Eventually it will happen.

A few possibilities.

1. He will have a strong ability but a very high point cost in the high 30's that will limit the amount of squads he is used in.

or

2. He will be designed in a fairly balanced way and many players will complain that he wasn't what they wanted or feels strong enough to represent him.

What do you think?

I hope he'll have some superb ability that counters the fact that yor fleet will be crippled by his cost. Like I donno... Instant rerolls for every attacks? Or free slicer tool inevery turn? Something like that.

I think it possible that he'll be high costed with a powerful ability that is either subtle enough to be overlooked by most, or rather obvious but difficult to implement, thereby both living up to his reputation and allowing great rewards to people who can properly use him.

The issue with this is of course that most people will probably find him either 'worthless' like Konstantine, or 'too expensive' like Tarkin.

I don't know what I'd prefer, but probably your 2nd option, since having a commander I don't know how to use is a bit annoying, though of course the cause of experimentation and the gateway to better strategic and critical thinking and thus better play. This would itself fit into Thrawn's character and be useful in so many ways. . . Still, using him is better then struggling to comprehend, since I don't think most people would be satisfied with something that could take months to properly learn to play.

He's similar to the SSD in that way: They are both unfit for Armada in their present form. Thrawn by being too strategically taxing for most, and the SSD for being physically too big for the game. As such, I believe both will be toned down but stay true to their original idea within the proportions allowed by the game's mechanics. I think that they both, should they ever be added, will be balanced, fun, appropriately costed, but still disappointing to many who desire the original idea and not a lesser version.

I want another admiral option that allows me to build my fleet in a different way.

Thrawn should come with 5-6 different art versions of the card.

1 hour ago, Shadow345 said:

Eventually it will happen.

A few possibilities.

1. He will have a strong ability but a very high point cost in the high 30's that will limit the amount of squads he is used in.

or

2. He will be designed in a fairly balanced way and many players will complain that he wasn't what they wanted or feels strong enough to represent him.

Or

3. He will be designed in a fairly balanced way but still being awesome and many players will love him.

It is not like if we didn't get something like that already. We got Jerjerrod!!!!

What I'm hoping Thrawn does is something to make large ship lists viable for the Empire again. A reduction in command stacks like Relentless for example. Or perhaps an ability to reposition a medium or large ship after deployment.

I agree though. Thrawn has three options for his effect on the game: amazing, decent, and awful. And a lot of people will be at least mildly upset if he isn't amazing.

6 minutes ago, thecactusman17 said:

What I'm hoping Thrawn does is something to make large ship lists viable for the Empire again. A reduction in command stacks like Relentless for example. Or perhaps an ability to reposition a medium or large ship after deployment.

This is exactly what I was thinking. It ties in with his philosophy of learning all about an opponent to better learn how to destroy them. His ability to anticipate his opponents tactics and strategies would totally tie in with a redeployment bonus. Though his strategic brilliance would also sit well fluff wise with an ability that allowed him to manipulate command stacks too.

I always liked the idea that his ability would help dictate the terms of the battle.

"If you are first player, you can force your opponent to add another objective of their choice chosen from a color of your choice to add to the three objectives you can already choose from. If you are second player you may replace an objective of any color for an objective of any color before your opponent chooses."

No idea what this should cost.

I want a setup Commander in Thrawn. He made certain his opponents lost before the fight started by putting them in a terrible spot.

Something like getting to remove one of your objectives before your opponent chooses them plus something for first player

Grand Admiral Thrawn - Increase the command value by one for the first round for every ship in the enemy fleet. points 20

edit - or enemy ships may not revel a command dial durring the first turn

how about:

You may choose the mission. If both players have Thrawn, choose the mission normally.

I can't guess on the price, but it would be large.

5 minutes ago, D503 said:

how about:

You may choose the mission. If both players have Thrawn, choose the mission normally.

I can't guess on the price, but it would be large.

I considered that one too. I love the idea

Grand Admiral Thrawn: Ignore the text on all other commander cards.

With Thrawn, it's down to skill vs. skill. No tricks will work on him.

Just now, Democratus said:

Grand Admiral Thrawn: Ignore the text on all other commander cards.

With Thrawn, it's down to skill vs. skill. No tricks will work on him.

That's actually a pretty clever ability.

2 hours ago, Shadow345 said:

Eventually it will happen.

A few possibilities.

1. He will have a strong ability but a very high point cost in the high 30's that will limit the amount of squads he is used in.

or

2. He will be designed in a fairly balanced way and many players will complain that he wasn't what they wanted or feels strong enough to represent him.

What do you think?

It's going to be that second one. Thrawn has been built up so many times and all in everything he's ever done that if he isn't an auto-win when he hits the table everyone who loves him will feel cheated/angry at FFG for yet another slight (Game balance be darned, Thrawn should be zero points! And let me pass 2 activations whenever I want!)

Me, I just see Thrawn as one more Imperial roadblock on the way to us Rebels freeing the galaxy from tyranny.

6 minutes ago, Democratus said:

Grand Admiral Thrawn: Ignore the text on all other commander cards.

With Thrawn, it's down to skill vs. skill. No tricks will work on him.

My problem with this is that he just wins when he brings an ISD and that ability versus Ackbar, Leia, Madine, Vader, most Tarkin lists....

Sure, story wise he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Mechanically this will hurt Armada. How would you feel if you brought your super well designed X fleet (Jerry, Motti, Sloan, whatever) and then you can't use the special ability you built your fleet around? How likely are you to keep playing when you don't get to play that way ever?

1 minute ago, geek19 said:

My problem with this is that he just wins when he brings an ISD and that ability versus Ackbar, Leia, Madine, Vader, most Tarkin lists....

Sure, story wise he's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Mechanically this will hurt Armada. How would you feel if you brought your super well designed X fleet (Jerry, Motti, Sloan, whatever) and then you can't use the special ability you built your fleet around? How likely are you to keep playing when you don't get to play that way ever?

Knowing that Thrawn is in the meta - I wouldn't bring a list that can't perform without the commander's ability.

It would result in more well-rounded fleets rather than only gimmicks. Lists that could be enhanced by the commander but don't simply fall apart without them. Which sounds fun to me.

You know what I want to see. I want Thrawn to be an Exhaust ability that lets you Exhaust him in place of activating a ship.

Just now, Lyraeus said:

You know what I want to see. I want Thrawn to be an Exhaust ability that lets you Exhaust him in place of activating a ship.

Just thought about that. Similar to the FFG Card Game Version.

39 pts

Once per turn, you may count of your non-activated ships as activated without activating it. If you do, choose one of your opponent's ships with size no greater than the ship from your fleet that you have chosen. The opponent's ship can't be activated this turn.

2 minutes ago, Shadow345 said:

Just thought about that. Similar to the FFG Card Game Version.

39 pts

Once per turn, you may count of your non-activated ships as activated without activating it. If you do, choose one of your opponent's ships with size no greater than the ship from your fleet that you have chosen. The opponent's ship can't be activated this turn.

Hmmmmm too complicated I think. You also are getting a huge advantage. Hey that giant ship that is 150+ points, yea you can NEVER use that.

That would spell the death for big ships.

Being able to get a fake activation is a pretty big way to balance lists against mass activation spam or it gives you more of an activation spam

18 minutes ago, Democratus said:

Knowing that Thrawn is in the meta - I wouldn't bring a list that can't perform without the commander's ability.

It would result in more well-rounded fleets rather than only gimmicks. Lists that could be enhanced by the commander but don't simply fall apart without them. Which sounds fun to me.

Maybe but commanders like Jerjerod do more to make ships like Victories competitive then uber powerful.

I almost dont want thrawn. I read the book that just came out and he's so **** good that any other commander is but subpar. On the other hand, I would like for him to be able to bring new forces to bear. While thrawn was able to influence the battle, once engaged, he would commonly bring in an extra squadron or two, a light cruiser, or perform a micro-jump.

The micro jump would be dope.

Thrawn-38 pts

Exhaust

Once per round, when a ship performs a concentrate fire command, it may, instead of adding one die, move up to distance 5 of its current position then perform the attack.

3 minutes ago, Forresto said:

Maybe but commanders like Jerjerod do more to make ships like Victories competitive then uber powerful.

Not sure if even JJ makes VSDs competitive. Have JJ VSDs won a regional yet?

Even looking at the top 4 for all regionals, there are no JJ VSDs.

Just now, Democratus said:

Not sure if even JJ makes VSDs competitive. Have JJ VSDs won a regional yet?

Even looking at the top 4 for all regionals, the only 2 lists with VSDs had Vader and Moti

Oh for sure I don't think VSDs are even that great with JJ but they sure are a heck of a lot better with him. JJ is almost mandatory to make a VSD only fleet work. My point I guess is that in relation to your suggestion for Thrawn's ability, it will also negate commanders who were designed to fix slight imbalances. I don't dislike your suggestion, I think its actually pretty cool i'm just wondering if its too wide cast.

Maybe it only effects and negates commanders that enhance attacks, defense, and command tokens but still allows maneuver commanders to effect the fleet?

OR

What if Thrawn only negates regular officer's effects such as Minister Tua, Princess Leia, and so on?