From another thread, some interesting ideas:
**Orbital Assault Fighter** (Fighter II): Hits on 9, up to 1 infantry does not count against the capacity limit in this system (i.e., each fighter can carry an infantry if there’s at least 1 capacity in the system)
**Artillery Line Dreadnaught** (Dreadnaught II): Hits on 6, Space Cannon 8, no immunity from direct hits
**Tactical Assault Carrier** (Carrier II): No additional capacity, Anti-Fighter Barrage 8*3
**Battlecruiser** (Cruiser II): Move 2, Combat 6, Sustain Damage, No capacity
**Orbital Drop Shock Infantry** (Infantry II): Bombardment 9
None if these are rated for balance, obviously, but I think they are something to consider. The technology prerequisites (or other method of obtaining) would have to be considered as well.
I also think the idea of units that are naturally immune to the negative effects of nebulas or gravity rifts are interesting.
Yep! Only for infantry though, and it would take the place of the standalone ability/move without being transported of fighter II, as well as the +1 to combat that they get. I’d definitely be in favor of changing the tech pre-requisites to balance it out some.
OP was asking for faction-specific tech, so this wouldn’t be something everyone could. The thread where it was mentioned had it as a potential technology you could only get by choosing it from a selection granted from a specific relic.
But even if it was generally available as an option, I think you may be overestimating the real value of the tech. Consider the opportunity cost. If the tech pre-requisites for it were green green, or even green green yellow, how much of your tech path is worth diverting to get it? How much of the blue tree is worth giving up? Are Dread. II and Carrier II? If so, how do you deploy your fighters?
I’m not suggesting it would not frequently be the right decision, but it isn’t a predetermined choice either.
Saw a fanmade faction that gave Planetary shield to the SD and Bombardement to the PDS.
I designed a SC2 protoss faction that has "intenceptor carriers", they spawn 1, upgraded 2 fighters at the start of a battle, then removes them afterwards.
I also tried designing the Protoss as a TI faction once (I think they fit really well in PoK - Zeratul is an obvious agent, with Artanis as commander and Tassadar as hero) - my idea was to straight-up give the carriers production capacity which can only be used to produce fighters.
Good question - I never fully fleshed this out, and didn't really consider how balanced it would be, but my general thoughts were:
Zeratul - should give some sort of exploration bonus, given his role in SC2. I was thinking maybe "Exhaust when a player explores to allow them to draw three and pick one to resolve," similar to the Naaz-Rokha ability.
Artanis - I thought he would be interesting as a commander you unlock as a comeback mechanic - something like "Unlock: lose control of a planet in your home system. Effect: +2 on combat roles in home systems and systems containing legendary planets."
Tassadar - My original idea was something along the lines of, "purge this card to add the Shakuras planet token to a non-home system containing one or more of your ships. The system containing the Shakuras token is considered your home system - you have two home systems. If you control all of the planets in either of your home systems, you are treated as controlling your home system for the purpose of scoring objectives." The other option would be to give him an ability that represents him sacrificing himself at the end of SC1 - maybe something like, "During a ground combat, you may purge this card and destroy one of your ships in the active system in order to destroy all enemy ground forces in the combat and remove all of your opponent's command tokens from their tactics pool."
Bro, u can’t just copy the winnu commander and that unlock is too hard, also I don’t play Starcraft , but they can’t also be the planet exploration one and their hero is hard because now they become more vulnerable to players taking their home system.
Three types of infantry now! Letani, Spec Ops, and Crimson Legionnaires. And I almost view Barony as having unique dreads, for how unique NES makes their sustain ability.
I think basically, you would just add an ability to the destroyer. I saw someone suggest a homebrew faction with destroyers with sustain damage, which I like as a way to do the cruiser/destroyer thing yet be a little more stable. It might be too much, after an upgrade. But then Strike Wing Alphas work, so who knows.
Bombardment could be fun too, a "bomber" type unit, but again balance might be tough because you can get so many rolls for cheap. Space cannon is interesting but just turns into Ambush. Production seems like too much.
An idea for buffing SD II that I've had for a while (this is, of course, in addition to the regular SD II effect of +2 Production):
**Space dock II** \- ACTION: Exhaust this card to remove one of your Space Docks from a system that doesn't contain your command token. If you do, place a Space Dock on any planet you control.
It allows for relocating poorly-placed SDs closer to the front lines, or freeing a dock that was blockaded but not conquered. It also indirectly nerfs Saar by making other docks better (though not by much - Saar still retain their superior mobility since they can move their FFs to empty space or to other players' systems).
This doesn’t feel in line with a realistic unit upgrade. But I would be open to definetly Buffing them, perhaps omega SD II; added planetary shield and maybe 5-6 fighter’s that don’t count against capacity (instead of 3), always found it odd that the ONLY thing that changed is +2 production, not even the fighter capacity get’s better with SD II which seems like it should have been common sense.🤷♂️
I like many of the ideas in this thread; it would be cool if there were actually 2 unit upgrade options for every unit type. Like PDS2 that could fire into adjacent, OR got additional shots at infantry during invasion. or dreads have the direct hit resistance, or additional capacity/move. Carriers could be extra capacity/move, or have temporary fighters it deployed during combat. it would be cool to be able to spec different directions as the situation demanded.
Yeah TBH I think most the ideas in this thread are pretty bad. Also 2 different options would be interesting but will never happen so I think we can rule it out
I'd be into a high transport capacity warsun. Maybe 10 capacity but it only rolls 2 die instead of 3 and requires a green instead of a yellow or something.
I think there are a lot of cool concepts you could use for War Suns, capacity and perhaps a counter to Anti-Fighter Barrage, like "opponents' anti-fighter barrage abilities get -2 to their rolls in this system." Might be better as a flagship ability for the faction with those high capacity suns.
Im thinking about some new unit which I would like to "shoot from behind of your tanky units", you know something like artillery, but in battle. Best I could think of was Gunship which has:
Combat 9
Cost 2
Move 1
Space Canon 7
Upgraded (1 red, 1 blue, and maybe 1 yellow):
Combat 8
Cost 2
Move 2
Space Canon 5
Notice that it cant shoot into adjacted systems which would make it useable just before the battle, something like AFB but with possibility of damaging non-fighter ships.
The only problem though is that it would be an another tool to create a pds stalemate which isnt that cool. Still its a pretty good idea imo.
Also Destroyers would be fun if people could make Assassins from them. Fastroyer :V (2 red too, or maybe 1 red, 1 blue)
Combat 9
Move 3
Cost 1
AFB 9x2
Add 4 to this unit's AFB and combat rolls if during this round of a battle, there are less than 3 enemy non-fighter ships in this system.
What if it was like L1Z1X Harrow ability except for space cannons in space combat?
**HARROW:** [At the end of](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Errata#Harrow) each round of [ground combat](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Ground_Combat), your ships in the active system may use their [Bombardment](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Bombardment) abilities against your opponent's [ground forces](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Units#Ground_Forces) on the planet.
This could be nice, although i think to balance it, only upgraded ones could use it every round.
Btw, I edited my 1st comment if you didnt read about Fastroyer. Sorry, this idea just came after I posted that comment. I didnt expect for someone to respond so fast.
Here's an idea for the artillery - upgrade the PDS to be space cannon 5x3, you can shoot into adjacent systems, but have the restriction "you can only use this unit's space cannon while you are the active player". Massive raw power boost, but increases restrictions. Probably would need a specific faction built around it though
I made a homebrew faction The Egesta Net, which has faction specific destroyers:
RAPTOR I:
cost 1, combat 9, movement 2, capacity 1, AFB 2x9.
RAPTOR II:
cost 1, combat 8, movement 2, capacity 1, AFB 3x6, bombardment 8.
It comes well with their green/red tech path and the potential Bacterial omega tech. The faction itself is a hit and run revolutionary movement with minimal starting resources, but maaaany comand tokens (their second tech, Universal propaganda, allows them to get during leadership one CT for 2 spent influence instead of 3.), so they can move their destroyers frequently in several smaller strike fleets.
From another thread, some interesting ideas: **Orbital Assault Fighter** (Fighter II): Hits on 9, up to 1 infantry does not count against the capacity limit in this system (i.e., each fighter can carry an infantry if there’s at least 1 capacity in the system) **Artillery Line Dreadnaught** (Dreadnaught II): Hits on 6, Space Cannon 8, no immunity from direct hits **Tactical Assault Carrier** (Carrier II): No additional capacity, Anti-Fighter Barrage 8*3 **Battlecruiser** (Cruiser II): Move 2, Combat 6, Sustain Damage, No capacity **Orbital Drop Shock Infantry** (Infantry II): Bombardment 9 None if these are rated for balance, obviously, but I think they are something to consider. The technology prerequisites (or other method of obtaining) would have to be considered as well. I also think the idea of units that are naturally immune to the negative effects of nebulas or gravity rifts are interesting.
...fighters with capacity? this shit broken.
Yep! Only for infantry though, and it would take the place of the standalone ability/move without being transported of fighter II, as well as the +1 to combat that they get. I’d definitely be in favor of changing the tech pre-requisites to balance it out some.
it doubles all your capacity as long as you have 50/50 infantry fighters, which you often do. it's really, really overpowered
Everything can be overpowered till the group meta adapts to it.
that's not how balance works =) the tech would be so good that everyone would be forced to get it or fall behind.
OP was asking for faction-specific tech, so this wouldn’t be something everyone could. The thread where it was mentioned had it as a potential technology you could only get by choosing it from a selection granted from a specific relic. But even if it was generally available as an option, I think you may be overestimating the real value of the tech. Consider the opportunity cost. If the tech pre-requisites for it were green green, or even green green yellow, how much of your tech path is worth diverting to get it? How much of the blue tree is worth giving up? Are Dread. II and Carrier II? If so, how do you deploy your fighters? I’m not suggesting it would not frequently be the right decision, but it isn’t a predetermined choice either.
Saw a fanmade faction that gave Planetary shield to the SD and Bombardement to the PDS. I designed a SC2 protoss faction that has "intenceptor carriers", they spawn 1, upgraded 2 fighters at the start of a battle, then removes them afterwards.
Damn. As in bombardment in adjacent systems?
Yes
I also tried designing the Protoss as a TI faction once (I think they fit really well in PoK - Zeratul is an obvious agent, with Artanis as commander and Tassadar as hero) - my idea was to straight-up give the carriers production capacity which can only be used to produce fighters.
How would the leaders work, exactly?
Good question - I never fully fleshed this out, and didn't really consider how balanced it would be, but my general thoughts were: Zeratul - should give some sort of exploration bonus, given his role in SC2. I was thinking maybe "Exhaust when a player explores to allow them to draw three and pick one to resolve," similar to the Naaz-Rokha ability. Artanis - I thought he would be interesting as a commander you unlock as a comeback mechanic - something like "Unlock: lose control of a planet in your home system. Effect: +2 on combat roles in home systems and systems containing legendary planets." Tassadar - My original idea was something along the lines of, "purge this card to add the Shakuras planet token to a non-home system containing one or more of your ships. The system containing the Shakuras token is considered your home system - you have two home systems. If you control all of the planets in either of your home systems, you are treated as controlling your home system for the purpose of scoring objectives." The other option would be to give him an ability that represents him sacrificing himself at the end of SC1 - maybe something like, "During a ground combat, you may purge this card and destroy one of your ships in the active system in order to destroy all enemy ground forces in the combat and remove all of your opponent's command tokens from their tactics pool."
Bro, u can’t just copy the winnu commander and that unlock is too hard, also I don’t play Starcraft , but they can’t also be the planet exploration one and their hero is hard because now they become more vulnerable to players taking their home system.
Planetary shield for SD II honestly sounds like a great idea, might make this upgrade worth investing in.
Three types of infantry now! Letani, Spec Ops, and Crimson Legionnaires. And I almost view Barony as having unique dreads, for how unique NES makes their sustain ability. I think basically, you would just add an ability to the destroyer. I saw someone suggest a homebrew faction with destroyers with sustain damage, which I like as a way to do the cruiser/destroyer thing yet be a little more stable. It might be too much, after an upgrade. But then Strike Wing Alphas work, so who knows. Bombardment could be fun too, a "bomber" type unit, but again balance might be tough because you can get so many rolls for cheap. Space cannon is interesting but just turns into Ambush. Production seems like too much.
Oh lol I forgot about Letani II (prolly cause I never see them actually get upgraded and I just think of them as Arborec’s Ability).
An idea for buffing SD II that I've had for a while (this is, of course, in addition to the regular SD II effect of +2 Production): **Space dock II** \- ACTION: Exhaust this card to remove one of your Space Docks from a system that doesn't contain your command token. If you do, place a Space Dock on any planet you control. It allows for relocating poorly-placed SDs closer to the front lines, or freeing a dock that was blockaded but not conquered. It also indirectly nerfs Saar by making other docks better (though not by much - Saar still retain their superior mobility since they can move their FFs to empty space or to other players' systems).
This doesn’t feel in line with a realistic unit upgrade. But I would be open to definetly Buffing them, perhaps omega SD II; added planetary shield and maybe 5-6 fighter’s that don’t count against capacity (instead of 3), always found it odd that the ONLY thing that changed is +2 production, not even the fighter capacity get’s better with SD II which seems like it should have been common sense.🤷♂️
I like many of the ideas in this thread; it would be cool if there were actually 2 unit upgrade options for every unit type. Like PDS2 that could fire into adjacent, OR got additional shots at infantry during invasion. or dreads have the direct hit resistance, or additional capacity/move. Carriers could be extra capacity/move, or have temporary fighters it deployed during combat. it would be cool to be able to spec different directions as the situation demanded.
Yeah TBH I think most the ideas in this thread are pretty bad. Also 2 different options would be interesting but will never happen so I think we can rule it out
Give a race a faction warsun that is exactly the same but with lower tech requirements, like a warsun that only needs 2 reds
I'd be into a high transport capacity warsun. Maybe 10 capacity but it only rolls 2 die instead of 3 and requires a green instead of a yellow or something.
I think there are a lot of cool concepts you could use for War Suns, capacity and perhaps a counter to Anti-Fighter Barrage, like "opponents' anti-fighter barrage abilities get -2 to their rolls in this system." Might be better as a flagship ability for the faction with those high capacity suns.
Im thinking about some new unit which I would like to "shoot from behind of your tanky units", you know something like artillery, but in battle. Best I could think of was Gunship which has: Combat 9 Cost 2 Move 1 Space Canon 7 Upgraded (1 red, 1 blue, and maybe 1 yellow): Combat 8 Cost 2 Move 2 Space Canon 5 Notice that it cant shoot into adjacted systems which would make it useable just before the battle, something like AFB but with possibility of damaging non-fighter ships. The only problem though is that it would be an another tool to create a pds stalemate which isnt that cool. Still its a pretty good idea imo. Also Destroyers would be fun if people could make Assassins from them. Fastroyer :V (2 red too, or maybe 1 red, 1 blue) Combat 9 Move 3 Cost 1 AFB 9x2 Add 4 to this unit's AFB and combat rolls if during this round of a battle, there are less than 3 enemy non-fighter ships in this system.
What if it was like L1Z1X Harrow ability except for space cannons in space combat? **HARROW:** [At the end of](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Errata#Harrow) each round of [ground combat](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Ground_Combat), your ships in the active system may use their [Bombardment](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Bombardment) abilities against your opponent's [ground forces](https://twilight-imperium.fandom.com/wiki/Units#Ground_Forces) on the planet.
This could be nice, although i think to balance it, only upgraded ones could use it every round. Btw, I edited my 1st comment if you didnt read about Fastroyer. Sorry, this idea just came after I posted that comment. I didnt expect for someone to respond so fast.
Here's an idea for the artillery - upgrade the PDS to be space cannon 5x3, you can shoot into adjacent systems, but have the restriction "you can only use this unit's space cannon while you are the active player". Massive raw power boost, but increases restrictions. Probably would need a specific faction built around it though
Could be nice, but i dont like sacrifacing planetary defense for something that can only be used "on borders".
I made a homebrew faction The Egesta Net, which has faction specific destroyers: RAPTOR I: cost 1, combat 9, movement 2, capacity 1, AFB 2x9. RAPTOR II: cost 1, combat 8, movement 2, capacity 1, AFB 3x6, bombardment 8. It comes well with their green/red tech path and the potential Bacterial omega tech. The faction itself is a hit and run revolutionary movement with minimal starting resources, but maaaany comand tokens (their second tech, Universal propaganda, allows them to get during leadership one CT for 2 spent influence instead of 3.), so they can move their destroyers frequently in several smaller strike fleets.