Lots has been written about the how and what of Bare Bones, but let’s revisit, as a point of finality, the reasoning behind Bare Bones option for X Wing 1st Edition.
This is very much based on my personal take and the results of sharing that perspective with others, The other stakeholders in BB share my philosophy, but to a certain extent, are following my lead due to a much weaker understanding of the game, it’s history and it’s problems.
After throwing myself into X Wing at the beginning of the year, reading all the blogs, reviews and playing enough to confirm what I read, a few things floated to the top as the primary strengths and weaknesses of first edition X Wing;
Balance
The game tended to swing with each new wave of releases. “Prime” squad builds ruled for a wave or two, but were often nerfed (weakened) later, just to restore some balance, but this was rarely enough to make some older ships even slightly appealing on the tournament circuit. Worse, often the nerfs applied were at odds with the purity of the game, sometimes, even to Star Wars as a whole. Upgrades that allowed things with no precedent, models (titles) of ship that may have been canon (at a stretch), but felt wedged in simply to make the game more coherent and even removal of printed on-card features (JM 5000), seemed all about the players comfort in the game space, not Star Wars relevance.
By the end of 1e, the name-sake X Wing had several “optional” upgrades to make it enticing. Looking like a Christmas tree with too many decorations, it went from a pretty simple (in the core set), Pilot-Ship-Droid-Ordnance dynamic to a far more powerful, but effectively mandatory set of title and droid cards. Where was Luke, with R2 and some Photon torps? Lost under Integrated S-Foil, Renegade Refit and Flight Assist Astro-mech upgrades. 2e has smoothed this out, integrating these into the core ship as needed.
This also led to some suspension of belief;
I like my story telling aspect intact. The line between the inspiration (Movie, book, TV) and the game, is for me, pretty straight and short. If the game makes it less pleasurable or even unhealthy to try to play to the story, then I loose interest pretty quickly. Not only is the lack of connection to story disappointing, but the inability to accurately replay scenes from it is doubly frustrating.
Accuracy
Making a game must be pretty tough. I have tried it a few times and the rewards are seldom enough to balance the hard graft and time involved. FFG has made a great game, based on a famous franchise. They have been true to the (extended) universe and accurate in their portrayal, to a point. Obviously the game comes first, so sometimes accuracy must take a back seat. When people start talking about the game in purely min/max terms, with little regard to it’s simulation-ist opportunity, I lose interest.
So what did we identify as the main game killing culprits and what could be achieved by changing or removing them.
Squad Logic
Making a squad, if taking the above into account, should make some sense. Few tournament successful squads do. Usually made up of too many of the same unlikely ships, weird combos or ships that simply do not share the same time line, winning 1e X Wing squads rarely make much sense. I want to field a squad that can tell a story, the story. One that feels and looks right, then plays on a level playing field. 2x X Wings guarding a pair of Y or B wings on a mission? 4x Tie Fighters escorting a Lambda? Why not? In the current meta, only scenario obsessed players would go there (and likely lose).
We wanted a game where any squad could be viable, as long as the player played to the strengths of their ships.
What is Dropped and Why?
What is dropped are the upgrades that affect all of the above. All of the things that have been identified as real or potential game killers.
Elite Pilot Talents. Each elite pilot comes with their “one unique thing”. These are thematic and fit well with their pilot (well done FFG). Most of these however are duplicated in the EPT meta, meaning that the pilot you pick for their special talent, can often be exaggerated, nullified or duplicated by your or your opponent’s choice of EPT. It just feels wrong to me that the pure and logical feel of each pilot is made redundant by EPT choice. To make things worse, some EPT’s are used almost universally, while others are seen as effectively useless.
The power and the pain of the EPT is a known thing. EPT’s layer levels of synergy into builds that seasoned players salivate over, but to me, they are the most common game breaking culprit. Also, the effect doubles down on pilots with no built in talent, who cannot buy one either.
I would have preferred a “tactics” upgrade, with a squad alignment rather than pilot one. I would have also liked it if pilots were separate from ships (but still limited), like Captains in Attack wing.
Modifications. Mods are like EPT’s in that they can change the very nature of a ship. Why is this bad? It is not really except on the scale and with the logic they are applied. When the Imperial Interceptor stands out as the best arc dodger, I feel a sense of rightness. When another ship can add a mod (or sometimes up to three), making the Interceptor a less special little snow flake, the game’s purity of purpose is (I feel) weakened. There is little mention in Star Wars of mods used with many, especially base ships. From a game perspective it adds another layer of synergy (complication) and again like EPT’s there are just some that always need to go on certain ships, while others are rarely played.
Titles. This one is a little problematic. We play BB two slightly different ways. The first is as indicated with no Title upgrades. The second allows specific, named ship Titles, but not generic ones. The Punishing One, Hound’s Tooth, Falcon, Mist Hunter, Havoc etc. sometimes need their title to fit their story. This can add an artificial benefit (+1 Evade), other times it is baked in (Tractor Beam), but either way, the exclusion of generic class titles feels right.
Most, if not all are game balancing nerfs. Mark 2’s, Refits, Special editions, “Brands” are all used to fix past mistakes or bring ships that have been forgotten in the mists of time up to date. Annoyingly, some of these were seeded into Huge ship upgrades, making these expensive packs almost mandatory for serious players ($100 upgrade card anyone?).
The Tie Advanced for example is a balanced ship compared to its equivalent X Wing and Khiraxz fighters. It almost immediately became a no-go option in the game due to a weak 2 attack and some mediocre pilots when most of it’s benefits became muted. This is fixed to some extent by the Title upgrade available in the Raider set (2 only), but that was a long time coming and only a balancer.
Most of these have been built into 2e ships, in a logical and balanced way and in that edition they make sense. In 1e it all feels a little desperate. Removing them simplifies all of the ships equally, making the game just as balanced as 2e, with less bells on.
Out of Timeline ships. The TFA period is separate. To confirm this 2e has split it cleanly. 1e had to include a part of it, but pickings were slim until the last trilogy played out, so a handful of ships were added into existing factions and regularly played with unlikely allies (Darth Vader with Kylo Ren or Young Luke and Poe in the same squad, not on my watch?). This also removes Tech slots.
Removing them does two things. The first is obvious, story consistency. The second, dropping Tech upgrades, further reduces the layering of certain ships and rids us of a faux-Systems upgrade. My large Resistance and First Order fleets are now the core of 2e, where they fit thematically and make sense systemically.
Limiting Bare Bones to the early movies and extended universe ships only, fits into the feel of the older game.
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Is there enough to explore?
Looking at it from our perspective (casual players new to both editions), it is plenty. The fleets are almost comprehensive, so there are hundreds of pilots in dozens of ships with thousands of upgrade combinations to try. By reducing the clutter, the game feels more approachable for a group who play a lot of different things and do not have infinite time.
Without the format, the better practiced players gain too much advantage over less familiar players, reducing the fun for all. 2e has taken the role of “advanced” X Wing, with deeper play, more comprehensive ships and better integration of Huge ships and Epic games, but for us, 1e Bare Bones fits the role as the original perfectly.
