Hi alll,

My group are soon embarking on our first ever run of HotAC (thanks to a certain shuttle-based pod-cast)and we are mixing things up a little with our player ships my mixing all three factions as one merc squadron.

We are using the following rules to build starting ships - and all players are locked to their starting faction for pilot abilities and ships/upgrades.

Everyone gets 26pts to build their starting ship, and no starting ship can have a Pilot Skill higher than 2 (ps1 can upgrade to 2 for the standard 4pts)

Now a player was looking at the Scyk and the upgrade swapping rules, and wondered if they would need to buy 3 copies of the title to cover all the slot options, or if they could just changed them freely between missions, or even if they could only pick the title once and that was their choice for the whole campaign. I can see a similar problem when one of our players gets to the defender with its multiple titles (or a firespray for that matter)

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

Regards

Surak

Since you're already house-ruling, sorta seems like you guys can just decree how it will be.

My thought would be limit to one title... because that's really saying which model of said fighter they are flying. That said, nikk has it right. Your game, your rules. You must do what you feel is right, of course.

Thanks for the responses, I understand it really is a case of "our game, our rules" but I was mainly asking to see I anyone else had come up against a similar issue and how it played out.

Call it trying to make an informed decision when we don't have time for any sort of play testing- we are aiming for fun AND balanced if we can

Regards

Surak

Glad you are trying it! It's a hoot.

Hmm.....playing with Scum ships? Interesting. Yes, I think I'd go with the title and just one upgrade, but I guess you could always just do what you want. Hmm....I think you might have to buy each title before each upgrade if you want to do it that way. That pays for the modifications for each weapon.

Thematically I think one title to ship. If the whole point is: we tore this off to put this on, it doesn't make much sense to have both.

Glad you are trying it! It's a hoot.

Hmm.....playing with Scum ships? Interesting. Yes, I think I'd go with the title and just one upgrade, but I guess you could always just do what you want. Hmm....I think you might have to buy each title before each upgrade if you want to do it that way. That pays for the modifications for each weapon.

Ah the person responsible joins the conversation

We aren't just playing scum, we are mixing rebels, scum, and imperials in the same mercenary squadron.

As for the titles, personally I'm leaning to treating each ship on a case by case basis - for a Scyk where its clearly just a weapons hardpoint I think paying for the title for each different type of weapon slot seams to work (but you can obviously only have one fitted to the ship at a time. Where as the Firespray and Defender titles are clearly a specific version of that ship and so would probably by locked for the whole campaign once bought.

Once we get started I'll try and start a campaign blog on these forums so people can share the fun of us getting hammered by AI TIEs

Regards

Surak

I think 1 title, with the option to buy the title again for a new slot (effectively destroying the old title), if they don't like the way the first title works, that way still thematic and doesn't lock the player into running a ship they don't like.

I think 1 title, with the option to buy the title again for a new slot (effectively destroying the old title), if they don't like the way the first title works, that way still thematic and doesn't lock the player into running a ship they don't like.

That's not a bad middle ground between free choice and balance, I'll make sure it's on the list of options when we get together to finalise our campaign rules.

Regards

Surak

I like the idea of buying the title several times, each time unlocking a new hardpoint and being able to choose your weapon based on the mission.

Well.....there is the idea of storing things in the hanger if you can't fit it on. For example, if you buy different kinds of Torpedoes for your X-wing, you can store the spare in the hanger. You can do the same for the titles. Let's say you buy the title for the Cannon and you buy a cannon. Then, you buy the title for the Missile. You can store the Cannon and the ability to have it in the hanger while you use the Missile. Next mission you want to use the Cannon again, so you store the title and Missile in the hanger and then take the Cannon. I see it as the ability to take that upgrade, but you can only fit one on at a time. Does that make sense?

Still....I'd probably just buy the Cannon title and leave it at that. What would you want instead of the Cannon? You can buy HLC and use that for damage. Buy the Ion Cannon for ionization if you need that for a mission. I'm not seeing a Missile or Torpedo that beats those 2 options.

Well.....there is the idea of storing things in the hanger if you can't fit it on. For example, if you buy different kinds of Torpedoes for your X-wing, you can store the spare in the hanger. You can do the same for the titles. Let's say you buy the title for the Cannon and you buy a cannon. Then, you buy the title for the Missile. You can store the Cannon and the ability to have it in the hanger while you use the Missile. Next mission you want to use the Cannon again, so you store the title and Missile in the hanger and then take the Cannon. I see it as the ability to take that upgrade, but you can only fit one on at a time. Does that make sense?

Still....I'd probably just buy the Cannon title and leave it at that. What would you want instead of the Cannon? You can buy HLC and use that for damage. Buy the Ion Cannon for ionization if you need that for a mission. I'm not seeing a Missile or Torpedo that beats those 2 options.

Yeh the hanger mechanic was what inspired this discussion - and as for why you'd want missiles or torps over cannons, I believe it boils down to situational use of things like Ion Torpedoes for Ioning a whole swarm, seismic torps for terrain clearance, and thread-tracers for maximum assist

While we are on the subject if anyone has some cool/interesting scum builds using our rules (26pts/ps2 max) I'd love to see what you guys come up with

Regards

Surak

Not entirely sure what the exact problem/discussion is. If you buy the scyk title, you can either equip a torpedo, missile or cannon for the mission, so you can choose freely each mission, maybe treat it as "it has all 3 hardpoints but not enough ship energy to power 3 of them, so choose 1"? Or it just gets modified and attach the matching launcher before the mission.

With the defender it is basically a rebuild, so if you buy the D title you get the effects of linking the cannons, buy the x7 title and it will give you improved maneuvering (evades) but lose the cannon/missiles. Since all your upgrades land in your hangar you can switch as you like? With the Firespray I'd say you can switch titles as you want since you're not really piloting the Slave-1, just a similar Firespray that has additional Torpedo launcher, so I'd say switch just as you would with the defender titles.

Also, have fun with it, it is a great addition to X-wing, basically the only thing I ever play, haven't played 100pts 6Asteroids in ages.

Not entirely sure what the exact problem/discussion is. If you buy the scyk title, you can either equip a torpedo, missile or cannon for the mission, so you can choose freely each mission, maybe treat it as "it has all 3 hardpoints but not enough ship energy to power 3 of them, so choose 1"? Or it just gets modified and attach the matching launcher before the mission.

With the defender it is basically a rebuild, so if you buy the D title you get the effects of linking the cannons, buy the x7 title and it will give you improved maneuvering (evades) but lose the cannon/missiles. Since all your upgrades land in your hangar you can switch as you like? With the Firespray I'd say you can switch titles as you want since you're not really piloting the Slave-1, just a similar Firespray that has additional Torpedo launcher, so I'd say switch just as you would with the defender titles.

Also, have fun with it, it is a great addition to X-wing, basically the only thing I ever play, haven't played 100pts 6Asteroids in ages.

Oh, that's a cool way to look at it...and probably the best way, to be honest. Yeah, you just pick before the mission. The various list builders make you pick one over the other, but the title really says you can equip one of the three. So....just change between missions! Only one title needed.

Great insight on that!

Oh....what 26 pts Scum would I pick? Well....I have to say I love the Kihraxz Fighter. I love the 1 hard turn and think it would be awesome in HotAC. I also would probably go for the Shield Upgrade as I just hate having that one. So, I'd probably go:

Kihraxz Fighter: Shield Upgrade and Glitterstim

First upgrade would be a Homing Missile, though. I had a tough call on which to pick first.

If I were doing the Scyk? Man, can't get HLC and Shield Upgrade. Tough call. Probably save the points for the Shield Upgrade.

Oh, it means you could do Attanni Mindlink! If you were the one to give the Focus to the others, would that give you an xp for helping?

Oh, it means you could do Attanni Mindlink! If you were the one to give the Focus to the others, would that give you an xp for helping?

Haha great, Attani Mindlink the entire squad? Awesome. Will have to ask around, maybe we will do scum ships as well, sounds really good.

I'm toying with a couple of Scum builds,

kihraxz - assault missile, inertial dampener

Y-wing - ion turret, unhinged mech, vectored thrust

Fang - Ps2, title

Scyk - title, ion cannon, stealth device

Hmm a ship for 26 pts? Either TLT agromech y wing or a engine upgrade /glitter stim kihraxz.. Just because the ship is drop dead beautiful. But y wing is probably the best, since you could change to hwk which gives title and crew

Also, if you invest in engine as first modification, you can add thrusters as your second!

I'm not sure that autothrusters are going to be as useful in HotAC as they are in a normal joust match - with few if any 360 arcs in play I'm not sure they will trigger that often

Though I can obviously see the appeal of a TLT.

I now know what three of my squad mates are flying - one is taking a TIE Interceptor, one I taking an A-Wing, and the other is taking a B-wing. Of the remaining two member of the squadron we are likely to have an X-wing and a Y-wing.

This pretty much means I'm going to need to fulfil the utility/support role in the squadron (not a problem for me) so any suggestions leaning in the direction for a Scum pilot would be welcomed - atm I'm thinking or starting in a Y or a Hwk and then graduating to a Lancer/YV666/Firespray at the earliest opportunity

Regards

Surak

I'm not sure that autothrusters are going to be as useful in HotAC as they are in a normal joust match - with few if any 360 arcs in play I'm not sure they will trigger that often

graduating to a Lancer/YV666/Firespray at the earliest opportunity

Regards

Surak

Autothrsters are pretty crap in HOTAC, they only trigger against the Decimator (only actual turret i nthe game, the base turbolasers have arcs) if out of Arc, and rarely ever trigger due to range 3. Mostly though if you are getting shot at you wont be range 3, since another firendly will be closer...and under the few times you do get shot at range 3 thrusters arent going to make a major difference.

I highly warnyou about using the Lancer, or the YV, or any other large ship. The campaign AI cant really deal with large ships due to movement issues. And Not to mention those ships have much higher health than say an Xwing, Scyk, or Awing...and not to mention a bigger set of base option upgrades.

Yes we have been warned about large bases, we are going to limit ourselves to 1 large base for now, and if it becomes a major issue I'll swap ship to something else

Regards

Surak

I'd also suggest if you do take even just one large base is to count that player as 2 players for number of enemies.

I'd also suggest if you do take even just one large base is to count that player as 2 players for number of enemies.

I would, but we already have 6 players in the squadron, so we are going to have to cook something up to account for the large base ship

Regards

Surak

We've played games with up to 10 players the missions can scale higher than 6players without much difference as log as you increase the enemies via the charts accordingly (adding o even or odd players as normal. So you could still make it work with counting as 2 players.

Or count your total player average PS skill as one higher (or even just that player by one or 2 higher than normal for calculations of enemies.

I also suggest you look up the facebook group: "Heroes of the Aturi Cluster custom Campaigns, Missions & Rules." There constantly different discussion on new ideas on there as well as on here.

Hi all,

Thanks for all your input so far, it has been very helpful.

Our group is going to (hopefully) kick off our campaign tonight with pilot building and then the starter mission to get everyone used to the AI.

As we are going to be running fortnightly, more or less, I'm going to try and keep a blog going on these forums (new thread, I'll link when it's up) so people can follow along with our campaign.

Regards