Hey guys, I've spent some time theorycrafting about the CIS ships. They aren't fully developed because I don't have a ton of information on the ships and I'm still a little puzzled on how they'll do the ships with the lack of pilots as well as the maximum of 8 ships in a list as of now. (I think the 8 ship thing can be easily changed)

Anyways I just wanted to spark discussion and get some feedback on my ideas.

I think that the CIS should be really speedy, really upgrade light, but also really cheap.

For example, Vulture droids can have two generic pilots. One for when they were being controlled by a Lucrehulk and one for when they were being independently controlled by droid AI. I'm thinking PS1 for the former and PS2 for the latter. I think their stat lineup should be 3/3/3/0. Although these stats aren't incredible, the dial and actions should definitely be able to makeup for that. Their actions should be white calculate, white boost, white barrel roll, and white coordinate (because it's canon that Vulture droids chatter with each other). For the dial, I'm not sure how to express that here but it would be very fast and would likely have very little red maneuvers. Seeing as we have absolutely zero unique pilots they can have a really solid chassis with lots of slots.

For the PS1 Vulture, I would recommend a torpedo slot, a missile slot, and maybe a modification.

For the PS2 Vulture, I would recommend a torpedo slot, a missile slot, a sensor slot, and maybe a modification.

Currently in the game, Academy pilots for the Empire are 23 points meaning completely unkitted, you can run a list of 8 with 16 points leftover. I believe that PS1 Vulture droids should be less than that at 20 points allowing for an unkitted list of 10 ships. Similarly, Obsidian Squadron Pilot costs 24 and can be reduced to 22 for the PS2 Vulture droids allowing for a unkitted list of 9 ships.

Next we come to the Tri-Fighter, which is an absolute monster of a ship. Tri-fighters are more advanced than vulture droids so obviously they deserve to be better pilots. Though, they lack a second version which makes it difficult to give them multiple different pilot skills. If we go solely with one pilot skill, I think Tri-fighters should get PS3. They have four laser cannons and are supposed to be better at close range dogfighting than vulture droids so maybe four red dice? They had no shielding and were pretty agile so as a balance I would maybe give them only two health. 4/3/3/0 would be my best guess at a Tri-Fighters stat line. Their actions on the bar should be pretty busted and by that I mean Calculate, Boost, Barrel Roll, Boost→(red)Calculate, Barrel Roll→(red)Calculate.

For their slots, I would say just a torpedo slot and a missile slot.

I would say for a comparison, the TIE advanced or the A-wing is similar to the Tri-Fighter. Green squadron pilot, a PS3 pilot, is costed at 34 points. I believe that Tri-Fighters should be costed at the exact same price.

Finally we see the third point to the generic ships in the CIS. The coolest looking ship ever, the Hyena-Class Bomber. Want a beefier, more bomb dropping ship than the Vulture droid? Because I do. They’re kitted with proton bombs, proton torpedoes, and concussion missiles normally so they are the explosion KINGS. Like the other droid boys, they were not shielded. They shouldn’t have very good weapons because they were mostly used for air-to-ground assault but sometimes helped aid other ships. Two red dice is what I believe would be a good fit for them. They were agile, but not as agile as the two other droid starfighters. Their stat lineup should be 2/2/4/0. Their action bar should also be pretty beefy, but not nearly as good as the Tri-Fighter. Calculate, Target Lock, Boost, (red)Barrel Roll, and Calculate→(red)Target Lock. Their slots should be two torpedoes, one missile, one device, and one sensor. Finally for their PS, they should be PS3 advanced droids, but not more agile or advanced than Tri-Fighters

For their points, I believe their cost should be roughly 30. Cheaper than a Tie Punisher with a Cutlass Squadron Pilot at PS2 which has ample more upgrades.

That’s a bold assertion.

I love this topic!!

All white dials with no reds AND no blues.

So it's free k-turns, but the minute they do something dumb and thread a debris cloud, no more actions and/or ship ability (something dependant on NOT being stressed).

Just now, Bucknife said:

All white dials with no reds AND no blues.

So it's free k-turns, but the minute they do something dumb and thread a debris cloud, no more actions and/or ship ability (something dependant on NOT being stressed).

So one debris cloud, Asajj, Sloane, or Phasma and you never get an action for the rest of the game?

That does not sound fun to play.

5 minutes ago, ElSee said:

That’s a bold assertion.

what can I say, I AM a bold one

4 minutes ago, svelok said:

So one debris cloud, Asajj, Sloane, or Phasma and you never get an action for the rest of the game?

That does not sound fun to play.

I guest it depends on how awesome that "if-im-not-stressed" ability is to take the risk, and dare the enemy to try and do something about it.

You honestly think they’ll let you put 9 4-attack ships on the table? Or even 8, assuming that rule isn’t rescinded?

Not a chance, even if they do break like glass.

I do like the idea of little weaker ships coordinating each other, but then you run the risk of having too cheap of a coordinate option to buff stronger ships. Maybe this is isn't actually an issue, but if it is, then tie it into ship ability maybe and limit it to other ships of the same type.

Just now, SpiderMana said:

You honestly think they’ll let you put 9 4-attack ships on the table? Or even 8, assuming that rule isn’t rescinded?

Not a chance, even if they do break like glass.

I'm not sure, I don't know and that's why I'm speculating. I would love to see it happen because a bunch of little baby bad ships have the pro of being a big swarm, but they can't fly together very well and they'll get taken out like flies.

1 minute ago, Effenhoog said:

I do like the idea of little weaker ships coordinating each other, but then you run the risk of having too cheap of a coordinate option to buff stronger ships. Maybe this is isn't actually an issue, but if it is, then tie it into ship ability maybe and limit it to other ships of the same type.

I think you may be right. It could end up being a serious power problem, but I REALLY like the idea of them all talking and coordinating. Maybe, like you said, it could be a ship ability and it might be less effective than a normal coordinate action

I like the idea of the CIS droid ships all have some variance of the Advanced Droid Brain from the IG-2000s. It doesn't have to be the same ability, but something where they all work together.

So maybe you have, "Centrally-Controlled Droid Brain," and "Tactical Droid Brain," and "Aggressive Droid Brain," et cetera, and then they have "commander" type units like a "central droid brain" in a Sheathipede or "local control brain," or something in a unique vulture or one of those weird gunships they had and those have abilities that say, "friendly ships with droid brains." What those abilities are... I don't know, but probably usually something to do with Calculate or other common abilities.

Also, while I realize that Vulture droids have more attack capability in lore than TIE fighters, I still expect them to be 2 dice and the Vulture droids to be 3 dice on attack.

13 minutes ago, svelok said:

So one debris cloud, Asajj, Sloane, or Phasma and you never get an action for the rest of the game?

That does not sound fun to play.

Give them some kind of self-ionisation ability in a pinch.

10 minutes ago, Bucknife said:

I love this topic!!

All white dials with no reds AND no blues.

So it's free k-turns, but the minute they do something dumb and thread a debris cloud, no more actions and/or ship ability (something dependant on NOT being stressed).

Ironically, that makes “panicked pilot” one of the worst crits.

I had a similarly crazy idea: Make the I1 generic 20 points, but represent the centralized control by setting one maneuver dial for every vulture droid with the same pilot.

7 minutes ago, ricoratso said:

I'm not sure, I don't know and that's why I'm speculating. I would love to see it happen because a bunch of little baby bad ships have the pro of being a big swarm, but they can't fly together very well and they'll get taken out like flies.

This would seriously end large ships, and a lot of Rebel meta, though. 2 attacks per turn wouldn’t stand a chance, even worse than right now, and 3 would be super risky.

2 minutes ago, SpiderMana said:

This would seriously end large ships, and a lot of Rebel meta, though. 2 attacks per turn wouldn’t stand a chance, even worse than right now, and 3 would be super risky.

that's a very fair point. I hadn't realized that larger ships get shredded by massive swarms. Hmm, then maybe 8 ships should stay as the max.

5 minutes ago, WAC47 said:

Ironically, that makes “panicked pilot” one of the worst crits.

I had a similarly crazy idea: Make the I1 generic 20 points, but represent the centralized control by setting one maneuver dial for every vulture droid with the same pilot.

This would be even worse; the instant you get bumped the whole thin goes to crap.

1 minute ago, thespaceinvader said:

This would be even worse; the instant you get bumped the whole thin goes to crap.

I agree, I wouldn't say you have a centralized brain meaning they all take the same maneuver. BUT what I would think could be a cool idea that is a CIS or Vulture droid exclusive, is that when you flip a dial, you can spend your action to mimic a different maneuver another Vulture/CIS droid executed previously that turn.

Why does a vulture droid have a tie fighter cost but interceptor stats? I'm all for prequel content, but this is piwercreep. I was thinking they'd go with the suggestion that you put 3 on a base armada style and have intriguing rules accordingly (hence, no overscale model, obscene ease of blocking, or insurmountable paywall for a swarm.

Just now, thespaceinvader said:

This would be even worse; the instant you get bumped the whole thin goes to crap.

Oh yeah. I never said it’d be a GOOD idea. It was more a thought experiment than a serious suggestion. I liked the idea of breaking the 8-ship cap for the CIS but only if there was a severe restriction on it, because setting 10 dials would get mind-melting.

It would be a fun flying challenge if nothing else.

An interesting general ability would be to have the option to choose the move on your dial or the move on an already revealed dial of your class. Both in gameplay terms and in pure practicality terms for swarm flying.

26 minutes ago, Bucknife said:

I love this topic!!

All white dials with no reds AND no blues.

So it's free k-turns, but the minute they do something dumb and thread a debris cloud, no more actions and/or ship ability (something dependant on NOT being stressed).

I think the all white dial would be the absolute coolest thing ever. And if each droid brain can coordinate other ships (this action or ship ability would look past stress) would make action management super complex. One vulture gets a stress, but another unstressed ship can give up his action that turn to give that stressed droid an action

You may Calculate whilst stressed. When you Calculate whilst unstressed you may gain an additional Calculate for each other ship of your class at range 0 to 1.

2 minutes ago, player3010587 said:

Why does a vulture droid have a tie fighter cost but interceptor stats? I'm all for prequel content, but this is piwercreep. I was thinking they'd go with the suggestion that you put 3 on a base armada style and have intriguing rules accordingly (hence, no overscale model, obscene ease of blocking, or insurmountable paywall for a swarm.

yeah i realize my points and my costing for things definitely isn't the best nor is it what it should be. I mostly was just theorycrafting and comparing it to other ships. What I don't want is multiple ships on one base, that takes the aspect of flying each ship out of X-Wing. Aesthetically, it removes the need to fly in formation (i realize that many models would still have to fly in formation). Not sure why, but it just breaks what I like about individual ships

1 minute ago, thespaceinvader said:

You may Calculate whilst stressed. When you Calculate whilst unstressed you may gain an additional Calculate for each other ship of your class at range 0 to 1.

I like that actually. Computers can generally complete processes when they're overheating or CPU is being used nearly all the way. If you're stressed, you make attempt to take actions, but on Hit or Crit symbols you take a damage?