There is a lot of accretion in X-wing. It's natural - new things replace the old with subtle power creep in order to progress a successful business model. In particular, famous (and infamous) ships like the X-wing, Firespray and TIE Advanced have largely fallen out of favour. I've often thought about how much I'd be willing to pay for a fix for a given ship (whether it's in an ace pack or epic ship or more subtle inclusion in another pack). Here are my proposed fixes for every lagging ship in the game, and what I'd pay for them:
TL;DR: Every poor ship in the game can be fixed quite easily (if not perfectly) with a single card. I'd be willing to pay $200 for 4 fix cards for every unplayable ship, given that I've already invested an awful lot of money into those ships in the first place.
QuoteRebels:
A-wing: The A-wing is pretty good as a filler ship - Snap+Crack GSPs are probably the best option, followed by intensity Jake. The trouble is that once their single trick is gone, they punch way below their point level. Here's the fix.
Reactive Cannons (Modification, 1 point, A-wing Only)
When performing a primary weapon attack, if the defender's agility value is higher than 2, you may roll 1 additional attack die.This gives them a substantially stronger attack than before, at the cost of Autothrusters and 1 point.
B-wing: The B-wing is simply outclassed by the Scurrg (And Y-wings with TLTs) at the same price point. In-universe, they were incredibly durable ships with very powerful shields and massive offensive power. Here's the fix.
Blade-Wing Prototype (Title, 3 points, B-wing Only)
At the start of the activation phase, if you have at least 1 shield, you may perform a free reinforce action.Costed so that you can still field 4 in a squad, the B-wing now has durability to reflect it's origins. I could see Ibtisam, Keyan and Ten Numb now having a real place in squads now that they can survive a single turn of fire...
E-wing: While Corran is perfectly fine, the rest of the E-wing pilots are fairly pathetic. They lack everything the defender has - speed, durabiity and firepower (as well as EPTs). Here's the fix.
Astromech Mainframe (Astromech, 0 points, E-wing only)
After you execute a green maneuver, you may perform a free focus action.Pretty much the mirror of the X& Defender title. A blatant increase in efficiency, but very stress dependent.
HWK-290: The HWK's primary weapon is a joke, but it's a unique thing in the game. Where the HWK truly suffers is in being an awful support ship in comparison to the Upsilon, Lambda and upcoming Sheathipede shuttle. Here's the fix.
Integrated Communicatins Suite (Modification, 0 points, HWK-290 only)
Your upgrade bar gains the [coordinate] action. After you perform a [coordinate] action, you may perform a free action.Again a massive increase in efficiency, making HWKs a great support ship without costing them any action efficiency. It doesn't get in the way of the Moldy Crow title either, instead using the rarely used mod slot.
Y-wing: The Y-wing is only good for one reason: TLT. Despite having access to bombs (where K-wings and Scurrgs are far superior) and torpedoes (Again, K-wings and Scurrgs), the turret slot remains the only worthwhile one on a Y-wing. Here's the fix.
Autoloader (Turret, Y-wing only, 0 points)
Your action bar gains the [reload] icon. You can perform [reload] actions while stressed.This gives the Y-wing a decent torpedo boat role. At 22 points for a Proton Torp + guidance chip Y-wing, you can bring some decent punch. If only they could equip deadeye they'd be perfect...
U-wing: The U-wing lives in the shadow of the Lambda, and will remain there until some seriously good rebel support crew come out. As is, thwir greatest problem is the awful title. Here's the fix.
Simply change the timing of the pivot title to "At the start of the activation phase". This at least stops you from telegraphing your next three turns before they begin. At that point, the U-wing becomes a decent jouster, and slightly more maneuverable support ship.
X-wing: The X-wing is the game's namesake and, aside from the very notable Biggs, is almost nonexistent in competitive play. They have problems in every area; high cost, low damage output, lack of repositioning, poor dial, etc. Here's the fix.
XJ X-wing (Title, 0 points, T-65 only, Dual Card)
After you execute a maneuver, you may perform a [boost] or [barrel roll].
Or:
When attacking, you my change one die result to a [focus].You either get unblockable repositioning or a massive increase in attack accuracy. It still doesn't make them perfect, but now Wedge, Luke and Wes can actually compete with the game's so called "aces"
QuoteEmpire:
TIE Advanced: Despite already receiving a major fix, only the Dark Lord sees competitive play, and he isn't fantastic anymore. The advanced mainly suffers low durability (no autothrusters) and low action economy pilots.
Integrated AI (Modification, 2 points, TIE Advanced only)
When you perform an action, you may perform it twice. If you do so, you may not perform another action this round.Double evade, focus, barrel roll and boost. It's the stuff of dreams. And Vader doesn't like it. It's very stress dependent though, so open to counter play.
TIE Bomber: TIE bombers are in a pretty good place, except for one thing - they suck at bombing... Here's the fix.
High Yield Explosives (Torpedo, Torpedo, 0 points, TIE bomber only)
When a bomb you have dropped detonates, treat all enemy ships at range 2 of the bomb as if they were at range 1.Now the Imperial faction has a unique bomb gimmick - they cover a much wider area upon detonation, but only for enemy ships. I could see proton bombs suddenly being very popular.
TIE Fighter: While the Z-95 has its niche, the humble TIE is too easily one-shot these days to be much use. Nym alone can disassemble a swarm. They need some kind of damage mitigation to stay in play. Here's the fix.
Close Formation (Title, 0 points, TIE only)
When you are hit by an attack, a friendly TIE at range 1 may suffer 1 of the uncancalled [hit] or [crit] results instead of the target ship.Now TIEs are far harder to kill, although just as easy to damage. The swarm can now survive long enough to compete with the super-jousters, but still falls to its classic arc-dodging foes, as it should be.
TIE Interceptor: Bombs are everywhere, and no ship hates them more than TIE Imterceptors. Here's the fix.
Microthrusters (Modification, 0 points, TIE Interceptor only)
You cannot be damage by detonating bombs.Not only are Interceptors now invulnerable to bombs, but they can still detonate mines - without suffering their effects. They still have inherrent vulnerabilities to autoblasters, but one can live with that with bombs out of the picture.
TIE Punisher: Overcosted, with no EPT and a poor dial. There's something to be said for LWF + Unguided rockets, but it's not much to be proud of. With the introduction of the infinite-ordinance Gunboat (GUNBOAT!!!), they're completely obsolete. Here's the fix.
Rapid Launch System (System, 0 points, TIE Punisher Only)
After you perform a [torpedo] or [missile] attack, you may acquire a target lock and perform another [torpedo] or [missile] attack. If you do so, you may not attack again this round.TIE punishers can now launch two homing missiles a turn, or two assault missiles, etc, etc. It's now possible for them to unload their 6 shots (maximum with extra munitions) before dying. In addition, the huge spike damage has to be well respected by the opponent. The lack of Deadeye, and the resulting dependence on target locks, means that Punishers can still be outplayed, but at least they can be played in the first place.
Firespray-31: The Firespray is awesome in the EU, and even AotC does it justice enough as a devastating war machine. There was a time when 3 of them were a force to be reckoned with in 100/6. Now Fenn Rau can kill all three without taking damage. They suffer from low damage for their high cost, and low action economy. Here's the fix.
High Intensity Power core (Modification, 0 points, Firespray only)
After you perform a primary weapon attack, you may receive 1 ion token to perform an attack with an equipped [cannon] secondary weapon.Literally double the firepower, at the cost of maneuverability that Firesprays simply don't care about. Kath can double-stress, and Boba can compete with Dengar on damage output (at comparable cost), which is only fair.
QuoteScum:
G-1A Starfighter: It's like the B-wing, but worse in every way. It suffers from low maneuverability, mediocre pilot abilities and an overall lack of a niche. Here's the fix.
Ablative Armour (Modification, 2 points)
Once per round when defending, you may receive one stress token to cancel one [hit] or [crit] result.This combos well with 4-LOM, and basically gives the G-1A a sort-of-reinforce that has both benefits and drawbacks over the original.
M3-A Scyk Interceptor: Despite the recent fix, most Scyk pilots (save Inaldra for cheap mindlink, and Sunny for an awesome blocker) just don't give enough for their point level. Action economy is one thing, but their pilot skill just isn't high enough to do what they need to do. Here's the fix.
Overcharged Thrusters (Modification, 0 points)
Increase your pilot skill by two, to a maximum of 9. When you suffer critical damage, you opponent draws 2 cards, chooses 1 to deal and discards the other.They get a massive pilot skill buff - taking Genesis Red up to where he wants to be and the generics out of the gutters, but suffer poorly from being hit by attacks. They become the glass cannons they were always meant to be.
Quadjumper: While I personally find this little ship fine when build right, it has a surprisingly low hull value and poor speed to do the job it's supposed to do. Here's the fix.
Gravity Well Manipulator (Illicit, 0 points, Quadjumper Only)
When defending, if there is at least 1 obstacle at range 1 of you, you may add 1 [evade] result to your roll.Quadjumpers get a simple boost to their survivability in the environment they most enjoy. They can still be outplayed by simply staying away from rocks, but at least they now have a chance of reaching their target before exploding.
YV-666: The YV-666 is pretty awesome, but doesn't have much of a niche. The party bus died with Zuckuss, and Jabba's only good in Epic play at the moment. Seeing as both Rebels and Scum have Huge Ship actions, Scum should get their own niche:
Customised Layout (Crew, 0 Points, YV-666 Only)
Your upgrade bar gains one [cargo] icon. After you execute a green maneuver you may assign 1 energy to your ship.The YV-666 becomes the first 100/6 ship to have energy, albeit accumulating at a very slow rate. Supercharged power cells, Backup Shield Generator and Slicer Tools are probably the strongest choices.
JM5K: This ship is ruing the game - and has done so since it's release due to a blatantly superior... everything. Here's the fix.
Increase all JM5K pilot costs by 3. That's a little on the low side, given how good they are, but it should give other builds a better chance.
If I've missed some horrible power combo with these fixes, please let me know.
That's a total of 18 cards required to at the very least give these underused ships a chance in the game. These might not be the best fix choices (I'll only stand by the B-wing, Punisher and HWK fixes I've devised), but they'll at least get our favourite ships back into competitive play. I'd gladly pay $10 US for a single fix card, for almost any ship on this list. If FFG put them together into a card pack with, say, 4 of each fix, I'd happily pay $200 for it, because a massive amount of my collection would be playable again.
So why won't FFG go down this path?