Friendly Disclaimer:
This series is dedicated to the creation and discussion of variants for cards in X-Wing that are either considered underpowered or over/underused. This is in part to encourage variety in squad-building, but mostly just because it's fun. I intend to create several topics like this, each dedicated to a different card, ship, or pilot (or group therof). Please feel free to comment on my ideas, or propose your own!
HOWEVER: If you feel that the particular card under discussion is fine as-is, please keep that to yourself and click away. This topic is meant to brainstorm and discuss proposed variants for the card in question. It is not intended to debate whether that card should be modified at all. I respectfully request that any discussions on the virtues of card balance be limited to the proposed variants, rather than the card as written. In turn, I ask participating people to simply ignore any folks who cannot resist the urge to do otherwise. If you absolutely must make a case for sticking to the rules as-written, please start your own topic and post it there. Thanks! And now, without further ado...
---
Even with the FAQ ruling that allows Gonk to be used twice in a turn (via Experimental Interface), the card is fairly underwhelming. I could go into more detail as to why I think Gonk is a bad card, but I'll save that discussion for another topic. I have a few ideas for ways to rewrite the card in a way that would make it more impactful and appealing. Point values are what I think it might be worth, but I welcome any thoughts and suggestions.
Variant 1
Action: Place one shield token on this card.
Variant 1 improves the action economy. Now instead of needing 2 actions, you only need 1. This brings it closer to the benchmark of R5-P9's "one action gets you a shield." I think this ability should be worth 3 points. It's not quite as good as the astromech because there's no focus token that you can use in other ways (Poe, free ones from Kyle/Garven, spending if you roll multiple eyes). However, you can "bank" shields during uneventful turns and still get the benefit when you need them, so I'd say it evens out.
Variant 2 is strictly worse than the card as-written if you use it right away. However, it can be extremely powerful if you can bank up a bunch of shields, at the cost of stressing yourself when you cash out. I think it would be fun to use and encourage risk-taking. "You think you've got me, but BAM! 3 more shields!" I would probably go with 3 points, but I could see an argument for a higher price. Better watch out for Boba, too! If there's room for the text on the card, it might be fun to have you lose stored-up shield tokens if you take stress and/or ion effects.
Variant 3 costs more (and could maybe go even higher), because you don't have to spend actions to make it work. It's good for ships with a lot of hit points that plan to be in prolonged combat. Not too long, though, because if you keep draining the card, you'll soon run out. Another version of this could be to make it more like R2-D2: Grant the stored shield token on a green move or some other requirement. It's harder to store shields, you have to wait until the end of the phase to get them, and some larger ships might have fewer green moves they can use. However, you'd be able to bank shields for when you need them, which is an advantage over R2.
Thoughts?
