Regarding the squadrons vs no ship discussions, I wonder...

If a Raider-I with Flechettes/OE goes off on a big squadron wing, is one turn enough to swing the balance? I think it's safe to say that it's hard to pull off, but I gotta think it's gonna happen in some sort of play.

So I started thinking...

Grav-Well: Instead of making any attacks, exhaust this card. All enemy squadrons within 1-5 must move a full distance 1 directly towards you. Your opponent chooses the order of squadrons to move.

Is it OP'd? Too time-consuming? It would help set up shots.

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All in all, I could see future (hopefully) campaigns having new Titles to help ships that already exist.

(Note: Sorry, it's Friday and I'm really low on sleep - if this is a totally bonkers post. Apologies.)

directly

How do we measure Directly? And what if a squad is within range 1 of the Interdictor?

It would have to be a discard card.

I think this would put the Imps too far in the "I can murder every squad" camp. I like the unique options for both sides, but I want both sides to have a balanced feel to them. As of right now, Flechette is really only viable on the Raider. The Pelta can have it, but it feels clunky. Like FFG forced the Pelta into the anti-squad role.

I was thinking of a turbolaser upgrade that adds 1 blue to anti-squad attacks for 8 points. Seems crazy OP, but for 8 points, and taking the turbolaser slot means you don't have to face H9 or XI7.

I do think FFG should make no squad lists viable again to players who want to run them, but I'm not sure how to implement it.

directly

How do we measure Directly? And what if a squad is within range 1 of the Interdictor?

It would have to be a discard card.

@Ginkapo... yeah, "directly" is too hard to describe.

Range 2-5 of Interdictor? :-) But, I'd be OK with squadrons getting destroyed while crashing into the Interdictor at Range 1... but then the Interdictor has to crash into the Death Star... just like the movie... wait...

Maybe a 10 to 15 point upgrade that drops a token and once per round can either move the token up to distance 5 of its origninal position or activate all squadrons within distance 1 or 2 from the token (includes friendlies)

What about another Grav Well token that slows squads down by 1? Like Ketsu.

The problem with that turbolaser option is you end up only giving it as an option to ships that probably won't take it anyway, especially at that price. I'd had a similar thought before, and figured if you made it an Ion Cannon upgrade, you're much more likely to see it in use. A large or medium ship might be much happier losing Leading Shots than XI7 to boost its anti squadron, and Raiders and Corvettes can be used as Escort ships to bigger prizes if necessary.

It's arguably as much risk, because you lose your rerolls/overload pulse etc, in exchange for that extra blue AA die.

The problem with that turbolaser option is you end up only giving it as an option to ships that probably won't take it anyway, especially at that price. I'd had a similar thought before, and figured if you made it an Ion Cannon upgrade, you're much more likely to see it in use. A large or medium ship might be much happier losing Leading Shots than XI7 to boost its anti squadron, and Raiders and Corvettes can be used as Escort ships to bigger prizes if necessary.

It's arguably as much risk, because you lose your rerolls/overload pulse etc, in exchange for that extra blue AA die.

The reason I suggest Turbo slot is because you have to put it on an expensive ship. Allowing CR90s and Raiders to have another blue AA die would literally kill the squadron game. You could run 2 for under 100 points.

I want the option to have squadron-less fleets. Not eliminate them from the game.

You could define "Move Directly" as along a line from the closest point of the squadron base to the closest point of the Interdictors base. Stopping immediately if you touch the Interdictor' base.

Then you have to write rules for what happens with collisions between fighters as will occur as everything gets closer in the squadron accretion disc. A rule similar to if a ship lands on a squadron could be used. So move squadron A. Move Squadron B which was touching A originally but must now overlap it by 3mm due to the closing lines of being dragged in. So now place squadron B touching A then move on to squadron C etc.

Definitely a discard unless you wish to make it super expensive.

Probably best to write a scenario for it rather than for general use.

I would like an activation-modifier upgrade. Something like choose an enemy ship. It must be activated first.

As I post it in an other thread, what could be interesting is to bring for the Rebellion the CC-7700 to balance the interdiction game for the Corellain Conflict. But, because there is only one gravity well projector aboard the CC-7700, you could do this only to range 1-3.

For the AA game, I like squadron, but I like ship a little bit more and I think a upgrade with an other black dice in your AA could be a good solution for something like 5 or 6 points. The problem here is in wich slot should be this upgrade, the Support Team slot or the Weapons Team slot. A blue dice could be too strong.

Fair. Perhaps simply limiting them to medium/large ships? I'm just not sure an extra blue die in exchange for turbolaser upgrades would see much use, which is a shame because I like the concept of the mechanics.

An idea I'd thrown about before when talking about this kind of thing was an ion upgrade that didn't add anything, but gave an effect along the lines of "Blue[crit]: if your target is a squadron, you may immediately cancel all dice results and deal 1 damage". The idea being that the blue dice you have just become more effective, without boosting their potential spike damage. It also gives you away to punch through the brace and scatter tokens of aces. Could also be a defense upgrade, though?

I think all we need is a tractor beam that works on squadrons. Something like "when you activate you may exhaust this card to select an enemy squadron within range 1-5, move it up to distance 1, and you may toggle its activation slider."

It would really screw with rhymed balls and Jan Ors balls, but isn't that the idea?

If you're looking for a grab well projector that works on squadrons, just something cheap that reduced their speed by 1 would be about all you could get away with fluff wise.

I do think FFG should make no squad lists viable again to players who want to run them, but I'm not sure how to implement it.

Of the 3 regionals I've been to so far, 2 of them have had squadronless second place finishers. I ran 35 points of squadrons against several double BCCed bomber wings with Toryn Far. Beat them all. They are plenty viable in the hands of the capable (lucky in my case), pre wave V.

Now with the new wave, Nora Wexley and AFFM goes a long way towards making rebel bomber builds stronger. Is Flechette enough to counter it? We'll see, but regionals data so far shows that squadronless is still at least viable.

Adding a blue dice for AS would be better fit for Ion Cannons imo. Because the imperials don't really have a ship that would work with it. And Do we really need 3 blue Nebulon Bs?

If we imps REALLY want our anti squadron ship we just need to pray to Lord Vader for our Crusader Corvette...

Give the A version 2 blue all around anti ship dice, and the B version 2 red all around. Then give both 3 anti squadron dice, mix however would be fair (it was designed exclusively for it's anti squadron role!)

2 titles: one moderate costed, maybe named the Moderator: you may reroll one die when targeting squadrons. And one crazy expensive maybe called the Accountant (?) That does a demolisher kinda thing, but ONLY for anti squadron dice, maybe with a penalty involved or required use of a token.

Either way...

I want my Crusader Corvette!

Edit: I'd offer a suggestion for rebel anti squadron, but that already seems pretty common.

If we imps REALLY want our anti squadron ship we just need to pray to Lord Vader for our Crusader Corvette...

Give the A version 2 blue all around anti ship dice, and the B version 2 red all around. Then give both 3 anti squadron dice, mix however would be fair (it was designed exclusively for it's anti squadron role!)

2 titles: one moderate costed, maybe named the Moderator: you may reroll one die when targeting squadrons. And one crazy expensive maybe called the Accountant (?) That does a Impdemolisher kinda thing, but ONLY for anti squadron dice, maybe with a penalty involved or required use of a token.

Either way...

I want my Crusader Corvette!

Edit: I'd offer a suggestion for rebel anti squadron, but that already seems pretty common.

Imps have the Raider so I don't see why FFG should make a new ship which would make another one worthless.

And boy can they chew through squadrons when used correctly... A Raider I with OE and Kallus? Eeesh...

If ever a faction needed a dedicated Anti-Fighter ship, it was the Rebel Alliance. Give us the DP-20 Corellian Gunship already!