1 hour ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

What about Hobbie? He shouldn't be locked out of the fixes just because of Biggs! Plus Biggs could take the EPT droid then equip whatever ps6+ fix there was.

p.s. I hate the pilot skill limited fix ideas. All the X-wings need help.

No, he couldn't take an EPT droid, VI or Adaptibility, and another EPT. That's specifically why I suggested an EPT at PS 6+. There is no way Biggs could use it.

Hobbie, unfortunately is dead. He'd be useable if he had an EPT and still had his droid slot free, but FFG dropped the ball, as they have every time before and after integrated astromech when they try to give something to X-wings.

I think Biggs would be better (and more thematic) if you picked on ship to which Biggs' ability applied (like Agent Kallus).

But it's totally possible to fix the X-wing without buffing Biggs. Example:

Rogue Leader (Unique Title, X-Wing Only, PS6+ only, 2 points). Your action bar gains the Barrel Roll action. Once per round, after you perform an action, a Rogue Squadron Pilot in range 1-2 may perform a free Boost or Barrel Roll action.

Rogue Squadron Pilot (Title, X-wing Only, PS4 or lower only, 0 points). When in range 1-2 of Rogue Leader, your action bar gains the Barrel Roll action.

On 4/4/2017 at 4:39 PM, Reiver said:

Seems to me the best way to fix the X-wing despite Biggs is to buff its offensive power instead of worrying about its durability.

That way his current interactions as a tank get no worse, and if anything you now have more incentive to keep Biggs alive - there's some fine dakka goin' wasted if you treat him exclusively as ablative hitpoints.

I don't know exactly which form of firepower is preferable, but there's no shortage of options. Pick one! Just don't make them tougher.

I tend to stick with the idea of buffing the X-Wing through the Astromech slot. The two options I always suggest are an astromech that straight up improves offense: "When performing a primary weapon attack, you may change 1 die result to a [hit] result. If you do, you may not spend target locks on this attack," and an astromech that basically works as extra munitions, "When you equip this card, place 1 ordnance token on 1 equipped [torpedo] Upgrade Card. When instructed to discard a card, you may discard an ordnance token on that card instead."

Either of these would provide a boost, not just to the X-Wing, but to the E-Wing, non-regen ARC-170s, and torpedo Y-Wings, all ships that need help. The best part? Biggs would never take them. He's practically glued to his current astromech.

I am 90% an Imperial/Scum player, and there is nothing wrong with Biggs. Is he a royal pain in the butt?????? very much so, but there are a lot of ways around him. Ordinance, tractor beams, Ion cannons and lower PS bumping. People want to fly their ships the same old way every time, rather than adjust to the situation. He is a crutch the Rebels lean on, but is nowhere near as good as the Emperor which could save a lot more points from hits than your ablative Biggs.

1 hour ago, Sekac said:

No, he couldn't take an EPT droid, VI or Adaptibility, and another EPT. That's specifically why I suggested an EPT at PS 6+. There is no way Biggs could use it.

Hobbie, unfortunately is dead. He'd be useable if he had an EPT and still had his droid slot free, but FFG dropped the ball, as they have every time before and after integrated astromech when they try to give something to X-wings.

Oh, they dropped the ball there too. Card could've granted a 1pt discount to the astromech, and the generics would have had a shot at seeing play for a while. At 22pts, the X-wing is the same efficiency as the B-wing... and neither is quite high enough. 21pts with R2? With some decent 2pt astromechs that give them something even vaugely akin to a boost to jousting capabilities? That's another matter entirely.

But no, they missed the ball there, too. Thus leaving the X-wing still as Biggs only, and now missing their modification slot to boot.

8 hours ago, Stoneface said:

Forget about Biggs for a minute. What changes would YOU make to the X-wing to improve it? The changes have to fit into the present game structure, so no "from scratch" builds. Mods and titles only and only one of them can have a negative cost.

I think that both the T-65 X-Wing and Kihraxz Fighter (which I mention because its a Scum X-Wing sort of) should have native barrel rolls. Since they do not I suggest Title mods for both that are 0 points and only add barrel roll. Nothing else. This way both similar ships have a little more maneuverability and do not become as you so eloquently put "something they are not" and I agree with that 100%

9 hours ago, Schu81 said:

First of all:

What's sooo terrifying about a ship with 5 Hitpoints, which has been around ever since Wave 1?

Biggs is somehow one of the very few advantages Rebels still have.

This guy has become more of a hero (in this game) than Luke or Wedge.

The idea of a "tank" is very well known in a lot of games, and it seems to work quite well here.

Still: These lists don't seem to win a lot of tournaments. It's not even half as powerful or OP as some people her say it would be.

Biggs is the only reason why pilots like Norra Wexley even reach the late game without being blown out of the sky in round 2.

Because Rey/Norra never worked...

9 hours ago, Schu81 said:

Biggs is no even close to the power of Palpatine, even after the nerf.

Just let one ship on the Empires side have Biggs ability! Please! Biggs is totally better then Palp now not before.

34 minutes ago, Phoenix5454 said:

I think that both the T-65 X-Wing and Kihraxz Fighter (which I mention because its a Scum X-Wing sort of) should have native barrel rolls. Since they do not I suggest Title mods for both that are 0 points and only add barrel roll. Nothing else. This way both similar ships have a little more maneuverability and do not become as you so eloquently put "something they are not" and I agree with that 100%

That... won't actually help, though. They're still too expensive for their cost, and the lack of maneuverability is only marginally patched by giving them a reposition ability - one that I personally feel is a little too over-assigned as it is.

No, what you want is for them to be generally useful - and in the context of the game, this means 'good value'. You'd better believe the limited dial and lack of actions wouldn't matter if their title included "Increase your attack by 1, 0pts" on it; they'd be everywhere anyway, and the very hallmark of 'fly it well to get your points back' to boot.

(Yes, this also suggests that a whole extra dice is not actually needed, but I think the point is made well enough.)

18 minutes ago, Strikesback said:

Just let one ship on the Empires side have Biggs ability! Please! Biggs is totally better then Palp now not before.

"Fel's Wrath"
TIE Interceptor, PS 5, no EPT, 25pts.
Enemy ships within range 1 of you cannot target other ships if they could target you instead.

My, what a twist of fates that would be... an appropriately suicidal one, but a twist nonetheless

2 hours ago, Sekac said:

No, he couldn't take an EPT droid, VI or Adaptibility, and another EPT. That's specifically why I suggested an EPT at PS 6+. There is no way Biggs could use it.

Hobbie, unfortunately is dead. He'd be useable if he had an EPT and still had his droid slot free, but FFG dropped the ball, as they have every time before and after integrated astromech when they try to give something to X-wings.

You said title in your first post not EPT. Either way there are easier fixes for the X-wing than restrictions on pilot skill. They can buff attack power and mobility without overpowering Biggs or they can simply make a title that gives you a free evade at the start of combat if no friendly ships are at range 1 if they wanted to buff its defense. It's not really that hard to work around Biggs if they want to. Since Rogue One was just released on DVDs I'm hoping they drop a Scarif Veterans tie-in sometime soon.

11 hours ago, Schu81 said:

First of all:

What's sooo terrifying about a ship with 5 Hitpoints, which has been around ever since Wave 1?

Well, I think its something to do with the fact his ability get more powerful the better things there are in the list for him to protect. So naturally as power creep happens he becomes more and more powerful.

6 hours ago, Reiver said:

Oh, they dropped the ball there too. Card could've granted a 1pt discount to the astromech, and the generics would have had a shot at seeing play for a while. At 22pts, the X-wing is the same efficiency as the B-wing... and neither is quite high enough. 21pts with R2? With some decent 2pt astromechs that give them something even vaugely akin to a boost to jousting capabilities? That's another matter entirely.

But no, they missed the ball there, too. Thus leaving the X-wing still as Biggs only, and now missing their modification slot to boot.

I'm okay with IA as it is, because it applies equally to all X-wings. They absolutely could've had it offer a discount on droids, but oh well.

But they've released 2 generic astromechs since they developed IA (targeting and R3) and both are way over costed. Both should have been free because they are generics.

Generally speaking, the common trend you'll see is that named pilots prefer unique astromechs—Biggs with R4-D6, Poe+R5-P9, Corran+R2-D2. The only exceptions I can think of are Tarn+R7, and R3-A2 on anyone (because it's the only widely useful astromech on any platform). If they wanted to help generic X-wings, E-wings, T-70s, and Y-wings all at once, they'd just deliberately under cost a generic astro.

Would Biggs, Corran, or Poe ever take a free targeting or R3 astromech over their usual droid of choice? Nope, not in a million years. So there's no risk to under costing these droids. A 21 point X-wing with IA and a free droid might be worth taking, though.

No, the real problem with IA isn't that it doesn't do more, but that its inception has (for whatever reason) made FFG extremely gun shy about aggressively pricing their droids. It's weird because they're usually really gung ho about fixes.

Interceptors are losing to turrets? Autothrusters. BAM! Immediate renaissance for Soontir.

Defenders are over costed? TIE x7. Wowwy, defenders are amazing overnight, and 2 points cheaper to boot!

X-wings are over costed? R3 astromech. How about we give them a way, way, WAY shittier version of x7 for +2 points instead of -2? That'll help, right?

I'm okay with a nerf for Biggs if they feel he's restricting future design, but I want them to prove they know how to actually fix the X-wing before we remove the very last namesake of this game from the competitive scene.

18 hours ago, Schu81 said:

Goooood no.

Please not another nerf thread.

Biggs is fine. Most agility 1 ships wouldnt even work at all without him.

How does the Decimator or YV-666 work in factions without Biggs?

Biggs becomes more powerful the less ships the opponent has, obviously because he will need more turns to die. Running a swarm in formation completely destroys Biggs on the first engagement. Which means that Biggs' ability becomes much less potent (because you would attack a ship anyway) against so many lists (Crack swarm, A-wing swarm, Thug life, Scyk swarm, which are actually good now, Bombwing, etc). Where Biggs shines is against lists of two heavy-hitting ships, like Rey/Norra or (before the FAQ) Dengaroo because he hard-counters those types of list. Since there is just so much list diversity right now, Biggs is fine as is.

If the meta shifts to more swarm-oriented lists, you will see that Biggs will not be as useful as he is now.

The X wing actually has a bunch of upgrades that are not represented in the game:

It has Champat "Defender" Deflector shields which can be toggled between front, rear or all round cover. (Reinforce action?)

The ANQ 3.6 Tracking Computer which, according to Wiki: "This tracking computer had a success rate of 98.7%." (Accuracy Corrector?)

Linked Cannons with multiple modes:
Single Fire - Standard 3 attack primary
Stutter Fire - In arc TLT i.e. Two sets of three dice, capped at one damage per set?

Also, an errata to modifications may help, i.e adding that 0 point modifications do not use up the modification slot, enabling you to take multiple 0 point or a 0 and 1 - 4 point upgrade? Not sure how broken that makes things but I can't see Integrated Astromech plus something else being overly dramatic, nor guidance chips and long range sensors? Would also open design space for slight tweaks via 0 point mods down the line.

Well for starters, any upgrade that would work only for Xwings (t65 only ? do we leave out the t70 ? i would prefer if both worked the same way and had the same stats/dial tbh), it would require this requisite:

"Only Xwings. Except that guy with a glorious condescending mostauche. You know who you are."

Biggs loses to ordinance badly due to TL required attacks not being able to hit him and his agility is pretty low so he usually loses to swarms.

Tractor beam Tie-D's also can help get biggs out in the open while the rest of your ships shred him.

11 hours ago, MenaceNsobriety said:

You said title in your first post not EPT. Either way there are easier fixes for the X-wing than restrictions on pilot skill. They can buff attack power and mobility without overpowering Biggs or they can simply make a title that gives you a free evade at the start of combat if no friendly ships are at range 1 if they wanted to buff its defense. It's not really that hard to work around Biggs if they want to. Since Rogue One was just released on DVDs I'm hoping they drop a Scarif Veterans tie-in sometime soon.

No, what I said was:

20 hours ago, Sekac said:

Making a non-unique title for PS 4 and lower X-wings, and/or an EPT for PS 6+ X-wings would both neatly sidestep any benefit to Biggs. I find it EXTREMELY unlikely that this hasn't occurred to FFG since they've used PS restricted upgrades.

My point remains and we seem to agree on it. They could design a fix that Biggs either couldn't or wouldn't use, they just haven't done it.

I prefer a fix he couldn't use, because that would allow them to under cost it to compensate for over costing the X-wing in the first place. A fix he wouldn't use would have to cost what it's actually worth, or close to it, otherwise he just might take it anyway. Biggs has no specific need for an attack power buff, but if it's free or maybe 1 point, he might take it anyway. He'd still be the best X-wing, and more prevalent than he is now.

1 hour ago, Sekac said:

Biggs has no specific need for an attack power buff, but if it's free or maybe 1 point, he might take it anyway. He'd still be the best X-wing, and more prevalent than he is now.

The point is that Biggs is not taken for his attack power so a buff to this would not have any significant effect on whether or not he was taken. But it might be enough to make other X-wings viable if done correctly.

18 minutes ago, Karhedron said:

The point is that Biggs is not taken for his attack power so a buff to this would not have any significant effect on whether or not he was taken. But it might be enough to make other X-wings viable if done correctly.

I understand, but if they did something extreme like a non-unique title that gives +1 red die for 0 points, Biggs would absolutely take it. He'd be buffed right along with every other X-wing and he'd be more common than he is now. The only difference is people would be taking other X-wings in addition to Biggs.

So if they want to buff X-wings without buffing Biggs, they need to find a balance in cost between being cheap enough that other X-wings will take it and be effective, but prohibitive enough that you won't want to spend the additional points on Biggs since that isn't his role. That's a fine line to design within and could easily be upset by meta changes in the future.

Creating a fix or several that preclude Biggs, on the other hand, would give them freedom to under cost the upgrades since there's no risk of the only good X-wing getting better.

14 hours ago, Reiver said:

That... won't actually help, though. They're still too expensive for their cost, and the lack of maneuverability is only marginally patched by giving them a reposition ability - one that I personally feel is a little too over-assigned as it is.

No, what you want is for them to be generally useful - and in the context of the game, this means 'good value'. You'd better believe the limited dial and lack of actions wouldn't matter if their title included "Increase your attack by 1, 0pts" on it; they'd be everywhere anyway, and the very hallmark of 'fly it well to get your points back' to boot.

(Yes, this also suggests that a whole extra dice is not actually needed, but I think the point is made well enough.)

I have to disagree. RE-positioning options on both the T-65 X-Wing and Kihraxz helps a lot. I said to add barrel roll over boost because boost can then be added as a MOD if someone so desires to pay the points but it makes a X-wing choose between that or IA. At this point it's to late to "fix" their dials so you need to give them maneuverability through actions. A lot of the X-Wing pilots have good abilities they just need something without going over the top. I believe a native barrel roll is enough without being broken.

You can't just increase the attack on them and call it a day, that creates a lot of other balancing issues. And doesn't make sense when comparing the to other ships.

To fix over costing have a refit option like the A-Wing for the X-Wing torpedo slot with a negative squad point value. For the Kihraxz any point reduction would have to be included in the title tho...

Giving the X-wing/Kihraxz a barrel roll/boost wouldn't really help them that much. The ships' dials tend toward non-PTL options in any case. If the design space is 'simple, straightforward jouster', they need to be made cheaper. Astromechs need to offer more straightforward action economy. But then Biggs.

I think like in every X-wing fix thread, we need to define what that ship is supposed to do, and build toward that.