Pilot skill is something that should have been considered more thoroughly when the game was first designed.

First off, effectiveness of PS is more exponential than linear. Each PS acts over a greater magnitude of other pilots. PS 2 only activates in dominance over PS1s. PS9 acts in dominance over all other non modified PS#s.
The design cost was not reflective of this.

The game probably could have used a far smaller PS skill set (1-5 or 1-4 probably).
With the points being higher per each level moving up.

The nice thing is seeing good skills on middle skill pilots now.

It would be interesting if there was only 5 ranks.

Rank 1 = Rookies

Rank 2 = Veterans and some named Pilots

Rank 3 = Most named pilots

Rank 4 = Elite named pilots

Rank 5 = Current PS9 pilots

I don't want to assign a strict PS1 & 2 = Rank 1 now breakdown, but in reality it would be close. Perhaps the following rebel breakdown, there were some arbitrary assignments, but basically I didn't think the VCX or U wing deserved to have a Rank 4 pilot, so they all got bumped down in response. Furthermore, I messed with some of the X wings just because I thought that there shouldn't be a ton of rank 4 folks either, so I moved some down to rank 3.

Rank 1 = Prototype, Blue, Knave, Rebel Op, Warden, Blue Novice, Rookie, Gold, Blue Pathfinder, Lothal Rebel, ORS, Resistance Symphathizer, WSF

Rank 2 = Green, Braylen, Thane, Zeb (TIE), Zeb (Shuttle), Ezra, Dagger, Blackmoon, Roark, Guardian, Rex, Red Vet, Jess Pava, Red, Tarn, Gray, Tala, Heff, Chopper, Kanan, Eaden, Sabine (TIE), Sabine (shuttle), Blue Ace, Hobbie, Bodhi, Chewy

Rank 3 = Gemmer, Arvel, Shara, Nera, Ibby, Etahn, Kyle, Esege, Snap, Red Ace, Biggs, Garven, Dutch, Blount, Leebo, Hera (shuttle), Hera (VCX), Ashoka, Jek, Airen, Cassian

Rank 4 = Jake, Tycho, Norra, Keyan, Ten, Corran, Jan, Miranda, Nien, Poe8, Luke, Wes, Horton, Lando, Rey, Dash

Rank 5 = Poe9, Wedge, Han

So as you can see, Rank 2 and Rank 3 have most of the pilots between them. The cost should be percentage based off of the ship (a Z95 shouldn't pay the same to go from Rank 1 to Rank 2 as a VCX should), but judging by the current system, it should be about 10% of average. So perhaps 5% for Rank 1-2, 10% from 2-3, 15% from 3-4, and 20% from 4 to 5. So a Rookie, who costs 21 points at R1, would cost 22pts for the Red at Rank2, 24pts (plus pilot ability) at Rank 3, 27pts (plus pilot ability) at Rank 4, and 31 pts (plus pilot ability) at Rank 5. Which isn't that far off from current costs. Meanwhile, a Z95 at 12 points for R1, would be 13 @ R2, 14 @ R3, and 16 @ R4. If you had a R5, it would be 18.

There shouldn't be fewer pilot skills, there should be more. Anything to make initiative bids less attractive.

18 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

Who says this couldn't be a neat EPT!!

At the start of the 'Place Forces' step, choose two numbers, each a minimum of 0, which add up to your pilot skill +3 (or some other nbumber balanced by playtesting). One of these is your pilot skill in the activation phase, the other is your pilot skill in the combat phase.

Sounds interesting as an idea to float for people who benefit from moving first, or would prefer to shoot last.

Vader, for instance, would probably be fine with going up to PS12 for activation and waiting til PS0 to shoot.

15 hours ago, Marinealver said:

Because FFG has realized what a handicap middling pilot skill is and started to put their most powerful pilot abilities with the middle pilot skill instead of with the highest pilot skill and relying on the point cost for ballance. Can you imagine if Ryad was pilot skill 9?

Man the horror. While still more or less predictable she is still a pain to pin down. The only reason she is not OP is due to the low PS. Take that away...man that would be nasty. Along the same lines could you imagine all the IGs being PS 9?

1 hour ago, Khyros said:

It would be interesting if there was only 5 ranks.

I've playtested a 1-5 Pilot Skill range while developing a FlightPath-style system for playing Crimson Skies. It works fine. I also had a rule that players alternated having initiative each round. Longtime X-Wing players couldn't remember to keep alternating initiative, so I dropped the rule, but I think it makes for a more interesting back-and-forth advantage when there are PS conflicts.

1 minute ago, DagobahDave said:

I've playtested a 1-5 Pilot Skill range while developing a FlightPath-style system for playing Crimson Skies. It works fine. I also had a rule that players alternated having initiative each round. Longtime X-Wing players couldn't remember to keep alternating initiative, so I dropped the rule, but I think it makes for a more interesting back-and-forth advantage when there are PS conflicts.

I really like the idea of alternating initiative. It forces some tough flying for mirror matches that otherwise either come down to the init bid or the roll off. And really you shouldn't determine who wins the Fel on Fel matchup based on initiative. But it creates a new layer of "I want to block him this turn so he can't get a free shot on me, while setting up to not get blocked so I can out flank him next turn" And then for non-arc dodgers, it still creates a new struggle for opening engagement - I want to have init to engage first and hopefully push through a blinded pilot before he shoots or I want to not have init so I can get that TL and shoot my torpedoes off opening round.

I am not much into whining but PS is something which slowly lose it's value for me as a thematic player. I understand PS9 for Vader, Fel, Antilles and Solo. I think one can justify Talonbane and to certain degree Rau. But who the hell is QuickDraw? Dengar could easily be PS8 as well as Poe (and I like the character pretty much). PS8 should be the gifted, trained and amazing pilots (which mostly fits in the game) but PS9. Those should be legends! I'd be happy with the original four.

Dengar in Legends was a better pilot than Han...

Pilot Skill is a timing mechanic, nothing more. It determines when you move and when you fire. It doesn't (and can't) accurately represent pilot prowess in Star Wars lore, although high PS in X-Wing often goes with high-prowess pilots in the lore. For timing purposes, sometimes you want a low PS for a pilot we know to be skilled in the lore, because some game effects are better if they happen at those points in the activation order.

19 hours ago, StriderZessei said:

I would like to see VI banned from tournament play, and pilots' PS rebalanced around that (Dash deserves to be at least 8, *grumble grumble*).

Dash's ability to ignore obstacles is highly representative of exceptional piloting ... with "only" very good trigger-finger speed.

He did not need to be higher than PS 7, and without a significant cost increase would have likely been very broken.

6 hours ago, 4fox100 said:

Along the same lines could you imagine all the IGs being PS 9?

Depending on one's Aggressor flight style, that wouldn't necessarily be as big an advantage as you think.

For instance, I'm a pretty good Brobots player, and I would rather be PS 4 than PS 8.

This idea just came to me as I was designing a Deck for Destiny.

Aces should be RARE on the battlefield. You should not be seeing dogfights of just Vader, Fel, etc... You should only see 1 ace in most battles.

What if there was a total PS limit?
Does anyone play Infinity by Corvus Belli? In that game there are two points systems you use. Cost and SWC (special Weapons Cost). For every 50pts you get 1 SWC allowance. An average game is 300pts and 6SWC.

What if X-wing had something similar. You have two values in building a list: Points and PSA (Pilot Skill Allowance). For every 20 game points you get 3 PSA. That means in an average 100pt game you get 15 PSA to spend. No more Double 9's in a list. Then you could also add PS values to certain crew cards like say the Emperor. [And VI counts against this PSA limit... or could be errata-ed / replaced.)

This could be crazy, I'm just blueskying this. But it is something I was thinking about.

1 hour ago, KryatDragon said:

This idea just came to me as I was designing a Deck for Destiny.

Aces should be RARE on the battlefield. You should not be seeing dogfights of just Vader, Fel, etc... You should only see 1 ace in most battles.

What if there was a total PS limit?
Does anyone play Infinity by Corvus Belli? In that game there are two points systems you use. Cost and SWC (special Weapons Cost). For every 50pts you get 1 SWC allowance. An average game is 300pts and 6SWC.

What if X-wing had something similar. You have two values in building a list: Points and PSA (Pilot Skill Allowance). For every 20 game points you get 3 PSA. That means in an average 100pt game you get 15 PSA to spend. No more Double 9's in a list. Then you could also add PS values to certain crew cards like say the Emperor. [And VI counts against this PSA limit... or could be errata-ed / replaced.)

This could be crazy, I'm just blueskying this. But it is something I was thinking about.

Because Crack Swarms at that broken?

This would have to be a high enough limit to fit in large groups of mid-PS generics, and if it was that high, it would be easy enough to fit in 2+ aces.

I don't think this works, because you rarely want more than 2 high PS aces, just occasionally you might want 3 at PS8+ with VI.

But when you're building a swarm, you routinely want Howlrunner plus 3 or 4 Black Cracks plus 1 to 3 other ships, which adds potentially up to more.