Imperials lack an exclusive upgrade type, like illicit or the various astromechs, and it doesn't even fit for them to have one. Upgrade types are ship specific, and the imperial doctrine considered numbers a greater advantage.

What this results in however, is the lack of an imperial niche that is supported by upgrades, available ONLY to imperials.

Problem is, XI waves in, it is quite hard to retroactively give most imperial ships access to something like that, and even if they started doing it now, the majority of imperial ships would be without it.

Another issue is lore. Rebels had more capable craft generally.

BUT. There is one thing Imperials are consistently better than most rebels, and that is training. They are the ELITE. Even the lowly TIE pilot is a skilled ace if he survived a few missions. They don't have the luxury of shields and armor. They rely on their skills alone. They are better trained than the rebellion, or indeed scum, on the merit of them having actual training facilities and so on.

With that in mind, I present to you a Universal Title card.

What do you think?

Having played Whisper with Lone Wolf, Sensor Jammer, RecSpec and ACD, I can tell you now that it would be broken with VI as well.
And I'm sure there are more than a few combos that are just as bad.

Yeah, whisper is strong, but she is at max PS 9. Native 8-s and 9-s can beat her in PS wars, and she still dies from bombs.

I don't think nerfing the anti ace tools is a good idea, but maybe aces trying to out ace them is the way to go

I do love the idea of it.

But in practice it just opens the door for too many broken combos.

Imagine being able to slap on something like Outmaneuver or Juke on Soontir on top of PTL.

I'd love to have shuttles with an ept.

Soontir and pals with outmaneouver would be back in the game.

3 minutes ago, Stevey86 said:

I do love the idea of it.

But in practice it just opens the door for too many broken combos.

Imagine being able to slap on something like Outmaneuver or Juke on Soontir on top of PTL.

That is a 38 point ship with 3 hull though. Yeah it packs a punch, but IS expensive

would PS 10 whisper and Soontir be too good? You could get QuickDraw up to 12! I don't think an academy pilot should have an EPT though.

I fly triple aces and and have been doing fine against most things in the meta. Git gud or git rekt.

1 minute ago, tortugatron said:

would PS 10 whisper and Soontir be too good? You could get QuickDraw up to 12! I don't think an academy pilot should have an EPT though.

You couldn't. Adaptability and VI don't stack

I get the whole numbers thing, but the reality is other than the Tie fighter imperials aren't cheap points wise. Other than Tie swarm and Maybe Strikers, imperials can't run more ships for the same points than the other two factions.

3 minutes ago, Big k said:

I get the whole numbers thing, but the reality is other than the Tie fighter imperials aren't cheap points wise. Other than Tie swarm and Maybe Strikers, imperials can't run more ships for the same points than the other two factions.

There is a good reason for that. Imagine 4 imperial aces without bringing some basic tie-s. 4 high PS interceptor would be nasty, and thats just 1 extra ship.

I kinda get the the sense that heavy access to the tech slot is the imperial thing. They have 3 ships that can use it (to the other factions 1) and are the only faction that has the system-tech combo (allowing FCS/Targeting Synchronizer shenanigans).

They also have the best access to AGI 3 (even their 2 AGI ships get to be 3 agility, thanks lightweight frame).

30 minutes ago, RufusDaMan said:

There is a good reason for that. Imagine 4 imperial aces without bringing some basic tie-s. 4 high PS interceptor would be nasty, and thats just 1 extra ship.

I disagree. Running 3 interceptors is going to get you nowhere fast at a tournament, why would 4 suddenly make them nasty to the point of them being over powered?

I don't get the "you're a swarm faction" when the reality is to outnumber another faction you can use many of your more expensive ships that aren't as good or cheap as the other factions. This is you niche sucks if to sit in your niche means you always have to run one type of ship.

1 hour ago, RufusDaMan said:

You couldn't. Adaptability and VI don't stack

How would they not stack? Seems pretty clear to me. QuickDraw is already PS11 during setup, and then after placement you increase your PS (which is 11) by 1 (so now it's 12).

7 minutes ago, tortugatron said:

How would they not stack? Seems pretty clear to me. QuickDraw is already PS11 during setup, and then after placement you increase your PS (which is 11) by 1 (so now it's 12).

FAQ:

Altered P ilot Skill
Some abilities alter the pilot skill value of a ship. If several game effects alter the pilot skill of a ship, only the most recent effect is applied .
For example, if a Green Squadron Pilot equips Veteran Instincts, it increases its pilot skill from 3 to 5.
However, if it later receives the “Damaged Cockpit” Damage card faceup, its pilot skill is reduced from 5 to 0 (rather than 2).

Admittedly it could be argued that that's not the intent, but unless an FAQ entry clearly states that they do/don't stack, this is the precedent.

14 minutes ago, Stevey86 said:

FAQ:

Altered P ilot Skill
Some abilities alter the pilot skill value of a ship. If several game effects alter the pilot skill of a ship, only the most recent effect is applied .
For example, if a Green Squadron Pilot equips Veteran Instincts, it increases its pilot skill from 3 to 5.
However, if it later receives the “Damaged Cockpit” Damage card faceup, its pilot skill is reduced from 5 to 0 (rather than 2).

Admittedly it could be argued that that's not the intent, but unless an FAQ entry clearly states that they do/don't stack, this is the precedent.

I think it could definitely be argued that having VI and adaptability is not the same thing as this. Damaged Cockpit, Mux, Roark, Decoy, Swarm Tactics... they are specifically state a number that the PS is now. None of those cards grants PS changing increments.

2 minutes ago, tortugatron said:

I think it could definitely be argued that having VI and adaptability is not the same thing as this. Damaged Cockpit, Mux, Roark, Decoy, Swarm Tactics... they are specifically state a number that the PS is now. None of those cards grants PS changing increments.

Don't get me wrong, I believe they should stack.

But unless there is clarification from FFG either on this specific interaction, or what constitutes a "game effect", this is the only thing we have to go on, and is generally accepted as how the 2 cards currently interact.

In the current state of the game, that's a fools errand to even wish that sort of thing from FFG.

Sure, I would love a boost to Imperial arc dodgers that made Interceptors strong again, but the recent ship, weapon and modification designs from FFG seem to have been built to insure those types of ships don't pull to the front again; there are a plethora of counters within those waves, direct and indirect.

Current successful competitive Imperial squads are now made up of almost exclusively more "rebel like" ships, not highly agile and maneuverable glass-cannon arc dodgers. That era is seemingly over and really has been in hospice for a while. Heck, Scum players originally tried to play Protectorates as arc dodgers and found it severely wanting, now they know that art is dead and they fly them in the fray with Atani and it is working amazingly well; I do.

That's why there is so much Imperial salt over Bombs, JK5s and Attani; it's not that there aren't some competitive Imperial squad builds, it's that those squads ships aren't what true Imperial pilots like to fly.

2 hours ago, clanofwolves said:

designs from FFG seem to have been built to insure those types of ships don't pull to the front again

And they're fools. What's more gratifying to both play, watch and design, a game where you have to carefully outmaneuver your opponent, or a game where you just send your pieces straight ahead and roll the dice?

Flying Soontir was never automatic; you had the tools for him to prevail, but you needed to fly him well, because any mistakes might result in instant death. That was thrilling for both sides. They're designing more and more ships and pilots where this kind of thrill is lost. Where the price you pay for your mistakes is negligible.

What's enraging, though, is that they then release statements saying the exact opposite, like how Palp and x7 where nerfed because they were all too safe effects that wouldn't ask for careful decision-making, minimizing the impact of mistakes. Okay. But then why, as you noted, their latest designs seem to be going exactly in that, supposedly deplored, direction?

I don't get this forum...

An interesting idea is presented in an attractive way with request for discussion. And about 15 posts below comes the first complaint about the current meta state with barely a connection to the original idea.

Do you think this is encouraging? I don't

Well right now there is only 2 faction specific slots. astromech and salvaged astromech. The illicit slot while it is on Scum naturally it available to Rebels through Rebel Only upgrades. The turret upgrade slot is not a rebel only slot it is just that until Wave 11 Imperials had no ships for it.

So yeah Imperials they have more pilots than upgrade options. However that doesn't help them much especially when your additional options include Fel's Wrath. Having more upgrade options available does have an advantage over more over-costed pilot options.

Now as for an Imperial only upgrade slot. I don't know we could come up with Imperial Astromechs. Now the question is what ship would take them. Perhaps we can pull some more from Clone Wars. You got that V-wing, there is also the Clone Wars Y-wing (since it and the TIE Fighter are going to go tri-faction in the future).

Tech does seem to be more of an Imperial thing. So is close-knit formation flying.

However, what Imperials need is more faction-specific Crew members.

Surely things with the "TIE Only" modifier count as a defacto exclusive Imperial pseudoslot?

Lightweight Frame and TIE Mk2 don't have to be the be all and end all of upgrades in that category, nor do they have to be limited to the mod slot, though obviously for squints and TIE fighters you're pretty restricted in the slots you can use.

Imperial niche?

Mass produced and experimental fighters/bombers + aces from a huge pool of fighting pilots.

Give it more Imperial only and TIE only cards and more titles.

With mass production and a massive force of millions of fighters there is general desire to create ships for specific tasks rather than introduce new modifications so title cards are the best way to recreate this.

There is still a number of Imperial fighters, bombers and other ships which do not have any or might enjoy another option just like TIE Defender got.

Plus this way we could get more options later - imagine TIE Rc title for TIE Fighter to test for example jamming techs, if it is proven successful we might end up with dedicated electronic warfare/recon ships with entirely new options such as TIE Vanguard.

Another option which sounds perfectly Imperial is giving formation cards rewarding specific number of specific ships - this way we could have famous units with their favoured tactics and a bait to buy more specific ships.

Imagine 181 Imperial Fighter Wing card which forces you to choose 3+ TIE Interceptors without any Royal Guard pilots, this way limiting your choices but rewarding what you field somehow.

Royal Guards of course should have their own formation card too.

So many options and ideas which could be used!

Plus Empire could really want its SLAM tech back. Or at least to finally HAVE it since it seems Rebels are selling used SLAMs on free market.

I thought the tech slot was sort of impirial. A few other ships hear and there have it. But the majority are impirial ships. Same with ilicit is on the falcon and captured tie

Being considered an "Ace" if you survived a couple missions as a tie pilot doesn't mean you are the equal of a veteran from a faction who's ships are designed with survivability in mind. You're still a pilot who's only seen a couple missions. Compare that to Rebel pilots who are commonly veterans of the clone wars or even Imperial Defectors.

Tie pilots in general survived by luck. You were in a big swarm of Ties and yours just wasn't one of the unlucky few who got targeted first.

And why should just any Imperial gain the benefits of A-Wing Test Pilot? The ONE thing A-Wings have to make them feel even remotely special? Especially when Tie Interceptors already have Royal Guard Tie which allows a second modification. That would mean Interceptors can equip two Elite Pilot Talents AND Two Modifications....