I have been thinking lately, wondering why each fix did what it did. I am talking about the Royal Guard title and the Test Pilot title... both are supposed to be massive upgrades for their respective ships, which they are, but I am kind of wondering why it panned out the way it did. I mean, why the interceptor got two mods and the A-wing got two EPTs and not vice versa? They seem to work as is right now, but the ships are so similar in a lot of respects. Would the A-wing have been too good with two mods on it? Was there some broken combo that a tie interceptor pilot had that could have resulted from two EPTs? Or do you think it was more of a preemptive fix, cards that would benefit both being just on the horizon in the scum release?

I have only been playing for around a year... so I only know so much about the 2014 days or what trends and lists would have been influencing this to go one way or the other.

Anyone have thoughts or insights as to why this happened the way it happened?

FFG flipped a coin, A-wings lost.

Two Elite upgrades > two modifications. However, the Interceptor's barrel roll + boost combo combined with 3 attack dice makes it more likely to cause problems.

All I can say is imagine fel with PTL, outmaneuver, and Autothrusters. That be utterly disgusting

i mean yeah, A-wings came out like bandits (and they did so simply because 2 dice is far inferior to 3)

mods are, as a rule, kind of **** because every ship can take them . Only fix cards, ala thrusters and chips, break this mold

Thematics: Royal Guard Interceptors were by canon, extensively customised and modified to do their job.

So letting them take lots of modifications seemed appropriate, and helped what was seen to be a fragile ship get a little more survivability with the Hull Upgrades that came in the pack. (Of course, it was really the Autothrusters that came out later that let them make out like bandits...)

The real 'cost' there though was that they were royal guard Interceptors that were so modified, hence the PS restriction. It's not that the lower PS pilots would have been broken with the fix - far from it, they were weaker than the elite pilots before the fix was even released - but thematically, you can't have entire squadrons of rookies flying about with such customisations. The poor Alpha Squadron pilots suffered accordingly.

The A-wing, meanwhile, was not so vaunted in its alterations - indeed, that was X-wings (ironic given that IA means they effectively have no modification slot, eh?) but supposedly was hard to fly. So passing the extra EPT to them was entirely reasonable, even if it would've probably been fine on either ship.

Though I must confess that a PS 11 PTL Soontir Fel does not, shall we say, fill me with enthusiasm.

Don't forget also that a-wings got two fixes, not one. Chardaan Refit is awesome.

But yeah, two EPTs is just way better, which is why the worse option went to the worse ship.

Imagine Soontir with PTL and Juke...

Or PTL and Lone Wolf god that sounds horrible.

OTOH, it would've given pilots such as Kir Kanos an EPT...

OTOH, it would've given pilots such as Kir Kanos an EPT...

Those pilots should have had an EPT in the first place though. It would be good if they got errated, but I doubt they ever will be.

The A-wing, meanwhile, was not so vaunted in its alterations - indeed, that was X-wings (ironic given that IA means they effectively have no modification slot, eh?)

Which is why the X-wing needs to get a title.

OTOH, it would've given pilots such as Kir Kanos an EPT...

Those pilots should have had an EPT in the first place though. It would be good if they got errated, but I doubt they ever will be.

X-wing 2.0 might simply be a new suite of reference cards, booklet, and updated pilot cards with newly updated prices, abilities, and upgrade bars. If, and I do mean if this ever happens, I would expect a whole lot of craft like our friend Kir Kanos to get their long awaited EPT, Xizor to get a more robust pilot ability (1 damage rather than 1 hit, so TLT doesn't shoot straight through, etc), and Fel's Wrath... well, Fel's Wrath would e due a complete rewrite.

Definitely wouldn't want to see Soont and Jax with 2 EPTs. Adding anything like Juke, Outmanuver, Predator to existing PTL would be brutal

So to give a kind of answer - it was said by the devs at the time that they didn't want the factions to be identical/symmetrical. That was still early though, and we see a lot more parity today than we did in those days. The int was given two mod slots at least in part because of targeting computer, and the a-wing has a 2 primary so the double EPT is less dangerous. It's also worth mentioning that Fel (while good-ish) was not the terror he is today and Han used to eat him so hard that AT was born. In the end, I think the devs did a great job with the "fixes" and I'm glad they made the changes. It would have been very easy to bork it, and they didn't.

If intereceptors had 2 epts instead of 2 mods you'd probably see the aces floating around with juke instead of stealth device. Or ruthlessness. Or outmaneuver.

Awings wouldnt really gain anything. Majority of the mods are kinda bleh except in certain situations. Autothrustors are good on them but stealth device is no more powerful on them than the interceptor.

Looooong into the future and wave9 releases a mod that adds barrelroll you'd see that on them no doubt. All that would do is bring them on even footing with the interceptors though...give or take since theyre still down 1 attack.

imagine Carnor Jax with Juke, PTL, Autos? "Juke that evade to a focus" - "Ok i'll foc-" "Nope, jax is a prick you cant focus"

lol

Works with Fel too, long as he targets someone near Jax.

As others have already said, it was thematic. However, one of the largest complaints about interceptors was that they died wayy too easily to a single bad green dice roll. So by allowing them to take two mods, and providing a hull upgrade in the pack, the thought was that you could have a 4 hull 1 shield interceptor, and not get boned by a single bad roll. Meanwhile, A wings already had 2 hull 2 shield and as such were more survivable, and in general, they were cheaper as well, especially once the CR came out. As such, their problem wasn't living, it was doing enough damage to make them worthwhile. Furthermore, you were almost required to run them with PTL to even be semi competitive (though I suppose you could same the same thing about interceptors, but there are occasional VI builds for Jax or Turr), so a second slot allowed actual customization, and by that time, you had cards like predator, outmaneuver, lone wolf, and daredevil, and now juke and crack shot that get used - but none of them would really replace PTL (discounting the 5 crack swarm A wing build).

Which is why it is interesting to se the new Protectorate Starfighter (Fang) fighter - to have 3 attack dice, 3 agility, plus 4 hul (and also the T-roll), which is kind of the best of both the A-wing and the Interceptor in terms of basic stats (well shields would have been better ofc.), and also looks priced very reasonable.

Which is why it is interesting to se the new Protectorate Starfighter (Fang) fighter - to have 3 attack dice, 3 agility, plus 4 hul (and also the T-roll), which is kind of the best of both the A-wing and the Interceptor in terms of basic stats (well shields would have been better ofc.), and also looks priced very reasonable.

OTOH, it would've given pilots such as Kir Kanos an EPT...

As said Kanos and some of the other Interceptor pilots probably could/should have had an EPT slot available to begin with. Now if you look at the A-Wing only one of it's unique pilots had an EPT and the other is pretty much in the trash bin alongside Fels Wrath.

There are just six A-Wings available and only half natively have EPT slots, the generic GSP along with Jake and Tycho. QUICK name the other two unique A-Wing pilots! See how memorable they are already.

Now look at the TIE Interceptor. How many pilots can you name for that? There you have 11 options led by Soontir Fel but you may see Jax and Turr from time to time. At the bottom end you have the Alpha but for a couple more points the PS jumps and they also pick up generics with EPT in the form of Sabers and Royal Guard which wouldn't be so bad if high PS wasn't a thing and the more expensive Interceptors were so good.

OTOH, it would've given pilots such as Kir Kanos an EPT...

As said Kanos and some of the other Interceptor pilots probably could/should have had an EPT slot available to begin with. Now if you look at the A-Wing only one of it's unique pilots had an EPT and the other is pretty much in the trash bin alongside Fels Wrath.

There are just six A-Wings available and only half natively have EPT slots, the generic GSP along with Jake and Tycho. QUICK name the other two unique A-Wing pilots! See how memorable they are already.

Now look at the TIE Interceptor. How many pilots can you name for that? There you have 11 options led by Soontir Fel but you may see Jax and Turr from time to time. At the bottom end you have the Alpha but for a couple more points the PS jumps and they also pick up generics with EPT in the form of Sabers and Royal Guard which wouldn't be so bad if high PS wasn't a thing and the more expensive Interceptors were so good.

Arvel Crynyd and Gemmer Sojan.

Just cos it's that easy.

yeah the fang fighter on paper and so far sounds like its literally what interceptors and awings should have been to be good w/o card dependencies. Still going to get cards glued to it but more out of "this is the best!" than "it is TERRIBLE without this!" like interceptors/awings tend to be.

Going to be rather upset if they can squeeze two of those with enough upgrades to be a menace AND Dengar into a single list.

OTOH, it would've given pilots such as Kir Kanos an EPT...

...

There are just six A-Wings available and only half natively have EPT slots, the generic GSP along with Jake and Tycho. QUICK name the other two unique A-Wing pilots! See how memorable they are already.

...

Arvel Crynyd and Gemmer Sojan.

Just cos it's that easy.

Maybe it is that easy. Now how often do you see either of those pilots being used in competitive games? They may be 1/3 of the available A-Wing pilots but I'd bet they show up less than 5% of the time and probably less than 1% of the time unless some kind of special building rules are in effect beyond your standard "X points to fight X points" games.

Gemmer is actually pretty darn good. In all honesty, you have to think of him as a GSP with one of the EPTs a 3 point unique card that's his ability. Oh, and he gets 2 PS out of it as well! The "problem" with him right now is that mid PS means nothing, and his ability isn't worth 3 points by itself.

Another way to think of Gemmer is as a Green w/ VI. You pay 2 points for his ability then, which is totally reasonable. But how often do you see greens taking VI? PS5 just isn't worth much of anything at this point. But as the meta shifts and mid-PS becomes a thing again, you might start seeing him more. Arvel on the other hand is just useless.

Gemmer is actually pretty darn good. In all honesty, you have to think of him as a GSP with one of the EPTs a 3 point unique card that's his ability. Oh, and he gets 2 PS out of it as well! The "problem" with him right now is that mid PS means nothing, and his ability isn't worth 3 points by itself.

Another way to think of Gemmer is as a Green w/ VI. You pay 2 points for his ability then, which is totally reasonable. But how often do you see greens taking VI? PS5 just isn't worth much of anything at this point. But as the meta shifts and mid-PS becomes a thing again, you might start seeing him more. Arvel on the other hand is just useless.

I have been thinking lately, wondering why each fix did what it did. I am talking about the Royal Guard title and the Test Pilot title... both are supposed to be massive upgrades for their respective ships, which they are, but I am kind of wondering why it panned out the way it did. I mean, why the interceptor got two mods and the A-wing got two EPTs and not vice versa? They seem to work as is right now, but the ships are so similar in a lot of respects. Would the A-wing have been too good with two mods on it? Was there some broken combo that a tie interceptor pilot had that could have resulted from two EPTs? Or do you think it was more of a preemptive fix, cards that would benefit both being just on the horizon in the scum release?

I have only been playing for around a year... so I only know so much about the 2014 days or what trends and lists would have been influencing this to go one way or the other.

Anyone have thoughts or insights as to why this happened the way it happened?

FFG flipped a coin, A-wings lost.

Not exactly, At the time of Wave 3 when all of the OT was exhausted for ship models FFG went to the Epic with the 2 Rebel huge ships. But at the time Imperials had no ships in that size so Imperials need some sort of special pack to offset the Rebel Transport and CR-90. Imperial Aces became that pack because you really couldn't do much with TIE Interceptors as they had no upgrade slots and they didn't do as well naked as TIE Fighters did.

I think Carnor Jax is one of the best in the Imperial forces. To shut down focus and evade at range one is incredible. Add push the limit and it gets you in the thick of it and out of fire arcs. Autothrusters tames the turrets and all for 31 points.