Does anyone else think that maybe the reason Ion weapons are so expensive now is that Ion might be way more effective against the droid armies in the upcoming Clone Wars stuff?

No. I don’t personally.

I do not but it would be a nice way to reintroduce them into the game.

Yes that was just what I was thinking the other day.

16 hours ago, DuloWilkain said:

Does anyone else think that maybe the reason Ion weapons are so expensive now is that Ion might be way more effective against the droid armies in the upcoming Clone Wars stuff?

Not at all. They are expensive because they can take away actions from some of the most expensive units in the game. In a game were they will have 12 actions in the best case, taking away 1 or 2 is huge.

If they will afect droid troopers it will be a great drawback for them, unless they have some small benefit against other kinds of weapons

Theory: droids can’t be suppressed, so Ion is their equivalent.

I think ion is just so expensive because the effect would be too good without those significant restrictions.

19 minutes ago, Hawkstrike said:

Theory: droids can’t be suppressed, so Ion is their equivalent.

Observation: droid models are already out and aren't affected by ion tokens.

3 minutes ago, TauntaunScout said:

Observation: droid models are already out and aren't affected by ion tokens.

They’re non-combatants, though, in units that can be suppressed.

I think it could be a tool in the toolbox but not really a fix. It's more expensive and cost you extra actions too. I can say that it's allot easier to remove an action from a corp unit then a heavy vehicle. Unless we get some kind of support piece that can throw out recover actions I don't see Ion becoming popular.

From the way everything was presented and when Disney started to push/reintroduce Clone Wars, I’d say Legion was made with just Rebel and Empire in mind and Clone Wars was a later addition.

If you really want to flip your bean, think about what they’re going to do if they introduce “Droid Poppers”. A grenade that ionizes, how could it possibly be tappable?

Even if ion is good versus droids, it's still on overcosted exhaust weapons so unless there is a fix for that no-one is using them for a 1/4 chance they face droids

I've got a bunch of Holy Water Super Soakers that are really effective against your space vampire army, but less so against the rebels due to their ponchos which are water proof. Personally, i think they're overpriced.

Paper rock scissors

11 hours ago, JediPartisan said:

From the way everything was presented and when Disney started to push/reintroduce Clone Wars, I’d say Legion was made with just Rebel and Empire in mind and Clone Wars was a later addition.

If you really want to flip your bean, think about what they’re going to do if they introduce “Droid Poppers”. A grenade that ionizes, how could it possibly be tappable?

Why wouldn't it be tappable like any other weapon?

If ion is good then the game is bad.

Oh I forgot I was on legion board.

I thought I was on x-wing board.

In x-wing ion is a softer “lose a turn mechanic”

in legion it’s a hard counter to some of the largest point sinks in the game. And we don’t even have the big stuff yet. Imagine how critical ion weapons are against an AT-AT.

also no points balance survives contact with the player base.

You are giving FFG way too much credit. They don't plan ahead and they churn their plastic out at break neck speed, with obviously not a lot of playtesting. Designing Clone Wars minis before making sure that Legion will take off? Hardly likely. Ion is a hard counter to something nobody needs countered: armour. Even the humblest infantry squad has antitank capabilities and tanks pay a premium for their staying power which nobody needs in a game that is about objectives and only takes six rounds anyway.

Besides, if your theory were correct, droids would have to be killers in comparison to other infantry, to warrant a hard counter. As droids have a solid reputation for being cannon fodder, that is a nonstarter. FFG may be weak at maths, but they know their lore and have an almighty respect for fanboys.

If armor ever becomes more popular and key to an objective (or denying an opponent an objective), Ion will make a return.

I think ion will get a brief uptick when the new heavies are out and being played with, until folks decide whether they’re really worth taking or just bring more troops.

42 minutes ago, ScummyRebel said:

If armor ever becomes more popular and key to an objective (or denying an opponent an objective), Ion will make a return.

1

This is what it really boils down to: armor is just too easy to ignore, or sideline. New objectives would help tremendously in that regard.

41 minutes ago, Alpha17 said:

This is what it really boils down to: armor is just too easy to ignore, or sideline. New objectives would help tremendously in that regard.

I think even making it so that vehicles can stop your enemy from scoring somehow (even if they can't score themselves) would be pretty cool. Although you'd have to implement it in such a way that it doesn't make bikes even better...

57 minutes ago, arnoldrew said:

I think even making it so that vehicles can stop your enemy from scoring somehow (even if they can't score themselves) would be pretty cool. Although you'd have to implement it in such a way that it doesn't make bikes even better...

Could just make “heavies” be the ones that can do that. Some sort of morale thing. At-RT aren’t bad as they are.

I suppose there are two ways to look at it.

On a realistic level an ion weapon is a specific attack type weapon that is probably hard to maintain. It would probably be rare to see a unit packing one unless they had to, that extra blaster rifle might be more handy.

In game terms the cost keeps it from being spammed across an army. Not saying an army couldn't take one in every unit but man the cost!

A good point was raised about droid armies. I would say it should pack quite a punch against the clankers.

21 hours ago, arnoldrew said:

I think even making it so that vehicles can stop your enemy from scoring somehow (even if they can't score themselves) would be pretty cool. Although you'd have to implement it in such a way that it doesn't make bikes even better...

Bikes and T-47's would have a really hard time staying by the objectives, what with their compulsory moves and Legion's rules for notched bases.

Ion guns could be used as suppression against droids but I'd hardly think it's the reason it cost so much in the original core set. I can beleive that they had the first year's expansions planned out. But I don't think they knew they'd have enough success to be allowed to expand into Clone Wars, and planned the ion gun around that. They may have hoped to add Clone Wars someday but not so concretely that they were pricing units and upgrades around those ideas.

On ‎3‎/‎3‎/‎2019 at 8:23 AM, TauntaunScout said:

Bikes and T-47's would have a really hard time staying by the objectives, what with their compulsory moves and Legion's rules for notched bases.

Ion guns could be used as suppression against droids but I'd hardly think it's the reason it cost so much in the original core set. I can beleive that they had the first year's expansions planned out. But I don't think they knew they'd have enough success to be allowed to expand into Clone Wars, and planned the ion gun around that. They may have hoped to add Clone Wars someday but not so concretely that they were pricing units and upgrades around those ideas.

It is Star Wars, so it's not unreasonable that they always expected Droid units to be a thing, just maybe not on the same scale as CIS.

I think there is no connection between ion weapons and droid armies. I think (or like to think) FFG choose clone armies based on these forums that more want clone wars because of the many options available