Our group did a total inventory to look at all the Influence cards across all the expansions (mostly for balance checking and trying to get a feel for the influence cards that were fun to use and balanced).

We noticed that there were only the 2 forced missions in the core set ... and that's it. There's a chance we're missing one, but all the other agenda missions are optional side missions.

Why do y'all think that is?

"Surprise! you're playing this mission no matter what now" is a very unique concept ... so why wasn't it ever revisted?

Well, there are 3 in the core set and the third triggers is the heroes lose a me of the story missions. Also when playing TBG mini campaign to can add the ISB Infiltrators side mission as a forced mission, but that’s not based on influence; it’s more of a player decision.

I think the issue is that you’re dragging out a long campaign for 1-3 more missions and if the Rebels win they get nothing. I mean, there’s an easy fix, but as it is their a waste of time in terms of their effect on the campaign.

1 minute ago, Uninvited Guest said:

Well, there are 3 in the core set and the third triggers is the heroes lose a me of the story missions. Also when playing TBG mini campaign to can add the ISB Infiltrators side mission as a forced mission, but that’s not based on influence; it’s more of a player decision.

I think the issue is that you’re dragging out a long campaign for 1-3 more missions and if the Rebels win they get nothing. I mean, there’s an easy fix, but as it is their a waste of time in terms of their effect on the campaign.

yeah, the forced missions that were baked into the campaigns just kinda felt more natural and plot relevant.

...

As sorta-implied in the first post: we're doing an inventory of all the cards in prep for a balance fix across the board. The oddball status of Wanted and Impounded is what brought up the convo.

...

Alright, so ignoring the balance of those reward cards (for sake of argument) ... what would you suggest? My hunch is drop price to 3 on those two, make them optional, and adjust general rewards to rebels get the sorta basic victory conditions?

I would just treat Wanted and Impounded as agenda missions

RAW, after playing as Imperial player so many times I don't think I've ever bought it: it costs 4! influence, doesn't really cost Rebels anything since it doesn't take up a mission slot, for a chance to win the reward card

vs. I could have gotten 2x 2-influence deplete great agenda cards and use them mission after mission

I think it stopped because it's kind of a weird consequence, isn't it? "Oh no, we have to play more of this game. Please no, anything but that." If the group wants their to be more forced missions, they can just choose to do that themselves and institute a house rule. FFG probably recognized that and decided they didn't need to stand in the way. In my experience it's such a bummer at my table when we don't do character missions that they've become forced missions in all but name. This led to a campaign I ran that strung the Core Box, TS, and RtH into a loose trilogy that was mostly forced missions and no one cared.

On 11/25/2018 at 7:13 PM, thinkbomb said:

yeah, the forced missions that were baked into the campaigns just kinda felt more natural and plot relevant.

Yeah, that's how I'd like to see them return.

Maybe each campaign could contain one possible force mission built into the story, such as the Rebels crash landing after a battle or working to rescue an NPC that was captured/ hunting down an escaped Imperial.

I like the idea of moving pieces like that which are built into the story, but aren't necessarily going to happen every playthrough (in the case of when these story beats are just determined by the following mission, instead).

Though, I guess HotE was an interesting enough campaign structure to show how this could still be effectively done.

50 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

Though, I guess HotE was an interesting enough campaign structure to show how this could still be effectively done.

I think you're on to something here. RtH's biggest flaw is that the boon and bane system leads to very repetitive campaigns that reduce player choice, and choice is key to fun. Based on HotE and ToL I suspect FFG has learned from this and decided that forced missions are out and optional side missions are in.

3 hours ago, subtrendy2 said:

Yeah, that's how I'd like to see them return.

Maybe each campaign could contain one possible force mission built into the story, such as the Rebels crash landing after a battle or working to rescue an NPC that was captured/ hunting down an escaped Imperial.

I like the idea of moving pieces like that which are built into the story, but aren't necessarily going to happen every playthrough (in the case of when these story beats are just determined by the following mission, instead).

Though, I guess HotE was an interesting enough campaign structure to show how this could still be effectively done.

if my heroes lose a finale mission of a campaign and want to use the same characters again in another campaign, i make the do the captured forced mission, to escape prison. or you can start your campaigns off with a forced mission instead of a tutorial mission, then go straight into the first campaign mission.

One way I have used to extend minicampaigns is to start with an agenda side mission and reduce the setup XP and credits accordingly, then follow with the introductory mission of that campaign.

19 hours ago, a1bert said:

One way I have used to extend minicampaigns is to start with an agenda side mission and reduce the setup XP and credits accordingly, then follow with the introductory mission of that campaign.

LOL! a1bert, I'm picturing the IA equivalent of the little teaser mission at the beginning of every James Bond film.

3 hours ago, bill_andel said:

LOL! a1bert, I'm picturing the IA equivalent of the little teaser mission at the beginning of every James Bond film.

"Rebels gain Sean Bean as an ally for no additional threat cost..."

31 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

"Rebels gain Sean Bean as an ally for no additional threat cost..."

for the rebellion james?

Now I really want a new IA Campaign, where you start with an "ally" in the early missions, who is at one point believed to be killed in a massive explosion.

Only to later find out that they have been captured and turned to evil, and become the boss at the end.

5 hours ago, subtrendy2 said:

"Rebels gain Sean Bean as an ally for no additional threat cost..."

Sorry not sorry, poorly thought out joke for the halibut.

complete with guaranteeing a tragic Sean Bean death.

edit** should have read "apply -1block to your defense results until your next activation" ... oh well.

... because one bad joke deserves another

3 hours ago, Majushi said:

Now I really want a new IA Campaign, where you start with an "ally" in the early missions, who is at one point believed to be killed in a massive explosion.

Only to later find out that they have been captured and turned to evil, and become the boss at the end.

Congrats! You just figured out the big plot twist in my custom Return To Hoth campaign which greatly expands the backstory for Ivan Talos.

11 hours ago, thinkbomb said:

... because one bad joke deserves another

THAT IS FANTASTIC

15 hours ago, Majushi said:

Now I really want a new IA Campaign, where you start with an "ally" in the early missions, who is at one point believed to be killed in a massive explosion.

Only to later find out that they have been captured and turned to evil, and become the boss at the end.

Spoilers for Descent (well considering how spoilery Descent can be, since there is no hidden info, but still...)

Wow y'all made my day! :-)

Of course now the revised campaign has to finish with a mass invasion of an Imperial base with the Heroes getting every type of regular TROOPER unit as Allies for that mission with the victory condition of freeing prisoners and blowing up the base. (Like just about every Bond film.)

"The name's Eshka'rey. Mak Eshka'rey. Give me a blue milk. Shaken, not stirred." :-D

57 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

THAT IS FANTASTIC

Spoilers for Descent (well considering how spoilery Descent can be, since there is no hidden info, but still...)

If you didn't know, Descent does something really cool in the Labyrinth of Ruin campaign where at one point you can save one of two potential allies. The one you don't save becomes a Lieutenant (villain, in Descent speak).

The ally and villain figures are also different for each, with the villain ones being far more sinister.

And, perhaps coolest of all, there are hero sheets for the ally figures to be played as regular heroes outside of the LoR campaign.

I'd love to see Imperial Assault do something like this. Maybe this could be the groundwork on how to implement an Imperial hero campaign?

Wow, that sounds really cool! Narratively it doesn't seem like it would be too hard to work into a star wars campaign if you wanted it, either. I mean two of the biggest star wars archetypes are force-users falling to the dark side and credit-loving mercenaries with shifting alliances. In either case it would be pretty easy for an ally to become a villain.

1 minute ago, ManateeX said:

Wow, that sounds really cool! Narratively it doesn't seem like it would be too hard to work into a star wars campaign if you wanted it, either. I mean two of the biggest star wars archetypes are force-users falling to the dark side and credit-loving mercenaries with shifting alliances. In either case it would be pretty easy for an ally to become a villain.

Right?

How cool would it be to have a dark version of Diala, a skiff guard Onar, or a heavy stormtrooper elite of Biv?

15 minutes ago, subtrendy2 said:

Right?

How cool would it be to have a dark version of Diala, a skiff guard Onar, or a heavy stormtrooper elite of Biv?

Now that you mention Onar, any of the Heroes in Jabba's Realm could probably flip to the wrong side. And I could see Davith go Dark Side.

Another good use of a mechanic like this would be with a character like Agent Kallus from Rebels. I'd love to see an Imperial Villain in a future expansion where a mission or series of missions offer a chance to win him over as an Ally. It might be neat to have a side mission which lets you do so, because there's a chance the Rebels would never see the mission. Or, you could do it as an Interlude Story Mission with literally game changing effect on the second half of the campaign.

Now if we could just convince Bitterman to add campaign maps and mission briefings to his amazing set of tools...

55 minutes ago, bill_andel said:

Now that you mention Onar, any of the Heroes in Jabba's Realm could probably flip to the wrong side. And I could see Davith go Dark Side.

Another good use of a mechanic like this would be with a character like Agent Kallus from Rebels. I'd love to see an Imperial Villain in a future expansion where a mission or series of missions offer a chance to win him over as an Ally. It might be neat to have a side mission which lets you do so, because there's a chance the Rebels would never see the mission. Or, you could do it as an Interlude Story Mission with literally game changing effect on the second half of the campaign.

Now if we could just convince Bitterman to add campaign maps and mission briefings to his amazing set of tools...

Spoilers for the Jabba's Realm app campaign:

Someone on here or BGG once suggested a home brew idea to have Mara Jade start as an earned villain but giving the Rebels a chance to win her as an ally as the campaign went on.

I wish I could remember who suggested it. It was a great idea the way it was presented.

See, stuff like this (and Spidey's space thread ) make it really hard for me to agree with people that there isn't anything left to add to this game.

I can envision a game where what we have now is just the basis structure to build on.

On 12/1/2018 at 9:48 AM, subtrendy2 said:

See, stuff like this (and Spidey's space thread ) make it really hard for me to agree with people that there isn't anything left to add to this game.

I can envision a game where what we have now is just the basis structure to build on.

I had Davith pop up in his skirmish version on the Grand inquisitors mission as the hidden force user. the rebels got to play as him and he held off the inquisitor, they though Davith had died, but i made him come to the rescue with luke in Jabbas realm campaign