After some thinking, i landed on the general rule that if you want to go offencive, you should go for high PS and use lower PS if you plan on going defencive.

(this would work the other way as well, meaning that high ps ships should go for offence etc)

Does anyone have contradicing experiences?

The idea is that defencive ships try to wear out the enemies and should plan for taking a few hits.

(Thus, not so important to hit first, spend the points on more ships to absorb damage)

For offencive ships they rely on their damage for protection.

IE, the ships they manage to kill off will not fire back, but to do this they need to fire first.

This is probably why Rebels generally have slightly better PS than the Empire.

Most ships have no PS 1-cards but are generally high attack / low defence.

It is also why a-wings got a PS1-card - They are low attack / high defence.

I don't agree. I run regularly a list of named pilots that is all about being defensive. in fact I only have one offensive ship in the build. it's pilot skill 4and two ps5 ships.

Works well and if played correctly seems to be able to beat all lists. I've only lost when I've made mistakes and obviously beaten myself.

Well, ps 4 and 5 isnt super high.

For named pilots 4 is the lowest you can find (and only one on each faction).

After some thinking, i landed on the general rule that if you want to go offencive, you should go for high PS and use lower PS if you plan on going defencive.

(this would work the other way as well, meaning that high ps ships should go for offence etc)

Does anyone have contradicing experiences?

The idea is that defencive ships try to wear out the enemies and should plan for taking a few hits.

(Thus, not so important to hit first, spend the points on more ships to absorb damage)

For offencive ships they rely on their damage for protection.

IE, the ships they manage to kill off will not fire back, but to do this they need to fire first.

This is probably why Rebels generally have slightly better PS than the Empire.

Most ships have no PS 1-cards but are generally high attack / low defence.

It is also why a-wings got a PS1-card - They are low attack / high defence.

Pro tip, when you are typing a new post or replying to one, if your words have a red squiggly line under them, THEY ARE SPELLED WRONG.

Hey GrimDeath! Look at the guys tag at the bottom, obviously English as a second language.

Give him some slack!

The best theory I was ever given for list building is to list your ships by offense and then by defense. If the list doesn't match or is really close you've made a mistake and should attempt again.

Hey GrimDeath! Look at the guys tag at the bottom, obviously English as a second language.

Give him some slack!

That is Latin. No one uses Latin as a main language.

Hey GrimDeath! Look at the guys tag at the bottom, obviously English as a second language.

Give him some slack!

That is Latin. No one uses Latin as a main language.

Et tu Brute?

I would say Tie Swarms debunk this idea pretty handily. They are ALL about offense, and need to put the hurt on their enemy VERY quickly, but they have very low PS.

Defensive named B-Wings+Advanced Sensors and Tie Intereceptors are another good example: both depend heavily on defense by maneuvering after their opponents have moved and to keep out of their firing arcs.

There is a lot of benefit to defensive players having high PS, and there are a lot of benefits for offensive lists to drop PS in exchange for more firepower, better chances to hit, and more bodies.

One thing the OP might have right though is when you are building a list you need to decide where on the 'offence-defence' scale you will want to land.

You can really focus on either the offensive or defensive components of a build, (which to the OP's credit, PS is definitely one part to consider) and you can certainly divide that up on a ship by ship basis.

The key element though is finding what you want to accomplish with each ship in your list and then looking for upgrades and pilots that allow you to accompish that goal.

Synergy is king.

After some thinking, i landed on the general rule that if you want to go offencive, you should go for high PS and use lower PS if you plan on going defencive.

(this would work the other way as well, meaning that high ps ships should go for offence etc)

Does anyone have contradicing experiences?

The idea is that defencive ships try to wear out the enemies and should plan for taking a few hits.

(Thus, not so important to hit first, spend the points on more ships to absorb damage)

I disagree, I routinely run the vader/fel/tur kitted out and it is among the most defensive build you can make.

For offencive ships they rely on their damage for protection.

IE, the ships they manage to kill off will not fire back, but to do this they need to fire first.

This is probably why Rebels generally have slightly better PS than the Empire.

Most ships have no PS 1-cards but are generally high attack / low defence.

It is also why a-wings got a PS1-card - They are low attack / high defence.

What is PS?

What is PS?

Pilot Skill

Depending on the type of "defense" you want to play having a high Pilot Skill may be ESSENTIAL to that strategy. When your "defense" is "don't get shoot at" it is extremely helpful to know where the safe places will be when you can use actions to get to them.

While he can be an offensive threat many could consider Soontir Fel w/ PtL as an amazing DEFENSIVE piece. He usually gets to move after everyone else and then can use Boost and Barrel Roll to get out of fire arcs or pick up tokens for defense if avoiding shots will not be possible. In contrast the Alpha is just guessing what it wants to do when it acts.

Depending on the type of "defense" you want to play having a high Pilot Skill may be ESSENTIAL to that strategy. When your "defense" is "don't get shoot at" it is extremely helpful to know where the safe places will be when you can use actions to get to them. While he can be an offensive threat many could consider Soontir Fel w/ PtL as an amazing DEFENSIVE piece. He usually gets to move after everyone else and then can use Boost and Barrel Roll to get out of fire arcs or pick up tokens for defense if avoiding shots will not be possible. In contrast the Alpha is just guessing what it wants to do when it acts.

Soontir is the best pilot in the game followed closely by Wedge. If played correctly Soontir can easily win a 3 on 1.

Soontir is the best pilot in the game followed closely by Wedge. If played correctly Soontir can easily win a 3 on 1.

But is that because you fly him "offensively" and dive into attacks or because you fly him "defensively" and avoid attacks whenever possible? If an Interceptor can get attacks in while avoid being shot at it is an amazing ship. Of course you try telling that to someone who brought Soontir to a tournament and then saw him one-shotted a few times when he tried flying him right into the enemy's guns.

Depending on the type of "defense" you want to play having a high Pilot Skill may be ESSENTIAL to that strategy. When your "defense" is "don't get shoot at" it is extremely helpful to know where the safe places will be when you can use actions to get to them.

While he can be an offensive threat many could consider Soontir Fel w/ PtL as an amazing DEFENSIVE piece. He usually gets to move after everyone else and then can use Boost and Barrel Roll to get out of fire arcs or pick up tokens for defense if avoiding shots will not be possible. In contrast the Alpha is just guessing what it wants to do when it acts.

Well all list would have a little of each.

I wold define Defensive as

-Waiting for the enemies

-More focus on Green than red dice

-Upgrades like shields, stealth, elusiveness

This is a list for a long run. You damage them little by little.

Offensice is the other way around.

-Taking initiative

-More focus on red dice

-Upgrades like Expose, HLC, torpedoes

Strategy is basically to kill them before they get to kill you.

Reacting to what the other player does is important for either role, either it is to get away or to get into the action.

I do not agree that tie swarm is offensive. They have low Attack and high Agility. But, sure , they can be played in that way.

Deciding to be "defensive" in a game specifically aimed at shooting down other ships is much of a lost cause. Red dice have more success sides AND stronger success sides AND there are often more of them. FFG engineered the game so that you will lose ships and very few of the ships have defensive capabilities: dark curse, Biggs, Kagi, Luke.

Movement choices and maneuverability matter more than green dice or defensive abilities. Trying to play defense in Xwing is like withstanding a siege; you can do it, you'll win some, but generally it's not where you want to find yourself.

Balance is key. Increase the defense of your high priority ships, minimize your weaknesses, and fly well.

Well all list would have a little of each.

I wold define Defensive as

-Waiting for the enemies

-More focus on Green than red dice

-Upgrades like shields, stealth, elusiveness

This is a list for a long run. You damage them little by little.

Offensice is the other way around.

-Taking initiative

-More focus on red dice

-Upgrades like Expose, HLC, torpedoes

Strategy is basically to kill them before they get to kill you.

Reacting to what the other player does is important for either role, either it is to get away or to get into the action.

I do not agree that tie swarm is offensive. They have low Attack and high Agility. But, sure , they can be played in that way.

I guess we'll need to disagree on what a defensive and offensive squadrons are. To me I'd simply define at "defensive" squadron as one the works to stay alive more than it works to destroy the enemy. An "offensive" list is one that mostly works to destroy the enemy before being destroyed.

A Howlrunner swarm is definitely an offensive list. Its sole purpose is to take out the enemy before getting taken out. Unless it is "winning" you generally don't see it trying to avoid direct confrontation which is what a defensive list would do.

With Howlrunner it sure is more offensive than without her, but I would call it a balanced list, not purely offensive.
-Ships with more def than attack, but with an attack bonus.

Players that use Howlrunner must also be a bit defensive so that the other player does not kill her.

Hey GrimDeath! Look at the guys tag at the bottom, obviously English as a second language.

Give him some slack!

That is Latin. No one uses Latin as a main language.

Et tu Brute?

Heh, ab ovo usque ad mala. Sic itur ad astra.

Sunt pueri pueri, pueri puerilia tractant:P