@rundummy,
excellent question
which houserules specifically from that novella of a post I waffled,
were you wondering how we had to factor in locally - just so as we're on the same page, as I did waffle about a lot of potential 'houserules fixes'
I'm keen to hear your feedback
(and apologies if all this is tangential to the OP's thread -- we can move that to a different place if needs be
I'm all for seeing 'dynamic duo' pieces, just like they have in Heroclix)
To the costing conundrum,
there were a few stat costing threads over the years,
and an excel spreadsheet.
Surf and Biggsy, Lord Ball and Lilliwan had a few perspectives on costing too, which the local group agreed to over the years often
10HP
1 DEF
1 ATK
10 DMG were 3 or 5 points...,
with +10 HP being 2/3points under 80HP, and 3-5pts per 10HP above 80HP
+1 DEF = +1point (under 20pts total), with a cap/limit on max defense value.
+1 ATK = +1point for under 12 ATK total, +1-2points above 12. Max value +25 (or similar proportional value to DEF)
+10DMG = +5 points per 10DMG, cap of 60DMG for vehicles.
so,
basically, its 'rapid playtesting' till we find a pricepoint that's fairest.
- positive effects add 3-15+points,
negative effects subtract points usually 1-7pts,
This model is rough, and is how we arrive at our custom costs locally,
with a tendency to overcost custom pieces generally.
Attack X was initially undercosted, at only adding +8points to a unit cost.
I argued that it oughta be +10 or +12points, but was reminded in playtesting that the balance was there in the fact you have to be adjacent to 8 other characters, and it was probable that more than half of those would be enemy figures... hence why cost remained around +8pts,
though, Attack X can be a little more expensive on pieces with more survivability.
Lightsaber Redirect was thought to be +7pts, because unlike reflect, you can choose who to redirect the attack to.
I originally wanted Lightsaber Redirect to apply to 'Damage' - so, it could be used against direct damage or AoE effects... but that was thought to be OverPowered.
Force Maelstrom is +9points, and is probably overcosted on balance, because of the force points and 'counters'... its a slow terrain deform ability which can negatively effect your own squad... very situational, but reflects that scene from Empire Strikes Back where Vader hurls anything not nailed down at Luke.
though some contend that it oughta be costed more like Force Illusion or Force Corruption
Force Cover is around +5points. Sure, you get to remove movement penalties on terrain, but all it does is makes a lame version of a mouse droid/3P0, and can't be used to outright stop a bunch of attacks, especially from characters with Sniper or AoE, etc. (making Sniper actually useful and meaningful again heh).
Making force points function as they do in SW:TCG (ie, all force users contribute to a force pool, so like a Palps or Yoda force battery) does not alter costing of any pieces, because thats a whole of game effect -
this also doesn't penalise Yoda or Palp force battery players, because essentially they get to use a mild 'Master of the Force +1" (via dint of the fact that you use Yodas force points, and yoda's force points that piece can access are from the total force pool). this cancels the 'you can't combine your own force points and Yoda's" - because that clause would be a paradox otherwise.
Also, retconning all force users to having Force Renewal 1 and MotF 2, across the board,
doesn't alter costs. This is due to the power creep of shooters and CE's, and will mainly be used quickly to move or reroll missed attacks.
So far, we thought this might have been insanely overpowered,
so we tried with old school Darth Nihilus, Darth Revan, Lord Vader and Darth Caedus,
Darth Sidious...
and other pieces such as Mace Windu, General, GOWK, Luminara, Yobuck etc...
frankly, all of those changes to how force functioned, proved useless against Vong,
and only increased survivability by 1 round. Only some fringe squads or all melee non-meta squads felt 'nerfed' by the Force changes...
which aren't gamed too much in the local game store anyhow.
Pieces like Kazdan Paratus, Cade Skywalker BH, Luke Commando, Hoth Luke, Luke&Yoda, Obi Wan Unleashed, The Apprentice and earlier Yodas or Palpatines,
these pieces seemed to be able to survive longer and actually use their abilities.
Thats the main problem for existing melee pieces and force users -
if you're not a Force Battery build, chances are you run out of FPs by turn 2 or 3... and its game over. Most melee builds and force user builds are built around the heavy - the single beatstick piece that is 60%+ of the cost. Most of the meta-competitive shooter squads or anti-melee/anti-force user squads by contrast, have a much lower avg piece cost, and fewer pieces that are 60%+ of the squad cost
So, i think squad assault etc, those abilities work well, it just seems that map determines a lot of the outcome for force users who aren't force battery builds.
Could there be abuse? sure. If the opposition to a force-improved squad didn't contain anti-melee, anti-force user or Direct Damage/Tempo Control or Override... the improved force users would probably be overpowered.
But, in the meta, these are pretty stock standard, and many force users are easily perplexed by Diplomat, Draw Fire, Superstealth and Direct AoE damage stuff...
Anywho,
if you found some of those houserules fun,
try altering the game/turn structure to be 'simultaneous' as in say, GOBS or W40K,
ie, both squads take all phases simultaneously, activate ALL pieces, move all pieces, resolve attacks simultaneously.
this mitigates any 'fibonacci turn biases' or zugzwang that your local group might cite... but it makes things like Opportunist or Cunning Attack 'always on' or 'always off' (or only applying to 'stunned' pieces etc) function differently.
Tempo Control is even more powerful in this situation, because you can choose to activate fewer than your whole squad.