1 hour ago, Biophysical said:Why do you want to play a bad card game instead of a good minis game?
Magic and other good card games involve amassing your combos, uncertainty if your opponent has a counter in hand, and timing. Games are also short, and often have a sideboard mechanic to limit the damage a combo does in a bad matchup.
In X-wing, you just start with the combo and use it whenever you want. If your opponent doesn't have a counter, they're just screwed. How is this a good game? How is this preferred to games where maneuvers are the primary interesting decision?
TLDR: Because FFG needs to fix The Initiative Problem before the simpler outmaneuver game becomes interesting again.
Long version: Mini games have always (in my experience) benefited from interesting combinations of abilities. Support units that can assist offensive units to become something greater than the sum of their individual abilities in unique ways that other units cannot mirror bring something fresh to the battlefield. Aka Combos. Now, this differs from just adding +1's to stats, that is boring and typically mirrored by opponents lists. Something unique that only they can do, so for instance Seventh Sister Crew is "interesting" to me, while Seventh Sister Pilot is, simplified,"Spend 2 Force for +1 Damage" but thankfully the ship itself is fun to maneuver.
Pure efficiency lists do not interest me, however I don't begrudge those that like flying them. I do think its fair to keep swarms in the game. But honestly, I would have never played the early version of X-Wing with blocks of X-Wings and TIE/ln's just jousting each other. Nor do I find lining up troops and throwing dice back and forth fun in other games such as 40k or WMH, lists need something to spice them up, which is possible in those games. X-Wing had the benefit of the dials.
I did find "Ace" play/ arc-dodging/ dials/ the "Princess Bride" counter-play interesting for a while, flying Palp Aces and such until I came to the conclusion that the Initiative/bidding system is currently broken and in serious need of rework. As it stands, I feel that the Initiative system and bidding causes what should have been an interesting game of maneuvering to be an almost forgone conclusion before Turn 0. So, I opt out of that charade trying to build lists that are "interesting" to me and capable independent of player order, or that I think are a clever use of cards.
Also the use of Charges can limit the abuse of combos. I mentioned above to Boom Owl that I wouldn't be against seeing charges applied/errata to some of the more problematic cards being discussed in the FatHan build. The use of charges brings more thought into someone's play, as they have to determine when is the best time to use something.
Edited by kris40k
Still is probably a good idea that the ruling that kicked off the ability combo be in this thread for reference.
