19 minutes ago, Eldercat said:

You mean like the Official FFG tool that was in beta? (I am not sure how literal you are being about an "App," as Voidstate's "App" is a mobile enabled website)

FFG attempted to create an official web tool that managed your collection, built squads, and even could be used to construct missions. It wasn't finished (I am not sure if they intended to add validation checking). The community never took to it because there were third party tools that could do the job better, and FFG stopped updating it.

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2014/8/28/x-wing-tm-mission-control/

So they definitely have the rights to do one.

They failed once, but they better try again. Make it good, and people will use it. Especially since there still isn't one builder that is good for all purposes.

By rights to do, to be clear I mean the that they don’t have the rights to do a digital game. A squad builder or mission builder is probably fair game! (Hopefully it was comply to xws import/export standards like all the other swuadbuilders and tool!)

On 1/26/2018 at 12:31 PM, player2422845 said:

No I strongly disagree

I use libre software , I hate those brand that make apps compulsory.

Also. ARE YOU THAT UN-Thanksfull?!?! Our comunity is ful of great devs that make awsome contents, squad builders etc... All for fun, no datas stolen, no acount needed... Well Thank you ALL THE COMUNITY for all the free uninteresed fun. Sincerely

As the developer of one of the existing squadbuilders, I'm still all for an official FFG one. It doesn't even necessarily kill off other builders if there's things an official one doesn't support or do that people want, third party builders could still fill holes in an official one.

22 hours ago, sozin said:

The can’t make an app because EA has the sole license to do this

Thanks for the kind words to the tech community, and yes you are right, a FFG squad builder would be nice. Sadly given their behavior in Tome, they will likely ignore the xws specification and not try to work at all in the ecosystem that makes everything work. As much it would just make things worse. So be careful what you wish for!

7 hours ago, sozin said:

Sorry by app I meant “game”

EA has the digital game license

Yah, I don't htink anyone is asking for an app version of the actual game (would be fun, but not quite the same), and that's definitely covered by EAs license. An official builder should be fine though, as evidenced by things like the IA app.

5 hours ago, AT Leader said:

Aurora Squad Builder app lets you mix factions.

Lets you add custom cards too

Nintendo clearly is also thinking of the cardboard. Now you to can play with the boxes your games come in, When will FFG Catch up. We need our X-Wing Minatures to come inside of hangerbays.

Minus youre misguided fear of pen and paper I fully agree with the original post. however i sadly believe FFG wont do an app or have at least resisted one for the same reasons they wont sell card packs... short sighted greed. If you can bring a printout to a game you can proxy a card you dont have, and then no buying a 90 dollar raider for palpatine or starviper for autothrusters. Most of us proxy anyway, but FFG cant seem to accept that

Von, dude none of that made sense. Honest to god the app could serve as the single best solution to all the **** erratas and changes as of late.

These guys need to do what corvus belli does for infinity. They have an army builder online and a mobile app that 99% of the player base use. I've been playing infinity for a long time and never heard of anyone writing out their army list on paper. They either get on a computer and make it and print it out or use the mobile app. The great thing about this is we could finally get rid of the stupid cards. Using cards for upgrades and pilots is only to make people buy expansions for cards. With infinity the devs can balance the game, add units, whatever they want like a video game patch so it has a ton of speed.

I'd love if x wing could adopt this so we balance the game faster and better. Imagine if they added new pilots or upgrades to existing ships and we didn't have to wait years for an aces style pack.

If you'e one the few people who don't have access to a computer or printer or a mobile device than honestly I'm willing to sacrifice your ability to play for a better game for the masses. Sorry not sorry!

I'm all for it, but needless to say, they have to do it right. There is already a number of free, fan-made apps out there that nailed player convenience- so if FFG steps in this late in the game with something you may even have to pay for, they will have to be prepared to measure up to what we got.

To me, this means user friendliness- which in turn means that abusing an app in order to release "hotfixes" for ship balance, throttling players into getting it to stay up to date has to be out of the question. I get that some people like to drone on and on that the only way forward is 2.0, but so far FFG has been very deliberate in their fix attempts. Bottom line, the ease of digital fixes must not lead into more rapid, more drastic FAQs.

I've been saying this since the last NerF.A.Q. (not to be confused with the latest F.A.Q.). If they want to treat their table top game as some sort of online games as service where they can go in and update things on already printed and distributed items then they better put out necessary products or services to accommodate such changes . Merely having an F.A.Q. on the website is not enough .

2 hours ago, DampfGecko said:

To me, this means user friendliness- which in turn means that abusing an app in order to release "hotfixes" for ship balance, throttling players into getting it to stay up to date has to be out of the question. I get that some people like to drone on and on that the only way forward is 2.0, but so far FFG has been very deliberate in their fix attempts. Bottom line, the ease of digital fixes must not lead into more rapid, more drastic FAQs.

Dota 2 is one of the most popular MOBAs. Its free 2 play (no paywalls for power). Anyways, they have multiple patches per week to balance the game. Why? The game needs balancing. If they waited 3 months for balance patches, the game would simply die as players would just go play a game that actively patches for balance.

I really do not understand why FFG cannot leverage the same tools as a video game. An online app (web and mobile based) bridges the gap of tabletop games and video games in terms of patching. If FFG put out a weekly patch, how is that 'abusing' the technology? If anything that should be celebrated. A weekly patch that fixes problems. This would be amazing for the community.

2 hours ago, DampfGecko said:

I'm all for it, but needless to say, they have to do it right. There is already a number of free, fan-made apps out there that nailed player convenience- so if FFG steps in this late in the game with something you may even have to pay for, they will have to be prepared to measure up to what we got.

To me, this means user friendliness- which in turn means that abusing an app in order to release "hotfixes" for ship balance, throttling players into getting it to stay up to date has to be out of the question. I get that some people like to drone on and on that the only way forward is 2.0, but so far FFG has been very deliberate in their fix attempts. Bottom line, the ease of digital fixes must not lead into more rapid, more drastic FAQs.

FFG's fixing measures are abysmal and outdated.

51 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Von, dude none of that made sense. Honest to god the app could serve as the single best solution to all the **** erratas and changes as of late.

52 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

Von, dude none of that made sense. Honest to god the app could serve as the single best solution to all the **** erratas and changes as of late.

I completely agree it would fix the game. Im literally saying i think its a good Idea and that it is the obvious solution. unfortunately, FFG has a financial incentive not to do it, which is that they make money selling expansion packs to people who only need one or 2 cards. their business model is to encourage people to buy everything so that they can play with the pilots and upgrades they want. they sell $40 packs that are nothing but fixes for existing expansions, i dont see them giving that up anytime soon. maybe Ill be pleasantly surprised though.

how does that not make sense?

I think an app is a great idea, and I think that if FFG has released them for some of their other games, then surely and X-Wing app has to be something they are looking into.

I agree with many of the points raised in this thread, and think that an app is a logical way to handle card erratas. But I also agree with @Vontoothskie , FFG would be crazy to give everyone access to every card in the game (and as many copies of those cards as they want). How many people on this forum have bought a ship they wouldn't have normally bothered with, just to get hold of a card that comes in the box? I know I have. FFG would lose tons of money if they gave everyone access to all the cards. But saying this, I definitely hope an app is in the works.

One thing I would love to see in an app is missions. As a casual player I love the missions and think that an app would be the perfect way for FFG to give us more. I think that this would also mean any app would appeal to both casual and tournament players alike.

58 minutes ago, The Mighty Boushh said:

I think an app is a great idea, and I think that if FFG has released them for some of their other games, then surely and X-Wing app has to be something they are looking into.

I agree with many of the points raised in this thread, and think that an app is a logical way to handle card erratas. But I also agree with @Vontoothskie , FFG would be crazy to give everyone access to every card in the game (and as many copies of those cards as they want). How many people on this forum have bought a ship they wouldn't have normally bothered with, just to get hold of a card that comes in the box? I know I have. FFG would lose tons of money if they gave everyone access to all the cards. But saying this, I definitely hope an app is in the works.

One thing I would love to see in an app is missions. As a casual player I love the missions and think that an app would be the perfect way for FFG to give us more. I think that this would also mean any app would appeal to both casual and tournament players alike.

yeah a mission or campain tracker like Imperial Assault has would be great!

I hope they make the app too, so many cool directions it could go. a campaign were each player has an evolving hotac style ship and seems like a no-brainer too

12 hours ago, Rexler Brath said:

Dota 2 is one of the most popular MOBAs. Its free 2 play (no paywalls for power). Anyways, they have multiple patches per week to balance the game. Why? The game needs balancing. If they waited 3 months for balance patches, the game would simply die as players would just go play a game that actively patches for balance.

I really do not understand why FFG cannot leverage the same tools as a video game. An online app (web and mobile based) bridges the gap of tabletop games and video games in terms of patching. If FFG put out a weekly patch, how is that 'abusing' the technology? If anything that should be celebrated. A weekly patch that fixes problems. This would be amazing for the community.

The weekly patch as a phenomenon does not abuse anything, obviously. However, and this is where I'd advocate in favour of careful consideration, it enables an "anything goes" mindset that could end in rapid balance swings that immediately have to be undone. This, too, partially happened in some MOBAs (even though I don't know about Dota 2).

Like I said, I am not at all against an App or even "Hot Fixes". I am against less thoughtful measures that exist solely to appease the screamers. MOBAs are not exactly known for their mellow community, and I would not like to see this one deteriorate to a state that even remotely resembles, for example, LoL. The "abuse" comes in if one just turns the balance crank to appease the latest craze immediately- this rarely works in the long haul and does not exactly resemble a healthy customer relationship, more like a hostage situation one way or the other. This can of course be avoided, you just have to make sure that it is.

As far as I'm concerned, FFG should have released an official App long ago, but releasing it now warrants a mindset that however you want to tackle FAQs in the future, they will need to favour quality over quantity. As long as this is the case, there is no reason at all to advocate against an app.

On 1/26/2018 at 8:30 PM, sozin said:

The can’t make an app because EA has the sole license to do this

Thanks for the kind words to the tech community, and yes you are right, a FFG squad builder would be nice. Sadly given their behavior in Tome, they will likely ignore the xws specification and not try to work at all in the ecosystem that makes everything work. As much it would just make things worse. So be careful what you wish for!

I get what you are saying, EA has sole license for 'Star Wars digital entertainment products' or the like.. But since they made an app for Imperial Assault, they clearly have license to make apps for their own games. Also there are Licensed apps on the Google play store, so EA clearly does not have exclusive rights in this case.

I like plastic ships. I like rolling dice. I like judging distance and sometimes getting it right.

Keep those things.

Otherwise, bring it into the 21st Century. Anything that isn't within that 3x3 area, digitize it.

Make it so.

It really should not be difficult for an app to take a picture of your cards, one ship at a time, and create a digital copy of that list. Maybe have to go one card at a time. (Such a system already exists for big CCG's.) This would take care of folks that don't have a smartphone. Just spread your cards out on the table, TO spends 1 minute scanning across the cards and populates your digital list.

Something I would like to see right now from our fan-made squadbuilders is either red text or a little info window that highlights any errata'd text on cards included in a list.

I don‘t know where the objections come from. I can only assume that you are misunderstanding @Boba Rick , because otherwise it wouldn‘t make sense... we‘re talking about an official version of the squadbuilders.

1. Currently FFG requires a complete list from you if you want to play in an official tournament. I guess that a vast majority is using a squad builder made by someone for free as a hobby. I use @fab74 s YASB when I‘m at a computer, and @VanderLegion s Aurora on the phone, and they are both awesome! For people who bemoan a possible necessity of an app: Show me the person who did not print his list from a squadbuilder when entering a tournament? I did once because I forgot my printout at home. But who does so intentionally?
2. even IF you want to use a handwritten sheet: that is also ok. As long as you fill in the correct names and points.
3. You still need to buy everything. The idea is not to get rid of the tabletop aspect. You still need all the cards and ships and tokens. Nothing changes there. No app game, no digital version of X-wing. That‘s not the topic. A squadbuilder is.
4. There is no need for it to cost anything. FFG has made free apps before. Also, they have made apps before, so no reason to believe that this would drastically slow down expansions.
5. There is no reason why an app would ever be compulsory. Bringing a correct list should always be an option, even it it is written by hand.

There are some very few points on why this might have drawbacks:

• Too frequent fixes are one, but that‘s farfetched considering how slow they are now.
• They might touch point cost, which will invalidate cards to some degree. But this is exactly the same as changes in the texts, or the upgrade bar. It‘s one aspect of the card, and it‘s open to change.
• FFG could insist that you use their squad builder if you don‘t write the squad by hand. But as long as they allow an analog option there is no problem.

12 hours ago, Vontoothskie said:

I completely agree it would fix the game. Im literally saying i think its a good Idea and that it is the obvious solution. unfortunately, FFG has a financial incentive not to do it, which is that they make money selling expansion packs to people who only need one or 2 cards. their business model is to encourage people to buy everything so that they can play with the pilots and upgrades they want. they sell $40 packs that are nothing but fixes for existing expansions, i dont see them giving that up anytime soon. maybe Ill be pleasantly surprised though.

how does that not make sense?

FFG would still require people to bring the actual cards with them to a tournament, it's just that some of the cards themselves would actually be different than what they say (Kinda like Biggs and Jumpmasters).

Yeah, I think they could have an official App, paid even.
So it can get hacked too.

Hortan Salm would have an EPT.

As long as it's free, I'm down.

On ‎1‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 6:50 PM, dewbie420 said:

As long as it's free, I'm down.

Have you ever played Imperial Assault? The new IA app is free and it's fantastic.

It would make sense for FFG to have an X-Wing squad builder, if only to make user data readily available to them, both from tournaments and from the mass of non-tournament players out there still playing games and building squads.

That said, I'll provide the sad and cautionary tale of Dungeons & Dragons. D&D made a subscription-based character builder in 4th edition (packaged with some digital content). In 5th edition, they've changed their model to giving away the digital magazines and selling the character builder a la carte. You buy the base builder with the core options and every time they release additional content, you can choose to buy as much as the entire new release or as little as a single character option or weapon for a few dollars. It sounds crazy, but they say things along the lines of: "Hey, people buy a digital song for 3 bucks, why not a digital sword!" By the way, in both 4th edition and 5th, they didn't care if you bought the print book, you still had to buy all the digital stuff separately.

So, imagine a world where you buy all the physical ships with the new cards and then have to buy their digital versions separately to have access to them in the official builder. This sounds nefarious, but D&D is doing this and they're not the only one.

I know Boba is envisioning a free character builder like many of the ones available online, but when a company has to justify development and maintenance costs for software, you get into a slippery slope! The fact that there is a free IA one available is a good sign that FFG isn't entirely motivated by huge corporate interests like D&D, but adding more and more software makes charging something tempting.