It depends on how anal you want to be about "Unique". Sure, the Rebels have Sabine's TIE, but other than that, the "TIE Only" restriction makes an upgrade effectively Imperials only and still covers well over half their fleet at this point in the game. If FFG wanted to buff the Imps and not the other factions, a few more TIE only cards would be the way to do it, and they could go in specific slots to buff specific ships - a TIE Only System or TIE Only Tech - even something like a TIE Only munition would give them a lot of specific targetting capability.

And yes, you can decide that Sabine's TIE makes that "not unique" to Imperials. But that's not a sensible argument. As has been brought up, literally only one slot in the game is unique to any single faction - the original astromech slot. And that is only unique because FFG put out a bunch of early astromechs, most importantly R2-D2 without the "Rebel Only" limitation. Otherwise they wouldn't have bothered with a whole new slot - they would have just had "Scum Only" astromechs instead of Salvaged Astromechs.

I think at this point the likelihood of new, faction specific slots is very, very low, and retroactive slots even lower. Tech made sense to distinguish ships from the GCW era from TFA and beyond era. I could... conceivably imgine some sort of "antique" or "vintage" slot that went the other way, if they decided to bring in ships from the Clone Wars, but the fact that the Y Wing, Z-95 and most importantly the ARC are ingame without them means it probably wont happen.

One plausible way we could see "new" slots opening up would be the migration of a few more epic slots - cargo and teams could make their way to the 100/6 game. Krennic's shuttle might benefit from a Death Trooper team, and it would almost seem silly not to give the Rogue One Cargo Ship a cargo slot if it makes it into the game. But neither slot is likely to be unique to one faction or another, except possibly in the short term.

There are other ways to balance Imperials without adding a new slot - it's not going to mean the Imps are permanently locked out of the top tables (" the long term balance of the game", as you put it, is definitely not at stake). Partly it'll mean FFG releasing new upgrades that recognise the balance issues and do something bout them, just as they always have(to varying levels of success). Partly, it'll mean releasing different sorts of ships going forward - ships like the Silencer and the TIE/sf seem to be, at least in part, the result of FFG recognising that 3 health behind three agility and a reposition action just isn't a viable survival strategy any more, with bombs and turrets now part of the game in a big way, probably forever. Partly, it'll be Imperial players recognising the same thing that FFG apparently have, and giving up on Interceptors and TIE swarms the way Rebel players have had to give up on B Wings and Trip X Wing builds. They're remnants from an older era of the game. Adapt and move on, or stay back and play casual tournaments. Both are good options.

I'm not saying Imperials are in a great place right now. The data makes clear that they aren't. But, with the Rebels now hit with the nerf bat the way the other two factions have been, there are Imperial options again. New Kylo. High PS alpha strike. TIE/D Defenders. Kylo/RAC and an ace. Wait for the post FAQ meta (and especially the post wave 12 meta) to shake out before declaring that Imps are dead without a special new slot.

Imps are unique in that they have nothing unique! They're unique insofar as Alex Davy hates them.

Has anyone pointed out that Imperials are the faction get to manipulate the damage deck? Looking at you Rexlar and Kylo.

Leebo is the only exception to this, but we're not in Europe so he doesn't exist competitively.

The most unique thing about Imperials is the fact that they are not unique.... faceless stormtroopers and tie pilots, repetitive looking Tie Fighters and etc......

Shuttles + order crew exist, and are only Imperial:

Fleet Officer

Systems Officer

General Hux

I was going to say co-ordinate (non-epic) too but remember the new phantom II

I think the most unique thing Imperials have is the uncanny ability to get all their toys stolen.

Which isn't a good unique thing to have.

42 minutes ago, MacchuWA said:

It depends on how anal you want to be about "Unique". Sure, the Rebels have Sabine's TIE, but other than that, the "TIE Only" restriction makes an upgrade effectively Imperials only and still covers well over half their fleet at this point in the game. If FFG wanted to buff the Imps and not the other factions, a few more TIE only cards would be the way to do it, and they could go in specific slots to buff specific ships - a TIE Only System or TIE Only Tech - even something like a TIE Only munition would give them a lot of specific targetting capability.

And yes, you can decide that Sabine's TIE makes that "not unique" to Imperials. But that's not a sensible argument. As has been brought up, literally only one slot in the game is unique to any single faction - the original astromech slot. And that is only unique because FFG put out a bunch of early astromechs, most importantly R2-D2 without the "Rebel Only" limitation. Otherwise they wouldn't have bothered with a whole new slot - they would have just had "Scum Only" astromechs instead of Salvaged Astromechs.

I think at this point the likelihood of new, faction specific slots is very, very low, and retroactive slots even lower. Tech made sense to distinguish ships from the GCW era from TFA and beyond era. I could... conceivably imgine some sort of "antique" or "vintage" slot that went the other way, if they decided to bring in ships from the Clone Wars, but the fact that the Y Wing, Z-95 and most importantly the ARC are ingame without them means it probably wont happen.

One plausible way we could see "new" slots opening up would be the migration of a few more epic slots - cargo and teams could make their way to the 100/6 game. Krennic's shuttle might benefit from a Death Trooper team, and it would almost seem silly not to give the Rogue One Cargo Ship a cargo slot if it makes it into the game. But neither slot is likely to be unique to one faction or another, except possibly in the short term.

There are other ways to balance Imperials without adding a new slot - it's not going to mean the Imps are permanently locked out of the top tables (" the long term balance of the game", as you put it, is definitely not at stake). Partly it'll mean FFG releasing new upgrades that recognise the balance issues and do something bout them, just as they always have(to varying levels of success). Partly, it'll mean releasing different sorts of ships going forward - ships like the Silencer and the TIE/sf seem to be, at least in part, the result of FFG recognising that 3 health behind three agility and a reposition action just isn't a viable survival strategy any more, with bombs and turrets now part of the game in a big way, probably forever. Partly, it'll be Imperial players recognising the same thing that FFG apparently have, and giving up on Interceptors and TIE swarms the way Rebel players have had to give up on B Wings and Trip X Wing builds. They're remnants from an older era of the game. Adapt and move on, or stay back and play casual tournaments. Both are good options.

I'm not saying Imperials are in a great place right now. The data makes clear that they aren't. But, with the Rebels now hit with the nerf bat the way the other two factions have been, there are Imperial options again. New Kylo. High PS alpha strike. TIE/D Defenders. Kylo/RAC and an ace. Wait for the post FAQ meta (and especially the post wave 12 meta) to shake out before declaring that Imps are dead without a special new slot.

Problem with tie only upgrades is not that they are available to the rebels due to sabine's tie, but that they occupy the mod slot.

Imagine if astromechs took up the mod slot. They would be much worse due to opportunity cost.

Well, going by the complaints, the imperials are already unique relative to rebel/scum in that they have nothing unique about them

So why fix what ain't broke?

Intimidating presence: once per game, at the beginning of the combat phase, for each ship your squad has target locked, you can spend that target lock to roll atk dice equal to your printed agility value +1. Each ship that triggers this ability make not attack again this turn.

Title tie only, ??? points.

Basically turn ties into Laze designators for capital ship support. Of course since ties would need to take targeting computer to even make this work, not sure on points.

52 minutes ago, RufusDaMan said:

Problem with tie only upgrades is not that they are available to the rebels due to sabine's tie, but that they occupy the mod slot.

Imagine if astromechs took up the mod slot. They would be much worse due to opportunity cost.

It doesn't have to though, does it? Imagine a TIE only system that could be targeted to buff Punishers and TIE Advanced generics? A TIE Only torpedo that helps the bomber? A TIE only title that helps the TIE Fighter, bomber etc. but isn't good enough to compete against Royal Guard or whatever on previously fixed TIEs.

It could be much more flexible than just the mod slot if you think about it.

3 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

What is the Empire that Rebels and Scum are not??

An organized military state with the might to back that up.

Every Imperial ship needs a slot like a Title or Modification called Orders.

Then, they essentially get some sort of mandate from command that helps the list synergize.

If anything, they should have a Mindlink slot. If a higher PS gains focus , every lower PS linked to that ship gains focus.

I don't think the Imperials will ever get a unique upgrade slot or anything along those lines. It goes against their schtick of numbers and tactics over gimmicks and tricks etc.

Crew is a big area I think the Imperial roster can be expanded. There are a lot of unique characters emerging from the rebels TV show, and we will no doubt see more in future movies etc. that could be added to the game. Counter to that, of all the factions, imperials should have the most generic crew cards in the game, and more officer type cards are something I'd personally like to see more of.

I also hope to see more command level cards with a much broader range than what is in the game currently. After seeing cards like Targeting Synchronizer and Hyperwave Comms Scanner, I thought 'this is where FFG are going to differentiate the Imps from the rest'. I know these cards are not faction specific, but they feel very imperial to me, and I could see future 'imperial only' cards of a similar nature becoming the factions niche.

High level commanders and officers giving smaller, but board wide bonuses to their squad, to me, feels like where the imps are left wanting. With Rebels being small bands of ragtag pilots, and scum being lone wolves, squad wide commands could be their 'unique' talent. This would incentivise 'swarm' type play in the imperial ranks again, and has the potential to bring the imps back to their true nature of the being a relentless behemoth.

I have also had ideas about 'card stacking' as a imperial gimmick. Cards that give their bonus effects [times] however many of that card is in your squad. For example;

Chain of Command (Imperial only.) (EPT) - When you discard a target lock you may instead move your blue target lock token to a friendly ship of a lower pilot skill.

and/or

Death Trooper (Imperial only.) (crew) - When attacking, you may re-roll 1 blank result for each death trooper equipped to your ship.

Once per round, when you are dealt a face up damage card, you may discard 1 of your death trooper cards to discard that damage card (without resolving its effect).

They're 2 of my ideas, but the general theme is; imperials have the overwhelming numbers and their cards operate uniquely with that theme in mind.

1 hour ago, BVRCH said:

I don't think the Imperials will ever get a unique upgrade slot or anything along those lines. It goes against their schtick of numbers and tactics over gimmicks and tricks etc.

Crew is a big area I think the Imperial roster can be expanded. There are a lot of unique characters emerging from the rebels TV show, and we will no doubt see more in future movies etc. that could be added to the game. Counter to that, of all the factions, imperials should have the most generic crew cards in the game, and more officer type cards are something I'd personally like to see more of.

I also hope to see more command level cards with a much broader range than what is in the game currently. After seeing cards like Targeting Synchronizer and Hyperwave Comms Scanner, I thought 'this is where FFG are going to differentiate the Imps from the rest'. I know these cards are not faction specific, but they feel very imperial to me, and I could see future 'imperial only' cards of a similar nature becoming the factions niche.

High level commanders and officers giving smaller, but board wide bonuses to their squad, to me, feels like where the imps are left wanting. With Rebels being small bands of ragtag pilots, and scum being lone wolves, squad wide commands could be their 'unique' talent. This would incentivise 'swarm' type play in the imperial ranks again, and has the potential to bring the imps back to their true nature of the being a relentless behemoth.

I have also had ideas about 'card stacking' as a imperial gimmick. Cards that give their bonus effects [times] however many of that card is in your squad. For example;

Chain of Command (Imperial only.) (EPT) - When you discard a target lock you may instead move your blue target lock token to a friendly ship of a lower pilot skill.

and/or

Death Trooper (Imperial only.) (crew) - When attacking, you may re-roll 1 blank result for each death trooper equipped to your ship.

Once per round, when you are dealt a face up damage card, you may discard 1 of your death trooper cards to discard that damage card (without resolving its effect).

They're 2 of my ideas, but the general theme is; imperials have the overwhelming numbers and their cards operate uniquely with that theme in mind.

This is a neat idea. It's a mechanic that we haven't seen yet in the game.

Hang on a sec, aren't imps the only ones with the ability to alter the crit they deal?

5 hours ago, RufusDaMan said:

Just consider how much damage Palp causes/prevents during a game for 8 points and 2 slots, then consider how much damage Sabine Wren causes for 2 points and 1 slot. The comparison is not even funny. I think it is fair to say that the two cards can have comparable effect on a game, with staggeringly different costs.

Not a fan of the card either, but you have to make fair comparisons point wise: Sabine Wren for 2 points and 1 slot does exactly ZERO damage.

She needs at least 2pts more to do 1damage (ion bomb or seismic cheapest options). 4pts for 1 damage once in the game is comparable to other damage effects.

What makes her a problem is

-no disadvantage. For only 2 points more (another cheap bomb or EM) you have already 2 damage. She should have a range restriction, or maybe discard herself after x uses, or some kind of RNG (I mean, compare to Cad Bane, he is also 2pts, but strictly worse, works only with certain bombs, is then still RNG (and can be palped away)).

-too cheap never-ending bomb (looking at you, Bomblet), that is a totally new problem and actually not a fault of the Sabine card

That said, more Imp only Command crew or teams would be cool game and theme(!) wise. A general improvement with only requisition of the word "TIE" in it is a dangerous path, it could easily totally break the game, as you can set it on totally different ships. What might be mediocre to good on TIE bombers or l/n could be hilariously OP on Interceptor or Phantom TIEs. A nightmare to develop and balance right.

4 hours ago, Dave Grant said:

Shuttles + order crew exist, and are only Imperial:

Fleet Officer

Systems Officer

General Hux

I was going to say co-ordinate (non-epic) too but remember the new phantom II

This list of 3 crew is a good one. They're all great, but there's no good carrier for them. Bomber Buddy is great but spending more than 20% of your list on three extra actions that require tight formation flying is risky, and Hux needs a shuttle or firespray. Hux in particular should be amazing there's just no good ship to carry him.

5 hours ago, RufusDaMan said:

Kylo is great, no denying, Vader has a very serious cost associated with him, and yeah, rebel captive is also good...

Just consider how much damage Palp causes/prevents during a game for 8 points and 2 slots, then consider how much damage Sabine Wren causes for 2 points and 1 slot. The comparison is not even funny. I think it is fair to say that the two cards can have comparable effect on a game, with staggeringly different costs.

And you know... even if the upgrades you listed were the best cards in the game (they aren't by a long shot), rebels and scum still have much much more options, many of them are better.

You forgot the 21pt tax that is the PalpMobile.

TIE only mod would be a good thing to start, I already made a thread about that.
The empire actually has a subtheme of good support crews which actually look quite good on paper but still see little to no play. Partly 100P Format is too small for them and they only shine in epic, partly cause you have to dedicate ships to them (most imperial Crew carriers are ships you only think about cause you want to carry crew. So fixing the Shuttles + introducing something new (how about the Zeta-Class Shuttle) could push this theme.

Basically, gimme a TIE Reaper - 25ish points, 2 crew slots, 3 attack, green turns. Nothing else. Something that can tote Palp and still attack usefully, and can tote Hux and Systems Officer and USE them usefully.

I think Imperials were originally supposed to be defined by their agility, efficiency and more crew options. Unfortunately, over time those traits have been watered down or completely surpassed by other factions' access to them. I wouldn't mind Imperials getting more crew than other factions but I think they'd also need some better crew carriers if that were to happen. At the moment the only viable crew carriers Imperials have are Decimators, TIE Shuttles and Lambdas (with an honourable mention to the Upsilon). The Phantom has crew but they're seldom seen nowadays and the Imperial Firespray might as well not exist.

Both Rebels and Scum have more ships that appear in their lists with crew slots. Even if we try to get more Imperial crew on the board the platforms they come in can make them a huge liability. That needs to change so Imperial crew can be used. It also doesn't help that a lot fo the Imperial crew is of marginal effectiveness or, like Hux, requires an action to use.

It's also worth noting that Rebels have some OBSCENE crew. Just imagine Kanan on RAC...

Or on a Firespray for that matter. Opening up the whole dial might actually make them usable...

How about an imperial only title: Strike coordination: When performing an attack, if the target is in the fiering arc of two (three?) or more (other) friendly ships with Strike coordination you may reroll one attack die. Or flip one focus to hit? Or even roll one additional die?

2 hours ago, thespaceinvader said:

This list of 3 crew is a good one. They're all great, but there's no good carrier for them. Bomber Buddy is great but spending more than 20% of your list on three extra actions that require tight formation flying is risky, and Hux needs a shuttle or firespray. Hux in particular should be amazing there's just no good ship to carry him.

The quaestion was, I thought, what is unique about Imperials... not what is good/competitive about them ;-)

8 hours ago, spacelion said:

If anything, they should have a Mindlink slot. If a higher PS gains focus , every lower PS linked to that ship gains focus.

Um, FFG just fixed Attenni ML. Probably a bad road to go down again.

7 hours ago, Ralgon said:

Hang on a sec, aren't imps the only ones with the ability to alter the crit they deal?

And how often do you see that being a game winner?? Plus, that's 1 pilot's special ability, not a faction trait.

5 hours ago, thespaceinvader said:

Basically, gimme a TIE Reaper - 25ish points, 2 crew slots, 3 attack, green turns. Nothing else. Something that can tote Palp and still attack usefully, and can tote Hux and Systems Officer and USE them usefully.

Exactly. A ship that is really the Imperial Party Bus. With some AGI, so it isn't a torpedo magnet.

3 hours ago, Dave Grant said:

The quaestion was, I thought, what is unique about Imperials... not what is good/competitive about them ;-)

Well, the 2 points are tied together. The Imps could use some better crew, and and a solid officers' corps would be distinctly Imperial. (Although I guess not unique, since all factions have crew. OTOH, as I pointed out earlier, most other crew help the boat they are on; Imperial crew should help the fighters near them. That would give crew their distinctly Imperial flavor.)

I always thought there should be a squadron title for the Imperials. Something like this:

181st squadron Interceptor only. PS 6 or higher

4 pts.

You may roll 1 extra attack die for each ship at range one with this title max 2.

the downside to this is you give up RGT which means you only get one mod.

Black Squadron: Tie/ln only PS 4 or higher

2 points

Action: for each ship at range one with this title you may perform a free evade action max 2

this is to help with Swarm Leader.

The other Idea I have is to have something like

Academy Swarm. Academy Squadron only upgrade

4 pts.

you may add 1 shield token for each ship with this title max 4

when a ship with this title is destroyed remove 1 shield token.

this gives an old fashioned mini swarm some staying power.