This has been a fun thread to follow and not to hijack the OP, but are we at any consensus on a "Top Gun Variant?"

Here is what I like so far from what I have read:

Choose either 3 ships or 2 ships. Small bases only. No unique pilots.

If 3 ships is chosen, each ship may not exceed 20 points.

If 2 ships is chosen, each ship may not exceed 30 points.

Each ship may only have 1 unique upgrade card assigned to it.

Each player places 4 Obstacles following all the normal rules for placement.*

Place one "power up" from the Imperial Aces set on each obstacle, following all of their rules.*

*I was thinking about this earlier when just the 1v1 was purposed. I was thinking 4 people to 3'x3' playing area and each person placing 2 obstacles, for a total of 8, thus MAYBE mitigating some of the "obvious" dominate builds. I was also thinking about the "power ups" or whatever you call them from the Imperial Aces set as a "Video Game-esk" feel to the whole affair and also helping turn the tide against stronger ships.

What do you all think? Are we getting close a "Top Gun Variant" here?

This looks really good. You could easily do this as 2-4 players. A 4 player variant could involve 2 teams of 2 pairs or trios each instead of just death match. The player with the most kills to losses is the overall winner.

Playing one ship a side leads to really fun and intense games where piloting is absolutely crucial. I strongly recomend it even with The weakness of Ion Cannons / Turrets being insanely dangerous. If I was going to go to two ships a side I'd have one player per ship rather than multiple ships per person, but that's just my opinion. Over all the Top Gun format is a brilliant alternative to the 100pt 6 obstacle death match. Lots of fun and makes you really focus on what your ship can do.

It is quite **** powerfull. That's because it has 2 mobility actions and higher PS, making it an equivalent of Vader with VI in this set-up, only you don't have extra ships to block or killbox it with.

It's too bad Glaive Squadron pilot will be too expensive to fit into this format, even with the x7 discount.

Yeah this game mode looks really good.... especially in teams...

This has been a fun thread to follow and not to hijack the OP, but are we at any consensus on a "Top Gun Variant?"

Here is what I like so far from what I have read:

Choose either 3 ships or 2 ships. Small bases only. No unique pilots.

If 3 ships is chosen, each ship may not exceed 20 points.

If 2 ships is chosen, each ship may not exceed 30 points.

Each ship may only have 1 unique upgrade card assigned to it.

Each player places 4 Obstacles following all the normal rules for placement.*

Place one "power up" from the Imperial Aces set on each obstacle, following all of their rules.*

*I was thinking about this earlier when just the 1v1 was purposed. I was thinking 4 people to 3'x3' playing area and each person placing 2 obstacles, for a total of 8, thus MAYBE mitigating some of the "obvious" dominate builds. I was also thinking about the "power ups" or whatever you call them from the Imperial Aces set as a "Video Game-esk" feel to the whole affair and also helping turn the tide against stronger ships.

What do you all think? Are we getting close a "Top Gun Variant" here?

Oh, and to kinda stay on task here, this is my squad:

30 points

Black Sun Ace #1

Kihraxz Fighter

Outmaneuver

Engine Upgrade

30 points

Black Sun Ace #2

Kihraxz Fighter

Outmaneuver

Engine Upgrade

And to stay true to the OP, and because I want to be "that guy":

29 points

Tansarii Point Veteran

M3-A “Scyk” Interceptor

Push the Limit

“Heavy Scyk” Interceptor

Stealth Device

“Mangler” Cannon

Call Sign: Meltdown

i LOVE this scyk..

not much of consensus on the format itself. its a D.I.Y kind of thing.

for me ..the

4 players team play...each piloting one ship..pair vs. pair feels the most..." TOP GUN" -ee

oh...new variant just thought of!

"TOP GUN! - Goose lives.

Any ship regardless of upgrade slots can equip gunner for....eh....i dont know...2 points? free?

i just want everyone to get gunner.... but when you do the reroll you have to declare " goose" not...gunner.

I am tempted to include one free missle or torp ordnance shot per ship per game ,after declaring/singing " She`s lost that loving feeling"

Going to be trying the TOP GUN!

Also...everyone needs to have a cool callsign.

Hey Velvetelvis, sorry we derailed your original idea but thanks for starting this thread! Your original idea is awesome and so are many of the other format variations. Also loving all the great ideas for generic ships.

Now I need to work on those call signs.

Yes, this will definitely be a 'multiple variants of the variant' kind of thing. I'll certainly be putting together the 760th Fighter Wing variant on Mission Control after my gang's done some playtesting. Very cool ideas, folks, thanks.

One more thing: bonus points for awesome (matching, in the two-ship sub-variant) paint schemes.

Some fun to be had with some of the weirder ships for sure.

Scum

"Hack" and "Slash"

2X Tansari Point Veteran 17

Attani Mindlink 1

Heavy Scyk (Cannon) 2

Heavy Laser Cannon 7

Hull Upgrade 3

Look fairly intimidating but actually not that effective.

Rebels

"Stunner" 30

Dagger Squadron Pilot 24

Electronic Baffles 1

Flechette Torpedoes 2

Ion Cannon 3

Guidance Chips 0

"Boomer" 30

Dagger Squadron Pilot 24

Electronic Baffles 1

Plasma Torpedoes 3

Extra Munitions 2

Guidance Chips 0

Imperials

"Eagle Eye" 29

Gamma Squadron Veteran 19

Crackshot 1

Concussion Missile 4

Extra Munitions 2

Plasma Torpedoes 3

Long Range Scanners 0

"Firestorm" 30 Points

Gamma Squadron Veteran 19

Predator 3

Flechette Torpedoes 2

Extra Munitions 2

Cluster Missiles 4

Long Range Scanners 0

So what do you all think of the 8 obstacles? In any of the purposed formats? In a 1v1v1v1, is this helping ion users to much? Is it giving your single ship to much to fly around? Is 8 obstacles to much for 2v2 or potentially 3v3, where you want some formation flying?

What about the Imperial Aces "power ups"? I think there is a double shot, get a +2 attack and +1 evade, trun a red to a green maneuver, a +3 hull, there is a no missile or anti missile thing, and one more. Obviously if you were going with 8 obstacles, you would need 1 more set, but you could do something along the lines of: "The 1st ship to fly within range 1 of this obstacle, gets the power up.". Maybe to strong for the higher PS ships. The power up chits do have an evade and hull value, (can't find my aces booklet) did you have to shoot and destroy them to get the benefit?

Either way, what do you all think about incorporating those power ups from the Imp Aces stuff?

Let's keep this thread going!! And yes, sorry to Velvet Elvis for hijacking this, but this has obviously got many of us thinking.

I also liked the idea of free or wait!!! UNLIMITED ordinance!!! You know how many times they say "I've got missile lock!" in that movie!!!

We ran eight obstacles. For 1v1 it felt very much like the right answer and I can't imagine that would be different for 2v2. Even in the one game where my opponent used an ion cannon the rocks were not a difference maker. Power ups and unlimited ordinance I'm wary of because they are hard to quantify in terms of balancing the game. A Phantom or a Royal Guard /IN with the ability to do a green K-turn would be very broken on the face of it.

Choose either 3 ships or 2 ships. Small bases only. No unique pilots. or upgrades.

If 3 ships is chosen, each ship may not exceed 20 points.

If 2 ships is chosen, each ship may not exceed 30 points.

Each player places 4 Obstacles following all the normal rules for placement.*

I am really tempted to suggest the above format to my FLGS as an idea for one of their monthly tournaments. 60 minute rounds would be long enough I would think?

Should be. We played 45 minutes 1v1 but the longest game was only slightly over 30 minutes.

Just made this up in Mission Control, original idea credit given to Velvetelvis.

https://tools.fantasyflightgames.com/xwing/home/6721/

Enjoy!