Imperial Pilot Ability

[Rakky Wistol 2,903]

So green dice are just loaded to fail more often... And when you over roll evades on your greens you get no benefit... But what if you did?

"When you roll more evades than your opponent rolls hits, gain one evade token and you may choose to not remove one evade token from this pilot during the clean up step this round".

Which ship would you most like to see something like this on? Would it cost just PS or PS+1? Does this even come up enough to be useful?

[Feuerkelch 8]

I think it's too strong, to make someone able to keep his evade, even without the extra-generation. You can easily slow down before the first fight and gather some evade-tokens. When it comes to a fight you can generate more and life for a long time.

 

The idea of making evade-dice more efficient is interesting, but right now there is a balance between green dice and hitpoints. Only thing I could imagine would be a Tie-Fighter beeing able to make a barrel roll, when rolling more than enough evade. With the limits of barrel per turn it wouldn't be too strong and a Tie-Fighter doesn't deal enough damage to be much of a threat on its own.

[tiefanatic 453]

I'm thinking on a squint? But maybe as a mod or something, so you could use it with Supa Soonta.

[Elkerlyc 727]

The general idea of 'buffing' green dice whenever you roll 'an excess' is neat.

But how to implement this without breaking the game?

 

Perhaps allow one green die reroll the very next time if you had more evades than hits?

Maybe as a cheap (1 pt?) upgrade?

[Engine25 2,910]

It would definitely be PS+1, as are most useful defensive abilities, see: Luke Skywalker.

Especially since your reward for evading is... more evades. I like the idea of it, though. Does your opponent waste a lot of focus fired shots just to do chip damage while your heavy hitters are hammering on him, or does he leave a defensive ship to deal with late in the game. I'd think that decision would depend on pilot skill.

[DreadStar 1,124]

So when you overkill an enemy ship you get also free "hits" ?

 

More OT. Having over "dodged" your enemy attack happens. Same as you sometimes overkill enemy ships. It also forces you make decissions, like choosing what to shoot and when against which ship, to waste as little shoots as possible, while calculating if that bet would be worth a gamble.

 

It is also easy to follow, and would add more tokens into the table, something which is a big no for me, as i truly believe game mechanichs don't need to complicate visual gameplay. And if anything, your suggestion, would also boost importance of dice rolls in the game.

Edited August 10, 2014 by DreadStar

[blade_mercurial 2,091]

So green dice are just loaded to fail more often... And when you over roll evades on your greens you get no benefit... But what if you did?

"When you roll more evades than your opponent rolls hits, gain one evade token and you may choose to not remove one evade token from this pilot during the clean up step this round".

Which ship would you most like to see something like this on? Would it cost just PS or PS+1? Does this even come up enough to be useful?

On a high PS ship, I think this ability would be strong enough if it gives you a bonus evade token that lasts until the end of the round, just like any evade token.  Allowing a ship to accumulate evade tokens ala the moldy crow title does for focus tokens would be game-breakingly strong...

 

Edit: in fact, there is a psychological component.  The first time you 'over evade' and get a bonus evade token, your opponent might be hesitant to shoot at you again (for fear of giving you another evade token against the 3rd attacker, etc...).  This might make Stealth Device a very effective upgrade too.

Edited August 10, 2014 by blade_mercurial

[Dagonet 7,246]

So green dice are just loaded to fail more often... And when you over roll evades on your greens you get no benefit... But what if you did?

"When you roll more evades than your opponent rolls hits, gain one evade token and you may choose to not remove one evade token from this pilot during the clean up step this round".

Which ship would you most like to see something like this on? Would it cost just PS or PS+1? Does this even come up enough to be useful?

 

As worded, it is too strong I think (and clunky ). Maybe split it into two abilities.

 

Let's take the Moldy Crow title as an example for one:

During the End Phase, do not remove unused Evade tokens from your ship.

 

And R4-D6 as a template for the other half:

Once per round when you are hit by an attack and there is at least one cancelled [hit], you may choose to gain one evade token per unused [evade] result.

 

The second part I could see used as an extra title for something big, like the Decimator, gaining evades for future attacks that round, but hard to actually get working because it has no base green dice so you'd need a stealth device and something else to gain evades in the first place.

 

The first ability could be an extra title for the Interceptor, instantly boosting Kir Kanos' viability.

[winters_night 87]

Naw we don't need something else to penalize 2 attack rebel ships (y wing, a wing, z95) by now making it a detriment to shoot. Tie swarms are still arguably the best list out there, and have been since this game came out. I see no need to make them even better. on a side note always cheesed me that tie fighters have 3 HP. Nothing like watching them take a "direct hit" and flying off

[Elkerlyc 727]

I'd not mind if Tie fighters would have a mere 2 hp.

(provided they lower the cost to say 9 points. )

[Rakky Wistol 2,903]

So the original intent was that you could only save the token for later on the turn you over evade and not always on. Not sure how to clean up wording. I almost just made it a sheild token but that's even more powerful (even if you just limit it to one). It would be too powerful if it was an always on ability.

This feels like an interceptor ability but might actually be better on a ship with no native evade: defender.

As to penalizing 2 dice ships... Well it's a single pilot. Hopefully you're flying a mixed list should you face this single pilot.

So how to reword it and what ship should you see it on?

[PenguinBonaparte 516]

Yeah, stacking up the tokens might hurt 2 attack ships, including my beloved Ties, but what if there were some other way to modify green dice. I'd love to see a pilot who's a defensive Howlrunner. If I'm going to have my ships hit by predator on a C3P0 Falcon again and again, which can completely neutralize so so many attacks after Howlrunner's focused out of existence it seems only fair.

[Plainsman 1,002]

Also, the rules state you roll evade dice even when the attacker does NOT roll any hits, page 17 FAQ, so there is potential for a LOT of uncanceled evades. Ex. tie shooting at range three against against an interceptor, tie rolls two blanks, interceptor rolls three evades and a focus, it also has a focus token, flips the fourth evade! Do we really want an interceptor carrying four evades plus rolling three to four evade dice!?!

[Hrathen 1,463]

You also get no benefit from doing more hits than your opponent can take. I don't think there is a problem with high agility ships.

I have never roller more evade than I needed to completely avoid damage and then thought, "Oh that was lame, I wasted evades " I am usually more like, "ha ha, take that, nothing gets through! I rock, you suck, gloat, gloat, gloat!"

[Cyberkaiju 43]

Usually the ships I would want this on arnt being shot. My interceptors and phantoms are usually out of arc, and my lambdas are being shot. I want them to shot my lambdas so they don shoot my other ships, and if it is to hard to hit they might be discouraged and focus on bringing my other ships into arc more.

[Plainsman 1,002]

I often roll more evades than I need. Just yesterday I had a couple of instances of needing only one or two evades and getting three or four...

They balance the times I only need one and get none, on three dice!

Edited August 10, 2014 by Plainsman

[DreadStar 1,124]

Usually the ships I would want this on arnt being shot. My interceptors and phantoms are usually out of arc, and my lambdas are being shot. I want them to shot my lambdas so they don shoot my other ships, and if it is to hard to hit they might be discouraged and focus on bringing my other ships into arc more.

People shouldn't be discouraged to get your flankers into arcs. You should be the one playing them right to make them arc dodge your opponent.

 

I still don't understand why people feel this is even needed in game. But if turrets are the issue (and the reason for this thread) you are experiencing, then you should talk about something which wouldn't affect current match ups that are totally fine.

Edited August 10, 2014 by DreadStar

[Rakky Wistol 2,903]

I started this with no thought toward turret or not turret... Just a simple fact that green dice are worse than red out of the gate. A single ship pilot ability, not an ept, that rewards your green dice for rolling high once in awhile has NOTHING to do with turrets. Please, do not turn this into one of those threads.

Also, the benefit of rolling really well with reds is THAT YOUR OPPONENTS SHIP IS DEAD. Rolling more greens...ZERO benefit. Again, talking about a single named pilot ability here...although it seems like a pretty powerful EPT.

And, as always, if you ever find yourself completely arc dodging with your ships for an entire game:

A) you're lying

B) you're playing REALLY subpar opponents

C) you are the best player ever

D) you had one good game

Most likely B but I'm starting to suspect the options A and B with how much this comes up on this forum.

Edited August 11, 2014 by Rakky Wistol

[nikk whyte 3,868]

Now, this idea is onto something that I've thought about, and would be a pilot exclusive ability.

Counter attack. It would have to be a 2 agility ship, to keep it from one shotting things.

When defending, if you roll more evades than your opponent rolls (closed hit marker, open hit marker) the attacker suffer damage equal to the number of excess evades rolled

Edited August 11, 2014 by nikk whyte

[nikk whyte 3,868]

That would give a ship coran horn like ability, and would've worked incredibly well on something like a Z-95, which already has a lower attack capacity.

[Rakky Wistol 2,903]

Again, working on rewarding defensive rolls and not just killing things faster.

That being said: interesting idea there too.

[Ryther 208]

So green dice are just loaded to fail more often... And when you over roll evades on your greens you get no benefit... But what if you did?

"When you roll more evades than your opponent rolls hits, gain one evade token and you may choose to not remove one evade token from this pilot during the clean up step this round".

Which ship would you most like to see something like this on? Would it cost just PS or PS+1? Does this even come up enough to be useful?

What if, instead of buffing your evade that turn, it stressed the enemy, or just denied them their next action? That doesn't seem too overpowered. It might need to be a pilot ability instead of a game mechanic. A tie advanced with an ability like this could be interesting, but who knows?

[Nyxen 1,605]

I'd say it wouldn't be op if worded like this ' when defending, the first time you roll more evades than the attacker rolled hits, gain an evade token.'

 

that way its a once per round ability and still rewards a good early round.

[player1823837 174]

The reason green dice are "worse" than red, is to make the game end in a timely manner. I for one do not want a game which is a stalemate because you are setting up an immovable object against an unstoppable force. As a single named pilot skill it could be fun, but as an all-round upgrade card? No thanks. Rolling green dice is a punishment, not a perk

[Rakky Wistol 2,903]

Again. Single. Pilot. Ability.

Ships:

Phantom- No: 4 vs. 2 would trigger often

Interceptor- Yes: 3 vs. 2 and a natural fit.

Defender- Yes: High point cost already needs a strong pilot ability.

Fighter- Hells Yes: would make another high def tie to play with DC and NB

Firespray-maybe: more tanky is good. Only 2 Ag might not trigger enough.