Btw guys, it appears Bomber is talking about future releases more than the current state.

I mean, no one could say that Imperials can't win, and win often. Imps are just getting shafted in the toys to play with until the Phantom hits the shelves. Not mention, many of the Imp choices are quite risky, and a lot of options get hurt by turrets. Thank GOODNESS we have the Shuttle, is all I can say.

Right now, we the empire has, the Lambda Shuttle (the most versatile ship in the game) and the Bomber swarm led by Jonus. The empire just got a bunch of new great pilots for the TIE Interceptor. These combined IMO way out way the B-wing. Right now I think the Empire is ahead.

I just don't care for the HWK. I mean 1 attack dice?

Soon the Rebellion will be getting Aces, Corvettes, and Medium Transports. That might tip the balance in the favor of the Rebellion, but not as bad as you might think since, the two larger ships are not legal of standard play.

I think we will have to wait and see and play wave 4 before we worry about which faction got the better end of the stick.

im going to play devils advocate here. i can see both sides of this argument.

yes i love the shuttle - yes its the most versatile ship but it isnt winning the war - its not featuring in many winning lists. Look at the results from store champs. im one of the biggest advocates for the shuttle on these forums, its amazing. Its just not turning the tide of the war on its own, one single ship cant do this unless its the shuttle+barrel roll + moves like an intercepter . same for the tie intercepter. its a very dangerous ship but im not seeing it having a massive impact on its own.

its close, but imo the rebels have the edge.

if they printed a rebel pilot for the shuttle, i would defect in a instant

but it isnt winning the war

Which war?

If you look at the store championship list, out of a 143 games, the Reb's have won 54%, which seems pretty balanced to me.

The single biggest thing the Imperial lack right now IMO, is the variety of lists that the Rebels have. I can run a bunch of different 7 Tie Fighter swarms, but they're still all Tie Fighter Swarms. I can run a couple different Interceptors lists, but they're all interceptors...

You can do a lot more mixing and matching on the Rebel side, but this is how it should be when you consider the fluff/lore behind the two sides.

Just wait until the Assault Gunboat, Skipray Blastboat and Bounter Hunter Aces arrive. OMG the Rebel Scum are DOOMED!

I generally agree, but I think that "shafted" is too strong a word.

The -2 cost A wing refit alone should change the meta more than the entire Imperial Aces pack. Time will tell. The extra pilots in the Rebel Aces pack are just gravy.

The Rebel Transport continues the trend of the X-wing getting great pilot abilities. Tarn will be a defensive beast with the wave 4 R7 droid, but we don't know its cost yet. New stress mechanics will be a slight nerf to the Interceptors since they live and die by PtL. Not that squints needed any nerfing.

Wave 4 is harder to predict. The Defender and Ewing both look over costed about the same. A tricked out Ewing will be more interesting to fly than the Defender. The Z-95 should by far be the biggest change to the meta in wave 4. Rebel squads might even go from 4 to 5 as the new standard squad size. The Phantom is still a wild card, but looks to be the most tactically interesting ship yet released. Hopefully it turns out to be competitive but not overpowered.

imo rebels are winning this war. B-Wings and new x-wing pilots on the way. rebel aces gives rebels many more options and strengthens them further. just look at the new astromechs!

i dont think imperial aces will address this imbalance.

c'mon FF where is the love for the empire!

With all the extra pilots coming out for X, B, and A, I don't see anything coming for the Y. Tears on my pillow.

Thanks, Slugrage, I knew someone had done the legwork.

I think there is every opportunity for the Imperials to get a large vessel or two, and piggypack a TIE Advanced fix/upgrade, for example, as well as a new Wave 5 release.

I am way more amped for the Phantom than anything the Rebels have coming, personally.

I do wish FFG would at least hint at what they've got in the works for the Imperial side on the epic front though. I want to be able to plonk down some fancy toys on that scene too.

I do wish FFG would at least hint at what they've got in the works for the Imperial side on the epic front though.

I honestly don't think they're working on anything, other then perhaps the most basic concept work. It's likely they'll hold of on anything until after they see how the Transport and CR-90 sell.

The below seems like the perfect ship for the Empire, combo Huge ship and new TIE Fighter options just like the Rebel Transport provides. The ship is basically a modified Gozanti Cruiser from the upcoming Rebels TV show and and has those great TIE racks on the bottom. I wouldn't mind seeing that at all.

Coming in the form of cloaked Ties and (I hope) Star Destroyers. Beyond that the Empire is just fine. They've been easier to build lists for since Wave 2.

Star destroyers are far to big for them to be in this game.

in particular when they are cloaked, that makes them just overpowered.

I suggest a Death Star, ... hmm that last 2 weren't that good - far to overpriced.. perhaps the third time is a charm and they get the balance right ...

sorry couldn't help myself, back to topic <makes a shooing motion>

I think it would be cool if the Empire got Shafted.........

Summary of my earlier post: rebels have much more diversity in viable builds. This is easily seen in the store championship thread. TIE swarms and Firesprays are good for imperials but that's basically all they have. Rebels have at least 3 viable ships (B-wing, X-wing, and YT1300), and generally better pilot abilities as well.

The shuttle is used more than the HWK mostly because it doesn't have to be used as a support ship, but it still only sees fringe use.

This gap looks to be increasing with the upcoming releases. The A-wing and Z-95 are both going to be very competitive. The Phantom MIGHT be competitive, but it is still a huge wild card.

For the record I don't have a "side", I really enjoy both sides. This is just an analysis of the competitive scene.

Well.... the game is called "X-Wing" not "TIE Fighter"..... But that's just a silly argument.

Seriously, I'd say your feelings are misplaced. The Imperials have had the advantage of swarm lists since the game came out two years ago. That's two years of Imperial advantage that only now is being balanced with the Z-95s, so maybe it "feels" like the Imperials are losing their edge because the Rebels are getting the one thing that set the Imperials apart. But when that happens, the Empire will get their super advanced technology stuff.

Also, I don't plan on seeing too many Transports and CR-90s on the gaming table for tournament play. Shelling out $65 or $90 for a couple of new cards seems like it's going to be more rare on the table. (Would you pay $90 for a C-3PO crew card? I wouldn't.) The Rebel Aces will be of more value in my opinion.

Okay, Bye!

but it isnt winning the war

Which war?

If you look at the store championship list, out of a 143 games, the Reb's have won 54%, which seems pretty balanced to me.

I think his point was regarding the shuttle, which is the third-least appearing ship at 11. Given that the base shuttle is the same cost as the X-wing, which has 88 appearances, it would seem to point to it being a pretty bad ship.

And before those who love it jump in - yes, it can contribute, but it's a VERY hard ship to fly well, and if you end up in a hole it's almost certainly stuck there. That's not a good ship.

I do wish FFG would at least hint at what they've got in the works for the Imperial side on the epic front though.

I honestly don't think they're working on anything, other then perhaps the most basic concept work. It's likely they'll hold of on anything until after they see how the Transport and CR-90 sell.

I doubt that. FFG has been doing quite well in keeping both sides balanced, giving the Rebels the only capital ships would leave a rather huge risk of that balance being tossed aside in Epic.

I think his point was regarding the shuttle, which is the third-least appearing ship at 11.

Sure, but he mentions that the Imperials are losing the war at least twice. Once in the post I quoted and again in the OP. I'm curious what war it is he's talking about.

Here is the thing, when people talk about x-wing lists to beat everyone still talks about trying to beat the tie swarm. Yes I do think that after this weekend I may think B-Wings are a bit over powered, but on the same breathe I can get a shuttle which can do some really crazy things.

Upcoming off the status alone I think the tie defender is going to be simply crazy and out of stats alone. I know that the rebel are getting the capital ships and rebel aces, but let's wait and see what else the imps are getting by the time of wave 4 we should know more.

Yes you need guts to fly an imperial squad to a tournament.

If you manage to win a tournament with 4 X's and B's in any combination ... thats 'green'

If you manage to win a tournament with 4 ints ... thats 'PRO'

giving the Rebels the only capital ships would leave a rather huge risk of that balance being tossed aside in Epic.

Either Epic will be balanced or it won't be. You don't need two cap ships pounding on each other to achieve balance.

If 250 points of Rebel ships with a CR-90 isn't balanced against 250 points of Imperial ships without a large ship, then Epic rules are in major trouble, considering it will winter before we'd see a Imperial cap ship... I think the Epic format is going to have trouble making it, if it's unbalanced for the next 6+ months.

I think it's more then likely we'll see some sort of Imperial cap ship. But if the Transport and CR-90 both tank in terms of sales, then FFG won't throw good money after bad. I think they'll sell well enough that we'll see something Imp side, but we don't need a imp ship to make epic rules balanced.

Yes you need guts to fly an imperial squad to a tournament.

Yeah, because flying a Howlrunner swam takes a ton of guts...

One thing that is bugging me is soon only b-wings, HWK, and ORS will not be able to get EPT'S on every level of their ships (outside of A-wings ps1 limiter). As an imperial player mostly, I would love to be able to give all the named ties an EPT'E'S slot. I understand that you sacrifice the astromech spot for x and y-wings, but there are potentially a lot of silliness coming out of rebel camps in the future, where imperial will be relegated to ______+swarm. (With few exceptions). From a fluff standpoint I get it, but if you stripped the insignia off of all the ships and cards, one side gets all the toys while the other side gets the lambda

Yes you need guts to fly an imperial squad to a tournament.

Yeah, because flying a Howlrunner swam takes a ton of guts...

Yes you do. It takes only a single Assault Missile to do fatal damage to a howl swarm.

Theoretically the game is balanced. It's just easier to fly rebel lists, and cheaper create rebel squads since they don't require the number of models imperial lists generally do.

However - I do think that the Rebel Aces will see FAR more play than the Imperial aces. And the boost given by the transport/tantive expansions will skew the playing field a bit. You can't launch such large products without some temporary imbalance, though.

My words of wisdom: don't limit yourself to one faction. Play the whole game and you won't be looking at the world through fuzzy glasses.

I will have a very hard time thinking that they aren't all Pro-Rebel.

When producing a game like X-Wing being pro either faction is a massive mistake, one which will lead to an unbalanced game, which will lead to a loss of profits, which will most likely to a loss of the license.

It's in FFG's best interest as a game company and for their bottom line to keep the two sides balanced.

unbalnced game leads to loss of interest, loss of interest leads to loss of profits, loss of profits leads to loss of lisence, loss of lisence leads to suffering.............

isnt that what yoda said?