When the game first came out they had to rely on EU stuff, since there just wasn't that many cannon characters. But now that Disney is making new stuff I think we will see fewer EU characters. But that doesn't matter since he is going to be a major player in Rebels. And if you have been paying attention, Rebels, is where they have Ben getting most of there new material. So I think it is pretty certain that we will get Thrawn, it is just a matter of when.
Thrawn...Possible or Impossible?
We have to remember that Disney completely erase the thrilogy of Timothy Zahn. So Thrawn is maybe not the one that we saw in the novel of Zahn in the mind of Disney editors. If we did not saw him in TFA, maybe there is a reason. Disney could change is story line as they want (unfortunately).
We have to remember that Disney completely erase the thrilogy of Timothy Zahn. So Thrawn is maybe not the one that we saw in the novel of Zahn in the mind of Disney editors. If we did not saw him in TFA, maybe there is a reason. Disney could change is story line as they want (unfortunately).
It's pretty clear from how he was depicted in the Rebels season 3 trailer, and the fact that they're bringing Zahn back to write a Thrawn book, that he'll have a lot in common with the old version of Thrawn.
We have to remember that Disney completely erase the thrilogy of Timothy Zahn. So Thrawn is maybe not the one that we saw in the novel of Zahn in the mind of Disney editors. If we did not saw him in TFA, maybe there is a reason. Disney could change is story line as they want (unfortunately).
It's pretty clear from how he was depicted in the Rebels season 3 trailer, and the fact that they're bringing Zahn back to write a Thrawn book, that he'll have a lot in common with the old version of Thrawn.
Now I kind of hope he's just a putz who faked it until he made it and now everyone is too afraid to call him out (ala Ciaphis Cain).
I kind of like the idea that with thrawn all the enemy dials are always visible to you. he wouldn't need to be THAT expensive, but I think it fits his character well.
Yes. This would be the most accurate reflection of his abilities, as they were presented in the Thrawn trilogy.
We have to remember that Disney completely erase the thrilogy of Timothy Zahn. So Thrawn is maybe not the one that we saw in the novel of Zahn in the mind of Disney editors. If we did not saw him in TFA, maybe there is a reason. Disney could change is story line as they want (unfortunately).
Disney has wisely kept the defining characteristics of their reused Legends content. Thrawn might not be a perfect match to the old EU background stories, but the trailer indicates that they are carefully working to make sure that he is the genius tactician he was always portrayed as.
I think we'll be fine.
Thrawn
-On the 5th turn you may activate all of your ships before your opponent.
50 Points
Slightly different, less jaw dropping
Thrawn,
-On the 2nd and 5th turn, you may decide who has initiative.
30-40 Points
Some good ideas here, I especially like the initiative one.
In fact, I think it is also entirely probable as a side-nerf to initiative bidding as well.
As you know, FFG likes to introduce player options and mechanics rather than "nerf" a concept that has become questionable by the community. Things like Rhymer, Demolisher, or what have you, you can see future waves including soft-counters to this. I think not only does messing with initiative mess with the concept of bidding, but it also plays perfectly with Thrawn's character.
Thrawn
-On the 5th turn you may activate all of your ships before your opponent.
50 Points
Slightly different, less jaw dropping
Thrawn,
-On the 2nd and 5th turn, you may decide who has initiative.
30-40 Points
Some good ideas here, I especially like the initiative one.
In fact, I think it is also entirely probable as a side-nerf to initiative bidding as well.
As you know, FFG likes to introduce player options and mechanics rather than "nerf" a concept that has become questionable by the community. Things like Rhymer, Demolisher, or what have you, you can see future waves including soft-counters to this. I think not only does messing with initiative mess with the concept of bidding, but it also plays perfectly with Thrawn's character.
The first option I like a bit more just because it makes me think that Thrawn has some master plan that comes to fruition.
The second one is probably more reasonable, fits the fluff, and gives some real tactical flexibility. I also REALLY want to see them change the initiative system so this is kind of a work around.
You mean like this upcoming new Thrawn book?
I assume everyone has seen the Armada Shipyards version of Thrawn. If you haven't, his ability is "At the start of every ship phase, you may choose one ship. You may look at that ship's command dials, and rearrange them in any order." 36 points. A lot of people find that insanely overpowered. I myself think it's even better used on your own ships, rather than the enemy, but that's just me.
I would also love to see Thrawn with the power Armada Shipyards gave Bail Organna: "Before choosing a friendly ship to be activated, you may exhaust this card instead.: 24 points. That feels rather Thrawn to me, as well. It has the potential to set me up with a last move + first move, which the Empire rarely gets. (in my experience, anyway)
I don't even care what his ability will be. Gonna be probably the commander I use the most, because Thrawn. Always been my favorite EU character.
Thrawn
-On the 5th turn you may activate all of your ships before your opponent.
50 Points
Slightly different, less jaw dropping
Thrawn,
-On the 2nd and 5th turn, you may decide who has initiative.
30-40 Points
Some good ideas here, I especially like the initiative one.
In fact, I think it is also entirely probable as a side-nerf to initiative bidding as well.
As you know, FFG likes to introduce player options and mechanics rather than "nerf" a concept that has become questionable by the community. Things like Rhymer, Demolisher, or what have you, you can see future waves including soft-counters to this. I think not only does messing with initiative mess with the concept of bidding, but it also plays perfectly with Thrawn's character.
I like this idea. My idea was once per round, you may change the top command dial of one ship, which could include your own or your opponent's.
Thrawn
-On the 5th turn you may activate all of your ships before your opponent.
50 Points
Slightly different, less jaw dropping
Thrawn,
-On the 2nd and 5th turn, you may decide who has initiative.
30-40 Points
Some good ideas here, I especially like the initiative one.
In fact, I think it is also entirely probable as a side-nerf to initiative bidding as well.
As you know, FFG likes to introduce player options and mechanics rather than "nerf" a concept that has become questionable by the community. Things like Rhymer, Demolisher, or what have you, you can see future waves including soft-counters to this. I think not only does messing with initiative mess with the concept of bidding, but it also plays perfectly with Thrawn's character.
I like this idea. My idea was once per round, you may change the top command dial of one ship, which could include your own or your opponent's.
I wouldn't put a game mechanic in that straight up allows your opponent to mess with one of your dials unless they seriously have to jump through some hoops like slicers which requires you to get into firing range with a fairly weak ship with not that much offensive firepower. You have to remember that screwing with a dial can completely neuter an activation (squad commands in a carrier list for example) so it shouldn't easy or should at least be super risky. The idea of messing with your own dials I think has some real merit though.
Edited by ImpStarDeucesI wouldn't put a game mechanic in that straight up allows your opponent to mess with one of your dials unless they seriously have to jump through some hoops like slicers which requires you to get into firing range with a fairly weak ship with not that much offensive firepower. You have to remember that screwing with a dial can completely neuter an activation (squad commands in a carrier list for example) so it shouldn't easy or should at least be super risky. The idea of messing with your own dials I think has some real merit though.
I for one think it's perfectly fine to mess with an opponent's dials. It can certainly be infuriating, but only if you have no countermeasures. And there are plenty to choose from: Leia, Skilled First Officer, Support Officer, both Liaisons, the four specialized officers, and to some extent even Comms Net, Veteran Captain, Wulff Yularen, Tarkin, Commandant Aresko and Tantive IV.
The Shipyards version is further limited because it only lets you reorder dials - which means spamming commands (at least on critical ships) is also a hard counter. Plus it does nothing against Command-1 ships. So why people think it's "ridiculously overpowered" is beyond me.
Because it's a game with two people. "Negative play experience" is the going lingo for anything that is basically op, it always generally boils down to one thing: does the game mechanic take control of the game out of the players hand ore regardless of his choices. Speaking very generally, you don't want to have to force people to have to carry insurance over "possibly" playing a certain card or the game start to involve "hard counters" which can quickly hurt the game. We kind of see that with Demolisher and people trying to run AP (at least locally for me) when generally they are better served by ECM. Even taking your example of counters to Dial manipulation and taking the worst case scenario, a high command carrier like an ISD or MC80, the only counter that you actually named is Leia. Every other one takes a squadron activation from 4-5 (even 6) squadrons down to 1 with a token. Imperials have no way to counter this at all currently. Completely taking choice out of a player's actions is a sure fire way to get a new thread about how something is OP. 
As for the shipyards version, you're right, reordering is less of an evil than straight up changing it, but you still run into many of the same problems as above. As for fluff, I'm not quite sure it fits either just because Thrawn worked through almost prescience forethought rather than through direct manipulation. Just from a literal reading maybe start from an Isard type text (opponent set's his command dials face up) and maybe allow Thrawn to manipulate all of his fleet's dials accordingly?
It's certainly an interesting discussion, and I totally get your angle. But ultimately I think that the concept of insurances is a good thing rather than a bad one. In my experience it makes for much more interesting list-building exercises as you can't simply min-max and expect to fare well against all lists.
As regards dial manipulation, you say that only Leia is a good counter. But what about the liaisons or the four command officers? On a carrier (the most command-critical ship type), all you need to be Slicer Tools-proof is a Wing Commander. And to be Thrawn-proof you would be equally well served with an Engineering Captain or a Navigation Officer - just spam squadron commands (or don't, as Thrawn would have very little incentive to spend its ability on a proofed ship).
I would also counter that forcing your opponent to play with all dials face-up is far more powerful than being able to see and maybe change one ship's dials. Not to mention that it would eliminate the surprise factor... this is the one bit of hidden information in the game - messing with it is one thing, but outright eliminating it makes the game that much less interesting.
Then you gotta turn the argument on it's head. Is it good to have an upgrade that can outright nullify any benefit a commander provides or said differently a commander who could provide absolutely no benefit in a game. For something as integral as commanders are to this game, I think that's one area that should be avoided. Also not very Thrawn-like to get countered by Ensign no name. However, I do concede that insurance isn't necessarily a bad thing, but right now the game design has limited those relevant "insurance" options to the limited officer slot and most of them are expensive. Maybe if they were cheaper or took a less valuable slot.
Personal opinion on the dials face up thing, seeing what your opponent plans to do with a dial doesn't seem to be that useful once you get about 20 games under your belt unless it's a desperation move like a corvette throwing a squad command out. We all kind of know what commands to expect, or at least plan for the opponent to make the right command choice because it's usually pretty obvious. Knowing what the command dial is going to be isn't that powerful unless you can do something about it. There's a reason Isard isn't in every list. There's not a huge amount you can do with that information.
I kind of like the idea of "at the start of the game reduce the number of command dials that you set for each of your ships by one, to a minimum of one". It would show that Thrawn's ability to predict his enemies actions let his fleet more readily react.
Timothy Zhan gave an interview around SW Celebration stating that Thrawn is going to have a lot in common with the old version but it will have some new/different traits is this new version.
FFG also already has some pretty amazing art of Grand Admiral Thrawn that could be repurposed:
32 points you can move all of your ships after deployment. up to distance 5 inside your set up zone before the start of the game. 
32 points you can move all of your ships after deployment. up to distance 5 inside your set up zone before the start of the game.
20 points and I think that's awesome. It's like superior positions on a dude.
I think Thrawn reducing command stack of all ships in his fleet by one seems pretty thematic and fairly potent.
Thrawn on Relentless would be intimidating.
Making it a Command 1 ISD?
I doubt it.
40 points
Your opponents dials are always visible.
On turns 1, 3 and 5 select another Admiral and copy his power.