So the list of ships in need is fairly long at this point, and even some previously directly buffed ships still seem to be falling quite short (looking at you Kihraxz), and others were inexplicably not given a buff when they could have used one and there was a clear opportunity to do so (Tie Shittle is nice, but not a buff).

It seems we are at the point where we need more indirect buffs to these ships. B-wings, G1-As, interceptors, Punishers, U-wing to name a few of the others.

We may have seen a few attempts at these indirect buffs already. One such instance I can think of is bomblet generator and trajectory simulator for the Punisher.

Issue is, when you give these type of “buffs”, it usually ends up just helping the ships that are already good (as these all helped the Scurrg).

So what are some ideas the community has for indirectly buffing ships in need WITHOUT buffing the ships that don’t need it?

Well, Titles could use an overhaul. First off, there are really two kinds of titles. Named titles indicating a unique ship and non-unique titles which indicate a particular variant of that ship.

These two titles should be separated. Keep Titles as the named unique ships. Like Millennium Falcon or Hounds Tooth.

Titles like TIE/x7, Star Viper Mk2, etc... These should be renamed to something like "Configurations" and allow a ship to have two Configurations. This way we would have some more granularity in what we can do with just what we now call Titles.

8 minutes ago, BadMotivator said:

Well, Titles could use an overhaul. First off, there are really two kinds of titles. Named titles indicating a unique ship and non-unique titles which indicate a particular variant of that ship.

These two titles should be separated. Keep Titles as the named unique ships. Like Millennium Falcon or Hounds Tooth.

Titles like TIE/x7, Star Viper Mk2, etc... These should be renamed to something like "Configurations" and allow a ship to have two Configurations. This way we would have some more granularity in what we can do with just what we now call Titles.

I like that. That also opens up getting new configurations for Firesprays without limiting access to Slave 1 or Andresta titles.

11 minutes ago, BadMotivator said:

Well, Titles could use an overhaul. First off, there are really two kinds of titles. Named titles indicating a unique ship and non-unique titles which indicate a particular variant of that ship.

These two titles should be separated. Keep Titles as the named unique ships. Like Millennium Falcon or Hounds Tooth.

Titles like TIE/x7, Star Viper Mk2, etc... These should be renamed to something like "Configurations" and allow a ship to have two Configurations. This way we would have some more granularity in what we can do with just what we now call Titles.

I don't know that having more than one configuration really makes sense, as the whole point of one configuration is that it's not a different configuration (unlike, say, having two modifications).

Being able to have both a configuration and a title might be nice, though.

1 hour ago, Kdubb said:

So what are some ideas the community has for indirectly buffing ships in need WITHOUT buffing the ships that don’t need it?

I really don't think you can. There are just too many moving parts at this point to test everything and be 100% sure there isn't a "mad synergy" hiding somewhere.

I think the best strategy is one like the StarWing. . .build in multiple variants of the ship thru titles, or like the Kihrazx adding a very targeted buff that doesn't break the chassis.

Also, without a targeted buff, you get ships like the Punisher that should be better with all the new gear, but just still don't have the right combo of pizzazz to make them better.

22 minutes ago, BadMotivator said:

Well, Titles could use an overhaul. First off, there are really two kinds of titles. Named titles indicating a unique ship and non-unique titles which indicate a particular variant of that ship.

These two titles should be separated. Keep Titles as the named unique ships. Like Millennium Falcon or Hounds Tooth.

Titles like TIE/x7, Star Viper Mk2, etc... These should be renamed to something like "Configurations" and allow a ship to have two Configurations. This way we would have some more granularity in what we can do with just what we now call Titles.

This is an awesome idea.

Each ship can have one Configuration and one Title. It would also offer the possibilities of something like:

T-65B configuration and Red 5 (or Red Squadron) title for X-Wings.

The "Configuration" idea is pretty solid. Title is one of those mechanics which was clearly meant to be one thing and has since been stretched by the needs of the game, since no matter what, every ship can equip a Title without needing to worry about printed icons, and there's so far no worry that a generic type, like the Modification slot, cluttering it up across ships. It's a huge boon in the form of a targeted buff or fix, like DM says. If you could add that and also not have to worry about taking away from the possibility of more unique, named ships (ala Black One) could be pretty good.

I'm gonna agree with @JJ48 though, while a Title+Configuration works, x2 Configurations should not be the default. Think about it. You can't TIE/D and TIE/x7 at the same time. Mechanically, you can't do this because x7 removes the slots which TIE/D takes advantage of. Logically in the fluff you can't do this because TIE/D is supposed to be the finished model with the sub-systems in, /x7 is the prototype which doesn't have those systems (hence why it strips their icons) though it's supposed to be a bit faster because of it.

Titles/configurations really do seem to be the way to go about helping specific ships. Configurations like an XJ X-Wing title that gives a T-65 improved stats, or a Series IV E-Wing that makes them chassis cheaper would work, especially if you had some titles like Rogue or Blackmoon Leader that either was intended to be used with specific pilots (Luke, Wedge) or only on generics. (Blackmoon Squadron pilot)

How about ship-specific upgrades on slots that never get used on that ship?

38 minutes ago, Celestial Lizards said:

How about ship-specific upgrades on slots that never get used on that ship?

I think this is the best way to go. Charden refit is such a great card. So many ships have slots they never use, and could be used to fix just that ship.

2 hours ago, BadMotivator said:

Well, Titles could use an overhaul. First off, there are really two kinds of titles. Named titles indicating a unique ship and non-unique titles which indicate a particular variant of that ship..

And some titles are actually ailerons.

If FFG wants to buff ships without requiring titles all they need to do is issue errata for the ship cards. I mean they have already done it so there is a precedent. Only make the changes to certain ships if that's all the problem.

39 minutes ago, skotothalamos said:

And some titles are actually ailerons.

This is what I mean though when I said Titles were pushed to do something not originally intended to help the game.

So, you're making X-Wing. You want every ship of the same time to have a particular unique ability to that ship, but it's not necessarily an Action, a Maneuver on the dial or a specific combination of colored numbers. How do you do this? Now, you could do a Modification, because every ship has that, but then you have to worry about sucking up it's ability to take all modifications. You can't put it in the text on the ship card, pilots need that space and generics have never had it used this way. The Title is the only type of upgrade freed up by the game to allow you to attach specific mechanics to a ship, even without it being a fix. This is one of those flaws X-Wing has because it was more popular than imagined, the original design didn't account for a way for a ship to do different things in the mechanic besides what was printed on the card - and the card was designed only to cover actions, pilot ability, upgrades and colored numbers.

Legion is an example of this design evolving, their unit cards are double-sided. They can stick extra rules text (like for weapons) on the back, and the unit itself has plenty of room for personal keywords on the front. Give it a couple years and they won't need to explain common keywords since Wave 1 if they need more space.