I am and have been confused as to why the ship bases/tokens (the black square cardboard, whatever they are called) are marked with the pilot name, PS/I, etc. In my mind, just having an X-wing, TIE Fighter, YV-666, whatever base would make it easier. Actually, why not just have the arcs printed on there with no ship-specific stuff? Put 10 of each size (S, M, L) in the starter kit and you are good to go.

You could mark your ships like you do now with the numbered chits and there should be no confusion on which is which. You could also put some Initiative marker around the peg if that would help. Seems so much more efficient, easier to organize and store, and could maybe even help cut costs (a little) by not having to print a lot of cardboard that, as most people will say, never gets used.

I first thought of it when playing HotAC by my self. I'm not the only one that has thought of this either, as I have seen it mentioned on other threads and sites. It's a serious question that I would love for someone to explain to me the reason for "named" ship bases.

6 minutes ago, thomedwards said:

I am and have been confused as to why the ship bases/tokens (the black square cardboard, whatever they are called) are marked with the pilot name, PS/I, etc. In my mind, just having an X-wing, TIE Fighter, YV-666, whatever base would make it easier. Actually, why not just have the arcs printed on there with no ship-specific stuff? Put 10 of each size (S, M, L) in the starter kit and you are good to go.

You could mark your ships like you do now with the numbered chits and there should be no confusion on which is which. You could also put some Initiative marker around the peg if that would help. Seems so much more efficient, easier to organize and store, and could maybe even help cut costs (a little) by not having to print a lot of cardboard that, as most people will say, never gets used.

I first thought of it when playing HotAC by my self. I'm not the only one that has thought of this either, as I have seen it mentioned on other threads and sites. It's a serious question that I would love for someone to explain to me the reason for "named" ship bases.

It.

Makes.

You.

Pay.

For.

Them.

Seriously.

Easy and/or cheap options are hardly in the business interest now, right?

Honestly I’m surprised the dials are generic.

5 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

It.

Makes.

You.

Pay.

For.

Them.

Seriously.

Easy and/or cheap options are hardly in the business interest now, right?

Honestly I’m surprised the dials are generic.

Well, when I mentioned the potential for cutting costs, I meant from FFG's point of view. In just one blister, sure, it's a small amount that won't amount to much. But when you look at how many blisters are printed as a whole, that will add up. Really, if I think about it, I could see where there wouldn't need to be any cardboard in a blister at all. And they don't have to extend those savings to us--they could just leave the price the same. You're still getting a really nice model and some upgrade cards. I seriously doubt anyone would complain the price is too high if there weren't another 5 shield, 2 critical, 3 focus, etc in there. (Or would they...?)

I think it's for at a glance knowledge, they pulled off all the stuff you don't need to see while playing.

It's nice to just look down at the table and know all the pilot skills of every ship. I don't want to play or play against at a 7 ship tie swarm and have to cross reference the number tokens to pilots cards every turn as the ships change position.

As to pilots, that is also nice to see at a glance. I don't want to ask witch one of your x-wings is Luke every turn.

20 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

It.

Makes.

You.

Pay.

For.

Them.

Seriously.

Easy and/or cheap options are hardly in the business interest now, right?

Honestly I’m surprised the dials are generic.

This.

Especially now that we know they are not putting enough bases in the conversion kits to match the dials they are providing. This makes swarm players buy more conversion kits if they want to play in Organized Play.

41 minutes ago, Tvboy said:

This.

Especially now that we know they are not putting enough bases in the conversion kits to match the dials they are providing. This makes swarm players buy more conversion kits if they want to play in Organized Play.

Depending on how many ships will be flown, there should be no need to buy more than 2 conversion kits for a single faction.

Just now, Marinealver said:

Depending on how many ships will be flow, there should be no need to buy more than 2 conversion kits for a single faction.

It would be very weird if you could only fly 4 A-Wings in a list if you can also fly 4 X-Wings in a list.

33 minutes ago, Marinealver said:

Depending on how many ships will be flown, there should be no need to buy more than 2 conversion kits for a single faction.

So tell me, how do I run 5 Green Squadron A Wings with 2 conversion kits? Or 8 Z-95s?

Initiative seems like something you want out there. So does the rest of that info on the base. Like is that Luke or is that a rookie? That’s not something you want either player to easily confuse.

Actually, if you really wanted to cut costs at FFG, why not just redesign the base to have the arcs and other markings on the base, no need for cardboard at all. only need like 10 of each size, maybe double that if you collect for two factions to play at home or whatever. There would also be the secondary benefit of the cardboard not deteriorating over time.

What about ships with different primary arcs, eg rear, 180°, or none?

5 hours ago, mazz0 said:

What about ships with different primary arcs, eg rear, 180°, or none?

acrylic overlays?

I've been thinking a lot about this recently with all the kerfuffle from the 2.0 conversion. All you really need is the firing arcs (bullseye, auxiliary and normal) and the centre line for barrel rolls. To be totally honest, you don't even NEED the firing arcs. You can just measure corner to corner. The printed arcs just make it a little easier to work stuff out in the middle of the game. And Initiative. As mentioned above, it would be extremely tiresome having to cross reference each ship by numbers to work out which one was the I6, which the I5, etc. And just having the Initiative on the base would make it easier to work out which pilot was which because generally, you're only going to have one or two at say, I6. When you see that 6 on the base, you know that one is Soontir, for example.

So I'm thinking it shouldn't be hard to paint the arcs onto the bases, as well as the centre lines, removing the need for carboard altogether. Then you could just add little pilot skill tokens which fit, say, into the slot for the ship number, or that slot over the peg-hole (where the cardboard would normally sit). In fact, once you've removed the need for cardboard on the base you could just buy third party bases that don't have the grooves on the side, since their only purpose is to hold the cardboard in place. Then the bases could be slimmer, painted in matt colours to minimise their intrusion into the game, and the focus becomes about the ships.

Corsec engineering does bases, as does Litko. You could make templates from one or two of the cardboard bases to make sure you get the lines right. Then there's no more hunting for baseplates every game either.

11 hours ago, Khyros said:

So tell me, how do I run 5 Green Squadron A Wings with 2 conversion kits? Or 8 Z-95s?

4 talas and 4 bandits, or just get 5 A-wing packs. Sorry but 5x(green squadron + test pilot(0) + snap shot + juke + (-2)chardaan) = 105 so it wasn't like 5 green squadron pilots were running the table other than Vassal.

I don't know what is going to be required or how much. All I know is what was ran in 1st edition and it is only a guess on how many ships can be ran in 2.0 * TIE Fighters were the "swarm list and it was 4 Academy and 4 Black which looks like 2 conversion kits can fill no problem. 6 Academy and Howlrunner might be tricky, but then again with the pricing we might be able to run 16 TIE FIghters then well of course 2 conversion kits won't do. You will need 4 of them.

So you might need 3, or you might be searching ebay for those dumping off all the additional cardboard because they bought 2 Scum conversion kits but only have 3 Jumpmasters and they don't want to get a 4th. Or you don't want to play 2.0 at all in which case go on ahead. Those that want to play with our $60-$100 huge ships will still be playing 1st edition (do you relay think we dropped $100 only for a single upgrade card?). I'm sure what ever choice you make you will figure it out.

I think that many folks will just cover the name on the tile. Looking theough baggies for that 1 tile is annoying.