Hi fellow pilots,
I want to introduce you to the house rule set we use in our little group.
These rules are NOT a complain about official rules or a proposition to change them; it's just the way our group tries to adjust the game to fit our needs.
What brought us to the idea of using some house rules is this : as we dislike plying in narrowed meta due to certain cards being... well... just too good, at first we only refrainded ourselves of certin ships or combos to keep it "casual". The problem is : we like list building, we like finding new efficient combos, and we like to play a game trying to outwit your opponent. And in that way, restraining ourselves doen't work. Because every time you win a casual game, you wonder (I least I do) : did I win because I played well? Or did I restrain my list power less than my opponent, thus playing with an unfair advantage? That's how you end up loving the YT2400 but not playing it because you feel that maybe this will end being an NPE for your opponent (and maybe you'll bore yourself to death with that fat dodgy turret).

That drove us to the following list of house rules that I like to call "power casual":

- Every ship that, anytime during the game, is brought to less than half of its hit points AND has at least one damage card when the game ends, counts for half victory points.
- Large ships can do only one repositioning action per turn.
- PtL is Unique.
- Whenever you attack a ship out of arc, if that ship is at range 3 or if the shot is obstructed, your opponent throws one more defense die.
- Sabine crew works only on bombs dropped by the ship Sabine is on AND the effect is limited to the normal range of the bomb (that means, for action bombs, to a ship under the token only).

That's it !

Feel free to comment if you want to propose some more elegant way to achieve our goals, or if you find that this set of rules is in any way unfunctionnal.

Have fun and fly casual !

I might not agree with it 100%, but overall it's not bad. I think you've done a nice job of making small tweaks that help the game be more enjoyable for your particular group. This is how good house rules are done.

I agree with everything except PTL. What design decisions lead you to that rule?

6 hours ago, emmjay said:

I agree with everything except PTL. What design decisions lead you to that rule?

We think that PtL is a little too good. I mean, if a ship has the means to exploit it correctly, via its dial or pilot ability, then PtL is an auto-include. As we wanted to increase the diversity both of ships and upgrades, and found no smart way to slightly nerf it, we opted for the "Unique" solution.

I've made my peace with PtL, but Veteran Instincts holds a similar place in my heart. So sick of that EPT.