"Aces for Hire" - a homebrew Scum Aces expansion.

By Mangipan, in X-Wing

Impatiently waiting for a Scum 'Aces' style expansion, I've been mocking up some designs of my own. This is all still fairly WIP, but it's been fun playing around with some ideas for the kind of things I'd like to see for the ships I love to fly. I've been working on new cards for the Kihraxz Fighter and the StarViper (While I know the Scyk is definitely in need of some love, it's not a ship I'm familiar enough flying to make a proper assessment of.)

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The pilots I've used for the Kihraxzes come straight from Star Wars: Galaxies. Talonbane Cobra is looking a little lonely in his fighter, and could do with some more of his squad to back him up.

Our first Kihraxz pilot offers a really versatile ability at a bargain price. Inspired by the recent Imperial Veterans preview, she's overflowing with options. You could even set up a pseudo-turreted ship with the manoeuvrability of a dogfighter, if that's what you're after.

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Arlem Demonrunner is a powerful missile carrier and potent ace. Able to shed stress to fire his secondary weapons, his dial really opens up.

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The Vaksai is an upgunned modification of the Kihraxz. Carrying heavier weaponry than its little brother, it's a force to be reckoned with in any dogfight.

Overpriced ordnance doesn't look so bad on a Vaksai - when you can follow up a missile volley with a primary weapon attack, you can pour out a devastating alpha strike that no one wants to see head on.

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Naturally, Vaksai pilots will often illegally modify their starfighters even further, adding military grade weapon racks to their already substantial payload.

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One thing that I've been looking at is ways for low-skill pilots to compete in a world of token-stacking aces. A volley of "Shrieker" Flares can distract even the most cool-headed pilot, leaving them exposed and vulnerable.

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Our StarViper pilots all represent the Zann Consortium. This PS4 generic is conspicuously missing from the existing pilot roster - it's the magic number that unlocks the 'Virago' title, allowing for fatter builds when you aren't budgeted for Guri.

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Tyber Zann's lieutenant, Urai Fen, was known for using a personal cloaking device in combat. It stands to reason that his starfighter would be outfitted in a similar fashion. The pilot skill here is deliberately low, with the assumption that Urai Fen is as wedded to Veteran Instincts as Echo and Whisper.

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Speaking of token stacking aces, Tiber Zann himself packs a powerful pilot ability, able to draw maximum effect out of his defensive tokens. An observant reader will note here that there are very few ways for Tyber Zann to gain an Evade token. Which is what I like to call 'foreshadowing'.

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After Prince Xizor's death, the StarViper began being produced in larger quantities. These mass-produced replicas never quite matched the technological genius of the Virago.

As an attempt to tackle the enormous cost of stock StarVipers, this title lets cheap pilots be fielded with an obvious downside. While this card is 'fairly' costed, it isn't the only fix we're looking at for the starfighter.

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The Virago prototype used unique microthrusters, mounted on its wingtips and coordinated by the flight computer to enhance its manoeuvrability.

One issue with StarViper pilots is their lack of defensive actions. When you can gain evade tokens while respositioning, it becomes a lot easier to get your expensive butterfly to stick to the field.

An important thing to note here is that this upgrade fills the torpedo slot, leaving your modification open for important upgrades like Autothrusters or a Stealth Device.

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While Glitterstim is popular with scum pilots, it isn't the only form of spice on the market. Neutron Pixie temporarily increases a user's reflexes, letting them react at unnatural speeds.

It won't let a pilot compete with an ace like Poe Dameron or Soontir Fel for the whole game, but sometimes lining up a single shot against a slippery opponent can be all you need.

Edited by Mangipan

I feel like the NF-2 micro thrusters were already represented with autothrusters, but at the same time I see them being different enough to be added. Great article!

Scum need some sort of card that let's the drop missile or torpedo like a bomb. Arm it, but instead of shooting it, just throw it out the window.

I think the flares should be more like Flechette Torpedos, where they have effect by simply being shot, not hit. I like a lot of this stuff, though.

I think this stuff is really well thought out for a home brew expansion, nice work.

I want to put the supply tokens on dead man's switch, then have it trigger three times.

Good work. I play Scum infrequently enough to have no idea if your cards are balanced points wise, but I suspect they are pretty close. I really dig the artwork too. Good looking cards with interesting abilities. Good job.

Loving the K-Fighter pilots and specific upgrades. I would definitely fly those!

Take note FFG, these are great ideas that should be considered.

This are actually very well thought out. I particularly like the pilot that used stress to fire missiles. It is a shame that he only has one missile, though.

If you are looking for comments, I would rework the shrieker flares to either roll four dice or to strip the tokens without needing to hit. Right now, a lot of ships would be just as well off firing their primary and hoping that the ace has to spend a focus or evade. Also, having Zann spend and evade, get a 2nd evade, and then spend that second evade to avoid all damage will make him nearly untouchable in 1-on-1 situations.

Very well Done!

Now FFG should take those cards, repaint bunch of Starvipers, repack them together and sell as Syndicate Ace.

Great Job Man. Athough i thing he would be too strong with those:) Urai with Auto and Microthrusters would be a monster (5 greens with focus and evade...gl shooting that).

Consistent in theme, not overpowered. Costwise, I'm not sure, I'm terrible at those things.

But definitely something for the mission and narrative players!

This looks good but of course only playtesting will show how much fun it really is and how balanced it really is.

If you haven't playtested it, you should playtest it. So many hidden problems will become apparent.

Regarding "Shrieker" Flares: While I like the concept, I think once you play with it, it will quickly become obvious that the need to have a target lock will make it very difficult to shriek higher pilot skill ships, and multi-action super ships tend to be high pilot skill. With the tokens only being stripped on a hit, there's a good chance that your one-use attack will wiff against natural dice, which will hurt even more if the super ship is an arc dodger and you had to struggle the whole game to get it in arc.

If it was Attack (focus) and removed all focus and evade tokens no matter what, it would probably play much better. Maybe have 0 attack dice too.

Regarding Urai Fen: For pete's sake playtest this thing now!!!

Finally, if your starvipers are from the Zahn consortium, why not plan a special Zahn paint scheme?

Edited by Positively Electric

Maybe change Urai Fen up a bit. It is a bit ready for abuse like this.

After performing an attack, you may receive one stress token assign one cloak token to your ship.

The StarViper is forgiving enough in its dial to offset the stress and will prevent PtL abuse, while keeping the cloak available even if stressed.

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"Attack (Stress):" is absolutely a mechanic I want to see some day, love the idea! :)

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I think I would up shrieker flares' cost to two and cap it at one damage, but have it force any ship with a hull value of four or less to discard a focus or Evade token even if the attack misses (Perhaps even removing the hull qualifier). I'd also argue for an attack (focus) headline, since they seem like dumbfire Munitions much like proton Rockets or the thread tracers.

I'd change Urai Fen as well. Guri is priced appropriately and Fen's ability is much stronger than hers. I'd either drop his Pilot skill to 3 and perhaps cut the EPT (Meaning he would use the cloak mostly for repositioning), or add a significant drawback to cloaking. Perhaps he could cloak at the beginning of the combat phase (Which would cost him his attack).

Edited by Squark

Excellent job OP. Love the diverse and scummy feel. You've nailed most of the concepts.

Maybe change Urai Fen up a bit. It is a bit ready for abuse like this.

After performing an attack, you may receive one stress token assign one cloak token to your ship.

The StarViper is forgiving enough in its dial to offset the stress and will prevent PtL abuse, while keeping the cloak available even if stressed.

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This is good suggestion. I was also thinking the following alternative:

"Once per round when an enemy declares you as the target of an attack, you may assign a cloak token to your ship."

This makes it far less powerful but still interesting. The mid range PS is both a blessing and curse. In some cases, you will be able to shoot then cloak when generics fire back. Against aces, you may opt to draw fire but not attack.

Thanks for all the great feedback. I've reworked the "Shrieker" Flares considering everyone's feedback.

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I'm going to have a think about Urai Fen and see if I can't tweak his ability a little.

I'd say that version is too strong. It needs more limitations. Right now it is a damage enhancement as well as a powerful control option. It also doesn't seem appropriate that flares have the same damage as a heavy fighter's laser cannons.

If you want to keep the effect, I'd require the Focus token to be spent, and maybe limit the damage to 0 or 1.

Very thematic and good thinking! The upgrades-names and what they do fit very well! :)

If you want to keep the effect, I'd require the Focus token to be spent, and maybe limit the damage to 0 or 1.

I left the weapon value as high as it was because it's a weapon that wants to point at high agility aces. I think you're right though - maybe a TLT style damage cap would work out?

If you want to keep the effect, I'd require the Focus token to be spent, and maybe limit the damage to 0 or 1.

I left the weapon value as high as it was because it's a weapon that wants to point at high agility aces. I think you're right though - maybe a TLT style damage cap would work out?

Or just keep it simple by dropping it to 0 or 1 attack dice.

If the tokens are stripped before the attack, you could do okay damage with 2 attack dice.

I agree that the flares should have a single damage effect, like ion cannons or TLT. Otherwise, aside from the PS6 fellow being questionably OP (maybe drop his EPT...? I'm no expert) I truly love everything I'm seeing. The two ships really could use some love, as well as the often maligned M3-A.

What I feel will often kill a ship within this game is a combination of poor choices for generics due to them being overcosted, or often a lack of customizability in the form of passive upgrade types (Systems, Tech, Crew, etc). This is apparent especially with our good friends the Viper and M3-A, who lack many of these options, the Syck especially, and the StarViper title being unique and with a crappy set of criteria for it, AND no elite generic. You've essentially addressed enough of these problems to make it not just functional in the game, but extremely desirable. :3c

Those are all great cards. Would definitely bring the Kihraxz back into the mix with more emphasis on ordnance which is very healthy for the meta. I would say the "Shrieker" Flares should do max 1 damage and keep the 3 attack dice OR whether it hits or not (similar to Flechlette Torpedoes) it removes all focus tokens from the target. Flares from ships never technically have to "hit" they just interrupt a pilot's sight and "focus," so you could go off of that and only have the "Shrieker" Flares remove focus tokens, retain the 3 attack dice, and do no damage since they would automatically remove focus tokens.