All posts by LasseKaa
It could be interesting with different Commando teams. The wording seem to imply there will be different remotes. Then there are different upgrades, like Clan Wren Commandos and I can easily imagine a cheaper, generic version with one charge.
There was a comment somewhere, where AMG confirmed that the 75 minutes for a game will be retained for tournaments. Which means I will most likely never play the 12 rounds format, as we're casually playing with tournament rules amongst the local player base.
As for the Gauntlet's reinforce, statistically the more agility a ship has, the less useful reinforce is. The cost of Angled Deflectors is based on agility and is higher for no agility ships. It's survivability is closer to a Lancer, but it's dial is much worse. I could imagine it's cost to be somewhere along that line, most likely less than, due to it's worse dial and fixed back arc. But I wouldn't expect it below 51 points, as four of them on the table seems powerful.
Wazat, what's your thoughts on the Gauntlet (I'd much rather call it a Kom'rk)?
I mean, I can easily fit 200 points as well. There are just times, where reaching the 200 points is impossible without changing one good upgrade for a sub-par. I too am not a meta player, but my buddies are, so I need to make something competitive if I want to stand a chance at winning. As for making things easier for new players? Teaching new players a game, that is different from the main game is not what I would call easy. I may just confuse them more (speaking from experience in other types of games). But I do like the narrative angle. From a casual perspective.
I feel like objectives are already a thing in different epic modes and in those card packs, that arrived a couple of years ago. I haven't tried them, so can't be sure. The challenge is to make it even for both players and balance it. But your suggestions seem sensible and might work.
As a TO I only have so much power. Under FFG at least, for most tournaments I had to follow a certain format. Only for local store events, I was able to mix it up. And I can always host casual tournaments with prize support from my loot bag, that's never been an issue.
I'm looking forward to more concrete information. It would help clear out things.
Fair enough, I'll comment as a player and TO.
The current tournament form, the kill as much as possible, mechanic is based on how the game is designed. And it's not designed for objectives. That's not to say it wouldn't work with objectives, but my concern is that it hasn't been fully tested (I know it hasn't because that's impossible), and if we have to deal with a year or two of sub-par tournament formats, I would much rather prefer status quo.
For tournaments a "the earliest of 12 or 75 minutes" could work. It does now for total annihilation and 75 minutes. I just have a gripe with finite turns games. It's super dissatisfactory to see that in any given game state, if you had 5 turns, you could win, but only have 3-4 turns left of the game and plenty of time. And it happens most time I'm losing in one of those type of games and it's just an NPE. So to me it's refreshing that x-wing is different from most of the other objective based games. And then when it comes down to it, testers has be keeping track of turns in 75 min games to get the average, which came to 17 turns per game.
And then keeping track of how many turns has passed is gonna be a nightmare to begin with. So as long as I have a say, it's gonna be time.
Players will definitely find a way to get no-bid and random first turn to work. But whether or not it will fix the problems, we're seeing I'm less positive about. It might as well just introduce new problems. I do think players will bring useless upgrades just to reach 200 points. They might have a slot available, but no use for any of the upgrades, so they'll pick whatever in order to not give away points. Which will skew data on how much an upgrade is used. And some lists even won't allow you to reach 200 points, as either all slots are used up or the upgrades are too expensive for the slots, you have available. I mean, I guess we'll see. I just expect more bad than good.
Great summary and great comments Flash.
I also have some thoughts on this reveal and I will comment on the points individually based on your structure:
New Wave
I didnøt think we'd ever see the Kom'rk Class due to it's size, but it's a welcome surprise. It looks like it's a four faction ship, so I hope they print it in a huge stock. Many will want this. It also make me hope for more Clone Wars ships.
Darth Maul makes sense, he did fly it in Rebels. He will probably be a multi faction pilot as well.
Mandalorian Supercommandos seems fun, even if I'm not a huge fan of remotes. But it's an interesting design space.
I'm glad card packs are returning. FFG commented that they wouldn't do it again, but they bring so many neat things to the table. And really, I have enough models already.
Second last? I wonder what else FFG was working on. But it's reassuring that news things are on it's way, while AMG are catching up and hiring new people.
Organized Play
Worldsand any other organized events are sorely missed. I look forward to them returning.
Narrative play could be interesting, as long as it doesn't push too much with the stable tournament format.
Egh. Tarot sized cards are just annoying. I really just want them to focus on tokens, templates and dice. Every player across factions can use these. Cards are boring and worthless in a eventual new edition. Locally we ran out of tickets for 16 player tournaments in matter of hours, when the prizes were tokens. Now when they're cards, no-one really cares.
Less time to play doesn't make me want to play additional game modes. The base mode is great. There are better games for this sort of stuff.
Point Updates
Yeah, I never used the new app. FFG really screwed the pooch by trying to save money by having a team, who knows nothing about the game, develop the first app, leading FFG to post money into a second app, which will now be canned. Embrace the community!
Points updates could really mess things up, but also allow for new, exciting meta. I hope they continue to balance the game through point updates rather than ban/restrict lists.
Yeah, this limited rounds suck for several reasons. As an organizer of events, planning for 75 minutes makes sense and is easy to plan around. For 12 rounds, depending on the lists, a game can range from between 45 to 150 minutes. And I just know we will see boring matches, were one player scores points in the first 4 rounds and then flees for the remainder of the game. If I can avoid it, I will not include this in my tournaments.
The point bid thing. Well, it can really shake things up. I think it will impact the game more dramatically than what they have envisioned. New styles of play and such. Whether or not I will like it, time will tell. I can see good and bad things coming from this. But the automatic scoring of points? Mostly bad. This will just lead people to put useless upgrades on their ships. The random first player despite bid can also have you lose the game on the first roll. That's a universally bad thing.
We already have ban/restrictions. It's called Hyperspace.
I'm not a fan of scenario play. I think it will bring a different play to competitive games, but there will be boring meta lists for this as well, just as we see it in other games with objectives. Dog fighting is the way to go, that's what the game is designed around.
The Future
18-24 months is a long time. I blame bad planning/bad working conditions more than covid.
Including quick build for standard play might actually make people use it. I don't know if they have any data on how many use quick-build, but I've never seen it locally. But being able to mix it with standard building can open for some interesting strategies, especially if the QBs allows for some quirky builds not allowed for standard play. I guess we'll see,
See above :D
I think this will be hit or miss. Some players will play it for the narrative/fluff, but much of the fun in x-wing is to build your own lists.
I've been trying to figure out how to do some campaign stuff for x-wing without screwing too much with the standard format. This might be a better substitute.
Reprints doesn't necessarily have to go through a full development cycle. A Star wing expansion would just require the pilots and unique upgrades for the ship and then add in some generic upgrades. Just print the stuff already, it's basically free money!!!
I'm not saying you're wrong. But this will definitely need clarification, if the card gets popular, because people will be at odds about it.
But yeah, I'd agree the owner assigns the token.
In regards to Babu Frik and Tractor tokens, I can see a lot of questions from players coming up: who actually assigns the token to the ship? The owner or the enemy? Why does it matter? If it's the enemy, you may rotate your ship 90 degrees for a stress.
Many 4 ship rebel lists float around over here.
Nice to see your list handling the False Faction Dual Firespray list so well. It's really prominent. But what's this self damage, you're talking about? I can really see where it's coming from.
Yeah, Saw could be an option for a more offensive Shara, but Magva allows for those sweet after activation locks, which makes her super tanky, but also a threat for higher init targets.
While Wedge fits in, Garven might be a better fit, given how well he synergizes with Hera. And opens up points.
I like this about 2.0 and how new pilots and upgrades opens up new versions of one's old lists, instead of making them completely obsolete.
I took the liberty of editing you Wulffwarro list, adding Magwa to Wulffy could provide a good source of locks for him, as he kinda wants to be damaged. Removing Wedge might hurt, but then add the best blocker Arvel with Intimidation will turn everyone into Wedge.
I like it! I've tried Wulffwarro once, but couldn't get him to work properly. Maybe a revisit is in order?
Let me show you my own work on a legally 7 (yes seven) dice list:
Any rebel pilot with a natural 3 dice primary attack and an ability, that adds one dice can get to 6 dice with trick shot and Jan Ors. But only Shara Bey can add a result in conjunction and then get to a total of 7 dice. (Remember the cap is 6 dice rolled).
Of course it requires some work to get there and get enough mods to make those big hits count. The problem for Shara is re-rolls while adding the focus result. Still hadn't gotten around that.
Current form:
Here all the ships are a source for damage. Esege covers 270 degrees, provided he still has a focus on his shot. But mostly he's there to supply Shara with Focus. Jan obviously boosts every attack, but she has a three dice primary and mines so could potentially cause much damage.
Magva on Shara makes her surprisingly tanky, being able to spend a lock and focus to mitigate some damage and then get the lock back.
Now there are ways to get re-rolls on an attack while spending the one lock for a focus result. But it makes the rest of the ships less dangerous. But does add another:
This does add an option of either providing Shara with another Focus or with a lock. If Hera locks the same target as Shara, Shara can shoot, add a focus result and then Hera can transfer her lock to have Shara re-roll any blanks. It's doubling-down on Shara, but the rest of the ships are naked and easy to take down.
But in both cases the math goes: 3 primary +1 range 1, + 1 Jan Ors, +1 Trick Shot, +1 ability = 7 dice
They're running out of ships for the Resistance and FO factions and I'd wager not much more will be made for that era, lore-wise.
So it wouldn't surprise me, if AMG eventually released the unmodified Whisper.
That Illicit will shake things up. Many ships and abilities can benefit from it, but Scum obviously gets most out of it, because of Jabba and Cutt-throat.
I predict False Transponder Codes will get a point increase, but then Overtuned Modulators will take over, and then it will get a point increase! While FTC will get cheaper. And take over again. Ah, the endless cycle.
Wrath and Holo are new best buddies.
That's an amazing looking firespray. Good job!