I know, I know, I'm a mad man. Hear me out!

Grappling Struts are a lot of fun, and they are integral to the character of the Vulture Droid. After playing a few rounds with Vulture Droids, however, it seems clear that while fun and characterful, they aren't worth the points.

It is extremely difficult to place multiple Vulture Droids on one object, they are countered hard by the opponent placing nebulas, and making the decision to use them deliberately comes at the cost of signalling to your opponent where you are going to be for a turn or two.

Obviously, they have a lot of value in that they allow you to use objects as cover if you grapple onto them so that the enemy ship has to draw line of fire through the object to you. Additionally they allow you to safely overlap obstacles to keep your action (and not take damage or stress).

Given the limitations placed onto your maneuver dial though (while the 90 degree turn can be considered a very good thing, maneuvers that aren't a turn or a straight 2 or a barrel roll are completely ignored) simply landing on an object for a turn seriously telegraphs to your opponent the very small amount of places you can be the next turn or two.

Much like the configuration of the X-Wing, grappling struts are a part of the character and should be a part of the playstyle of the vulture droid without paying additional cost onto an already arguably overcosted swarm ship (though that is a discussion for another day). If not a free upgrade, then at least a points reduction from the currently very expensive 3 points per droid (adds up when you have a lot of these guys, which you do).

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

15 hours ago, Montery said:

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

I think that you are correct 😁

Yeah I also agree they should be free, or just an intrinsic part of the ship. I thought it would be much more powerful than it turned out.

They die as quickly on a rock (arguably quicker since they're more predictable) despite the obstruction bonus they sometimes benefit from.

I think free is a bit much, but certainly lowered to one or two points. Three feels like a bit much, and takes it from being a useful and good card to have, to having to sacrifice something else to take it (generally), but I think that 0 and just baking it in would be a bit insane. I know it's not the most OP card, and you have to play around it, but the few games I've played against it have seen even 2 vultures strapped to an asteroid doing serious work and casually not dying. In the right hands, they can be absolutely murderous, so I think maybe one point would be more fair.

Again, not saying that they're going to break the game for being cheaper. 3 IS a bit much, but I think that making it free would be a bit crazy. Having every vulture in your squad (an entire vulture swarm perhaps?) being able to just strap itself to a rock every game for free would be a bit crazy. Even the X-Wings have an opportunity cost on their free card, and the vultures get defensive buffs and can just rotate around like a turret. Thus, I think like, one point would be appropriate.

Lets look at upgrades that are an integral part of the ship they are on. The Servomotor S-Foils. Free to both the t-65 and t-70. So, why not grappling struts? I could care less as I dont play that faction. I just want the IG-2000 title to be free. It is an integral part of the Aggressor.

I think 3 points is fair, but I typically don't use more than one or two Strut-equipped Vultures, and I don't do full swarmity-swarm; I find it's more valuable to protect batteries like DFS-311 - land it on a rock and keep it safe while it transfers calculates to its friends. I wouldn't mind seeing a point reduction, but for me it's not essential.

Can’t you also use grappling struts to land on a rock and immediately barrel roll off of it? If so, I can understand why they didn’t make them free when they were released.

That too. This all why I think it should cost one point: It adds an insane amount of utility, and completely changes the dynamic and flight options for your ship (basically like throwing 150% Dash on your ship). You can effectively ignore obstacles, shoot, off of them, take actions, and have to options for repositioning off of them,and I think that ability should come with a bit of a price, thus the one point. I'm not saying its game breaking or anything. I absolutely love the card, and Struts Vultures are some of my favorite things in the game to fly. They're dynamic, fun, and really fly unlike almost any other ship. Being able to keep asteroids as a backup movement option is really cool and an awesome design and game mechanic. I just think theres a reason it isn't free or baked into the ship (you can either save points and go for the pure flying swam mechanic, or you can invest a little bit *which should be more like a point a ship* to gain some fortressing and extra options besides simply flying around.)

Just my thoughts though! I don't mean to be that mean jerk who just rants at everybody who disagrees with me 😛