So, elsewhere on this forum today I got into a conversation with some people about alternate abilities for a pilot, and it got me to thinking. At first, I was going to propose this idea as an alternate pilot ability (Maarek Stele, Defender pilot extraordinaire!). And since I was thinking of Stele, this ability was inspired by the TIE Fighter game. Veterans of that game may remember that it was possible to adjust your shield recharge rate, or rather to modulate the recharge rates of several of your ship's functions, but also in a pinch it was possible to just immediately dump some or all of your stored cannon energy into shields. Doing this could sometimes result in your cannons hitting 50% charge or below (which halved their damage output) or in some desperate cases ("INCOMING ENEMY MISSILE. INCOMING ENEMY MISSILE. INCOMING ENEMY MISSILE.") drain them completely. But, then I thought it might make a good upgrade card of some sort too. So first I'll discuss the ability, how it works, and why I see it being implemented the way I do, and then I can get into where it should go.

"When attacking with your primary weapon, immediately after rolling attack dice, you may cancel 1 or more <hit> results. For each one you cancel, regain one shield token. You cannot further modify your attack dice."

Now, I know what some of you may be thinking: "NO! This is stupid! If we give both sides the same abilities then everything just becomes a mess of samey garbage!"

However, I feel like this ability, while still technically being a regen ability, has some very interesting and dynamic play style differences. For one, it requires sacking some or all of your attack value. So you're taking a turn to basically go on the defensive. But also, unlike most regen abilities out there, you can't run off to lick your wounds. It becomes a dicey play where you have to stay in the fight and go on the attack for any chance of success. It also still rewards good maneuvering, as outmaneuvering a foe in order to attack them from a vantage where they can't return fire helps mitigate the risks. It's also not a sure thing, as you might wiff your attack roll. And finally, the last line prevents someone from dumping all their hits into shields and then using Accuracy Corrector, because doing that cheap nonsense is just lame.

Anyway, if it were an upgrade instead I could see it being a modification. And since it's not possible to regenerate shields above your shield value (and it's a modification), there'd be no way to put it on any ship that doesn't already come shielded with the exception of a Royal Guard Interceptor. And let's be honest, how many of you are willing to forgo Autothrusters on your interceptors? I can see it being 4 points, 5 at the most.

Anyway, in short, I feel that even though it would give both sides a regen option it still keeps with the general theme of the game. Rebels have statistically sure, safe ships, while Imperials favor high risk/reward moves.

Comm Relay could give Imperials their own flavor of Regen. Just add an Imperial only upgrade that lets ships turn a modification slot into a tech slot.

Interesting idea. The trade off from sacrificing shooting does indeed make for an intriguing mechanic.

EDC

...so you're just giving the Imps Miranda Doni's ability?

No more regen...please

if FFG is going to give the Empire Regen which is on par with Gonk then they may as well not bother, when compared to Rebel Regen sources the Scum player has to jump through hoops where the Rebel gets it on a silver platter.

...so you're just giving the Imps Miranda Doni's ability?

No. That one rolls fewer dice for assured regen. And it's a turret, so you can still run from the fight and regen. Both of these were addressed in the original post.

Thematically it makes sense, and ships like bombers and regular TIEs gain exactly nothing from it.

It would be potentially glorious on a doom shuttle.

I'd rather it be temporary shield token that are removed with the other temporary tokens... Let's call them Reinforcement tokens...

That way if you know your gonna get slammed you can sacrifice your Attack dice (natural only no range modifiers or abilities) for a shield buffer...

Power Management System:

Modification

At the beginning of the combat phase you may reduce your natural no range or ability modified Attack dice to a minimum of 0, for every dice remove add one reinforcement token, this ability can not be taken with ships with no shields. (4 points)

Imperials already have a form of regeneration - in the shape of free (or nearly free) evade tokens. When you look at the X1 title with Accuracy Corrector, the V1 title, and the X7 title, there is a pretty clear doctrine at work.

The analogy isn't exact, of course, but that's what makes it interesting.

The main difference is in utility: a regenerated shield is good no matter what, and persists, while an evade token is only good if you're attacked (and they roll at least one hit), and must be renewed each turn.

To balance this, Imperial ships have been given increasing amounts of inter- and intra-ship synergy with Target Locks and Evade tokens. E.g., Vessery, Omega Leader, Comms Relay, and especially Juke.

Another implication is that Imperial ships benefit most from their pseudo-regen by being engaged in combat. In contrast, Rebel and Scum regen work best when not taking attacks. Rebel and Scum regen can also be ported to a number of desirable aces, while the faceless Empire restricts theirs to specific classes of ship.

So, while Rebels and Scum have true regeneration, Imperials do have access to a comparable effect. It's just a bit more aggressively adjusted And a really nice piece of design.

Regen isn't thematic for the Empire

They have reserves for a reason.

If Rebels keep winning Worlds the next few years, I can see some of the regeneration/defensive upgrades being shared to Imperials/Scum faction. Defense seems to be the key in winning the big events which Rebels are by far the best at. It also minimizes the role of luck with the green die.

Imperials already have a form of regeneration - in the shape of free (or nearly free) evade tokens. When you look at the X1 title with Accuracy Corrector, the V1 title, and the X7 title, there is a pretty clear doctrine at work.

The analogy isn't exact, of course, but that's what makes it interesting.

The main difference is in utility: a regenerated shield is good no matter what, and persists, while an evade token is only good if you're attacked (and they roll at least one hit), and must be renewed each turn.

To balance this, Imperial ships have been given increasing amounts of inter- and intra-ship synergy with Target Locks and Evade tokens. E.g., Vessery, Omega Leader, Comms Relay, and especially Juke.

Another implication is that Imperial ships benefit most from their pseudo-regen by being engaged in combat. In contrast, Rebel and Scum regen work best when not taking attacks. Rebel and Scum regen can also be ported to a number of desirable aces, while the faceless Empire restricts theirs to specific classes of ship.

So, while Rebels and Scum have true regeneration, Imperials do have access to a comparable effect. It's just a bit more aggressively adjusted And a really nice piece of design.

From some reason I get a little wary of evade = regen. And as Obi-Wan would say while it is true "from a certain point of view" in the sense that a net result is a damage being cancelled its hard for me to place them on the same tier simply because you can't stack evades or regain lost health with them to help distribute a large amount of burst damage over multiple rounds.

Note that most of the Imperials "regen" has been fairly recent, with the Raider expansion/Advanced title being the oldest, Comms Relay being both shared with the rebels and extremely new. The V1/X7 titles aren't even out yet. Meanwhile R2-D2 and R5-P9 have been out for long time.

I'm interested to see how the new Imperial titles will stack up to Rebel regen in the competitive setting, but I for one wouldn't be upset to see the Imperials get a more traditional form of regen.

--Snip--

From some reason I get a little wary of evade = regen. And as Obi-Wan would say while it is true "from a certain point of view" in the sense that a net result is a damage being cancelled its hard for me to place them on the same tier simply because you can't stack evades or regain lost health with them to help distribute a large amount of burst damage over multiple rounds.

Comms Relay is very slightly worse than Shield Regen with a shield value of 1, due simply to the presence of TLT and Ion Cannons.

I'd like more Moff Jerjerrod-like abilities (except, you know, good) instead of regeneration, personally. His ability screams "Imperial!"

"We're hit!"

"Don't worry, I stuffed Ensign Ricky in the hole. We're good."

I'd like more Moff Jerjerrod-like abilities (except, you know, good) instead of regeneration, personally. His ability screams "Imperial!"

"We're hit!"

"Don't worry, I stuffed Ensign Ricky in the hole. We're good."

What, like Draw Their Fire?

I hate that DTF comes as a singleton in a Rebel Large Ship, when its clearly best in a Swarm.

Comms Relay is very slightly worse than Shield Regen with a shield value of 1, due simply to the presence of TLT and Ion Cannons.

I certainly don't doubt the math, but on a personal level I consider shield regen to be much stronger for reasons that are mostly situational and hard to quantify. The ability to mitigate multiple high burst damage attacks over several turns along with completely mitigating low damage attacks is something I feel a single evade token once a turn can't quite stack up to. I'm not an expert though, so I could be wrong. When I fly ships with shield regen they last much longer than ships with comms relay, but I realize that could just be my inexperience with them.

Although my favorite at the moment is shield regen + comms relay <3

Comms Relay is very slightly worse than Shield Regen with a shield value of 1, due simply to the presence of TLT and Ion Cannons.

I certainly don't doubt the math, but on a personal level I consider shield regen to be much stronger for reasons that are mostly situational and hard to quantify. The ability to mitigate multiple high burst damage attacks over several turns along with completely mitigating low damage attacks is something I feel a single evade token once a turn can't quite stack up to. I'm not an expert though, so I could be wrong. When I fly ships with shield regen they last much longer than ships with comms relay, but I realize that could just be my inexperience with them.

Although my favorite at the moment is shield regen + comms relay <3

I did specify "a shield value of 1"

If Comms didn't restrict your counters, it might be balanced at 15 squad-points.

just make Ion damage also nerf your astromech somehow...

just make Ion damage also nerf your astromech somehow...

It already does, R2-D2 doesn't regen shields on a white 1 maneuver.

Imperials already have a form of regeneration - in the shape of free (or nearly free) evade tokens. When you look at the X1 title with Accuracy Corrector, the V1 title, and the X7 title, there is a pretty clear doctrine at work.

The analogy isn't exact, of course, but that's what makes it interesting.

The main difference is in utility: a regenerated shield is good no matter what, and persists, while an evade token is only good if you're attacked (and they roll at least one hit), and must be renewed each turn.

To balance this, Imperial ships have been given increasing amounts of inter- and intra-ship synergy with Target Locks and Evade tokens. E.g., Vessery, Omega Leader, Comms Relay, and especially Juke.

Another implication is that Imperial ships benefit most from their pseudo-regen by being engaged in combat. In contrast, Rebel and Scum regen work best when not taking attacks. Rebel and Scum regen can also be ported to a number of desirable aces, while the faceless Empire restricts theirs to specific classes of ship.

So, while Rebels and Scum have true regeneration, Imperials do have access to a comparable effect. It's just a bit more aggressively adjusted And a really nice piece of design.

Your new hear so I won't report you for swearing, but we don't use the S word it is verboten!!!

"When attacking with your primary weapon, immediately after rolling attack dice, you may cancel 1 or more <hit> results. For each one you cancel, regain one shield token. You cannot further modify your attack dice."

...

Anyway, if it were an upgrade instead I could see it being a modification. And since it's not possible to regenerate shields above your shield value (and it's a modification), there'd be no way to put it on any ship that doesn't already come shielded with the exception of a Royal Guard Interceptor. And let's be honest, how many of you are willing to forgo Autothrusters on your interceptors? I can see it being 4 points, 5 at the most.

This modification sounds hilarious on a Patrol Leader with Gunner. Maybe add Darth Vader for extra fun.

Paul heaver won worlds... Not t the rebel list.

Could you imagine the silence if he won this years with an imperial list....

Stop the f****ing whinging

If imperials ever get regen abilities, I'd like to see the in the form of 'support' ships repairing other damaged ships.

It would be original, at least, respect from the other factions.

That should be Paul's goal then...to win World's with a Scum/Imperial list. We know he plays those factions too. I think Regeneration and Defensive skills are far too valuable for him to give up.