Making it undefeated into the top 8 and losing first round. I faced a lot of swarm type builds and beat 4 out of 5.

A great number of people are not fans of swarms. Howl Runner with out a doubt is a powerful pilot with a low cost. Most people think of a swarm as just tie fighters. I consider interceptors with Howl are just as bad in some ways worse. I classify any mass ship build that clusters around Howl as a swarm. There are some variations of the mini swarms. Howl and a small cluster of ships with another ship in the build that does not stay with the swarm.

I think the swarm is a "dumb build". Not that its a bad build but a build anyone can just pick up and just slaughter their opponents with out flying well or strategically. A very deadly build in the hands of an experienced player. Being that the dice favor offensive vs defensive is why this build is so deadly. On a tie fighter with a focus you have about 56.25% of rolling 2 hits and 93.75% of getting just 1 hit out of 2. Being able to reroll a dice with Howl gets it up to about 85% for 2 hits. And the stats for getting 3 hits with an interceptor a reroll and focus are not much worse. Then on top of that veteran players who frequently play this build all pull what I call bumper ships. Fly a ship into the spot your ship is mostly likely to go. Just to make you bump and lose actions. It's my opinion this play style cheapens the game. And I don't think the game was intended to be played in such a way. But when you have several ships and your only purpose of moving two or 3 of them into spots that your opponent can only fly to just to make them lose action is total garbage. That alone will screw most non swarm builds. This tactic does not effect other swarm builds that much. I think this is also why you see so many of them. Not only is it a deadly build but it is also a good counter build to a swarm. Now that I've explained what I think of swarms and grab a tissue I'm going to talk about a build that can beat swarms. Even against some of the best players I know.

DUAL FALCON!

Yes I know some people have ragged in other forums about how duel falcons is a cheese build that only the worst players play. I think the Swarm is the cheesiest build you can play. I never intended on playing Rebels. But when I flew any build against a Tie Swarm it was instant death. The games were simply not enjoyable. And I am not one to play in a style that the majority does. I'm always looking for the odd build that nobody expects. A fan of Firesprays I quickly adapted to flying big ships. I very much like the interceptors and Firesprays yet non of the builds did very well against the Swarm. To make matters worse my evade dice seem to hate me with a passion. The most logical ship I started to look at was the YT-1300. I was going to Worlds last November being a new player I wanted something simple. Han was a clear choice for me and so was Chewy. Not expecting to do well at all I was 3-1 going into the 5th round. Now this is another "Dumb build" one that any new player could play. If anything easier for a newer player then a Tie Swarm. But could it be as deadly if perfected? Your dam right it can cupcake.

Thanks to some great people I've gotten to know playing X-Wing of Vassel the tweaking of the Dual Falcons began. Clearly outrim smuggler was not on the list. Leaving Chewy, Lando, and Han. I tried a lot of variations of Han and Chewy only to be bested by the bumper ships. The worst example is my Chewy Strikes Back video on youtube. I had both falcons fly in a formation. Only making things I think more predictable for the bumper ship to block Hans movement setting him into a trap. Han shot first but also died first. Then as I played the game more. I realized the advantage how good it was to have pilots of the same pilot skill. Then the Doewy (dough-wee) build was born. Putting veteran instincts on Chewbacca making him a PS7 flying along Lando opened up a ton of options. Who moves and shoots when. When I first read Lando's pilot ability I thought it was junk. All I could think of is who would even waste there time on him. You would have to have Numb with him and even then I thought it was garbage. Well turns out just like in the move Lando isn't all that he appears to be. Flying along side Chewy is awesome. Its like chewy having push the limit with out the stress. And if a bumper ship makes Chewy crash. Lando even if the crashes into Chewy still gives him a action. My first build was just to beat these bumper ship builds like 2 A wings and 3 B wings. The A wings main job is to strip you of actions leaving you in position for the B wings to shoot you down. The first variation of Doewy is Lando with Nien Numb and Luke Skywalker. Chewy with veteran instinct and Gunner. Nothing says: "Bring IT!" like to wookies in a ship. So the plan is to fly Lando along side or behind Chewy in formation to give him an extra action. If the ships all bump no big deal. Chewy still gets an action and with Luke, Lando gets a 2nd round of dice with a partial focus. And death rains down upon the bumper builds.

To my surprise this build played well against THE SWARM. And so began the tweaking. Lando and Chewy are 86 points not leaving much room for options. Nien Numb and veteran instincts are a must. Leaving you with 12 points to play with. Still surprising how many builds you can still do with so few points.

But at last I shall reveal it to the swarm. At last I shall have my revenge. My new signature Doewy build. Lando with Push the Limit, Nien Numb, Millennium Falcon. Chewy with Veteran Instinct, Recon Specialist, and Gunner. A newer player I'm sure could play this just fine. But experience will greatly improved the tactics behind this build. At first it may look very simple. But there are hidden layers of strategy behind it. Depending on the type of build you play calls for a different style of playing it. However the key to this build is the many options it opens up as the game goes on. This build could be flown in formation side by side or follow the leader. It could even be split up and each ship can do well on its own. One key is to fly Chewy closer to your opponents ships. Kinda making him the main target. And when they do choose to focus on Lando their hopefully shooting half their swarm at range 3. It is not good for Falcons to be shooting at range 3. Always try to get in close. You don't want to joust a swarm. But when you move in to attack try to get as close as you can. Yah you may lose actions on Lando. And you will take a lot of shots. Hopefully you kill at least one ship. If you took on a swarm head on this is the point where they simple K turn and shoot you up some more. After a close round of shots a swarm will struggle to fly around to big ships and hopefully break their formation. Getting a swarm out of formation is the best thing you can do. In this process you may lose 1 ship. Hopefully you've killed 2 or 3. 4 Ties out of formation are simple ships waiting to be killed by your remaining falcon. If Chewy is alive he is effective in the way he gets two chances of inflicting damage on a tie and with 2 focuses improving his evading too. Then you have Lando. Unless he is close to death always target lock and push to focus if you can. Be mind full of your next move. If you can't go forward or do a 1 bank you may think twice about pushing. With 4 forward being a green this can drive pursuing opponents a bit crazy. If Lando is close to death and facing a few tie fighters. Evade and push to focus. And then try to move as far away as you can. Use you best judgments on when to use focus on shots.

What I faced at the Wisconsin Regional to the best of my memory.

Round 1. A Tie Swarm with Howl and Mauler with Swarm Tactics. Maybe a Black Squadron with draw fire. And then a bunch of academy. He made the choice of going for Lando. This should have favored me because a few ships where at range 3. The dice were not with me. Lando was dropping fast. I did mange to take out one ship fist round of shots. Things looked grim. After breaking formation and some how keeping Lando out of my opponents arcs. I evaded some hits. Lando stuck around 2 more rounds. That was two more shots he got off allowing me to catch up a little bit. Chewy proving to be to much for the remaining ties.

Round 2. Mini Swarm and a Bounty Hunter. Howl w/ Stealth and 3 Academy pilots. A bounty hunter with recon and heavy laser cannon. After my opponent set up i put my ships on the opposite side of his Bounty hunter to his Academy pilots. Making him fly his Academy pilots towards his Bounty Hunter who moved after them. This forcing him to take on my two falcons alone. I landed several hits on the bounty hunter and only taking a few damage. Thanks to some rock placement his ties were out of formation attempting to join the bounty hunter. I did take 5 shots at one of his tie fighters and all 5 he rolled 3 evades for all 5 attacks. And Lando was going down. Finally after landing some hits on the tie fighters they all started to drop like flies. The bounty hunter decided to join in the fight but it was to late. Once in range the Bounty Hunter was finished off before firing another shot.

Round 3. Interceptor / Tie Swarm. Now this swarm impressed me the most. And I thought for sure was going to toast me. Howl w/ Swarm Tactics, Mauler w/ Swarm Tactics, Royal Guard Interceptor, and 2 Alpha Interceptors. He got initiative and 4 of his ships would shoot before me. Again the first few round did not look good for Doewy. Landing only 1 damage on the Royal Guard and Chewy taking several hits. But they flew to close to my big ships forcing him to turn away and break formation. Royal guard and Mauler were picked off. Chewy was out of most arcs forcing him to switch target onto Lando. Each round I picked off another ship. He manage to take out one of my ships but it was to late.

Round 4. Non swarm Kagi (Lamda) Tie Fighter (Academy) Soontir Fel, and Jax. Lined up the opposite end of the interceptors I quickly raced to get behind the Lamda. Having to target lock it proved to be more taxing then expected. Took a few range 3 shots stripping it of shields. It return fire and took off one shield. The academy pilot moved into blocking position. But it was to his demise. Lando made quick work of him rolling 4 hits at range one with no actions. Not really having a good shot at the Interceptors Chewy finished off Kagi. Having a lower pilot skill helped take out the interceptors. Moving first Chewy ended up blocking Jax. Lando shot him down. Soonter was left. And hes a tough nut to crack. But he to fell but not with out a great fight.

Round 5 Non swarm. 4 B wings with advance sensors. Not a very crafty build but it did make it to the top 8. I think seeded 4. I bummed rush him with my big ships not giving him many movement options. Made quick work of one of the B wings. I had a nice start on my opponent. But he didn't go down easy. He ended up taking out Chewy. Then it was 2 beat up B wings Vs a healthy Lando. My dice started to go cold and his got hot. After taking out another B wing Lando had only 1 shield. And when the final B wing died Lando was down to 3 hull. So there was a possibility for a loss.

Round 6 Swarm Vs Jake a well known player in Wisconsin who won several store championships.

Jake had a Tie swarm. Howl , Backstabber, Black Squad with draw fire, 4 X Academy pilots. He stuck to his formation and I got a pot shot at Black and did a few damage. I got fairly lucky on the 2nd round of shots and Chewy one shot Howl, Lando finished off black. Chewy still took a fair amount of shots. The next round Back stabber was dead and a Tie fighter injured. Chewy was finished off. Then my dice went from warm to hot. Lando then proceeded to make quick work of the remaining ties. And doing a fair job of evading.

Top 8

Round 1 Swarm Howl, Backstabber, Academy pilots, and 3 X Alpha Interceptors. Position wise it went to my advantage. No range 3 shots. We got real close first round of shots. But my dice went cold. I just wanted to take out 1 interceptor reducing the amount of shots I would take. Chewy range 1 with gunner 2 focus and a target lock. All shots evaded. Lando range 2 with a target lock and focus same ship. All shots evaded. This was not good. He then landed 9 shots on chewy. Rolling almost all hits. And I rolled some evades. Chewy is beat up more then I like after the first volley. But my opponent will now have to break formation. He then K turned some ships bouncing and some ships went straight leaving only a few shots at chewy. Lando was just short of clearing his ships. I land a few hits. My opponent then rolled all hits over and over with out actions. Chewy managed to stay alive and Lando took a beating. My opponent then proceeded to box Lando in. Chewy finished off Backstabber and Lando I think did a few damage. Chewy then died to a range 3 shot from a ship with no actions that rolled all hits. Lando has 5 hull left. My opponent went out of his way to block Lando the next few rounds. This causing him to lose shots but stop me from getting actions. Lando finishes off an interceptor. Another interceptor range 2 with no actions rolls 3 hits. Lando eats them all. My next move i get out of the box and out of the arc of one of his interceptors. Using push to get a target lock and focus. Howl crashing into lando leaving him with no shot. Lando one shots the interceptor who has a shot at him. With 2 hull left Lando does a 1 bank. Sadly clipping an asteroid. Not taking damage but in prime position for my opponent as he has both ships ready to shoot. Lando dies.

I wouldn't go as far to say Duel Falcons is the end all build but over all it does well. And I think it is the best counter build to a tie swarm. I tell new players this game is 1/3 build, 1/3 skill, and 1/3 dice. Being good with 2 of the 3 can give you wins.

Round 1

Advanced sensors on multiple Bwings gives you your actions...if you know their strategy, try not to fly into it!

eh dont sweat the swarm. if you build your squad good enough you can beat it. i have seen it plenty of times, and not using double falcon either. especially with b-wings or alpha strike a-wings with assault missles. and from the looks of the new wave ffg might be trying to get away from swarm build with the cool new imp ships.

by the way they swarm is a really good representation of the SW universe. the Imperials has way mor ships and pilots than the rebelion.

I completely disagree with your view of the game and meta. Swarms are good but no longer the dominant build in X-Wing. I do not consider the Dual Falcon list a good counter to Swarms at all. Most good Swarm players would love to see two dinner plate shaped ships across from them.

Like any good compedative game the meta will swing back and forth. At one time the meta was swung over to Tie Swarms but since has swung the other way.

Just as a Biggs build has been powerful since launch a s well.

Your math is a bit off to how you came to 75% 2 hit with a tie is a mystery...

Odds of getting 2 hits with a tie, howl,focus is about 50% against a 1 Def without focus.

Let's not forget a Biggs build defeated swarm in the championships...

by the way they swarm is a really good representation of the SW universe. the Imperials has way mor ships and pilots than the rebelion.

That is a really good point! You see this occur in the OT on a few occasions. Battle of Yavin with Darth in the centre and later at the Battle of Endor with T/Fighters and T/Interceptors. It keeps the game true to the movies.

I have to say I disagree with you. Actually, I think the opposite of your view is correct.

Playing a TIE swarm requires skill in maneuvering your ships, even if you intend to cause mass bumping. You still need to get your enemies in your TIE fighters' arcs.

Flying the YT-1300 requires no maneuvering skill what so ever to get your enemy inside your arc as you can fire 360 degrees around you. You still need to maneuver to avoid asteroids, but when you don't also need to get your enemies in your firing arc this becomes much easier than with any other ship in the game.

An inexperienced player has a much better chance at doing well with a YT-1300 (or two) than with a TIE swarm.

I agree. The Swarm as it was originally conceived no longer really carries a serious place in the meta. I personally prefer mini swarms at this point. 3-4 ships functioning as a unit, to balance the rest of your list.

Wisconsin regional context:

• Debadwolf's double falcon list went undefeated in the first 6 rounds, including beating national champ atomicboxer's classic wave one 7 ship swarm
• David Pontier's 6 ship swarm (Howl, Backstabber, Alpha x 3, Acadamy x 2) then beat Debadwolf's double Falcon in the first round of the top 8. Pontier made it to the finals and lost to another guy's 6 ship tie fighter/interceptor mashup.
• In the top 8, there were, I think, four swarms? atomicboxer's 7 ship swarm, the winner's swarm, piqsid's swarm, my bomber swarm (Howl + swarm tactics, Backstabber, Scimitar x 4).
• The other four lists were 4 B's + Advanced Sensors, a Krassis + three tie fighter build, the double falcon list, and one other list that I can't remember.
• The final four lists was 3 swarms and the krassis list (which I lost to in the first round of the top 8 - hey, Chris, if you are out there, that was a heckuva fun game :-)
• Overall list representation: LOTS of Imperial Methadone (3Bs+As) and various rebel lists, so it was a good mix.

In my opinion swarms are still the dominant build to beat. In a timed game, a double falcon can create some issues for it by hugging the corner of the board and running away from the swarm, forcing it to do stupid stuff so that the swarm player doesn't lose on time.

But that strategy loses to the untimed game :-) (which the top 8 and WI regionals was - last game finished at 3:30ish; Pointier and I pulled into Chicago around 5 am this morning!)

Well, as indicated by the regionals and store championships results, it's still a very good list. However it seems there are more counters to it, many which are listed above and several which aren't as competitive themselves (for example, Jonus with bombers and assault missiles), and probably a couple which aren' listed, like SableGryphons 5 bombers with bombs.

@sozin

Hey guys, finally signed up for this forum after being a long time lurker! (chris from wi regionals) Sozin, that was a hell of a game!

I took out a few swarms with my Krassis list, but lost to Dave's interceptors when my dice went cold. My advice for killing the swarm? Put on a bomb, they always forget about it

Thanks to all you guys who made the long trip to come and play it was a blast!

also, can you really complain that a swarm takes no strategy when your flying gigantic turret machines?

I'll chime in on the math front. It's easy to think that the numbers are the way he does, based on just looking at the dice. However, if you really do the numbers, it works out differently. Just going off the TIE fighter's standard 2 attack dice vs. the X-Wing's standard 2 defense dice, it works out to a 59% to miss entirely, 31% chance of landing 1 hit/crit, and 10% of hitting/critting twice (rounded numbers). I still have to work out the numbers for Howlrunner re-rolls, but I've done focus tokens on the attacker side, which is 37%, 41% and 22% respectively.

I'm sure there's a real math wiz somewhere who's gotten this all worked out.

by the way they swarm is a really good representation of the SW universe. the Imperials has way mor ships and pilots than the rebelion.

That is a really good point! You see this occur in the OT on a few occasions. Battle of Yavin with Darth in the centre and later at the Battle of Endor with T/Fighters and T/Interceptors. It keeps the game true to the movies.

Ditto! The swarm IS the Empire's fighter doctrine.

I agree. The Swarm as it was originally conceived no longer really carries a serious place in the meta. I personally prefer mini swarms at this point. 3-4 ships functioning as a unit, to balance the rest of your list.

I've been seeing this phrase, 'the meta' being used. Could someone explain to me what that means in this context?

I know the term meta-gaming, which is what the OP seems to accuse people of when they play bumpercars with their TIEs. I'm sensitive to that charge because (as I'm new), I've just figured out how to do this, but I don't like meta-gaming when I'm trying to have a dramatic experience. But by the sound of what I read on this forum, most people are attracted by the intellectual challenge of winning the game, rather than the lure of the dramatic experience.

Metagaming is a good thing. It means you're conscious of what is good, what is being used, and how to use it to best effect.

This isn't D&D. We aren't telling a story. We're playing a tactics game and should be using every advantage we can to make it a good strategic battle. There is nothing wrong with blocking with ties. It's their best use. It just annoys the OP because he's lost to it with some of his favorite lists, and he's built up a slow hatred for the tactic because those lists are vulnerable to it.(I say this having been a source of some of that annoyance.)

Swarms are in no way as dominant as before in the current meta. They take a lot of practice and and energy to fly. Flying ships to bump and deny actions is an important part of the game. It takes a lot of forethought to predict moves and plan your own with so many ships. Double falcons are especially susceptible to action loss, so you have to be careful. Luckily it is extremely maneuverable and downright easy to fly unexpectedly and still be able to shoot with falcons. You sound like a good player from your record at the tournament but you can't get sore about losing to a list that you just claimed dual falcons is good against. Perhaps you should appreciate that your victor made it to the finals, as he is therefore probably quite skilled. Better luck next time.

I'm guessing maybe English is not you're first language? Also, what in the world does this have to do with WI regionals? If I come out with a broken English off topic complaint about flying straight into a swarm and getting murdered, it kind of ruins any credibility, does it not? Swarms will have more issues to deal with soon enough with assault missile happy Z-95s, don't you worry.

Ok, I see someone else took the time to put this into context.

But by the sound of what I read on this forum, most people are attracted by the intellectual challenge of winning the game, rather than the lure of the dramatic experience.

On the forums, perhaps. There's only so much you can say about "hey guys I made this cool theme build the other day" or "I came up with this new scenario if anyone wants to playtest it," but discussing the tactical competitive aspect of the game is near limitless and constantly evolving, which makes discussing it more appealing. Players are free to enter tournaments with their 2-ship Wedge+Han theme builds or what have you, of course, but I imagine most players that enter tournaments at least semi-frequently will find themselves giving some thought to maximizing the efficiency of their build to some degree rather than just sticking to theme.

In general though, I imagine the number of players running themed squadrons on their kitchen table outnumbers the competitive scene by a great deal.

I imagine the number of players running themed squadrons on their kitchen table outnumbers the competitive scene by a great deal.

I think that's true for tourney play. Certainly true for me. I think there is a gradient here though; for example, Picasso brought his fun 3 ship rebel all star X-wing list to the regionals yesterday and very nearly made the top 8 cut. He told me he was tired of playing by the numbers and wanted to mix it up and have more fun in tournament play, even if it meant more risk.

Good attitude, but I have a harder time doing that when there is crack acrylic on the line!

(Content veteran players may want to read.)

DUEL FALCON!

Would you like to hear my opinion of double falcons? It's your opinion of the swarm.

I think its the "dumbest build" you can play. Not that its a bad build but a build anyone can just pick up and just slaughter their opponents with out flying well or strategically.

In brief, I'm not a fan.

My personal dislike of Dual Falcrutch aside, let's go into the Howlrunner maths you brought up.

On a tie fighter you have about 75% of rolling 2 hits. Being able to reroll a dice with Howel I'd say 87%. Then if you have focus well it would be hard not to get 2 hits.

The percentages here are approximate. Could have thrown in a load of decimals but that wouldn't have helped much. All are accurate +- 1%.

Unmodified TIE fighter

Each die has a 50% chance to hit, so:

• Chance of double miss is 25%.
• Chance of at least one hit is 75%. (50% for exactly one hit)
• Chance of two hits is 25%.

Not sure where you got 75% for two from, unless you mean focused.

Focused TIE fighter

Each die has a 75% chance to hit, so:

• Chance of double miss is 6%.
• Chance of at least one hit is 94%. (38% for exactly one hit)
• Chance of two hits is 56%.

That's incredibly good odds for a hit, but still no 75% for a double. This is the base focus mechanic too, without Howlrunner involved. Any ship can do this.

Let's bring in Howlrunner then.

Unfocused Howlfighter

Gets a little more complex here as Howl triggers on ONLY one dice IF it misses. A single howldice has a 75% chance to hit but if they both miss you only get to reroll one.

• Chance for double miss after Howl reroll is 13%.
• Chance for at least one hit is 87%. (37% chance for one hit exactly) (I've seen 87% somewhere before...)
• 50% chance for two hits.

Definitely good, but not as good as the focus token any ship can get. The advantage is that it doesn't cost an action.

Now for the:

Focused Howlfighter!

Howlrunner is arguably less useful here as she only triggers if the fighter rolls dud results. With focus, much less likely. However, it's still a plus, giving a single die an 88% chance to hit!

• Chance for double miss after Howl reroll is about 1%.
• Chance for at least one hit is 98%. (14% chance for one hit exactly)
• 84% chance for two hits.

Conclusion, I think you've mixed up two hits and one hit. You're right in that a focused Howlfighter is pretty **** dangerous though. For comparison, an F/TL TIE fighter has an 88% chance, so we're not talking much difference here.

I've flown a swarm once using all six named TIE pilots. I split up pretty quickly because it was more fun flying in two flights of three rather than one TIEblock. It still slaughtered my brother's B-wing and X-wings (he wasn't netdecking, that's just what we had). Haven't flown a swarm since because I like to make a completely new squadron every game, although I've been seeing three or four TIE fighters appearing in my brother's Imperial squadrons ever since that battle.

Who DID win?

I've been seeing this phrase, 'the meta' being used. Could someone explain to me what that means in this context?

Metagame is the squadron-building aspect. It still means "outside game" as it does in the context you know it in, but here it refers to the squadron-building game outside of the dogfighting game.

I know the term meta-gaming, which is what the OP seems to accuse people of when they play bumpercars with their TIEs. I'm sensitive to that charge because (as I'm new), I've just figured out how to do this, but I don't like meta-gaming when I'm trying to have a dramatic experience. But by the sound of what I read on this forum, most people are attracted by the intellectual challenge of winning the game, rather than the lure of the dramatic experience.

"Blocking" actually does make sense within the universe of the game, just not in the way its portrayed on the forums. Base collisions aren't actual collisons, they're the fighters moving above and below each other. The loss of action is a result of rapidly steering your fighter out of the way to avoid hitting the other ship. Thus, a blocking TIE is deliberately flying his ship into an enemy's flight path to force them to fly evasive and distract them from what they were attempting to do. Quite hard to focus on your shot when you're rapidly rolling starboard to avoid death by suicide TIE.

Would couple of assault missile work on swarm? Splash Damage is always good for low hp mobbies

I'm sticking to my guns saying x wing is relatively balanced. There is no one list everyone is abusing the heck out of, as you can see by going to just about any tournament (good solid variation of lists). Not to mention being decently balanced game, FFG managed to stick to canon SW tactics stuff (ie. tie swarms) that is what the primary imperial battle plan is based off of (not considering death stars). sure there is this combo and that combo but nothing totally broken.

Honestly I could take a basic list of 4 rook x wings w/ torps and stand a decent chance against anyone's well thought up and critiqued battle proven list. which is what really makes a good game. No one has an unfair advantage, we all get to design a list of ships that we like AND the game play really comes down to skill and a bit of luck (ok I'll admit perhaps luck has a little more to do with it) but you get the idea...

I've been seeing this phrase, 'the meta' being used. Could someone explain to me what that means in this context?

Metagame is the squadron-building aspect. It still means "outside game" as it does in the context you know it in, but here it refers to the squadron-building game outside of the dogfighting game.

I know the term meta-gaming, which is what the OP seems to accuse people of when they play bumpercars with their TIEs. I'm sensitive to that charge because (as I'm new), I've just figured out how to do this, but I don't like meta-gaming when I'm trying to have a dramatic experience. But by the sound of what I read on this forum, most people are attracted by the intellectual challenge of winning the game, rather than the lure of the dramatic experience.

"Blocking" actually does make sense within the universe of the game, just not in the way its portrayed on the forums. Base collisions aren't actual collisons, they're the fighters moving above and below each other. The loss of action is a result of rapidly steering your fighter out of the way to avoid hitting the other ship. Thus, a blocking TIE is deliberately flying his ship into an enemy's flight path to force them to fly evasive and distract them from what they were attempting to do. Quite hard to focus on your shot when you're rapidly rolling starboard to avoid death by suicide TIE.

Lagomorphia gives a solid definition of meta game, but I want to add that in X-Wing, and most miniatures games, it means accounting for what you expect to see in squadron builds and adjusting your list to that. My local meta has a lot of B-Wings, so I build my lists to try and account (and counter) for them more than I would a Tie Swarm.

I read this thread and it reads as if the op just goes I am awesome and the tie swarm is a junk build cause I lost to it. He goes out of his way to criticize his opponents without noticing all the mistakes he made that others pointed out to him In this thread. The tie swarm or mini swarm or pretty much every imperial build that uses 3 of the same ship or howlrunner according to the op is a swarm varient. So basically everything but a bounty hunter list becomes a swarm/miniswarm/or swarm varient to this guy. Regardless of the fact that's the only competitive builds for imperials. Bottom line is the swarm is no longer the best build in game or even the cheesiest. Falcons give such a huge amount of leeway to bad players. You don't need to worry about firing arcs. You have significantly less ships to worry about formation flying. Your only movement worries is not running Into asteroids or someone else's ships and the op still failed at those simple tasks. Seriously there is no excuse to run into an asteroid in a falcon. The op is bitter about losing and decided to rant In a massive thread about it and is no different then the people crying that the bbxx build is the most overpowered build in game when it won the world championship.

seems to me swarms actually take some skill to maneuver and are quite less forgiving then my earlier example of 4 rook x's with torps. One or two early mistakes could cost you dearly... I usually play rebel scum but I have played as an imp swarm and noticed immediately it isn't as easy to keep them in a tight formation as one might think.