X-wing 1.0 Balance Mod

By MajorJuggler, in X-Wing

Posted at

I have been working on comprehensively overhauling certain aspects of X-wing with the goal of creating a more balanced game, diverse meta game, and enjoyable play experience for casual play. It’s not done yet, but I wanted to open it up for public testing and consumption. Feedback is very welcome, especially actual playtesting reports, so thanks for your interest!

Links

  • Facebook discussion group
  • Squad Builder: Under Construction!
  • Pre-Built Lists : To make playtesting easier (and to focus playtesting on the stuff that currently needs it most), this contains a bunch of pre-built lists that you can just grab-and-go. Each pre-built list includes a printable squad sheet in PDF format. Lists are color-coded in order of testing status and priority.
  • Electronic Playtesting Form : a google form to provide feedback.
  • Balance Spreadsheet : this contains all the changes in a Google Spreadsheet.
  • Custom & Changed Card Reference + FAQ : Includes printable cards for custom cards and stock cards that are now dual-sided. Note: the cards were just made using "Strange Eons". Long-term I would like to change the formatting to include the triple-cost structure, and an "X-wing Community Mod" label.
  • Physical Score Sheet / Playtesting Form : Hard copy version of the electronic version, useful if running a casual in-person tournament.

Ship Redesign Notes
Each ship gets its own separate post (linked directly below) for its design notes, which highlights any important balance changes for these ships. Ships that I haven’t done yet are marked as “TBD”. I’m getting errors attempting to upload images, so all custom cards and changes to existing cards (even those now converted to dual sided cards) will just be given in text form.

Rebel (18 of 19 released ships rebalanced)

Imperial (18 of 18 released ships rebalanced)

Scum (10 of 16 released ships rebalanced)

Rebel Epic (0 of 2 released ships rebalanced)

  • GR-75 Medium Transport
  • CR-90 Corvette

Imperial Epic (0 of 2 released ships rebalanced)

  • Raider-Class Corvette
  • Gozanti-Class Cruiser

Scum Epic (0 of 1 released ships rebalanced)

  • CROC-Cruiser (TBD)

Secondary Weapons and Bomb Changes

Rule Changes
List Building Changes

  • Squad building is at 200 points for increased granularity.
  • All pilots now have a “Tier” attribute, which can be 1, 2, or 3.
  • All upgrades now have three costs. Tier 1 pilots pay the highest cost for all their upgrades; tier 2 pilots pay the middle cost; tier 3 pilots pay the lowest cost.

Scoring Changes

  • All ships costing 51 points or more score one half points if they are reduced to half total hull + shields.
  • All ships costing 50 points or less score zero points until they are completely removed.

General Balance Changes

  • Some existing pilot cards, upgrade cards, and condition cards have had their text changed, and some pilots gain an Elite Pilot Talent.
  • Some existing upgrade cards are now dual-sided.
  • Quite a few custom upgrade cards have been added to the game. These custom cards are targeted to specifically improve certain ships and many are “auto includes”.

Damage Deck Changes

  • The Core 2 damage deck must be used, and the text on "Damaged Sensor Array", "Structural Damage", and "Weapons Failure" to fix the crit has removed the requirement to roll a die, and has been changed to: "ACTION: Flip this card facedown."

General Housekeeping Changes

  • When you are instructed to discard an Upgrade card, you may discard 1 ordnance token on that card instead. Note : this text no longer needs to appear on the "Extra Munition" and "Ordnance Silos" Upgrade cards.

Reasons for making this open testing

  • Getting more playtesting data and discussing results.
  • Get more eyeballs on the custom cards and changed card wording to make sure that the wording is clear and works as intended.
  • Brainstorming and discussing alternative approaches to balance changes.
  • Try to entice someone to make a unique custom card format for this mod, particularly for the custom upgrade cards for this mod.

Core Philosophy and Long-Term Goals

  1. Improve balance and build diversity for each pilot in the game . Most pilots should ideally have at least a couple different upgrade options that are competitively viable. Perfect balance is never achievable but it can be made significantly better than the stock game. The most recognizable ships like X-wings and TIE Fighters should err on the side being good, without changing their core function.
  2. Zero long-term powercreep . The existing pilots and upgrade cards should eventually reach a stable set of point values and card text changes. When FFG releases new ships, pilots, and upgrade cards, those future cards will get rebalanced relative to the existing power curve in this mod. Since FFG consistently adds gradual power creep to the stock game, this means that eventually the stock game’s power curve will inflate to the point where the “best new stuff” in future expansions is going to get immediately nerfed for use in this mod, in order to keep the old pilots and archetypes competitively viable.
  3. Stay as close as possible to FFG’s stock “X-wing 1.0” design from a mechanical perspective . This means no new dice, no new dials*, and no fundamental changes to primary weapon turrets other than point adjustments. There’s a lot of good ideas that could get incorporated in a real “X-wing 2.0” but that is not the goal of this mod.
  4. When possible keep the changes as simple as possible. Anything that reduces the barrier of entry of going from stock X-wing to "Mod-Wing" is good because it will increase the playerbase, and less complicated changes are usually more fun too. Keeping things simple includes introducing as few new custom cards as possible, although this is at odds with goal #1.
  5. Use math to obtain initial estimates for ship balance, and further refine with analytical playtesting and tournament results . Any mathematical model has limitations, and the approach used here is no exception, the details of which are beyond the scope of this post. However, it is consistently capable of calculating ideal costs to within a point or so, given that the target efficiency is known. The greater challenge is identifying what the target efficiencies should be for various archetypes, and also identifying “Combo Wing” card synergies. Data driven analytical playtesting is essential to both, with the ultimate test being tournament results.
  6. Eventually explore making balance changes voted on by committee . Several people have mentioned the community-driven 40k ITC project, where format changes are voted on by a committee of tournament organizers. I think this is a great direction to go long-term. This mod is probably more ambitious than 40k ITC from a technical balance perspective, so the implementation of a voting board would probably end up looking a little different than it does for 40k ITC. Once the mod is close to a stable release I would like to see what that kind of approach would practically look like for this format, and gauge the community’s interest in participating, provided that the mod stays true to the previously listed “Core Philosophies” here. However, since this mod is just getting up and running and I'm the only one really driving it, it’s currently a one-man show when it comes to making executive decisions. The entire power curve is getting readjusted from scratch, so this is the most effective way to get the initial version off the ground with consistency and reasonable technical accuracy.
  7. Balance Epic too . This mod currently only applies to the standard 100/6 format, but if it gets enough interest then it can also get adapted for 300 point Epic as well.


* X-wings and B-wings don’t get new maneuver dials, but they do get access to additional maneuvers via new custom upgrade cards. However, this is the only time ship maneuvers have been tweaked, and should be seen as an exception, not a rule.

Current Development State

  • I consider the mod to currently be in “alpha testing”, since the redesign of all the ships isn’t done yet. I will consider the mod to be in “beta” once all the ship redesigns are done and with at least a minimum playtesting of each ship. Ideally, by the time this mod is entering beta, there will be a functional squad builder to make it easy to list build and play.
  • Testing really needs to start at the basics, all the way back to the wave 1 jousting archetype. Ideally X-wings and TIE Fighters should be balanced reasonably well relative to each other before heavily testing all the other ships, and this is the data that is most needed right now.
  • Missiles and Torpedoes aren’t done.
Edited by MajorJuggler
Posted at

T-65 X-wing


Overview

X-wings are now the Rebel's pure jousting equivalent of the empire's TIE Fighter and get more firepower and more durability than in the stock game. FFG's new "S-foils" card will help generic X-wings keep their guns on target, and make them deadly when they do so. The cost efficiency of all the X-wings across the board is designed so they should be competitive jousters at all pilot skills.

The T-65 X-wings are slightly different in this Mod than in the stock game.

  • FFG's new S-foils card is used verbatim with zero changes.
  • FFG's new "Renegade Refit" torpedo has been completely removed from this Mod.
  • A new modification has been added, "X-wing Refit", that increases the X-wing's firepower, and also allows one additional modification to be equipped.
  • Integrated Astromech now also grants +1 hull, and allows one additional modification to be equipped.
  • Astromech costs have been tweaked so a broader variety of options are now viable. For example, R5 is now the cheapest option at only 1 point (at a 200 point scale), and Flight Assist Astromech has had its cost increased. (see below).

Pilot Tiers

  • Tier 2 X-wings: Biggs Darklighter, Luke Skywalker, Wes Janson, Wedge Antilles.
  • Tier 3 X-wings: everyone else.

Pilot Costs and Ability Changes

  • Cavern Angels Zealot (?) (PS1) Pilot: cost changed from 40(?) to 39.
  • Rookie Pilot (PS2): cost decreased from 42 to 40.
  • Tarn Mison (PS3): cost decreased from 46 to 44.
  • Red Squadron Pilot (PS4): cost decreased from 46 to 45, and gains an EPT.
  • Leevan Tenza (PS5): cost decreased from 50 to 47.
  • "Hobbie" Klivian (PS5): cost decreased from 50 to 48.
  • Biggs Darklighter (PS5): cost increased from 50 to 52.
  • Kullbee Sperado (PS6): cost decreased from 52 to 47.
  • Garven Dreis (PS6): cost reduced from 52 to 51, and gains an EPT.
  • Jek Porkins (PS7): cost decreased from 52 to 48.
  • Luke Skywalker (PS8): cost decreased from 56 to 53. Ability changed to: "When defending, you may change any number of your <eye> results to <evade> results."
  • Wes Janson (PS8): cost decreased from 58 to 54. Ability changed to: "After you perform an attack, you may remove 1 focus, evade, reinforce , or blue target lock token from the defender."
  • Wedge Antilles (PS9): cost remains 58.

Key Card Changes

Integrated Astromech
0 / 0 / 0
Modification. X-wing only. Limited.
Increase your hull value by one. You may equip one additional modification. When you are dealt a Damage card, you may discard 1 of your Astromech Upgrade cards to discard that Damage card (without resolving its effect).

Servomotors S-foils
No changes.

X-wing Refit
0 / 0 / 0
Modification. X-wing only. Limited.
You may equip one additional modification. If you are unstressed when attacking with a primary weapon, you may either reroll one blank attack die, or, if you have a target lock on the defender you may change all <eye> results to <hit> results.

Custom X-wing upgrades FAQ:

All X-wings can simultaneously equip Integrated Astromech, X-wing Refit, and one other modification (assumed to be Servomotors S-foils).

Flight-Assist Astromech
Cost increased from 2 to 3 / 4 / 5

R5-D8
2 / 3 / 3
Astromech
Once per round, after you remove a stress token, you may discard 1 of your facedown Damage cards.

R2-D2
5 / 6 / 6
Astromech
After you execute a green maneuver, you may remove 1 shield token from this card to recover one shield (up to your shield value). After you execute any maneuver and you do not recover a shield, you may place 1 shield token on this card if it does not already have a shield token on it.

R4-D6
3 / 4 / 5
Astromech
When you are unstressed and hit by an attack with at least 3 uncancelled hit results, you may choose and cancel those results until there are 2 remaining. For each result cancelled in this way, receive 1 stress token.

R5
Cost reduced from 2 to 1 / 1 / 1

Card Comments

  • All X-wings can simultaneously equip Integrated Astromech, X-wing Refit, and and one other modification (Servomotors S-foils). This is the same card count as in the stock game, with a focus on making the X-wing more powerful instead of just making it cheaper.
  • Integrated Astromech effectively no longer consumes the modification slot, and by itself also increases the hull value by one, giving T-65 X-wings a 3/2/4/2 statline even before ejecting their droid.
  • X-wing Refit helps X-wings achieve the “powerful” description that the FFG Core set labels them as, although it only works while the ship is unstressed. Like the change to Integrated Astromech, it is another modification that effectively does not consume a modification slot.
  • R2-D2 gets nerfed so he only works every other round, which was more of an issue with Corran Horn, but also affects X-wings. Luke with R2-D2 is still pretty good late game if he gets into a cadence of alternating sloops and green moves, especially with his defensively stronger ability.
  • R5-D8 was Porkins’ droid, and has been totally rewritten to synergize with him as a form of regen.
  • R4-D6 gets hit with a significant nerf hammer since it now only works when unstressed and has had a cost increase, but the cost can get rolled back if needed.


Sample Loadouts
Note: all include Integrated Astromech, Servomotors S-foils, and X-wing Refit.

  • (PS1) + R5 (40 points)
  • Rookie Pilot (PS2) + R5 (41 points)
  • Tarn Mison (PS3) + M9-G8 (49 points)
  • Red Squadron Pilot (PS4) + R5 + Crackshot (48 points)
  • Hobbie (PS5) + Targeting Astromech (50 points)
  • Jek Porkins (PS7) + Push the Limit + R5-D8 (55 points)
  • Luke (PS8) + Adaptability + R2-D2 (60 points)
  • Wedge (PS9) + Push the Limit + BB-8 (68 points)
Edited by MajorJuggler
Posted at

TIE Fighter


Overview

This mod’s power curve is roughly balanced around the TIE Swarm, just as the stock game used to be in early waves. All TIE Fighters get access to two new custom upgrades, which help them hit higher agility targets, get a free barrel roll after moving, and also gives them a durability boost.

Pilot Tiers

  • All TIE Fighters are tier 3.

Pilot Cost and Ability Changes

  • Academy Pilot (PS1): cost remains 24.
  • Obsidian Squadron Pilot (PS3): cost remains 26.
  • Chaser: cost reduced from 28 to 27.
  • Black Squadron Pilot (PS4): cost remains 28.
  • Wampa: cost remains 28.
  • Night Beast: cost remains 30, and ability changed to: "After executing a green maneuver, you may assign one focus token to this ship .
  • Winged Gundark: cost decreased from 30 to 29, and ability changed to: When attacking at Range 1, you may change 1 of your dice results to a <crit> result."
  • Youngster: cost decreased from 30 to 29.
  • Dark Curse: cost decreased from 32 to 30.
  • Backstabber: cost decreased from 32 to 31.
  • Mauler Mithel: cost decreased from 34 to 32.
  • Scourge: cost decreased from 34 to 33.
  • Howlrunner: cost decreased from 36 to 35.

Key Cards

Attack Formation
0 / 0 / 0
TIE Fighter, Z-95, or M3-A Interceptor only . Title.
When attacking with a primary weapon, if the defender is in arc of another friendly ship with "Attack Formation" equipped, you may add one <hit> result. If you do and this attack hits, the defender suffers one damage, and then cancel all dice results.

Evasive Thrusters
0 / 0 / 0
Modification. TIE Fighter or TIE Interceptor only.
Your agility value must be "3" to equip this card. After executing a maneuver, if you did not overlap an obstacle or ship, you may perform a free barrel roll action.

When defending, you may discard this card to reroll any number of defense dice.

Crackshot
2 / 3 / 3
Dual card. Elite Pilot Talent.
Side 1: When attacking a ship inside your firing arc, you may discard this card to cancel 1 of the defender’s <evade> results. If you have ‘Attack Formation’ equipped, you may flip this card instead of discarding it.
Side 2: When attacking a ship inside your firing arc, you may discard this card to cancel 1 of the defender’s <evade> results.

Card Comments

  • Both “Attack Formation” and “Evasive Thrusters” are equippable by TIE Fighters, which per FFG’s FAQ clarification on Youngster also includes TIE/FO and TIE/sf. Both of these are auto-includes on all standard TIE Fighters and TIE/FO. The TIE/SF cannot take "Evasive Thrusters" since it does not have 3 defense dice, and will want to have its own native title instead of "Attack Formation".
  • The "Attack Formation" upgrade significantly buffs TIE Fighters, but also makes them marginally less dependent on Howlrunner.
  • "Evasive Thrusters" gives TIE Fighters significantly more mobility without sacrificing action economy, and can also be used once to increase their durability.
  • Crackshot has been changed so it can be used twice if the pilot also has ‘Attack Formation’ equipped, but some testing of Crack Swarms is required to see if this change is appropriately balanced for them.

Sample Loadouts
TIE Fighters don’t really take mods, so just take a look at the Pre-Built Squads document to see some sample TIE Swarms.

Edited by MajorJuggler
Posted at
3 minutes ago, MajorJuggler said:

TIE Fighter


Overview

This mod’s power curve is roughly balanced around the TIE Swarm, just as the stock game used to be in early waves. All TIE fighters get access to two new custom upgrades, which help them hit higher agility targets, and also gives them a slight durability boost.

Pilot Tiers

  • All TIE Fighters are tier 3.

Pilot Cost and Ability Changes

  • Wampa: cost increased from 28 to 29.
  • Night Beast: ability changed to: After executing a green maneuver, you may assign one focus token to this ship.
  • Winged Gundark: cost decreased from 30 to 29. Ability changed to: When attacking at Range 1, you may change 1 of your dice results to a <crit> result.
  • Youngster: cost decreased from 30 to 29.
  • Backstabber: cost decreased from 32 to 31.
  • Dark Curse: cost decreased from 32 to 31.
  • Mauler Mithel: cost decreased from 34 to 32.
  • Scourge: cost decreased from 34 to 32.
  • Howlrunner: cost decreased from 36 to 35.

Key Cards

Attack Formation
0 / 0 / 0
TIE Fighter or Z-95 only. Title.
When attacking, if the defender is in arc of another friendly ship with "Attack Formation" equipped, you may add one <hit> result. If you do and this attack hits, the defender suffers one damage, and then cancel all dice results.

Evasive Thrusters
0 / 0 / 0
Modification. TIE Fighter only.
When defending, you may discard this card to reroll one blank result.

Crackshot
2 / 3 / 3
Dual card. Elite Pilot Talent.
Increase your hull value by one. You may equip one additional different modification. When you are dealt a Damage card, you may discard 1 of your Astromech Upgrade cards to discard that Damage card (without resolving its effect).

Card Comments

Both “Attack Formation” and “Evasive Thrusters” are equippable by TIE Fighters, which per FFG’s FAQ clarification on Youngster also includes TIE/sf and TIE/FO. Both of these are auto-includes on all standard TIE Fighters. The 'Attack Formation' upgrade significantly buffs TIE Fighters, but also makes them marginally less dependant on Howlrunner. Crackshot has currently been changed so it can now be used twice if the pilot also has ‘Attack Formation’ equipped, but some testing of Crack Swarms is required to see if this change is appropriately balanced for them.

Sample Loadouts
TIE Fighters don’t really take mods, so just take a look at the “Pre-Built Squads” document to see some sample TIE Swarms.

Crackshot seems suspiciously like Integrated Astromech-Typo?

I like where this is going, but my question is "How do you intend to encourage people to play this version?"

I tried to implement a player-run FAQ back in the Nym meta days (AKA the Dark Times) and got ignored at best, even with offering prize support.

Do you have something that you think will encorage enough people to play this?

Posted at

@MajorJuggler , I was looking through your “Pre-Built Squads” page, and I didn't see any torpedos, bombs, or missiles. Why is this?

Posted at
4 minutes ago, Kaptin Krunch said:

Crackshot seems suspiciously like Integrated Astromech-Typo?

I like where this is going, but my question is "How do you intend to encourage people to play this version?"

I tried to implement a player-run FAQ back in the Nym meta days (AKA the Dark Times) and got ignored at best, even with offering prize support.

Do you have something that you think will encorage enough people to play this?

Crackshot description here fixed, thank you.

Great question on how to get this off the ground! I'm going with the "build it and they will come" mentality right now. I'm comprehensively overhauling the entire thing from the ground up and have a pretty good ability to analyze everything in the process, which is a unique approach. Hopefully some people jump on board!

Right now I'm just the "balance guy", but some others like @Kelvan have some ideas on how to run events in this format, maybe with some custom swag.

Posted at

My initial reaction is to say that I love everything EXCEPT the 3-tiered point cost structure for upgrades. It seems to add a lot of complication to the list building process- and I’ve learned from experience that the more complicated you make something the less interested (most) people will be. If there is any way to make this work without the triple-tiered cost, I would strongly encourage you to do that.

Posted at
13 minutes ago, AwesomeJedi said:

@MajorJuggler , I was looking through your “Pre-Built Squads” page, and I didn't see any torpedos, bombs, or missiles. Why is this?

See here: :)

30 minutes ago, MajorJuggler said:

Current Development State

  • I consider the mod to currently be in “alpha testing”, since the redesign of all the ships isn’t done yet. I will consider the mod to be in “beta” once all the ship redesigns are done and with at least a minimum playtesting of each ship. Ideally, by the time this mod is entering beta, there will be a functional squad builder to make it easy to list build and play.
  • Testing really needs to start at the basics, all the way back to the wave 1 jousting archetype. Ideally X-wings and TIE Fighters should be balanced reasonably well relative to each other before heavily testing all the other ships, and this is the data that is most needed right now.
  • Turret upgrades and bombs aren’t done. Twin Laser Turret (which is unchanged aside from point costs and a new overall balance curve) is ready to be tested on some ships, but I haven’t yet updated the other turrets like Blaster Turret or Synced Turret. Likewise, bomb point values will also get ironed out later. This means that bomb carrying ships like Y-wings may get tweaked again later, around the time that I attempt to rebalance the TIE Bomber and TIE Punisher.

Derp, P.S. I need to include missiles and torpedoes to that description!

Edited by MajorJuggler
Posted at
2 minutes ago, Herowannabe said:

My initial reaction is to say that I love everything EXCEPT the 3-tiered point cost structure for upgrades. It seems to add a lot of complication to the list building process- and I’ve learned from experience that the more complicated you make something the less interested (most) people will be. If there is any way to make this work without the triple-tiered cost, I would strongly encourage you to do that.

Yeah, this is certainly a tradeoff. To get balance better across the board, there needs to be more complexity somewhere. There is no free lunch, it's just a question of how you are going to pay the piper. On the bright side, if there were a squad builder that fully supported this mod, then it would make list-building super easy!

hint hint nudge nudge

Anyone want to write a squad builder? :D

Posted at
32 minutes ago, MajorJuggler said:

Incom Refit
0 / 0 / 0
Modification. X-wing only.
Side 1 (enabled): You may equip one additional different modification. When you reveal a speed 3 <left bank> or <right bank> maneuver, you must instead treat it as a red speed 3 <left sloop> or <right sloop> of the same bearing as the revealed maneuver. You may flip this card at the end of the planning phase.
Side 2 (disabled): You may equip one additional different modification. You may flip this card at the end of the planning phase.

I assume you meant this to be “if you do, then flip this over at the end of the activation phase.” Or something. Even then it doesn’t really work. The fact that the sloop is red and gives you a stress token means that (typically) you can’t sloop two turns in a row anyway, so what’s the point of flipping the card at all?

Posted at
1 minute ago, Herowannabe said:

I assume you meant this to be “if you do, then flip this over at the end of the activation phase.” Or something. Even then it doesn’t really work. The fact that the sloop is red and gives you a stress token means that (typically) you can’t sloop two turns in a row anyway, so what’s the point of flipping the card at all?

The only way to execute the sloop is to physically rotate the dial to a 3 bank. But if you want to execute a 3 bank and NOT a sloop, then you need Incom Refit flipped to the disabled side before you reveal your dial.

Posted at
7 minutes ago, MajorJuggler said:

The only way to execute the sloop is to physically rotate the dial to a 3 bank. But if you want to execute a 3 bank and NOT a sloop, then you need Incom Refit flipped to the disabled side before you reveal your dial.

Okay, that makes sense now.

Posted at

This looks awesome! very keen to help out and try some of the new stuff!

Posted at

A question:

The cards that haven't been mentioned e.g in the astromech sections. Have they been tested and added to this new point structure or are they still on the way?

Posted at
1 hour ago, MajorJuggler said:

Crackshot description here fixed, thank you.

Great question on how to get this off the ground! I'm going with the "build it and they will come" mentality right now. I'm comprehensively overhauling the entire thing from the ground up and have a pretty good ability to analyze everything in the process, which is a unique approach. Hopefully some people jump on board!

Right now I'm just the "balance guy", but some others like @Kelvan have some ideas on how to run events in this format, maybe with some custom swag.

Best bet, after some testing, is to do a Vassal tourney like Theorist does at Team Convenant with his "fix-it" ideas. Its probably the best way to get a large sample size rather than 4 people playing on a table.

Posted at
13 minutes ago, AcexShadow said:

A question:

The cards that haven't been mentioned e.g in the astromech sections. Have they been tested and added to this new point structure or are they still on the way?

Most of the upgrades have already been re-priced with the triple-cost system. I haven't gotten to the upgrades in wave 12 and wave 13 yet, and some items like Missiles, Torpedoes, and Bombs are subject to change. See the "Balance Spreadsheet" in the Links section for a full list of all changes:

1 hour ago, MajorJuggler said:

Links

9 minutes ago, wurms said:

Best bet, after some testing, is to do a Vassal tourney like Theorist does at Team Convenant with his "fix-it" ideas. Its probably the best way to get a large sample size rather than 4 people playing on a table.

Yeah, the long term goal is to get a squad builder with vassal auto-squad-spawn support. That would make running online tournaments and playtesting much easier.

Posted at

That looks great @MajorJuggler !

I definitely love the Attack Formation design.

Will now playtest with our little group to help build on this nice base you got.


Edit :
"S-foils" card will, I think, fail helping the lower PSs pilots gaining firing power, due to the difficulty getting the required TL on initial joust. The rookies will not benefit it a lot (I don't see Academies swarms being much a thing, crack blacks with double-sided Crack Shot seem so much better).
Maybe also the card should have an other name. The offensive buff could be instead inputed to the powerful laser cannons instead of the S-foils. Why not change the card name to "KX-9 Quad Lasers" ?

Edited by Giledhil
Posted at

The least I can do is try and get some play test games in Vassal. Need to get me some B-Wings back on the table.

Posted at

The custom card changes in that link are fantastic. Every single card I saw looked like fun and made a ton of thematic and gameplay sense on paper.

The Advanced Targeting Computer, Firespray, A-Wing, and B-Wing changes are really neat and well thought through.

Agree with what others have said, a Vassal league of some kind is probably your best bet for useful testing.

Edited by Boom Owl
Posted at
8 hours ago, MajorJuggler said:

Anyone want to write a squad builder? :D

I could offer some time for this, we'd need to assemble a team as my time is limited. I could help out with front end stuff if done with React. Few waves back abandoned the idea after creating a prototype (beware: silly screencast) =>

Btw, thanks for the effort, will try out some of the pre-built swarms :ph34r:

Posted at

Anything preventing R2-D2 from stockpiling shield tokens prior to combat and then acting just like normal for the rest of the game? Maybe just start off with a number of shield tokens equal to shield value on R2 card?

Posted at
7 hours ago, Giledhil said:

"S-foils" card will, I think, fail helping the lower PSs pilots gaining firing power, due to the difficulty getting the required TL on initial joust. The rookies will not benefit it a lot (I don't see Academies swarms being much a thing, crack blacks with double-sided Crack Shot seem so much better).
Maybe also the card should have an other name. The offensive buff could be instead inputed to the powerful laser cannons instead of the S-foils. Why not change the card name to "KX-9 Quad Lasers" ?

S-foils does not require a target lock. If this is not obvious then I should consider rewording the card. :) I have a long-ish FAQ for the card that I didn't include, that ideally should not be needed if it is written clearly. Originally the card was simply worded "If you are unstressed when attacking, you may reroll one blank attack die", I added the second trigger so that taking a target lock was not always inferior to simply taking a focus action. Here's the long FAQ:

"Both options (reroll a die or convert all eyes to hits) can only be performed if you are unstressed, and you can only trigger one of these options in an attack, not both. The first effect (rerolling one die) does not require a target lock on the defender. The second effect (convert all <eye> results to <hit> results) does require a target lock on the defender. You may trigger the second effect to convert all <eye> results to <hit> results, and then spend the target lock to reroll any number of dice; any resulting <eye> results from rerolling can no longer be modified again by the second effect (convert all <eye> results to <hit> results) since the target lock has been spent, but can be modified by any other effect such as spending a focus token."

11 hours ago, MajorJuggler said:

S-foils
0 / 0 / 0
Modification. X-wing only.
You may equip one additional different modification. If you are unstressed when attacking, you may either reroll one blank attack die, or, if you have a target lock on the defender you may convert all <eye> results to <hit> results.

2 hours ago, polmoneys said:

I could offer some time for this, we'd need to assemble a team as my time is limited. I could help out with front end stuff if done with React. Few waves back abandoned the idea after creating a prototype (beware: silly screencast) =>

Btw, thanks for the effort, will try out some of the pre-built swarms :ph34r:

Please send me a follow-up email at: [email protected]. I want to forward along to sozin. Actually, anyone else that wants to help on a builder, feel free to just directly email myself and sozin ([email protected]) as well.

Re: TIE Swarms, since the power curve has changed, you should test Community Mod lists vs other community Mod lists, not vs the stock game. So X-wings vs TIE Fighters is a good data point.

2 hours ago, gamblertuba said:

Anything preventing R2-D2 from stockpiling shield tokens prior to combat and then acting just like normal for the rest of the game? Maybe just start off with a number of shield tokens equal to shield value on R2 card?

Hm, good catch! The intent was to only allow one shield on the card, and not stockpile it. I will have to update the wording, thanks!

Edited by MajorJuggler
Posted at
10 minutes ago, MajorJuggler said:

S-foils does not require a target lock. If this is not obvious then I should consider rewording the card. :)

But...but...!! I don't know why I read "when attacking an opponent you have a TL on" !! :D Sorry, reading on my phone when in the tramway doesn't help me, I guess.

Edited by Giledhil
Posted at

Cool stuff! I'm very interested to see how the playtesting goes.

One suggestion I have is to change the "Squint Plating" upgrade card's name to something more thematic (or maybe the name is a placeholder?). 'Squint' was a nickname Rebels had for Interceptors.

Some suggestions:

"Reinforced quadanium panels"

"Reinforced titanium chassis"

Or a very similar, and reasonably thematic alternative:

"Thrawn Refit": Increase your shield value by 1

Edited by Babaganoosh
Posted at
11 hours ago, MajorJuggler said:

Yeah, this is certainly a tradeoff. To get balance better across the board, there needs to be more complexity somewhere. There is no free lunch, it's just a question of how you are going to pay the piper. On the bright side, if there were a squad builder that fully supported this mod, then it would make list-building super easy!

hint hint nudge nudge

Anyone want to write a squad builder? :D

Is there a compelling reason to not just increase the cost of the top tier pilots by a few points under the (almost certainly true) assumption that you're going to be putting upgrades on your aces? While your method is most certainly better balance wise, I wonder if the extra overhead would be worth the slightly more fine tuned balance.

Or, if I may plug an idea that I had a while back to handle a similar issue. What about using a simple color code on the upgrade slots on the pilot cards? If the icon is red, it costs one additional point to equip, if it's black it does not modify the price, and if the icon is green it reduces the cost of the upgrade by one. This would let you fine tune elite pilots by just making more of their upgrades red, while allowing you to give ships like the Bombers access to green munitions, making equipping them cheaper and more flexible.

Just my two cents.