With the thread discussing the show in the off topic, I decided to start one here SPECIFICALLY geared towards x-wing, and where these ships fit in to the game and how they would work.

Without linking everything here, the official databank has some good, and new, pictures of the craft and pilots. Link below so you can read up.

Star Wars Databank

So.. assuming you have read up, it seems these new ships are all unique (as are the pilots). We have 5 aces; Yellow, Red, Green, Black, and Blue as well as the hero’s (Kaz) ship, Fireball.

The general gist of the aces role is the pilots are tasked with defending the Colossus fueling station, but between actual missions, they race.

X-wing wise these ships are a goldmine, assuming they end up in an existing faction - which going by the name implies the Resistance, but story wise we don't know anything concrete yet, as well as the series being set before the Force Awakens.

While the ships could certainly show up in x-wing, the real question is should they? Now this is not a debate about the look of the show, please take that elsewhere, but rather if the idea and gameplay of x-wing is a fit with what the show is going to portray.

While the above aces are (and will certainly) be involved in combat, one of the major plot points is the racing. Now as these ships are all unique and thus only have one pilot, individual expansions are going to be light on content. Sure, there would be upgrade cards but random pilots dont makes sense thematically. The options I see are: don't make the ships (the worst option), have expansions with only one pilot, add in random non-existant pilots (the second worst option) or, and I feel the best option, do a 6 ship box set.

Now, this box set will still be light on content pilot wise, but I think this could be a great idea for FFG to do the Aturi Style campaign that so many of us love, as well as expand the gameplay mode for tournaments.

With the focus of these ships being racing, and thus speed, some of the core concepts don't work with native x-wing - namely initiative. As a race is generally the first past the post, slower pilot get to move first and thus would win. This leads me to believe that IF these ships show up they would have to be relegated to the basic 200/6 x-wing mode or a new game entirely must be created for racing - which is not a bad thing in my mind.

If a new game style was created, that of racing, I think there would have to be a ton of customizing for pilots. Were it up to me, I would do this racing box set as having these 6 aces as being created and detailed specifically for this game mode. (As well as having basic x-wing ship stats). The game would have to be redesigned somewhat, changes to initiative, but most of the mechanics could translate easily maneuvers, templates, damage cards, upgrades.

But what would be the biggest part about this game, and could work with both x-wing standard and what I will call rally mode is the custom pilot creation.

See, while these six pilots and their ships are great, there are so many other ships in x-wing standard that could get new life in the rally game. Many of us have a favourite ship. Imagine if this Rally game gave us the option to make our unique pilot and fly them in any ship availiable? You could start with a chassis TIE, x-wing, Scyk, etc and customize it for the racing mode. A tournament could literally be a race - and flying will be the focus.

Now, this would requird a lot of balancing, I admit, but could be a lot of fun.

Another option is that FFG could implement their new unique game idea instead of custom pilots. You could buy a racer pack (or more likely put it in the above box set idea) and get a unique pilot for both standard and rally mode as well as the racers from the show.

This of course has issues of its own. But the standard 200/6 tournaments would be a whole new game if there was a unique pilot that no one else had. That being said a player should only be allowed to ever field one such character in a list. Now this is of course a pipe dream.. not likely to happen, nor necessarily should it. Even if relegated to the rally mode, FFG could take the uniqe concept and create their own ships (or even a customizable model) and sell then with the racers. Basically, you choose a ship that looks cool and you get a unique racer/pilot for it. While the models would provide the default stats, each pilot inside would fly differently. The downside to this of course is I'm not sure of the long term viability of this financially, I'm not even considering the liscencing implications with Lucasfilm with this either.

I like the idea of the 6 ship box with minimal pilots and tons of upgrades. The issue I see with it though is that these six ships are all Resistance (I think) and FFG usually balances the releases so they would have to have a similar number of ships for at least the first order. But maybe not. Who knows. Also the "Rally Mode" is a fun idea and I would love to see it happen, but I don't think it will. We'll see.

39 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

While the ships could certainly show up in x-wing, the real question is should they? Now this is not a debate about the look of the show, please take that elsewhere, but rather if the idea and gameplay of x-wing is a fit with what the show is going to portray.

While the above aces are (and will certainly) be involved in combat, one of the major plot points is the racing. Now as these ships are all unique and thus only have one pilot, individual expansions are going to be light on content. Sure, there would be upgrade cards but random pilots dont makes sense thematically. The options I see are: don't make the ships (the worst option), have expansions with only one pilot, add in random non-existant pilots (the second worst option) or, and I feel the best option, do a 6 ship box set.

What kind of ships are they? Wouldn't the pilots just show up in that ship's expansion?

3 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

What kind of ships are they? Wouldn't the pilots just show up in that ship's expansion?

While I admit my post was very long, I thought I did state that these 6 new ships are unique, as in individual and highly customized, and thus if they came out as individual ships, would theoretically only come with one pilot card.

2 minutes ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

While I admit my post was very long, I thought I did state that these 6 new ships are unique, as in individual and highly customized, and thus if they came out as individual ships, would theoretically only come with one pilot card.

Just saw the pictures. This looks like it'll be a really weird show.

There may be something in FFG taking a leaf out of Games Workshop’s book. For a while now, GW has been introducing new models to Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar through stand-alone boxed games, and also giving them rules for the core games.

In this case, that could mean FFG producing a stand-alone ship racing game with Star Wars: Resistance branding that also includes pilot cards and tokens for using the six pilots in X-Wing, along with a selection of thematic upgrade cards.

I’d buy that in a heartbeat.

1 minute ago, Graeme Lyon said:

There may be something in FFG taking a leaf out of Games Workshop’s book. For a while now, GW has been introducing new models to Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar through stand-alone boxed games, and also giving them rules for the core games.

In this case, that could mean FFG producing a stand-alone ship racing game with Star Wars: Resistance branding that also includes pilot cards and tokens for using the six pilots in X-Wing, along with a selection of thematic upgrade cards.

I’d buy that in a heartbeat.

I like the idea, and would also probably buy it. The flight path system, with a few tweaks, would be really good for a combative racing game.

Somehow, that approach just doesn’t seem like FFGs style though.

Well, for starters we will definitely get the Fireball in the game, it is the only ship with more than one pilot at the moment. Kaz is the obvious one, Yeager makes sense as it is his ship, and them we have I think Tam, the mechanic woman, who based off the sneak peek was offered to get the ship if she got it running so she could be the third pilot. Then FFG just has the choice of deciding if they want to do a generic like Colossus Defender or if they want to throw in Neeku(?) as the final pilot and treat it like the Phantoms and ARC-170 where it only has four unique pilots.

For the others, not sure if we will get them or not, or if they might pick the most popular one, likely Blue Ace and throw other characters into it as unique craft like the above idea for Fireball. Alternatively I guess they could do something sort of unique and just add the Red, Blue, Green, Yellow, and Black Aces in a multi pack that introduces a new racing format that could be played with the other factions as well.

Also, have to admit the names of the ships are a little boring, you think they'd come up with something better than well 'color' Ace, what is this the ST Core Set for 1.0?

As for other ships, the Resistance will no doubt get the T-85, or whatever ship Kaz likely flies for a minute or two in the actual episode that we see in the trailer, the FO will get the new Interceptor either in the ace red or hopefully the more conforming black and white of the other FO craft, and the Scum might get the really ugly pirate/raider ships that show up in the trailer. Then again, I doubt Scum players will be too sad if they don't get that ugly design.

Considering the theme of the show I sort of wonder if it won't be a bit like a space version of this. Bonus points, one like, to the first person to use Resistance footage with this song.

1 minute ago, JJ48 said:

What kind of ships are they? Wouldn't the pilots just show up in that ship's expansion?

All of the Ace ships are uniques apparently that the pilots made, with only them as the pilots which would likely be the issue. And if you haven't seen, here are the ships.

Fireball, the hero junker ship, aka the one from the logo.

Red Ace, which really looks to sort of be cobbled together from an A-Wing, Y-Wing, and some X-Wing parts. Built by the pilot herself for balance of acceleration, speed, and power.

Blue Ace, likely the second most important ship based off the teasers and trailers. It has what looks like Y-Wing engines and is sort of similar to a Starchaser. Also noted as the #5 racer so I guess it is the Space Mk.5. Built by the racer, sparing no expense, for speed.

Yellow Ace, looks to be a ship with all the S-foils/moving wings.

Green Ace, piloted by Hype and built for being great at changing its angle and on turns. Considering all the sponsors on it, you think FFG would sneak their logo on it somewhere?

Black Ace, build from a former Imperial Pilot who made the modifications to his old Tie standard issue fighter.

As a side note, every last one of these craft also has an Astromech slot and a unique astromech to go with it. Kaz flied with BB-8, though Bucket is Yeager's astromech which seems to be a stripped bare R-series astromech. Blue and Black Ace have R-series astromechs, Black Ace's one having a different head, and Blue Ace's being a sleek one that looks like a R2 unit. Red Ace has a droid that seems to look similar to a successor line to the T3 series from KOTOR. Yellow Ace has a BB type astromech, and Green Ace has a unique astromech.

im sure we'll see a few of the ships, if only because the resistance has very few ships and its a money msking opportunity for FFG.

As to if they belong? the show is not yet released, but my guess is that the ships are traditional light fighters but fast, aka Z-95s with a better dial. that could fit but doesnt add anything new to the game. Thematically these ships dont fit the resistance at all, and make waaay more sense either as scum or yet another faction.

Many of us have been playing various racing homebrew games with X-wing rules for years now, so it would be cool to see them released as a regular expansion but also a mini game with its own extra rules. Say a $60 box with 3 racers and components + extra rules for racing A-wings, Interceptors, scyks and such. then sell the other unique ships frpm "resistance" as expansions?

really X-wing just needs more game modes, because standard "tournament format" is incredibly stale at this point

I could see FFG making a boardgame sort of like Formula D where these ships raced. But the Flight-Path Minatures style of game is not terribly well-suited to racing.

That said, I think the possibility of these ships ending up in the Resistance Faction is close to 100%, because otherwise the Resistance Faction is sitting at only four ships (five if the lame B-Wing Bus from TFA ever gets made). They need ships, and unless Episode IX is some sort of gold mine for new ships, which seems terribly unlikely given that Episode 8 reduced the entire Resitance down to the Falcon, this series is probably the only chance the Resistance will have for sometime to get new ships.

Holy crap are those ships enormous!

based on the astromechs several of those "fighters" are in the 20 meter length range... and the smallest is still bigger than an x-wing. makes sense as bigger starships move faster (bigger engine + no resistance), but still. i assumed these things were like A-wing sized, not Hwk-290 and bigger

32 minutes ago, Graeme Lyon said:

There may be something in FFG taking a leaf out of Games Workshop’s book. For a while now, GW has been introducing new models to Warhammer 40,000 and Warhammer Age of Sigmar through stand-alone boxed games, and also giving them rules for the core games.

In this case, that could mean FFG producing a stand-alone ship racing game with Star Wars: Resistance branding that also includes pilot cards and tokens for using the six pilots in X-Wing, along with a selection of thematic upgrade cards.

I’d buy that in a heartbeat.

Beat me to it. I'm not holding my breath but that sounds exciting to me. A stand-alone racing game with a career mode that also contains the cards to play in X-wing? I'd buy that.

12 minutes ago, Vontoothskie said:

makes sense as bigger starships move faster (bigger engine + no resistance)

Mass, Inertia, and Thrust ratios would really beg to differ on this part...

5 minutes ago, Hiemfire said:

Mass, Inertia, and Thrust ratios would really beg to differ on this part...

Yep.

Force = mass x acceleration

If force is the same, a larger mass has lower acceleration.

1 hour ago, That Blasted Samophlange said:

With the thread discussing the show in the off topic, I decided to start one here SPECIFICALLY geared towards x-wing, and where these ships fit in to the game and how they would work. -snip-

FFG!! Lookee here!

Honestly, I think everything you wrote sounds awesome.

9 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Yep.

Force = mass x acceleration

If force is the same, a larger mass has lower acceleration.

Which, in the real universe, means bigger ships would accelerate slower, but doesn’t really effect attainable speed.

None of which has any bearing at all on these ships or the Star Wars universe.

I think if we do see them, they'll either be in a box set as some have suggested, with rules for a race variant of X-Wing (or an entirely different game, with some components of x-wing used, maybe dials and maneuver templates), or they'll be sprinkled in other waves sparingly over time (and some very well might never be seen).

Some people here think they'd all be Resistance. I disagree. I think a good number of them would actually be Scum, though we might have to see the show to pin that down better. We're only 100% sure (I think) of one character being part of the Resistance (the main character), the rest seem like their allegiance is to the station. This puts them closer to someone like Emon Azzameen. Once the show releases, it could turn out they all decide to join the Resistance but I'm not getting that implication just yet. Maybe some of them, though.

Another alternative is any pilots that go on to join the Resistance (or the First Order, I suppose, or whatever allegiance) might be seen in other expansions in other ships for those factions. Kaz could be in the T85 Expansion, if that ever happens.

I still really like the idea of an official race variant being released through a big pack, though. That'd be neat.

I am not interested in a one pilot expansion. I hope that the show will surprise me in the good way, if I like the ships in the show I could change my mind.

1 hour ago, Ixidor said:

I think if we do see them, they'll either be in a box set as some have suggested, with rules for a race variant of X-Wing (or an entirely different game, with some components of x-wing used, maybe dials and maneuver templates), or they'll be sprinkled in other waves sparingly over time (and some very well might never be seen).

Some people here think they'd all be Resistance. I disagree. I think a good number of them would actually be Scum, though we might have to see the show to pin that down better. We're only 100% sure (I think) of one character being part of the Resistance (the main character), the rest seem like their allegiance is to the station. This puts them closer to someone like Emon Azzameen. Once the show releases, it could turn out they all decide to join the Resistance but I'm not getting that implication just yet. Maybe some of them, though.

Another alternative is any pilots that go on to join the Resistance (or the First Order, I suppose, or whatever allegiance) might be seen in other expansions in other ships for those factions. Kaz could be in the T85 Expansion, if that ever happens.

I still really like the idea of an official race variant being released through a big pack, though. That'd be neat.

I feel like the first ship we will see with be the Fireball, and between now and then it gives FFG time to watch the show and determine where stuff goes though the T-85 is another likely early one to be added to the Resistance probably after the Resistance Bomber, and YT-1300 are rereleased.

2 hours ago, Hiemfire said:

Mass, Inertia, and Thrust ratios would really beg to differ on this part...

Slower to break from gravity sure, but without resistance(lol) in space ships just keep accelerating, and bigger ships can fly longer because they can carry more fuel. larger, more powerful engines not only produce more thrust, but bigger ships can be proportionally more engine/fuel pods as crew compartments dont need to get bigger once they accomodate the crew. the only reason we dont make terrestrial vehicles shaped like the quadjumper is because of terrestrial physics. seriously look it up.

the Expanse has ships more or less based on science of space travel, and thats why the big ships outrun the littler ships with a few exceptions in that series.

it is worth noting that while each pilot is said to have customized his ride, we don't know the extent of the customization on all of them. the Red Ace flown by Freya Fenris is said to have been of her own design, so that one probably wouldn't work as a standard release. nor would the Black Ace flown by Griff Halloran work, since it is said to be an extensive rebuild of his old TIE. (given the parts in there, i'd guess he started with a Striker, myself.) likewise the Blue Ace flown by Torra Doza is said to be a custom design as well.

but the Green Ace flown by Hype Fazon and the Yellow Ace flown by Bo Keevil could easily be performance tweaks of existing designs on the market. Given Fazon's many corporate sponsors, i wouldn't be surprised that even if his fighter was unique originally, that lesser versions of it were made available on the market, so they could use him as a marketing draw.

ultimately all but the black ace have the option of Lucasfilm and FFG deciding that the manufacturers turned the ace's customs into the basis for more mass produced versions. and even the black ace could probably be turned into something of the kind, given there are a lot of TIE parts around and turning them into viable fighters through mods is probably a thriving industry.

Okay so is it me or does it look like the Black Ace went back to the Clone Wars era and made an updated, ETA-2?

That Aside, if these are racing craft are they all combat capable? Most look like they could be but a couple look like dedicated racers similar to “POD Racers”.

27 minutes ago, Ronu said:

Okay so is it me or does it look like the Black Ace went back to the Clone Wars era and made an updated, ETA-2?

I was thinking one of the craft from Old Republic, myself.

I think we need more info on these characters before we can really judge whether they're suitable. I'd sure like to see them in the game though. The 'Colossus Station Aces' boxset would be awesome but may or may not be viable as an expack. That aside, I would play the **** out of a stand alone Colossus Station game though, video or tabletop.

I think team Fireball are a sure thing for X-wing at least. There are plenty of opportunities for other more iconic military ships to be added in as well. We've already seen the FO interceptor and some nice Pirate uglies. Its likely the Resistance will get a shuttle type ship to round out their roster etc.

54 minutes ago, Ronu said:

That Aside, if these are racing craft are they all combat capable? Most look like they could be but a couple look like dedicated racers similar to “POD Racers”.

per the Trailers and existing behind the scenes stuff, they are the defense squadron for the Colossus Station, helping to defend it from pirates. but when not fighting they fly in races and other challenges as a way to keep their skills fresh. given that pirate attacks on the station were probably uncommon they probably got better known for their races rather than their fighting.