I'm with VaeVictis. My HotAC group(s) allow multiple uniques, as differnt combos sometimes require the same card to work. My PS9 Y-wing has Jake, Biggs and Poe (and R5-P9), while a B-wing has Jake and Calculation and Ten. Both don't need Jake, but both are made better by it's use. One tanks while the other kills. If we made uniques unique, one player or the other would be left out just because they did not get there first.

If everyone in the group was tryingt to make the excat same build, I could see reason to change it. Cookie cutter lists get boring no matter what you are going, co-op or skirmish.

But there comes the "coop" part of the game. It doesn't require much effort to ask if somebody else wanted certain ability you were planning to buy, and then decide who would get what. It can become a problem if you have a "hoarding" player in your group, of course, but otherwise it works pretty good. Although I would discard the rule and give free access to everybody on big groups (6+ players, we are just 5), as the ability pool can become a bit tight.

I guess everybody plays it like they want. I'm totally into pooling the XP, but I also see how people want to keep some competitiveness.

I just read through the entire thread and feel like I have to voice something here...

As an example, if you draw an Elite Interceptor, you've dropped its upgrades down to the PS4+ stat bar, rather than the PS6+ stat bar. It now moves before the five PS6 Rebels and has one less ability. That's what I am getting at. It automatically reduces the difficulty level of the game. In missions where an average PS increases the number, or type of ships being drawn, it potentially reduces that as well.

The game is designed so that once half the group reaches a specific pilot skill, that the average pilot skill of the group goes up to that number . It keeps that first guy getting ahead from skewing the game, but it also means that the difficulty level of the game keeps progressing. One player staying at 2 decreases that rate of increase. In fact, it creates situations down the line where the first player to reach a higher pilot skill can theoretically be playing 2 PS above the average.

The highlighted sentence is false, as the rules themselves explicitly state (v0.7 page 28, point 3)

Average the recorded Pilot Skill ratings of all players (round down) to determine the Rebel Pilot Skill level.

So even if 5 people are on lvl6 and one guy didn't have enough to go lvl6 and stays 5, the entire group runs at Average of 5. And I don't think that a new player coming in at 2 will make a real difference to be honest, the things stated are just a corner case. And personally I think the cut down on imperial skills might be needed for a new player to even have some fun at playing, else he will just get obliterated and then you have quite something on your hands as well because you basically play a scenario designed for one more player in terms of enemies, even though their skill level is lower. So you will have more enemies on your hands that are not as powerful as before. I expect it to be rather even, depending on the scenario.

We've played very large games (8+ people) and scaled up the size of the mat to a 4x4 and most of us are at ps7-8, and recently another 2 players wanted to play, so we let them in at PS2.

And we just helped them out get kills by giving them extra actions using Lando, Jake, and Dutch on our ships. It was really cool when one of the rookies shot down a cloaked Elite Phantom the other day.

I want to make sure I am understanding correctly. When you start your campaign you either take 3 (short) or all starter missions. You will then draw one starter mission and play that with the other missions in that series. After that completes you will randomly draw another of the starter card missions, lather, rinse, repeat. Or am I missing something. I have read through the book and the one thing that is making me question is the discard vs reshuffle on some of the missions.

Negative. But you are close.

This line is incorrect

"You will then draw one starter mission and play that with the other missions in that series. After that completes you will randomly draw another of the starter card missions, lather, rinse, repeat."

As per the book - Page 28, point 2 - Each mission you will shuffle and draw two mission cards and choose one to complete. You will then put the other back in the deck.

I want to make sure I am understanding correctly. When you start your campaign you either take 3 (short) or all starter missions. You will then draw one starter mission and play that with the other missions in that series. After that completes you will randomly draw another of the starter card missions, lather, rinse, repeat. Or am I missing something. I have read through the book and the one thing that is making me question is the discard vs reshuffle on some of the missions.

Edit: So you can play story arcs completely mixed together. If I was unclear there...

IMO, there's not much reason to play the shorter campaign. So...

Play Local Trouble. Once done, create your Mission Deck with all the starter missions. Draw two, pick one to play, return the other to the Mission Deck. After playing, follow the instructions for winning or losing.

Most of the time, if you win, you'll remove that mission, and add the next mission in the series to the Mission Deck. But win or lose, draw two more missions from the Mission Deck, choose one to play, and so on.

So usually you won't play the missions in immediate subsequent order, but you might, depending on what you draw from the Mission Deck and what you choose to play.

In my group, we eliminated the "draw two, choose one" mechanic. We just play the one we draw. But that's a house rule.

Awesome. Thanks guys. We are going to demo this weekend and I wanted to make sure I at least look like I know what I'm doing. At least If we get too many for one table we can have the other just follow the book arc since I only have one deck printed.

I started our campaign this past weekend. I am ready to upgrade my Y-Wing. I currently have TLT. Target Astromech, Guidance Chips and 2x Proton Torpedoes. In the future I will be adding Hobbie and Nera's abilities, Extra Munitions and Shield Upgrade. I am moving up to level 3 and will have a few points, I am thinking of adding Deadeye and R2 Astromech. I found that I did not have enough green to remove stress to use Targeting Astro effectively. I am thinking at PS5 of adding Hobbie's ability and switching Deadeye to Stay on Target and R2 back to Targeting Astro; I could pull reds every move with SoT and get a TL and then Hobbie the stress away and take a focus action. At PS7 I could add back Deadeye or pick up Nera then. At first I wanted Predator and it would help, but I think the other abilities are better overall for my build.

Just wanted to post my Y and my wifes X builds now that we're 5 missions deep into our campaign.

So far the only mission we've completely failed was the 2nd one in the capture officer arc, which is a bummer because I was really looking forward to the 3rd mission there. Oh well, next campaign! We have survived a few by the skin of our teeth and the Wife's ejected twice now and I have once.

Anyhow, we've been really successful with this combo lately. We're both really new to X-wing and pretty much played only HotAC with my ever growing collection of ships and cards. (and Lego proxies)

Beaver Squadron:

Zeus - Y-wing - PS (6) - R2 Astromech - Advanced Proton Torpedo - Proton Torpedo - Ion Cannon - Extra Munitions - PTL - Engine Upgrade - Trick Shot (fire torpedoes out of arc) - Shield Upgrade.

Airburner - X-wing - PS (5) - R2-D2 - Advanced Proton Torpedo/Proton Torpedo - Extra Munitions (House Rule lets her take 2 of either torp or one of each) - Pilot Ability that gives free Target Lock on enemy who targeted her - Shield Upgrade - Predator

I'm Zeus, and with that build Ive got 4 torpedoes, and can fire them 360*, a boost, and can still ion tag a target. I feel like a boss in this ship. If I can get in range 1, Ill PTL and focus+TL for a nasty modified 5 dice attack, or I can PTL > Boost > TL for the standard torpedoes and do a lot of arc dodging with return torpedos. R2 lets me clear the stress with any speed 1 or 2 maneuver the following round, and the 4 torpedoes have seemed enough for our 2 player opposition size.

My wife doesn't seem to do as well, although I just suggested she pick up Predator and I let her upgrade to a T-70 for 5XP when she leveled to PS (5) and that upped her contribution to the battle a lot this last mission (part 2 of minefield). I think going forward in the T-70 with Predator, she'll rack up some more XP.

To help her out, Ive made a few XP house rules, like adding mission complete XP (2 per mission per pilot) and adding 1 XP for a Crit (so long as it lands on a hull and a card is flipped) and giving her 1 assist XP if I kill a ship she damaged. It's all about fun right?

You should also share XP. I've found that really goes a long way to foster the Co-op aspect.

Oh god yes. Did that for our second campaign, much improves the gameplay. It also gives a coop-layer to the stuff between missions because everyone is more engaged in the upgrages of individual players when they're paid from the common pool.

Predator is so strong in this game, it should be the automatic pick at PS3, no matter what the ship or what the build. Even if you planned to discard it later, it will pay for itself in the first game often enough. Against PS1 and PS2 ships, it is statistically equivalent to having a Focus token... all of the time. And you can still use your Focus token to increase its effectiveness. 3 attack dice: 1.5 hits. 3 attack dice with Focus: 2.25 hits. 3 attack dice with Predator: 2.25 hits. 3 attack dice with Predator and Focus: 2.8 hits. Given that a 3AGI ship (most TIEs) with a Focus token (again, most TIEs) has a baseline of 1.8 Evades, the difference between Predator and No Predator with a 3 dice weapon (X-Wing and the two most common Y-Wing turrets) can be as much as 1XP per shot fired (too many variables here to easily reach a hard number).

It's so strong, it probably needs to be decreased to 1 re-roll no matter what the pilot skill of the target, lol. Then at least you'd have some incentive to take other abilities.

Predator is so strong in this game, it should be the automatic pick at PS3, no matter what the ship or what the build. Even if you planned to discard it later, it will pay for itself in the first game often enough. Against PS1 and PS2 ships, it is statistically equivalent to having a Focus token... all of the time. And you can still use your Focus token to increase its effectiveness. 3 attack dice: 1.5 hits. 3 attack dice with Focus: 2.25 hits. 3 attack dice with Predator: 2.25 hits. 3 attack dice with Predator and Focus: 2.8 hits. Given that a 3AGI ship (most TIEs) with a Focus token (again, most TIEs) has a baseline of 1.8 Evades, the difference between Predator and No Predator with a 3 dice weapon (X-Wing and the two most common Y-Wing turrets) can be as much as 1XP per shot fired (too many variables here to easily reach a hard number).

It's so strong, it probably needs to be decreased to 1 re-roll no matter what the pilot skill of the target, lol. Then at least you'd have some incentive to take other abilities.

For 3 attack dice with predator it's actually 2.19 hits (vs. PS1/2 targets) instead of 2.25 because it cannot be as good as a full target lock.

Vs. PS3+ targets it's still 1.94 hits.

Expected damage 3 ATK vs 3 DEF w/focus : 0.30

Expected damage 3 ATK w/predator vs 3 DEF w/focus ps1/2: 0.62

Expected damage 3 ATK w/predator&focus vs 3 DEF w/focus ps1/2: 0.98

Expected damage 3 ATK w/predator vs 3 DEF w/focus ps3+: 0.50 (still very much worth it in my opinion,)

Expected damage 3 ATK w/predator&focus vs 3 DEF w/focus ps3+: 0.91

Expected damage 3 ATK w/focus vs 3 DEF w/focus: 0.64

So dumping it down to 1 reroll instead of 2, makes the expected damage go down from 206% to 166% when comparing to the base attack stat, and if you also got a focus (which is usually the case) it dumps it only from 326% to 303% (relating to the base attack damage). I think you will not notice the drop to 1 reroll as much as you expect it to, predator still stays a top card because it grants a free reroll which helps immensely combined with the focus token. It improves to attack damage compared to a normal attack with focus by 53% (ps1/2) or 42% (ps3+), other cards still are hard pressed.

Another option would be outmaneuver, but that only triggers if you are able to flank the opponent (and keep him in your arc, so only something for x-wings/a-wings I guess, all the torpedo carrier b- and y-wings I seen so far went for trick shot (torpedoes outside arc), whereas predator triggers every turn. And funny enough, Outmaneuver is only more efficient than predator in expected dice if the opponent actually has a focus token (because then the 1 fewer die on evade roll matters more than the ability to reroll your own) (this goes for any ps on the defender).

Yeah, that card is still way too powerful compared to its cost. Perhaps simply like that:

2 rerolls against TIE

1 reroll against all other ship

no reroll against Elite

I've managed to stay away from Predator so far (just hitting Lvl 6 now in my A wing) and am using the following to good effect (still not as much XP as my B wing counterpart but my damage output isnt massive)

Outmaneuver, Etahn Abaht's ability, Gemmer Sojan's ability (must remember to count Etahn's assists) Autothrusters, Proton Rockets and Extra munitions. Not sure what my next Mod should be (was thinking Vectored Thrusters or replacing Autothrusters with Vectored and sticking on a extra bit of hull/Stealth Device just for extra Slipperyness)

My wing man is in a Heavy Laser Cannon B wing, currently with Proton Torps, Nera, Hera crew and Tycho Pilot, Predator, FCS, Shield Upgrade, Engine upgrade and Extra Munitions. He has just swapped from Sabine crew with cluster mines but in a 2 player campaign they don't work well enough. (dont currently have enough stuff to run 2 ships each)

Etahn and Outmaneuver work really well together as long as you can readjust your position (thinking of PTL/EI with Jake and Tycho in a couple of rounds when the XP is high enough)

Next play through we'll run 2 ships each and pool XP (and Upgrades etc in a hanger) so you have access to some tech once you or your wing man have bought it (some limitations such as Engine Upgrades are specific to A/X/Y/etc. and once the upgrade has been picked for the mission no-one else can use it [keys in a pot scenario])

Also we're classing all unique/limited cards as such so it stops 4 r2d2's being purchased and encourages discussions about outfitting for the missions.

I really want to run a larger campaign at my local board gaming group but need to have enough imperials to field a full 6 player run and i am just shy of 2 player levels at the moment with only Myself and one other person actually having x wing stuff!

Next play through we'll run 2 ships each and pool XP (and Upgrades etc in a hanger) so you have access to some tech once you or your wing man have bought it (some limitations such as Engine Upgrades are specific to A/X/Y/etc. and once the upgrade has been picked for the mission no-one else can use it [keys in a pot scenario])

Also we're classing all unique/limited cards as such so it stops 4 r2d2's being purchased and encourages discussions about outfitting for the missions.

I really want to run a larger campaign at my local board gaming group but need to have enough imperials to field a full 6 player run and i am just shy of 2 player levels at the moment with only Myself and one other person actually having x wing stuff!

I like the hanger idea for upgrades, would be cool to have purchased 2-3 different turrets to have a choice in the build out phase or astromechs.

I did not have enough TIEs for our first game, but luckily 2 other players had enough so we could field the 12 TIEs we needed one mission. I am on the hunt for cheap TIEs from other players surplus, since I only need the ship I'm hoping to get some fairly cheap.

What is everyone's thoughts on Stay on Target. Is it too unfair in this where you are not hiding your dial? I thought of this with Hobbie and Targeting Astromech, but I started thinking it was kinda cheap and like I was gaming the game; but at the same time it seems fine.

I switched over to a B-Wing for the last couple of missions. I have decided to go back to my Y-Wing. The B-Wing is nice, but it is so sluggish... even when compared to a Y-Wing. I was almost shot down the first game, and I was shot down in the second, Bait. All the initial TIEs started in one corner, but the Shuttle and Phantom came in on the opposite corner. The other players could react far faster and better, but I was so out of position that I couldn't do much. (Never mind the squad of TIEs that came in behind me when I was alone. At least Sabine gave them a present before we sucked vacuum.)

I have a lot of redundant/wasted upgrades, but my TLT Y-Wing will make up for those in a hurry. Now that I have Hobbie's ability and a Targeting Astromech, zooming at full speed will be rewarding.

I will miss having Sabine.

I think you will not notice the drop to 1 reroll as much as you expect it to

I actually don't expect it to drop much at all, lol. It's just that since somewhere around 90% of the ships in the game will be PS2 or lower, having 2 re-rolls is so good that the only reason to use anything else is to specifically avoid Predator (especially at low levels) as a challenge. A fair amount of the time, you won't even need the 2nd re-roll, but they're nice for those times the dice hate you.

I was just saying that if it was only 1 re-roll, at least there might be some reason to consider something else. Across the pages of these HotAC threads, people keep coming up with their "I don't use Predator" combos of 2-3 cards, and every time, I've shown them how Predator trumped their combo, lol. As written, it is the single best upgrade in the game, by a large margin. Even with 1 reroll, it's still the best upgrade in the game, but an action-economy ship that can routinely gain Target Locks might not absolutely need it. Really though, the more complicated your Easy Target Lock Combo is, the less favorably it still compares to Predator. An A-Wing with PTL and Jake or Sabine might not need Predator since it's taking 3 actions per turn.

I am on the hunt for cheap TIEs from other players surplus

Next play through we'll run 2 ships each and pool XP (and Upgrades etc in a hanger) so you have access to some tech once you or your wing man have bought it (some limitations such as Engine Upgrades are specific to A/X/Y/etc. and once the upgrade has been picked for the mission no-one else can use it [keys in a pot scenario])

Also we're classing all unique/limited cards as such so it stops 4 r2d2's being purchased and encourages discussions about outfitting for the missions.

I really want to run a larger campaign at my local board gaming group but need to have enough imperials to field a full 6 player run and i am just shy of 2 player levels at the moment with only Myself and one other person actually having x wing stuff!

I like the hanger idea for upgrades, would be cool to have purchased 2-3 different turrets to have a choice in the build out phase or astromechs.

I did not have enough TIEs for our first game, but luckily 2 other players had enough so we could field the 12 TIEs we needed one mission. I am on the hunt for cheap TIEs from other players surplus, since I only need the ship I'm hoping to get some fairly cheap.

What is everyone's thoughts on Stay on Target. Is it too unfair in this where you are not hiding your dial? I thought of this with Hobbie and Targeting Astromech, but I started thinking it was kinda cheap and like I was gaming the game; but at the same time it seems fine.

Depends if you game the AI or not I guess? We try to not look at the AI possibilities and just guess the manuever what they do and decide our maneuvers in 30 secs maybe 1 minute if there's a lot to coordinate. In that case it's not really different to normal play, you have a good repositioning at the cost of your action. I've also made a good combo with hobbie and targeting astromech, for an additional plus, use opportunist. It basically comes down to:

• lock the correct range into dial (e.g. 2 or 3 for all bank/turns) or 4 koiogran (it's already red and will get you the combo, and if you choose to change to straight 4 it's also red now. Doesn't work the other way, you'll lose the target lock free action)
• reveal and choose correct heading
• maneuver turns red -> gain a stress
• since you executed a red maneuver -> gain a target lock
• since you gained a target lock -> remove a stress
• oh hey, no stress I get an action (focus)
• on combat: use opportunist if possible (enemy has no tokens)
• roll dice
• use target lock -> yay remove stress
• use focus
• have 4 dice (5 on range 1) with Target Lock and Focus
• Profit!
• Start stress free from the top

It's quite good if you don't bump (which you should be able to do since you choose heading) and you get 3-5 dice every turn with TL and focus and you're entirely independent from others.

I don't think stay on target is overpowered, actually think there's even more over the top combos than the one I listed.

B-Wing rocks. In the beginning, I also got shot down badly, but once I got the hang of it I could fly a pretty deadly punch. Install that one cannon that does 4 damage range 2-3, then you throw 4 dice no matter the range.

I don't see any issue with Stay on Target. It's not offering up anything that powerful. Sure, you can offset it with things like Hobbie and Targeting Astro, but then you've used 3 upgrades (and 2 Elites, at that). If you're willing to toss three upgrades to cancel out one upgrade's downside, I feel like you've paid the "tax" for that.

It's a good combo, but it's not that good.

X-wing with R3-A2, Eadran Vrill, Ibtisam and Keyan's abilities has been quite effective.

As to predator, I've proposed before since it is such a optimal choice that every pilot get it for free - with the caveat that you can only apply it to ships you have an Ace status against. That is 5 kills, by the way. So, 5 TIE kills and you get predator vs that ship

Only. 5 TIE advanced? predator applies, and so on. This makes keeping track of kills a beneficial effect, and steers players away from taking predator, as they effectively have it, and can try other more interesting builds.

Yeah, that card is still way too powerful compared to its cost. Perhaps simply like that:

2 rerolls against TIE

1 reroll against all other ship

no reroll against Elite

(And yes the combo may not be near as good as Predator, but that isnt the point- its the fun of combo building for many people)

Also every time my group has played the campaign at most 1 or 2 people take predator, and usually not for long in the campaign since other abilities are more fun to combo with.