistance ships and "resistance only" upgrades that can't be taken by rebels.

Talonbane Cobra, is it true that before your ace pilot career you led the Cobra Kai Dojo and beat the hell out of the Karate Kid?

Maybe. But if they make "resistance" faction ships that can incorporate rebel ships in their squads then why not just call them the same faction as Rebels.

Mechanically it would be because then they could isolate upgrades. Under such a theoretical scheme you could still have "rebel only" upgrades that can't be taken by resistance ships and "resistance only" upgrades that can't be taken by rebels.

Up until a faq says "treat rebel only as resistance only and vise versa" or something better written.

Mechanically it would be because then they could isolate upgrades.

This seems most likely to me. The Resistance and First Order would be sub-factions. They would have their own faction logo and have Resistance/First Order only upgrades. They may also not be able to take Rebel or Imperial only upgrades.

This could actually be a great way to 'reset' the game to a degree. FFG wouldn't have to worry about how old faction only upgrades interact with the new factions and visa versa.

This would also allow people to play the new ships exclusively.

But they could also update the list building rules so you could use Rebel/Resistance in a list, and Imperial/First Order in a list. So you'd have factions that are compatible, but still separate.

If they are going to introduce Resistance and First Order factions I would agree that would be a good way of doing it. It would enable differentiation between the sides while allowing some mixing and matching of old and new ships as players want.

Works nice. Fits story-wise. Very strong hypothesis. We'll see if FFG ever releases such a product for the new movies.

Works nice. Fits story-wise. Very strong hypothesis. We'll see if FFG ever releases such a product for the new movies.

Indeed *wink wink nudge nudge*.

well i think many things were discussed already but who has thought of all possibilities?

first of there are 2 important things:

the T65 needs a little boost but not much

the actual TIE/Ln is in a perfect spot

now compared to T65 the T70 gains upgrades worth of 8 points (4 points shield, 4 points Engine Upgrade) for just 3 point cost increase and the mod slot is still available.

compared to the Ln the Fo Tie gains upgrades worth of 6 points (4 points shield, 2 point Targeting Computer) for just 3 point cost increase and as well the mod slot still available

picture the following scenarios:

1. FFG wants to make money so they need something for the Ep.7 Hype

--> the new core is a standalone version to play. T70 and TIE/fo are new ships. there won´t be an upgrade for the actual ships but the factions Resistance/Rebels and Empire/First Order can be played together

any reason to play the old ships? at maximum a filler tie if you have only 12 points left!

Unlikely

2. Resistance and First Order are complete standalone Factions and not compatible to Empire and Rebels

--> there aren´t enough shiptypes to complement this

Unlikely

3. The single expansions of TIE/Fo and T70 include a 3 point title for existing ships to boost them to new stats or even print every existing pilot into the new ships with the adjusted stats.

--> as discussed in another thread might result in killing the Ewing totally

Unlikely

so my opinion is there must be something at hand that didn´t come to my mind thus far. maybe some kind of subfactions in term of something like:

"if you add Resistance ships to your rebel squad you may only field 30 out of your 100 point squads with resistance ships"

it seems so many people are afraid of a possible powercreep that makes your collected ships worthless, as am i so hopefully we all are some kind of wrong because personally i think the healthiest way for the game would be:

a small fix to the T65 like title, 0 points "your action bar gets an evade action"

and Resistance and First Order are complete standalone factions.

i myself question if there is a need for a 4th and 5th faction in this game but for the games sake i don´t want this powercreepd to become real like it became with GW etc.

my 2 cents

it seems so many people are afraid of a possible powercreep that makes your collected ships worthless

Powercreep is easy to avoid if the ships have a fair cost. If the new TIE is 16 points for a PS1 or 2 version then they won't replace the existing Ties.

What worries me slightly is the E-Wing vs the T70.

the lowest tie is 15 points PS 1 with targetlock and a shield

the academie is 12 points PS 1 with 6 points worth of upgrades less...

even if you wont consider the TL-action you get a shield upgrade for 3 pointsand can still get another modification... seriously?

Maybe. But if they make "resistance" faction ships that can incorporate rebel ships in their squads then why not just call them the same faction as Rebels.

Mechanically it would be because then they could isolate upgrades. Under such a theoretical scheme you could still have "rebel only" upgrades that can't be taken by resistance ships and "resistance only" upgrades that can't be taken by rebels.

Well that's the thing. Fantasy Flight has upped the capabilities of ships that are proven to be lacking in the past (a-wing, tie interceptor, tie advanced). One of the lead designers has gone on record saying that "the X-Wing needs a boost". He was referring to the X-Wing we have right now, not a (hypothetical) newer model. In the same video in which he talks about this ship needing a boost, he talked about the desire to have every ship in the game a viable option for competitive tournaments.

well i think many things were discussed already but who has thought of all possibilities?

first of there are 2 important things:

the T65 needs a little boost but not much

the actual TIE/Ln is in a perfect spot

now compared to HYPOTHETICAL T65 the T70 gains upgrades worth of ....

my 2 cents

Watch the specifics on the hypothetical product. Threads disappear for less.

the lowest tie is 15 points PS 1 with targetlock and a shield

the academie is 12 points PS 1 with 6 points worth of upgrades less...

even if you wont consider the TL-action you get a shield upgrade for 3 pointsand can still get another modification... seriously?

This isn't on topic. But consider that TL isn't really valuable by itself on a tie, so I'd rather take 8 12 points ships than 6 15 points ships becasue it's the same HP but 4 more attack dice. The Tie/FO's (if they exist) value will probably lie in the extra upgrade slot (if that exists)

15 point tie fighters with Target lock won't get fielded in favour of 12 point ones without. An sure you can add another Mod but you are increasing cost and is it really worth adding mods to such cheap ships? It's not power creep, it's just a different option. the game balance isn't about relative cost as much as it is about role within a squad based on percentage of the 100 points you have to spend.

Who would win in an academy swarm Vs Tie /FO swarm fight?

But seriously if there's a new secret product I'm not aware of keep it to yourselves on this thread, I was trying to pull together thoughts on potential new factions without de-railing any other thread and without getting deleted.

Makes sense. What do you think about them eventually splitting off though?

Possibly. that makes more sense to me than starting with them as totally separate factions.

I still don't think it is a good idea though. Can you imagine the outrage if, 4-5 years from now they told everyone that was playing mixed squads that half their collections could no longer be played with the other half?

Same faction but an identified subset that can be mechanically isolated if need be seems to be the only hypothesis anyone has come up with that satisfies the both sides of the argument.

(and I can't wait for the actual announcement when we see both Chucknuckle and ficklegreendice go "I told you so!" to each other.)