I'm a bit into my cups, if I'm honest. And in that spirit:

I used to come to this forum for a more or less daily X-Wing fix, since I can't get to play as often as I would like. I'd try to pick up tips and tricks and list building suggestions, combos that would never have occurred to me on my own, play by play recaps. You know what's here. But come Second Edition, it feels like... and yes, I know that phrase is practically taboo. But, it feels like come Second Edition, things are so close to balanced that there's actually rather little to be gained in the way of tips and tricks and list building quirks. There are a few power pieces, a few absolute pieces of crap, but most anything you want to fly, you can. One way or another. And while that is very good, it's also a little sad. Because I come here to get my fix, but really what I seem to be reading is that the only way to get better and make the best use of your of your X-Wing time and experience is to just get ships on the table. Which I already don't get to do as often as I would like. So I beg you, my forum peeps. Let's blow up the BatReps and the Repaints. Let's move away from "I think this should work," and have a lot more of "This is what happened." I need to fly my plastic ships vicariously at the very least. Help me, forum peeps. You're my only hope.

I thought I would NEVER EVER say this... BUT, occasionally, I do miss some of the crazy combos from 1e. Lol. 😢

Do you read my call for suggestions thread? I go thru summaries a plenty. wurms also has their own batreps, I think they mostly do it in the batrep subforum.

I'd spend more time on play sequence talk, but it's quite a chore to post pics to a separate site, embed into here, write it all out, all on mobile. And dear Force I'm not making a YouTube channel for that.

I've been enjoying the Force out of the current environment though. I quit Magic and came to X-wing. I was not at all pleased with the later 'card game' days of 1.0. so to be back to this more flying matters state and most anything is viable, especially in hyperspace, is like Padme Space Angels have delivered us to the bright times.

And to top it all off, Epic is in a good spot too!? Shiiiiii. I'll take this all day... Just hurry up and bring me my LAATs and Ebon Hawk. 😁

12 hours ago, JBFancourt said:

I thought I would NEVER EVER say this... BUT, occasionally, I do miss some of the crazy combos from 1e. Lol. 😢

Do the combos have to actually be good? Because I think I could still come up with some crazy combos in 2e, so long as we don't expect them to be good! 😁

12 hours ago, JBFancourt said:

I thought I would NEVER EVER say this... BUT, occasionally, I do miss some of the crazy combos from 1e. Lol. 😢

Yeah, this makes my Scummy heart hurt.

12 hours ago, Blail Blerg said:

Do you read my call for suggestions thread? I go thru summaries a plenty. wurms also has their own batreps, I think they mostly do it in the batrep subforum.

Yep. I just want MOAR. And from more varied sources, flying more varied lists. Much of what is currently in the BatRep Subforum (for example) is pretty well focused on two or three lists and subtle variations thereof. Which is very, very good, but I am greedy.

11 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

I'd spend more time on play sequence talk, but it's quite a chore to post pics to a separate site, embed into here, write it all out, all on mobile. And dear Force I'm not making a YouTube channel for that.

Oh yeah; I hear you!

I'm not in any way bemoaning the current state of the game. Far from it! It's just that my local area is kinda dying, and I need my fix!

12 hours ago, JBFancourt said:

I thought I would NEVER EVER say this... BUT, occasionally, I do miss some of the crazy combos from 1e. Lol. 😢

There's not anything wrong with that!

Card games can be fun, it's not wrong to like card games. X-Wing, in particular, just makes for a much better movement game than a card game.

There is intrinsically merit to the concept of imbalance. Perfect balance, even when possible, is not always desirable. When games get to, or approach, perfect balance, the biggest factors in victory are mechanical execution and, especially when said execution is roughly equal, random elements. This creates a few underlying issues:

1: Mechanical skill is more difficult to hone than listbuilding, which can largely be copied, making for a more substantial plateau in progress where the only solution is to become world class or settle for losing (see chess, a game where you can devote your entire life to it and never do anything new)

2: Engagement outside of the game. How many people play around with lists or think about how to optimize them while waiting for food, on the can, etc.? In a perfectly balanced game, there's little point to such musings as the progression is more about execution, which is hard to do when you're not at the table.

That being said, X-Wing is a long way away from a level of balance required for this and I find myself constantly fiddling with pilots/upgrades to make a list that tiny little bit better.

An Observation on the Forums

Y'all get the game you want, then you're bored. 🤣

*****

In a more serious vein, I think FFG needs to start looking at other options upon which to build pilot abilities.

Inter-Faction abilities (X pilot hates the FO and gains a bonus against them.)

On Death abilities.

Support abilities.

Abilities that REQUIRE a combo to work.

Pilots with Disadvantages. Like, Lt Rockophobe gains a Deplete Token when at R1 of an asteroid but a free Evade when not.

Now that the game is Universally Balanced, FFG needs to create components that are not Universally Applicable. That way, players need to find the niche in which they work, and list build for them.

Ive been thinking this lately as well. Getting back into Armada and experiencing the fun of 1e list building again.

1 hour ago, Darth Meanie said:

Now that the game is Universally Balanced, FFG needs to create components that are not Universally Applicable. That way, players need to find the niche in which they work, and list build for them.

I thought they called that Hyperspace?

I jest, I jest, but I know what you mean here.

Honestly I wouldn't mind this idea at all if it were part of a narrative campaign. However, in a vacuum, abilities like "hating the first order" will be excessively matchup-dependent, which is either overcosted or overpowered and always NPE and bad for the game. Nothing wrong with that but context matters.

1 hour ago, ClassicalMoser said:

I thought they called that Hyperspace?

I jest, I jest, but I know what you mean here.

Hyperspace actually approaches the idea of the opposite perspective: cull the pool of resources in such a way that favorites are trimmed off and a player is forced to explore what's left.

What I would be suggesting is lots of fair-to-middling options that require more clever parsing than math calculations about 0.001% chances on a set of dice.

However,

Quote

Honestly I wouldn't mind this idea at all if it were part of a narrative campaign.

stuff like Environments needs to become part of routine play so that you can't just MathWing a list into success based on A Predictable Unvarying Play Format.

Quote

However, in a vacuum, abilities like "hating the first order" will be excessively matchup-dependent, which is either overcosted or overpowered and always NPE and bad for the game. Nothing wrong with that but context matters.

I mean, of course it's match-up dependent. Unless you are playing a mission or campaign were the opposing forces are a given.

But stuff like this doesn't have to be OP/NPE. I guess I would say that Aces like this would have sort of a regular ability vs. the hated faction, and be a mid IN generic in a non-relevant faction match-up. They might be slightly cheaper overall because of their limited sphere. These types of pilots could make great filler when you'd like a IN 3 or 4 and don't care if his special ability goes off during play.

What I can say definitively, however, it that it is a design space that has not been explored , and if XWM is going to go from "ARRRRGGGGHHHHH POWER CREEP!!" to "I'm sooooooo bored," what have we got to lose??

Watch Gold Squadron Podcast too

Besides we saw what a disaster “balance in the force” caused ... 🙄 🙄 🙄

🤣 😜

18 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

stuff like Environments needs to become part of routine play so that you can't just MathWing a list into success based on A Predictable Unvarying Play Format.

100,000,000,000% agree. We also need objective-based victory conditions. Fixes 1st-2nd player, fixes fortressing, fixes final salvo, fixes honestly pretty much everything people hate about OP, creates variation, creates more narrative structure, and makes it feel more Star-Wars!

Will be quite disappointed if the devs don't do dis (sorry but couldn't avoid the alliteration once it occurred to me ) .

20 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

But stuff like this doesn't have to be OP/NPE. I guess I would say that Aces like this would have sort of a regular ability vs. the hated faction, and be a mid IN generic in a non-relevant faction match-up. They might be slightly cheaper overall because of their limited sphere. These types of pilots could make great filler when you'd like a IN 3 or 4 and don't care if his special ability goes off during play.

I do believe you just described Ahhav (who is priced about right but basically sees no play – then again maybe he's a perfect example of what you want?).

21 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

What I can say definitively, however, it that it is a design space that has not been explored , and if XWM is going to go from "ARRRRGGGGHHHHH POWER CREEP!!" to "I'm sooooooo bored," what have we got to lose??

Not been explored much anyway. You know me from my posting history: I'm totally open to new design space as long as it doesn't creep out / cause to be irrelevant / make illogical the decisions of previous releases.

7 hours ago, Kleeg005 said:

I'm not in any way bemoaning the current state of the game. Far from it! It's just that my local area is kinda dying, and I need my fix!

Mine does just before 2e launched. It's been limping along since then with one or two new pilots, but we generally have trouble getting enough people to put two mats side by side for a casual practice.

Small towns with only one game store have nobody to compete with or any drive to take care of their communities.

They get complacent.

Super frustrating.

25 minutes ago, JBFancourt said:

Besides we saw what a disaster “balance in the force” caused ... 🙄 🙄 🙄

🤣 😜

?

29 minutes ago, ClassicalMoser said:

I do believe you just described Ahhav (who is priced about right but basically sees no play – then again maybe he's a perfect example of what you want?).

Yes, he is. Quirky. Niche. Seriously would be in every Scum Epic list I ever built.

And would be in every list I ever built if I played against someone who insisted on having a YT-1300 in every list he brought.*

You gonna predictably bring that **** to my house again?? Guess who's coming to dinner. . .

Because XWM exists in other social circles besides Convention Halls.

*I need FFG to invent the anti-B-Wing pilot. Pleeeeeeaaaaasssssse.

*****

What if there was a Bounty Hunter/Inquisitor that got a bonus against any enemy ship that had a Force Icon?? Let's hunt down the Jedi. . .

What if there was a rookie that got a bonus against higher Initiative pilots? Climbing the ranks. . .

These are the kind of abilities I am talking about. Something that keys off against the game itself--base size, faction, pilot Initiative, Force-Users, items on the battlefield, etc.

46 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

But stuff like this doesn't have to be OP/NPE. I guess I would say that Aces like this would have sort of a regular ability vs. the hated faction, and be a mid IN generic in a non-relevant faction match-up. They might be slightly cheaper overall because of their limited sphere. These types of pilots could make great filler when you'd like a IN 3 or 4 and don't care if his special ability goes off during play.

Wouldn't homing missles also fit this bill?

Good vs low health high agil ships, bad vs high hp low agil ships.

Definitely a mechanic that should only be used sparsely.

47 minutes ago, KCDodger said:

?

41 minutes ago, Smikies02 said:

Wouldn't homing missles also fit this bill?

Good vs low health high agil ships, bad vs high hp low agil ships.

Sure. And Plasma Torpedoes. Not as useful against a ship without shields, since you lose the "free" damage.

Quote

Definitely a mechanic that should only be used sparsely.

This is where I disagree.

These types of mechanics make you choose NOT based on raw dice tossed, but on whether you are likely to see this type of ship to fire upon.

As a player who usually plays Imperial vs. a Rebel opponent, I LOVE plasma torps. But otherwise, YMMV.

I think the game needs to emphasize these types of decision making processes more. Ships and upgrades should stop being universally good or bad based on dice-leveling probabilities. Players should have to ferret out whether a pilot or upgrade will be worth taking depending upon what they expect to see or not see on the battlefield.

Talking clearly about X-Wing strategy is hard. Our best hope for useful and coherent conversation about in game strategy, decisions, and choices is to use more GIFs, more pictures, more visuals fewer words. I started doing that a bit more awhile back but its somewhat labor intensive. When all else fails MS paint is actually excellent.

Example below, when moving last with 1 pt Slave 1 Boba. The strategy is for the most part to do what you want man. There is a bunch of in game Boba Counter strategy worth explaining but it involves nuance, and acceptance that its not hard counter strategy, just improve matchup strategy. Pictures are necessary to drive that point home, GIFs are best for it. But again that requires real effort. And real effort is the enemy.

11 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

Talking clearly about X-Wing strategy is hard. Our best hope for useful and coherent conversation about in game strategy, decisions, and choices is to use more GIFs, more pictures, more visuals fewer words.

I see a monkey eating a mango.

What do you see?:

1 hour ago, Darth Meanie said:

This is where I disagree.

These types of mechanics make you choose NOT based on raw dice tossed, but on whether you are likely to see this type of ship to fire upon.

As a player who usually plays Imperial vs. a Rebel opponent, I LOVE plasma torps. But otherwise, YMMV.

I think the game needs to emphasize these types of decision making processes more. Ships and upgrades should stop being universally good or bad based on dice-leveling probabilities. Players should have to ferret out whether a pilot or upgrade will be worth taking depending upon what they expect to see or not see on the battlefield.

I believe those types of upgrades just end up creating hard counters, which I feel are bad for a game. No one wants to play a 3 round tourny where 1 round you can do almost nothing.

1 hour ago, Darth Meanie said:

Ovaries