Hi all, I just got my copy of SWTFA Core Set today, already having a blast, played it for 6 hours by myself, I never seem to win though . But I am a bloody good Tie pilot. I should hopefully have the Vanilla Core on Saturday. Then next month hopefully expanding with the Xwing, Tie Fighter, Millenium Falcon, Slave 1 and Imperial Aces expansions. Anyway, while I was playing it raised a few questions about certain aspects of the game.

QUESTION 1 - DO Tie f/o Fighters have 1 shield? I was playing the tutorial rules and during the set up it never mentions giving the fighters a shield, it does mention the 3 shields for the X-wing though, however whilst looking at the ship card it has 1 shield, so I have been playing the fighters with a shield. Has the shield thing just been missed out in the quick guide?

QUESTION 2 - What are the damage and critical hit tokens for? I can't seem to find anything about them in the rules or mission guide.

QUESTION 3 - What if I want Poe and Red Sq. Veteran? They are both on the same ship base info card, has anyone bought a second TFA Core set just to be able to field the various pilots that are on the same card, or do you just never have a force where you are using them both?

QUESTION 4 - Has anyone ever run out of counters? I.e; Stress counters. As there are only 3, and if you are playing large battles there is a definite possibility that you would run out, so would be buying more core sets for the extra counters? Or are you improvising?

Anyway, any help would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Mick

1. Yes, they have 1 shield as the statcard says.

2. Critical hit tokens are used to mark ships that have ongoing critical damage. It's a memory jog. Not sure what you mean by damage tokens. Probably just mission stuff. I've never used any of that!

3. You'd need two copies of the base, i.e. two core sets. Sucks, but there we go.

4. Yes, but you won't after you've fed your filthy plastic crack habit with an expansion or two. Ultimately, they're just markers. You can track stress with coins or dice or matchsticks or buttons or... you get the idea. There are both official and unofficial acrylic tokens out there in the wild, too. I bought some nice super-clear high-colour tokens to play with so that I can see exactly what is what at a brief glance. But in the end, you play however suits you.

Welcome to the game and forums.

1. Shields are indicated by the blue number on the pilot card/base token. Don't read too much into tutorial, it isn't an all-inclusive intro to the game.

2. Critical Damage tokens are supposed to be assigned to a ship with face-up damage card(s). I don't know anyone who uses them for that purpose.

3. Proxy a different base. If you're not playing competitively, then the only thing that matters on the base token is the firing arc. Use a number token to remind yourself of the proxy ship's pilot skill.

4. Use any indicator that you and your opponent agree on. Even in competitive play tokens can be subsituted as long as their purpose is clear and the players agree before the game.

1. Yes. The TIE/sf should have a shield token. If the tutorial leaves it off yet still mentions putting 3 on the T-70 I suspect there was a cut/paste issue from the original core where the TIE wouldn't have had a Shield token.
2. Critical Hit tokens are to remind you that you have a critical hit to account for affecting the ship. I don't know what "damage tokens" you are talking about as actual damage to ships is marked with cards; probably something for a mission somewhere.
3. Ah the problem of having two-side ship tokens to go on the bases. Until you have more ships you should never have that problem as you'll only have one ship to use the base token on. I guess that if you get a second T-70 from the Heroes expansion without the generic pilot you'll find you can't field both Poe and the RSV but normally this shouldn't be an issue. This is not the first time the generics are not always available.
4. Yes but it is something that will usually correct itself quickly as (most) every ship you buy will have a Focus and Stress token for you. For now just improvise and if your ship would go beyond its one counter just use a normal d6 to mark how many tokens it should have on it.

1) Yes, refer to the pilot card (and any upgrades) each time to figure out what tokens to put on the ship. The quick start guide doesn't include all the rules, and is just to get you playing your first game and understanding the mechanics, but shouldn't be used as a rules reference.

2) Most people use them as clutter that never gets used. You can ignore them.

3) When you buy another T70 X Wing it will come with another Red Squadron Veteran, so no worries fielding both. (Red Squadron Veteran is included in the TFA Core, T70 X Wing Expansion, and Heroes of the Resistance Expansion, which I think are the only places to get the T70 - Same with Blue Squadron Novice)

4) Every expansion comes with all the little tokens and counters you need to field that ship. When you buy enough ships to where you think you're going to run out, in actuality you're going to have a pile of all the various tokens, so many that you'll be deciding if you should just throw some out. Don't worry about running out unless you're just going to stick with playing the core set.

I love all this anecdotal commentary about no one using the Crit tokens... Just because you never see them getting used, doesn't mean they aren't elsewhere.

I could provide as equally anecdotal evidence that they are used regularly.

Perhaps it's just best to stick to what you do as an individual?

Personally, I do make use of them as there is nothing worse in forgetting you've got a damage engine and dialling in a turn; or the crit that causes damage when you bump (forget its name) and dialling in a move that guarantees a bump.

I thought about why you would need crit counters as you have the crit card near your ship card, it never even occurred to me to have one next to your ship as a reminder.

Thanks for all the replies, if I have anymore questions I'll be sure to pipe up.

15 hours ago, Dr Zoidberg said:

Just because you never see them getting used, doesn't mean they aren't elsewhere.

Jmswood was speaking for himself and no one else, and so what he said was accurate. Joe spoke for most people, which may not be true. But if you watch any events on Twitch or the like, you will rarely see them actually used. I know I seldom if ever see them myself.

I use the crit tokens.

Memory, where is thy sting? Old age has taken me and...I forget what comes next...oh, maybe a reminder of which ship needs my attention?

Lol, well I have sourced out a Vanilla Core Rules box set, I'm thinking of nipping down to London tomorrow to get another X-Wing and Tie Fighter. Then a little down the line I want a Tie Advanced, Imperial Aces Expansion, Falcon and Slave 1 and more more more, I'm hooked already and only played for 1 night so far.

MORE QUESTIONS

I would like the wisdom of the Jedi masters again ......................... or Sith lords if you prefer.

CRITICAL & DAMAGE

SCENARIO 1 : So I had the Tie Epsilon pilot, he had received a damage card, then he got a critical that says Starting in the next round all damage cards are dealt face up (so criticals right?), then it states flip the card face down.

QUESTION 1 - With the Tie pilot, upon turning the card face down does this mean he has now received 2 damage? And with all future damage cards being received face up (criticals) this could mean he would just keep going until he gets another critical that does ship damage, he could potentially last the entire battle just receiving criticals. Am I interpreting this correctly?

SCENARIO 2 : The T-70 Blue Squadron pilot receives 1 damage, then he received the critical stating After your next opportunity to attack turn this card face down, then he receives another critical stating receive a stress token and turn this card face down.

QUESTION 2 - The T-70 pilot the 2 criticals that are turned face down are then treated as damage right? So he would be destroyed as he already received 1 damage prior to the 2 criticals?

AQUIRING A TARGET LOCK

One phrase in the rules reference confuses me. If an ability instructs a ship to aquire a target lock this is different than aquiring a target lock action. The ship aquires the target lock without performing an action, and it may do so even if it has already performed the aquire target lock action this round.

QUESTION 1 : I thought you couldn't have more than 1 target lock at a time? Is there an instance where you may have a target lock on a ship and you might have to target lock an object and thereby using 2 target locks? This rule refers to both an ability and the ATL action.

QUESTION 2 : If I have a target locked but do NOT use the lock (it remains in place), on the next round can I still perform another action while locked, i.e; a barrel roll, focus or evade? EXAMPLE, I have a lock, don't use it, next round I choose FOCUS, I attack a ship, mess up the dice roll, use the LOCK to re-roll, mess that up so use FOCUS to change some eyeballs to hits.

or

Would the LOCK count as my action for the next round if unused?

Thanks in advance

Mick

Scenario 1: You only apply the text of a Face-up card while it is face up! You should take another look at that critical which has all future cards dealt face-up. Turning that card face-down will SHUT IT OFF but you need to look again to see HOW you turn it off.

Question 1: All damage cards are damage, face-up or not. Unless something else is at play here a TIE Fighter that has two damage cards (face up OR down) is going to be destroyed the next time it has to keep a card regardless of what that damage card is and its face up/down status.

Scenario 2: CARDS = DAMAGE!!! Face up or down it does NOT matter. So YES, an X-Wing will be destroyed after it has been dealt ANY three damage cards that manage to stick (ie. not get discarded/removed without effect, usually via the Integrated Astromech upgrade trashing the Astromech on the droid.)

TL Question 1: Generally speaking you may only have a TL on ONE target at a time. The italic text is just telling you that having something tell you to "acquire a Target Lock" is NOT the same as telling you to "Perform a (free) Target Lock Action" where the Action will allow you to acquire a TL; this is important because you could be told to acquire a TL when you have Stress and get the TL while if you need to perform an Action to get the TL the Stress will (generally) prevent you from taking that action and thus acquiring the TL.

TL Question 2: You have this exactly right. The TL tokens will remain from round to round until they are spent, transferred to a different ship, or the ship on either end of the TL pair is destroyed. The "get a TL this round and then save it to get a Focus next round and use both of them in an attack that round" is the original attack modifier.

I went back to the Learn to play book and re-read it, so I was playing the criticals wrong, so my T-70 ship should have been destroyed, but instead I had 1 damage and 2 criticals and kept him in play until he got another 2 damage. What a plum, oh well at leas t I have it now.

Right, I think I have the TL thing correct, I aquire a target lock as an action, I DON'T use it, next turn I can choose any action, such as focus, so I can re-roll any misses, then finally use focus to change any eyeballs, OR I could choose an evade action so use my TL to change any misses, then use evade to affect a ship firing at me.

STRESS

I played a match where I had a stress token from a manouvre, I then received a critical stating I should receive a stress token, so now I have 2 stress tokens, how would I resolved getting rid of these, does a green manouvre cancel them both out? or would I have to take 2 green manouvres over 2 turns?

ASTEROIDS, MINES & SHIELD

I played the first tutorial mission tonight with the asteroids and mines, the booklet states any ship within range 1 suffers any damage or criticals rolled, are we ignoring shields in this case? I presume the same will go for asteroids?

Performing a Green Maneuver will remove ONE Stress token from a ship. There are other ways to remove Stress that are ship/upgrade specific but at a basic level it is just one per green maneuver. Now remember that you do NOT HAVE TO perform a green maneuver after you are stressed! Sometimes you may be better off giving up your ability to perform Actions by keeping the Stress than it will be to perform a predictable Green Maneuver that would clear a Stress but could leave you right where the enemy wants you.

Asteroids/Mines:

NO!!!! The only time you "ignore Shields" is when an effect tells you to "DEAL a CARD" be it face up or down. ANY TIME you "suffer damage of some kind" that damage will first remove Shield tokens, if any, before being converted into damage cards. Compare
Seismic Charge: Deal one damage to all ships within R1 of the bomb when it explodes.
Proton Bomb: Deal one face-up CARD to all ships within R1 of the bomb when it explodes.

Those extra 3 points are the difference between causing ships to suffer 1 damage which may just knock off a Shield Token or taking a face-up card to the ship which doesn't care about Shield tokens. There is a big reason that some high shield/low hull ships (E-Wing and A-Wings especially) hate the Proton Bombs because they can destroy them without ever touching the shield tokens. Now against other ships if the Seismic automatically dealt a card extra points to make it face-up probably isn't worth it.

Right, when I played that Asteroid tutorial mission 1 I thought I destroyed those Ties a bit too easy.

I think for the most part the rules are nice and clear cut, but there just those few rules that are a little unclear and need more clarity for newcomers. Basically I just keep playing the same missions over and over so they stick in my head.

Thanks for your replies StevenO

Hopefully I will have most of it in my head prior to Tuesday night, it will be my first TT gaming with people I don't know.

10 hours ago, T9FURY said:

Hopefully I will have most of it in my head prior to Tuesday night, it will be my first TT gaming with people I don't know.

Most X-Wing players I've know are pretty welcoming to new players and are willing to explain any questions you might have. If you let them know that you are a new player at the start of your game or that it's the first time you've flown against someone else, often they will help you even during the game (such as reminding you to preform an action if you forget). Oh and after the game, talk with the other player about the game and ask questions about things that happened during the game or about their list or just about anything. Good luck and have fun.

On 17/06/2017 at 7:32 AM, T9FURY said:

AQUIRING A TARGET LOCK

One phrase in the rules reference confuses me. If an ability instructs a ship to aquire a target lock this is different than aquiring a target lock action. The ship aquires the target lock without performing an action, and it may do so even if it has already performed the aquire target lock action this round.

QUESTION 1 : I thought you couldn't have more than 1 target lock at a time? Is there an instance where you may have a target lock on a ship and you might have to target lock an object and thereby using 2 target locks? This rule refers to both an ability and the ATL action.

To add to the answer above - while you're right that a ship can usually only have one target lock (exceptions: Weapons Engineer crew, Redline pilot ability), having a target lock doesn't stop you from acquiring a target lock, either on a different ship or on the same ship . That might sound a bit nonsensical, but if you have abilities that trigger when you acquire a target lock (such as the TIE/v1 title), it can be useful. Another situation where this is relevant is when you want to move your target lock to a different ship - for example, suppose you have a ship with Fire Control System that already has a target lock on ship A. This round, however, ship A is out of your arc, so you're forced to shoot ship B - FCS allows you to acquire a target lock on the defender after attacking, meaning that in this case you have the option of shifting the target lock from A to B.

Generally speaking, just because doing something doesn't change the board state doesn't mean you can't do it. You can acquire a target lock on a ship even if you already have one on that ship. You can spend a focus token to flip zero focus results. The reason this matters is that acquiring a target lock and spending a focus token can be triggers for other abilities.

Thanks again for the later replies, I'll keep all that n mind, just have to play a few games with other players now and get all this in real time.

Ok, a couple more Q's.

Are mines obstacles? If so what effect will they have if your ships passes through them or lands on them? I am playing the tut mission 1 and my X-wing template passed through a mine. In the reference rules it only mentions 2 obstacles, asteroids and debris clouds of which I know that the effect is.

Clarification about Console Fire Critical card. A tie fighter had lost all shields, suffered 2 damage and received the critical Console Fire, this card states At the start of each combat round roll 1 attack dice. On a damage icon receive 1 damage. Then at the bottom it says ACTION : Flip this card face down.

The first part is easy, but the action part, is that a choice? So I can keep the card and risk getting damage each turn, or I can choose to flip the card over as an action and take the 1 damage? If I choose it as an action does it replace my standard action or can I still perform a standard ship action as well? Or, have I got this totally wrong?

Mines are NOT obstacles like Asteroids or Debris BUT having a template or ship base overlap one generally is what causes one to go off at which time you suffer those consequences.

When a damage card says "Action: flip this face down" spending the Action is COMPLETELY optional although often recommended. "Putting out" the Console Fire is automatic if you spend the action doing so but you can just let it burn (stay faceup) and hope it doesn't deal you additional damage.

1 hour ago, StevenO said:

Mines are NOT obstacles like Asteroids or Debris BUT having a template or ship base overlap one generally is what causes one to go off at which time you suffer those consequences.

When a damage card says "Action: flip this face down" spending the Action is COMPLETELY optional although often recommended. "Putting out" the Console Fire is automatic if you spend the action doing so but you can just let it burn (stay faceup) and hope it doesn't deal you additional damage.

As it doesn't say anything in the reference book about mines as obstacles I assumed they were NOT so I just moved my ships through them.

Thanks for the clarification on the critical, I just read up more on the actions as well, so all good.

I've been playing every night thus far, can't win as the rebels yet, but on the mine mission I do brilliantly. I am hopefully or potentially going to buy a lot more ships at the end of the month so I should be able to field a substantial and varied force. Still haven't played with upgrades yet.

With Asteroids and Debris both being legal "obstacle" options you still have to pay attention to what you run over as they are not the same either when it comes to game effects.

@T9FURY

Since you don't get to play against other players a ton, I'd recommend checking out the Heroes of the Aturi Cluster if for nothing else then the AI you can use for Imperial ships... Plus the co-op campaign in it is Awesome!

http://dockingbay416.com/campaign/

On 6/18/2017 at 3:06 PM, T9FURY said:

Ok, a couple more Q's.

Are mines obstacles? If so what effect will they have if your ships passes through them or lands on them? I am playing the tut mission 1 and my X-wing template passed through a mine. In the reference rules it only mentions 2 obstacles, asteroids and debris clouds of which I know that the effect is.

Clarification about Console Fire Critical card. A tie fighter had lost all shields, suffered 2 damage and received the critical Console Fire, this card states At the start of each combat round roll 1 attack dice. On a damage icon receive 1 damage. Then at the bottom it says ACTION : Flip this card face down.

The first part is easy, but the action part, is that a choice? So I can keep the card and risk getting damage each turn, or I can choose to flip the card over as an action and take the 1 damage? If I choose it as an action does it replace my standard action or can I still perform a standard ship action as well? Or, have I got this totally wrong?

Regarding the Mine, if your template passes thought it, it detonates. If it is a proximity mine, you roll 3 attack dice and take all damage (apply it to shields first of course). Then you remove the mine token from the table. Unless the scenario you are playing states otherwise, mines are 1 shots that detonate when either the movement template touches them, or the ships base touches after completing a maneuver. They do not obstruct shots and they do not cause stress, or the loss of attacks or actions. (note all of that is subject to special rules, but in general that is the case)

With the console fire, you do NOT take any damage if you you chose to take the action and flip the card over. Unless I am misunderstanding you. When you were deal the console fire, that counted as the damage. A crit is damage, so a TIE/fo that gets hit with say a regular hit and a crit would lose it's shield to the hit, then be dealt a face up card as the crit. That face up card still counts as 1 damage, so if it takes 2 more damage, regardless of the source, it will be destroyed. Now if that face up card is a console fire, the pilot has a choice: after they move (if they are not stressed) they can let it burn and take some other action, or put it out. So if they move, and end up in another ship's gunsights at range 1, they may choose to perform a barrel roll to get out of the attack arc. 3 or more dice from and enemy are more likely to destroy the ship than a single die from the console fire. So they roll, then after all ships have moved, the combat round takes place. Before any shots are fired, they would roll a die and take the damage as indicated. If they take the card's action and flip the card over, they now have no shields, and a standard hit. They are still 2 hits from being destroyed, but when all ships have moved and combat round begins, they do NOT roll the damage die as the fire has been dealt with.

Oh, and +1 to what NSpace said. Don't worry about going to an event as a newbie. Everyone I have played with has always just been happy to see new faces and new squads to play against. It is a very welcoming community. You will learn the game much faster by simply playing against other more experienced players. Last weekend I won my first tourney after walking into a store 2 months prior having never player anyone except 2 other friends for a grand total of about 6 hours. Making mistakes and seeing how different upgrades interact in ways you may not have thought of is the best way to learn. I also learned that even very experienced players mess up rules.

Again, thanks for all the replies everyone, it's helped a lot.

Where are you guys getting the info about mines though, the only thing I can in the game is in the mission guide, and it just mentions about detonating them and shooting them. Now I can understand it would be classed as an object but is there a hidden source of info somewhere or was it just a hose rule that came in to play and everyone accepted it?

Anyway, on a less questionable note, I got my first couple of expansions yesterday, an X-Wing and a Tie Fighter. I ordered the vanilla Core rules the other day and should be with me tomorrow. It was bloody hard work trying to find a copy that was not going to cost a lifetime of income :/, I also have a Tie Interceptor on order plus a Tie Advanced, so will have quite a good starter collection, so thumbs up.