What new pilot skills would you like to see in future X-Wing expansions?

hers a few suggestions (that might still need tweeking)

1) Wing Commander (cost 2). Select up to 3 ships of the same type. These ships cost 3 less when calculating their squad point cost. This pilot skill may only be selected by a pilot with skill 8 or more.

2) Marksman (cost 3). Action: When attacking this round, you may change one of your results to a result and all your other results to results. Treat all medium range attacks as close range.

post your new pilot skill ideas here.

The_Brown_Bomber said:

Wing Commander is a 2-point ability that saves you 9 points in your list, so it's straight-up broken. To put it another way, any list that wanted to be competitive would be forced to run Wing Commander, or else be substantially behind on build points.

Marksman has the same effect as the current Marksmanship--as well as an additional effect that functions a lot like Expose without the drawback. It's probably worth 7-9 points, if it can be balanced at all.

Vorpal Sword said:

Vorpal Sword

so do u know ANYONE that runs marksmanship currently? no? why? because its over costed and sucks mynocks. imho marskmanship as it stands is playable. It was discussed in an earlier thread. Marksmanship simply isnt worth the cost of 3 pts. It might be when used in conjunction with Wing Commander (combo?) but probably not as there are way better upgrades currently avaialable that id rather have than it. Marksman however would see play and its drawback of having to take an action to use it is balanced imo.

as for WIng Commander, i know it needs tweeking. thats what i hinted at in my first post.

Thats the whole idea of this thread to suggest ideas for new pilot skills (none of them have been playtested yet because they are only suggestions, their actualy cost is not set in concrete and it could be argued that because they can be used by both factions they ARE balanced). How many times have you wanted to equip a droid or other upgrade to a ship but just didnt quite have the room? well now you can. The idea with a skill like Wing Commander is it adds squad flexibility. I know its crazy good. Thats where playtesting is needed to work out the kinks and make it playable withour being over balanced. Increasing the cost is the simplest way but what about adding a drawback like if u lose your pilot with Wing Commander the other lesser pilots take a stress token oand reduce their pilot skill for the remainder of the battle? Seems like a hefty drawback in flavour with the upgrade that will make you cover his A$$ during the course of the battle.

Can anyone make suggestions for new pilot skills?

[EDIT]

imho marskmanship as it stands is NOT playable.

It was discussed in an earlier thread. Marksmanship simply isnt worth the cost of 3 pts. It might be when used in conjunction with Wing Commander (combo?) but probably not as there are way better upgrades currently avaialable that id rather have than it. Marksman however would see play and its drawback of having to take an action to use it is balanced imo.

Something along the lines of EXTREME PILOT which would allow you to move a 1 in any direction after everyone else has moved. That would allow you to compensate or slowing down/speeding up or slight swerving.

You could make them use an action to make that move or something along those lines. Point cost ???? 2-4 points?

I've wondered what they are going to do for pilots in the future. I mentioned on some earlier threads that I thought Fett should have an ability like: "While attacking, you may reroll one attack die if attacking a character with a named Ship or Upgrade card."

I also thought that seismic charge should be able to remove an asteroid from the board when it detonates.

Something the Falcon may have had, or a specualtive jedi starfighter would be "Magnetic latch: this ship cannot be attacked while its base is in contact with an asteroid."

As for pilot abilities, I have no idea. Maybe something like "Take evasive action: you may reroll one defense die if attacked by a secondary weapon."

hothie said:

i like the magnetic latch for the falcon.

Id make Wing Commander a unique ability limiting it to name pilots perhaps. Its cost should probably be at least 4-5.

I wasn't trying to push your buttons, and I'm sorry if it came off that way. I agree that Marksmanship is overcosted in the Wave 1 meta. However, I'd use it on Kath Scarlet and/or with the Gunner on either large ship.

An elite talent that allowed you to treat Range 2 shots as Range 1 shots would be interesting, but should cost at least in the same neighborhood as Expose: it grants a comparable benefit, without the (substantial) drawback. 4 points might be a bit too much, but 3 feels a little short.

I would personally like to see some more done with the information economy. Boba Fett's ability and Boost are both kind of models for this, although I don't think you'd exactly want to duplicate them--but I like the idea of giving players the ability to amend their decisions based on information that occurs in between finalizing the dial and moving the ship.

Probably not what you had in mind, but I think a TIE fighter pilot with the following Pilot Ability would be REALLY fun: "You may take the "perfom action" step of the Activation Phase before executing a maneuver." I don't know how much he would cost, but I'm guessing 15 or 16. He'd be able to Barrel Roll before he moves, which could get him out of some pretty tricky situations. Of course, if he were stressed he would still have to maneuver first to perform the green maneuver to clear the stress token before he could perform any actions.

A cool Elite Pilot Talent I've toyed around with is "Targeted Defense (or something like that): Roll one additional agility die when a ship that you have Target Locked attacks you with its primary weapon." Not sure how much it would cost. R2-F2 takes an action and costs 3 points, so I'm really thinking this one ought to be 4 points, but I could be talked down to 3. The bonus defense die only comes into play if a particular ship attacks you, so not as versatile as R2-F2. But once it gets down to one-on-one this Elite Pilot Talent could potentially be as powerful as R2-D2: you just lock on, and then take the focus action for defense without ever spending the target lock.

Parakitor said:

i like targeted defense. seems pretty balanced actually as its only one ship per round and its got to be target locked first. 3pts seems about right.

also your perform action BEFORE movement is interesting however i suspect with barrel roll it would maybe be a touch good (at least coat 4-5 id say).

hothie said:

I wouldnt be surprised if we see a 'Jedi Luke Skywalker' version of the Luke pilot card in the future. I mean its pretty clear Luke becomes a better pilot throughout the original trology so im guessing the current version of luke is like a rookie version of the one they wil hopefully release in the future. hard to say what ability he will have but it will be at lest as good as Wedges, maybe even giving him TWO elite pilot skills?

The_Brown_Bomber said:

You may be right, but I have a hard time making the TIE pilot as expensive as "Mauler Mithel." Seems like a cost of 16 would just about do it.

The_Brown_Bomber said:

My regular opponent runs Wedge with Marksmanship, it might change to Expose once Wave 2 hits. It also probably depends on your local meta.

On your suggestions, I would never approve of any card which lowers the point cost of other cards, because a) it allows for *more* points than the limit, and b) adds unnecessary clutter to squad building. What you really are wanting is a 0 point card which allows for 7 more points. If that is your intention, play for 107 points.

I'm unsure of skills, but I'd really love a method of creating our own balanced pilots. I'm an avid tabletop gamer, and being able to create my own character, or even convert one from a tabletop campaign for use with these would be righteous.

Jek Porkins pilot skill- 'Due to excessive load, reduce agility by one if attacked at range 1'.

Garven Dreis said:

actually im really asking for suggestions from people for their own Pilot Skills, instead of them flaming mine. Some constructive feedback about how suggested pilot skills can be balanced would also be useful for this thread. How about suggesting a suitable drawback? You do raise a valid point about having more rules can clutter a perfectly good game. Its really about getting the balance right between new mechanics and old ones. Keeping the game fresh for older players while not over complicating it for new ones.

I'd love to see a rebel pilot that lets other pilots reroll one evade die per attack.

also a rebel pilot that selects his/her move during their actavation phase. Farlander would be good for this because he was force sensative.

Rowdy said:

I like the idea of Jek Porkins having a drawback as his card text, and then givig him a points decrease. How about a reverse Maark Steele:

'When Jek takes a critical hit draw 3 cards and choose 1'

make him Pilot skill 5 or 6 because he was supposed to be a pretty good pilot. No elite pilot skill I wouldn't want o see the silliness of determination and this ability match up.

Points would be 25 or 26 minus the 'negative cost' of the drawback. I think 24 points for a pilot skill 5 guy or 25 for pilot skill 6. If it is a super drawback reduce it more.

Parakitor said:

"When you reveal a green maneuver, you may immediately perform a free Barrel Roll action."

I think it would be fine on a PS5 TIE pilot at 15, or PS6 at 16. Might also be fun on an A-wing, actually, and at PS5 (22 points?) it would give us a named A-wing pilot in between Arvel Skynryd and the Green Squadron Pilot.

***

Along the lines of my previous ideas, I think I'd also like to something like this as an elite talent:

Last-Minute Adjustment (3): "ACTION: At the start of the Combat Phase, perform one free action shown on your action bar. Then receive one stress token."

I'm not positive about the cost, but I think it's at least in the 2-4 range. It offers an advantage, and potentially a big one, but it doesn't give you any new capabilities--and it restricts your movement on the next round.

Gr8 ideas guys. keep them coming. Who knows. there might be a FFlight games designer out there who will be inspired by something suggested

I like the idea of a rebel pilot with the ability to allow a nearby ally to re-roll one defence dice, much like Biggs, the pilot will be an early target i think.

Also thinking about pilots from rouge squadron. Wes Janson NEEDS a pilot card. I think he should get an extra attack dice at range two with any weapon.

Be careful about tossing around extra attack dice, especially with ships that already have 3. Throw in expose, and he's capable of taking out an xwing in one turn without crits. Extra attack dice abilities need to be thought of with existing upgrade cards, which is why I changed my idea of Fett's ability to rerolling one die, because with Heavy Laser Cannon, an extra die would be too powerful.

Janson originally flew as a Ywing, so giving him an extra attack die would be ok if he was a Ywing pilot card, but I wouldn't give him an extra die if he was an Xwing pilot. Although he could get an extra die as a snowspeeder pilot…

hothie said:

A Y-Wing pilot with an extra attack dice would be cool. Even a pilot upgrade that made the Y-Wings more offensive, maybe something like:

HIdden Arsenal: Pilots Skill (Cost 5, may only be taken by a Y-Wing pilot) : Action: When you attack with your primary weapon roll one extra die.

[This might also be re-roll all blank results when attacking with your primary weapon].

I really wish we had a Y-wing pilot that could take an elite talent, but then you could have a Y-wing with Daredevil or Expert Handling, and let's face it: nobody can pilot a Y-wing that expertly.

I agree with Hothie's assessment of dolling out extra attack dice. "To a dark place this line of thought will carry us. Careful we must be."

@Sodapopj: Love the "reverse Maarek" idea for Porkins' ability. I also agree that he shouldn't get an Elite Pilot Talent slot. Of course, there's no way to even think he could deserve that: Commander Dreis doesn't even have that and he's the squad leader!

@Vorpal Sword: Last Minute Adjustment could be a good one. I could see myself playing it. It reminds me a little of Expert Handling, but seems like it would be less situational, which is good. 3 points seems reasonable.

I was thinking of Wes as a Y-wing pilot. Which is why I went with the extra attack die. You can't give more attack dice to X-wings! That is crazy talk. Also in the Comics he was a crack shot with a turret.

I think Zev and Hobbie would make great pilots to add as well. A genaric Rouge Squadron pilot would be awesome. I'd make it just like a red squad but with the ability to take an upgrade.

Zev and Hobbie were great pilots so abilities that would let them take an evade token or have banks be green manuvers would be cool.

I'd also like to see more R2 units.