It seems there's a lot of discussion both here and on the BGG forums about the viability of the Lambda. Based on my own (very limited) experience and what I've heard from others I wonder if giving the Lambda a rear firing arc would have broken it or made for a more balanced ship?

In regards to the rear firing arc I wouldn't suggest a full powered rear gun, but maybe a 1-2 dice attack since the Lambda clearly has more forward facing firepower. I also realize the Anti-Pursuit Lasers were supposed to be an answer to the limited maneuverability and to complement the full-stop maneuver, but canonically it would make sense for the Lambda to have a rear firing solution. It's slow, has no K-turn and is very vulnerable to flanking attacks.

What do you think? Personally I love the Lambda and I'm interested in finding better ways to use it in my games.

Best way to use it in your games is to leave it AMD get equal points worth of academy ties.

Somewhere in between probably. Certainly would increase its use greatly. Probably too much since you could run 4 of them.

What I would like to see is some expanded arcs. Some ships were known to have larger front arcs. Something like that would have allowed the lambda to still get shots occasionally after someone fets behind and you out maneuver them. I would like to see some ships be 2 bases wide with a therefore wider arc. Or a 180 arc for some ships.

I think it would have been balanced to have a very narrow rear firing arc - and would've kept a very different feel, for example, of it had a 5 - 15 degree angle of arc in the back - it'd be very easy to stay out of the arc at close range... it'd be pretty good

Considering the cries of "broken" before we saw the dials, a rear arc would've overpowered the ship. What you are asking is essentially making it a cheaper, slightly less maneuverable, but better able to sustain crits, Firespray. With some very important upgrade options that really makes it a better offensive option. Don't underestimate the value of a rear arc. The dial is bad, sure. But the lack of a rear arc is what truly balances the ship. Dogfighting in large ships is not the easiest thing to do.

Considering the cries of "broken" before we saw the dials, a rear arc would've overpowered the ship. What you are asking is essentially making it a cheaper, slightly less maneuverable, but better able to sustain crits, Firespray. With some very important upgrade options that really makes it a better offensive option. Don't underestimate the value of a rear arc. The dial is bad, sure. But the lack of a rear arc is what truly balances the ship. Dogfighting in large ships is not the easiest thing to do.

Sorry, I forgot to add that if it had a rear firing arc I would expect the Lambda's point value to rise accordingly.

But I understand what you're getting at. It's good to see some of the positives of this ship being highlighted in the discussion. Thanks!

It should have had a rear firing arc upgrade if anything.

My change would not be to the shuttle itself, but to Anti Pursuit Lasers. I would make them range 1, one attack die outside of the primary firing arc. Any crits become hits (like the HLC). 3 points to get the upgrade.

It would be helpful to the shuttle, but not game breaking and does not require reworking all the shuttle points.

That would be my solution.

ANTI pursuit lasers and then park it infront of the enemy...nuff said! Who needs a rear arc then.

A new large ship modification card:

Turret Mounting Bracket [5 pts]

Large ship only. Modification.

Your upgrade bar gains the [turret] upgrade icon.

A new large ship modification card:

Turret Mounting Bracket [5 pts]

Large ship only. Modification.

Your upgrade bar gains the [turret] upgrade icon.

That would be a very steep price to pay considering you'd then need to buy the turret as well.

It could have been a way to build it, but the went another way.

The Lamba is 21 points for 10 hits and 3 attack dice. It doesn't have a very good dial (ok it has the worst) but I think it is pretty powerful for the points.

It was a guesstimate price. When you consider that the Outer Rim Smuggler probably has an extra cost baked in for the YT's 360 firing arc, it doesn't seem to crazy given that the Omicron Group Pilot is 6 points cheaper. Maybe drop the upgrade price to 3 to compensate for the dial and turret, but I can't see there being that much cheaper.

It's just an idea for an alternative to the "missing" expanded firing arc.

The next question is, "would this upgrade break the Firespray?" Think of a Firespray/Lambda with both the Ion Turret and HLC/Autoblaster... MADNESS!

My change would not be to the shuttle itself, but to Anti Pursuit Lasers. I would make them range 1, one attack die outside of the primary firing arc. Any crits become hits (like the HLC). 3 points to get the upgrade.

It would be helpful to the shuttle, but not game breaking and does not require reworking all the shuttle points.

That would be my solution.

I also agree that the best solution is improving Lambda's upgrades and abilities, not the ship itself. The problem with the Lambda is that beyond the initial pass, it's usually unable to provide effective firepower nor support. It simply cannot catch up with the combat. I'm OK with Lambdas maneuvering like frozen whales if they could support better than now from the distance.

For starters, I would remove the ramdomness on APL. If a hostile ship overlaps the Lambda, it should suffer one non-crit hit. Period. It's a real shame for a static asteroid being more dangerous than a mobile armed ship. The asteroid can crit you and on top of that it prevents you from firing back.

Also, although not directly related to the lambda, upgrades like saboteur should be reconsidered to allow better support options in general. Range 1 only, costs your (an) action, it has a 50% chance of doing absolutely nothing, and even if it activates, its effect is totally random.... Really?... Who exactly is he sabotaging? The enemy or my own squad?