I've seen, and many more of you, have seen topic after topic trying to decide what ship or ships we will eventually get for the Imperial huge ships. However, rarely have I seen a topic or post that really tried to look at how they may be different from the Rebel Huge ships.

Now of course we could simply get some sort of mirror ships in that we get one support and one assault ship, although I don't think that would really show the strengths of the Imperial faction's ships.

So first off perhaps we may see Imperial ships acting more like air craft cruisers carrying fighters. So maybe they could carry a fighter at half the ships cost including upgrades but requires an action to be launched. Then by taking this and trying to build energy up for weapons would cause the ship to fly differently.

How else do you all think the ships may play differently?

The Rebels got an unarmed transport and a light gunship. Expect the Imperials to get a heavier gunship meant to take them down or board them (e.g. assault transport or SPC).

Empire is all about size and control. One ship will be BIG and the other will be more transport in size.

I expect Ion turrets, missile banks, and real synergy for empire fighter craft on the big control ship. And it would pack a punch against huge ships (like the Tantive IV and transport). There would be a large selection of capital ship officers too choose from and I think that the Empire huge ships will have more staff officer upgrade cards.

The real threat for the Empire was their capital ships and it would not do the game theme justice if the Empire huge ships didn't reflect this.

The other would be smaller, more modular, mission customizeable.

I'm betting on a Vigil class corvette and a Gozanti cruiser. If you think it will be anything else, I would like a roll-off.

It would be funny if we see a dual turbolaser which is even worse against starfighters but devastating against large and huge ships. I wonder how the missile launchers would work though maybe in a similar to Attack Wing in that it is disabled. Maybe we will also see the use of tractors beams as well!

The Rebels got an unarmed transport and a light gunship. Expect the Imperials to get a heavier gunship meant to take them down or board them (e.g. assault transport or SPC).

An assault transport with "Stormtrooper" crew effects (for boarding or something) would be really interesting.

The Empire have an assault transport.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Assault_transport

Remember the Darktrooper power armor suits in Dark Forces?

Darktrooper crew card: You may discard this card to choose a crew card on an enemy ship at Range 1 and discard it too.

I've been thinking that a "carrier" action could allow you to re-supply up to 6 missiles/torpedoes for friendly ships up to range 3 at 1 energy per munition. Not 100% on the wording, but I like the idea of making (say) Tie Advanced into great missile platforms...

Rebel go boom!

Some kind of carrier effect would be expected, as with a few exceptions, the imperial fighters had no hyperdrives. some kind of reserve deployment maybe? Allowing you to hold in reserve a percent of your fleet, but if the carrier is destroyed, you lose the ships yet to deploy? Other than that they should be military vessels, not unarmed transports.

Vigil would be cool, as would a stormtrooper transport. However, I'd like FFG to start exploring some more neutral ships (providing both rebel and imp options), such as the BFF-1.

The Rebels got an unarmed transport and a light gunship. Expect the Imperials to get a heavier gunship meant to take them down or board them (e.g. assault transport or SPC).

An assault transport with "Stormtrooper" crew effects (for boarding or something) would be really interesting.

The Empire have an assault transport.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Assault_transport

if you fill it with stormtroopers, the ship will never hit anything.

I'm betting on a Vigil class corvette and a Gozanti cruiser. If you think it will be anything else, I would like a roll-off.

I agree, these are the ships we will see, if (when) FFG goes BIG on us.

They just gottah...they are too cool and like the rebel Biggies, these are close to the right size to make them for our game.

I think Tractors are going to be the biggest thing we'd see from the Imps. Maybe a mechanic that allows them to spend energy to downgrade the speed of a chosen maneuver by the target ship to a minimum of zero, with an extra cost for large ships?

Take the Vigil class scale down to 1/400 and you're good. Give it more hardpoints than the CR90 (6) and Commander Cards (Tarkin, Vader, Emporer, Thrawn, etc.) . Less supportive, more go for the throat. Make it cost 5 Epic points and start in the 120 range without upgrades.

Then make a 1 or 2 point Epic ship like the Skipray Blast Boat and introduce Heavy Rockets for Epic play.

I know what all the other ships are except for the third ship down, the imperial ship @1/470 scale. What is that

Well for a big IMP ship to work it must have a reactor.

Anyway if they threw in the Assassin Corvett I picture it being the fastest and least armed big ship. Its biggest advantage should be its ECM and Stealth capabilities. I havent seen the rules for the two reb ships but if they are not carriers they should make the assassin have rules for being a carrier, which transports TIE Hunters.

The Rebels got an unarmed transport and a light gunship. Expect the Imperials to get a heavier gunship meant to take them down or board them (e.g. assault transport or SPC).

An assault transport with "Stormtrooper" crew effects (for boarding or something) would be really interesting.

The Empire have an assault transport.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Assault_transport

if you fill it with stormtroopers, the ship will never hit anything.

BS they have great aim esp when they dont use the E-11. Han Solo missed at closer ranges with that E-11 over and over than Stormys ever did in ep IV.

I know what all the other ships are except for the third ship down, the imperial ship @1/470 scale. What is that

She is the Wild Karrde.

It's a smuggling ship used by Talon Karrde, It's quite well armed and has a cloaking device on board.

I know what all the other ships are except for the third ship down, the imperial ship @1/470 scale. What is that

Imperial Customs Corvette

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Light_corvette

http://fractalsponge.net/gallery/crv/index.html

I know what all the other ships are except for the third ship down, the imperial ship @1/470 scale. What is that

She is the Wild Karrde.

It's a smuggling ship used by Talon Karrde, It's quite well armed and has a cloaking device on board.

He said the 3rd ship down from the top. The Star Destroyer-ish ship that isn't the Vigil, not the 3rd one up from the bottom.

I imagine that while the Huge Rebel ships are great anti-fighter ships, the Huge Imperial ships would be great anti-huge ships. That would also make sense as to why they chose not to even out the factions releases, so that Rebel players could enjoy their ships for a while before something comes out to obliterate them.

Plus i really like the idea of that tractor beam, either for limiting a maneuver's bearing or for reducing agility on small and large ships. That would really help even the odds with small craft and their lower attack ratings. You'd be seeing a lot more TIEs land hits if X-wings had 0-1 evades.

Oh and also, I would really love to see these two cards.

Captain Sarklii - Crew
Imperial Only.

Treat all enemy ships as if their Pilot Skill was 2 less than it actually is.

Grand Admiral Thrawn - Crew

Imperial Only. Huge Ship Only.

Treat all friendly ships as if their Pilot Skill was 2 greater than it actually is.

Oh and also, I would really love to see these two cards.

Captain Sarklii - Crew

Imperial Only.

Treat all enemy ships as if their Pilot Skill was 2 less than it actually is.

Grand Admiral Thrawn - Crew

Imperial Only. Huge Ship Only.

Treat all friendly ships as if their Pilot Skill was 2 greater than it actually is.

Because then Predator would be amazing.

I know it doesn't make a lot of difference in gameplay, but since none of the Imp fighters have hyperdrives, I would like for a huge Imp ship to have a hanger. Maybe have a 'Launch' action. Perhaps have a mission where the player's fighters start off onboard, and the have to launch them to intercept the rebels over the course of the fight.

I know what all the other ships are except for the third ship down, the imperial ship @1/470 scale. What is that

Imperial Customs Corvette http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Light_corvette http://fractalsponge.net/gallery/crv/index.html