hey guys,
felt like continuing my spiel back over at
to see what kind of cool upgrades could be introduced in order to combat the far superior damage mitigation of aces
as a shortish summary
[1.] jousters have more health per points than aces (3 academy Ties have 9 health to a loaded soontir's 3)
[2.] health is generally irrelevant next to far superior defense-dice based damage mitigation (stacked focus evade thrusters palpatine etc.)
[3.] in the current meta, "super jousters" (Crackswarm & triple torpscouts) overcome ace damage mitigation through assloads of highly modified red dice. While these hurt aces, they RUIN jousters because health still < damage mitigation (it's why you still see palp aces but not TLT Y spam)
[4.] What does counter aces without hurting jousters worse? low amounts of automatic or defense dice ignoring damage (bombs, feedbacks, Auto-blasters etc.)
[5.] In theory, giving jousters ways to counter craptons of mods would make their strengths matter more
[6.] finally, being able to ignore the (rather pronounced) pilot skill advantage would work wonders. Abilities that trigger at the beginning of combat, or which trigger driving the activation of a lower PS ship (such as ACTION: bombs or oicuun ram) reward you for flying a lower PS ship that can hit enemies before they get to move or perform actions
in an effort to put it all together, I wanted to try my hand at a theoretical ship that would showcase just how FFG could fix the current gamestate without overhauling it altogether
and since the ARC-170 has everyone talking about the N-1 Starfighter, we might as well start there
I. The Base (Lip service to the lore)
While the needs of the gameplay ALWAYS triumph over blind adherence to the lore, the lore still inspires and shapes the design of the ships. The design of the N-1 is going to be limited by how it appeared in the movies (and comic); it's NOT going to come out packing B-wing stats for example
The N-1, on the gut instinct, is going to land right on the A-wing and Z-95 for being a small, relatively squishy fighter. It's a 2/3 hull with 1/2 shields (1, due to flimsiness) and 2 dice.
N-1 Starfighter
2
3
3
1 (looking at you, r2-d2 
)
It's also obviously had an Astromech slot and room for torpedoes (if only 1 slot)
It's going to have FOCUS, because so does everyone, TARGET-LOCK, because torpedoes, EVADE and BARREL ROLL (because that's a neat trick)
the lack of boost already helps keep it apart from the aces we're supposed to be countering. Doesn't do a lot of good if we just end up replacing palp aces with something else, eh?
Now, I have no idea how this thing's supposed to fly, honestly. In keeping with the halfway between A and Z (as well as keeping bb-8 in mind; r2-d2 less so due to 1 shield), I'd try with this dial
[4:] I
[3:] <- \ I / ->
[2:] <- \ I / ->
[1:] <- \ / ->
with Segnor's at 2 and a k-turn at 3 because I like the FO too much
bb-8 and r2 are on standby to make the PTL we all know and love a viable option, which could be interesting as N-1's with chips would be firing Plasma Torpedoes at essentially the same effectiveness as torp scouts with overclocked R4s (except they'd need Target-locks and only get one shot) for +8 points
for a more defensive build that crutch's on a pilot's ability, r7 astro's always on stand-by
Now, second order of business, who's flying the **** thing?
the ARC-170 has set a sort of precedent (something happening once isn't a pattern, but it is an excuse 
) for refurbished Prequel-Era ships coming with four named pilots and no generics.
well, canonically, we apparently have
Queen Sosha Soruna (you've been up-seated, Ryad)
Shara Bey (yes I know, she's in the ARC; her ability sucks in that thing so lets do her justice)
Leia Organa (from utter crew obscurity and into the limelight!)
we need a forth, so for the sake of simplicity we'll just chuck Captain Korro into one even if he's probably never sat in the cockpit of a starfighter before. Hey, the man needs to do his job no matter where his queen goes right?
II. Defining Gameplay; Fixing the Meta
so how is this tiny little thing going to take on the terror of palp aces and jumpmasters?
apart from R3-a2 and the seismic torpedoes, it's got nothing but blocking (which the prototype does a better job of with boost)
for this, we're going to have to turn to somewhere beyond the base capabilities of the ship and look into either the upgrades or the named pilots
The fact that our hypothetical N-1 has no named pilots actually services our gameplay purposes perfectly because
a.) the n-1 can't be a simple jouster (the Z does that already)
b.) more named pilots means more pilot abilities to shift the balance against aces and super jousters
so we have four named pilots across the PS range just hankering to show off cool potential abilities. As is appropriate for an archaic teeny little ship, the n-1 itself won't change the course of galactic war nearly as much as the talent behind the joystick. Like the HWK, we're ultimately going to be looking at a ship defined by its pilot abilities (though nowhere near the same extent, one hopes)
as a refresher, we're looking for ways to curtail the current power of Aces (especially palp aces) and "super jousters" (tie fighters and jm5ks) which is theorized to come from the hyper damage mitigation and damage capability, respectively. We're looking for ways to counter that
so let's get cracking!
III. The Mod Squad
first we'll start with the lowest pilot skill (appropriately the guy who isn't even a pilot). Because of his low skill, he'll need an ability that triggers either at the beginning of combat or during his activation (or which is dependent on something acquired during activation, such as an action token) in order to hamper higher pilot skill aces at all.
[3] Captain Korro - 17 points
no ept
"After executing a speed 3 or 4 maneuver, each ship you are touching receives 1 tractor beam token."
not as directly destructive as his distant cousin, Oicuun, but the idea of a complete novice causing utter havoc on the battlefield by flying like an ******* is just hilarious to me.
Tractor beam tokens are one of the most interesting mechanics in the game and a massive boon against aces...if you didn't have to hit with them first. The fact that aces are far more likely to avoid the Tractor beam effect than lower agility, higher variance jousters is just sad.
So far, only Wave 9's Ketsu (pilot) grants tractor beam tokens outside dice dependent means. We could use more abilities like hers, which do affect jousters as much as ace (rather than more) but only affect one ship at a time, making it more devastating against higher point costs.
Back to Korro, the speed 3 or 4 limitation (coming soon to a "Snapshot" near you) is necessary to force some positioning know-how. If it could trigger off all the n-1's wide range of maneuvers, it'd be easily broken.
This also limits how badly you could abuse it with bb-8, as most ships don't have green maneuvers at speed 3 that aren't straight (or which don't have Tie/mk2). In our case, only the 3 forward is green.
Also remember to do your best not to bump your own ships! (well, the ghost won't care), unless you can perform some sneaky shenanigans, of course Ketsu would be proud!
obviously not terribly great against jumpmasters, but it'll irritate anything on a small base and make high agility, low health more susceptible to damage. Bonus points if you force them through obstacles!
[5] Queen Sosha Soruna - 19 points
it's official, gents. Unless you're a creepy alien crime lord, royalty in the X-wing miniatures universe is PS 5.
anyway,
"Once per round an enemy ship inside your firing arc at Range 1-3 is defending, you may choose 1 of the defender's focus or evade tokens. During the "Modify Defense Dice" Step, if the defender is inside the attacker's firing arc, your opponent MUST spend that token."
I took inspiration from Ethan (an offensive support ship that buffs himself; a bad ass leader for any squad), as I thought it reflected well on this Killer Queen (pardon the pun). Well, that and she needed an ability worthy of perhaps THE smuggest **** eating grin I've ever seen
At PS 5, Sosha is set to curb stomp a poor jumpmaster's ambitions of shooting deadeyed torpedoes (though it could always target-lock like everyone else, eh?) and, flown well, greatly reduce an ace's chance of survival.
While the lower pilot skill makes it more difficult to draw a bead on aces, it also limits the devastation she could wreck. The arc requirement on both her and the attacker is essential (just imagine the devastation she'd wreck with some TLTs, especially Roark, or gunners at her beck and call and no arcs to worry about)
And, of course, Sosha can use her own ability if she's the attacker. Pure support is pretty boring, imo
[6] Shara Bey (the beyening, part 2) - 20 points
"When an enemy ship at range 1-2 is attacking or defending, you may spend a target-lock you have on that ship. If you do, that ship cannot modify any dice during that attack."
There we go, Shara done properly. None of this nonsense of sacrificing modifiers that you need just to give someone else re-rolls, this is an ability with a high impact that can be flexibly used as either support or as a self-buff
Now granted, we all know that Shara's already in the ARC and convention says she'll have the same ability...but come on, that ability is HORRIBLE. We gotta give her something more worthy of a star pilot
[8] Leia Organa - 22 points
Pilot Skill 8!? I thought that was Luke's deal?
No...there is another...
"After performing a barrel-roll action, you may perform a primary weapon attack. If you do, assign a Weapon's Disabled token to this ship."
what can I say? I guess spinning is in a Skywalker's blood.
Quickdraw in Wave 9 is introducing the very tantalizing possibility of attacks made outside the combat phase. His ability is far more situational than Leia's and has limited uses, but it also allows him to double up on attacks and fire an inordinate amount of dice at a target.
Leia's is more focused on firing before aces, for which she doesn't need a bid against PS 9 (ala Quickdraw) and can bid for initiative against the inquisitor.
It does leave her open to some bb-8 + PTL abuse (simultaneous triggers on PTL and her ability), but at least it's only one modifier and on a two die primary. Unless you begin close enough to the opponent (and with a proper facing), it'll be difficult to land a shot post bb-8 roll at a meaningful range
besides, bb-8 + ptl is hellishly fun
so anyway, those are some of the abilities we can implement to affect aces more than simple jousters and hopefully bring a bit more variety back into engagements.
I'd especially interested to see more mechanics with Eathn's/Sosha's trigger in them, essentially abilities that reward you for drawing and maintaining arcs on enemy ships (except hopefully with a more substantial reward than poor Eathn provides for his price).