Currently, the missions give out specific ships, and while the nature of the Empire espouses this, from a game standpoint, it is not that fun.

What I propose is this; that there be an before mission requisition phase.

Each imperial ship has value assigned to it, represented in either hits and/or crits. To requisition this ship, you roll a number of red dice equal to your pilot skill (these rolls cannot be modified by abilities/talents).

As a default, the standard TIE Fighter is ALWAYS available, and is the default.

A TIE Bomber may require two hits to be rolled. A TIE Punisher may require 3 hits and 1 crit (values must be evaluated, likely based on ship costs)

The idea is as you increase in pilot skill, you will potentially get access to more deadly, and durable, TIE craft.

Also, and this will require much fine tuning, will be a Medal system. If you accomplish certain things in the campaign, you earn medals. These medals offer bonuses to your requisitioning.

Examples include a medal that gives you a bonus for each mission you are not shot down in.

Each mission not shot down equals re-roll that many requisition dice.

Here is the proposed requirements:

TIE Fighter - Automatic

TIE Bomber - 2 hits

TIE Interceptor - 3 hits

TIE Defender - 2 crits, 4 hits

TIE Advanced - 4 hits

TIE Punisher - 4 hits

TIE Aggressor - 2 hits

TIE Striker - 3 hits

TIE Advanced Prototype - 2 hits

I would errata to Punisher: Any Blanks. Gain medal if mission success with Punisher. Cause lets face it, the poor thing needs serious help. And I say this as someone who stubbornly ran Triple Punisher lists in multiple Store Champs this season.

https://boardgamegeek.com/filepage/135532/defenders-empire#comment7521991

in response to op.

i do appreciate that picking ships can be more fun and my initial thoughts were to try and do something that allowed more freedom in that area. As I started to look at it, mission balance became a real issue as the imperial fighters seem to have a substantial variance in themselves.

While some missions could be interchanged for a similar craft others have been designed specifically to fit the craft selected.

if I was to open up options for each mission I would probably look to create a list that you can pick from for each mission (maybe on a medal system) rather than just any ship you want.

the issue that is then created is, do the missions still work with players using the new ship types. This would need to be playtested. If you would like to try running a system like this and provide feedback from the playtests then I could look to include it.

Some proposed values:

• TIE Fighter: [auto]
• TIE Bomber: 1 hit
• TIE Advanced Prototype: 2 hits
• TIE Striker: 1 crit
• TIE Aggressor: 1 hit, 1 crit
• TIE Interceptor: 3 hits
• TIE Punisher: 2 hits, 1 crit
• TIE Advanced: 2 crits
• Alpha-class Starwing: 1 hit, 2 crits
• TIE Defender: 4 hits, 1 crit
• TIE Phantom: 4 hits, 2 crits

Another method could be, as the Imperial player is leveling up, he gets a "poll" of squad points (starting at PS1 with 12, for instance), which he can spend in his ship and her upgrades (EPTs would be separated). More advanced ships would cost (much) more of these "requisition points".

A prestige system.
The player may spend prestige to unlock ships for his character. These ships will be available to the player as a choice for the rest of the campaign until destroyed during a mission. After that, they need to purchase them again.

• 0 prestige (Always available): TIE Fighter, TIE Shuttle
• 1 prestige: TIE Striker, TIE Bomber
• 2 prestige: Alpha-class Starwing, TIE Interceptor, TIE Punisher, TIE Advanced Prototype, TIE Aggressor
• 3 prestige: TIE Advanced, TIE Defender
• 4 prestige: TIE Phantom

Merits:

• Ribbon: For every Victory point achieved by the Empire, the player gets 1 permanent prestige (it regenerates between missions).
• Reprimand: For every Victory point achieved by the Rebels, the player gets -1 prestige.
• Favor: For every successful mission where the player's ship didn't get any damage card, the player gets +1 prestige.
• Commendation: For every 5 kills (enemies), the player gets +1 prestige.
• Medal of Heroism: For performing at least one assist that prevented the destruction of a friendly ship that same round during a successful mission, the player gets +1 prestige.
• Medal of Valor: For surviving a mission where the player, on a shielded ship, was the only friendly one attacked in the same round by 4 or more enemies, the player gets +1 prestige.
• Medal of Courage: For surviving a mission where the player, on an unshielded ship, was the only friendly one attacked in the same round by 3 or more enemies, the player gets +1 prestige.

@Odanan The values I chose, and of course need to be tested, are based on rolling during requisition phase, a number of dice equal to your pilot skill.

@Storgar Thanks for the response, I very much intend to test this out. Balance is noted, that is why I am trying some higher values out, making it harder to fly certain ships. And outright impossible fly in certain instances.

@Azrapse I very much intend to have a number of medals you can earn, many of these I intend to base off what you earn in the old PC game TIE Fighter. Many of these will do similar things to what you propose

I think the idea you present has great merit, but truth is I was going for a more of a gamble, hence the rolling of dice, where as what you propose seems more of a sure thing.

When choosing ships for missions, I would consider using these hits/crits or point system to buy variations of the ships available. You can adjust the cost based on the contents of the mission.

Example: A mission will involve heavy fighting, so a strike force is sent by the Imperial forces. The Imperial options are, in order of price: Tie/LN (default), Interceptor, Interceptor with Targeting Computer/Autothrusters, Defender Tie/x7, Defender Tie/D with Tractor Beam.

This way, you have the options but you also options when choosing a ship. It's also more realistic, as not every unit in a given army is identically outfitted.