First, a word on Pilot Packs

I like the idea. I think that the pilot packs allow for FFG to release new content into ships that have already been released; that strikes me as healthy for the game. As a company, they can print on cheap card stock for a large profit margin. For us players, we can buy new upgrades and pilots without having to pay for the plastic ships we already own (and all of the packaging that comes with a ship pack).

I also think that this is a good way to “fix” a few ships out there. Ships like the TIE Aggressor and (to a lesser extent) the gunboat could really use some better named pilots. Other ships like the TIE Advanced X1 and the E-wing have a really great named pilot associated with them, but the others don’t see nearly as much play.

The Defender is in an odd spot. It has named pilots that are really great, but only one of them really sees play (to be honest, Rexler is kind of the only one worth his cost). The Defender also suffers from a huge point separation between the different pilot levels (you go up by 6 points between the I1 and the I4. Going from the I4 to Rexler is another 6 points). To this end, I think the Defender would be greatly improved by some lower initiative named pilots that have solid abilities at a reasonable point cost.

Here are a couple of my ideas:

Vult Skerris

I3

During your perform action step, you may spend an evade token to acquire a target lock.

Justification: I watched the cool scene when Skerris tries to lay down the law on to the VCX-100. He didn’t really seem to care that his ship was getting shot at and kinda let the shields do their thing while he stayed on his attack run. I also like the idea of trading the legendary defense for some offense.

Kruss Alontar

I2

When you perform an attack with a weapon that can deal an orange token as part of its effect, you may spend one [critical hit] result immediately after rolling attack dice to immediately assign that orange token to the defender.

Justification: I just want one of the defenders to be a cannon specialist. This pilot could have a higher relative cost for the ability, but hopefully this isn’t all out broken. The ability is left greatly up to chance since the intention is to force the player to spend the crit only after rolling the dice, so you wouldn’t be able to make an artificial crit with marksmanship. You are spending a valid result in order to apply your effect. In the case of the ion cannon this could leave you with an interesting case of applying an ion, but not doing damage. [Edit: Ions are red...straights are blue. Everyone needs to be reminded of rules from time to time, how about you?] Kruss would also suffer against medium or large based ships that generally require more than one of the orange tokens in order to have a desired effect. His low initiative also keeps him from being a monster with a tractor beam that the rest of the squad would benefit from; you would have to use a swarm to get that effect.

[Side note: Jamming beam would be fun on him due to the fact that you can strip a defensive token prior to the defense dice being rolled]

Maarek Stele has to come out for the Defender. He's icon in Star Wars non movie lore.

2 hours ago, BDrafty said:

During  your perform action step, you may spend an  e  vade token to acquire a target lock.

The way this is worded, he could get a lock and focus (i.e. double mods) in the same perform action step... so potentially a bit too powerful, even on an i3.

An interesting alternative might be to allow him to trade a focus for a target lock before he engages, allowing him to lock higher initiative targets that have moved after him if he hasn’t spent the focus on defence. Kind of a pseudo Passive Sensors without taking up the sensor slot so that he can take FCS with it.

2 hours ago, BDrafty said:

In   the case of the ion cannon this could leave you with an interesting case of applying  a  n ion, but not doing damage  .  

The ability as described would not work with an ion cannon, since ion tokens are red - not orange.

3 minutes ago, DexterOnone said:

The way this is worded, he could get a lock and focus (i.e. double mods) in the same perform action step... so potentially a bit too powerful, even on an i3.

An interesting alternative might be to allow him to trade a focus for a target lock before he engages, allowing him to lock higher initiative targets that have moved after him if he hasn’t spent the focus on defence. Kind of a pseudo Passive Sensors without taking up the sensor slot so that he can take FCS with it.

The ability as described would not work with an ion cannon, since ion tokens are red - not orange.

Curses! The ions ARE red and...I kinda forgot that.

Ok, so that ability isn't AS strong as I made it out to be.

3 minutes ago, DexterOnone said:

The way this is worded, he could get a lock and focus (i.e. double mods) in the same perform action step... so potentially a bit too powerful, even on an i3.

Aah- Aah- -aaAAH-SOKA!!

Excuse me. Carry on.

8 minutes ago, DexterOnone said:

The way this is worded  , he could get a lock and focus (i.e. double mods) in the same per  form actio   n step... so potentially a bit too powerful, even on a  n i3.  

An interesting alternative might be to allow him to trade a focus for a target lock before he engages, allowing him to lock higher initiative t  argets that have moved after him if he hasn’t spent the focus on defence. Kind of a pseudo Passive Sensors without taking up the sensor slot so that he can take FCS with it.

Well also consider what he was locking out. Your method is still Juke compatible. Plus FCS is a thing, and only 2 points, so it’s not like double modded shots don’t already exist as possible.

Also Vessery, limited by friendly locks.

No, I think the original form, as it negates Juke, is the preferred way. It creates a very different type of flying.

Overall I think all the suggestions are creative, and encourage different flying styles.

Alternatively, spending a shield token for some sizeable benefit.

After all, when his shields were up, both against the Ghost and against Hera's X-wings he was awesome, when he'd lost his shields from the destroyer's guns, he kind of went down like a punk.

I would second Vult Skerris & Maarek Stele. I'd love to see Darth Vader, too, but understand you'd need a massive cost....

Skerris should be I5, or at least I4, if for no other reason than that the Empire needs more good Interceptor aces, and Skerris is the closest in-Canon thing we have to good old Soontir Fel. I mean, he even has an Interceptor with red stripes on it for crying out loud.

I also like I5 because it sets up this rivalry with Hera where the better pilot between them depends on your bid, and as the Rebels are always strapped for cash... It just makes thematic sense.

That said, Ciena Ree could well be an I5 as well and I don't want to see too many of those, even if the Imps are the "fragile high-I aces" faction.

Vader in a Defender would be fun, but only at a cost of something like 125 points naked. That gets prohibitive pretty fast considering you need a wingman.

Well, R2C4 already stole Kir Kanos' ability, so he couldn't get that in a defender how about:

After you partially execute a maneuver, each other ship at R0 receives 1 tractor, jam, or ion token.

The bumpi boi of doom. Who has full throttle when not throttling opponents or giving friends tractor rolls.

Sarkli: Defector to the Empire

I4

1 recurring charge.

"After you perform a <cannon> attack, you may spend 1 charge. If you do, lose 1 shield and perform a bonus primary attack.

After you perform a primary attack that does not hit, if your charge is inactive, recover 1 shield."

Fixing ships with new pilot packs is giving me first Ed PTSD

anyway, don't believe the Defender's problems like anywhere but in its prohibitive costing

Kinda makes sense since the chassis is ridiculous, but methinks ffg was a little too cautious 😛

15 minutes ago, player3010587 said:

Sarkli: Defector to the Empire

I4

1 recurring charge.

"After you perform a <cannon> attack, you may spend 1 charge. If you do, lose 1 shield and perform a bonus primary attack.

After you perform a primary attack that does not hit, if your charge is inactive, recover 1 shield."

I love the idea of getting double taps back. The sheild mechanic you have here is an interesting one. It limits the ability while not making this ship give 35+ points to your opponent just for using your ability.

Vader in a Defender. 200 pts.

18 hours ago, JBFancourt said:

Vader in a Defender. 200 pts.

Make it 197 so we can get that sweet sweet "Hate" on him.

I want a Tie/D only cannon called Coaxial Ion cannon. It adds a red dice to your primary attack. The first hit or crit must be delt as damage. The second hit or crit must be cancelled and an ion token is delt. Any number of remaining hits or crits *may* be cancelled to deal an ion token.