Shuttle Tydirium: Episode 1 Casual Play

Welcome to the first ever episode of The Shuttle Tydirium podcast! The Mothership of Casual X-wing game


Most podcasts are about tournament level X-wing, but we try to be the podcast for the Common Man (or Woman). We want to explore all aspects of X-wing gameplay beyond the 100 pt deathmatch around 6 rocks. Want to hear about missions, epic, or even just games without meta ships? Give us a try! It's our first episode, so be gentle....


2:30 Main topic - What is casual X-wing, and why should we care about it?
31:00 The Star Wars Intellectual Property (IP) and why it matters for the X-wing miniatures game

52:20 Recurring Segment 'The Ready Room'. We look at the missions released with Wave 8 - Mission 15: Sabotage, and Mission 16: Payback


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You can reach us at: [email protected]

PLEASE let us know what you think! It is our first ever podcast, so excuse us being a little rough!

Episode #2 is with the edit droid and should be out soon!

Like I say "The Only Meta Is Having FUN!"

Most people who buy these toys do not even come to this forum because they are not gamer people, they are hobby people who enjoy great fun with their games and toys at home with friends and family.

This weekend Pual commented (@ Steele Open) that "Boba Fett has fallen out of favor."

Half points have virtually removed The Falcon from the game... and Large Ships in general are looked down on.

TIE Swarms ans X-Wing T-65's and other ships are not a part of this game either according to these meta-peeps.

None of this is cool and it certainly is Not Real STAR WARS.

Keep up this fun podcast Star Brothers.

The Grand Pobah of Mission Control approves of my complimentary reply to this fine topic.

Sounds like fun! I've played a few games of epic and would love to play more. It'll be good to listen to podcasts where people acknowledge its existence

HEL-YAH!

HEL-YAH ... again cause!

Thanks for the post, when I've got some time I look forward to giving it a listen!

Yeah...

Subscribed! (iTunes)

Keep the episodes coming. Anything to make my long drives to and from work better...

Glad to see a podcast out there focused on casual play. I prefer the competitive scene, so probably wont be an active listener, but I appreciate that this is a thing for those who like to dive into the more thematic side of the game. Good luck guys and may the force be with you!

Thanks guys! 219 downloads so far! That's more than the 5 we expected...

I will definitely be tuning in to this!

Just got some new artwork for the podcast!

Make a FB page. Best thing you can do... Helps get feedback and share extra info outside of the casts

Enjoying the podcast so far. I'm looking forward to hearing episodes on the missions (the Senator's shuttle escort is my favorite), Heroes of the Aturi Cluster, Epic, campaigns and alternate game formats.

I like the idea of objective play, even in a tournament format -- so much so I borrowed an idea from Armada for X-wing objective play that works for casual and tournament formats:

Just got some new artwork for the podcast!

You should upload that to TEEPUBLIC and let us order shirts!

You should upload that to TEEPUBLIC and let us order shirts!

Well...maybe once we get a few episodes under our belts. Would anyone be interested in such a thing?

Also,would anyone be interested in us uploading our podcasts on YouTube. I don't mean making videos, as we just don't have the equipment. I mean just using a splash page and then having the sound of our video? I dunno....some people are like that.

This pleases me greatly.

Automatic regular listener here.

Carry on.

Enjoying the podcast so far. I'm looking forward to hearing episodes on the missions (the Senator's shuttle escort is my favorite), Heroes of the Aturi Cluster, Epic, campaigns and alternate game formats.

I like the idea of objective play, even in a tournament format -- so much so I borrowed an idea from Armada for X-wing objective play that works for casual and tournament formats:

In OBJECTIVE PLAY, each player selects objectives for his squad that could alter the conditions of the game. These objectives become part of the player’s squad list, and shift the goals of the game to include other objectives in addition to scoring points by destroying ships.

Objectives in Play. Each player selects three objective cards to be part of his or her squad list. When play begins, the player with initiative is the first player, and selects an objective from the list of the player without initiative (the second player). That objective becomes the objective for the game and its conditions apply. Points scored as a result of objective play are added to the points scored by destroying opposing ships (and in tournament play are applied toward Margin of Victory just as in standard 100-point dogfight tournaments).

Objective Cards

Bounty Hunter. Each player designates a ship on his squad to be the Bounty and informs the opponent, marking the ship with an objective token; the opposing player scores +10 points for destroying that ship.

Minefield. All obstacles work as proximity mines -- if a ship overlaps the obstacle, the opposing player rolls three dice and the ship takes any damage indicated. The obstacle is then removed from play.

Graveyard. When a ship is destroyed, a debris field is placed in its last location.

Death Star Plans. Once obstacles are placed, the second player places an objective token face down on each obstacle, marking one as the location of the Death Star plans. Whenever the first player flies a ship which overlaps an obstacle, the objective token is flipped face up. When the Death Star plans are discovered, they are assigned to the discovering ship for the remainder of the game. Discovering the Death Star plans gains +5 points; retaining them on a ship which survives to the end of the game nets another +5 points. If the game concludes and the first player has not located the Death Star plans, the second player gains +10 points. If the game concludes and the ship carrying the Death Star plans has been destroyed, the second player gains +5 points.

Recon Mission. Once obstacles are placed, place an objective token on each obstacle to simulate a reconnaissance objective. Whenever a ship flies within range 1 of an obstacle and can fire on the obstacle, it may attack the objective, which has Agility 3, Hull 1. If the objective is destroyed, the player collects the corresponding token. At the end of the game, each objective token collected gains the player +2 points.

Station Defense. The second player selects one obstacle to represent a space station and places an objective token on it. The station has Agility 2, Hull 10. If the first player destroys the station, that player gains +12 points; if the station is not destroyed by the end of the game, the second player gains +12 points.

Hidden Jedi. Each player selects a ship on his or her squad to carry a hidden Jedi pilot, and secretly marks which ship it is. The opposing player gains +5 points if that ship is destroyed.

Capture the Flag. Each player selects a ship on his or her squad to be the flagship, and identifies it with an objective marker. The opposing player gains +20 points if the flagship exits the play area (simulating capture).

Bombing Run. All damage inflicted by bombs or mines during the game is doubled.

Torpedo Run. Missiles and torpedoes fired by either squad are not expended after firing.

Spice Run. Place two objective markers on each obstacle, one for each player. Each player selects one ship in his or her squad to be the spice runner. When the spice runner overlaps an obstacle, the player collects the allocated token from that obstacle. The spice runner does not suffer damage effects the first time it overlaps each obstacle. At the end of the game, each player receives +2 points for each objective token collected by the spice runner.

Rescue Mission. The first player selects a ship on his or her squad to be a prisoner transport. The second player's goal is to make contact with (via bumping or overlapping) the prisoner transport, rescuing the prisoners, for which the second player receives 5 points. If the prisoner transport is destroyed before the prisoners are rescued, the second player instead receives -5 points. If the game ends without the prisoners being rescued, the first player receives 5 points.

Escort Mission. The second player places a small base (or the shuttle token from the core set) flush with the edge of his or her side of the board. The shuttle has Agility 2, Hull 6. Each turn, the shuttle moves 1 straight or 1 bank (left or right) at Pilot Skill Zero. If the first player destroys the shuttle, he or she gains +10 points; if the shuttle exits from the opposing player's side of the board before the game ends, the second player gains +10 points.

Homing Beacon. Each player's goal is to place a homing beacon on each of the opposing ships. To place a homing beacon, the player must make a range 1 attack that results in at least 1 hit on the opponent's ship; cancel all hits to apply a homing beacon to that ship. Each ship marked with a homing beacon nets the opposing player +3 points.

Hyperspace Assault. After obstacles have been placed, the second player places three objective tokens in the play area no closer than range 2 to any edge; these are hyperspace assault points. The second player then selects one or more ships (totaling fewer than 50 points in value) to serve as the hyperspace assault force. On any turn after the first, the second player may introduce the hyperspace assault force by placing all ships within range 1 of a single assault point, placing them during the planning phase and moving them as normal during the activation phase. If all of the second player's ships on the board are destroyed before the hyperspace assault force is deployed, the first player wins and gains the value of the hyperspace assault force as if it had been destroyed.

Interesting stuff; I'll be looking this over closely. I've always thought about how an objective-based tournament could work. It might be an eventual podcast-sponsored project. Probably not for a while though; I will probably have my hands full between running the custom card vassal league, being co-pilot on the shuttle, and finishing up my own campaign system.

This is great, thank you for making this! I've felt like a fish out of water not being a big fan of the competitive scene. Your description of the parts of the game that speak to you were spot on the same parts of the game that speak to me. Can't wait for episode 2!

Gona see a lot of thematic play fans come out of the shadows now. I for one.

I've been drafting single mission and small campaign ideas for weeks actually.

Love the discussion about the FFG missions and use of "non competitive" ships and builds.

Great commentary. Just boost your audio a bit.

IMO, the reason the competitive scene in x-wing is so strong is that it actually is a tight ruleset (despite not being perfect). One thing I love about the game is there are almost no rules debates. So the x-wing scene is populated by refugees from other miniature game systems that eventually just pissed off their playerbase because of bad rules design and mushrooming expenses required to keep competitive. It can easily descend into crowd of neckbeard whining and bitching... so it's good to keep a focus on the ways the game is fun no matter what... and still enjoy a cutthroat game once in awhile!

Great podcast, guys! It was a very enjoyable listen. I loved hearing your introductions and how you got into the game. Also, I am very much looking forward to hearing more about Heroes of the Aturi Cluster.

My only concern was at the end when you got into a deep discussion about "optimal" builds for the two scenarios you discussed. Yeah, the ones that come in the box don't suit everybody's play style, but they aren't garbage either (except maybe Deadeye on "The Inquisitor" - that makes no sense). Even Reinforced Deflectors is good there because "The Inquisitor" fires at range 1 all the time, so he denies your bonus defense die, and has his title to help him score all hits. Anyway, it was a little awkward when one of your guys said he dozed off a bit with all the card talk, and I realized that portion of the podcast came off very much like any other competitive X-wing discussion. (Disclaimer: This is just my opinion, and others may have an entirely different view. I don't mean to hurt anybody's feelings).

HOWEVER. I will say that I enjoy listening to different ways to kit out your ships for scenarios. Even if you're playing casual X-wing, the object is to win the game. It's like a puzzle, and you have to figure out how to put all the pieces together in the best way possible. Competitive X-wing is the same way, but instead of having a different objective, you have a different 'meta game' puzzle to solve. I'm sure you'll get a good balance between interesting card talk, and other aspects of the game in the future.

Speaking of other aspects, do you think you guys could delve into the lore some more and talk about some fun thematic squads a.k.a. fluff squads? I really enjoyed that part where you talked about "Payback" and his history, even though I knew the story of Dengar. It's just such a big part of why I like this game. There have been a lot of discussions about thematic squads on the forums over the years, but I'd be interested to hear some live discussion about how to kit out pilots best to fit in a squad that is dripping with lore/theme. Here's an interesting topic that covers a little bit of what I'm thinking of, in case you're interested.

Listened to the first 30 minutes or so of this last night before falling asleep (please don't take offence, I listen to all the X-Wing podcasts in bed on a night time so this is normal!) and really enjoyed what I heard. I'll be continuing with the rest this evening for sure.

I'm more of a competitive player than anything else in that I play competitive 100pt dogfights rather than thematic ones, but regardless you guys came across really well and it was a pleasure to listen to. Keep up the great work. It's very much appreciated.

Love the discussion about the FFG missions and use of "non competitive" ships and builds.

Great commentary. Just boost your audio a bit.

Tonight we record Episode 3 and Jonathan gets to do his B-list segment he has been wanting to do. This list is why I like to call him "Hawk the Slayer".

Thanks for the sound feedback. We are trying to tweak things. We are trying to figure out what quality level to set things at as it messes with the size of the file. What part needs to be boosted? Us talking? Chief Engineer Jake sent it out to us for review, and we just published it without checking! He was taken aback as he wanted us to quality check it.

Great podcast, guys! It was a very enjoyable listen. I loved hearing your introductions and how you got into the game. Also, I am very much looking forward to hearing more about Heroes of the Aturi Cluster.

My only concern was at the end when you got into a deep discussion about "optimal" builds for the two scenarios you discussed. Yeah, the ones that come in the box don't suit everybody's play style, but they aren't garbage either (except maybe Deadeye on "The Inquisitor" - that makes no sense). Even Reinforced Deflectors is good there because "The Inquisitor" fires at range 1 all the time, so he denies your bonus defense die, and has his title to help him score all hits. Anyway, it was a little awkward when one of your guys said he dozed off a bit with all the card talk, and I realized that portion of the podcast came off very much like any other competitive X-wing discussion. (Disclaimer: This is just my opinion, and others may have an entirely different view. I don't mean to hurt anybody's feelings).

HOWEVER. I will say that I enjoy listening to different ways to kit out your ships for scenarios. Even if you're playing casual X-wing, the object is to win the game. It's like a puzzle, and you have to figure out how to put all the pieces together in the best way possible. Competitive X-wing is the same way, but instead of having a different objective, you have a different 'meta game' puzzle to solve. I'm sure you'll get a good balance between interesting card talk, and other aspects of the game in the future.

We can't wait for HotAC campaign. We want to get into a groove before we touch that one, as it's such an awesome topic. We thought about trying to get one of those guys on the show for an interview, as well.

Yeah....I agree that we might have overdone the analysis of different upgrades. Phillip/Babaganoosh and I tend to be more on the competitive and analytical side of things than Jake and Jonathan. I think there is a bit of balance to go into there. We want to talk some about the different options and strategies in building the list, but not bog down too much. We did play a number of times without changing the list and decided we really liked it better with different upgrades. The Ghost kept dying too often.

Tonight we will talk about Mission 1 (shuttle escort) and I will have to watch myself. There are a lot of ways you can really get into the meta of this mission. That's the game of the game of this mission, not which ships are hot right now. There are a lot of strategies and counter strategies that can work.

I'm more of a competitive player than anything else in that I play competitive 100pt dogfights rather than thematic ones, but regardless you guys came across really well and it was a pleasure to listen to. Keep up the great work. It's very much appreciated.

I'm glad you listened and enjoyed! It's my hope that people like you might listen to the podcast and then want to try some other type of X-wing. Maybe just B-lists or maybe a mission. I mean, you can go all cutthroat in a mission with all the aces if you want....or thematic. That's what's cool about them.