I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has playtested the ships at -1 Mod and -1 Elite.

For an E-Wing, the addition of a Systems slot would help make up for the loss of an Elite slot. I could see this working.

However, I do like that HotAC focuses on the "old school" ships. It gives them a chance to shine, whereas in competitive play they tend to be overshadowed by newer, better ships.

The K-Wing is definitely too powerful, for all the reasons listed above by other posters. I think the ARC-170 is the only new ship that is appropriate for inclusion in HotAC.

Regarding how to make the K-Wing/E-Wing fit... artificially boosting PS for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work for me as if the Rebels are already maxed PS then there is no detriment. Artificially boosting number of Rebel ships for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work either as if there are already 6 Rebel players then there is no detriment. Removing a Modification slot and Elite slot is the better idea I think. The lost Mod is effectively -1 Hull/Shield so helps to compensate for them being naturally stronger ships. The lost Elite slot is a real killer as it reduces the super combos and utility you get by having 4 Elite skills. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has playtested the ships at -1 Mod and -1 Elite.

I suggested -2 Mods, but not to minus Elite skills as that's the pilot.

My analysis after having played the whole of HotAC and two seasons of Battlestar Gozanti is the following:

The Y-Wing remains a viable ship throughout the whole game.

The B-Wing, ditto.

The X-Wing starts to hit a ceiling at around PS6.

The A-Wing is never viable, only maybe (!) beyond PS7 for some really weird combos, but that's more of a challenge or achievement.

The A-Wing is what I refer to as "Hard Mode". There are a handful of really fun builds for the A-Wing, and zipping around the battlefield arc-dodging and autothrustering is incredibly amusing. I have played entire games where I never even got shot at, let alone hit. But the ship struggles to do damage in a 3AGI environment, and it has no durability. You have to want to play the A-Wing, just for the sake of playing an A-Wing. Because in pretty much all scenarios, it's the worst ship in the game from an efficiency standpoint. It costs a ton of points to play (5+ loss of droid + loss of torpedoes + loss of Engine Upgrade), and it has a very hard time making those points back quickly. I've said repeatedly that success in HotAC (and in X-Wing in general) is to have your maneuvers planned out at least 2 turns ahead. With the A-Wing, it's almost a necessity if you want to contribute anything to the victory other than drawing fire.

I don't think the X-Wing ever caps out, though. You can become a pretty brutal X-Wing at higher levels. Outmaneuver, for example, paired with free actions from Sabine or Jake Farrell makes you pretty dodgy (especially when you have the chance to use Sabine in combo with a well-timed K-Turn), and TIE Fighters start disappearing when they're reduced to 2 greens vs 3-4 reds. The X-Wing has a pretty stark upward trend at PS6, actually. It's when you finally have enough upgrades to make it shine.

My analysis after having played the whole of HotAC and two seasons of Battlestar Gozanti is the following:

The Y-Wing remains a viable ship throughout the whole game.

The B-Wing, ditto.

The X-Wing starts to hit a ceiling at around PS6.

The A-Wing is never viable, only maybe (!) beyond PS7 for some really weird combos, but that's more of a challenge or achievement.

The A-Wing is what I refer to as "Hard Mode". There are a handful of really fun builds for the A-Wing, and zipping around the battlefield arc-dodging and autothrustering is incredibly amusing. I have played entire games where I never even got shot at, let alone hit. But the ship struggles to do damage in a 3AGI environment, and it has no durability. You have to want to play the A-Wing, just for the sake of playing an A-Wing. Because in pretty much all scenarios, it's the worst ship in the game from an efficiency standpoint. It costs a ton of points to play (5+ loss of droid + loss of torpedoes + loss of Engine Upgrade), and it has a very hard time making those points back quickly. I've said repeatedly that success in HotAC (and in X-Wing in general) is to have your maneuvers planned out at least 2 turns ahead. With the A-Wing, it's almost a necessity if you want to contribute anything to the victory other than drawing fire.

I don't think the X-Wing ever caps out, though. You can become a pretty brutal X-Wing at higher levels. Outmaneuver, for example, paired with free actions from Sabine or Jake Farrell makes you pretty dodgy (especially when you have the chance to use Sabine in combo with a well-timed K-Turn), and TIE Fighters start disappearing when they're reduced to 2 greens vs 3-4 reds. The X-Wing has a pretty stark upward trend at PS6, actually. It's when you finally have enough upgrades to make it shine.

I get what you're saying, but I'd rather have some more choice in viable ships in "normal mode", even if this means modding the **** things. I'd make the A-Wing available as a starter ship in any case, but even then, they need something to help them along with damage output problem.

The problem is, there's a fine line where a boost to the A-Wing just makes the X-Wing irrelevant, and you've invented a new E-Wing. It's the problem with a game system like X-Wing's that relies on fixed probabilities (the green and red dice always have the same probabilities to hit or miss). There's very little room to make functional changes to ships that aren't significant game changers. Like the E-Wing, for example. On the tabletop, only Corran Horn gets played because in a point-limited environment, the E-Wing is too expensive. In HotAC, where point limitations are less finite, the E-Wing is categorically better by a large margin.

HotAc's problem for the A-Wing is that its XP system is based on damage output. The vast majority of the points are received by doing the thing that A-Wings are worst at, doing damage. The problem with fixing that is damage is probability-fixed by the red and green dice.

I'd say about the only thing the A-Wing needs is the Tech/System slot (which didn't exist in the game when it was released), and the Barrel Roll action which it was denied because FFG designed the ship cards with a font size that only fits 4 icons, lol.

I think the pilots that fly the A-wing need to be more aggressive and assume the position of a flanker. Run wide, charge in, shoot and keep going to prevent the Ties from keying on you. The A isn't beefy enough to joust and doesn't hit hard enough to go toe to toe with other ships in a dogfight. It should assume the role of a harrier. Hit from behind, fly off and prepare to do it again. If you can do that without the AI keying on you, you should be good. For this reason only the best players should fly the A-wing.

I think the pilots that fly the A-wing need to be more aggressive and assume the position of a flanker. Run wide, charge in, shoot and keep going to prevent the Ties from keying on you. The A isn't beefy enough to joust and doesn't hit hard enough to go toe to toe with other ships in a dogfight. It should assume the role of a harrier. Hit from behind, fly off and prepare to do it again. If you can do that without the AI keying on you, you should be good. For this reason only the best players should fly the A-wing.

My build lives for flanking and I have successfully taken out a tie bomber (lower ps than it, I'd moved, he ended up range 1 so Snapshot took his focus token then proton rockets with outmaneuver rolling 2 hit and 3 crit) I'm the ace hunter and do the while zip in/zip out thing.

They are so much fun to fly though and I don't mind the lower xp from it as it's enjoyable for me.

Soon I reckon when episode 8 comes out you could then add first order/resistance/later eu ships and add some new missions involving those ships. If you have resistance vs first order you can start t70 or t65 and build from there

The A-Wing is what I refer to as "Hard Mode". There are a handful of really fun builds for the A-Wing, and zipping around the battlefield arc-dodging and autothrustering is incredibly amusing. I have played entire games where I never even got shot at, let alone hit. But the ship struggles to do damage in a 3AGI environment, and it has no durability. You have to want to play the A-Wing, just for the sake of playing an A-Wing. Because in pretty much all scenarios, it's the worst ship in the game from an efficiency standpoint.

I haven't played all missions with the A-wing, but the ones I have played with often had ships that were required to fly out to something and spend an action to check it out. Ion clouds and beacons and such. We had the A-wing going around and doing the various tasks while we handled the Tie Fighters. It worked out pretty well. I think an A-wing has a number of things that can really bring to the team. It can lead Tie Fighters on a chase. It can do the various tasks that need to get done. I want to try it for myself, but I think it can be good.

HotAc's problem for the A-Wing is that its XP system is based on damage output. The vast majority of the points are received by doing the thing that A-Wings are worst at, doing damage. The problem with fixing that is damage is probability-fixed by the red and green dice.

Pooling Experience is also a good way to make it viable. If it doesn't require the A-wing specifically to do the damage, pooling XP helps the whole party.

I would think that Outmaneuver and 2 Homing Missiles would help with the damage output for the A-wing. Also, I think going with Expose and PTL would also help on the A-wing. If you can Expose and get the Focus/TL then you are doing alright. Combined with Outmaneuver and that's great.

Yes and no. If the A-wing consistently underperforms when you pool XP, the whole team has less. But I get the arguments, and I also see the danger of just making the A-Wing into an X-Wing with a better dial. I'll give it a try and tell you guys the results.

Artificially boosting number of Rebel ships for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work either as if there are already 6 Rebel players then there is no detriment.

We played 2 7 player missions last time because there was an additional player and we just extrapolated the enemy count. Usually you see patterns if you look at each squadron on its own, e.g. +1 enemy on player 1,2,4,5, so the next ones would be additional enemy on player count 7 and 8. So we used that and it worked very well so theoretically you could boost it beyond 6 players easily. Not sure if you're in over your head though.

The K-Wing is definitely too powerful, for all the reasons listed above by other posters. I think the ARC-170 is the only new ship that is appropriate for inclusion in HotAC.

Regarding how to make the K-Wing/E-Wing fit... artificially boosting PS for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work for me as if the Rebels are already maxed PS then there is no detriment. Artificially boosting number of Rebel ships for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work either as if there are already 6 Rebel players then there is no detriment. Removing a Modification slot and Elite slot is the better idea I think. The lost Mod is effectively -1 Hull/Shield so helps to compensate for them being naturally stronger ships. The lost Elite slot is a real killer as it reduces the super combos and utility you get by having 4 Elite skills. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has playtested the ships at -1 Mod and -1 Elite.

I suggested -2 Mods, but not to minus Elite skills as that's the pilot.

While it's true flavourwise that you should not remove Elite skills, removing only mod slots is basically removing nothing because the elite skills are where it hurts, mod slots are not that worthy because there is not much you can take except extra muntions and guidance chips, maybe vectored thrusters/engine upgrade. Past this you usually just go for shield upgrades and they're not worth that much. Removing 2 mod slots on the k-wing would not hurt much I assume. For the K-Wing I'd remove 2 EPT and 1 MOD to balance it out. In total it has still the same amount of slots as a y-wing or b-wing then. Would still remove the same amount for the E-Wing to cut down on the overpoweredness. Since you cannot do many overpowered combos with just 2 EPT slots you could get the same kind of OPness with an E-Wing with only 2 EPT like a B-/X-/Y- with 4 EPT.

Also you could see it that your skills are not that developed in a very new vessel that noone flew yet.

Slight derail, our A-wing pilot, in the last mission stayed out of the furball and flew around uncontested shooting down over half (that's six) sensor buoys. He did his job, we other pilots focused on enemies, and if the opportunity arose, we attacked a buoy.

A-wings can be VERY effective. Just remember, the mission comes before personal glory.

I think the pilots that fly the A-wing need to be more aggressive and assume the position of a flanker. Run wide, charge in, shoot and keep going to prevent the Ties from keying on you. The A isn't beefy enough to joust and doesn't hit hard enough to go toe to toe with other ships in a dogfight. It should assume the role of a harrier. Hit from behind, fly off and prepare to do it again. If you can do that without the AI keying on you, you should be good. For this reason only the best players should fly the A-wing.

My build lives for flanking and I have successfully taken out a tie bomber (lower ps than it, I'd moved, he ended up range 1 so Snapshot took his focus token then proton rockets with outmaneuver rolling 2 hit and 3 crit) I'm the ace hunter and do the while zip in/zip out thing.

They are so much fun to fly though and I don't mind the lower xp from it as it's enjoyable for me.

Soon I reckon when episode 8 comes out you could then add first order/resistance/later eu ships and add some new missions involving those ships. If you have resistance vs first order you can start t70 or t65 and build from there

This is what I meant. The A-Wing needs to act like marauding cavalry. Hit and run from the flanks and rear. Especially in scenarios like Needle in the Haystack. Everybody is focusing on the 1300 so get behind them and plink away. Like Blasted said above, the mission comes first.

I've been playing a T70 and I think it is overpowered for HotAC. We've been considering when using a T70 to count that as two players for mission scaling purposes or 2xT70s being an extra player. That way you aren't nerfing the T70 but taking account of its extra awesomeness. Same idea could be used for the K, E and ARC. We've even toyed with the idea of a YT ship counting as three players. What do you all think?

Really could do with an update and some more streamlined rules but is otherwise a feat of cooperation and playtesting.

Reasons I couldn't get into it: limited and slow progression and not being able to Dungeon Master (control) the Imperial units.

Like heychadwick said, there's no reason you can't have a player run the imperial units instead of the ai. Maybe keep someo fthe ai guidelines similar to d&d having behaviors a mob might use (so all ships stay in formation until certain conditions are met, try to avoid flying over rocks, maybe they still have to shoot the closest target - or strike target depnding on mission - even if they have a "better" shot at someone else, etc).

Now there's a third - no K-Wings.

Imagine the bomb efficiency of a decked out K-Wing in some of those missions.

It's fun. I have a 5 ship solo campaign going that i've been playing on vassal and upgraded one of my ships to a k-wing. 2 Proton bombs, proxy mines, extra munitions (6 bombs ftw), sabine crew (bonus damage and the third bomb slot), sabine pilot ability (boost or br BEFORE dropping a proton bomb for maximum effectiveness)

I've been playing a T70 and I think it is overpowered for HotAC. We've been considering when using a T70 to count that as two players for mission scaling purposes or 2xT70s being an extra player. That way you aren't nerfing the T70 but taking account of its extra awesomeness. Same idea could be used for the K, E and ARC. We've even toyed with the idea of a YT ship counting as three players. What do you all think?

You'll have a hard time when the T70 counts as 2 players because it just doesn't. It's better sure, but not "I can kill double the amount of ties"-better, it's still the same X-Wing attack/defense statline, it just has a free boost and a free shield upgrade (and the ability to tallon roll).

And bringing a YT as three players? Oh boy you'll get slaughtered. The YT is not even worth fully 2 players, more like 1.5. It basically brings the hull of 2 fighters but the attack power of 1.

I mean if you want to try it out, sure, but I expect you to get slaughtered if you count the YT as 3 players, especially if there are only a few people playing. 6 People might be able to handle the amount of TIEs for 8 players, 2 people will not be able to handle TIEs for 4. You'll have similar problems for the T-70, the more players play, the less impact one more simulated player will do.

Just kill off two mod slots off the T-70 (permanent shield and engine upgrade from the T-65) and maybe an EPT slot (tech slot + better dial upgrade) and you're good to go.

Here you go, a K-wing for use in HotAC:

PS4 change for 5 exp as with other specialised ships.

K-wing (PS4 level):

1x Turret Slot.

2x Torpedo, Bomb, or Missile Slots.

1x Crew Slot.

1x Mod Slot.

*No EPT.

PS5 : +EPT Slot.

PS6 : +Mod Slot.

PS7 : +EPT Slot.

PS8 : Nothing.

PS9 : +EPT Slot.

It has a couple of bonuses over the Y-wing, but you pay for them by losing an EPT and 2 Mod slots, affecting overall flexibility. Also you're capped at 2 ordnance slots like the Y-wing (excluding sabine crew).

Another possibility is to treat these ships as prototypes, implying that they have fewer features than the production models we got in the standard game.

For example, for the K-Wing, a player could choose it for 5 points, and he or she would get this:

BTL-S8 Prototype

Title. K-Wing only. Mandatory.

When acquiring this ship, attach all the K-Wing Prototype Conditions to your ship.

If your ship doesn't have any K-Wing Prototype Conditions attached, discard this card.

K-Wing Prototype
Develop expanded ordnance pods

Condition

Your upgrade bar loses 1 bomb and 1 missile symbol.

You may spend 3 XP to discard this condition.

K-Wing Prototype
Develop extra turret pod

Condition
Your upgrade bar loses the turret symbol.
You may spend 3 XP to discard this condition.

K-Wing Prototype
Develop double cockpit
Condition
Your upgrade bar loses the crew symbol.
You may spend 3 XP to discard this condition.

K-Wing Prototype
Research stolen Imperial engine
Condition
Your action bar loses the SLAM symbol. When revealing a 3 Straight maneuver, you may treat it as a 3 Koiogran red maneuver, instead.
You may spend a modification reward from a mission, or 6 XP, to discard this condition.

I know many will say that 5 extra cards are too cumbersome or complex (It could just be also a little sheet of paper with all the conditions listed, and the player strikes them out as he or she pays for discarding them). But think on it. It's like adding some kind of development path for those willing to stick flying with an underpowered prototype that gets better with time.

At the beginning, the BTL-S8 prototype would be quite okay compared with a Y-Wing:

Attack 2 turret, Agility 1, 5 Hull, 4 Shields.

Focus, Target Lock

Torpedo, Torpedo, Bomb

Red 3-Koiograns

It's basically a Y-Wing with 1 more shield, built in 2 attack turret, and room for one extra bomb. It doesn't seem overpowered for 5 points, neither too underpowered.

Then, as the campaign goes forward, the player may choose to spend points on discarding conditions to add extra turret, crew slot, more ordnance, the SLAM action (loses the koiogran, though) as part of the development of the ship (the engineers reach some new milestone during the development of the prototype and are eager to install it for that prototype pilot that is helping them so much field-test the ship).

Why don't I simply spend X amount of XP to unlock it?

Regarding how to make the K-Wing/E-Wing fit... artificially boosting PS for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work for me as if the Rebels are already maxed PS then there is no detriment. Artificially boosting number of Rebel ships for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work either as if there are already 6 Rebel players then there is no detriment. Removing a Modification slot and Elite slot is the better idea I think. The lost Mod is effectively -1 Hull/Shield so helps to compensate for them being naturally stronger ships. The lost Elite slot is a real killer as it reduces the super combos and utility you get by having 4 Elite skills. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has playtested the ships at -1 Mod and -1 Elite.

Well....I don't like the idea of dropping EPTs. Elite combos happen no matter what ship you have. If a particular ship is over powered, why is it? It's the physical aspects of the ship, not the EPTs. I think losing 2 modifications limits the amount of crazy you can have on things like a K-wing or an E-wing. Look at the Y-wing vs. the K-wing. You can have 2 more mods on the Y-wing as opposed to the K-wing. Independent of what your pilot abilities are, giving the Y-wing 2 Mods makes it closer to equal to a K-wing. Make it a Shield Upgrade and something else and you are more potent. Same for the X-wing with 2 Mods vs. the E-wing. You can do Engine Upgrade. You can do Integrated Astromech, and a third Modification. That ends up being 3 mods and makes the X-wing almost better than the E-wing at that point.

EDIT - I think I made more sense here:

Here you go, a K-wing for use in HotAC:

PS4 change for 5 exp as with other specialised ships.

K-wing (PS4 level):

1x Turret Slot.

2x Torpedo, Bomb, or Missile Slots.

1x Crew Slot.

1x Mod Slot.

*No EPT.

PS5 : +EPT Slot.

PS6 : +Mod Slot.

PS7 : +EPT Slot.

PS8 : Nothing.

PS9 : +EPT Slot.

It has a couple of bonuses over the Y-wing, but you pay for them by losing an EPT and 2 Mod slots, affecting overall flexibility. Also you're capped at 2 ordnance slots like the Y-wing (excluding sabine crew).

I think the K-wing would need to be waiting for PS 6 before you can change as it's more powerful than the other options. I also think you should lose all Modifications that come before it. So, your first Mod would be the one at PS 6. See above for reasoning.

If ships are losing Mod slots, it should be Bottom Up, not Top down.

As in they lose their "Free" slot first, then PS4. Not PS8, then PS6. Doing it top down completely negates the supposed "Mod tax" on the ship at the levels when they are needed most, because those slots are being "taken up" by the modifications the ship gets inherently. A T-70 has no "free" mod slot because it's already using it for Shield Upgrade, for example. It has no PS4 mod slot because it's using it for Engine Upgrade.

If ships are losing Mod slots, it should be Bottom Up, not Top down.

As in they lose their "Free" slot first, then PS4. Not PS8, then PS6. Doing it top down completely negates the supposed "Mod tax" on the ship at the levels when they are needed most, because those slots are being "taken up" by the modifications the ship gets inherently. A T-70 has no "free" mod slot because it's already using it for Shield Upgrade, for example. It has no PS4 mod slot because it's using it for Engine Upgrade.

I was suggesting Bottom Up. Lose the Free slot and then the PS 4 slot. Sorry if I was rambling and being confusing. I am on pain meds, so it's probably my fault.

No worries. I wasn't replying directly to you. Just adding my two cents. PS8 and PS9 come into play for such a short period of time in HotAC if you're on a single-campaign runthrough, taking away those advances is almost meaningless. I don't even talk about PS9 when suggesting builds for ships because by the time you get to PS9, whatever ability you choose is icing on the cake.

Why don't I simply spend X amount of XP to unlock it?

Some people will enjoy flying it from the start and then continuously unlocking it for better hardpoints? I'd something like this just because it's fun.

Regarding how to make the K-Wing/E-Wing fit... artificially boosting PS for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work for me as if the Rebels are already maxed PS then there is no detriment. Artificially boosting number of Rebel ships for calculating Imperial ships doesn't work either as if there are already 6 Rebel players then there is no detriment. Removing a Modification slot and Elite slot is the better idea I think. The lost Mod is effectively -1 Hull/Shield so helps to compensate for them being naturally stronger ships. The lost Elite slot is a real killer as it reduces the super combos and utility you get by having 4 Elite skills. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who has playtested the ships at -1 Mod and -1 Elite.

Well....I don't like the idea of dropping EPTs. Elite combos happen no matter what ship you have. If a particular ship is over powered, why is it? It's the physical aspects of the ship, not the EPTs. I think losing 2 modifications limits the amount of crazy you can have on things like a K-wing or an E-wing. Look at the Y-wing vs. the K-wing. You can have 2 more mods on the Y-wing as opposed to the K-wing. Independent of what your pilot abilities are, giving the Y-wing 2 Mods makes it closer to equal to a K-wing. Make it a Shield Upgrade and something else and you are more potent. Same for the X-wing with 2 Mods vs. the E-wing. You can do Engine Upgrade. You can do Integrated Astromech, and a third Modification. That ends up being 3 mods and makes the X-wing almost better than the E-wing at that point.

EDIT - I think I made more sense here:

What if you could only upgrade to an E-wing or K-wing at PS 6. Then, you lose all Modifications that come before it. So, you lose the original Mod at start and the PS 4 Mod. Your first Mod comes with hitting the PS 6. So....you can have an X-wing with free Integrated Astromech and 2 more Modifiations....or an E-wing. IA gives an extra shield. You can have Engine Upgrade for Boost. Throw on another Shield or Vectored Thrusters. That is one seriously buffed up X-wing. Or....you get the standard E-wing. Yes, you get a System, extra Agility, and you get a better dial, but that's it. The X-wing at that point is a real tank when compared to the E-wing. I almost think the E-wing is in a weaker spot then. Still, it's there if they want to change. The E-wing will only ever get a total of 2 Modifications before it caps out. It's not quite as silly at that point.

Look at the K-wing. It's got 1 more Shield and a worse dial, gains SLAM, swaps the Astromech for a Crew, but it gets more ordnance. If you don't swap, you get 2 extra Mods for the Y-wing. Let's say that at PS 6, they both take Guidance Chip. So, the Y-wing can get an extra Shield and Extra Munitions. That gives the Y-wing 4 Torpedoes and the Y-wing 2 Torpedoes, a Missile, and a Bomb. Also, the K-wing will only ever get 1 more Modification beyond this. Part of what makes the K-wing a beast is all the mods in combo with all the current upgrades. So.....which is better at this point? Is it the Y-wing with 2 more Mods or the K-wing? It almost becomes equal. The K-wing will max out with only 2 Mods and they have three that would make them awesome. There is Advanced SLAM, Guidance Chips, and Extra Munitions. They will only ever get 2 of them. The Y-wing will have a total of 4 Modifications. I think it gets a lot more even at that point.

The problem is, there are not enough (good) modifications to equip to actually make up for the difference. There are basically only 6 good modifications in the whole game of HotAC: Engine Upgrade, Vectored Thrusters, Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips, Experimental Interface, Stealth Device.

• You only need stealth device on fighters that have at least 2 AGI to begin with else it is a horrible waste, so this only goes on A,E, maybe X if you don't know what else to take.
• You also usually only need one repositioning ability because even when you can do 2 actions with Push The Limit shenangians you want your other action to be focus/TL so you have better dice, so either Engine Upgrade OR Vectored thrusters, some ships (B-Wing, A-Wing, E-Wing) even come with "the other" ability from the start, then you only need 1 and have the full selection.
• Extra Munitions + Guidance Chips is the usual 2 slot combo for ordnance carriers, so I would only take that on Fighters that have actually more than 1 torpedo/missile. But since other modifications are rare you might as well equip this if you have free slots.
• Experimental Interface is a Push The Limit that only works if you also have an Action EPT slot, so it's only a benefit if you bought one of those (and there are not many good ones either, the only ones that come to my mind are Squad Leader of course, and Marksmanship, did I miss anything you really want to waste an EPT slot to?).

I don't see how only losing 2 MODs on an E-Wing will nerf it enough. I have 2 extra mod slots on the x wings basically. I have to take vectored thrusters to get the barrel roll the E-Wing has by default. The other mod goes for Stealth Device to have the same Agility the E-Wing has (even then only until I get hit once). Now I have the same statline, bar hull/shield switched. What I still miss compared to the E-Wing is: a system upgrade slot, the evade action and a better dial. You can count integrated astromech as a "kind of 1 hull upgrade", I'll give you that. So I trade 1 hull more for a system upgrade slot, the evade action and a better dial. What makes you think the X-Wing with 2 more mods would beat an E-Wing? He'd need already more than 2 upgrades to come even. And even then, I can still equip a stealth device on the E-Wing to make it AGI 4, something the X-Wing cannot ever achieve. What else to put on the E-Wing as mod? I don't even know what to take for the 2nd slot, I guess I'd take engine upgrade so I can both barrel roll and boost. What I gather from this is that compared to the X-Wing I lose 1 single torpedo because I don't have extra munitions. I think I can live with that on my E-Wing that gets free target locks every turn from FCS and have AGI 4 with barrel roll and boost, more green maneuvers and even speed 5 maneuver.

Hence why I suggested to kill off 1 EPT on the E-Wing to compensate for the System upgrade (The FCS is basically a free TL action every round, Sensor Jammer on a AGI4 E-Wing? oh boy), the evade action possibility and the better dial. It'd make it more even.

Same thing for the Y-/K-Wing issue. I don't think 2 MODs nerf on the K-wing cover it. 2 extra mod slots on the Y-wing come down to a shield upgrade to come even in hull/shield with the K-wing. And then you have to one MOD left over to cover the following: additional slam action, primary weapon turret (alright, who cares when you can equip a real turret, I give you that), 1 more missile slot, 2 more bomb/torpedo slots (depending on what the y-wing has). The k-wing loses the astromech but gains the crewmember which is roughly fair trade or even the better choice because there's way more good crewmembers than good astromechs. And the k-wing has a different dial (it has more greens but less total and no koiogran but then again you have slam to make up for that).

So how should that one MOD slot on the y-wing cover all the additional stuff on the k-wing?

And I think the only modifications the K-Wing needs really are Extra Muntions + Guidance Chips, I don't think you need Advanced SLAM in HotAC at all because SLAMing prevents you from firing this round and should only be done in emergency cases. If I get an action out of that or not, who cares, and if you really need an action make your squad leader give you one. But with extra munitions and guidance chips, oh boy.

You have 4 torpedoes, 2 missiles and 4 bombs for the mission, and if you run out of all that there's still your turret. If you use sabine wren for your crewmember you get even 2 more bombs (with extra munitions) and more damage on your bombs.

I fail to see how the y-wing can come equal to that when it maxes out at 4 torpedoes/bombs or 2 torpedoes/2 bombs. The 2 additional mods slots will just do nothing to come close to that. That's 4 vs. 10(w/sabine 12) in ordnance, with same modifiers (guidance chips).

Since the usual ordnance carrier pilot ability is nera dantels' it eliminates the dial drawback and the missing barrel roll/engine upgrade option since I can basically fire torpedoes anywhere, everywhere.

So I still think to have a roughly equal thing, reduce the EPT slots by at least one on the E- and K- wing (I'd even take 2 from the K-Wing and only 1 MOD so you have basically only 1 EPT on the K-Wing besides Nera Dantels' ability), else you still got the way superior fighter.

If ships are losing Mod slots, it should be Bottom Up, not Top down.

As in they lose their "Free" slot first, then PS4. Not PS8, then PS6. Doing it top down completely negates the supposed "Mod tax" on the ship at the levels when they are needed most, because those slots are being "taken up" by the modifications the ship gets inherently. A T-70 has no "free" mod slot because it's already using it for Shield Upgrade, for example. It has no PS4 mod slot because it's using it for Engine Upgrade.

Yea of course I was suggesting it that way, the ships are basically supposed to be ps2 at ps5 if you know what I mean. at ps5 they come with "no slots" and only gain a few slots upwards from there.

Ok, those thoughts are good and all, but they're not exactly what I had in mind. My idea was more using the K-Wing - as E-Wing and/or T70 - as an explicit upgrade on the existing models of T65 and Y-Wing, and pricing them accordingly, ramping up the challenge for later stages of pilot development. This needs to be factored into the mission design, of course, but my idea was that players would be more able of handling aces and the like.

The problem is, there are not enough (good) modifications to equip to actually make up for the difference. There are basically only 6 good modifications in the whole game of HotAC: Engine Upgrade, Vectored Thrusters, Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips, Experimental Interface, Stealth Device.

I'll disagree here and say that Shield Upgrade is quite good when you have R2-D2 around. So....even if you just took 2 Shield Upgrades, the X-wing would have Integrated Astromech, R2-D2, 3 Hull, and 4 Shield. That's superior to the E-wing right there.

When you look at the Y/K wing, you are really thinking ordnance. So, starting off at PS 6, the K-wing will only get 1 Modification. Which is it? Is it Guidance Chip or Extra Munitions? It can't have both to start off with and has to get to PS 8 to get the 2nd. So, you are only really going to be able to use a maxed out K-wing at the very end of the campaign. In the meantime, the Y-wing at PS 6 will have GC and EM, as well as 1 more Mod. Let's say that 1 Shield Upgrade or even Vectored Thrusters. So, I consider them pretty equal at that point.