Other people’s blogs about X Wing are a wonderful resource for a semi new player or even an old hand.

One of the things I love about 1e is the number of healthy and helpful blogs that edition had. Reading one of the better ones, I came across this http://stayontheleader.blogspot.com/2017/02/the-state-of-x-wing-part-i-phantom.html .

In one set of clear (and mathematically proven) posts, he has managed to sum up what it is Bare Bones is trying to do.

Essentially, it is removing the Action Phase from the top of the effectiveness pyramid. This allows the Planning and Combat phases to ascend and the game to go back to the simple dog fighting game X Wing started out as.

For me, the ideal is a place where the Pilot (with inherent ability but no EPT), their ship (unmodified and without Title), is loaded with Ordnance, Crew and supportive “extras” like Droids, Illicit and System options, then the play, being the Planning Phase and the Combat Phase as the core of the game is all. Squad building can be based on what ships you like, what Pilots are in them and the tactics you use. The game should not decided in the “garage” before the game, via squad maximising.

Adding extra levels of synergy, we felt, simply added too much complication and depth of the game, making it hard for new players to enter and as hard for experienced players to “Fly Casual” in a world of knowledgeable winners and ignorant losers. The post above points out that the crucial change mechanically, is in Action Economy. I was/am aware of this both in game making and game breaking terms, but when you actually see it from the perspective of a top tier player and blogger, it really hits home.

Action economy, or at least the 2 to 3 layers that later builds effortlessly add, takes the important decision making at the front end of the game and effectively bins it. Have enough Action Economy and it all comes to nothing. Don’t have enough and you will have little effect on the game against those that do. Most of what I call the “band-aid” fixes in the later game either create or try to re-balance Action Economy. This could have theoretically never stopped (wonder why so many Actions are built in to ships and the EPT’s are comparatively blunt in 2e?).

The Countess Ryad with Push the Limit, Twin Ion Engine and x7 combo vs 2 X Wing Rookies, who really stand little chance of making any impression on her is such a good example of where my preferences do not lie.

These Mod, Title and EPT upgrades are all missing from Bare Bones builds as they were identified early as the game breakers. Some will not cope with that restriction, which is fine. We all play our own game.

Comparing the Bare ships, gives us a very different dynamic.

Ryad has different manoeuvre options, a better Pilot skill and a Pilot Talent (K turn surprise!), but now has only the usual single Action (Focus, Lock or Roll), is dearer, gets no semi automatic Evade and struggles to turn/clear stress, just as the Defender was designed to be. Both ships can have Ordnance and the X Wings a Droid. The rookies have a chance now.

I am a strong believer in the strength of the basic principles of the game. The FFG designers usually nail the ship and Pilot characteristics thematically and mechanically. This can then be drastically diluted by layers of upgrades, that seem to be designed on totally different principles of competition balance and competitiveness. I really feel the answer is in the roots of the tree, not the ever growing “options” branches.

I also feel that the designers make each level of the game mechanic with a mind to it fit with itself. Looking at the X Wing or Tie pilots shows patterns of offence, defence and support options. This is something that is again diluted by upgrade layers. In 2e, they seem to be looking more at this phenomenon, but there is still (A New) hope for 1e.

Removing the “big three” most damaging upgrade groups shaves 50-200% off of this phenomenon. Very few Pilots will have multiple Actions available, making these more valuable and more enjoyable when you pull them off.

Darth Vader was the big bad of the game in the early days with 2 Actions. He even made a middle of the road ship feared. How quickly he was over shadowed.

Is the game reduced by removing these upgrades?

Mechanically it is of course option reduced. From a game enjoyment perspective it is simply different.

If you find it less enjoyable, then look elsewhere for variety. Scenarios, semi-fixed, thematic squads, bigger squads etc are all ways of mixing it up (as with photography, I often find the limits we work with are the seed of creativity). Importantly, every ship will have a chance, so all of those dud ships you hid away years ago, may get some table time. Remember, squad synergy is now more important than single ship upgrade synergy.

We have found that 120 point squads add just enough to make the upgrade sparse BB game more of a squad vs squad experience, rather than a ship vs ship one, opening up a raft of tactical depth. 4 E Wings or Defenders, a 7 Tie + Vader squad are all possible.

As SOTL points out in the last section of his post, change is not bad for everyone. It comes down to what drew you to the game. X Wing more than any other predict and execute jousting game, offers the player many ways to break the core concept. Wings of Glory, Check Your Six, Sails of Glory etc give you few or no ways to circumvent the basic game style and Attack Wing is less obsessed with Action Economy and more with resilience and fire power mods.

Even BB X Wing has more options, but it provides enough of a point of difference and flavour to work without changing the core game concept or step too far from Star Wars.

As to SOTL’s point regarding “It’s Not Star Wars”, we have limited ships to the original Movies and the Extended Universe, hoping, doggedly to keep the Star Wars feel. He makes good points about the difficulty of keeping the game going, fresh and alive without killing it’s own babies**.

Also, would it have even killed them to do Pilot packs for 1e. You have the ship, but would a half dozen Pilot options go astray? Probably not and think of the revenue raised compared to manufacturing costs.

Getting back to the title of the post.

EPT’s do add a lot of variety to the game, but they also start the decaying orbit into the multi-layered Action Economy black hole. They have quickly become optional again with us, even looked at with some suspicion. Of all of the removed upgrade classes, they are the easiest to reconcile back into BB, but each to their own here.

For;

They add some strong abilities to certain ships that need them or have no other upgrade options (A-Wings, Interceptors, Ties, Scyks etc). Conversely, some ships that cannot have them (Punishers, most Y Wings), actually fare better in a non EPT world.

They can be fun.

Against;

Most are already represented by Pilot abilities*, which makes the relevant Pilot special (awww), so adding them to other, less thematically logical Pilots to taste mixes the message.

They can be unbalanced, many are auto buys or equally hard to justify. Soontir always gets PTL, as does Farrell. This is because they often effect Action Economy, which few other upgrades touch. Few other upgrade types have such a range of must have to near pointless cards. TLT’s are generally considered to be overly strong, but in BB the ships they are on are generally not, some Ordnance ends up as fillers, but few are totally useless. System, Droid, Crew and Illicit on the other hand increase in effect. Upgrades like Advanced Sensors, which change the order of the Action phase are actually game effecting, giving the few ships that can have them a real edge.

Edit; A little later in the day and EPT’s are out, for the same reasons as before. They add to the game in some ways, even making some inconsistencies go away, but on the whole they break the BB ethos, which is to prioritise the core concepts of the game.

*I would have preferred it if EPT’s were “Squad Tactics”, simulating pre-planned squadron manoeuvres or preferences, increasing the synergy of a group (as some do now) rather than an extra talent for an already (thematically) talented Pilot.

**In my humble opinion, another way FFG could have kept the game fresh and diffused the upgrade stacking issue, would have been to have offered separated or more Pilots, like Attack Wing Captains (effectively amalgamating Pilot ability with EPT). In 2e they have gone some way to doing this with the Resistance and First order factions, offering many more pilots over fewer ships. I like it.