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I can't see the justification for an extra die on the x wing, especially for 2-3 point, I mean now we pay 7 points for an extra die and range limits and no crits in the HLC (yes I know there are also no additional defense dice at range 3 but still). Also in my opinion the x wing actually is not that far off, I stand by my suggestion, free upgrade, swap a Torp for a shield, no one uses torps and a shield is 4 points, effectively they're getting a 4 point discount.

Something to stuff the astromech slot for a points drop for x-wings, an option to replace the torpedoes for missiles on the same.

Let the tie defender fire both main and secondary, like the y-wing.

The tie bomber could use a buff to its ordinance. Maybe allow it to not discard when it fires it's rockets/missiles?

Ewing needs a buff, but I'm not sure what they could fix without buffing corran aswell or making it really unwieldy.

 EmpNortonII wrote:
A guy I know heard it from a guy he knows... I think.

It might just be someone overheard someone's wishful thinking and forgot to ask a source.

Not long ago, some blogger got to talk to one of the designers (cannot remember which blog or which designer) and the designer mentioned that people who like bombers will like the next wave. He also talked about wanting to work on another Aces Pack but that was purely speculative on his part. I wonder if you mate or mate's mate might have seen that.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:
Thinking about Corran/The E-wing, I think what we would need would be to have some upgrade which provides a strong, cheap buff to the first attack, but is phrased so as not to work for Corrans second attack. It would need to be either a sensor or droid, both of which Corran likes to have. So Corran may pass over it for something which helps both attacks, but generic E-wings will snap it up.

Maybe. The problem is that Corran's double tap isn't actually that important. It's certainly a good ability, but what really makes Corran work is PS 8 arc dodging combined with the R2-D2 + PTL combo.

So for a E-Wing fix to work, it would have to be anti-synergistic with both corran's high PS and his end-of-phase shooting. Maybe something like a Reverse-Enhanced-Scopes to give the generic E-Wings some arc-dodging capabilities? (though the lack of boost makes that hard too)

For X-Wings, I like the idea of a title to discount their astromech slot by a few points. That would give them some unique and cost-effective abilities compared to the B-Wing while still preserving the B-Wing's role in the game - any fix that simply marginalizes the B-Wing compared to the X-Wing would be shifting the problem.

The TIE Defender needs the A-Wing Test Pilot treatment, so that their generics can get EPTs (and named pilots can get two). FFG sort of screwed the pooch on their generics being PS1 and 3 - maybe a title could buff them up to 3 and 5 (to bring them in line with the Phantom generics). Then you could take VI and get a PS7 generic - something unique in the game, and following with the "TIE Defender pilots are special snowflakes" fluff (though, hilariously, you would still get screwed by the all PS9 meta).

The TIE Bomber... I like the idea of having a torpedo-slot card that gives you extra ammo for your secondaries (e.g., you would take a proton torpedo + a 1 point card that allows you to discard it instead of the proton torpedo card). That has the bonus of working on any ship that has multiple torpedo slots. FFG is really backed into a corner with the munitions, since they really don't want to invalidate or directly modify existing cards. Weirdly, modifying the rulebook itself might be the course of least resistance.

Corran needs his astromech to be a shield regenner, and his systems slot to be FCS.

Perhaps a title, for 'early production E-Wing' that gives a point discount but takes the system slot, ala Chaardan refit? That gives no benefit to Corran (who MUST have the FCS), but it'd make the lower pilots better.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
X-Wings don't need a 'Royal Guard Pilot' esque Rogue Squadron Pilot, simply because they can't get real use out of higher PS quite yet.

With only Focus/TL as their actions, they're incredibly inflexible fighters. Ironic, considering how 'clumsy and powerful B-Wings' are by no means clumsy.

If I could errata anything, I'd give X-Wings the only rebel S-Loop to make them do something special. It'd turn them into unpredictable, but not adaptable arc dodgers.

Without errata, probably a title that grants +1 shield at a minute point increase. Or a modification (if this ship has an astromech droid installed, +1 shield. Cost: 0 pts.) to give you a reason to also equip the random non-unique droids.

Perhaps a cost reduction for EPTs for X-Wings, as a 'Rogue Squadron' title? Since X-Wings can't abuse EPTs anywhere near as badly as the fast arc dodgers with many actions.

 Manchu wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:
A guy I know heard it from a guy he knows... I think.

It might just be someone overheard someone's wishful thinking and forgot to ask a source.

Not long ago, some blogger got to talk to one of the designers (cannot remember which blog or which designer) and the designer mentioned that people who like bombers will like the next wave. He also talked about wanting to work on another Aces Pack but that was purely speculative on his part. I wonder if you mate or mate's mate might have seen that.

It was Alex Davy and it can be seen here.

What the TIE Defender could really use is some kind of Defender-only modification which allows it to treat 1 and 2 speed turns as white maneuvers.

Thanks SPJr! Could not remember his name to save my life.

So, been doing a bit of thinking, and I think that the R4 Astromech and title I suggested for the X-wing could really help it compete with the B-wing.

On a Rookie Pilot, a shield upgrade with title and R4 astromech would come out to 24 points, same as a B-wing with Fire Control system. Both have the same ideal turn, with a 3 base attack with both focus and target lock with only one action. Both approach this in slightly different ways. Durability wise, the extra shield pushes the X-wing on par with the B-wing, with the extra point of agility matching the extra two shields, especially against things like TIE's and Z-95's who only have 2 dice base. The B-wing still leads in terms of maneuvers, as barrel roll outweighs a couple extra white maneuvers. Fire-control system also has an advantage of not requiring an action, allowing the B-wing to take a red maneuver and still be a threat. The X-wing wins in terms of flexibility, as the B-wing only has it's action economy when pursuing the same target. If it kills the target, or gets distracted, the B-wing loses action economy. The X-wing, however, can simply choose a low-PS target in its arc, making it a bit more adaptable to the current battle. So, I think that the fighters would be fairly evenly matched.

These upgrades could also help ships other than a generic rookie.

Tarn Misson: He basically pays 2 points for a point of PS, and some added flexibility with the R4. Here, you can lock someone in your arc at the end of your movement, and then if a better target flies into arc and shoots you, you can switch target lock to them.

Biggs: Of course he likes cheaper Hull/Shield. However, R4 also has some good stuff. If your opponent lacks a high PS ship, you can target lock, and still have focus by the time he inevitably gets shot.

Garvin Dreis: Probably gets a bit worse with the R4 making focus economy less important.

Porkins: Free hull upgrade may make this guys ability more useful. Probably not enough to pass over Wedge for.

Wedge: Engine upgrade discount, Push the Limit, and R4 turn this guy back into a terrifying elite pilot on the level of Corran, Soontir or Vader. Like Fel, you take a green maneuver, then get 3 actions worth of effects. He costs as much as Corran with no upgrades.

Of course, the R4 could also be taken by other ships. For the Y-wing, it has to compete with R3-A2's control ability, but would give it an excellent non-unique droid. Dutch Vander benefits, as his ability becomes target lock and focus manipulation when running with a bunch of other ships with R4's. Horton would also benefit a lot, if Torps were fixed. At range 2-3, he could spend a target lock to attack, gain a focus, re-roll blanks, then spend focus to convert dice.

It could also go a ways to making non-Corran E-wings useful. Because it takes a droid slot, it would force Corran to choose between it and R2. For non-Corran E-wings, R4 and Firecontrol system create a feedback loop as long as you can stay on one target- such as a bulky turret ship like the Falcon or Decimator. To start, you need to target lock once on your target (or not, and just delay this by a turn). Spend target lock, gain focus, use focus. End of the attack, gain another target lock. Next turn, just evade, and spend target lock and focus you are generating. The downside to this is that you need to stay on one target for an extended period for it to work, and are paying 31 points for a PS1 pilot.

From what I've seen of TIE bombers in video games & movies it's a bomber not a dogfighter. So maybe an upgrade that reduces the cost of your second ordnance by 1/2 & a single use munitions failsafe for a reduction in base firepower to 1? Make it a 0 cost title. I mean even with a Y-wing in Rogue Squadron I could outmaneuver them & if one got on my 6 it wasn't putting out rapid fire shots but just single shots like blam.1.2.3.blam.

I wouldn't mind if the munitions were changed so that TIE Bombers (and other munitions-carriers) were very good against huge ships, but not necessarily useful in 100pt dogfights. That fits their role better.

 Red_Starrise wrote:
From what I've seen of TIE bombers in video games & movies it's a bomber not a dogfighter. So maybe an upgrade that reduces the cost of your second ordnance by 1/2 & a single use munitions failsafe for a reduction in base firepower to 1? Make it a 0 cost title. I mean even with a Y-wing in Rogue Squadron I could outmaneuver them & if one got on my 6 it wasn't putting out rapid fire shots but just single shots like blam.1.2.3.blam.

Funny- in TIE Fighter, I remember using a TIE bomber to kill Y Wings with proton torpedoes.

Tie Bomber title cards
Tie bomber only for both:
Advanced Targeting system: 0 points; You do not need a Target lock to fire secondary ordnance.
Gun boat: 0 points; All secondary weapons cost -2 points.

Tie Defender Maybe give them something like the Segmor’s loop as a white maneuver. Or a way to get more green on the dial.

X-Wing: -2 points cost for no Mech.

E-wing: I don’t have a problem with it, I am not a fan, but other than an upgrade that does not effect unique pilots I do not see an easy answer.

Some ideas (I dont put points costs to things because that makes it difficult to balance)

X-Wing:

Lock S-Foils (Modification, X-wing and B-Wing Only), Upgrade Bar gains 1 S-Foil Upgrade Item.

Strike Foil (S-Foil), You may reroll attack dice when performing a primary weapon attack. (Perhaps limit it to 1 attack die).

Stability Foil (S-Foil), When this ship performs a focus action it may perform a boost action for free (even if it does not have the boost action in its action bar)

Radiator Foil (S-Foil), This ship may not have more than 1 stress token at a time, additional stress tokens are discarded.

X-Foil (S-Foil, X-Wing only), During the combat phase you may execute a Speed 1 or Speed 2 maneuver on your dial instead of firing a weapon.

Basically some fluffy considerations that allows the X-wings to specialize in certain roles. The X-Foil is based on the fact that certain variants of the X-wings could generate a speed boost by locking their S-foils and disabling weapons. I think it would give the X-wing a serious mobility boost while allowing for some really interesting maneuvers when paired with an R2 series droid (making at least that droid option relevant again).

I would say the alternative would be to give the X-Wing access to some Title Cards:

T-65AC4, Increase your attack value by 1, change all (critical hit) results on attack rolls to (hits) instead. After revealing a speed 4 maneuver, you may gain a stress token to perform the maneuver at speed 5 instead.

T-65BR Recon-X, lose (torpedo) upgrade item from upgrade bar and gain (sensor) upgrade.

T-65D-A1, lose (astromech) upgrade item from upgrade bar (reduce points cost as appropriate).

T-65XJ, Increase shield by 1, the upgrade bar gains a (torpedo) upgrade item.


E-Wing:

Oddly I feel like this ship matches the fluff pretty well, it was intended to be a supership, and turned out to be good at a lot of different things, but not great. In any case, there doesnt seem much point to them in game. The best choice, I think, would be a point cost reduction via an E-Wing only astromech upgrade (Series-4 Refit) or an E-Wing only sensor upgrade (Standard Array), or perhaps both, allowing pilots to dial down their E-Wings as they see fit. Yeah, it'll reduce the points cost on Corran Horn, but lets be honest, most people that take Horn are going to load him up with a sensor or astromech or both to maximize his potential. Reducing his points cost by 2 points while preventing those upgrades isnt going to ruin the game.

TIE Bomber:

I'm in favor of any idea that reduces the cost of torpedoes/missiles/increases their utility to the bomber (although I agree an across the board fix is needed.

Personally I think it could be fixed with the addition of a core rule that says that when using a secondary weapon that states the card needs to be discarded, first roll an attack die, if the result is a miss, discard the card, otherwise don't discard it. This creates a slight conflict with the card text, but not a major one.

This is an abstraction of ammo capacity, if you get a hit, we assume that it still has more missiles/torps in its magazine, if it misses, we assume that the fighter exhausted its supply (to clarify, an X-wing for example, had a capacity of 6 proton torpedoes in its standard configuration, why the card is one time use is a bit of a head-scratcher as a result).

This rule also allows the munitions failsafe to remain relevant, as if your actual attack misses, you wouldnt have to discard it, which is definitely a nice little modification that would be worth 1 point, especially on a ship like the TIE Bomber that might have multiple secondary weapons.

TIE Defender:

Linked Weaponry (Modification, TIE Defender only), Immediately after resolving a primary weapon attack, you may perform a secondary attack with an Equipped Cannon.

Isaard Refit (Missile or Cannon, TIE Defender only), Action: Target ship at Range 1-2 gains a stress token and rolls 1 less defense die while evading for one round. (Ysanne Isaards TIE Defenders were equipped with tractor beams which the pilots used to limit the mobility of enemy fighters so that they were easier to hit and to maintain a bead on and hit)

chaos0xomega wrote:
Lock S-Foils (Modification, X-wing and B-Wing Only), Upgrade Bar gains 1 S-Foil Upgrade Item.

Probably too complicated and way too powerful. The b-wing is already a good ship, and the x-wing only needs minor improvements. Giving re-rolls on attack dice or free actions is almost certainly going to be too much.

T-65AC4, Increase your attack value by 1, change all (critical hit) results on attack rolls to (hits) instead. After revealing a speed 4 maneuver, you may gain a stress token to perform the maneuver at speed 5 instead.

Utterly broken unless it's really expensive (and then not the kind of minor change that the x-wing needs). Remember, a HLC gives almost the same offensive boost and costs 7 points. And adding two unrelated effects (speed and firepower) is bad design in a game like X-Wing where simplicity is important.

T-65BR Recon-X, lose (torpedo) upgrade item from upgrade bar and gain (sensor) upgrade.

IOW, "trade a slot nobody ever uses for the most powerful upgrade option". Again, way too good.

T-65D-A1, lose (astromech) upgrade item from upgrade bar (reduce points cost as appropriate).

This would probably be balanced, but the available droid options are so good that I'm not convinced that it would be a popular choice unless you're really tight on points.

T-65XJ, Increase shield by 1, the upgrade bar gains a (torpedo) upgrade item.

Could be balanced depending on the point cost. The torpedo upgrade is probably redundant though, since hardly anyone uses even a single torpedo.

The best choice, I think, would be a point cost reduction via an E-Wing only astromech upgrade (Series-4 Refit) or an E-Wing only sensor upgrade (Standard Array), or perhaps both, allowing pilots to dial down their E-Wings as they see fit.

I don't think this would be a viable idea. FCS and R2-D2 are so effective that nobody is ever going to want to make that trade. If you're forced to take a non-Corran e-wing right now it's still going to have R2-D2 and FCS/AS. Taking away those options leaves you with a ship that has no real purpose.

Linked Weaponry (Modification, TIE Defender only), Immediately after resolving a primary weapon attack, you may perform a secondary attack with an Equipped Cannon.

Not a bad concept, but the price would have to be balanced very carefully. A 3-dice primary shot followed by a 4-dice HLC shot is a ton of damage from a single ship, way more than the A4 y-wing can do.

Isaard Refit (Missile or Cannon, TIE Defender only), Action: Target ship at Range 1-2 gains a stress token and rolls 1 less defense die while evading for one round. (Ysanne Isaards TIE Defenders were equipped with tractor beams which the pilots used to limit the mobility of enemy fighters so that they were easier to hit and to maintain a bead on and hit)

"Action: give a stress" is borderline overpowered (even R3-A2 puts a stress on its own ship and requires you to get your target in arc), and an agility debuff that applies to every attacking ship is incredibly powerful. The combination of the two is way too much for a single upgrade.

Im spitballing ideas, not writing rules. Theres plenty that can be done to address the balance issues. Also, for the record, everything ive written is basically a direct translation of fluff to rules, and thus far Fantasy Flight has done a surprisingly good job of translating one to the other, so I wouldnt be surprised to see some similar stuff come down the pipe in the future.

Well, torps and bombs really should be for attacking capital ships, not other fighters - Star Wars has more in common with WW2 fighters than modern missile-laden attack craft.

I'd like to see Tie Bombers be able to trade in the bomb to fire more missiles and/or maybe "ripple-fire" missiles (which would equate to a built-in Munitions Failsafe). [yes, I know what I just said, but even WW2 had "dumb fire" missiles or aircraft with lots/heavy guns; think of the all-machine gun B-25 Mitchell]

A stripped-down X-wing would be interesting; perhaps an upgrade where you remove the Torp & R2 slot to get +1 Evade dice.

Defenders having a modification that allows them able make more low-speed turns would be something I would like to see (Enhanced Maneuvering Jets; makes 1 or 2 bank/roll one color easier, in turn for rolling an attack die to see if the maneuver damages the ship?).

In fact, thinking about that, I'd like to see a line of "risk-taking" actions/tricks added into the game - something that only PS 5+ pilots can use, but RISK (not automatic) stressing, damaging or otherwise putting you in a bad position. As add-on cards, those who don't like the random could just not use them,

I agree re: torps/bombs/missiles. I thought theyre initial inclusion was questionable, and even with the introduction of the corvette and transport, it still doesnt seem worth it (esp. considering ive yet to see a game of epic play, despite the fact that i own 2 transports and a cr90. I thonk the biggest issue with torps and missiles is the range limitations. Proton torpedos for example were stated in the books to have a longer range than most fighters primary armament, yet they are still bound to the 1-3 range limitations of everything else. On top of that, for the most part, torps/missiles dont really offer much in the way of "value added". A couple of them have certain special effects that make them (almost) worthwhile but for the most part theyre not all that different from a primary weapon attack, except you have to pay extra for it, can only use it once, and cant also use your primary in the same turn. They really should have extra effects added, or be rolling more dice, or be longer ranged, or be an option to fire in addition to a primary, etc

It looks like a mod should close this thread.

Wave 7 just.. I dunno. I was really hoping I was gonna get a reason to field my TIE Bomber instead of being sold a bigger TIE Bomber.

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Wave 7 just.. I dunno. I was really hoping I was gonna get a reason to field my TIE Bomber instead of being sold a bigger TIE Bomber.

So based on a picture of the new ships without any rules knowledge you're already going to assume that the wave isn't going to add anything useful for other ships? Have you considered the possibility of FFG using this as an opportunity to produce new upgrade cards that will be good on existing ships like the TIE bomber?

 EmpNortonII wrote:
It looks like a mod should close this thread.

Wave 7 just.. I dunno. I was really hoping I was gonna get a reason to field my TIE Bomber instead of being sold a bigger TIE Bomber.

Well, to be fair no one knows exactly what the new ships will bring, only what they look like.

From the original source, the TIE Interdictor was also known as the Advanced TIE Bomber. It could be a high-cost supership that can be supported with TIE Bombers (maybe by buffing them?) and it probably comes with cards that will help the standard bombers on their own.

I wouldn't give out on hope yet.

Had a thought for a generalized-ish ordinance fix. "Heavy Ordinance" or something. Uses a torpedo slot, costs two points, but means that you do not discard your torp/missile after use. This means it is only really useful on guys with 2+ ordinance slots (so no help to the X-wing). However, it puts a lot of current ordinance on par with the Heavy Laser Cannon. You will need a target lock to use it, but since you can score crits, and get the extra effects of the ordinance, I think it would be a viable choice. Reason it should use a torp slot is so that you aren't just handing every Z-95 the equivalent of a Heavy Laser Cannon. Also, everything that has 2+ ordinance slots has a torp slot, but not everything has a missile slot.

Lets take a look at some of the ships:

Y-wing (Generic): can rock Proton or Ion torps for 24/25pt for a long-ranged sniper. Could also run a variation on the Stress-bot warthog using Flechette missiles, taking only one stress, and being able to double-stress the opponent at range 3.

Dutch Vander: I figure if torps become useful, this guys target lock passing will be extremely useful.

Horton Salm: for 31pt, can give him Proton Torps. High pilot skill means he can probably get a lock, and now you are rolling 4 dice, re-rolling blanks, and converting one eye to a crit at range 2-3. Probably could chuck on an Autoblaster turret for close in work.

Nera Dantels: Loves this. Obviously.

TIE Bomber (Any): Still has three slots, which can be used to give it an array of ordinance. I figure the dead space of buying extra missiles counteracts the fact that this upgrade applies to all the ordinance.

yea Im not too worried about the Kwing and Punisher making the Y and Bomber irrelevant, they strike me as being "super" bombers, and this much more expensive, similar to how EWings and Defenders didnt make XWings and Interceptors irrelevant.

chaos0xomega wrote:
yea Im not too worried about the Kwing and Punisher making the Y and Bomber irrelevant, they strike me as being "super" bombers, and this much more expensive, similar to how EWings and Defenders didnt make XWings and Interceptors irrelevant.

Yeah, it was the B-wing that did that.

I feel the B and Y occupy different roles, mostly because I take BWings for different reasons.

chaos0xomega wrote:
yea Im not too worried about the Kwing and Punisher making the Y and Bomber irrelevant, they strike me as being "super" bombers, and this much more expensive, similar to how EWings and Defenders didnt make XWings and Interceptors irrelevant.

And, more importantly, the y-wing is already useless as a torpedo ship. Even if the k-wing is the undeniable god of torpedo ships and no other rebel ship will ever take a torpedo upgrade it will have no meaningful effect on the y-wing. The k-wing (probably) can't take an ion turret, it can't take the A4 title card, and it probably can't take R3-A2.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

chaos0xomega wrote:
I feel the B and Y occupy different roles, mostly because I take BWings for different reasons.

I think you misunderstood there. The e-wing couldn't make the x-wing obsolete because the b-wing and z-95 already did that. So in theory the k-wing could make another rebel "bomber" ship obsolete just like the b-wing was a better x-wing and almost entirely drove the x-wing out of the game, if there was actually a viable "bomber" ship to replace.

 Peregrine wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
yea Im not too worried about the Kwing and Punisher making the Y and Bomber irrelevant, they strike me as being "super" bombers, and this much more expensive, similar to how EWings and Defenders didnt make XWings and Interceptors irrelevant.

And, more importantly, the y-wing is already useless as a torpedo ship. Even if the k-wing is the undeniable god of torpedo ships and no other rebel ship will ever take a torpedo upgrade it will have no meaningful effect on the y-wing. The k-wing (probably) can't take an ion turret, it can't take the A4 title card, and it probably can't take R3-A2.

I think that we are getting the turret primary specifically to avoid giving the K-wing a turret upgrade.

 Crazy_Carnifex wrote:
I think that we are getting the turret primary specifically to avoid giving the K-wing a turret upgrade.

Yeah, that's why I doubt it will be replacing the y-wing in that role. It theoretically could have a turret (the YT-2400 has a turret primary and a "turret" upgrade) since we haven't seen the upgrade bars and if it did it might threaten to replace the (non-A4) y-wing. But it's IMO pretty unlikely.

Err, I would imagine that we would get a turret upgrade (the K-Wing does have two turrets after all, and it looks like it only has firepower 2, which isn't very much for a double laser cannon turret and a quad 'turbolaser' (in quotes because in some sources the turbolaser is described as a sort of brandname rather than an actual Turbolaser) turret. I would also expect it to have a bomb, torpedo, missile, and cannon hardpoint as well, possibly multiple of each, considering the thing is basically the A-10 of Star Wars and mounted just about any weapon imaginable from the 18 hardpoints on it fluffwise (including missiles, torpedo launchers, bombs, mines, and iirc autocannons). Id also expect a crew slot on there too.

Sidenote - It appears theres a new action on there as well, I can identify the symbols on all the other nameplates, but not the top one on the K-Wing. It might be a linear boost option, which would make sense given that the K-Wing also had a 'SLAM" system that allowed it to make short linear boosts in direct flight.

Had a thought for a useful title for the E-wing. The things full name is supposed to be "Escort Starfighter", so I thought we could give it something for that.

"Escort Starfighter" 2pt, E-wing title.
At the start of the combat phase, you may spend an evade token. If you do, assign an evade token to a friendly ship with a higher pilot skill at range 1.

Here I think we have something that is useful, unique, and not useful for Corran (Who's PS limits him to supporting Han and Wedge). Now the E-wing works to keep your superships and Biggs alive for longer, meaning that it has some unique role. If we combine this with my previously suggested R4 astromech and a Fire Control system, the PS1 E-wing costs 33 points. This is a lot, but we now have a ship that gets Target lock and Focus as long as it focuses on one target, and then spends it's action to support youur main ships.

chaos0xomega wrote:
I thonk the biggest issue with torps and missiles is the range limitations. Proton torpedos for example were stated in the books to have a longer range than most fighters primary armament, yet they are still bound to the 1-3 range limitations of everything else.

I think this may be something. If we think of these changes as being an Aces pack, there would be lots of space (in rulebook space, and added toys) to somehow extend their range. If we added a mini-ruler, representing Range 4-5, and a connector piece, and some sort of rules to use it, this would actually be easy to do.

In order to maximize the number of ships that benefit from this patch, I suggest that it should be a modification card.

The rules would need to cover two things:
A) Shooting ordinance at range 4-5
B) Acquiring target locks at range 4-5

Objective (B) is easy- we need only create upgrade cards that either waive the target lock restriction, or rule that target locks may be acquired at range 4-5 (my prefered option). This could probably be done with one line of text. Objective (A) leaves us with more options. Do we Create new, range 4-5 ordinance, or do we somehow extend the range of current ordinance? I favor extending current range, so as to keep old upgrades relevant. To do this, I suggest linking our range extender into the same card upgrade as our target lock improvement, to minimize the number of slots used. There are two ways I can think of to extend range. First, state that "{Missile} and {Torpedo} secondary weapons which may be fired at targets at range 3 may be fired at targets at range 4-5". This is fairly straightforwards, but doesn't do anything for Cluster Missiles, Proton Rockets, or Advanced Proton Torpedoes. The second option is to phrase it "Extend the range limits of {Missiles} and {Torpedoes} by 2". While this does affect all ordinance cards, I do have concerns about range 3 Advanced Proton Torpedoes, and N'dru Suhlaks Cluster Missiles. It also conflicts with Major Rhymers ability (which caps range at range 3, so will only allow some wepons to be used at range 1).

By extending the range of ordinance, we fundamentally change it's role. With the exception of a couple short-range pieces, ordinance now serves to give you an extra turn of shooting over ships without ordinance. If we take the second range extension solution, short-ranged ordinance changes to powerful, mid-ranged attacks. Because of this, I have no idea how to price this upgrade.