Just curious why I have to spend 5 xp to downgrade my ship to an A-Wing or HWK, seems weird to me. Yes you get extra upgrade slots on those ships that they don't normally get, but you still have to spend XP to fill those slots so it's not really a huge bonus, and doesn't change the fact that an A-Wing is a 15 point ship compared to an 18 point Y-Wing or 21 point X-Wing.

So it seems like this game mode punishes players that want to play as the cheaper ships, unless I'm missing something. I enjoy flying A-Wings, but I know that switching into one will put me at a disadvantage compared to the players flying Y-Wings, X-Wings and B-Wings that will be able to deal and take much more damage than me, and on top of that they will also have 5 more XP than me to spend on upgrades too, and they don't have to give up the XP they spent on their initial upgrades.

With the A-Wing and HWK, you do get to move your Mods and EPTs over. If you are planning to eventually run an A-Wing or HWK, you need to decide this in the beginning and then plan accordingly.

For an eventual A-Wing pilot, I'd start with an X-Wing focus my XP purchases on things an A-Wing could use.

Examples:

Mods: Shield Upgrade, Stealth Device

EPT: Push the Limit, Predator, Crackshot, Outmaneuver

I would spend 1 point on an astromech to take advantage of the free Intergrated Astromech while in my X-Wing. Then when I hit PS 4, make the switch.

A-Wing is weaker offensively than an X-Wing, so you need to make up for it in Mods and EPT. Missiles with Guidance Chip and Extra Munitions would be good too.

HWK is rougher, as you are giving up a lot to get into a weaker ship compared to a Y-Wing. HWK can become an outstanding support ship with all its toys.

I don't like the XP expenditure on changing ships for A-Wing and HWK. You can always house-rule that it costs 0 XP but still requires PS 4. B-Wing should still cost the 5 XP, as it is a superior ship in all ways to an X-Wing.

Hmmm, not glad to read that. My friend is now preparing HOTAC campaign and I wanted to fly HWK or A-Wing as well...

"decide this in the beginning and then plan accordingly."

is not so great for this type of game where I was just invited on-site and jumped in, not having access to the rules or any time or reason to look up strategies before-hand. However, I am okay with losing the XP that I spent on TLT and Seismic Charges, as I earned a ton of XP from those upgrades that I otherwise wouldn't have, so it's not a waste.

I don't like the XP expenditure on changing ships for A-Wing and HWK. You can always house-rule that it costs 0 XP but still requires PS 4. B-Wing should still cost the 5 XP, as it is a superior ship in all ways to an X-Wing.

So why isn't this just the rule? It's hard for me to suggest this as a house-rule when the group I'm with is running this as a league with prizes at the end.

I've mentioned this disparity to armoredgear7.

There is a very heavy tax on the A-Wing especially, as you lose Engine Upgrades, R2 units and torpedoes.

I wouldn't say the A-Wing is a "downgrade", it's just different. But it definitely has the highest "conversion tax" since it can't use anything the Starter Ships might have upgraded other than Shields.

We'll see if there's a change in future versions of the game, but as it stands, yes, the A-Wing is a labor of love. You have to want to be an A-Wing because there's very little mathematical sense to taking one.

The HWK has the crew slot, and retains its turret, so it's not as much of a "downgrade" as it is a lateral move for players looking to play some kind of support role.

As far as the B-Wing being superior to the X-Wing, can't really agree with that either. It's slow and not very maneuverable. It also has no (simple/practical) options for shield regeneration. So it's a heavy hitter, but not always that resilient without support.

"decide this in the beginning and then plan accordingly."

is not so great for this type of game where I was just invited on-site and jumped in, not having access to the rules or any time or reason to look up strategies before-hand. However, I am okay with losing the XP that I spent on TLT and Seismic Charges, as I earned a ton of XP from those upgrades that I otherwise wouldn't have, so it's not a waste.

I don't like the XP expenditure on changing ships for A-Wing and HWK. You can always house-rule that it costs 0 XP but still requires PS 4. B-Wing should still cost the 5 XP, as it is a superior ship in all ways to an X-Wing.

So why isn't this just the rule? It's hard for me to suggest this as a house-rule when the group I'm with is running this as a league with prizes at the end.

If you've already got a Y-Wing with TLT and Seismics, you could just stick with the Y-Wing for this campaign and try an A-Wing at another time.

Since HotAC is fan-created and not official, you can make the rules change as you go. However, everyone has to agree with them. Since you are in a league with prize support, which is way cool, it is probably everyone agreed on the rules as written in the beginning. Changing them now may not happen, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Yeah I think I'm just going to stick with my Y-Wing, once I get R2 Astromech and Engine Upgrade I'll be close to an A-wing's maneuverability with twice the durability and triple the firepower.

Just wanted to make sure I wasnt crazy for thinking the upgrade system heavily punishes the A-Wing, and it seems that everyone agrees that the rules for the A-Wing dont make sense in this game. Which is a shame as the A-Wing is my favorite ship in the game and everything else about HOTAC is so amazingly well designed.

Would love to see the A-Wing get fixed in future updates so you pay 0xp to use it and it gets an additional missile slot at some point.

I'm planning my a wing. Prockets and extra munitions is next so I can go for the mission/shuttle etc and hit hard then play a game drawing all the ties to draw their arcs away from my mates so they can pound them!

Looking at tycho, etahn and gemmers ability with stealth device and autothrusters

Hmmm, not glad to read that. My friend is now preparing HOTAC campaign and I wanted to fly HWK or A-Wing as well...

If you want to fly a HWK I suggest starting as a Y-Wing. Your turret upgrade will transfer, as well as any EPT or Mods. You can also go my route (well, on my second playthrough anyway) which is get bombs for your Y-Wing, and then when you switch to an HWK just grab Sabine crew.

It really is not as a big a deal as it is being made to seem.

Why did the designer feel you shouldn't just start off in a HWK or an A-Wing? No idea. Maybe he didn't want B-Wings to be the only upgrade ship available. And as you may or may not see depending on your group, the B-Wing can be a real beast in HotAC. Still, the whole point is to have fun with your friends, so if there's something you all don't like, change it. Not like R2-EQ is going to show up at your house and arrest you or something.

Why did the designer feel you shouldn't just start off in a HWK or an A-Wing? No idea.

Since A-Wing prototypes now appear in Rebels (i.e. pre-A New Hope), I don't see why one couldn't start with an A-Wing. Starting PS is a 2 (in-between Prototype Pilot and Green Squadron Pilot), so starting XP would be 8 (same as Y-Wing). I wouldn't allow A-Wing Test Pilot until PS 3, just to keep things balanced with the other players.

Following the formula (i.e. 26 build points = starting character), a HWK-290 would get 10 starting XP. I would be interested to see if that would be balanced against other starting builds (TLT + Recon Specialist could be nasty as a starting build).

Those 5XP cost are too high for what you get with the A-Wing and HWK, I agree with the initial poster. We had this discussion already but the A-Wing is generally extremely difficult to play and only comes into its own on high pilot levels. What I would recommend (have done so in the campaign I have written myself) is that you scrap the table for ejects and simply say that each ship costs 5XP. So if you're shot down in any mission, you need to pay 5XP to get a new ship - any ship. Of course you can stockpile the **** things for variety if you so choose and fly them until they go boom. But that rule settles it for me and brings consistency into getting shot down.

Yeah I think I'm just going to stick with my Y-Wing, once I get R2 Astromech and Engine Upgrade I'll be close to an A-wing's maneuverability with twice the durability and triple the firepower.

Forget the EU for the Y-wing, just wait and get Jake Farrel EPT. Free boost or BR action when you focus. Fun as hell on a Y-wing. Spend those points on R5-P9 and shield upgrades, with that 1 evade dice, you're gonna want them.

Yeah I think I'm just going to stick with my Y-Wing, once I get R2 Astromech and Engine Upgrade I'll be close to an A-wing's maneuverability with twice the durability and triple the firepower.

Forget the EU for the Y-wing, just wait and get Jake Farrel EPT. Free boost or BR action when you focus. Fun as hell on a Y-wing. Spend those points on R5-P9 and shield upgrades, with that 1 evade dice, you're gonna want them.

Also don't forget Attack Shuttle pilot Sabine Wren for pre-move boost or barelling in a Ywing or Xwing! That plus Jake is a dream in movement!

Yeah I think I'm just going to stick with my Y-Wing, once I get R2 Astromech and Engine Upgrade I'll be close to an A-wing's maneuverability with twice the durability and triple the firepower.

Forget the EU for the Y-wing, just wait and get Jake Farrel EPT. Free boost or BR action when you focus. Fun as hell on a Y-wing. Spend those points on R5-P9 and shield upgrades, with that 1 evade dice, you're gonna want them.

You can get EU WAAAAAY earlier than Jake though.

Consider it the cost of just switching ships. It's not so much upgrading or downgrading....it's just that you have the weight in your unit to pull favors and get the ships you want.

Consider it the cost of just switching ships. It's not so much upgrading or downgrading....it's just that you have the weight in your unit to pull favors and get the ships you want.

We roleplayed it exactly like that in our campaign.

The rebel cell in the Aturi Cluster needs supplies and spare parts to keep their squadron in fighting condition. It is normal that some paperwork needs to be done and some strings needs to be pulled so that the Alliance alters the contents of the supplies delivered to these heroes. Look at the 5XP expense as a expense in prestige so that the Alliance quartermasters add one A-Wing or two from now on to their deliveries.

However, we allowed our players to keep their old ship, so that no XP or upgrades are ever wasted on ship-switching.

Can anyone direct me to where I can find all of the rules for HOTAC?

Thanks in advance.

Can anyone direct me to where I can find all of the rules for HOTAC?

Thanks in advance.

http://dockingbay416.com/campaign/

Or just google "Heroes of the Aturi Cluster".

The A-wing has some interesting builds (5 crackshot anyone?) and can really take advantage of Prockets. Because its much, much faster than any of the other ships (7 speed normal max vs. 4) it can go after distant, but necessary, objectives and speed the game up. An A-wing with Prockets + Ex. Munitions can put the hurt on any ship from day 1. Take the capture refuelling station mission (part III of the arc). You can gun for the shield generators far before the other ships have a good shot, and you have a decent chance of completely destroying them. This would let your other ships keep their distance from Turbolaser towers and focus on the incoming fighters.

In addition, the A-wing could do something like take Homing missiles, Extra munitions, Opportunist, Predator and Keyan Farlander's ability for a 5 die attack with full modifiers. This would make it the heaviest hitter ship in your squad for the first few turns, and make it a dedicated ace killer.

Something else you might consider is an A-wing with 3 stealth devices, push the limit for focus and evade for an AGI 6 ship. You need at least PS 6 to do it, but then you can have a truly valuable role in drawing every single TIE fighter shot and ignoring them. The only problem then is that you get 0 xp for something so essential. A fix to this might be something like:

Expert Handling (rules fix)

If you do not perform an attack in a round, but were attacked at least 3 times without suffering damage, gain 2 xp. This gives the A-wing a time to shine, as it can then draw away enemy swarms and gain massive XP bunuses for doing so.

I do still agree that some fix has to be made, because compared to a B-wing the A-wing is truly pathetic without missiles.

[Edit in response to post made that correct mine]: Right, I mush have missed the P. 12 rule that states that you can only have 1 of anything that isn't munitions. Thanks for correcting that.

Can you take 5 crackshot? I know you can take multiple shield and hul upgrades in the campaign, but I didnt know you could take any other ability or upgrade again.

I even joked once with my group that I wished I could take 3 stealth upgrades on my Ywing to give it actual Green dice evasion chances, until I got hit, since they'd all go away then

Page 12. top-right box. All Upgrades are Limited and can only be purchased once, except Secondary Weapons (bombs, torps, etc) and Hull/Shield.

Glad to see this thread, as I've been playing HotAC for over a month now and asked this very question on my first day of playing. To date, nobody has given a satisfactory answer as why you should need to spend 5 XP to go to a statistically inferior ship. Apparently the creator of HotAC sees something that the X-Wing Miniatures creators didn't see when he decided a bare A-wing should be worth 5 points more than a bare X-wing of equal pilot skill.

I think a better system would have been to simply let all the pilots choose their starting ships and receive starting XP based on the chosen ship. If a player really wants to only fly an A-wing or B-wing, then let them fly one without having to jump through hoops of flying a ship they're not interested in for several games, and then throw away 5 XP and fall behind the rest of the group just to get to the ship they wanted from day 1.

I think one A-Wing in a squad adds a lot if you equip it correctly being the only 3 agility ship (4 after stealth device which is a given I think). If flown correctly it can really mess with the AI of the Imperials. Swing in front of a bunch of fighters and run away while the X-Wings kill them from behind.

I tried an a wing without epts and it had no real damage output! (Blanked out on prockets) it is quick but for a 2 player build doesn't work, if I had more imp ships I'd be running 2 ships each