Examples of X-Wing Control Mechanics:

• Ion Turret
• Ion Missiles
• Condition Applying Bombs ( Conner Net, etc. not Damage bombs which are just mini 360 turrets )
• Jamming Beam
• Jamming Action
• Tractor Beam
• Tractor Abilities ( Lancers, Jumpers, Nantex, etc. )
• Token Removal ( Palob, Old Teroch, Hotshot etc. )
• Opponent Dice modifying ( Juke, Crackshot, etc. )
• Dice Mod Preventing ( Rebel Fenn Rau, Midnight, Named N1s, Intimidation )
• Stress Givers/Manipulators ( Sloane, Phasma, Deathtroopers, 4LOM etc. )
• Sabine Crew gets its own category
• Dial Manipulators ( Cassian Crew, Sense, Snoke, Informant, that new resistance condition, etc. )
• Initiative Manipulators ( Torkil )
• Blocking - Guessing your opponents move and blocking them

A bunch of questions...

• What are some examples of well implemented control mechanics?
• What makes a control mechanic feel "fun" for the player using it and the player dealing with it? Is there a consistent approach to this?
• Are control mechanics kinda like mobility and just harder to balance and cost than offense, defense, and initiative?
• Do you in general enjoy Control Mechanics in X-Wing? If so what is your favorite faction?
• Do Control Mechanics traditionally work better in Pure Card Games than Mobile Miniature Sighting Games?
• Are Control Mechanics necessary for balance?
• Do Control Mechanics exist primarily in service of theme and to reward the pursuit of snowflake jank science?
• Is X-Wing more fun and a better game when Control Mechanics are generally bad?

I have zero experience with other miniature games or card games. I need a teacher.

One word:

Ensnare!

Finally got around to putting Ketsu on the table. She's such a bully. Throw a U-Wing onto a rock before it takes a range 1 shot at your other ship. Talonbane bumps into a B-Wing, Ketsu bumps Talonbane, Ketsu tractors the B-Wing away, so that TBC now has a shot on it. You feel like She-Ra or Wonder Woman or Super Girl, with the way you can just throw around cars and tanks and stuff. At the same time, it feels so mean. Eh. Meanness is sometimes a good and healthy part of games.

As to what's fun, what's not?

I think dice-f***ery is pretty much never fun to play against. Dice can so easily go bad in this game that when an opponent is making it worse, that just stinks. Juke, Fenn Rau, etc. So glad Sensor Jammer is gone, even if it wasn't too common in 1e. Now, I don't know that it's always powerful. Juke, for example, is rarely actually powerful. But I think it's probably always feelsbadman. Even if your opponent would do more damage with Focus tokens, having your green dice turn to mush just leaves a bad taste in your mouth, like cold oatmeal.

I think Ion weapons are in a very good place right now (Ion Scyk ❤️ ). It's not too hard to do damage with them, and Ion effects aren't impossible, but aren't automatic. That seems like a good balance, because being unable to set a dial is often pretty awkward. I'm sure someone will complain that "Cannons are uselsess!1!1 You cant dubbletag wit them!11!" but fie on that. The more I think about it, I'm super glad folks can't double-tap cannons, since that kind of easy control is a pain. I like that control weapons are something you have to be wicked deliberate about, you have to really want. I loved Rainbow Cannon TIE/d in 1e, but there's a lot of stuff I enjoyed in 1e that I don't think needs to be in 2e.

The times I enjoyed Rainbow TIE/d most? When I was throwing about Nym/Miranda, tractoring them onto a rock and hitting them up with an ion token so they couldn't bomb the next turn. That always felt really good. I guess that leads into Control sometimes being necessary. There's some frustrating stuff to play against in X-Wing, and sometimes the right move is to bring something more frustrating to smash it.

I think the Nantex will be really interesting when that comes out. Probably Ensnare will be really annoying to play against, but it's so strange. No movement actions, but you tractor yourself to rotate your arc to tractor someone else? No doubt the kind of thing that'll take a lot of on-table time to get the hang of.

Jeebers that's a lotta questions...

Generally, you don't want to give control too much power or you'll have literal npes (you take a player out of the equation).

This is less of a problem in other mini games such as Warmachine (which boasts RIDICULOUS control abilities) simply because Warmachine has a LOT more miniatures in a standard game

In xwing where it's like 2-5 and a maximum of 8, you gotta be real ******* careful about implementation

Xwing 2nd has done it right so far

21 hours ago, Boom Owl said:

Are Control Mechanics necessary for balance?

Do Control Mechanics exist primarily in service of theme and to reward the pursuit of snowflake jank science?

Is X-Wing more fun and a better game when Control Mechanics are generally bad?

I have zero experience with other miniature games or card games. I need a teacher.

Return question: are you new to Xwing? Or are you looking to get a better handle on this aspect?

Lotta questions.... lol.

So... yes, the control mechanics (CMs) can be helpful; yes, they can be frustrating to be affected by; no, I don't think they are necessary; and i would say most are fairly thematic.

Overall, like with anything in Xwing, it just depends on the list. Any list can be strong if you know how to fly it well. There are many ways to fly in Xwing, and each list has its strengths and weaknesses. Some use more CM, some don't use any, but most have either juke, or predator, or tractor/jam, or bombs. It helps to focus on one. No one list can have all of it. You just need to plan ships and CM that synergize well in a list. (Scum likes tractors, mods and bombs. Imp fighters like evasion and dice mods. Larger ships like jam, stress control, etc. And so on.)

So far, 2e has been blissfully balanced or reasonably corrected. 1e had issues with OP/broken CMs.

I will also confirm, though, that dice-****ery is one of the most frustrating things to play against. The dice are part of what help balance the game with chance. Obviously, the more you can put those odds in your favor, the better, but its painful to play against modded-rerolled-bonus-max dice. Xwing is a game of maneuvering. If you can eliminate chance so that you don't have to out-pilot the opponent, that's no fun. (I.e. Expertise)

22 hours ago, Boom Owl said:

• bunch of questions...

• What are some examples of well implemented control mechanics?
• What makes a control mechanic feel "fun" for the player using it and the player dealing with it? Is there a consistent approach to this?
• Are control mechanics kinda like mobility and just harder to balance and cost than offense, defense, and initiative?
• Do you in general enjoy Control Mechanics in X-Wing? If so what is your favorite faction?
• Do Control Mechanics traditionally work better in Pure Card Games than Mobile Miniature Sighting Games?
• Are Control Mechanics necessary for balance?
• Do Control Mechanics exist primarily in service of theme and to reward the pursuit of snowflake jank science?
• Is X-Wing more fun and a better game when Control Mechanics are generally bad?

1. Seventh Sister is one of my favourite examples of a cool control mechanic. She can be worked around by the other player, but is punishing if ignored.

2. Interactivity. If you simply dance to the tune of ion the entire game, it's not fun. Same as, if you get tractored onto rocks continually. It's all about the interplay. For the player using it? I would say, getting it off. Finding that your control tool has saved you damage, and put you in a better position than just shooting/focusing/whatever would have.

3. I would say so, yes. Since it depends on how well they are deployed. It's, like mobility, often about skill, both to use and to capitalize on.

4. I love control mechanics. They're so nutty and cool. That said, I haven't flown them much in 2e, due to Rebel Beef, and now Jedi being so fun to fly. That said, I really enjoy Imperial control, or control-esque elements like Thane that impose Crit conditions.

5. I would say that they don't necessarily work better, but they are far more clearly defined.

6. Yes. Absolutely. If there were no way to deny I6 Anakin his double reposition ever, or no way to punish bad flying with control mechanics, the game would suffer. While they may not be huge in the meta, they do serve some role, and will rise and fall like the tides.

7. I mean...sorta, yes. Not necessarily (see above), but, yah, kinda.

8. Yes and no. Control mechanics should not be oppressive (looking at you, Stresshog/TIE/d), but they don't need to be bad for the game to be fun. I have fun against Quad Jumpers/Ion Builds/etc.

And, yes, dice shenanigans are the worst. They're not as bad as they once were, but, yah, things that change your results into non-results suck.