I was looking at the Starviper, which I own 4, and thinking about them as a unit. They're generally a great ship, have wonderful knife fighting abilities to really make them annoying/effective in Range 1. However, I find they miss out of being all they could be at the lower PS level. Guri is amazing, and Xizor can be the late game horror you always hoped for, but the Enforcer and Vigo just really don't see all that much play.

So, if FFG ever made an Aces I think the low PS need some love.

Idea for it:

Title:
Mass Product Design. (0)
Must be PS4 or lower. -2 to any modification used by the ship it's equipped to.

It's practically Chardaan refit, but only used by the none-uniques who don't get access to the shiny Virago title. They have to use the run of the mill mass production StarVipers without the fancy systems slot, but gives them the ability to have Auto thrusters for free, which this ship really needs! (4 Enforcers with AT? Yes please) You also could put on a cheap 1 point hull upgrade for more durability or 2 point shield upgrade!

Torpedo slot:
Manoeuvring Thrusters (1)
You may treat all 2-speed maneuvers as green maneuvers.

This would allow you to bring the Viper to the Arc-dodging PTL holding level. I honestly just think it needs more green on it's dial and I think this is a good way to do it... Undercosted possibly.


These are only my ideas though, what would you do to buff up this ship that isn't all that bad but needs a certain amount of love?

I actually find the opposite to be true. I LOVE the PS 1 Enforcers. They move first, so they don't get blocked. This moves the fighting to where you want it to be and the Starvipers can make for great blockers themselves. Knowing they go first, and because of that great dial, they make for great arch dodgers. Often, your opponent will have to perform red moves to be able to fire back, which means they won't have any tokens/actions.

I am often disappointed with Guri and the Prince. Guri more so. Her mid level PS makes her ability only dependable against low level pilots. Prince is best used as a suicide attacker that (hopefully) shrugs off hits to wingmen. TLT has really taken away from his ability. Stress and Ions are also his enemy.

It could use an evade action or a native illicit slot. The ship is not particularly fast and needs that focus for defense since it can't always just run away. Evades and glitterstim are good for more reliable defense. I like your modification idea.

I actually find the opposite to be true. I LOVE the PS 1 Enforcers. They move first, so they don't get blocked. This moves the fighting to where you want it to be and the Starvipers can make for great blockers themselves. Knowing they go first, and because of that great dial, they make for great arch dodgers. Often, your opponent will have to perform red moves to be able to fire back, which means they won't have any tokens/actions.

I am often disappointed with Guri and the Prince. Guri more so. His mid level PS makes his ability only dependable against low level pilots. Prince is best used as a suicide attacker that (hopefully) shrugs off hits to wingmen. TLT has really taken away from his ability. Stress and Ions are also his enemy.

Guri is a female droid.

The Star Viper doesn't need an ace pack, they already have Prince Vizor. How many Pilots Dan get access to a extremely limited custom built star fighter?

The Star Viper doesn't need an ace pack, they already have Prince Vizor. How many Pilots Dan get access to a extremely limited custom built star fighter?

It's a shame the base ship was not priced at 23 points. That would have made this a VERY popular ship.

The Star Viper doesn't need an ace pack, they already have Prince Vizor. How many Pilots Dan get access to a extremely limited custom built star fighter?

they could use an evade, perhaps a free action evade before performing a red manuever. I would make it a title so it couldn't combo with Virago.

It's a shame the base ship was not priced at 23 points. That would have made this a VERY popular ship.

Underpricing any ship would make it popular.

Personally, I'd like to see it get the Imperial Aces treatment. A few new pilots (as we've used most of Black Sun maybe the Zann Consortium or a few Mandalorian ones), an aggressively priced elite generic (a 28pt PS5 for example) and some sort of appropriately costed (rather than fixpriced) upgrade. Black Sun Enforcers are good, Guri is very good.

Prince is best used as a suicide attacker that (hopefully) shrugs off hits to wingmen. TLT has really taken away from his ability.

If anything, TLT was the best thing to happen to Xizor. Autothrusters, Sensor Jammer and some minions to use as shields and he practically ignores TLTs.

Xizor can't pass off damage from a tlt as it cancels all dice results and does 1 damage. Sensor jammer and auto thrusters works great but if prefer fcs or advanced senors for better attack dice modifiers

Guri = the droid I was looking for.

I find her with Bodyguard pretty decent.

Coupled with Leatin and Serrissu... Really annoying combo to kill.

Starvipers work great in pairs with something scarier on the table.

Xizor can't pass off damage from a tlt as it cancels all dice results and does 1 damage. Sensor jammer and auto thrusters works great but if prefer fcs or advanced senors for better attack dice modifiers

And for us Prince fans, it really sucks that his Pilot ability is rendered useless by the two most popular turret out there. I'm hoping that FFG will FAQ Xizor's ability to be able to pass off 1 damage regardless.

Agreed! I like to run mine with Kath.

I'm having a lot of success with a list that features Bossk accompanied by a Black Sun Soldier and Guri. Guri really is the ship that makes the list work. With Autothrusters + PTL (and I'm trying to cut something else to get Sensor Jammer in there), she has been the key to the end-game. Most people want to get rid of Bossk so quickly that Guri gets a lot of range 1 shots with focus and target lock. I agree with the comment above that TLT was the best thing that ever happened to the Starviper!

If I had anything I'd change to make the Starviper better, I'd love to see one more green option on the dial. Guri isn't the best arc-dodger, but her ability makes it great for getting a BR + boost into range 1 for the free focus. If there was a green hard-turn, it would make her a lot more dangerous. If the hard-green wasn't an option, I'd also love to see an evade action possibility as well.

Xizor can't pass off damage from a tlt as it cancels all dice results and does 1 damage. Sensor jammer and auto thrusters works great but if prefer fcs or advanced senors for better attack dice modifiers

Alex Davy implied Xizor could in the Scum and Villainy interview...

Xizor can't pass off damage from a tlt as it cancels all dice results and does 1 damage. Sensor jammer and auto thrusters works great but if prefer fcs or advanced senors for better attack dice modifiers

Alex Davy implied Xizor could in the Scum and Villainy interview...

Great! Tell him to update the FAQ then. Because as it is written now, Xizor's ability doesn't work against assigned damage, only against uncancelled dice.

Xizor can't pass off damage from a tlt as it cancels all dice results and does 1 damage. Sensor jammer and auto thrusters works great but if prefer fcs or advanced senors for better attack dice modifiers

Alex Davy implied Xizor could in the Scum and Villainy interview...

I'd LOVE to see a FAQ on what happens if Xizor passes an uncancelled hit/crit to another ship for an attack that's cancelled, but I think it's supposed to work like this?

Say the TLT rolls 3h. Xizor rolls 2e. He passes 1 hit off to another ship, which takes a damage. On Xizor's end, the attack no longer hits, and TLT only deals 1h if it isn't cancelled.

Or does his ability happen AFTER being "hit" is determined?

His ability happens after being "hit" is determined, like Draw Their Fire. They have just ruled that it can't work, to make things easier, because allowing is a really weird situation that you won't want to do in 99.9999999% of the time.

Mandalorian Ace

PS6 Elite Talent generic

Named Mandalorian

PS8 Elite Talent named

When attacking an enemy that you have Target Locked, you may reroll one attack die.

Mandal-Motors Refit

Title, Star Viper only, 0 points

Your upgrade bar gains the Illicit upgrade.

Throw in four copies of the Mandal-Motors Refit and Autothrusters.

New ET:

On the Hunt

Elite Talent. 3 points.

When you perform an attack against an enemy that you have Target Locked, you may treat the range of the attack as one higher or lower, to a minimum of 1 or a maximum of 3.

Interesting ideas, Major Juggler did the math for the Star Viper and found that based on its dual, stats, upgrade slots, and actions it has a true value of 22 points for a PS 1 pilot. He's very reliable with this sort of thing.

The viper suffered as one of the last ships FFG created before they started using their current squad value metrics, but its main reason for being overcosted is its segnor's loop. They thought that a Segnor's loop would bs stronger then it is (still is great to have) and so they over priced the viper for it.

The Scyyk is even more over costed, especially the title. Paying 2 points so you can pay more points is a terrible concept.

My recommendation for the star viper would be to give it another title:

Next Gen Fighter (lore wise it was super advanced tech)

0 points

You gain the tech and illicit upgrades, decrease the cost of any tech and illicit upgrades by 1.

P

Pilot wise I think more scum themed ships with "screw over" abilities would be nice. How about this:

PS 6 with EPT

"The first time an enemy ship at range 1-2 of you gains a focus or evade token you gain one as well."

^I've been trying to play StarVipers more recently (and getting pretty good results).

They have a REALLY good dial when you consider the full range of 1-2 speed maneuvers AND both movement actions, with only the segs red. It's easy to stay on something's tail, especially when you factor in being able to run AdvS.

Half the ships with that sort of movement action selection are missing 3/5_^ths of the 1-speed maneuvers (well, there's really only the one ship, with the A-Wing, E-wing, and Defender all requiring upgrades to get the second movement action), and the other half are missing 1-2 of the moves at that speed.

I was looking at the Starviper, which I own 4, and thinking about them as a unit. They're generally a great ship, have wonderful knife fighting abilities to really make them annoying/effective in Range 1. However, I find they miss out of being all they could be at the lower PS level. Guri is amazing, and Xizor can be the late game horror you always hoped for, but the Enforcer and Vigo just really don't see all that much play.

So, if FFG ever made an Aces I think the low PS need some love.

Idea for it:

Title:

Mass Product Design. (0)

Must be PS4 or lower. -2 to any modification used by the ship it's equipped to.

It's practically Chardaan refit, but only used by the none-uniques who don't get access to the shiny Virago title. They have to use the run of the mill mass production StarVipers without the fancy systems slot, but gives them the ability to have Auto thrusters for free, which this ship really needs! (4 Enforcers with AT? Yes please) You also could put on a cheap 1 point hull upgrade for more durability or 2 point shield upgrade!

Torpedo slot:

Manoeuvring Thrusters (1)

You may treat all 2-speed maneuvers as green maneuvers.

This would allow you to bring the Viper to the Arc-dodging PTL holding level. I honestly just think it needs more green on it's dial and I think this is a good way to do it... Undercosted possibly.

These are only my ideas though, what would you do to buff up this ship that isn't all that bad but needs a certain amount of love?

Yeah they should give the Star Viper a Zann Consotium paint job, to honor their canon status being changed to primary canon. They should also get Buzzdroid swarms just like in Force corruption. The swarm could allow the Vipers to cause 1 point of damage to unshieldid ships if they colide.

Throw in four copies of the Mandal-Motors Refit and Autothrusters.

I think the one thing people who already own StarVipers DOESN'T need is more Autothrusters.

^I've been trying to play StarVipers more recently (and getting pretty good results).

They have a REALLY good dial when you consider the full range of 1-2 speed maneuvers AND both movement actions, with only the segs red. It's easy to stay on something's tail, especially when you factor in being able to run AdvS.

Half the ships with that sort of movement action selection are missing 3/5_^ths of the 1-speed maneuvers (well, there's really only the one ship, with the A-Wing, E-wing, and Defender all requiring upgrades to get the second movement action), and the other half are missing 1-2 of the moves at that speed.

Yeah they are a great ship, just overcosted compared to most other ships is all and without enough options for upgrades. You can almost take 1 Y and 1 Z for the cost of 1 Starviper, hence why you don't see them often. That said I like flying a squad of 3 star vipers, but they REALLY need a PS 4 generic with an EPT slot.

I think Starvipers could definitely use a fix, in a very similar way that E-Wings need a fix. In both cases, the top unique pilot is useful (more so with Corran), and the PS5 unique is generally less useful, but interesting.

What would really be good is a 'fix' that selectively improves lower-PS, and especially one that actually improves as you move downwards in PS.

Some ideas:

Modification: Gyroscopic Stabilizer (Starviper only): You may declare an enemy ship that you are touching as the target of your attack. 1 Point

This is a significantly more powerful version of Arvel Crynd's ability (it works in any direction). This would make a Starviper a really powerful blocker and brawler, and would work better on lower PS ships. It competes with autothrusters for the mod slot.

Torpedo: Beskar Refit: (Starviper only): If you are hit by an attack, you may discard this card to cancel all [hit] and [crit] results. 1 Point.

A more straightforward upgrade that improves survivability.

Custom Starfighter Title, 2pts Syck and Starviper Only: you may equip an illicit or modification costing up to 3pts for free even if you could not otherwise equip it. You way not equip other "______ only" cards.

Factory Reject, modification: -2 pts. Your first damage card is always dealt face up.

Factory Model, modification: -2pt. You may not equip this ship with any other upgrade.

PS 8 Starviper: when you reveal a sloop you may change that maneuver to a kturn or tallon roll of the same speed.

PS 6 Starviper: when an enemy ship cancels all of your attack results, if they have an expendable EPT, droid, or illicit upgrade you may force them to discard that upgrade

Certainly need to make some limitations on these: dual upgrade, limited, unique...but if balanced they'd be great.