I think it's also worth noting that expensive ships like the Slave and the Falcon have a reduced value, some people say because of the large base, but I think it's more likely that numbers on the board matter, and therefore the higher points you go the more any formula breaks down and the more cost reduction you need to slip in to make them worth their cost.

I agree that "-1 Agility on defender at Range 1" is the right way to go with the Tractor Beam, and it should be a system upgrade. So the Defender can tractor the enemy while firing an ion cannon at them if they want.

Making it a system upgrade is an interesting idea, I like that too.

Edit: Making a ship's cost proportional to the square root of it's defense will be balanced at any point range, but the developers probably wanted to avoid having a 70 point Falcon running around the board, for several reasons. (sales figure and game fun being the top 2)

Edited: square root of attack times defense isn't quite right for small numbers of ships, as the digitized step function vs a smooth continuous curve starts to favor the single larger ship. Adjusting only the HPs and scaling that as the square root should be OK though.

5 INTs @ 3HP each would actually be favored to beat 3 INTs @7HP each, all else being equal. So I don't think 31 points is too expensive for a TIE Avenger.

Good info to read, nice to see the discussion.

The only input that I can offer is I think the Z95 points should be either 13 or 14. The PS2 and missile slot should each cost about a point, although the dial does hurt the ship. I don't know if having 6x Z95 with conc missiles for 96 is a good idea either (would really put bombers to shame). So I'm thinking 13 pts for a PS2 Z95 is a good fit (adjusting the other Z95 pilots accordingly). Plus, the theme of each side is that the rebels have better ships and the Imps swarm better, so I don't think any other ship should be as cheap as the Tie Fighter. Plus I think a 7 ship rebel list would still be very formidable.

Again, just my opinion. Been thinking a lot recently on what to do with the Tie-Droid and how to balance it.

Despide the background telling they had 100 SBD shields ... there are also sources telling of 40 SBD http://www.jedipedia.de/wiki/TIE-Avenger

Always check your references though! What's his source? "Some guy on the internet" carries a lot less weight than "Lucas Arts source material".

Edit: The speed listed on that site is also not the same as the Lucas Arts TIE Fighter game.

Despide the background telling they had 100 SBD shields ... there are also sources telling of 40 SBD http://www.jedipedia.de/wiki/TIE-Avenger

Always check your references though! What's his source? "Some guy on the internet" carries a lot less weight than "Lucas Arts source material".

Edit: The speed listed on that site is also not the same as the Lucas Arts TIE Fighter game.

Well, this is the german 'wookiepedia' so, I'm sure there are even more versions out there.

In the end it doesn't matter. Computer games and source books can be an inspiration - its about to catch the core, the spirit, the role of the ship. But in the end it has to fit into the game. With the role, the costs and the balancing. And this actually could be the case.

That's how I feel, you decide where you want it to slot into the game, for the Defender I would say a similar points value to the Slave-1, but swapping Hull and Shields for more maneuverability and a smaller base. I would then say what are the core things that define a Defender. So has Shields, Maneuverable, Technologically Advanced. I would then juggle stuff around till it matched the points I felt it should have (similar to the Firespray). I would then take it and Playtest it.

It's all well and good saying the Canon says the stats should be X. But more important is playability, fitting a individual niche, feeling like the ship in question and balance.

The Tie Fighter might not be correct, but it is fast, maneuverable, easy to kill and can swarm.

The X-Wing hits hard, feels slightly more sluggish, is reasonably tough.

etc..

I am really curious about the chances if we had:

3 x Bounty Hunters VS. 3 x TIE Defender (3-3-3-4; PS2; faster then A-Wing dial)

One of the math geeks? MajorJuggler?