Star Wars: X-Wing Update

Hello everyone and welcome to another Atomic Mass Games Transmission! Today we’re going to be talking a little about some changes to how squads are built in Star Wars™: X-Wing!

Let’s start with explaining the new system: Players no longer build 200 point squads – they build 20 point squads. Now, you may say that this loss in granularity will create certain ships that are just stronger than other ships… fear not! We have thought of that and will get into how we’ve handled it in just a moment.

With the new squad building rules, players will pick a faction and choose the ships they want to include in their squad, counting to a total of 20 squad points. We have changed the minimum ships that must be taken in a squad to 3, up from the previously allowed 2. This was done because two ship lists were generally not very successful in engaging with the scenario play we want to emphasize in the new direction of X-Wing. We’ve kept the same maximum of 8 ships – and let me say from our testing – there are some potent swarm lists out there! Ships generally range in the 3 to 5 point bracket, but there are outliers (I’m looking at you Darth Vader piloting a TIE/d Defender…), and some ship point costs dip as low as 2.

Now, how did we address the loss of granularity between ships? And what is going on with upgrades? I’m so glad you’ve asked! In addition to a squad point cost, each ship has been assigned a Loadout Value. Loadout Values tell the player how many loadout points worth of upgrades a ship can equip. Ships that have a stronger Pilot Ability but are in the same “bracket” of squad points as another ship that has a weaker Pilot Ability will usually come out to have a lower Loadout Value.

You may notice that the points listed for upgrades have remained mostly unchanged, with one major exception – upgrades no longer have variable costs based on which ship is equipping it. This was one way we found to reduce the complexity of squad building – Hull Upgrade will always cost the same amount of Loadout Value no matter who has it equipped. When addressing the loadout point cost for these upgrades, they were assessed at their strongest use and given a cost accordingly. Oh! We’ve also updated a lot of ship’s available upgrade slots – some ships may have an extra cannon or torpedo slot, where the rest of the pilots at that squad point level can take missiles. Keep an eye on those details!

So why was this change made? Well, answering this question requires a look at a bigger picture than just how squads are constructed. One of the reasons we added scenarios to X-Wing is to give players direction when they are thinking about the game. Before, when the game had no scenario play, it was very difficult for new players to understand what they were trying to accomplish while looking at the game. Players were asked to engineer an obfuscated advantage that was difficult to assess with fresh eyes, one where they had to force their opponents into traps or scenarios that were advantageous to themselves while avoiding their opponents attempts to do the same. Scenario play gives players clear direction on what a squad needs to be able to accomplish in a game – “I need to secure these satellites.” “I need to recover supply crates strewn across space.” These are very tangible goals that players can latch on to and build custom squads to accomplish. The new point system does something very similar. Players no longer must choose between an attractive suite of upgrades OR additional ships in their squad – they will always have the option to take both the upgrades AND the ships they want to play. Because these two squad components do not share a common point pool, it is now much easier to assess the value of a plodding bomber as opposed to a sturdy ‘jousting’ ship or a nimble ace. In Scenario play, bombers can use their device upgrades to restrict opponent movement and shut down escape paths – and with the new squad building rules, players don’t have to worry about what to “down grade” in order to afford those bombs and mines.

While we may have added more steps and more things to look at in the points reference documents, we (and our incredible play testers!) feel this new system has actually simplified squad building to a large degree, when looked at in conjunction with the changes to the core rules. Scenario play gives players clear goals in their squad building and the new squad building rules simplify the literal thousands of permutations of ship/upgrade combinations that can be built in X-Wing by breaking down the decision-making process into much smaller, digestible, chunks. Let’s look at Fenn Rau (Fang Fighter), and two different ways to build out the pilot for your squad. Fenn Rau has a hefty squad point cost of 7, and a loadout value of 12. He has two talent slots, one torpedo slot and a modification slot. Both of the following loadouts for Fenn Rau are legal and viable with the new squad building rules, and both are going to want to use very different tactics to successfully complete their missions.

• Fenn Rau (Fang Fighter) – 7 Squad Points (12 Loadout Value)
  • Lone Wolf (Talent) – 5 loadout points
  • Fearless (Talent) – 3 loadout points
  • Ion Torpedoes (Torpedo) – 4 loadout points
• Fenn Rau (Fang Fighter) – 7 Squad Points (12 Loadout Value)
  • Adv. Proton Torpedoes (Torpedo) – 8 loadout points
  • Hull Upgrade (Modification) – 4 loadout points

These points changes and squad rules update are releasing alongside the core rules changes discussed late last year – happy flying!