2 minutes ago, HolySorcerer said:

Yes.

Both the general idea and your examples are problematic.

The general idea:

• how do you handle these squad points in a time where a single point can decide over win or loss?
• Giving such a game changing mechanic to just one faction needs either something similar or equal for the others (squad leaders for rebels, contracts for scum for example), which is then just semantics as all get conceptually the same, or it‘s just a bad idea

Your examples:

Swarms need a reliable way to deal low amounts of damage, not lowered costs. Unless you want to help just one specific type

Your elite would bring PS12 QD and Vader. Just no.

Your Palp opens ridiculous lists. Soontir+Kylo+Palp? Really?

or, to repeat myself and make it short: No

2 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

Giving such a game changing mechanic to just one faction needs either something similar or equal for the others (squad leaders for rebels, contracts for scum for example), which is then just semantics as all get conceptually the same, or it‘s just a bad idea

I dunno, don't Scum already have Illicits and Salvaged Astros? Rebels have Astromechs. Rebels and Scum have regen. I don't think it's unreasonable for Empire to have something that the others don't. We're not saying it needs to be uber powerful, but I'm sure a balanced set of Doctrines could be introduced.

5 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

Both the general idea and your examples are problematic.

The general idea:

• how do you handle these squad points in a time where a single point can decide over win or loss?
• Giving such a game changing mechanic to just one faction needs either something similar or equal for the others (squad leaders for rebels, contracts for scum for example), which is then just semantics as all get conceptually the same, or it‘s just a bad idea

Your examples:

Swarms need a reliable way to deal low amounts of damage, not lowered costs. Unless you want to help just one specific type

Your elite would bring PS12 QD and Vader. Just no.

Your Palp opens ridiculous lists. Soontir+Kylo+Palp? Really?

or, to repeat myself and make it short: No

Agreed, the Empire just got their prized Star Wing and still need to find something to complain about.

In response to doctrine, it can be adopted and utilized by anyone. Think about any military force throughout history... they encounter something that works well and they adopt/modify their tactics to reflect what works. So to say doctrine needs to be an option, it should be faction independent.

8 minutes ago, MUrunner20 said:

Agreed, the Empire just got their prized Star Wing and still need to find something to complain about.

In response to doctrine, it can be adopted and utilized by anyone. Think about any military force throughout history... they encounter something that works well and they adopt/modify their tactics to reflect what works. So to say doctrine needs to be an option, it should be faction independent.

Yeah. Empire loyalist here. I got no complaints. I can run a tie(sure it's an sf but repaint the sucker and she looks like most any other tie) and some gunboats and have a solid (some crying OP) list.

Or I can just Palo aces as we've been seeing them do well.

Yes rebels have regen/astro. Scum has regen/salvaged.

Empire has slamfiring missiles and a ridiculous amount of ps11. That's our "doctrine" as far as I can tell

55 minutes ago, HolySorcerer said:

How about a Mara Jade card that doesn't suck?

Heh, That's what the "but...yeah" was for.

55 minutes ago, HolySorcerer said:

The Empire should get sole access to Doctrine upgrade cards that affects all of their ships on the board.

I do think this has potential and does work to give the Empire a unique upgrade they can work with.

Now, as I have said else where, I think most of the benefits and characteristics that a Doctrine upgrade could give could be done by Squadron upgrade cards. I personally think it's a preferable way to get this effect and can be used to buff under powered ships across the factions.

edit: a quick disclaimer to say that both ideas would need careful testing and balancing to get right.

Giant spheroid laser gun platforms, but without straight-line exhaust ports, and access ducts just narrower than a YT-1300 transport.

Different fronts, all need to be adressed:

• A review on the game rules. Adding an extra defense dice against attacks outside the firing arc (nerf to the turrets) and some nerf to how bombs work would help a lot the Empire.
• More exclusive upgrades (specially crew). More defensive EPTs.
• More ships that are not in the two main Imperial categories: fragile/agile dog(TIE)fighters and slow/clumsy shuttles.

We should build another Death Star!

BUT WAIT!

HEAR ME OUT!

this time, we make it even bigger.

what could go wrong?

1 hour ago, Kieransi said:

We should build another Death Star!

BUT WAIT!

HEAR ME OUT!

this time, we make it even bigger.

what could go wrong?

We don't have the funds to build another.

But what if we hollowed out an entire planet and turned it into an even bigger superlaser thingy? That's a lot more logical, isn't it?

33 minutes ago, Alpha17 said:

We don't have the funds to build another.

But what if we hollowed out an entire planet and turned it into an even bigger superlaser thingy? That's a lot more logical, isn't it?

But then how would we paint it black?

4 minutes ago, Dax12387 said:

But then how would we paint it black?

These guys seem to have the right idea.

8 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

Squadron mechanics so that generic pilots help each other in combat.

I'm down with anything that encourages a more "unified" list instead of the pick-one-of-every-ship style list that seems important (and feels ridiculous for the Empire).

I mean, say, a new 'squadron' card that you buy with your regular list points. Something like "Standard Fighter Squadron: If your list consists of 4 or more ships of the same type, with the same pilot skill, each ship may spend tokens from any other friendly ship as if they were their own"

I know it's a little... I dont want to say arrogant, but maybe that's correct, so sure - maybe it's a little arrogant to say this, but I think I know pretty much exactly what the imperial faction needs. It's pretty straightforward, and should, and only has a few steps.

1. Imperial players stop whinging.

2. With the forums not full of people crying about how bad the Imperials are, more players start picking up RAClo, PS11 Harpoon Vader, Quickdraw, TIE/D and mk7, Omega Leader, the Inquisitor, Palpatine and Kylo.

3. With more players playing these amazing, and in some cases borderline OP/NPE inducing ships, Imperials will start winning more tournaments.

Simple!

8 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

Squadron mechanics so that generic pilots help each other in combat.

This^.

Squadron bonuses for same class ship lists, through something like a squadron leader card that can be ([redeployed] Destiny term) to another ship if the leader is defeated.

Something along the lines of the Resistance Bomber title, but ship based, and with a little more gusto.

Also +1 defense on out of arc shots, like others have mentioned.

Few of my ideas;

Specialist Console

TIE Only Modification

1 pt.

Gain a crew slot. You may not equip uniqe crew.

Navy Quartermaster

Imperial Only; crew slot

Your action bar gains the reload action. When you use the reload action, you may flip over bomb upgrade cards.

2 points

Bomb Racks

TIE Striker Title

Gain a bomb slot

0 pts

Tactical Sacrifice

Elite talent; Imperial Only

When you are assigned a damage cards, you may transer up to two to an allied ship at range 1.

2 Points

Endless Ranks

TIE only; Title

May not be equipped on unique pilots.

10 points

when a ship with this card is destroyed, discard this card along with all damage cards along with any other upgrade cards. Place this ship at range 1 of the Starting edge.

Chaff

bomb slot; 1 point

At the beginning of the compare results step, you may discard this card to assign an evade token.

Swarm Defense

Elite; 1 point

When defending, you may spend an evade token from an ally ship at range 1. You may spend up to two evade tokens per attack.

2 hours ago, MacchuWA said:

I know it's a little... I dont want to say arrogant, but maybe that's correct, so sure - maybe it's a little arrogant to say this, but I think I know pretty much exactly what the imperial faction needs. It's pretty straightforward, and should, and only has a few steps.

1. Imperial players stop whinging.

2. With the forums not full of people crying about how bad the Imperials are, more players start picking up RAClo, PS11 Harpoon Vader, Quickdraw, TIE/D and mk7, Omega Leader, the Inquisitor, Palpatine and Kylo.

3. With more players playing these amazing, and in some cases borderline OP/NPE inducing ships, Imperials will start winning more tournaments.

Simple!

Just to be clear, no where in the OP did @Fuzzywookie complain about the state of the Empire in the game.

Nor have most people in this thread.

But as an Imperial loyalist, unless the game dies before Wave IV, I do have a wishlist of things I'd like to see in the game.

Then again, maybe you think all those brats that write letters to Santa are whingers, too.

If we're talking about "balancing out" the factions, I don't think a "new" thing is needed for the Empire. Having like, special tricks and gimmicks isn't really their feel, and much like I think people saying "System should have been imperial only" I think the idea of a universal like "Squadron" or "Force" or "Tactic" upgrade to all ships should not be unique to them either. At best the empire's move is to pour lots of money into an exotic prototype which inevitably is blown up by the heroes, but I'm assuming you pure imperial players have made your peace with that. You could turn that into a thing, but then the Rebels would just steal it.

In terms of just, general stuff, I think the Empire could us A( a cheap, single-slot crew carrier, they're the only faction that doesn't do it - the TIE Shuttle is nice but it's kind of warping something else to do a new thing which has it's drawbacks (in addition to the intrinsic drawback of TIE shuttle, which caps points and means no secondary weapons. Even HWKs can field a turret) so a dedicated ship could be useful, and thus B( need more Imperial specific crew (including uniques) to bring specific advantages which will help imperial ships, specifically.

Also they could use a Heavy Bomber which isn't quite such a mess.

What the heck is a whinger?

5 minutes ago, Fuzzywookie said:

What the heck is a whinger?

Recent imperial success is due to harpoons mostly.

10 hours ago, Fuzzywookie said:

What the heck is a whinger?

Not to be confused with Kyp Durron:

between unguided and trajectory, the Punisher could be a dang solid ship if only it wasn't made of paper

it really deserves a TIE/IT title that just gives it a free evade result when defending against an attacker inside its firing arc (basically perma reinFOREce)

Poor Tie Fighters have gotten so screwed over the course of the waves. Personally can't fly them (green dice), but it'd be really nice to see such an iconic swarm ship actually merit inclusion in lists. Outmanuever really needs to be implemented as a base rule if 2-dice primary only ships are ever going to see any play. It'd also be real neat to see them get basically Xizor's pilot ability, but only affecting another friendly TIE Fighter, reflecting how difficult it is to focus on any of them while they're swarming around you.

Problem being that Quickdraw is technically a Tie Fighter for game purposes, so that's probably some bull

Imp spray is basically gone. Its pilots' abilities are just far too situational

i still find it hilarious how people say the Punisher even with LWF is a paper airplane and dies in a second, yet the Scurrg is somehow tough to crack
Scurrg is fixed at 1agi w/o bodyguard around and it only has +1 overall hp. Thats not tankier....thats squishier when factoring LWF. 9HP 2Agi > 10hp 1Agi.

Deathrain survives quite a lot for me now. And the way he works i dont care how beaten up he got, long as he survived. The amount of times he had 1 hp left and still caused a ton of pain because he didnt die is absurd.

I just want my tie fighter swarm to be good again

58 minutes ago, Vineheart01 said:

i still find it hilarious how people say the Punisher even with LWF is a paper airplane and dies in a second, yet the Scurrg is somehow tough to crack
Scurrg is fixed at 1agi w/o bodyguard around and it only has +1 overall hp. Thats not tankier....thats squishier when factoring LWF. 9HP 2Agi > 10hp 1Agi.

I don't get it either. The SCURRG is an easy 1 to 2 round kill, only point of difficulty being its ps 10 arcdodging

But the SCURRG does have that and a turret, so the punisher could do with more things