X Wing is a passion of mine, but like a lot of passions, it brings forth strong emotions and equally strong opinions.
Luke and Biggs on a secret mission in K Wings………..
What would I have done, if hypothetically, I was involved in the design space for the game, especially the second edition game, especially after sampling Armada?
Pilots would be separate from ships. The pilot ability would be transferrable with the pilot as fits to theme and ship type. Luke in a Y Wing, E Wing or A Wing, Vader in a Defender, Tie Fighter, Prototype, or Punisher? Why not, it actually happened. Pilots, especially generic or personalised ones could have unique skills and higher PS they earn over time or you could use the pre-made Legends from the films. This adds growth, greater flexibility, more options and raises legendary characters up to a bar to aim for. Pilot building would be a game in itself. It does not necessarily make for a more complicated game.
The bare ship would come as a basic package, with mods allowed up to a point. Basically, you could take as many mods as you spend points on that can be fitted to that ship, even by degrees, with the built in limit of points bloat. This also does away with Titles, Illicit, Tech and System upgrades, as modifying would be essentially the same. All the issues of limited slots, like the mess the X Wing became late game (“Renegade Refit” magicked up to take 2 mods to allow S-Foils etc., but losing Torps), could have easily been avoided by simply allowing another mod option available in a less limited space.
The 2e fix of absorbing many of these into the core ship has fixed the problem short term, but what happens after another couple of years of releases?. My main issue with Mods is not that they exist, but that they are limited, which makes no sense thematically.
One fix that came to mind was to make mods unlimited for any eligible ship, with a max of one of each per ship, effectively making the above happen and making more sense. All ships would effectively be “Vaksai” Titled, but why would they not be in reality? A whole squadron of Engine Upgrade and Vectored Thruster X Wings? Sure, but at what cost? Maybe Luke or Wedge get the better ships, but the Rookie has to make do.
EPT’s would be replaced by Squadron Tactics. These would cost per ship on the same or a compatible type (such as Vader’s Advanced mixed with Tie Fighter wingmen) as a pre-planned and practiced signature tactic or tactics available for that unit. They could be supplemented by cheaper wingman only talents, limited to a pair or three pilots in concert and can be faction specific, mimicking the tactics of the faction adding flavour.
This fixes a couple of things. The contradiction of a unique pilot talent then elite pilot talent would be replaced with the more logical “shared tactical doctrine”, which would also make building squads off the same type of ship more logical. It could even be possible to have a “make your own veteran squad tactic” mechanic.
Combined, the above changes would make buying ships and pilots separate exercises. Players of small games could expand their pilot range, with a mix of ships, while players of massed battles could buy just the ships with generic (base) pilot profiles.
Ordnance would be more lethal and accurate when a Lock is made, but the Lock is contested, not automatic (like every fighter scene in every movie I have seen). It seems odd that Missiles in 1980 are more likely to hit than ones in a sci-fi universe after a lock has been achieved.
Droids would be like pilots, with a suite of uses (repair, manoeuvre, targeting etc).
Crew would be more powerful and repeatable.
Repairs would be possible (especially with crew/droids), rather than just specific actions from specific pilots at odds with the game as a whole. Repairs would be subject to a test roll and could even go pear shaped, but should always be possible. Repairs are one of a Droid’s or Crew members main functions, but only a couple have any ability there and it is limited.
Initiative and pilot based actions like Locks/Rolls/Evades would be pilot skill contested, not fixed.
This looks on the surface to be more complicated, but shouldn’t it be? The core concepts are there for simple play, just as now, but a lot more options are available for advanced gamers, without the power creep and oddness of some combinations and the many contradictions introduced.
The game attracts thousands of competitive and non competitive players flaws and all. Would it not be better to open that space to a more malleable and logical game, while keeping the core concepts the same. I do not play video games, but even I can see some merit in adopting a more realistic “tool box” layering approach that these often take. Tournaments could have a set PS starting point with more points and better skills with wins, casual games can wheel out the Legends of the game/stories.
The simplicity of X Wing, I feel actually creates it’s own complications. Often artificial limits are used to regulate, control or herd players in certain directions, which in turn create more “painted in corners” problems for the designers, that need further “fixes” in a more limited space. Imagine if a similar idea to 2e’s app or points list system was applied to upgrades specific to ship type from day one.
The game is brilliant in concept, but in application, it is limited, sometimes frustrating and short sighted (but I still play it!). I think the draw for me to a more basic Bare Bones form is to glorify what works, which is the elegance of the core design, but to mitigate the problems that came after.
What would you have after the dust settled?
Wedge with high skill, a good Droid, Rolls and Boosts available, in Red squadron with a couple of bolted on tactics, some mods on some X Wings, some not. he could then switch to an E Wing or even fly something bigger (where some of his skills would not fit).
Just a thought ;)