"Sounds like our ride is already on the way" - Skipray Blastboat Design Part 2

Intro

Welcome to the second design post for the Skipray Blastboat! Today, we will be using Wookiepdedia stats, balance mechanics, and "the rule of fun" to fill out the rest of the ships details. For a refresher on the alpha design, checkout my last post. Aright, let's get to it!

Attack Dice

With a dual-laser dorsal turret and fin-mounted ion cannons, the Skipray brings a lot of firepower besides its ordnance. After considering the number of attack dice the ship should have, I came up with two possible options:

1. Give the Skipray two attack dice and a cannon slot.
2. Give the Skipray three attack dice and no cannon slot.

After a lot of deliberation, I decided to go with option 2. Here's why:

• The cannon slot is effectively a better torpedo/missile slot. They are permanent upgrades and have almost the same selection and cost as ordnance. Giving the Skipray a cannon slot really takes most of the oomph out of its ordnance upgrades. The goal of this project is to make a fun homebrew ship for casual play, rather than an uber-viable chassis to win tournaments.
• Having three attack dice gives a bonus to applicable upgrades—such as Guidance Chips and Synced Turret—getting us the most out of these cards. 
• The final nail in the coffin was when I learned that the Razor Crest expansion for 2.0 has multiple crew slots and a cannon slot. Ship identity is important and I didn't want the Skipray to feel exactly the same as the Razor Crest. (Why not? Spoilers...)

As for more about the Skipray's turret, see the Upgrade Slot section below.

Conclusion: 3 attack dice.

Defensive Dice

Wookieepedia sometimes gives a DFP rating for starships, which is a unit of measurement for maneuverability. The Skipray has a rating of 64 DPF, which is very similar to the Y-wing's rating of 59 DFP. This fits with the description from Heir to the Empire that the ship has a lot of armor and therefore is not the most agile.

Conclusion: 1 defense die.

Hull & Shields

In the last post, we determined that the ship needs a lot of hit points. To find exact numbers for hull and shield values, we have two Wookieepedia stats to look at: RU and SBD. However, after researching a bunch of different ships, I found that X-wing Miniatures does not follow these stats at all.

• For example, by RU and SBD standards, a TIE fighter should have 1 hull point and an X-wing should have 2 hull and 5 shields.

While the numbers don't translate into X-wing mechanics, what does work is to translate game mechanics already established. If we find a ship with similar stats to the Skipray, we can use that ship as a template in-game. Of course, there is a ship with almost the exact same RU and SBD stats as the Skipray: the Firespray. This gives us a starting template of 6 hull and 4 shields. Since I am not a mathematician like Math Wing, I had to rely on playtesting the ship at different squad points to get the right values. My playtesting found that values of 6 hull and 5 shields worked well for the targeted cost I wanted for the ship. (See the Ship Costs section below for more details).

Conclusion: 6 hull and 5 shields.

Actions

By default, the ship has the ability to Focus. Next, the core identity of this ship in X-wing Miniatures is of a heavy-hitting gunship. So, the ship needs both the Target Lock and Reload actions, like with the Alpha Starwing.

I heavily debated giving the ship the Jam action, since it has a powerful sensor suite. Additionally, the Skipray's special ability in Empire at War: Forces of Corruption is a jammer that hides the ship on the minimap. However, I found that Jam, like the cannon, takes away from the ship's main identity as an attack vessel. If you really want to "jam", you can take the Sensor Jammer system upgrade.

With the ship's heavy armor, it doesn't make sense for the Skipray to come with a natural Barrel Roll, Boost, or Evade action. As a large base ship, the Skipray cannot take Vectored Thrusters to get Barrel Roll, but it can take an Engine Upgrade to get Boost.

Finally, I was considering giving the ship a mobile firing arc, and would therefore need to include the Rotate Arc action. However, I eventually determined that the Skipray's dual-laser turret would best work as a turret upgrade. (See the Upgrade Slots section below).

Conclusion: Focus, Target Lock, Reload.

Maneuver Dial

For the dial, we have another Wookieepedia stat: MGLT. This Star Wars unit appears to more flushed out than the others. From it, we can see that the Skipray again matches the Firespray, right on the nose. Both the Skipray Blastboat and the Firespray have 91 MGLT, with 16 MGLT per second.

This fits perfectly with our initial assessment that the ship should have plenty of green moves, few red moves, and no crazy advanced moves. However, copying the Firespray's dial exactly removes some identity from both ships. Since the Skipray has less agility, it makes sense that it would have a slightly worse dial. So, I crossed the Firespray and the ARC-170 dials to create something unique for the Skipray. The ship's powerful engines means it has lots of white and green moves. On the other hand, its heavy mass means that it struggles with 3-speed turns, and takes a whopping 5-speed to perform a K-turn.

Conclusion:

Upgrade Slots

If we were to just translate the Skipray's features straight into in X-wing Miniatures, then the ship would have the following upgrades: System, Cannon, Turret, Torpedo, Missile, and Crew. This is too many for the ship to stay balanced. Additionally, just slapping on everything and calling it a day doesn't give consideration to ship identity.

Instead of giving the ship every upgrade, I decided to split the ship's upgrades into three groups: base upgrades, and two different title configurations. Having certain upgrades sectioned off with titles helps keeps the ship versatile and balanced. 

• Base upgrade slots: System, Torpedo, Crew, Crew
• Justification for the system and crew slots are covered in my previous post.
• The torpedo slot is a given, as it is core to the Skipray's identity in the game. The Reload action allows you to get more uses out of this one torpedo slot.
• This combo makes the upgrade bar look like the U-wing, but it is not the same. The U-wing gets rid of its torpedo with the Renegade Refit, and the Skipray can take one of two titles to get more upgrade slots.
• Assault Loadout slots: Torpedo, Missile
• The Assault Loadout locks the ship into a heavy hitting jouster.
• Having more ordnance slots means you have more options for torpedo and missile builds.
• Assigning these two upgrade slots to a title means that you have to take it in order to get certain upgrades, namely Extra Munitions and Long-Range Scanners.
• Patrol Loadout slots: Turret
• Assigning the turret slot to a title allows better control of balance and also allows us to add more identity to how the turret works. I love the Skipray's ventral and dorsal fins, but they kind of get in the way of a dorsal turret. (See this example showing the problem).
• As such, the turret should not be programmed to fire out of the auxiliary firing arc area of the ship. This requires you to fly the ship as a broadside hitter. Moreover, just like with the Outrider, this gives enemy ships the chance to slip into a blindspot, allowing for dynamic ship engagements.

As for upgrades that are purposefully not included, the list is as follows:

• No Cannon slot. (See the Attack Dice section).
• No Salvaged Astromech or Illicit slots. (See the previous design post).
• No Elite Pilot Talent slot. This gives the Skipray that same "too-chunky-to-be-clever" feel that other heavy ordnance ships have, like the Ghost, TIE Punisher, and K-wing.

Conclusion: Depending on the title you take, the Skipray can have one of two upgrade bars:

1. Assault: System, Torpedo, Torpedo, Missile, Crew, Crew
2. Patrol: System, Turret, Torpedo, Crew, Crew

Ship Cost

While the Skipray acts like the Firespray in some ways, I did not want the Skipray to be that expensive. The fact that the Firespray has 3 attack dice with an auxiliary firing arc, 2 agility, a perfect dial, and a natural evade action means that it costs a lot to bring it to the table. For the Skipray, I wanted the ship to have a more affordable cost, one that would allow you to still field a good squad of other ships in your squad build.

After taking all factors into consideration while playtesitng, the base cost I arrived at was 24 points. This makes the Skipray a cheaper gunship, like the U-wing and TIE Reaper.

Now, there is some concern with making a ship with this many attack dice and hit points less than 26 points, since that means 4 generics could be flown in a 100 point game. However, I chose not to account for that while balancing because I plan on fielding just one Skipray and no more. It is really nice to not worry about tournament balance when making your own expansion.

Conclusion: Base cost of 24 points.

Beta Design

Here is the Skipray's beta design from today's process. I cannot wait for the expansion to finally come together! In future design posts, we will cover the ship size, pilots, and expansion upgrades. Have a great week and catch you next time!

-PGP