Making all cards unique?

By Karhedron, in X-Wing

This is an idea I was toying with based on some of the threads that have popped up recently that propose banning certain cards. I am not in favour of such a move as which cards to ban is going to be pretty subjective.

As an alternative, I wondered how it would affect the game if all cards were made unique. You could still have a Deadeye/U-boat but only 1 in your list. It seems to me that this would reduce spam lists which can be boring to play against without unfairly penalising any particular pilot or faction.

You could apply the Unique rule just to pilots or you could apply it to upgrade cards if you really feel like it. What effects would it have on the meta? My hunch is that it would not affect Rebels too much as most competitive rebel lists tend to revolve around named pilots anyway. Restricting IA could be a little harsh if you want to field more than one X-Wing perhaps.

Scum would lose out on U-boats but Dengaroo and others would not be overly affected. My friend runs a Scyk swarm to be contrary but he just likes to prove a point. :P

Imperials might be a little more affected. Tie Swarms would become a bit trickier as you could not spam Academy Pilots and would need to cope with slightly fewer ships and differing PS values. Also Ace-wing would need to decide who gets the Autothrusters. This might see more varied Ace lists with Vader and Defenders featuring more.

Obviously this is only intended for "house rules" but it strikes me as interesting way to mix up the meta a bit without obviously targeting any single build, card or faction.

It kills crack swarms and generic swarms in general. Might be a fun idea for a "highlander" tournament, but it's far too restrictive for standard play.

I thought the "ban this card" threads were all about jokes, I hope nobody take on seriously my post of " ban all cards! ".

This game will be dead to me if they ban cards. So stop with the winning and enjoy a good game.

I've chosen to treat all pilots as unique when playing 400pt team epic, but I don't insist on my opponents and teammate doing so.

All upgrades being unique makes no real sense, after all the modifications should be tech based. Making ept cards unique as a starting point for doing some serious play testing is feasible. If you and your friends wanted, that is.

I don't like the idea of making all cards unique. I don't see an issue with U-boats.

It may create some superficial diversity but additional list building constraints will eliminate a lot of potential lists. Lists that would have multiple of the same ship (with different pilots) that all benefit from the same upgrades will have everything but the best pilot for the upgrade eliminated from competitive play.

9noAv1b.jpg

Attani Mindlink becomes useless.

Attani Mindlink becomes useless.

As does IG2000, killing brobots.

No, thanks.

If you keep 0- (or fewer) point cards as non-unique (because most of them are fixes), ignore discardables (like Crack Shot), and provide an exception for intentionally paired cards like Attanni Mindlink, I think it will be fine.

No.

What's really the point?

Killing the "generic" pilots hurts a few squadrons but some adjustments could be made. Wouldn't do a thing to any Aces type list which already uses unique pilots.

Make upgrades all unique? Sure does kill a few of them but really breaks any illusions of symetry in a group if you were flying a few ordnance carriers and they all have to pack different loads "just because you said so."

If you're playing with your own houserules there is nothing any of us can do to stop you but it seems to me like a pointless nerf against squadrons that actually try to run like a matching squadron.

Throwing the baby out with the bathwater?

I can be rough at times. It is okay to play special scenarios and the like. I have played many games over the years and have seen public complaints change the games. Game designer's thought they were pleasing their fans. The games took a turn for the worse. Now they are no longer supported, and have faded away. I want to see this game survive.

If any upgrades should be unique it's epts, but nothing else.

Think how that would change the meta. No more crack swarms or triple uboats or multiple ptl aces.

If any upgrades should be unique it's epts, but nothing else.

Think how that would change the meta. No more crack swarms or triple uboats or multiple ptl aces.

And that would be very bad.

OGP with Palpatine and FCS

Standard 31 point Inquisitor with PtL, TIE/V1, Autothrusters

Vessery with TIE/x7, Juke, Stealth Device

List is broken AF with no repeat cards. Your fixes don't actually solve anything. They actually just exacerbate the problems you're trying to solve.

No more U-Boats, one of the few things that has the power to punch through Palp Aces ships.

Palp Aces remains untouched.

Dengaroo remains untouched.

Of course, Fat Turretwing squads remain untouched. Can't wait to play against more of those.

Rebel regen comes back.

No way to have multiple Feedback Arrays, or ABT's, or BMST's in a list.

No Crackshot swarm.

No Brobots.

Yeah, this is just a worse version of our current meta. Palp Aces is even more dominant, fat turrets and regen come back. Lists based around multiple generic ships punished even further.

But no, U-Boats are the problem guys, not a ship that can pull 4 evade results out of its ass when it blanks on 3 agility dice! Let's ruin the entire squad building mechanic just to get rid of lists that can field multiple Deadeye ships! What a great idea.

screw wing.

Edited by Warpman

Sorry this idea is really terrible!

As already said above killing off Attani Mindlink, IG, to a degree even adaptability, extra munitions, Sabine crew.

Killing off all generic swarms, wingmen groups, bombers, double flankers (like Scyks), many of the squads aiming to be able to move all ships at same PS.

Enforcing acewing.

Making gameplay REALLY tedious because everyone is enforced to have diversity in the list, trying to remember all the individual specials.

Now it is EVEN more difficult to ionise large bases, only left are Ion Pulse Missile or Connor Net, and you have exactly one missile or one net.

Edited by Managarmr

When can we get a house rules forum?

Also, house rules can't impact "the" meta, that's not what the meta is.

I think this would be a fun house rule to kill the U-Boats. In my town, they played a big tournament/campaign with this rule in place. It was actually really fun!

I actually don't think it's restrictive enough to get rid of all the stuff we're already sick of, though. I think you'd also need to ban

Darth Vader

The Emperor

Soontir Fel

Corran Horn

Dengar

Poe Dameron

Boba Fett

Really though, I think an even more fun way to see weird builds would be a house rule that you get to build your opponent's fleet!

My build would be

Dash Rendar

Outrider

Tractor Beam

Gunner

Rebel Operative (x2)

Kyle Katarn