I've speculated recently that the elusive SWX58 could be a Rogue One related "Aces" expansion, with X-Wings and Y-Wings in it. Well, i got impatient. I've created a new expansion with what i believe are very competitive pilots and upgrades designed to bring these two ships back into the limelight as very viable pilots and craft. This expansion features 3 X-Wing and 3 Y-Wing pilots, 3 new astromechs, and 1 new modification.

So let's start with the X-Wing stuff.

A PS 6 generic with an EPT slot, at 24 points. This is designed to give a very competitive, versatile generic pilot to the X-Wing at a decent cost.

A PS 4 unique, cost identically to the Partisan Ace. A PS2 decrease for the same cost? Yes, because you get to perform an attack during the activation phase, WELL before almost any serious ace has even begun to think about moving, let alone getting tokens. We'll pick this one back up later, after we've toured the upgrades in the pack.

The infamous Saw Gerrera, with what i believe to be a very, very thematic ability. The Partisans were all about big explosions with no regard to collateral damage to strike fear in the hearts of their enemies. Anyone near these brutal attacks would likely be traumatized for a good deal of time. So, he deals stress to all ships at range 1(including friendly ships), and upon a crit result on a roll, they are dealt another one. Very powerful, but with some notable downsides; Saw is cost 2 points higher than his PS would otherwise indicate, and himself and other friendly ships are vulnerable to this stress as well. Range 1 attacks are extremely ill-advised, and so Saw himself won't likely be doing much damage. This is notably a powerful ability against PTL aces.

An X-Wing only mod, that by itself is good, but really is more effective when paired with the R2 Astromech. A worse-but-better X/7 title. Its now a mod, costs a point, almost requires additional investment to get maximum effect, and only gives the opportunity to perform an action, unlike X/7 which is action independent. So, if you're double stressed, you don't get that evade token. It does, however, give an additional mod slot, restricted below 2 points. Notably, Integrated Astro or Vectored Thrusters. It also notably works with T-70s, too.

The philosophy here is that X-Wings are jousters, and that shouldnt change. However, their lack of ability to dodge damage is problematic, which is why they're bad jousters. So with the right set of upgrades, this upgrade makes X-Wings into rather effective jousters. Their other problem is countering Aces, who can run circles around them with ease. "Neophyte" with this, Juke, IA or VT, and R2 is a scarily effective Ace killer on a budget. Aces can still easily win, but they certainly would have to put far more effort in their positioning so as to not get caught out by "Neophyte".

Now for Y-Wings.

Something Y-Wings have desperately needed for a long time, a pilot with an EPT slot. Just a PS 5 generic with an EPT slot.

At PS 3, it's certainly down there in the shooting order. But, if you can keep him alive long enough to shoot, he completely shuts down excessive dice mods, possibly enough to push some damage through tough aces, the philosophy being that one more green dice means far less than focus, evade, palp, and autothrusters all together.

"Marquise" is extremely scary. When paired with a torpedo such as Proton Torps, which grant a focus to a crit automatically, and considering that crits are canceled last already, you have a lethal torp boat on your hands. Granted, she's only one pilot, so it's not spammable, but these torps are far, far more accurate than any other torp carriers seen so far, and are especially efficient at punching through heavy dice mods(you may be seeing a theme, here). It also pushes the Y-Wing in a direction i've always wanted, which is to give it far more of an ordnance based role. She comes outfitted with an EPT slot, and a very competitive cost at only 24 points.

So lets take a look at those astromechs.

Dice blank outs are annoying. Nobody likes getting them. This is something to help out ships that don't freely have access to immediate blank-to-evade or blank-to-focus dice mods such as autothrusters, palp, etc. It's not a guarantee by any means, but a re-roll is better than nothing, and at 1 point it's very affordable, and works on every defense.

Don't have an EPT for Deadeye? No problem, but you gotta take a stress to do it, otherwise it's just objectively better than Deadeye, which is not my intent. This may prove effective with Shara Bey and some torp-laden Y-Wings, perhaps...

I'll admit, i almost made this a modification, then realized that torp scouts were still, in fact, a thing. In Astromech form, this is significantly safer for the meta. Most notably, this was designed to go very well with "Fearless", as long as you manage to keep your target in your arc. However, this is still very good for anything planning to get the most out of a secondary weapon, even "Marquise", as less defense dice=less evades=more damage done.

So let's get the philosophy behind everything here.

Imperial Veterans was... ridiculously good, especially for Defenders. Only fair that equal treatment gets passed around, eh?

With X-Wings, the problem was less the pilots available, and more the ship itself. It's durable enough i suppose, but i would vastly prefer dodging damage entirely to simply discarding a damage card. That, and evade tokens = Juke, which helps fix the X-Wings second problem, which is that 3 dice isn't quite... enough these days. This philosophy is seen with both "Neophyte" and Saw Gerrera. "Neophyte" is all about making the most of the 3 dice by avoiding dice mods almost entirely, at the expense of an action. Saw is all about ignoring the 3 dice until it matters the most; when hardened targets are almost completely modless by being overwhelmed by stress. However, it's a firm belief of mine that no matter what, something should have a bad matchup, and for Saw that matchup is Dengaroo, and for "Neophyte" it's torp scouts. Saw is worthless against Dengaroo for obvious reasons, and "Neophyte" is too high of pilot skill to hit torp scouts before they get their focus. But, interestingly, Saw is good against Torp Scouts because he just dumps stress on the enemy, and torp scouts fly in formation, and "Neophyte" has a good matchup in Dengaroo, because "Neophyte" hits Dengar before he gets his focus that turn, meaning that Dengar either wastes his ability attack on "Neophyte", without his focus tokens, or chooses not to trigger the ability on "Neophyte", guaranteeing that "Neophyte" will live longer and get to do it again.

As for the Partisan Ace, it's just useful. It's a PS 6 pilot with an EPT slot. I'm sure you can think of uses for it.

So, Y-Wings, then. The platform is definitely decent. The problem is a lack of pilots, and furthermore any pilots with EPT slots. The choice to focus on secondary weapons was my own choice for how i believed Y-Wings were supposed to flown; by using torps and turrets. Y-Wings fell out of favor because Y-Wings couldn't live long enough, and TLTs couldnt punch through dice mods well enough. Well, i think Y-Wings should be beat up if you don't bring anything to protect them! However, i can easily fix weapons issues. Ordnance is now significantly more viable on the Y-Wing, with many many many options to utilize ordnance in increasingly effective ways. Force damage through with crits with "Marquise", restrict modification with "Fearless", keep TLs with R4-M4, reduce target agility with R5-E2, amongst other readily available options like Deadeye and Chimps.

And, finally, for Partisan Veteran, i specifically designed it so that you couldn't field more than 3 with Plasmas and Deadeye. It's just 1 point too expensive for that. You also can't spam Grey Squad Pilots, as R4-M4 is unique. I'm not looking to make the torp scout replacement.

One last thing. If anyone has some actual names for pilots in Rogue One, please let me know. I had to go with the "Red Ace" "Blue Ace" nonsense.... while i like the sound of some of these callsigns, i'd much prefer real names.

Comments, questions, concerns?

Great work, I can only hope that the missing SKU is something along these lines

THERE YOU GO!

Love the pilots. I would probably put R5-E2 at 3 points though. His ability is really good imho

I love the amount of effort that's gone into this. Well done!

The only thing that immediately jumps out is Saw's double stress. Seems pretty good! If it still seems so after playtesting, I'd be tempted to change it to "After you perform an attack that hits, each other ship at range 1 of the defender rolls an attack dice. On a hit or crit result, that ship receives a stress token."

EDIT: Ion Torpedos would make him a badass!

Love the pilots. I would probably put R5-E2 at 3 points though. His ability is really good imho

I think he is fine. Worth 3 maybe if you are playing ships with 3 agility or higher, but a point cheaper due to the fact that it is going to be useless in some match ups.

All looks pretty good.

Just replace that red bird thing with a Scum logo and it is ready to go.

Nice work !

I've got to say, I really want Adv. Etheric Rudder. the synergy with R2 Astromech is awesome, and I like how you made it so that you can still take IA or AT. I think flying this with the BB-8/PTL combo would be fun too.

Question: while I like what you did with the Rudder, why did you make it a mod instead of a title? I don't mean to criticize, I'm just interested to hear your thought process.

So normally these posts generate massive eye rolls because many ideas for pilots and upgrades are in the bad to awful column. But these are all really good. This thread and the thread that had the ar wing had great pilot abilities and upgrades. Kudos to you sir. The only thing is I'd want is for a ps6 unique with ept to be a rogue squadron ace but that's just me.

R8 plus Finn in a ARC-170. If you don't mind missing the tail gunner...

Great, thoughtful work on these! I love the Y-wing stuff.

Wow, such nice reception to all of this! Thank you all very much for your kind words. Now lemme see if i can answer some of these questions.

I love the amount of effort that's gone into this. Well done!

The only thing that immediately jumps out is Saw's double stress. Seems pretty good! If it still seems so after playtesting, I'd be tempted to change it to "After you perform an attack that hits, each other ship at range 1 of the defender rolls an attack dice. On a hit or crit result, that ship receives a stress token."

EDIT: Ion Torpedos would make him a badass!

Early iterations of Saw's ability looked like this, but the thing is that i really didn't want to make a PS8 pilot ability that only exists 50% of the time. It works on Braylen, because he's PS3 and it exists so that he's not dropping double stress every turn. If playtesting is really, really bad for him, then what i'll do is drop the double stress half.

I've got to say, I really want Adv. Etheric Rudder. the synergy with R2 Astromech is awesome, and I like how you made it so that you can still take IA or AT. I think flying this with the BB-8/PTL combo would be fun too.

Question: while I like what you did with the Rudder, why did you make it a mod instead of a title? I don't mean to criticize, I'm just interested to hear your thought process.

I wanted to force the player to make a choice. Making it a title was simply too easy in my eyes. If you want this title, you can't have Engine Upgrade or anything like that. My goal with nothing here was to make an auto-add option to everything. If your goal is to go fast, Etheric Rudder is definitely not for you, as you're going to be sticking to 1 and 2 speed maneuvers, and boosting is impossible. That, and Adv. Etheric Rudder is very, very much a "modification" sounding name, in my opinion.

So normally these posts generate massive eye rolls because many ideas for pilots and upgrades are in the bad to awful column. But these are all really good. This thread and the thread that had the ar wing had great pilot abilities and upgrades. Kudos to you sir. The only thing is I'd want is for a ps6 unique with ept to be a rogue squadron ace but that's just me.

Thank you! I worked very hard on this, i'm glad you like it.

R8 plus Finn in a ARC-170. If you don't mind missing the tail gunner...

If you're willing to trade offense for defense, absolutely. Then again, Finn grants the extra die when attacking too. However, -1 AGI is usually better for your offense than +1 ATT. Again, not looking to make auto-add options. Just trying to give options that make these ships viable.

Love the pilots. I would probably put R5-E2 at 3 points though. His ability is really good imho

I think he is fine. Worth 3 maybe if you are playing ships with 3 agility or higher, but a point cheaper due to the fact that it is going to be useless in some match ups.

Basically my reasoning. It exists solely to counter high AGI aces. If you're not facing those, well, RIP i guess. That, and i didn't want to make ordnance and turrets even worse for low AGI Rebel ships that already get eaten alive by those things as-is.

I love it all! Would switching the PS on the generics with the lower named guys be bad, and then giving those named pilots an EPT?

Awesome stuff Raz. I wish FFG would deliver something like this, for those that haven't yet given up hope of the X Wing resuming its rightful place in the game.

Still hoping that #58 shows they are actually listening.

I like it! Nice job! Those look really professional.

I'd feel ripped off if there wasn't a dual card title in there for S-Foils.

Open S-Foils adds a focus result to all your die rolls, closed S-Foils gives a free boost or barrel roll after you move.

Thematic, original and balanced. Best fan made expansion I''ve seen! I would love to fly Marquise, Saw, Partisan Ace and Fearless (in that order).

(nitpicking... r4m4 is overcosted by 1 point)

I like it! Nice job! Those look really professional.

I'd feel ripped off if there wasn't a dual card title in there for S-Foils.

Open S-Foils adds a focus result to all your die rolls, closed S-Foils gives a free boost or barrel roll after you move.

I chose not to do anything with S-Foils as the only SW material shown where changing S-Foil configuration is advantageous is the Rogue Squadron series, and that's an arcade game with basically no canon anything in it. It was a game mechanic not replicated anywhere else, and it feels anti-thematic to have a bunch of X-Wings flapping their S-Foils in combat for no reason, when in canon S-Foils open is the only combat posture for X-Wings.

I love it all! Would switching the PS on the generics with the lower named guys be bad, and then giving those named pilots an EPT?

I have a soft-spot for low-PS uniques. That, and it would sort of spoil the point of a high-PS generic with an EPT slot(which we have seen to be exceedingly effective in tournaments).

Thematic, original and balanced. Best fan made expansion I''ve seen!

Completely agree. This is worlds better than any other fan made expansion and if it were a thing I'd buy two at least for the sexy partisan x wing repaint. I'm really hoping someone at ffg is seeing this. The x wing needs a serious lift and I think you nailed it. Not to mention I LOVE my y wings and these torp centered pilots make me so happy.

Parmesan veterans?

I like cheese.

I like these a lot! I think they're in the ballpark for proper costing- possibly even dead on. Certainly, the PS6 generics are properly costed. I also like that they're PS6, so that they top out at PS8. I think they'd be much more powerful with an EPT that isn't VI, and so they would help push against the PS race (which is already much calmer)

Adv. Etheric Ruddering looks just about perfect. I have been tinkering with an idea along those lines myself, but I think you got there first. If I were to change it at all, I'd say that you may "take up to 2 points of other upgrades". I admit that being able to equip both Integrated Astromech _and_ Autothrusters (or Vector Thrusters), + Guidance Chimps might be a bit much.

Oh! I should mention that I think the timing windows on Adv Etheric needs clarification. I'm pretty sure you want to say "after performing a green maneuver". Also: this timing gives a nice- but subtle buff to low PS X-Wings- it's a lot harder to block a ship moving at PS2 than at PS10.

Nice work all the way around!

Looking at the Y-Wings: I think the Generics are properly costed, and a PS Y-Wing with R2 and PTL could be very nice.

Fearless also looks good, though may be a point too high. Maybe not, though. I think the wording needs a bit of clean up. I think it should read: "When attacking, your opponent must roll an extra defense die. They may not modify any of their dice". In the first clause, the word "may" is conditional. This guy will be murder with TLTs.

Marquise looks amazing also! I'd like to apply it to either Torpedoes or her Primary- that way she's still a threat after getting rid of her Torpedoes.

I might also drop her by 1 point, and down to PS6, so that she isn't able to hit PS9 with VI. But maybe she should be able to!

A note on r4-m4: as currently written does NOT let you fire without having a target lock at the cost of a stress, so is not better than deadeye. Attack (Target Lock) means you have to HAVE a target lock to fire, even if you dont have to spend it (see homing missiles and prockets). It could be rewritten to work that way, but right now you'd stil have to target lock to fire, it would just let you keep the TL around to modify the shot.

And the Astromechs!

I like R8 a lot, though I might make it reroll up to 2 defence dice. This would make it pair nicely with Finn on an ARC, and if you slap R8 on an X-Wing (Or E-Wing!)- and blank out- it would be nice to get a do-over. By taking R8, you're forgoing R2, which makes your dial a lot better. I think that merits something a tiny bit stronger than you've printed. But not much stronger, and I might be wrong.

R4-M4 looks like a good foundation, but I think it needs a bit of tweaking. This might be my bias against spending points on munitions- I've been playing since Wave 1 and I can't quite bring myself to believe any of them are good. Nonetheless, I don't think you're quite getting 2 points of value here.

Quick thought on R4-M4: what if it were to apply to any token, so that it worked with blaster turrets as well? It would make BTL-A4 + Blaster Turrets suck a bit less.

R5-E2 and Wedge forever. For extra hilarity, put Outmaneuvere on him and try to get him outside Soontir's arc. Oh wait. Drat. I just noticed that R5-E2 only works with secondary weapons. Hm. I do still like it, but maybe on Horton instead of Wedge. Or on an ARC with Tail Gunner, to make its 2 die Aux arc go even further.

I do like these mechs quite a bit, though I don't quite think they're as strong as the pilots you've also created. Not that they're bad! Just that they need a tiny bit of something.

One more thought about Adv Etheric Rudder: what if it were X-Wing or E-Wing only? I think it might make R2/PTL/Etahn tanky enough that we might actually see him a time or two. I'm not sure that it makes _Corran_ too tanky, but I might be wrong. And there really isn't a good 0-2 point mod for E-Wings.

I dunno. I just keep hoping for _something_ that will make E-Ewings that aren't Corran into awesome machines.