I have been looking into the original source materials for what we have seen thus far.

Here's how it breaks down.

Excluding the starter set, I count 19 expansion releases so far (all known releases up through wave 4).

As one would assume the majority of the ships (13 of 19, 68%) have come from the original trilogy.

Of the 6 remaining, one was originally found in a book, three were originally seen in video games, and two (or three, depending on how you count Imperial Aces repaints) came to us from comic books.

Z-95 (Han Solo at Star's End book, plus WEG RPG material, etc)

The HWK-290 (Dark Forces video game), the TIE Defender (TIE Fighter video game) and TIE Phantom (Rebel Assault 2 video game).

Imperial Aces is from the comics, as far as I can see (the 181st and Emperor's Guard squadrons came from Dark Horse Comics; specifically X-Wing Rogue Squadron and Crimson Empire), as is the E-Wing (Dark Empire comics).

So, I assume we will have to see a group of items coming up that hail from that multi-platform release (book, video game, and comics): Shadows of the Empire. In many ways one could claim that Shadows of the Empire has a stronger canon claim than the other non-OT stuff released thus far.

Probably the Outrider and Prince Xizor's ship, at a minimum, would be released, but possibly as much as Black Sun becoming a third faction could be in the works as a method for bringing this property into the game.

I would prefer bounty hunters and Black Sun remain "Imperial" rather than making a third faction, as it keeps the game simpler.

I find no fault in this arguement; Shadows also featured IG-88 a fair amount, so it would be easy to include the IG-2000 - there is no shortage of ships to choose from!

It could be a logical Wave-5/extra wave release, I'd certainly go for it!

I really want to see imperial GAT 12 blastboats!

And xg-1!

And for rebels K-wing!

As for big ships- definitely Carrack cruiser and ipv-1!

They were in X-wing alliance and TIE fighter games. And in many mods for Empire At war.

I have to agree about your last point, I personally feel a 3rd faction is unnecessary in this game, and may muddy the waters. Also, I dont think FFG is going to do it.. just doesn't seem like an option for them.

As for new sources of ships, I know some are hoping for something from the new Rebels show, but I find that highly unlikely. Mostly because it is a new product with no ideas of how it will do. It could be awesome, or it could flop.. and who wants a ship from a flop show... there are enough ships still in the EU products to keep them busy, plus ...

I know this will be unpopular, but FFG has a habit of dropping games.. even ones with potential for more money.. it has happened before, trust me..

I think this game probably has about.. 2 years left in it... then they will drop it. The only thing I see changing that is how good the new movie is... and does... if it gives them something they can use.. it might last a little longer. Though, it is not the rebellion era persay, it might be something they can shoehorn into the game..

Just my 2 creds...

I find no fault in this arguement; Shadows also featured IG-88 a fair amount, so it would be easy to include the IG-2000 - there is no shortage of ships to choose from!

Speaking of IG-88 and Dengar (and their respective ships), Hound's Tooth and Mist Hunter are possibilities as well of course, giving us Bossk and Zuckuss & 4-LOM. Does anyone know what kind of ship Boushh flew?

A bounty-hunter set, gimme!

I honestly thought Wave 4 would be a Shadows of the Empire wave considering that was such a big event in the mid-90s and is, as you say, probably the closest thing to being high-level canon in the EU. I'm really surprised they went with the ships they did for Wave 4 (although I like them just the same).

So I still think a Shadows of the Empire wave is coming. I think they'll make Wave 5 using SotE ships and wait a bit on Rebels, which starts airing this September, to see how it does. If it does well, maybe we'll see some Rebels ships in Wave 6 or 7, depending on how long the lead time is.

I have to say I am wracking my brain to find enough cool things to fill out even one more Rebel release (just two more legit Rebel ships!).

I think YT-2400 is a done deal, perhaps with a 180-degree frontal partial turret arc (or something similar...to separate it, functionally, from the YT-1300). It should be more agile and maybe less tough than the YT-1300; again, just to make it feel different (and play differently) on the table from the YT-1300.

As for the second Rebel ship, I have no idea.

I like the option of another bounty hunter or two for the Imperials, and I'd guess they won't be able to resist Prince Xizor and his cool looking ship.

I would like to see Y-Wing variants like the crew slot capable BTL-S3 and the BTL-A4 (LP) Longprobe. These could be combined into a Y-Wing repaint miniature product (I doubt they'll ever sell us just the cards and cardboard pieces to re-use on our existing ships). Think of it as a "cheap" release like the Imperial Aces (i.e. repaints on existing ships, all new cards etc). I doubt they would sell two Y-wing repaints in this same kit. Perhaps the other mini would be an Imp who needs some love and/or tweaked ships and/or pilots (TIE Advanced (?), as some here have said), or another Rebel (an A-wing repaint seems very likely and desirable by many--bolstered, canon-wise, by the variant colors Ralph McQuarrie himself painted). My guess would be for a variant repaint Y-wing sold in a box with a variant re-paint A-wing.

I would like to see something with Tractor Beams included as an across the board type thing (system upgrade and new special rule).

Realistically, I would be surprised to see any more large ships, with the exception of a CR90 Imperial repaint (blue accents instead of red, anyone?). That would make a lot of sense from all sorts of angles. Again, I can't see them just selling us the cards and cardboard to switch our existing CR90 over to the Empire.

After all that (and maybe another re-paint or two) I think this game will have matured fully.

At that point, they'd be able to choose what to do next (if anything)... perhaps a new game with a new starter set centered around the prequel trilogy (could have some legs, with the prequel movies and Clone Wars cartoons, etc, all contributing tech).

Re-launching the game centered around the new trilogy would be cool too.

Of course, the best would be to make them all essentially the same game... to allow for mixing and matching across timelines.

As for the second Rebel ship, I have no idea.

A K-Wing would be interesting, a bomber with no primary weapon (if you follow the Black Fleet Crisis type, which would be best in my opinion, something radically different).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BTL-S8_K-wing_assault_starfighter

Or an R-41 Starchaser.

I have to agree about your last point, I personally feel a 3rd faction is unnecessary in this game, and may muddy the waters. Also, I dont think FFG is going to do it.. just doesn't seem like an option for them.

I Could see FFG making a new faction for VI (unless the empire is not defeated yet) which could be cool!

As for the second Rebel ship, I have no idea.

A K-Wing would be interesting, a bomber with no primary weapon (if you follow the Black Fleet Crisis type, which would be best in my opinion, something radically different).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BTL-S8_K-wing_assault_starfighter

Or an R-41 Starchaser.

Yeah, the K-Wing and R-41. Also the T-Wing, which would be an interceptor with proton torpedoes.

Not being familiar with K-wings and R-41s, what, thematically, do they bring to the game that is different from other Rebel vessels?

The Rebels already have the all-around "space-superiority" fighter (X-wing) and its low-tech, swarm-capable precursor (Z-95) and its high tech replacement (E-wing).

The rugged and dependable, if outdated, fighter-bomber (Y-wing) and the slower, dedicated heavy bomber, made to attack capital ships (B-wing).

The quick and light interceptor (A-wing), a large multi-role ship with crew (Falcon), and a small support ship with crew (HWK).

As for the trends, which can be broken to generate new ideas, we have the following:

Thus far all Alliance fighters have shields and hyperdrives, unlike most of their Imperial adversaries. They also tend to use astromech droids, but not always. Torpedoes are Rebel and bombs are Imperial.

For balance, I would predict the Rebels will get one more large base ship (YT-2400) and the Imperials will get none to even them out at 2 apiece.

I guess we'd need to see a Rebel way to drop proton bombs and seismic charges and whatnot. Maybe that suggests K-wing, particularly as that vessel is small enough (~16m) to fit on a small base.

As for Imperials, having a ship that uses a droid would be neat.

Dengar's "Punishing One" fits the bill.

It would also either have an ion cannon or the ability to take one.

Wave 5 (final regular release wave?)

Rebel

YT-2400 (large base) $29.99 (smaller, more agile, less strong YT-1300)

K-wing (small base) $14.99 (Rebel bomb dropper)

Imperial

JumpMaster 5000 (small base) $14.99 (Imperial droid user, another bounty hunter, Dengar)

StarViper (small base) $14.99 (Prince Xizor's ship Virago)

Not being familiar with K-wings and R-41s, what, thematically, do they bring to the game that is different from other Rebel vessels?

[...]

I guess we'd need to see a Rebel way to drop proton bombs and seismic charges and whatnot. Maybe that suggests K-wing, particularly as that vessel is small enough (~16m) to fit on a small base.

That, and the fact that a K-wing has (according to the conflicting sources) no primary weapons, relying only on missiles, torpedoes and bombs. Make it rather cheap to start and pile on the costs in missiles and bombs.

The K-Wing has crew, including a bombadier, which could be a new crew card.

It has no primary weapons, but it does have a quad-turbolaser turret, which would be an interesting new turret card: maybe 8 points for a 4-attack turret.

Also, it's 16 meters, so it's definitely a small-base ship.

The quality of Rebels means little if LFL wants FFG to make ships off the show.

If I were a gambling man I'd put my chips down on:

Wave 5: Rebels cartoon

Wave 6: New movie

The timing seems right. Wave 4 won't hit till summer (maybe) and next fall we get the new cartoon series.

By the time Wave 6 is ready to hit (Summer/Fall of 2015) the New Movie will have the hype machine in full gear.

It has no primary weapons, but it does have a quad-turbolaser turret, which would be an interesting new turret card: maybe 8 points for a 4-attack turret.

The only problem here is that the Falcon has two such quad laser cannon turrets, neither of which was modeled in the game as an upgrade card.

In my opinion, they should have had an unarmed stock light freighter (YT-1300) with some expansion slots open for customization. Single, dual, and quad laser cannon turrets and whatnot. I guess then it would be possible to have something named the "Falcon" (via a title card) that is not equipped like the Falcon (via system upgrades, etc)...but who really cares at that point?

I guess I am not as big a fan of crossing the "Droids only for Rebels" line as I was before.

It just wouldn't be right to allow R2-D2 to be on the Imperial side.

In fact, there may be Lucasfilm rules of some sort, keeping most droids (at least the comic relief, lovable ones) firmly on the side of the good guys.

Wave 5, revised (final regular release wave?)

Rebel

YT-2400 (large base) $29.99 (smaller, more agile, less strong YT-1300)

K-wing (small base) $14.99 (Rebel bomb dropper?)

Imperial

G1A starfighter (small base) $14.99 (two more bounty hunters, Zuckuss & 4-Lom)

StarViper (small base) $14.99 (Prince Xizor's ship Virago)

I would think they'd include the IG-2000 (IG-88's ship) in a Shadows of the Empire wave. It probably would have all turn maneuvers at all speeds with no red, since its robotic pilot wouldn't have to worry about blacking out from G-forces.

[edit] I guess its official class is "Aggressor assault fighter," if Wookieepedia is to be believed.

With the TIE Phantom, the Imperials will lead the crewed ships category (neglecting the GR-75 and the CR90) by a score of 3 to 2.

This score could be balanced at 4 to 4 with the YT-2400 & K-wing (both crewed) being joined by the Imperial G1A.

One vein we should mine (that I am not capable of doing, as I don't own the game) is the artwork from the Star Wars LCG.

I have heard it is a very fruitful source of ideas that cross over to X-wing (at least art-wise).

Perhaps there are cards in recent expansions of that game that may shed more light on possible upcoming releases.

I would think they'd include the IG-2000 (IG-88's ship) in a Shadows of the Empire wave. It probably would have all turn maneuvers at all speeds with no red, since its robotic pilot wouldn't have to worry about blacking out from G-forces.

I assumed stress was the structural stress of heavy manoeuvring on the ship and not on the pilot?

I find no fault in this arguement; Shadows also featured IG-88 a fair amount, so it would be easy to include the IG-2000 - there is no shortage of ships to choose from!

It could be a logical Wave-5/extra wave release, I'd certainly go for it!

IG-88 is a good bet, too. His ship is only 20m long, so it would be on a small base.

He is very iconic, less so than Boba Fett, but probably more recognizable than the other bounty hunters in the group in ESB.

Ultimately I'd like to have them all...but Bossk's ship is too big for this scale (62m). Dengar and 4-LOM (with Zuckuss) would fit.