There's been a lot of talk about how to retconn ships like the TIE Advanced, A-wing, etc. The suggestion of title cards, established now by the precedent found in the Royal Guards TIE/Int card, are especially attractive for both logistical (don't have to reprint all the cards) and mechanical (an upgrade system with secondary cards already exists) reasons. Likewise, unique pilot abilities have often reflected, not only the pilot, but the ship itself. The shuttle can provide targeting telemetry (hi Col. Jendon) and highly maneuverable TIE/Ints can boost after firing (Mr. Phennir).

This got me thinking, what about title cards that incorporate an ability, not for a specific pilot, but for a specific ship. For instance (this is posted in the 'Lets Talk About A-wings' thread because I had the idea there):

Regarding the A-wing's moveable lasers, sci-fi or not, I have a hard time imagining a pilot accurately firing from a moving ship while also moving his lasers in order to hit a moving target. I get that it's in the lore but the difficulty must've been insane. How many kills were scored that way? So another solution might be a title card similar to Ten Numb's ability ( When attacking, 1 of your critical results cannot be canceled by defense die ). For the A-wing MkII just soften it to "When attacking, 1 of your hit results cannot be canceled by defense die." You keep the 2 dice but they're more potent without adding a 3rd. It's handy but by no means guaranteed. Price it appropriately and presto.

Ship based abilities would be a new mechanic and a force to be reckoned with to be sure. Combing them with the inevitable unique pilot abilities of their higher skilled pilots would combine for something powerful as well. But, especially for ships with specific roles and as the game tries to expand without duplicating stats, such an approach might very well be viable. Pricing could also make it balanced as well since the title card would be optional and restrict points otherwise spent -- just like the added points on a unique pilot with an ability vs. the generic version of the same ship. Not all pilots would be worth the title upgrade either as players chose their favored combinations of talents, secondaries, modifications, etc.

My only concern is that the action bar somewhat covers this notion that ships have abilities inherent to them as well. Modifications likewise function like talents for ships. But both are necessarily rather basic. Title cards of this nature I imagine would provide more flexible solutions like the one suggested above though.

So thoughts?

R22,

regarding the A-wing's ability to rotate its guns to fire aft- I doubt that the pilot would be firing these guns, rather the on-board fire control computer would more likely perform this action for him (our current day technology is capable of this, I'm sure a space-faring nation could do it). Also, I don't see this so much as a way to "attack' enemies but a way to deter or discourage enemies from attacking them from the rear. Some thoughts on how to implement it in the game:

1. Use a "A-wing only" ship title card ("title" is probably not the right word here but we'll go with it for now)

2. Perhaps we could use "Ant-Pursuit Lasers" as our model here- they are short ranged, not really that great but do pose something of a threat to anyone pursuing too closely. (I think they would be better suited to this purpose than they are of an interpretation of the rear firing guns on a Lambda-class shuttle that actually has a dedicated gunner but there you are...)

3. Treat them like the Firespray's rear arc guns but limit them to range 1. ( The Firespray is likely to have a larger, more powerful fire control computer to handle its weapons- or fly the ship while the pilot fires the guns- and may even have a dedicated gunner)

4. Perhaps either of the above (or something completely different) that requires an Action to be taken to activate/rotate the guns to the rear arc, prohibiting them from being fired at targets in primary arc in the Combat phase. This would make them something of a gamble as the pilot would have to figure out where he wants his guns pointing... A correct guess would give him a great advantage but... a wrong guess and he is unable to fire at a (perhaps) more threatening/inviting target.

Just thinking out loud.

Chris

I like this, Chris. The alternative is to make it shoot in range 1-2 but make you have to spend a Focus token like with the laser turret. :3

Regarding the A-wing's moveable lasers, sci-fi or not, I have a hard time imagining a pilot accurately firing from a moving ship while also moving his lasers in order to hit a moving target. I get that it's in the lore but the difficulty must've been insane. How many kills were scored that way?

Wouldn't the guns be moved by the computer's inertial targeting and tracking system to help the pilot to lead his target?

On topic, I think title cards are a good option for buffing currently released ships. People have discussed a "TIE Advanced x2" title card to do something to make Advanceds more relevant.

My actual question wasn't about A-wings per se, just the idea of title card's with abilities as buffers. The mere example was concerning an A-wing, giving it a title card similar to Ten Numb's ability ( When attacking, 1 of your critical results cannot be canceled by defense die ). It boosts attack but doesn't OP it. But it's not really about the A-wing, I just mean the notion of title cards that assign permanent abilities similar to upgrades etc.

Yeah. Its a pity. I'd love a shuttle having a aft firing arc for turret upgrades only!

So if you dont add a turret, you can't use its aft arc. And turrets may only use the shuttle's aft arc.

So adding a turret would be less effective like on a Y-Wing or HWK ... but at least the shuttle could fire while turning around.

For the shuttle id go with a cheap laser turret with power 2, maybe with a rule like the HLC has: crits to hits. 2 or 3 points.

I think nearly everyone who knows the craft was expecting the shuttle to have a rear firing arc, including myself. Putting it at 2 attack would be perfectly fine, makes the shuttle far more useful, and it wouldn't be OP at all if you costed it appropriately. 3 points sounds pretty good.

I think nearly everyone who knows the craft was expecting the shuttle to have a rear firing arc, including myself. Putting it at 2 attack would be perfectly fine, makes the shuttle far more useful, and it wouldn't be OP at all if you costed it appropriately. 3 points sounds pretty good.

Now we understand each other. I mean take a look at the model. It is there. And we got a weapon which makes the ship almost act like an obstacle. This is not that bad - but it isn't an aft turret at all.