|
So let me begin by saying that I’m not a particularly competitive player in X-Wing. My best games are multiplayer battles at home using ships and characters that we like more than the “best” ships and such.
Anyways, we’re interested in making/using some ships that are not made for the game (yet) and I decided to see what I could find for a point calculator. The best I found was done by ShadowJak on the FFG forum site. All the props to him… figured this thing out when there were quite a few less ships available. Admittedly, there were a couple of issues, particularly when it came to large ships. Here it is:
Reverse Engineered Squad Point Formula
Squad Points = 2 + Pilot Skill + (Attack -2) x 8 + (Agility -2) x 8 + (Hull -3) x 4.25 + Shields x 4.5
I’ve been messing with the formula and been trying to work out the kinks to get it much closer. I applied it to every non-named pilot, including the all the new ships that were not available when the original calculation was done. Thus far, I’ve succeeded in getting the point cost to be less than +/-0.6 points +/-3% off on average through all of those ships. Here’s an updated equation:
Squad Points = 2 + Pilot Skill + (Attack from chart) + (Agility -2) x 7 + (Hull -3) x 3 + Shields x 4 + Maneuverability modifier + Upgrades modifier + Misc modifier
The attack chart is:
1 attack = 0 points
2 attack = 0 points
3 attack = 7 points
4 attack = 14 points
Note: The attack should probably follow the same formula as defense. The only reason that it doesn’t is because of the HWK… should probably be 7 points cheaper or have a “2” attack.
Misc. modifiers that apply across the board:
If the ship is large base, change “Hull -3” to “Hull -6” in the equation above
If the ship has a turret, +8 points
If the ship has an auxiliary firing arc, +4 points
The parts above are what I feel pretty confident in.
I know that the maneuverability dial has some impact, but I can’t seem to really nail it down. Right now, I’m using # of Green Maneuvers - # of Red Maneuvers = some number between -2 and 6. The point value for it ranges between -1.5 points and +1.5 points. I’ve tried a number of other ways of looking at it (total speed, K-turns, greens, reds, combos of these, etc.), but nothing seems to fit better than Green – Red and lookup on a chart. This probably isn’t quite right, but it doesn’t have a huge impact and it is pretty close.
This is the chart I’m using:
-2 = -1.5 points
-1 = -0.2 points
0 = 0.5 points
1 = 0.7 points
2 = 0.9 points
3, 4, 5 = 1.4 points
6 = 1.5 points
Available actions seem to have little to no impact. In the end, I came up with +0.1 point for target lock and +0.1 points for cloak… that’s it. The effect is so minor that I assume in the actual calculation they are not taken into account. I removed them entirely, made a few adjustments elsewhere, and came up slightly more accurate results.
Most of the available upgrade slots also seem to have little to no impact (I assume because you still have to pay for the upgrade). The notable exception is the turret upgrade, which I have coming in at 4.2 points (the actual number is probably 4). Others: Missile 0.5 points, Bomb 0.5 points, Astromech 0.2 points, Crew 0.1 point.
Character special abilities seem to have no bearing on the point value of the ship. Just increase the value based on pilot skill. I’m assuming that PS isn’t really worth 1 point per (unless it is 9), so the value of those abilities are built-in… kind of a “if you have high PS, you get a special ability too”. High PS also gives an elite slot most of the time.
So there it is. I think that the real key to breaking it fully would be to really understand how the maneuver dial factors in. My little chart is basically a best fit, but not the actual method.
When I did my iterations, I basically upped and downed values by 0.1 or so until it became clear where the equation was going. For example, I think I ended up at a value of 2.9 pts per hull. I then changed everything to whole numbers where applicable and did some modifications again. This left me with things like Hull being 3 points and Shields being 4… seemed right. Still ended up off by less than 0.6 points on average, so I’m pretty certain they’re right.
Interesting observations:
The HWK is probably overcosted. By the formulas, it would cost the same with an attack of 2.
By these formulas, the Outer Rim Smuggler is the most overpriced model (by a WIDE margin) in that he comes in at 21.1 points. If he had 8 hull like the Falcon (still 4 shields), it’d be right on target.
X-wings are overcosted by exactly .5 points.
The ability to cloak appears to be free.
My observations are based on a slightly imperfect formula of course, but still interesting to me.
There are a lot of ways to break the system with this for competitive play, but should be a pretty good measure to build a ship/use 3rd party models for friendly play. We’ll probably calculate a cost, slap on +5-10% and call it good for home use. I hope y’all find it useful.
|