Two areas 1e X-Wing clearly falls behind 2e is in their Manoeuvre Dials and Action Bars. Both are prime examples of core mechanic finessing that easily and consistently improved, or nerfed most ships in the game.

The Dial in particular evolved over the life of 1e adding the S-Loop and Talon Roll manoeuvres, but sometimes felt strained when older ships that would have logically have had them also, missed out.

Some ships seemed too slow (IG-2000, HWK-290) or too fast (Scurrg) in relation to their peers or lacked enough green (now blue) moves to clear stress, so nearly automatic builds of specific Droids/Crew/Mods were used to fix this (Y-Wing with R2, X-Wing with Vectored Thrusters or Flight Assist Droid etc).

This meant that one ship had a feature for free, another had to use a valuable upgrade slot to match it, usually at the cost of another option, a penalty it suffered simply by being an earlier design. The irony was, the more famous ships became less enticing to fly, winning squads were often made up of ships and pilots few had ever heard of before X-Wing.

If something was still not still possible, then a generic Title was created to balance out issues, the motivation often jarringly obvious. The tournament circuit and casual gamers heavily invested in the game waited for the nearly inevitable fixes they knew were coming, no matter how much of a strain it was on the system overall or perceived reality.

Upgrades in 1e and their purview also increased, as well as a whole other type added (Tech), but they were generally able to be included in the older ship’s sphere or made little real difference to the core mechanics, just build minutia.

Most of these ideas and even Actions could be bought through upgrades in 1e, just inefficiently.

Pilot Talents and build combinations in 1e became more powerful and unbalanced in the late meta, not unworkably so which is testament to the sound base design and ongoing diligence, but something that we have fixed by simply reducing choice, which in no way removes those elements from the game*, it just makes the smaller range of users shine as the now rarer exceptions.

In 2e the designers basically normalised what most did anyway. Upgrade types were dropped (generic Titles-incorporated directly into ships) or reduced (Mods, Pilot Talents, Droids), with a few types added (Force, Configurations).

The 2e Dial changes as much as any other element levelled the playing field between older and newer ships.

Some ships we use as examples.

Unchanged;

• The humble Tie Fighter stayed the same. The simple swarmer is fine as is, fast with 2 K-Turns and a Barrel Roll.

• The YT666 party bus, like the sluggish Lambda is unchanged, so it sits more in contrast with other improved ships.

• The space cow Lambda is unchanged. Not much you can do here or probably should.

• The YT-2400 already has 12 white moves.

Logically changed;

• The already nippy Tie Interceptor gets S-Loops, possibly the ship that would have had them first. This now has a comprehensive Interceptor suite of Roll/Evade/Boost/S-Loop/K-Turn. For the whole suite, the Lambda can even share a Target Lock.

• The Tie Striker had a rare Imperial 2/S-Loop, but now gets a speed 1 K-Turn instead of a 2 and gains 2/blues. It becomes the slow, but nimble side-shifter in contrast to the high speed arc dodger above.

• The cumbersome Tie Bomber gains a second K-Turn and 2/hard turns are now white not red. Still a little boring, but less so now.

• The Tie Advanced can now move 1 straight, gains 2/blue banks and Talon Rolls. T-rolls differentiates it from the slippery Interceptor confirming it as a line fighter.

• The lethargic Decimator now gets slower blues and some 1/red hard turns. Logical if unexciting changes. Big ships suffer if they cannot turn, so this one at least has some options.

• The iconic X-Wing gains Talon Rolls and 2/blue banks matching the 1e T-70, which makes up somewhat for no Roll or Boost. It can now push harder and turn better.

• The speedy A-Wing swaps a 3/K-Turn for S-Loops, a nice contrast to the X-Wing above and sharing the Line Fighter/Interceptor dynamic.

• The B-Wing gets a faster straight blue and a speed 1/Talon Roll. The close-in fighter feels complete and it can now bug-out faster in practical terms.

• The Y-Wing gains 2/blue banks, doubling it’s ability to clear stress and allowing it to use the Droid upgrade slot for more options than just R2.

• The YT-1300 gains a built in S-Loop. This was added in the later Falcon Title, so it makes sense to absorb it and fits with the flat ship profile.

• The HWK-290 is the most improved with more real speed (4/white from red), more agility with added blue, white and red moves and can Full Stop like other support ships. Finally the “dud” of the fleet gets the wings of a Harrier.

• The Starviper now looks for all the world like a slower Tie Interceptor with a couple more blue banks. Dalan also offers a Talon Roll variant.

• The Jumpmaster. Unlike it’s Rebel twin the YT-2400, the JM is heavily nerfed. It’s left handedness is made a little straighter, it’s white left 2/S-Loop goes 3/red and it’s right side red 2/S-Loop is gone. This makes up in some small way for us using the card as printed.

• The Firespray like the other upright ships gets Talon Rolls insted of a 3 K-Turn and gets a straight blue, which fit so well and match the similar B-Wing.

• The Kiraxz has it’s 5/K-Turn changed to a 2/Talon Roll, so like the X-Wing only tighter and it gains a blue straight. A small shift on paper, but a major change in style.

• The Headhunter gets another straight blue and a second K-Turn, so it slips into the hole left by the now improved X-Wing.

• The IG Aggressor is unchanged except for a white speed 4 added. This fits as it was strangely slow at 3/green.

  *

The idea is simple.

Stick to 1e in normal or restricted formats, but use 2e Dials.

Only cosmetics change on the table and then only slightly, but I guess you also need to be a little blue-green colour blind and mentally insert “blue” into the text on the rare occasions it is needed.

Frankenstein’s Monster?

It works extremely well in BB although we tend to leave that simplified space as is, but it hums in Classic or Legends, giving a good spread of differentiation across the ships and a more logical and consistent feel to their moves. It does make some upgrades redundant, on some ships at least.

The tall “uprights” like the B-Wing or Firespray and the more conservative line fighters now turn tight and square, all the flat arc dodgers have angled S-Loops as their special thing and even the most staid of ships often have a little more to offer. The few ships that are nerfed are a balanced fit also.

In 1e Bare Bones the stand-outs are the Tie Striker with a 2/K-turn and 2/Loop, Kihraxz with a 4 and 5/K-turn, IG Aggressor with 3/Loop and 4/Turn, Juno in the Advanced with 3, 4 & 5/K-turns, the A-Wing and Interceptor with 3 and 5/K-turns and the JM5000 with 4/turn, 2/loop (and one is white).

In 2e the Interceptor, Aggressor, YT1300 and A-Wing all get a K-turn and a Loop, the Striker gets an even shorter K-turn, the Bomber and Z-95 both get a second K-turn, the X-Wing, Firespray, B-Wing, Kihraxz and Tie Advanced all get a K-turn and Talon roll. Only the JM5000 is nerfed.

Unlike other expansions in the reduced formats, it still champions good team flying, not uber-list building, it just allows harder pushing with more stress clearing moves and some easy alternatives to absent repositioning options.

This is new, very new, so it will be interesting to see what combinations will appear like Juno with multi speed T-Rolls!

*Pilots who are exceptions to the Action range or even Action order, those that add or subtract tokens, or have other “free” stuff are still there. Almost every element of the game has multiple forms, we just removed two or three layers of these, so no, not everyone can do everything, making those that do, the undisputed champions in their space.

**Still no Roll for the X-Wing or Kihraxz, but now two ways of turning hard.