Special Modifications, Part 7: The Ace Cap

Welcome back to Special Modifications!

Han Solo once said he’d made a few “special modifications” to the Falcon. Some good, some bad, all of them interesting. That’s the spirit behind this series: exploring non-standard Armada. Not just fleet lists or tournament meta, but the underlying strings that hold the game together. What if the designers had pulled them differently? What might have worked better? What happens when you tinker with the system in ways it was never quite built for?

⚠️ Important note: don’t confuse this series with the Squadron Files. We recently covered squadrons there as well — but the scope is different. Special Modifications is design-theory territory: tweaking fundamentals, exploring alternatives, and asking “what if.”

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“Back in My Day…”

The Ace Cap isn’t an official term, but everyone knows what it means: the rule that limits you to four squadrons with defense tokens in a 400-point fleet. It arrived with Armada 1.5; before that, you could field as many aces as you could afford.

And oh, what glorious chaos that was.

Maarek (21)
Jendon (20)
Dengar (20)
Ciena (17)
Howl (16)
Mauler (15)
Valen (13)
Saber (12)
— 134 points of perfection.

That was my old Sloane ball. Eight aces, five scatter aces, two double braces, and a grin on my face. Intel worked, squadrons danced, and it all came together perfectly.

Okay, half a joke — but only half. Those wild lists felt fun, flexible, and full of personality. Now every faction runs the same safe handful of four to six top-tier aces. The cap fixed some problems but flattened the variety.

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The Problem with Aces

You can also see why the cap happened. Aces were, and still are, priced too moderately for what they bring. Why fly generics when the aces hit harder, live longer, and bring tricks? Scatter aces especially — laughably potent for their cost.

So here’s the real question: could we remove the Ace Cap and still make generics viable?

I think we could.

The Clone Wars factions already show it’s possible. CIS in particular has fantastic generics — Vultures, Tri-fighters, Hyenas — that people actually take. When generics are cheap and effective, players will bring them. That said, CIS also doesn’t have anything close to Maarek + Jendon + Dad Vader + Mauler nonsense. If GAR had three Deltakin-tier aces, we’d be right back where we started.

So to get rid of the cap, we need to hit several design marks:

• Generics must be cost-effective, not merely cheap.

• Command load must matter — lots of generics means lots of squadron activations, physical space, and coordination.

• Upgrades should reward non-uniques — imagine if Howlrunner only buffed generic TIEs. Suddenly my old Sloane list would need a rethink.

• Aces must be fairly priced — no more 16-point Tychos if a generic A-wing costs 11.

• Aces must not be so overloaded with value that they’re automatic picks (looking at you, Deltakin).

The goal isn’t to ban aces or punish them. Ideally, players could field all aces, all generics, or a mix, and have each option be roughly equal in strength. A tall order, yes — but worth chasing.

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Testing the Idea — A-Wings as a Case Study

Let’s use the humble Rebel A-wing as a test case.

Our Special Modifications generic A-wing costs 10 points (–1 from standard) and swaps one blue die for a black in its anti-squad pool. Same fast, independent interceptor, just a touch meaner.

Now bring in Shara Bey. She gets the same dice tweak — but no price cut.

Is she still worth it?

Let’s compare:

• Durability. Shara’s 4 hull with brace + scatter can outlast eight hull of generics in some fights and evaporate faster in others. Against flak or light chip damage, scatter wins; against dedicated anti-ace fire, the generics survive longer.

• Control. Two generics mean two deployments, more area coverage, and twice the command cost. Shara is one unit, easier to manage but less flexible.

• Firepower. Two generics roll twice as many dice, though Shara’s Counter 3 + special can out-trade them in anti-squad duels. Against ships, the generics win hands down.

So overall? Shara is roughly as potent as two generics. Maybe a hair less. That would put her around 19 points, up from 17. A two-point swing isn’t huge but changes incentives. Suddenly, the choice between one Shara or two A-wings isn’t a no-brainer.

Tycho Celchu follows the same logic. He keeps his mobility trick, gains the black die, and lands around 18 points. 

Together, Shara + Tycho + two generics = 57 points instead of 55 — a small nudge toward parity.

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Expanding the Roster

Now that we’ve rebalanced the core duo, let’s add some new names to the hangar.

Green Squadron and Arvel Crynyd

Arvel has always been that madman who rammed the Executor at Endor — clearly inspired by Green Squadron and their suicidal bravery.

In this system, Green Squadron gets the same treatment as the generics: one blue replaced by a black die and a price drop to 11. It’s quick, aggressive, and suddenly a legitimate speed-5 bomber in a world without PDICs everywhere. Whether that’s “worth it” depends on context — but in this tuned-down environment, maybe it finally is.

Arvel Crynyd, then, becomes the elite reflection of Green. He’s 17 points — a scatter/brace ace with a slightly less flashy ability than Shara or Tycho, but a very clear identity: a speed-5 bomber with a death-wish. His ability synergizes beautifully with Dodonna, naturally, but even outside that niche, he’s thematic and useful.

In this balance pass, he’s not meant to outshine the other A-wing aces — just to give Rebel players a different flavor of fast bomber that feels right on the table.

Shepherd Squadron and Gemmer Sojan

Next up, Gemmer Sojan — the ace version of a concept I call Shepherd Squadron.

Shepherd Squadron is simple: a generic A-wing with Grit added. That’s it. A minor change that has huge implications. At speed 5, being able to break engagement with only a single enemy means you can reposition, chase, or protect your ships much more flexibly. At 11 points, it’s an elegant solution to static squadron fights — fast, fragile, but annoyingly mobile.

Gemmer inherits that idea and runs with it. His ability is a nerfed version of Ciena Ree’s — when near friendly ships he’s effectively obstructed, making him a nightmare to kill. Combine that with scatter, brace, and Grit, and you’ve got a four-hull ace who’s every bit as slippery as Tycho but in a different way.
He’s priced at 18 points, and while he’s not the hammer that Shara is, he’s a beautiful defensive piece.

Together, Shara (19) + Tycho (18) + Gemmer (18) + Arvel (17) form a cohesive quartet: 72 points of high-speed, high-resilience interceptors. Or, for roughly the same cost, you could bring seven generics — or five generics, plus Green and Shepherd for 72.

And suddenly, that’s a real choice again.

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Would You Go Generic?

That’s the ultimate question.

With these changes, you could still lean into the ace wing — four beautifully efficient A-wings that hold space, win dogfights, and make your opponent swear at Counter 2. Or you could field eight generics, spreading out, trading cheaper, and forcing your opponent to fight a war of attrition.

Neither is automatically correct, and that’s the goal.

The aces remain easier to command and individually more reliable; the generics offer deployments, board presence, and raw numbers. If we could then sprinkle in a few upgrades that specifically reward non-uniques — say, a variant of Toryn Farr or Adar Tallon that only buffs generics — the scales might even tilt further in their favor.

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Would It Break the Game?

Some worry that removing the cap would flood the table with squadrons. In practice, not much changes. Right now you can field twelve A-wings for 132 points; this system gives you thirteen for 130. Hardly catastrophic.

Generics in bulk actually play faster: no tokens, no conditional triggers, no constant cross-checking of who’s in range of whom. Just move, shoot, and die gloriously.

The broader takeaway remains: trim generics by a point or so, nudge aces upward a bit, and the math starts to work again. You could still build an elite wing if you wanted, but it wouldn’t automatically be the best option.

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So… Can It Be Done?

Maybe.

Balancing a cap-less system isn’t easy, but it’s not impossible. It demands disciplined pricing, meaningful trade-offs, and a willingness to separate “fun broken” from “actually broken.”

Even if we never get there officially, exploring how it could work is exactly what Special Modifications is all about.

And honestly? After years of flying the same four aces, wouldn’t it be nice to see a full squadron bay again?

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Up Next

Not entirely sure yet. Perhaps we'll stay in the fighter hangar and look at how to (and how NOT to) design new squadrons. Or maybe we'll finish looking at CIS/GAR generics. Or maybe we'll segway into something else. We'll see. But stay tuned, whatever it is!

Special Modifications, Part 6: Basic Empire Squadrons

Welcome back to Special Modifications!

Han Solo once said he’d made a few “special modifications” to the Falcon. Some good, some bad, all of them interesting. That’s the spirit behind this new series: exploring nonstandard Armada. Not just fleet lists or tournament meta, but the underlying strings that hold the game together. What if the designers had pulled them differently? What might have worked better? What happens when you tinker with the system in ways it was never quite built for?

⚠️ Important note: don’t confuse this series with the Squadron Files. We recently covered squadrons there as well — but the scope is different. Special Modifications is design-theory territory: tweaking fundamentals, exploring alternatives, and asking “what if.”

If you haven’t read the earlier squadron-focused entries, you’ll want the groundwork from here first:

• Part 3: All Wings Report In

• Part 4: What Good are Snub-fighters Against That?

• Part 5: Basic Rebel Squadrons

The astute observer will notice that the squadron entries in this one are a bit shorter. That's a result of all the groundwork we've done in previous posts. So you can call it a feature, not a bug 🐞

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The Empire’s Flaw: Specialization

Where Rebels field robust, slower, more generalist craft (because they must fight with whatever they have), the Empire can afford to specialize. On paper, that’s a good idea: fast interceptors, heavy bombers, cheap fighters, and so on.

But specialization only works if there’s room in a single fleet for squadrons to complement each other. You need a fighter screen to punch holes, bombers to deliver payloads, and enough overlap to make both meaningful. CIS actually pulls this off well: elite Tri-fighters, cheap but nasty Vultures, and terrifying Hyenas. It’s almost an exact copy of the Empire’s blueprint — but executed better, because lessons had been learned.

So tweaking Empire isn’t copying CIS. It’s more like restoring the original template, which CIS itself copied. (And yes, both factions ended up with their own meaty, overpriced outlier: TIE Advanced and Belbullab. Almost too funny.)

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The Sloane Problem

We can’t talk Empire squads without talking about Admiral Sloane.

We recognize why she exists — but also the pitfalls. One commander, and one only, turns anti-squad fighters into ship-killers and better dogfighters. The same squadrons with Sloane and without Sloane are almost unrecognizable. Sure, all commanders change how fleets behave, but not to this extent.

So what do we do? For Special Modifications, the squadrons come first. Sloane must fit them, not the other way around. Maybe she can survive unchanged. Maybe she needs a tweak or two. Maybe she just costs more. That’s the benefit of hindsight.

And if Sloane isn’t the only potential problem — say, Howlrunner under new dice pools — then the upgrade changes, not the squadron baseline. To illustrate, at the very end of this article, we'll reimagine both Sloane and Howrunner as they might appear in the Special Modifications context.

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TIE Fighter

TIEs have always been portrayed as fast, deadly, and disposable — and that’s exactly how they should feel in Armada. Speed 4 and hull 3 work fine. What doesn’t quite work is their role. If anything in the Empire deserves the Escort keyword, it’s the humble TIE Fighter, not the overpriced Advanced.

So let’s make them escorts. Yes, escorts with hull 3 will melt quickly. That’s the point. They’re throwaway bodies, and you can field a lot of them. It makes sense both in design and thematically.

Their dice also get an update. Instead of the boring uni-blue pool, let’s give them 1 red + 2 blue anti-squadron dice. Higher ceiling, fewer auto-accs, more identity. Anti-ship stays a single blue, partly because it differentiates them from CIS Vultures.

Cost: 7 points. 

They gained Escort, sure, but their survivability didn’t improve, and we're cutting generic costs across the board, remember?

Three TIEs at 21 points give you 9 hull across three bodies. Compare that to two Rebel X-wings at 22 points with 10 hull. The X-wings edge out with bomber value, but the TIEs aren’t pushovers. That’s the kind of balance you want.

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TIE Interceptor

The Interceptor is Empire’s A-wing: fast, fragile, deadly. But it is also the "elite" upgrade over the TIE Fighter, just as the B-wing is the elite Rebel bomber.

The Squit we have is pretty close to the goal, actually. Speed 5, hull 3, Counter 2 all stay. You might argue that Swarm could go — this is an elite squadron after all — but this is the Empire, and swarming TIE Ints just fit too well.

So the question becomes: what dice?

The fix is to give them some real punch: 1 red + 2 blue + 1 black against squadrons, plus a single red anti-ship. The red battery is swingy, but it occasionally spikes for 2 damage, which is something to play with. It differentiates the Squint from the upcoming CIS Tri-fighter, and has the potential to do 2 damage with a single attack which I find thematically appropriate

Cost: 10 points. 

Matches A-wings and sits just below the X-wing. They hit harder on AS offense, but fold quickly in return fire — classic glass cannon.

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TIE Bomber

TIE Bombers are interesting. Speed 4 is quick for a bomber, hull 5 is respectable, but as a one-die bomber with almost no anti-squad firepower? That’s rough.

We don’t want to turn every bomber into a two-die monster. So they keep their single black anti-ship die. But we can at least give them a fighting chance in squad combat with a red + black anti-squad pool. Not stellar, but not zero.

Cost: 8 points.

Faster than a Y-wing but with less hull and arguably weaker anti-squad. For one-die bombers, hull is more valuable than speed — alpha strikes aren’t an option when you’re only tossing single dice. Keeping them very cheap is what makes them viable in a faction heavy with low-hull AS options. 

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TIE Advanced

Ah, the Advanced. A unit that has always struggled to justify itself. Too expensive, too weak offensively, and awkwardly slotted as an “escort” that isn’t good at it.

Let’s change that. Drop Escort, and give it Screen. Instead of throwing itself in front, the Advanced hangs back, forcing you to chew through it before you reach the bombers. That fits its lore as a prototype starfighter — tougher than a TIE, but not as disposable.

To make that role matter, it needs real anti-squadron firepower. Three blue + one black matches Vader’s statline and feels right for a “premium” chassis. Anti-ship stays a single black.

I did consider using Snipe instead, but it didn't feel right to spam an E-wing knockoff right out of the gate. I suppose if you take off 1 blue AS and Screen, then add Snipe 3, it could work if the cost came up a bit. But I'd rather not.

Cost: 10 points. 

Same as the Interceptor, slightly less than an X-wing. A strong fighter, but awkward to slot. Useful as a screen, but not the centerpiece of any plan.

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Example Rework: Admiral Sloane

Instead of “spend the defender’s defense tokens,” Sloane becomes a more grounded boost, providing rerolls and other dice fixing. Rolled an ACC against a ship? Turn it into a HIT or (or HIT/HIT if it was a Red die). Rolled an unwanted CRIT? Reroll it.

Here are two different versions, one banning Rogue squadrons, the other simply requiring a Squadron command. Pick whichever you like; each is restrictive in a different way.

Sloane still encourages using AS-focused fleets, but without giving lowly TIEs superpowers over capital ships. She’s useful, but not game-warping. In terms of cost, I feel that squad-centric commanders should have a power level that lets them be cheap; otherwise, fitting enough squads becomes an issue.

If we compare her to ARC Draven, she doesn't hand out raid or anything, but there also aren't any limitations on the rerolls, and she gets to outright turn ACCs into HITs. So many 24 isn't too far from the mark?

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Example Rework: Howlrunner

Civé Rashon, callsign "Howlrunner," was a female human pilot who led Obsidian Squadron. She flew a TIE Fighter under the callsign of Obsidian Leader. Or so Wookieepedia tells me. Let's take that, the old Howlrunner design, and combine it with the reworked base squadrons.

The new Howl still buffs the swarm, but in a more grounded way — rerolls instead of dice adds —  and gives her (some) synergy with bombers without pushing TIE Fighters and Interceptors over the edge. It also lets us keep the cost of Eyeballs and Squints down, and Howl's own cost can remain moderate. The Snipe keyword allows her to hang back and still contribute AS firepower (I also have a unique Obsidian Squadoron with Snipe, kind of a theme). 

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Other Regular Squadrons

The Empire has two more regulars outside the core four, and they deserve a quick look.

TIE Defender

The Defender is fine. Honestly, it probably doesn’t need much change at all. It’s fast, tough, and versatile, and already plays like the “premium” option it was always meant to be. If anything, I’d suggest limiting it to 2–3 per fleet (same thought as the E-wing on the Rebel side) to keep them rare and stop them from overwhelming the table. If we wanted to get more experimental, you could imagine a multi-die non-bomber variant — an interceptor-tank hybrid rather than a strike craft — but even without that, it works.

TIE Phantom

This one’s trickier. Right now it’s a weird, expensive oddball with a uni-blue armament and a niche cloak gimmick that doesn’t quite pay off. At minimum, it needs Dodge to reflect its theme. From there, I’d rework its dice to give it more universal utility — something like a red + black non-bomber battery, backed up by a more varied anti-squad pool instead of the old blue spam. The Phantom should feel unique and slippery, not like a clunky TIE Fighter reskin that costs twice as much.

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Wrapping Up

Empire squadrons were always meant to be specialized. That idea still works — but only if the generics are priced right, the upgrades fit around them, and their commander doesn’t break the game in half.

With TIE Fighters actually pulling escort duty, Interceptors as fast strikers, Bombers as cheap payload carriers, and the Advanced as a meaty screen, the Empire finally has a generic lineup that works on its own terms. No need to hide behind Sloane, though she could still shine in her reworked form.

Next Up on Special Modifications: The Clones and Jedi that protect the glorious Republic.

Special Modifications, Part 5: Basic Rebel Squadron

Welcome back to Special Modifications! 

Han Solo once said he’d made a few “special modifications” to the Falcon. Some good, some bad, all of them interesting. That’s the spirit behind this new series: exploring nonstandard Armada. Not just fleet lists or tournament meta, but the underlying strings that hold the game together. What if the designers had pulled them differently? What might have worked better? What happens when you tinker with the system in ways it was never quite built for?

⚠️ Important note: don’t confuse this series with the Squadron Files. We recently covered squadrons there as well — but the scope is different. Special Modifications is design-theory territory: tweaking fundamentals, exploring alternatives, and asking “what if.”

If you haven’t read the earlier squadron-focused entries, you’ll want the groundwork from here first:

• Part 3: All Wings Report In

• Part 4: What Good are Snub-fighters Against That?

Lock S-Foils in Attack Position

Let’s start with the Rebels — not just because they’re the OG squadron faction, but also because they received more boosts, patches, and fixes than anyone else to get their core squadrons into a good place. And yet… how often do you really see X-wings take center stage in anything but an obnoxious Biggs Ball? How often do you see B-wings in an alphabet soup? Generic A-wings in any number? Don’t you cry a little bit when you see GAR Y-wings with their blue-black anti-squad combo and realize what the Rebel version could have been? And then you just shrug and take Rogues instead? Yeah, me too.

That said, I don’t think Rebel generics are beyond saving. Far from it. We don’t need to redesign the whole system — just a few core tweaks to make them worth taking without leaning on a tower of support pieces.

And once we’ve looked at Rebels, we can assess the Empire in contrast — always keeping GAR and CIS in mind as the better-balanced baselines. Regarding costing, we're going to push the cost of generics down by a point or so, unless we give them a significant boost, in which case we'll do a more thorough reevaluation.

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X-wing

The most iconic starfighter in Star Wars. And in Armada? Not bad, but lackluster — and overpriced to boot. You never just throw a couple of X-wings into a Rebel fleet. Never.

The biggest issue is speed. Armada’s X-wing is sluggish. It doesn’t stand out from other mid-speed squadrons, which means you can’t build a dynamic squadron game — you’re always reactive. A slow escort doesn’t even make much sense thematically.

If you're also an X-wing player, the X-wing's slow speed feels even weirder. In fact, using the closed S-foil Boost, it is FASTER than a TIE Fighter! Not A-wing or TIE Interceptor, but the X-wing can MOVE!

Back in the 2022 VASSAL Fantasy League, we tried giving the X-wing (and B-wing) a new keyword: S-foil, basically choose +1 speed on activation, but remove 1 attack die. It worked pretty well, but at Armada’s scale, it felt fiddly. 

A simpler fix: just make the X-wing Speed 4. Now it feels like an escort and space superiority fighter at the same time.

Next, its armament. Swap one blue for a black in the anti-squadron dice. This gives consistency and punch, and mixes up the pool — everything was “just blue” back in 2015, but Armada has moved toward more varied dice pools. (Also: Rebels don’t have much Swarm synergy, so a black die here helps.)

What about its anti-ship battery? Leave it as a single red. Yes, we could make it a black for more reliability, but that would crowd out the Y-wing’s role. And if we did that, then the Y-wing would need to become a two-die bomber, which would push its cost up and infringe on the B-wing’s niche. Slippery slope. Better to keep the X-wing as a secondary bomber at best.

Cost: 11 points. 

More speed AND a 2-point drop? Have you gone mad, I hear you say. Bear with me, not only because my given name literally means "Bear," but because it's an interesting line of reasoning:

• 11 is the same as an FFG-priced Hyena, but that one is effectively a 2-die bomber, so a direct comparison is hard to make. 
• In the space superiority role, the X-wing has to contend with TIE Ints and Tri-Fighters, both squadrons that hit as hard or harder, have more speed, and counter. But they are flimsy. So again, not easy to do a direct comparison.
• The YT-2400 has more hull, Rogue, and essentially the same offensive profile. We know YTs are super competitive at 16. Is the extra hull and Rogue worth +5 points (Escort is relevant for the YT-2400, so no real loss there)? Or maybe the YT-2400 should be 15? Or what about the proposed tweak to Rogue? How does that impact the equation?

All valid points, but let's take a step back and focus: the X-wing is one of THE core squadrons of the game, doesn't get much more iconic than this. So instead of looking around at what other squadrons (currently) cost, let's shift focus. Let's use 10 points as the baseline for a "good generic squadron" and compare the X-wing to that:

The X-wing has good(ish) speed, good(ish) hull (but not exceptional), goodish AS, mid battery with Bomber, and the Escort keyword (that is usually good, but means you'll die first too). IMO this sounds like the very definition of a slightly above average space superiority fighter. 

I'd say my gut instinct is to put it at 12 points within the current costing paradigm. It came down in cost and gained speed, so now it offers good value for points, right? It does. But we wanted an overall reduction of generic squadron cost, didn't we? Thus, we push the X-wing down to 11. At least for now. If we later see that 11 is too low, we can shift back to 12, no problem.

So, not only is 11 the cost of our Xw-ing, it'll serve as our baseline going forward. We'll have to establish more baselines; one isn't going to cut it in the long run, but it's a solid foundation: build around the iconic X-wing.

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Y-wing

This old workhorse has the same problem as the X-wing: not bad, but lackluster. Slow, Heavy, a single-die bomber that’s tankier than an X-wing but worse at dogfighting. Outside of high hull, which admittedly is quite important in a game with a fixed number of rounds, it doesn’t bring much. No, that's too harsh. It brings something, but it has no exceptional characteristics.

Making every Y-wing into Gold Squadron (double-die bomber) would be too much. It would drive the price up quite a bit and crowd out the B-wing’s role. So let’s keep it as a cheap, single-die bomber. I think that fits quite well thematically as well. These are old ships, relics of a more civilized era, so to speak.

As for changes, let's adjust its anti-squadron armament to blue + black, just like the GAR version. We know this combo is a lot more useful than 2 blue. Sure, it'll give fewer ACCs (but so will the X-wing), but with such small dice pools, getting at least 1 damage on the target is more important. Suddenly, the Y-wing isn't a total dead weight in squadron fights.

Cost: 9 points. 

If we do a comparison with the only squadron thus far detailed, we see they are 2 cheaper than X-wings, which doesn't seem like a lot, but in percentage terms, about 20%, it's rather significant. You can have 4 Y-wings for 36 points (24 hull) or 3 X-wings for 33 points (15 hull), and you toss 4 black Bomber dice instead of 3 red. The X-wings hit harder in AS mode (12 vs 8 die across 3 vs 4 attacks), have Escort, and are faster. That sounds like the right tradeoff.

Let's do an isolated study to see if the cost makes sense. 9 sounds like a mid squadron. Is the Y-wing mid? I would say yes. Black bomber dice (forget about PDIC, it's not part of the equation) are solid, so the battery part is above average (but not exceptional). AS is decidedly mid — but not horrible, we know that from GAR. Speed 3 is the definition of mid. Heavy is a negative trait, but not a dealbreaker since you should run other non-heavy squads alongside your Y-wings. Thus far, we're trending down to 8, but hull 6 is massive, offering resilience to AS and flak both, so that brings it to 9.

One final note before we move on: on paper, the Y-wing looks like a squadron that could remain on the table to the endgame if properly escorted, but will struggle if sent in without support. Kind of thematic!

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B-wing

The B-wing is, and should remain, the elite Rebel bomber. A two-die bomber with teeth. But its usability is hamstrung by speed, and its hull is mid for a bomber. Back in the day, B-wings were good because they could double-tap with Yavaris. Later, they could be FCT-pushed and got BCC. Almost like the designers realized they had created a rather flawed squadron...

Why Speed 2? Your way of keeping up with a Victory is… being overlapped by it? That’s lame. Outside of rare exceptions, Speed 2 generics are a mistake. The ARC-170 is one of the few acceptable cases — it has 7 hull and Counter, so its slowness is offset by sheer staying power. The B-wing doesn’t have that and should not be a Speed 2 squadron. As an X-wing player, it also annoys me that it's slower than a Y-wing. They are the same speed, but the B-wing is not only a bomber, but also a competent knife-fighter (without the Heavy keyword).

Hull 5 is also problematic for a bomber. They are going to be the primary target of enemy interceptors and must expect to eat a bit of flak too, so 5 hull points is a substantial downgrade from the Y-wing's 6. Yes, it's only 1 point, but that point matters. A lot. If we again look at the X-wing game, the B-wing is the better-protected one, with a better shield-to-hull ratio and a much better positioning game (and dodge) than the Y-wing. Sure, the Y-wing can load up on R2 units and regen shields, but even then, the B-wing is the better defender.

In short: let's make the B-wing Speed 3, Hull 6. It can keep pace with Y-wings. While it can still benefit from some speed tech, it isn't absolutely vital. High hull lets it stay the distance.

For anti-squadron, swap to 1 red + 1 blue + 1 black. It's not a space superiority fighter, but a decent enough dogfighter if pressed.

For bombing dice, we will switch to red + blue instead of blue + black. That keeps it powerful but less oppressive. You can still deal 3 damage, but it's only half as likely, and there are no HIT/CRITs on red dice.

Cost: 13 points. 

That’s two more than an X-wing (almost 20% more), four more than a Y-wing (in the 40% more range). You can field 4 Y-wings for 36 or 3 B-wings for 39. Y-wings deliver 4 black bomber dice (average dmg 4), B-wings 3 red + 3 blue (average damage 4.5). Y-wings bring 4 blue + 4 black AS across 4 attacks (5 dmg on average), B-wings bring 9 total dice (5.25 on average) over 3 attacks. The B-wings concentrate firepower; the Y-wings spread it out across more hulls and hull points. Spreading out or concentrating, each has its pros and cons, but in terms of value per activation, concentration wins out. The Y-wing is Heavy, the B-wing isn't. Which is the better value for points? Hopefully both, escorted by X-wings!

If we cost this on its own merits, we see it has none of the weaknesses of the Y-wing and the same excellent hull. Its AS armament is not amazing, but it's serviceable. But the big draw here is the valuable 2-dice battery armament. That alone would make it 12 points, but with no flaws and high hull, it's clearly in the 13-point range.

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A-wing

The A-wing is the outlier. Already good out of the box: fast, Counter 2, self-sufficient. But cost and ace pricing made them awkward. Tycho at 16 or Shara at 17 felt like obvious upgrades over a generic A-wing at 11.

We could give them Swarm (very similar to what they are in X-wing), or turn their black non-bomber die into a blue Bomber. But I’d rather keep their identity: fast, independent, not very synergistic.

So: bump their anti-squad to 2 blue + 1 black, same reasoning and faction identity as previously discussed.

Cost: 10 points. 

Compared to the X-wing, it is faster but has less hull, hits a bit less hard in offense — but Counter 2 more than makes up for that — and a steady battery armament of 1 non-bomber black. So is this guy really worth 1 point less than the X-wing? The speed and Counter say otherwise, but the hull is a clear downgrade, although Counter will often make it attract less AS fire. In the end, the lack of bomber synergy, or really any synergy whatsoever (beyond acting as a long-range threat that is), with the other squadrons brings its cost down by a fraction. I would also say that the existence of a Speed 4 X-wing makes its high speed slightly less than a draw than before.

On its own merit, the A-wing boasts excellent speed, mid hull, and decent AS, along with a decent battery (although not a Bomber). Counter 2 is a plus, of course, even without Swarm. You might argue 11 points for it, but as a throwaway interceptor/screen, 10 will be fine. I'd expect it to be screening any Rebel fleet not running a bomber setup. At this cost, if we also tweak stuff like Tycho and Shara up a hair, the generic A-wing should be the go-to, not purely the aces.

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Other Rebel Generics

Technically out of scope for this article, but let's take a very quick look at other Rebel non-Irregular squadrons:

• Z-95s: Mostly fine as-is, but swap the AS dice around a bit. The very low cost (it would have to be 6 points) might be an issue, so perhaps making it a speed 3, hull 4 squadron — sort of an inverse TIE - might be a better idea?

• E-wings: Trickier. With X-wings now at Speed 4, what’s the E-wing’s niche? In lore, they’re A-wing fast, so Speed 5 + Snipe 3 makes sense — basically a generic Saber Squadron. But no Swarm, no Howlrunner, so not oppressive given their high cost. Alternatively, keep them Speed 4 with Snipe 3 but at a lower cost. Or we could introduce a "Restricted" rule, akin to X-wing, where we cap them at 2–3 per fleet to reflect rarity (just add 2-3 dots and an RRG entry to clarify how it works). The same logic could be applied to generic Defenders and Phantoms.

Other Rebel squadrons are all Irregular types and are best saved for another post.

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With the Rebels adjusted into something resembling a proper baseline — generalist fighters with real bomber teeth — we can turn to the Empire. Their problem wasn’t mediocrity propped up by synergies, but fragility, specialization, and being overshadowed by aces.

Next Up on Special Modifications: Empire generics. Can we retain their specialized nature without resorting to Sloane and plug-ins like Maarekdon? That's what we'll try to answer.

Special Modifications, Part 4: What Good are Snub-fighters Against That?

Welcome back to Special Modifications! 

Han Solo once said he’d made a few “special modifications” to the Falcon. Some good, some bad, all of them interesting. That’s the spirit behind this new series: exploring nonstandard Armada. Not just fleet lists or tournament meta, but the underlying strings that hold the game together. What if the designers had pulled them differently? What might have worked better? What happens when you tinker with the system in ways it was never quite built for?

What Good are Snub-fighters Against That?

Before we tear into Rebel generics, we need to hit pause. Squadrons don’t exist in a vacuum — they’re inseparable from a handful of critical upgrade cards and keywords that shaped the entire squadron game. I wasn't going to address this directly, but when writing the other entries, I realized that without addressing these tools first, any rework risks sounding half-baked, or worse, confusing.

This post is about establishing the baseline: the three most important upgrades, the most warping keywords, and a quick look at the economics of generics. Once that foundation is set, we’ll have the language we need to start cutting and tuning.

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The Big Three Upgrades

Yes, there are lots of upgrades that affect squadrons. But if you really boil it down, three cards tower above the rest:

Flight Controllers

• Currently: add 1 blue die to all friendly squadrons activated by this ship.

• Problem: rewards “ALL THE SQUADS AT ONCE” activations, where one carrier supercharges an entire wing, wipes out the opposition, and we're left wondering where the counterplay went.

• Fix: Cap at 3 squadrons per ship. This is consistent with modern design (see Sniper Ahsoka and other “max 3” caps). Now the card still rewards squadron commands, but encourages spreading activations across multiple ships instead of piling everything into one mega-activation.

Bomber Command Center

• Currently: aura reroll for bombers.

• Problem: a patch for single-die bombers being underwhelming. It works, but it’s clunky, repetitive, and warps design space.

• Fix: Total redesign. BCC becomes a Weapons Team/Offensive Retrofit double-slot Modification. Instead of rerolls, it adds 1 blue die to up to 3 bombers commanded by that ship. Basically Flight Controllers, but for bombing.

• Effect: No more reroll spam. Bombers get a direct firepower boost, but only when actively commanded. Few ships can take both FC and BCC; the Quasar-II (and Rebel Providence) can, but that’s fine — it’s a carrier by design. And since it can’t also pack Boosted Comms or Expanded Hangars, tradeoffs remain (well, the Rebel Providence could, but that ship has other issues).

Boosted Comms

• Currently: cheap, near-mandatory aura extender.

• Problem: lets carriers sit at the back, issuing commands from safety.

• Fix: Becomes more expensive and “Comms only.” Partially to make ship tags an integrated part of the game, but also to encourage ships to work alongside squadrons rather than away from them, as was the case in the early days. Some ships, such as the Quasar and Munificent, will still play at standoff range, and that’s fine as it's part of their carrier identity.

There are other cards that are important, of course, there are, but I just wanted to touch upon the three I feel are the most game-warping.

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Squadron Keywords

Keywords are the other half of the equation. Most are fine (Swarm, Escort, Counter). Others warp the game around them. Here are the ones we need to talk about:

AI

• Currently: “Add 1 die of a color you already have.”

• Problem: massively warps design space. A black-die droid bomber with AI? Instantly busted. Even the humble Vulture with AI is basically 1 blue + 2 black with Swarm out of the gate. Compare that to a TIE Fighter and… ouch.

• Fix: AI = Add 1 blue. Cleaner, safer, less abusive. I suppose AI was designed the way it is to differentiate it from other card effects, but it doesn't help the game. Make AI blue only, problem fixed.

• Example: Let's assume the Hyena is still a 1 die red bomber with AI: Battery 1. Not it chucks 1 red + 1 blue, instead of 2 reds. More consistent, lower roof, works with the revised BCC without breaking the game (said BCC would for example fit the Providence DN version, and be capped at 3 squads per activation).

Rogue

• Currently: full activation in Squadron Phase, but also commandable by ships.

• Problem: too efficient. They “rogue last, then command first” with no counterplay in between. It’s why Rogues are everywhere.

• Fix: Rogues cannot be activated by squadron commands (Han would still be an exception since his card text overrides the general rules). They still act independently in the Squadron Phase, but no more "double-dipping". This makes them good, but no longer no-brainer auto-includes, and might even affect the price of some generic rogues.

Intel / Grit

• Grit is currently too weak. Allowing one move while engaged is fine, but it rarely comes up.

• Fix: Stackable Grit, up to 3. Suddenly multiple sources matter, and Intel becomes worth fielding again, even in the guise of multiple generics (which obviously need some rework themselves). Squadron fights loosen up, but don’t revert to the “no-counterplay” of old Intel.

• Alternative (not preferred): Grit = “may move even while engaged.” But this is dangerously close to old Intel, especially for fast squads, and I’d avoid it.

Dodge

• Currently: useless against flak. Which makes squadrons like the Delta-7 eternally overpriced.

• Fix: Dodge works against flak too. Suddenly it’s a real keyword, and priced squadrons can justify having it. (No, Deltakin doesn’t get to keep Dodge under this fix. Sorry.)

We could also discuss stuff like Assault (let CRITS be spent), Cloak (what about Dodge added to squads with Cloak?), and that damn Strategic, but let's do that separately as they don't impace the overall squad game to the same extent.

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The Economics of Generics

A quick reminder of the numbers:

• 400-point game = 134 squadron points max.

• In practice, most fleets bring 60–80 points of true generics, sometimes up to 100. Rarely the full 134.

• “Generiques” (uniques without defense tokens) blur the line — stronger than generics, not ace-capped, and often crowd out the true baseline.

• The ace cap (4) was bolted on because aces were too cheap compared to generics. Ideally, everything should be costed properly so no cap is needed. In practice, the cap is probably here to stay — but we design toward the ideal of a cap-less game.

And here’s the key point: generics need to be slightly cheaper.

• Mass is their value. They only shine when you can bring enough of them.

• Aces are better in small numbers; generics are better in bulk. But only if bulk is affordable.

• GAR and CIS proved this: better generics → more mass → healthier squadron game.

• In the 2022 VASSAL Fantasy League (450-point fleets, 150 squad cap, cheaper generics), people actually brought lots of generics. And they were good. Not broken, not oppressive — just viable through numbers.

What does “slightly cheaper” mean? Think of a Rebel Y-wing dropping from 10 to 9 points. Not a huge change, but if every generic across the board receives that same nudge, suddenly there’s room for more mass — enough to feel impactful. It’s about making squadrons worth taking in numbers, instead of as filler behind aces.

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How Low Is Too Low?

One fair question: how cheap can squadrons go before things break?

Take the Z-95. It’s 7 points today, and it’s definitely not dominating. That tells us one of two things: either it needs to get better at the same price, or it can drop to 6 without causing issues. With only 3 hull and middling firepower, Z-95s live and die by mass. Even at 6, the sheer number of squad commands you’d need to keep them relevant acts as a built-in limiter.

What about TIE Fighters at 7 points? Same story. Fragile, dependent on commands, and only scary in a swarm. Cheap doesn’t automatically mean good — not when a single flak volley or squadron counterattack can wipe them out in chunks.

So while we need to be careful at the bottom end of the scale, there’s good reason to believe that 6–7 point generics wouldn’t break the game. If anything, they’d finally deliver on the fantasy of true swarms — overwhelming in numbers, but brittle and heavily reliant on carriers.

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Where This Leaves Us

With upgrades streamlined, keywords clarified, and the economics of generics rebalanced, we now have the foundation we need.

The principle is simple:

• Generics get slightly cheaper across the board.

• Aces may get nudged upward in some cases, but the ace-vs-generic gap widens even without this.

• Carriers still matter, but they no longer supercharge “all the squads at once,” and we encourage the "combat carriers" to head into the thick of the action.

• Keywords open design space instead of closing it.

Next Up: We’ll finally put this to work by rebuilding the Rebel lineup from the ground up — starting with the most iconic fighter of all: the X-wing.

Special Modifications, Part 3: All Wings Report In

Welcome back to Special Modifications! 

Han Solo once said he’d made a few “special modifications” to the Falcon. Some good, some bad, all of them interesting. That’s the spirit behind this new series: exploring nonstandard Armada. Not just fleet lists or tournament meta, but the underlying strings that hold the game together. What if the designers had pulled them differently? What might have worked better? What happens when you tinker with the system in ways it was never quite built for?

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All Wings Report In

Armada’s squadron game has always been… complicated. It isn’t just ships shooting at each other — it’s a full subgame layered on top of ship-to-ship combat, with interactions between squadrons, ships, upgrades, and keywords all tangled together. 

Some players dislike the entire subsystem and would rather play with ships only, while the rest of us enjoy the combined-arms feel that squadrons provide. But that's not today's topic, so let's move on.

Perhaps because of this layered complexity, the initial design (and costing) of generic squadrons didn’t quite land where it needed to. It's not unique to squadrons of course — the cost of the Victory-II or Grand Moff Tarkin anyone?

But back to the snubfighters. From the very beginning, Rebel players in particular had to stack layer upon layer of support pieces to make their squadrons work…

Think about it: Bomber Command Center, Jan Ors, Biggs Darklighter, Norra Wexley, the humble speed-2 YT-1300 acting as a sacrificial escort, and external supports like Jamming Fields, Gallant Haven, and Yavaris. Each piece fills a hole, each props up a weakness. We even got Hera (X-wing) and Fenn Rau (relatively) recently!

Together they formed a precarious house of cards — and that house of cards is what let Rebel squadron play function at all. And then, when everything came together with Rieekan acting as the glue, it became a dominant fleet archetype that persisted for a long time.

Compare that to A-wings, which needed basically zero support. They were fast, self-sufficient, and useful out of the box. And yet — their cost relative to aces, plus their lack of synergy with the Rebel support suite, often left generics by the wayside.

On the Imperial side, the “solution” looked very different. Instead of spreading the load across a dozen support effects, the Empire got one big fix: Admiral Sloane. She transformed their anti-squadron generics into token-stripping monsters while retaining the speed and striking range that Imperial squadrons were already good at. 

Where the Rebels had to glue together half their card pool to get squadrons running, the Empire just stapled Sloane to a fleet and called it a day.

And in her own way, Sloane made for some rather oppressive experiences when you leveraged her with multiple flotillas, unlimited relay, and a sky full of scatter aces...

These experiences tell us something important: many of the base generics were poorly designed or poorly costed.

Fast-forward to the Clone Wars factions, and you can see the contrast. More thought clearly went into the design of GAR and CIS generics, and for the most part, it worked. A fun comparison: the Rebel Y-wing vs the GAR Y-wing. Nearly identical on paper — but the GAR version is considered good, while the Rebel version only ever shines as Gold Squadron. Then again, GAR might be the least-played faction overall, so maybe “good” doesn’t mean quite as much as it should. And those pesky Hyenas are a real menace because they are by far the cheapest — and fastest — generic double-dice bombers. Makes you think: what if ALL rebel Y-wings were like Gold or the TIE Bomber could chuck two reds?

Before we dive in, a quick disclaimer: we’ll be looking at these squadrons in relative isolation. Of course we’re aware that upgrades, commanders, and squadron synergies exist — but we’ve already covered how much of that was bolted on over time to patch holes or rein in excess. For this exercise, we need to strip it back. If the X-wing had been better (and cheaper) from the start, maybe the need for Biggs and Jan Ors would have been reduced — or maybe they would have needed a cost increase or rework. The point is to think about the squadrons themselves, while still keeping overall faction identity in mind.

And to be clear: synergy itself isn’t a bad thing. Armada thrives on clever interactions, layered buffs, and listbuilding puzzles. The problem is when synergy becomes primarily about propping up weaknesses or serving as a stopgap for underpowered units. That’s where Rebel squadron design went astray.

We also need to acknowledge the role of squadron keywords. They’re one of the biggest differentiators between various generics. Some are relatively weak — Grit, for example, is useful but not exactly game-breaking, and could probably stand to be stronger (maybe stacking, or ignoring Heavy squadrons entirely). Dodge can save your hide in niche cases, but since it doesn’t work against flak, it leaves generics like the Delta-7 eternally overpriced. On the other end of the spectrum, Rogue is hugely impactful — it opened up an entirely new way to play squadrons, though it also created the odd timing puzzle of “rogues act last one round, then regular squadrons first the next round,” which has very little counterplay. And of course, Intel used to be borderline broken (or at least it didn't offer enough counterplay) in its original form, while its 1.5 rework just hands out Grit — which is perhaps too weak. Finally, some keywords are worth less because they are on the "wrong" platform. Belbullabs and Screen anyone? Now imagine Hyenas having Screen instead. See my point?

We won’t go into detail on every keyword here — that’s probably a post of its own — but keep in mind that they’re part of the reason some generics shine while others never quite justify their points.

And we need to mention one other structural issue: single-die bombers. Right out of the gate, they felt underpowered. Their anti-squadron firepower is bad, and against ships their damage output is only moderate. Compare that to the punch of a two-dice bomber, and the gap is massive. That doesn’t mean the answer is to just make everything a two-dice bomber — that would be going overboard. But it’s worth considering, case by case. For example: what would be the pros and cons of making every Y-wing as good as the aforementioned Gold Squadron? We’ll come back to that when relevant.

And then there’s the bulk freighter in the hangar: the relatively small cost gap between generics and aces with defense tokens. That small difference in points value was a big reason we eventually saw the “ace cap” of four per fleet. (That’s a topic for another post, but it’s critical context here.) Ideally, both aces and generics should be costed appropriately, but that’s just not where Armada ended up. If a generic A-wing is 11 points, there’s no way Tycho Celchu at 16 is correctly priced.

So in this installment of Special Modifications, we’re going to do a faction-by-faction study of the generic squadrons: what they cost, what they bring to the table, and how they should have been designed to compete with their ace counterparts.

Oh, and don't forget: this is a Special Modifications feature, so we're deep diving into the game's systems for the fun of it, not because we're actually redesigning anything.

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Rebels: Tricks to Make Mediocrity Work

The Rebel Alliance’s squadron identity has always been a little awkward. On paper, they were meant to be slower but tougher than the Empire, with more generalist squadrons that could fill multiple roles. They also had a clear bomber tilt: three of their four core generics are bombers (X-wings, Y-wings, B-wings). Add to this their famous rogues — especially unique rogues — and you’d think Rebels were spoiled for choice.

In practice, their generics struggled.

From day one, Rebel squadron play leaned heavily on support pieces. Cards like Bomber Command Center, Jan Ors, Biggs Darklighter, Norra Wexley, and, later, Hera Syndulla. The humble speed-2 YT-1300 with Escort just to eat Empire alpha strikes. Add external supports like Jamming Fields, Gallant Haven, or Yavaris, and the picture becomes clear: Rebel squadrons were never good enough on their own. They needed layers upon layers of aura buffs and synergies to become competitive. And, of course, Rieekan only works on unique squadrons...

This is why Rebel identity eventually became synonymous with synergy. Not because it was the original intent, but because it was necessary. Rebels became the faction that took mediocre baselines and made them dangerous by combining Jan with Biggs, or Toryn with BCC, or Yavaris with B-wings.

Looking at the generics themselves:

• X-wings should have been the workhorse — escort + bomber — but they were always a little too expensive for what they did, and underwhelming without help.

• Y-wings were cheap and tanky, but their inefficiency showed quickly. Only Gold Squadron really made them shine.

• B-wings hit like a truck, but were so painfully slow that you basically needed Yavaris and FCT to make them work. Eventually, B-wings really mean just Ten Numb.

• A-wings were the exception — fast, self-sufficient, and genuinely useful. Yet even here, the small cost gap between generics and aces (Tycho, Shara) left players asking: why not just pay a few more points for something strictly better?

So yes, Rebels had options. But they had to work twice as hard to make them pay off. Their squadron identity became “the synergy faction” largely because their generics were too weak to stand on their own.

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Empire: One Card to Rule Them All

The Empire’s identity was sharper from the start: faster, more specialized squadrons, but also frailer than the Rebels’. TIEs swarmed, struck, and died. Most Imperial squadrons did one thing well — shoot ships, intercept squadrons, or soak hits — and that was it. Bombers were rarer, and rogues existed but never matched Rebel equivalents.

What really defined the Empire was how fragile their generics were compared to their aces. A TIE Fighter or Interceptor was cheap and fast, but also disposable. Aces, on the other hand, were only a handful of points more expensive but infinitely more reliable. Sound familiar?

The Empire’s “fix” came not through stacking supports, but through one card: Admiral Sloane. She turned the Empire’s plentiful anti-squadron dice into token-stripping weapons, giving their generics a new lease on life. Suddenly, TIE Fighters weren’t just disposable speed bumps — they were part of a fleet-wide denial engine that could cripple enemy defenses while still keeping up with the action. Where Rebels had to glue together half their upgrade deck to make squads viable, the Empire could just staple Sloane to a fleet and watch it hum.

Looking at the generics themselves:

• TIE Fighters were iconic, dirt cheap, and fragile. Perfect spam, but easily outclassed once aces entered the picture.

• TIE Bombers were semi-efficient ship-killers but needed escorts to avoid instant death, and their single attack die makes them hard to leverage in one activation.

• TIE Interceptors had speed and teeth, but paper-thin hulls made them unreliable.

• TIE Advanced became the “escort tax” — overpriced for what they brought, useful only for protecting bombers and aces.

• Later designs like the TIE Defender were almost too good, while Phantoms were clever but rarely impactful.

In short: Empire generics were sharper tools, but also brittle and overshadowed. Without Sloane, they struggled. With Sloane, they suddenly had an identity: oppressive domination.

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Galactic Republic: Lessons Learned (Mostly)

The Republic’s generics were clearly designed with hindsight. On paper, they look a lot like the Rebel lineup: Torrent escorts instead of X-wings, Y-wings still the bomber backbone, ARCs as the heavy option, and Jedi aces in place of A-wings. But the balance was much tighter.

Where Rebels needed synergies to make their squads work, GAR generics were at least functional on their own. They weren’t flawless, but they were playable without an entire web of aura buffs. The tradeoff was that GAR fleets were built around tight ship–squad synergy — their ships and squadrons needed to work hand-in-hand more than any other faction.

Looking at the generics:

• V-19 Torrents were cheap escorts, filling the X-wing role at a lower cost. Individually unimpressive, but in groups they formed a decent screen.

• Y-wings were, well, Y-wings — but unlike Rebels, GAR’s version was tuned well enough to be worth fielding.

• ARC-170s were heavy, tanky hybrids — slow, yes, but flexible enough to justify their cost.

• Delta-7 Jedi Starfighters… and here’s where the cracks show. On paper, they’re impressive: speed, accuracy, and Jedi keywords. But at 17 points for 4 hull, they’re laughably fragile for the price. If you wanted to pay ace-level cost for a disposable body, this was the way to do it.

Overall, GAR showed what Rebel design could have looked like if more thought had gone into generics from the start. Not perfect, and occasionally way off (looking at you, Delta-7 generics), but a marked improvement.

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Confederacy of Independent Systems: Swarms Done Right (Mostly)

CIS squadrons were in many ways the Empire 2.0. They shared the same fast, specialized, fragile profile — but their generics were simply better tuned. The AI keyword added a twist: CIS squadrons were predictable, but also efficient and effective when commanded properly.

If the Empire’s identity was speed and specialization, CIS added quantity. Their swarms were the truest “disposable horde” in Armada, and they worked.

Looking at the generics:

• Vulture Droids were the cheapest of the cheap, but actually good at being disposable. Spam them and watch them trade up.

• Hyena Bombers gave CIS a reliable bomber backbone, tuned better than Imperial or Rebel equivalents.

• Droid Tri-Fighters were fast, lethal, and fragile — basically what TIE Interceptors always wanted to be.

• Belbullabs though… what even is this? Zero synergy with the rest of the fleet, a weak Relay that barely matters, and Screen — a keyword that sounds good but in practice just means “ignore me until last.” And to cap it off, they’re overpriced for the package. No wonder you almost never see them.

The result was a faction whose generics mostly worked — CIS generics didn’t need endless support or a one-card commander fix. But when they whiffed (cough Belbullab cough), they really whiffed.

Next Up: In the next part, we'll explore some possible solutions and visualize them all.