The prequel trilogy is something of an enigma. On the one hand it's got a lot of awesome fighters and pilots for x-wing, such as Anakin and Ahsoka. On the other, the prequels suck, and it's hard to attribute a faction to the pilots. Considering that FFG largely brushed aside chronological concerns by having Vader fight Kylo, I think only a loose relationship to good or evil is necessary at this point to attribute faction loyalty.

The Rebel faction is pretty much void of 33 (or so) point aces, which is something both the Empire and Scum factions have in abundance (Fenn, Soontir, Vader, etc). I thought that either the ETA-2 or Delta-7 would be a good Rebel ship. I settled on the ETA-2 largely because it has a full astromech socket, so having that 'slot' in game would be great. Here's my take on an ETA-2 expansion in the form of an ace pack (one model each in Obi-Wan and Anakin's paint schemes):

Just a preliminary note: I gave it a bullseye firing arc, for reasons explained down below.

For the pilots:

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The generics had to be decent PS, otherwise the was simply no way for them to do their thing, even against other generics. Their price is a tad low, especially considering the free title (more on that later) but for the generics, think of them as having a 3 point tax for the ETA-2B mod. Many of my design choices were influenced by the design philosophy "not an A-wing, not a Squint"...

Saesee Tiin is a blatant attempt to get torpedoes and missiles back onto generic ships. I feel that his amazing ability is balanced by his high cost and low PS for the role he wants. Nevertheless, he's what I'd call an interesting mid-PS ship - dangerous, but with counter play readily possible.

Obi - Wan ends the PS war. Simple as that. His unique ability simply gives him a 1-up on everything that doesn't have adaptability (and even then, the best they can do it tie). His ability is basically balanced by his having no ability, though. He got an EPT because he wouldn't be flown otherwise.

Anakin Skywalker was "the best star pilot in the galaxy". A PS 9 native was essential (especially considering Vader has it...), as was an EPT. After watching his unparalleled speed in the clone wars (for those who haven't watched, he makes Poe's scene in TFA look like he's an Academy Pilot.) inspired his ability. While it's awesome, I think it has the greatest potential for being broken. I carefully worded it to never, ever work with R2-D2, because that would be utter garbage. Despite the strong ability, he has an innate weakness to bombs and blocking, so he's not some super-ship that can never be caught. As a further bonus, the theme of "doing two things when other pilots do one" is carried on from the Dark Lord.

Darth Vader had to be included (possibly because I only had 5 pilots for 3 bases). I've errata'd his ability to what it should have been from the beginning, and I think it gives him a unique kind of arc-dodging role. I swapped out the Astromech slot for a Tech slot for balance reasons, plain and simple. There would be too much messing around trying to keep R2-D2, R3-A2 etc off of him. Nevertheless, I think Imperial players will be happy with yet another bomb - vulnerable 33 point ace...

For the upgrades:

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Jedi Starfighter is the core of the ship (in much the same was as the respective ARC-170 and TIE/sf titles). I didn't want yet another ATT 3 arc-dodger with a slightly different frame. I wanted a unique Ace - one that hunts Fat Turrets(tm), and low agility ships in general. Keep in mind that your opponent can't spend focus or evade tokens when defending from inside your bullseye firing arc. In a 1v1 endgame, I could see Obi-wan or Anakin carrying the day against other aces with multiple range 1 shots, but otherwise, these ships are AGI-1/0 hunters, which I don't think is a role that's been well explored.

ETA-2B Interceptor was designed to give the generics a bit of wiggle room, while most of the aces (except Saesee Tiin, who pioneered the 2B design) really want autothrusters in that slot. The card's nature prevents the spam of accuracy corrector on a bunch of generics (which is another potentially broken thing) killing everything, as well as an easy R2-D2 addition to Anakin (who can still use him via a shield upgrade). Otherwise, it's a Chewie-level durability increase.

Early Warning System is a nice (read: hard) counter to the incredibly strong alpha strikes that have developed over time. On the one hand, you're not taking FCS, Accuracy corrector or Adv. Sensors. On the other - TLTs are wailing in agony. Not every ship wants this, but I feel it's a necessary inclusion to the game to prevent alpha strike lists from utterly dominating in wave 12.

Advanced Cluster Missiles are, I think, an intriguing take on ordinance. basically a set of unguided rockets that are fired directly ahead without guidance. It can only be taken on 2 ships as of wave 12, and the ETA-2 is probably going to have an easier time getting the most out of them. I'm certain that 2 shots is going to be the normal, but there would be tales of getting 3, 4 or even 5 TIEs in that perfect line and blasting them all out of the sky. Essentially, a formation discouraging upgrade (take that FSR 2.0!).

R4-P17 is, more or less, integrated astromech on a grander scale. Just at the TIE Silencer has their get-out-of-jail-free card in their title, so to do the rebels now get a buzz-droid sacrifice. He'd be nice on an ordinance list to ensure all the torps are spent, or on any of the aces in this pack (in lieu of R2-D2, of course). He's also carefully worded not to synergise with Hull upgrade like Tel Trevura does.

R4 Astromechs were notorious for poor hyperspace plotting capabilities due to their simple design. This -1 point astromech gives you a massive disadvantage in the setup phase, but allows you to take integrated astromech for -1 points, and put 5 X-wings on the field (who don't care about setup anyway). The astromech slot is so often unused on overcosted Rebel generics, so here you go, Y-wings.

Use The Force is a unique upgrade on the other end of the Alpha Strike stick. I hope I haven't missed any blatantly OP combos (Nym is stapled to VI, the Imperial aces are already going to get damage through with Cruise missiles, and Rebels have no big ordinance carriers with EPTs). The new scum ship might use it, but careful flying can always help against a 1-trick pony. This card was designed for two things: X-wing ordinance and anti - ETA-2 lists. I think it would be amazing for luke to gun down Darth Vader with proton torpedoes by "using the force, Luke'...

Finally, Recklessness is a pricey 3 point EPT Designed to give both the A-wing and Eta-2 teeth in a joust. Since they're basically useless at attacking at range 3 anyway, you can massively boost your range 1 output by sacrificing those long-range lob shots. It also combos very well with prockets and/or TIA/adv Vader.

So what do you think? Have I missed some truly terrible combo with the new cards? Is one or more of the named pilots too powerful? And most importantly, would this be a fun ship to fly?

Two comments:

1. Awesome work. This neat and I hope FFG is reading it.

2. I hope Battlefront 2 gives FFG reason to consider the Jedi Starfighter with a Yoda crew. Its dumb that Yoda feels its necessary to even use a light saber or fly a ship...but....I dont care and want to fly as Obi Wan and Yoda for primarily Quote related reasons.

3. I need this dial on a small ship now.

Well done sir. This is amazing. I absolutely love recklessness for A wings and that R4 seems like a wonderul addition for generic x wings. Id love to fly some of those interceptors they look fun as heck

Great work! I think the dial is waaay too strong but other than that, nicely done!

8 hours ago, Boom Owl said:

...

2. I hope Battlefront 2 gives FFG reason to consider the Jedi Starfighter with a Yoda crew. Its dumb that Yoda feels its necessary to even use a light saber or fly a ship...but....I don't care and want to fly as Obi Wan and Yoda for primarily Quote related reasons.

I think we'll get Dagobah Yoda as a crew rather than CGI Yoda in a star fighter, if we get him at all. This saddens me.

3 hours ago, Stoneface said:

Great work! I think the dial is waaay too strong but other than that, nicely done!

Keep in mind that these ships have the smallest firing arc in the game by far, so they really do need that dial. That said, I designed the dial last, and it was made with Anakin looming like a spectre (Giving him access to more greens, ironically, makes him weaker).

.... theres no reason to give this a 1 attack. lol. It should have 2 attack and something interesting like, attack 3 times.

The adv cluster missile is kinda cool.

Also,the title should say also, you don't take damage from bombs unless stressed. That early warning system needs to be Eta2 only.

These are honestly well done OTHER than the useless 1 attack. And imo, it shouldn;t be forced to make only attacks from the bulls eye.

13 hours ago, Astech said:

I might not read this correctly, but wouldn't this allow Anakin to do infinite maneuvers? Since you execute a maneuver which triggers his ability and then his ability triggers of that maneuver and so on.

1 hour ago, Aiwarikiar said:

I might not read this correctly, but wouldn't this allow Anakin to do infinite maneuvers? Since you execute a maneuver which triggers his ability and then his ability triggers of that maneuver and so on.

Yah, it needs to be once per round.

I like the idea of the only shooting from Bullseye arc. The ship is shown to fire fast and furious, but not be that heavy of a hitter (in plenty of different source materials). The three attacks per round might get out of hand though with anything more than 1 attack die, so I approve. It's like TlT, but less broken.

Well done cards!

Things I would do differently:

• Attack 2 instead of 1.
• No tech system for Vader.
• Remake the Jedi Starfighter title - I guess it's too complicated.
• Rework the Early Warning System. Example: instead of making the ship impossible to be attacked, give 1 free evade when defending against secondary weapons if not stressed.

Here is my version of the Eta-2 . Vader was supposed to get an "Imperial only" Astromech Droid.

Is it Canon that the ETA-2 had missiles? I don't remember ever seeing that. Maybe it can borrow the slot from the TIE Silencer.

i also wouldn't give any non-sequel ship a tech upgrade. Not sure about the system upgrade either, but it should have a TL since it had rather advanced targeting computers. If it's gonna have one attack die at least give it a Cannon slot.

The bullseye arc ideas in that upgrade is interesting. I like it but FFG would never do anything like it.

I love it. Would be a real counter to the current turrets and bombs obsessed meta and maybe revigorate jousting. I never understood the hatred for all prequel ships anyway, so bring it on!

I really like it! I agree with Odanan that it needs attack of at least two. 1-dice attacks can't hit anything, and you can take my word on that, because I've played HWK-290s without turrets before, for... reasons.

19 hours ago, Astech said:

The prequel trilogy is something of an enigma. On the one hand it's got a lot of awesome fighters and pilots for x-wing, such as Anakin and Ahsoka. On the other, the prequels suck, and it's hard to attribute a faction to the pilots. Considering that FFG largely brushed aside chronological concerns by having Vader fight Kylo, I think only a loose relationship to good or evil is necessary at this point to attribute faction loyalty.

The Rebel faction is pretty much void of 33 (or so) point aces, which is something both the Empire and Scum factions have in abundance (Fenn, Soontir, Vader, etc). I thought that either the ETA-2 or Delta-7 would be a good Rebel ship. I settled on the ETA-2 largely because it has a full astromech socket, so having that 'slot' in game would be great. Here's my take on an ETA-2 expansion in the form of an ace pack (one model each in Obi-Wan and Anakin's paint schemes):

Just a preliminary note: I gave it a bullseye firing arc, for reasons explained down below.

For the pilots:

For the upgrades:

So what do you think? Have I missed some truly terrible combo with the new cards? Is one or more of the named pilots too powerful? And most importantly, would this be a fun ship to fly?

looks great thematically and fun wise, probably balanced. seriously underpowered against 2 and 3+ agility ships, but kinda OP against turret tank BS... so fair.

I would maybe make your anti alpha strikesystem upgrade 1 or 2 points more expensive, because its really, really stupid good, but i like it. well done

1 hour ago, Kieransi said:

I really like it! I agree with Odanan that it needs attack of at least two. 1-dice attacks can't hit anything, and you can take my word on that, because I've played HWK-290s without turrets before, for... reasons.

accuracy corrector changes it to 2 hits, then with that title its doing 2 hits 3 times for 6 potential damage. 3 of these things would automatically destroy a ghost in 1 round. dont think it needs a buff

21 minutes ago, Vontoothskie said:

accuracy corrector changes it to 2 hits, then with that title its doing 2 hits 3 times for 6 potential damage. 3 of these things would automatically destroy a ghost in 1 round. dont think it needs a buff

Understood, but then Accuracy Corrector is an auto-include with the ship. If the primary attack is increased to two, it doesn't buff the Accuracy Corrector combo, but it makes other combos a little more viable.

12 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

.... theres no reason to give this a 1 attack. lol. It should have 2 attack and something interesting like, attack 3 times.

Also,the title should say also, you don't take damage from bombs unless stressed. That early warning system needs to be Eta2 only.

If I take it up to 2 attack, then the mechanic of the title just doesn't work anymore and the ship becomes yet another A-wing/Interceptor hybrid.

12 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

These are honestly well done OTHER than the useless 1 attack. And imo, it shouldn;t be forced to make only attacks from the bulls eye.

Its range 1 band is unaffected. The ship is "gently encouraged" to do some range 1 arc-dodging to make the most of its title. Just remember how powerful that bullseye is - enemy ships can't spend focus or evade tokens on defense while in it.

4 hours ago, Odanan said:

• Attack 2 instead of 1.
• No tech system for Vader .
• Remake the Jedi Starfighter title - I guess it's too complicated.
• Rework the Early Warning System. Example: instead of making the ship impossible to be attacked, give 1 free evade when defending against secondary weapons if not stressed.

ATT 2 just makes it another A-wing. I felt that Vader needed something to compensate for the loss of astromech and, while he's not in the legacy era of ships, he had access to the full resources of the empire.

I like that early warning system idea.

4 hours ago, GrimmyV said:

Is it Canon that the ETA-2 had missiles? I don't remember ever seeing that. Maybe it can borrow the slot from the TIE Silencer.

Wookiepedia says that the ETA-2 is equipped with concussion missiles, so I suppose so.

2 hours ago, Vontoothskie said:

accuracy corrector changes it to 2 hits, then with that title its doing 2 hits 3 times for 6 potential damage. 3 of these things would automatically destroy a ghost in 1 round. dont think it needs a buff

If you take accuracy corrector, then you can't take ETA-2B, essentily giving you one of the hardest hitting, most vulnerable ships in the game. I also think a Recklessness + ETA-2B + FCS Anakin would be the top build here - essentially nine modified dice a turn in groups of three.

Let me say it this way. I read your cards, I understand what you want to do. I actually sympathize with you.

However, I would highly reconsider and really do some playtesting, because unless your opponents have magic blank green dice, you should find that this idea does not have merit.

Assume for a minute that I am on your side.

1 hour ago, Blail Blerg said:

Let me say it this way. I read your cards, I understand what you want to do. I actually sympathize with you.

However, I would highly reconsider and really do some playtesting, because unless your opponents have magic blank green dice, you should find that this idea does not have merit.

Assume for a minute that I am on your side.

So against me it should work splendidly :/ :/ :/

I also think you need ATT 2. At ATT 1, I get how it works vs the big turrets but running into anything with green dice I think the effectiveness is not there and it would be so very opponent list dependent that it would be more frustrating than fun to fly. And I don't think its just another A-wing at that point as you can still build in some interesting interactions with the bullseye. Of course, bumping the attack means the title needs scaled back but I think 2 attacks at 2 dice is just gonna feel better overall and would stay unique in its use of the bullseye.

Some of the other cards could probably use some tweaks as well. Like early warning system seems too strong outside this ship. I think it makes sense on this little fragile guy but letting the ghost avoid all secondary weapons for 2 points? I think if you combined the title, mod, early warning. Give the title the system limitation, that way you remove the ability to double or triple tap the accuracy corrector cheese and the ship is allowed to fly on its own merit. Then for the mod give it the early warning ability. That way the large hull system users can't abuse it and it would fit with the whole staying alive motif feature of the mod.

Just my two cents.

Not sure if I like the whole bullseye firing arc mechanic for a couple of reasons. First, it makes you very matchup dependent. Ships like Defenders, with high health and high agility, will eat you or breakfast, lunch, and dinner. QuickDraw will laugh maniacally as you plink one piddly shield per shot. In fact, the aces that this ship can actually catch are the same ones that are already hurting: Fel, Inquisitor, and so on. A couple of bad rolls will absolutely screw them over. And then even against a Decimator, you're still doing 1.5 damage a round, which is...not great, especially for the aces.

Second, it's just general rules creep, although I get that that's sorta inevitable at this point. Honestly, I think things like the dial, four evade dice, Upgrade bar, and so on make this ship distinct enough. There's just no way I'd be willing to shell out 30 points base for a ship that maxes out at two attack dice, no matter how many times it can attack...Fenn Rau would eat Anakin alive, and that's just plain wrong.

Really like most of the design choices. Love Anakin's pilot ability; I'd really want to fly him with prockets or cruise missiles. Obi-Wan is pretty thematic too.

R4 is a very elegant X-Wing fix. Helps generics all around, and doesn't really do anything to the TLT Y-Wing; you still max out at four. Biggs probably prefers R4-D6.

Recklessness seems two points overcosted. Compare to Fearlesness; no arc requirements is nice, but the loss of Range 3 is huuuge. Crit>hit, but not by that much. I can definitely see it being good on Anakin.

6 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

Let me say it this way. I read your cards, I understand what you want to do. I actually sympathize with you.

However, I would highly reconsider and really do some playtesting, because unless your opponents have magic blank green dice, you should find that this idea does not have merit.

You'd be surprised with magic dice. It's probably tilting my view here, but:

Against an AGI 0 target it's 1.5 damage at R2 per turn. With FCS this increases to around 2.25.
AGI 1 takes 3/8 of a damage per turn at R2. FCS takes it up to 9/8 per turn, which is decent for a 15 point ship (18 with title).
Against AGI 2 or higher you can give up without other upgrades. But that's the point - this is an ace that kills low agility point fortresses, not other high agility aces. It's like saying that Chiraneau is ineffective because he can't handle 8 TIE swarms...

Put either accuracy corrector or Recklessness on one of these and they become offensively better than pretty much anything, while having an inherrent check against OP-ness in their low health.

2 hours ago, PastrySandwich said:

I also think you need ATT 2. At ATT 1, I get how it works vs the big turrets but running into anything with green dice I think the effectiveness is not there and it would be so very opponent list dependent that it would be more frustrating than fun to fly. And I don't think its just another A-wing at that point as you can still build in some interesting interactions with the bullseye. Of course, bumping the attack means the title needs scaled back but I think 2 attacks at 2 dice is just gonna feel better overall and would stay unique in its use of the bullseye.

Some of the other cards could probably use some tweaks as well. Like early warning system seems too strong outside this ship. I think it makes sense on this little fragile guy but letting the ghost avoid all secondary weapons for 2 points? I think if you combined the title, mod, early warning. Give the title the system limitation, that way you remove the ability to double or triple tap the accuracy corrector cheese and the ship is allowed to fly on its own merit. Then for the mod give it the early warning ability. That way the large hull system users can't abuse it and it would fit with the whole staying alive motif feature of the mod.

Just my two cents.

At that point it's a definitively better A-wing. Even adding 5 points to the frame, you get 2 attacks instead of one from a bullseye firing arc, with more (and better) upgrade options, etc. You'd be looking at 40 point aces, at least. Probably 50, which is the point zone I was trying to avoid.

I think everyone's right about early warning system. It'd be a lot better along the lines of " If you are not stressed, you may add 1 [evade] result when defending against secondary weapon attacks ". Makes it a lot softer - and not worth it on a Ghost over FCS.

2 hours ago, Ailowynn said:

Not sure if I like the whole bullseye firing arc mechanic for a couple of reasons. First, it makes you very matchup dependent. Ships like Defenders, with high health and high agility, will eat you or breakfast, lunch, and dinner. QuickDraw will laugh maniacally as you plink one piddly shield per shot. In fact, the aces that this ship can actually catch are the same ones that are already hurting: Fel , Inquisitor , and so on. A couple of bad rolls will absolutely screw them over. And then even against a Decimator, you're still doing 1.5 damage a round, which is...not great, especially for the aces.

Second, it's just general rules creep, although I get that that's sorta inevitable at this point. Honestly, I think things like the dial, four evade dice, Upgrade bar, and so on make this ship distinct enough. There's just no way I'd be willing to shell out 30 points base for a ship that maxes out at two attack dice, no matter how many times it can attack... Fenn Rau would eat Anakin alive, and that's just plain wrong.

Really like most of the design choices. Love Anakin's pilot ability; I'd really want to fly him with prockets or cruise missiles . Obi-Wan is pretty thematic too.

R4 is a very elegant X-Wing fix. Helps generics all around, and doesn't really do anything to the TLT Y-Wing; you still max out at four. Biggs probably prefers R4-D6 .

Recklessness seems two points overcosted. Compare to Fearlesness; no arc requirements is nice, but the loss of Range 3 is huuuge. Crit>hit, but not by that much. I can definitely see it being good on Anakin.

Considering the (relatively, for Rebels) low price of this frame, it's possible to have a triple ace list that compensate for this weakness to Defenders and other AGI 3 fortresses. Examples include Ghosts (with Gunner, especially), Miranda with bombs and Dash.

Rules creep is always sad, but the A-wing really took up a lot of design space without doing much.

If Fenn has won the initiative bid, he wins. If a Recklessness Anakin has won it, then he wins. The same as with most PS 9 aces, although Fenn could win in a single turn, which I suppose is important.

If there's one card from this I want to see printed, it's the R4 Astromech. It does so many things so well, I think.

I had Fearlessness in the forefront of my mind when I made Recklessness (maybe influencing the name). The idea was that Fearlessness made your whole build about Jousting, whereas Recklessness gives you a slightly better ability while encouraging knife-fighter jousting. It's probably worth two points, all told, but with the way aces work, those points can get really magnified. A pilot like Anakin I could see using it really well, or Corran (oh, ****!), but not jousters or turrets very much.

cool!

Quote

Recklessness + ETA-2B + FCS Anakin

This would be amazing! But it would be even better if the title didn't exclude Range 1 shots. Also, great job overall!

Aaaaaannnnnd..... Does Jedi Starfighter apply to all attacks or just primary weapon attacks?