You guys really need to think of better pilot abilites... almost C&P from another thread on the subject

Bomber:

PS 8, EPT - After performing a <torpedo> or <missile> attack that hits you may perform another <torpedo> or <missile> attack. Then you may not attack again this round.

PS 7, EPT - When one of your bombs you deployed detonates, you may re-roll any number of attack dice.

PS 5, no EPT - When performing an attack that requires you have or spend a target lock, you may use the red target lock token of another friendly ship instead.

Defender:

PS 9, EPT - After you perfrom a <barrel roll>-action you may rotate your ship 90°. If you do so the maneuver template must be between your front or rear guides. *New*

PS 7, EPT - After an attack that ionized to the defender, you may assign it a weapon disabled token as well.

If nothing else, they tend to make ships at different PS to previous - and Aces have never released a higher PS pilot than pre-existing. So there'd need some tweakin', there.

I do kinda like that PS 5 bomber, but I'd prefer it were a modification or something. The PS7 Defender is ridiculous though, and wouldn't actually do anything to PS 8+ either. (Weapon disabled tokens are removed during cleanup.)

If nothing else, they tend to make ships at different PS to previous - and Aces have never released a higher PS pilot than pre-existing. So there'd need some tweakin', there.

Alpha Striker on Redline with Yorr in support could throw 4 Proton Torpedos with rerolls and eye-to-crit on every single attack. On the first round of shooting. That's 16 modified dice. Yeah, no . Even doing it twice... I dislike it, alas.

I know, it needs a "you may not attack again this round" text. (wasn't included because of lack of text space)

The problem I have with the OPs "Linked cannons " is that it makes Tractor beams do damage, and limits you to control cannons. Either Linked Ions should be a dedicated ion cannon buff, or Linked Guns should be applicable to the whole range of cannons, present and future.

I prefer a "If you hit, cancel all but one result and..." wording, as it lets Mangler get it's autocrit in, Autoblaster can get an undodgable hit to crack stealth devices, and keeps Tractor beam as a pure status cannon. (Heavy laser probably isnt worth it, but it is more accurate than anything but the autoblaster and longer ranged)

Doesn't the Tractor Beam make the enemy ship easier to hit so your weapons give more damage?

But yes, I liked you text better. I will change mine as soon as I can.

Bombers are my favorite ship in the game. I want more for them.

But the only thing I truly want in a bomber ace pack is Deathfire McDibs . Because that name is the most glorious thing I've ever heard.

"Deathfire" McDibs was a pilot of the Imperial Navy. As of 1 ABY he held the rank of lieutenant and piloted a TIE/sa bomber in the Dantooine system.

I wrote a decent way of doing Linked Cannons in the Gunboat thread.

It's phrasing was along the lines of "Once per round, after you perform an attack that hits, you may perform a second attack. If this attack hits, before dealing damage, cancel all dice results."

Analagous phrasing to the Ion Cannon Turret.

The effect this has is that card text dealing damage or effects still work, but raw damage does not (HLC and Mangler are useless here). Primary attacks can trigger Tactician if the ship that could take this has crew. Flechette Cannon, Ion Cannon, Advanced Homing Missile and Ion Pulse Missile all work exactly as normal. Assault Missile and Ion Torpedo still get their AOE blasts but don't deal damage to the ship they shoot. Flechette Torpedo can't deal damage but can still deal stress.

Possible restrictions include requiring the primary on the first attack (which prevents doubling most weapons, the Flechette Cannon + Ion Cannon combo and the Ion Cannon + Ion Pulse Missile huge ship mauling combo) or requiring a different upgrade slot on the second attack (preventing Flechette twice or Ion Cannon twice). If we're talking TIE defender you could restrict to Cannons alone, meaning only Flechette Cannon, Ion Cannon and Tractor Beam would work.

First modified card, due to suggestions:

Better now? If yes, I will replace the one in the OP.

PS: I do want a card that works for other ships, not only the Defender. And I'm to fan of the lore to use weird solutions like making this card occupy a missile slot.

I know some of these upgrade cards effects and pilot's abilities look limited, and there are other much more creative around. But if you look at the lore, you will see I'm one of those weird guys who think the game should serve the IP, and not the other way around.

Re-worked Defender title, more in line with the TIE/x1 title:

Doesn´t overload this already action dependent ship and works well with the Linked Cannons upgrade.

You want a Tie Bomber to be able to fire two munitions in a single turn? Why not just make an expensive upgrade that says "Spend your target lock to destroy a ship"?

And don't you think it's biting off the A-Wing's Thunder to basically give the Tie Defender a Chardaan Refit that also powers it up?

And the Tie/D one.....1 point for two extra upgrade slots?

I personally don't care for the linked ion cannons as suggested, as it feels like a copy of the BTL title fix.

That's kinda the point, as the BTL Y-Wing is just a Y-Wing that functions like the one in X-Wing: Alliance. The idea behind linked ion cannons is to make it so the Defender, B-Wing, Gunboat, etc. work like they do in XWA also, which was exactly the same as the Y-Wing.

or you fix it like the A-wing with a missle slot that states:

Cannon Uplink interface: After attacking with your Primary weapon, if the attack hits apply the non-damage-effect of an equipped <cannon> to the defender

Of all of the linked cannon ideas, I think I like this one the best.

You want a Tie Bomber to be able to fire two munitions in a single turn? Why not just make an expensive upgrade that says "Spend your target lock to destroy a ship"?

And don't you think it's biting off the A-Wing's Thunder to basically give the Tie Defender a Chardaan Refit that also powers it up?

And the Tie/D one.....1 point for two extra upgrade slots?

Costs can be adjusted. Sure the TIE/x7 it's a buff that has negative cost, but this is for a ship that is already too expensive. I don't think if would make the Defender OP.

About the Alpha Striker, let's not forget you will use expendable (and expensive) ordinance for limited times and at the cost of a stress token and probably expending a focus one. It is a good ability? Sure, but meant to bring missiles and torpedoes to the table (to change the meta, not to break the game).

About the TIE/D... see TIE/x1. BTW, I changed the upgrade (see above).

About the Alpha Striker, let's not forget you will use expendable (and expensive) ordinance for limited times and at the cost of a stress token and probably expending a focus one. It is a good ability? Sure, but meant to bring missiles and torpedoes to the table (to change the meta, not to break the game).

Without limiting its use to once a round it is a broken card for the Imperials. Redline flying with Yorr could pump out 4 attacks all modified with target locks in a single round. If he was firing nothing but Cluster Missiles, his alpha strike capability would exceed that of 7 Academy Pilots with Howlrunner.

EDIT: Bah! It just dawned on me that Punishers don't get EPTs. Carry on, there's nothing to see here.

About the Alpha Striker, let's not forget you will use expendable (and expensive) ordinance for limited times and at the cost of a stress token and probably expending a focus one. It is a good ability? Sure, but meant to bring missiles and torpedoes to the table (to change the meta, not to break the game).

Without limiting its use to once a round it is a broken card for the Imperials. Redline flying with Yorr could pump out 4 attacks all modified with target locks in a single round. If he was firing nothing but Cluster Missiles, his alpha strike capability would exceed that of 7 Academy Pilots with Howlrunner.

EDIT: Bah! It just dawned on me that Punishers don't get EPTs. Carry on, there's nothing to see here.

If it had EPT, would it be possible to make so many attacks with just 2 target locks?

yeah sadly, i would not want yet another defender or bomber model. i have 3 and 5. max for 100 pts.

yeah sadly, i would not want yet another defender or bomber model. i have 3 and 5. max for 100 pts.

I have 3 and 4 respectively, and I would not want another defender unless the model was better....

Yep, that would do it for me

Speaking of which, when are we going to see this bad boy show up on shapeways?

About the Alpha Striker, let's not forget you will use expendable (and expensive) ordinance for limited times and at the cost of a stress token and probably expending a focus one. It is a good ability? Sure, but meant to bring missiles and torpedoes to the table (to change the meta, not to break the game).

Without limiting its use to once a round it is a broken card for the Imperials. Redline flying with Yorr could pump out 4 attacks all modified with target locks in a single round. If he was firing nothing but Cluster Missiles, his alpha strike capability would exceed that of 7 Academy Pilots with Howlrunner.

EDIT: Bah! It just dawned on me that Punishers don't get EPTs. Carry on, there's nothing to see here.

If it had EPT, would it be possible to make so many attacks with just 2 target locks?

Fire Control System would give it endless Target Locks. Redline's ability would let him get a TL to shoot and a TL to modify from the FCS.

Speaking of which, when are we going to see this bad boy show up on shapeways?

That's not a bad boy. All the experimentals are terrible.

That said, I still want to see some of them get Title cards .

Speaking of which, when are we going to see this bad boy show up on shapeways?

That's not a bad boy. All the experimentals are terrible.

That said, I still want to see some of them get Title cards .

What!?! I really like the way that one looks, it actually looks like a reasonable modification to an existing starfighter.

To meander back to bombers, what about a tie bomber whose ability is similar to Corran Horn but with bombs? That would be pretty cool, drop two mines and then bounce out.

I need them to put out a new model already! The fact that I expect an aces pack is preventing me from finishing my squadron.

I'd be very happy to see a Defender/Bomber Aces pack (or even just the Defender alone) - even if they just added some new pilots for these ships.

That said, I still believe a fix for the Defender is needed, and my take on it would be as follows:

'Onyx Squadron Elite'

Title - TIE Defender Only

0pts

If your Pilot Skill is "5" or lower, increase your Pilot Skill by 2.

Once per round, after executing a green manoeuvre, you may either perform a free Boost action, or recover 1 shield.

Linked Cannon System

Cannon - TIE Defender Only. Limited.

1pt

Your upgrade bar gains one Cannon icon.

When performing a primary weapon attack, if the attack hits, you may apply any non-damage effects from an equipped Cannon upgrade card without cancelling attack dice.

'Fluff' for the Defender is the main inspiration for these abilities (a dangerous precedent, perhaps):

-Allegedly the best pilots in the Imperial fleet, it seems thematically flawed that their generic PS values are lower when compared with the generics for every other ship besides the TIE Fighter and Interceptor. At the same time, I don't think a base PS10 would be reasonable, hence the restriction to the non-named pilots.

-Repeatedly the Defender is described as being both fast and agile, while also having rapidly regenerating shields that did not overly tax propulsion. The second ability of the title addresses this, allowing the Defender to go 'flat-out' with a Boost or help address it's relative vulnerability in combat - but not both at once. Restricting this to green manoeuvres keeps shield regeneration in line with R2-D2, and removes the possibility of Autothrusters by not adding the Boost action to the action bar, in aid of maintaining balance and not competing with the MkII Engine.

-The 'linked' cannon is listed as a standard configuration, so to my mind it makes sense to allow it to be equipped without using up the cannon slot, and without spending many additional points over the cost of the cannon itself. It makes Flechette or Ion cannons a viable selection for Defenders, without affecting the Heavy Laser or Mangler choices.

I called it!

Good one!

**** OP. You must be going through the trash at FFG HQ.