Hello FFG community!

We're hosting a special AMA (Ask Me Anything) livestream with X-Wing developers on October 3 at 1 PM Central Time. It's your chance to ask any questions you want—about the FFG design process, rules interactions, Sun Fac, and much more.

We'll be streaming on our YouTube and Twitch channels, but you don't have to wait to get your questions in the queue. Write your questions for the team in this forum thread, and we'll draw from these questions during our livestream.

We hope to see you there!

1. When are mandatory abilities without timing clauses (I.E. R4 Astromech, Nien Nunb crew, L3-37) applied?

2. Coaxium Hyperfuel. Since it requires the ship it is being equipped to to have the SLAM action and there are supposed to be 2 copies coming in the Hotshots and Aces pack, are Scum and/or Rebels going to have access to SLAM on an Illicit slot ship any time soon?

What is an ability requirement as it pertains to adding abilities to the queue? As examples, does Snap Shot require the player to measure range and arc to add the ability to the queue and then measure range and arc again while making the attack, and does a pilot like Old Teroch require a target to be chosen at range 0-1 in order to add his ability to the queue and then measure to that same target or select a new target when resolving his ability?

Are we likely see titles released in the future for the existing huge ships that belong to the new factions (Resistance, First Order, Republic, and Separatist)?

I’ll ask the important question everyone wants the answer to: will we ever see an R-41 StarChaser expansion?

Would FFG ever consider adding EU New Republic and Imperial Remnant material to the game, either as new factions or as part of Resistance/FO?

Also, what is the next thing FFG would like to do for XWM that is outside the arena of tournament play (i.e., more for casual fun)?

Why did the developers feel the need to re-introduce the snapshot card, and other cards that allow for attacks out of the engagement phase?

Why did the developers introduce the after executing a maneuver language (omitting fully) in wave 5?

When are you going to sprinkle some o' that Keyforge cash our way?

Are more pilot packs planned for the future?

Will we see alternate configurations for existing ships? For instance, a "Longprobe" configuration for the BTL-A4 Y-Wing.

Are you still allowed to use Legends ships for future releases such as the E-Wing and Alpha-class Starwing only still around because they are "grandfathered" into the game?

Are there any plans to release new play mats? Hopefully ones based on Naboo or Corsucant.

Are we going to see characters from the Rebels tv show piloting different ships as they did in the series? Like Ahsoka Tano in the A-wing, Ezra in the A-wing, Hera in the A, B or Y? I know I'm not the only one that wants to see characters from the books and shows piloting different ships.

Can we look forward to regular releases of epic ships? Hammerhead corvette?

Love what you are doing with 2.0, keep it up!

Will we be getting alternative configurations or titles to shake up existing Original Trilogy ships, such as the early rebellion A-Wing, the B-Wing Prototype, TIE Defender Elite, or Sato’s Hammer?

And will the rebellion ever get good high-initiative ace options?

Some ships like the Alpha Squadron Pilot and the Resistance Sympathizer have hardly seen any use, but their price seems to be fixed out of fear of breaking the “x number fits in a list” threshold.

Many of us thought that the improved granularity would make these unnecessary, especially since spam lists tend to be easily hard-countered anyway. Can we see more experimentation with these values in the future and just reverse them if it proves OP?

Some slots have gone almost entirely unused, especially modification, missile, and illicit slots. But on ships like the Kihraxz Fighter, B-Wing (cannon slot) or TIE Interceptor, it is largely the unique selling point of the chassis. Could we see a potential option in the future of a slot with a built-in discount like the vaksai in 1st edition?

1) What is the goal/purpose of the Hyperspace format moving forward?

2) The community has gathered data that indicates a pretty large proportion of competitive 2.0 games are not reaching a conclusion in 75 minutes. Do you perceive this as an issue and, if so, do you have a plan to address it?

3) Are there any ships or mechanics that you feel that the points adjustments have not been an effective way of balancing? *glances at JumpMaster 5000*

4) It seems like control elements are becoming more accessible/reliable/powerful in the recent waves (C1-10P Astromech and Ensnare in Wave V, Mag Pulse Warheads seen in the Wave VI spoilers, Ion Bombs returning in the card pack) - was this a deliberate choice? What do you view as the role of control mechanics in 2.0? How much is too much/too little?

5) Are you happy with the current points update schedule?

Will we ever see a TIE/rb Brute in the game?

This is a long thing, but I think at least one of these are interesting.

Question 1-

Generic pilots on many ships are notoriously nonviable, especially compared to their named counterparts. This is particularly noticable with ships that contain powerful "pocket" or cheap aces, with notable examples being the TIE Interceptor and TIE Striker- The only Interceptor that is useful is Soontir, and similarly with the TIE Striker pilots. The TIE Striker generics are the best example of this, as comparing Planetary Sentinels, Black Squadron Scouts, and Duchess, they have linear scaling of points-per-initiative (2 points per init, regardless of it being 1-3 or 3-5) and duchess's pilot ability is free, after paying for the initiative, and the Adaptive Ailerons ability is exponentially better as initiative increases.

As in the prior Q&A, you have expressed that you do not plan to resolve the 33/40/50 threshold issue by way of adding limited/unique dot counts to a ship chassis (IE- lowering the Planetary Sentinel (Init 1 TIE Striker) to sub-33, and making the Striker chassis limited 5), have you explored any other way to make low-initive pilots on a chassis like these viable? Possibly releasing a new generic pilot in the card pack with a modified statline to make them more worth their cost (which is bloated by the 33/40/50 thresholds)- IE, a TIE Striker with a shield at only a point or so more than the existing generics?

Question 2-

During the last points adjustment, you stated that 'all silencers except Kylo were made cheaper'- This was not actually true, as the First Order Test Pilot remains at a cost of 58, unchanged. Was this done on the basis of Mitch's 2nd place finish with QD and 2 FOTP at the Denver system open just prior to the release of the points? If so,Mitch has expressed that his list was both not nearly as strong as it could have been, and as well as blamed himself that the FOTP was relatively nerfed compared to other Silencer pilots.

This in particular seems odd as Recoil is also 58, and has a pilot ability, and you had expressed that free (even if useless) upgrades were things that you wanted to avoid in 2.0 (such as Disrespect Guidance chips) - Are you planning on decreasing the cost of the FOTP? Was this an oversight? It's a nonviable ship at present.

Why does the Nantex's Pinpoint Tractory Array *not* include "fully execute" in it's ability? Much less any of the other abilities in Wave 5? It makes it very hard to try to come up with a counter to these abilities other than straight up building to counter it. The main issue with the Nantex is that base size is the main counter, otherwise you have a very large area you cannot move your small base ships else they get put on a rock with tractor, or get moved out of arc and can't shoot ontop of the agility drop. Is there a chance that "execute" abilities can be errated to "fully execute"?

1. Will the republic ever get any CR-90 Titles?

2. Are you planning any republic / separatist-specific huge ships? And if so, would additional factions also gain access to them such as is the case with existing huge ships?

3. How many new token types do you plan to continue to keep introducing? It's starting to go nuts.

Hi Matt! I love X-Wing so I have lots of questions....

First one.... So when Second Edition was dropped I know one of the big reasons for rereleasing instead of patching up 1.0 was to add new mechanics to old ships. As is natural, lots of new mechanics have been added to the game (deplete and strain for example) that aren't on the old cards. Is there a plan to refresh the older stuff with the new mechanics ever? One way I've seen this done was in Destiny with the rotation, bringing in new versions of old characters with different abilities. Would you be open to something like that?

Second question: what is the plan with two formats? I know both are currently seen as "competitive" but I personally feel like there's been a lot of strife over there being multiple competitive formats and it kind of undermines the stated goals of both. Is there a possibility of reshaping the formats to have different purposes/goals (i.e. one competitive and one casual, or something like that)?

Third and final question: if there is going to be a "casual" format (other than epic), are you going to have releases for that format? I know objectives are coming out but I don't know what their goal is, but I was also wondering about having campaigns, more pilots and crew from obscure sources, player-created and voted-on cards, or other similar stuff that would probably mess up the competitive game.

Hi Matt,

With a few exceptions, ship chassis seem to favor either copies of multiple "filler" generics, or have one or two limited pilots that stand out. For example, the V19 named pilots are a bit lacking, but the generic options are great. On the other side, Darth Vader in the TIE Advanced x1 is fantastic, but the generic options have struggled a bit.

My question is, when you're designing a ship do you have a role like this in mind? When making the TIE Advanced x1 were you very concerned with the pilots that aren't Darth Vader, or is it mostly centered around Darth Vader and if people can make the others work, then great? But if they're lackluster, that's OK too. Similarly, the pilot abilities for the named v19s are pretty fringe/edge case. Were these specifically designed to be swarm/massed fighters, or is this just a side effect of the prices?

This isn't meant to be a complaint! Overall I've been very impressed that most ships have at least one good pilot, and a large number have multiples that are reasonably competitive, just curious on the design goals behind ships.

Thanks!

When it comes to designing ships, I've got a few questions. (not sure if they have been asked before though)

How do you decide on ships to even begin the game design process for?
How do you decide on what will make that ship unique? Is it based on the ships in lore descriptions?
Once you've decided on a ship to add to the game, what is the process for that like? Is it as simple as y'all just saying you want to make it part of the game? Or do you have to take it up with Disney or Lucas films?
Once the ship has been approved or decided it will be added, what is the process for creating unique pilots, specifically if there are not unique pilots already in lore?
And finally, are things like the attack, agility, hull, and shield based off of the in-universe descriptions/depictions of the ship?

Question 1: I was disappointed that this wasn't covered in the changes to FAQ, but can Cikatro Vizago swap in a second copy of an illicit card onto a ship?

Eg: if I have ship A with Deadman's Switch and Contraband Cybernetics and ship b with just Deadman's Switch, can I use him to swap the Cybernetics from A and the Switch from B so that A has two Deadman's Switches?

Question 2: the rules say that any effects that trigger when a ship is destroyed happen immediately before a ship is removed. Does this mean that Captain Jostero wouldn't get an extra attack off of his own Deadman's Switch going off?

Scum currently has the most ships of any faction, and it seems likely they'll get more in the future. Are you concerned they might end up with too many ships, making it difficult to find a niche for each one, or to balance all the possible combos? If so, how do you plan to avoid such problems?

Have you considered moving any ships from late or early timelines to more than one faction?

Like the E-Wing, which should clearly be a Rebel/Resistance re-release based on its use in Legends.

9 hours ago, Kieransi said:

Third and final question: if there is going to be a "casual" format (other than epic), are you going to have releases for that format? I know objectives are coming out but I don't know what their goal is, but I was also wondering about having campaigns, more pilots and crew from obscure sources, player-created and voted-on cards , or other similar stuff that would probably mess up the competitive game.

This would be super-fun if it didn't mess with licensing agreements.