For my own campaign, I taxed the T70 at 19XP. The idea is the following:

5 XP for the ship itself (the model)

4 XP for the Shield Upgrade

5 XP for the free Boost action

5 XP for the added maneuver on the dial

That seemed fair pricing.

For my own campaign, I taxed the T70 at 19XP. The idea is the following:

5 XP for the ship itself (the model)

4 XP for the Shield Upgrade

5 XP for the free Boost action

5 XP for the added maneuver on the dial

That seemed fair pricing.

Edit: To be clear, that's 13 xp total for the ship, but you can use EU and the Shield Upgrade while you're still getting the xp you need for the T-70

For my own campaign, I taxed the T70 at 19XP. The idea is the following:

5 XP for the ship itself (the model)

4 XP for the Shield Upgrade

5 XP for the free Boost action

5 XP for the added maneuver on the dial

That seemed fair pricing.

19seems very fair. The ship is really too good for the campaign compared to the base ship.

If anything we should just make a Title for the campaign and call it T-65AC-2 your ship gains the T-70 dial...and make it a 1 or 2 point title. And then completely leave off the rest of the ship enhancements since its 2 modifications that dont need slots in the campaign and a new slot for the tech. It really isnt balanced.

But 19 points is the most reasonable I've seen it at.

Another thought... if you are going to allow for the use of T-70 X-wings, a ship outside of the original trilogy era, then you could balance it with the following:

T-70 can be purchased at PS 4 for 5 XP, but for every T-70 in the Rebel squadron, you upgrade 2 TIE Fighter Academy Pilots to TIE/fo Epsilon Squadron Pilots.

Might need to break the TIE/fos off into their own squadron. Dial is pretty similar to TIE/ln, just 3 K-turn on AI chart to 2 S-loop where possible.

Just an idea.

Xwing Ace- EPT, 2 points

HotAC Xwing Only

You may use a T70 Xwing or Ewing dial for your Xwing.

Advanced Incom Model- Modification, 1 pont

HotAC Xwing only

You may add a System or Tech slot to your upgrade bar.

As a double fix for adding both the T70 and Ewing to HotAC.

Xwing Ace- EPT, 2 points

HotAC Xwing Only

You may use a T70 Xwing or Ewing dial for your Xwing.

Advanced Incom Model- Modification, 1 pont

HotAC Xwing only

You may add a System or Tech slot to your upgrade bar.

As a double fix for adding both the T70 and Ewing to HotAC.

Ithink that is the best suggestion on incorporating either the Ewing or T-70 I've seen yet.

If you pay near 20XP for the T70, the opportunity cost justify its being better. If you only pay 5XP for the swap to another ship, you should definitely use the TIE/fo upgrade in enemy squads. I'd say upgrade one TIE per squad and T70 in play. The disadvantage here, however, is that you cannot use the TIE/fo as regular enemies then (as I do in my own campaign, for example) which might limit you as the campaign writer.

Quick side question: is there a way to view the HotAC PDF manual online without downloading the file?

Quick side question: is there a way to view the HotAC PDF manual online without downloading the file?

you can save it a dropbox account and view it from there without downloading.

I agree with that. I also think that the ARC-170 will probably fit in well enough. Not positive, but I am guessing it will be fine. It's not so crazy with the variety of upgrades.

What about the Attack Shuttle? I never hear anyone wanting to put that ship in HotAC. It might be a really good ship to try. It's got a decent dial, but not crazy. It has Crew and Turret, but not much else. It's only 2 hull and 2 shield, but you can improve it. Lots of chances to be a decent support ship and also do some damage. The 3 main guns are pretty nice. I think this might be a decent ship you could migrate to at PS 4. Thoughts? Has anyone else brought this up before? It is even relevant time wise.

That kind of makes me think about something. What about a campaign based on the Star Wars Rebels tv show? You could make a mini campaign that fits into that storyline. Maybe use the Ghost in some missions as a "keep it alive" kind of thing. Have The Inquisitor or even Darth Vader show up at times? That might be pretty neat. You can use all the same AI and such, but just change missions out.

I think the shuttle would be fine, serving as a kind of funny hybrid ship. It's fairly nimble and hits hard, but is fragile; it also has the HWK-like mix of a turret and a crew slot, but unlike the HWK, the primary weapon will compete for use. I imagine it would be quite interesting to fly. When I start my next campaign, I'll try it out, along with the ARC-170 and Z-95.

Speaking of the Z-95, any other ideas on how to make it a relevant ship? Keeping in mind the X-Wing is a starting option, I don't want people to be thinking of moving into a T-65 ASAP. There has to be a change that will keep the Z-95 relevant.

I do kind of like the idea of having two of them, and maybe one functioning as a primary pilot and the other being a wingman who only has half the main pilot's PS and can only use a single EPT? Perhaps between the two Z-95s, they can only stack half the upgrades a standard ship can? That would make them distinct from all other ships in the campaign without being overpowering, I think, and would require some interesting XP management. It would also introduce some fun questions; do you load them out the same way and fly them side-by-side or specialize them differently?

I also think adding some custom titles for the campaign would be an alright fit, and if you had a handful of them, would make the Z-95 a fun mission specialist craft. A cannon refit that functions like the TIE/D title? Perhaps something that interacts positively with nearby wingmen (automatically grants a protect token or something)? A scanner unit that allows it to scan as a free action? Maybe an illegal-ized loadout that lets it carry a Salvaged Astromech and an Illicit upgrade?

I also love the idea of a solo or two-player co-op campaign using the HotAC AI rules that is themed after Rebels, where one player uses the shuttle and the other uses the Ghost, along with some pop-in allies like A-Wings. The prototype B-Wing could make an appearance too.

Why couldn't the z-95 be a starting ship, but with 8xp? The x-wing gets 5xp to start, the lower hull and attack, can be offset by the 8xp, which will likely be spent on missiles.

My question is this: how to make an A-wing a starter ship - like phoenix squadron in Rebels.

Blasted Samophlange, look up the HOTAC A-wing thread, we had a discussion on there about making the Awing a starter.

Why couldn't the z-95 be a starting ship, but with 8xp? The x-wing gets 5xp to start, the lower hull and attack, can be offset by the 8xp, which will likely be spent on missiles.

My question is this: how to make an A-wing a starter ship - like phoenix squadron in Rebels.

The point values in HotAC are based on a "26 point total" (21 point Rookie Pilot +5 for the X-Wing and 18 point Gold Squadron pilot +8 for the Y-Wing).

The A-Wing has been suggested as 8 points as well, since that would be A-Wing Test Pilot + 1 point for PS2, plus 8 points for 26 total.

I've alternatively suggested keeping the A-Wing as a PS4 upgrade, but getting rid of the 5 point cost since the A-Wing has a built in "tax" for lost torpedoes, Engine Upgrades and astromechs.

The Z-95 difficulty is that it's a 12 point base, leaving 14 points for upgrades if it were to be "equal". This isn't a "problem", per se, but it does sorta create a situation where the other Rebel starters will be limited in their selections, but the Z-95 will actually have a surplus of XP because there's no way it can spend all 14. Some people have suggested getting two Z-95s and 2 points, but that, of course, creates other issues.

I'd almost want to suggest giving the Z-95 5-8 points, and simply classify it as "Veteran Mode", where the objective isn't balancing the ship, but instead creating a challenge for players who want to stack the deck against themselves.

Personally, I also believe that the A-Wing is just "Hard Mode" in general. It's not a competitive ship in HotAC compared to the nightmarish X-Wings you can create with EPTs and Modifications, and that's fine. It's just there for the players who want to have a little fun and extra challenge. Including the A-Wing as a Starter Ship is also Hard Mode. You've got a fragile ship with limited hitting power against high agility ships and no EPTs to offset. The A-Wing doesn't start to shine in HotAC until PS7 or so when you're able to build ridiculous 4+ EPT combos, so if you're taking an A-Wing before that, you've definitely chosen a more difficult path for your pilot.

You could run a run the Headhunter, as if it was a scum Headhunter similar the Hawk.( giving it an illicit slot) Allowing you to end up with a ship running up 24 points. If you wish you could get extra upgrades from the extra points and just add them to the back of the ship card, like when upgrading to a ship that doesn't the upgrades you have already bought. If done right you could have an extra missile to swap out between mission for example: A head hunter 12 points homing missile 5 points assault missiles 5 points Glitterstim 2 points and extra munitions 2 points coming in at 26 points. This would allow you to work on your pilot skill right away making it easier to grab a ship you really want or only buy one missile and know your pilot skill will go to PS2 on the second mission no matter what happens as long as your pilot doesn't die. If you can get another 5 exp on the first mission you could end up at PS3 for the second mission. This would allow you to have an pilot talent if you run it like the X-wing's card. So depending on how you spent your points you could have a fully loaded ship At PS3 on the second mission, I would call that good reason to use this ship.

I don't have the Rebel Transport - do I need it or is there a way to proxy?

I don't have the Rebel Transport - do I need it or is there a way to proxy?

I don't have it, either. We should get someone to tell us the size of the bases from end to end and side to side. Then, we need to find someone with graphic skills to create a graphic for us.

I don't have the Rebel Transport - do I need it or is there a way to proxy?

I don't have it, either. We should get someone to tell us the size of the bases from end to end and side to side. Then, we need to find someone with graphic skills to create a graphic for us.

Hey, been really enjoying your podcast lately! I've listened to the first two on in the HotAC series - good stuff.

Why couldn't the z-95 be a starting ship, but with 8xp? The x-wing gets 5xp to start, the lower hull and attack, can be offset by the 8xp, which will likely be spent on missiles.

My question is this: how to make an A-wing a starter ship - like phoenix squadron in Rebels.

The point values in HotAC are based on a "26 point total" (21 point Rookie Pilot +5 for the X-Wing and 18 point Gold Squadron pilot +8 for the Y-Wing).

The A-Wing has been suggested as 8 points as well, since that would be A-Wing Test Pilot + 1 point for PS2, plus 8 points for 26 total.

I've alternatively suggested keeping the A-Wing as a PS4 upgrade, but getting rid of the 5 point cost since the A-Wing has a built in "tax" for lost torpedoes, Engine Upgrades and astromechs.

The Z-95 difficulty is that it's a 12 point base, leaving 14 points for upgrades if it were to be "equal". This isn't a "problem", per se, but it does sorta create a situation where the other Rebel starters will be limited in their selections, but the Z-95 will actually have a surplus of XP because there's no way it can spend all 14. Some people have suggested getting two Z-95s and 2 points, but that, of course, creates other issues.

I'd almost want to suggest giving the Z-95 5-8 points, and simply classify it as "Veteran Mode", where the objective isn't balancing the ship, but instead creating a challenge for players who want to stack the deck against themselves.

Personally, I also believe that the A-Wing is just "Hard Mode" in general. It's not a competitive ship in HotAC compared to the nightmarish X-Wings you can create with EPTs and Modifications, and that's fine. It's just there for the players who want to have a little fun and extra challenge. Including the A-Wing as a Starter Ship is also Hard Mode. You've got a fragile ship with limited hitting power against high agility ships and no EPTs to offset. The A-Wing doesn't start to shine in HotAC until PS7 or so when you're able to build ridiculous 4+ EPT combos, so if you're taking an A-Wing before that, you've definitely chosen a more difficult path for your pilot.

Yeah I think an A-wing with ep starting is pretty fair.

Hmm. The ARC-170. It SHOULD be balanced, but let's check just to make sure.

The closest starter analog is probably the Y-Wing, so lets go off of that. So you gain +1 Hull and +1 attack out the front. You lose the turret slot and the second attack from BTL-A4, but gain an aux arc. You lose one torpedo, but gain a crew. You also get a better dial.

I mean, that seems fair to me. Lots of trade-offs, with only a couple of straight upgrades. Your damage output, with the lack of BTL-A4, and any major secondary weapons, is pretty noticeably lower. You are also arc-bound again at all times. However, you do have the rear arc, the crew slot, and the better dial.

So, yeah. Unlike the E-Wing, T-70, etc, you aren't gaining advantages with no disadvantages or trade-offs. Unlike the Y-Wing or B-Wing, the ARC-170 relies significantly less on secondary weapons like turrets and torpedoes, and as such, fights at closer range. It might be a legitimate upgrade for X-Wing pilots too, to be honest.

Oh, and the new Rebel TIE Fighter should be good to go as well. I mean, it's just a TIE Fighter.

Rebel tie fighter suffers from sme problem the Z95 and awing does- too many points unspent, not enough capability to keep up with the table.

The Imperial campaigns are trying to solve this problem in various ways, but they usually involve multiples, which is anti-thematic for Sabine's tie.

Rebel tie fighter suffers from sme problem the Z95 and awing does- too many points unspent, not enough capability to keep up with the table.

The Imperial campaigns are trying to solve this problem in various ways, but they usually involve multiples, which is anti-thematic for Sabine's tie.

Sabine Tie with Z-95 wingman ? Wingman has zeb as pilot ? Counts as 1 ship.

I would make the ARC-170 be a ship you have to transfer to instead of just starting with. They are supposed to be rare and there are some excellent combos you can't get in a Y-wing.

I'd say the same thing for the Attack Shuttle.

ARC seems comparable to the B-Wing, so same rules for ship swapping could apply. I like the idea of the attack shuttle, but it seems almost strictly superior to the HWK, so it should maybe cost more.

The ARC-170 is kind of like a mix between the X-wing, Y-wing, and the HWK. I kind of like it. I think the rear arc will be quite interesting.

I think the HWK-290 is still a decent option. It gets a Turret, Crew, and Illicit upgrades. There aren't any other ships that have all that. The Attack Shuttle would be the replacement HWK, if anything. No Illicit, better red dice, better dial, and a lot squishier than the HWK. So, I still say there is a difference.

Yeah, I'm pretty stoked to swap to an ARC in our current campaign. At PS4 I'll have Predator, Engine Upgrade, Vectored Thrusters, R2-D2, and 3-PO. All I need is Biggs' ability and super tank is ready to fly.

The HWK is fun in heroes too, but for it to be balanced the attack shuttle has to either cost more or lose a mod slot or something.

I also like the idea of Zs flying in pairs. Instead of a mod slot, you just buy an additional ship every 4 levels or so.