I was nursing my screaming newborn last night and I had a thought. Would I fly a support shuttle with no attack dice?

Obviously it would depend on the upgrades or abilities it could confer to its squad-mates. Would it hand out focuses, evades, free actions, target locks, etc.? Would it support dice modification?

So, the question we must ask ... what upgrades (existing or otherwise) would you consider to make this a viable option?

-just a mock up to be used as a guide.

So, using that guide, not a chance. That's one point less for zero attacks. Sure, there's more upgrade slots, but they're not really going to be of any use when the points accumulate. For argument, let's say it gets a Palp (because he probably wants to be standoff-ish anyway), and Fleet Officer. Comm Relay is the only option in the tech slot, since there's not point to Weapons Guidance. Three system slots sounds great in theory, but with no offensive ability, the best you can do is use them to turtle up, which means Sensor Jammer, Reinforced Deflectors, and Advanced Sensors.

All-in, that's 44 points for something that's not doing much beyond passing the odd token and changing a dice result once a turn. Even with just Palp on board at 28 points, I'd rather take it at 29 and 3 native attack.

All that said, there's is potential for a support vessel. Jonus pretty much remains in the game solely because of his buff ability, and is usually flown naked. The TIE Shuttle title will give him a couple of crew, which will multiply his ability to buff nearby ships using Fleet Officer or Intel Agent. The basic Scimitar with Mara Jade and an Intel Agent is going to be a glorious support blocker.

Basically, the key to good supports in this game is being cost efficient enough to be worth taking over a couple of 12pt blockers, and a 0 attack anything just won't do that.

Do you see anybody running naked HWKs? They might as well have no primary.

If it had some abilities to inflict damage/stress/ion etc. I could see it being used. But it would have to be pretty cheap to start off with. The transport sees play in Epic for all the shenanigans it can do. Of course it can run stuff over so it isn't necessarily unarmed.

Give it a turret upgrade and I'll consider it.

I'm fine with no attacks. But 1 action isn't enough to be a true support. Hwk's can still mount a turret, and the transport can still do things like ram. Now, if there was a sensor upgrade that was something like "instead of attacking, you may take a free action", then maybe.

palpy, fleet officer, maybe adv sensors

unluckily too expensive

just palply

palpy, fleet officer, maybe adv sensors

unluckily too expensive

just palply

Palp Isard Reinforced Deflectors SJ can bring in some heavy life for a ship. safety from aces/tlts and if that 0 attack is anything like the OLD Blinded Pilot.... AC to get two dmg a turn anyway

granted thats like 42 points, but considering i've been running 40 point palp shuttle on Vassal to decent success i might fly it

I'd do it at 10 points. Then I can have a palp/Whisper/Echo list, right?

How about the jam and coordinate actions, like some huge ships have?

I was thinking GR75. Short answer is yes dependant on cost/utility.

Yeah it would need to be similar to the GR75 in that it can support friendly ships and hinder enemy ones in the same turn. The current shuttle abilities do a pretty good job supporting though as is.....

The rebel shuttle from SW:Rebels looks cool enough. I would like a token atleast.

Back in the day I'd see the occasional naked Jan hawk. Always thought it was a waste though. I'd purposely save the hawk for last to kill.

I've often considered that this game needs a non-attack shuttle/transport that can either 1. be used as a cheap support ship for 100pt matches, and/or 2. be used as a ship for narrative missions (much like the transport cardboard that came with the original core-set).

I envision something like the http://starwarsrebels.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Commuter_Shuttle

The pack would however come with 3 PS0 pilots, one for each faction. A focus on the action bar, and slots for a system, tech and 2 crew. It would also include an upgrade that would allow it to add the epic, Jam action for a few points.

^ this.

Without any sort of attack the shuttle would need to be extremely point-efficient in boosting its squadron-mates. The "style" of Imperial ships/upgrades doesn't really support this sort of ship, it would seem to be a Rebel thematic choice instead. The only reason to take a GR-75 (the only ship right now without any offense) is to buff your Epic squad, and the only reason it is taken at all is because in Epic you are given a much high point allocation to spend on potentially "useless" ships. Without this ship having some really impressive abilities/upgrades that are unique to it I don't see any reason for someone to take it over a normal shuttle. Even if your regular Space Whale only gets one shot in a game, it has the chance of doing some decent damage in addition to whatever support role it is given.

Having flown the TIE shuttle several times and had it not actually shoot anyone in several matches... yes, I would, but it would have to be dirt-cheap, cheap enough that you can load it with good crew and upgrades and still fit in two buffed-up aces. I.e. the whole mess probably needs to come in under 25 points.

It would also have to be able to stay within range 2 of those aces and still take actions every turn, so Fleet Officer would work.

People will be willing to fly whatever the cheapest method of getting the Emperor on to the table is.

Though personally, when it comes to Lambda variants, I'd prefer to see:

GR-75 is still the best EPIC ship out there, in my opinion. So, yes, I think you could have a ship along those lines, like the hawk. How about a title card that reduces or eliminates the attack value of the shuttle in exchange for another crew slot, a second systems slot and a discount on all upgrades. Say, a -1 points cost to all upgrade cars or something like that. this would encourage you to load it up.

In a 100 point match, a support ship would need to be cheap and fantastic to be worth it. In an epic match, you have more points to spend, and more ships to interact with. I think the jam action is quite powerful and would be great to add as a dual system slot upgrade.

First thought:

Mobile Command Post
Modification: Lambda-only

Reduce your primary Attack value by two.
At the start of the end phase, you may remove

up to two stress tokens from your ship.
Your upgrade bar gains two additional crew slots.
When dealt a damage card, you may discard this card.

Cost: (negative something?)

Basically a legal way for a Lambda to fortress in the corner until it's forced to bug out. An enemy assault that deals three stress in one round of combat forces it to move out of its corner.

Edit: I was thinking of Tarkin on this until I double checked that he is Huge ship only. Maybe the card allows Huge only crew as well.

Edit 2: Prettied it up...

I think that at 100 points we are already stretching every point, there is no wiggle room. Also, the game is about shooting down the most ships and this would no way be able to perform that goal. It would make it easy to know what to target last.

In Epic the Rebel Transport is great fun, and I think there is a place for another non-attack ship in Epic.

I just assumed we were talking about non-Epic games. There's plenty of scope for one in Epic (Rebel Transport is clear evidence), but in 100pt lists, or even escalation games, I can't really see it unless one of the upgrades is a secondary weapon of some description. 100pts is too tight to be sinking 30-40 points into a ship that can effectively be ignored by your opponent until the end.

A large base epic ship could be interesting in that role, though. Something akin, in size at least, to a Decimator, but who's primary function is to provide AoE buffs and nerfs where possible. Essentially, a command support craft, taking 1 Epic point, and building out for about 50-60 points loaded.

Dear OP,

No I would not.

Creates a situation under which the ship can be unable to deal damage. If both players have it, it creates a situation where neither ship can deal damage. This is why HWKs are ATK 1 rather than 0.

The only ships in the game with no primary are Huges that can run things over.

I think to work, it would need to have a supporting ability akin to handing out Evades to friendlies. Otherwise it will always be the last target. Basically, the support needs to be really powerful, and continuous.