Just for something to talk about, who in your opinion is the best pilot in each ship and why? I'll take the 2 easy ones.

Best xwing pilot. Biggs

Tie advanced. Vader. Cause everyone else sucks.

Best ywing pilot. Toss up between gold squadron and Dutch. Horton great but too expensive I think. If best is determined by the number of times they are included in a list, then the nod probably goes to gold squadron pilot.

It raises the question of how you define best. Since it's my thread, I'm going to define it as value. Bang for the buck. For instance, I do not feel that fett is the best Firespray pilot, as his ability is too expensive for what it provides. I feel the same way about rhymer. Ok, you guys take it from here.

Is there someone who you nearly always take?

X-Wing: Tarn, with Biggs and a rookie being close

Y-Wing: Dutch

A-Wing: Green Squad

1300: Chewie, but I like all 3 named pilots

B-Wing Blue Squad

HWK: Jan Ors

TIE fighter: Academy pilot, with Howlrunner being a close 2nd

TIE advanced: Vader

TIE Interceptor: Soontir

Firespray: Krassis

Lambda: Omnicron pilot with Yorr being a close 2nd

Bomber: Scimatar

Not saying for sure with the new ships, except I love Echo in the Phantom

X Wing Wedge

Defender Vessery

E Wing Etahn

Interceptor Turr

Phantom Echo

Tie Mauler

B Wing Ten Numb

Would be my first pilots!

Comparing my choices with others, I'd guess it depends upon a person's flying style!

X-wing. Biggs, but he doesn't fit every list. The X-wing can fill so many roles that it really depends on the ship.

Y Wing. Dutch. The Gold is good, but I can get Roark for a point more and his ability and PS make Him better.

Tie Fighter. Academy pilot. Filler is always good, and Ties are amazing at it.

Advanced. Vader, hands down.

Falcon. Chewbacca. Cheapest tankiest version.

A-wing. Green squadron. The EPT and low cost offer a lot of options.

Firespray. Bounty Hunter for cheap cost.

Interceptor. Turr Phennir. Built in push the limit, high pilot skill, super adaptable, great cost.

B-Wing. Blue Squadron Pilot. Cheap, Tanky, and fun to fly.

Hwk-290. Roark. Cheap and great against Phantoms.

Shuttle. OGP. It can do so many things and mess with so many plans.

Bomber. Jonus. He's a great support piece and fits a lot of lists. Plus he's the only thing making most ordnance viable.

E-Wing. Etahn, for practicality purposes.

Z-95. This is a tossup between Bandits and Cracken. Cracken is great but he costs half again plus 1 over a bandit.

Defender. Vessery, his ability is lethal. Much like Vader he may be the only viable pilot, but the Generics may squeak into play.

Phantom. Whisper. PS matters so much on a Phantom. Bonus focuses are beastly. Echo can dance but Whisper rarely needs to.

So far I am seeing a lot of the same choices that I would take.

All the named falcon pilots are good, but Chewie seems to be the most popular choice.

Have not used th hawk enough to have an opinion. I usually bring the y wing for the extra HP and of course the ion turret is vital.

Agree with turr in the interceptor, and also with academy tie.

Not enough play yet with wave 4 to have an opinion.

Also second the notion that the generic firespray is a great value, as is the OGP for the shuttle. I really like some of the other shuttle pilots in games over 100 points, especially a pimped out Jendon.

Interesting observation: many of these choices are not exotic or the latest and the greatest. turr is an " old" interceptor pilot, and even with aces out, he is still my favorite I think. Same with Biggs. Good to see that new stuff isn't relegating the old guard to the scrap heap. Things seem to be staying balanced and power creep is being kept in check with cost, for the most part.

Who is your unsung hero? Do you have a pilot that you love who no one else ever seems to use? I like back stabber. I think he is awesome for the points. A mini interceptor that you ignore at you peril. Not as good as howl runner, but I find that flying ties out of formation messes with your opponents head and opens up so many tactical options. There is always a guy that you can put where you need him.

TIE Interceptor: Fel Followed very closely by the Royal Guard

TIE Fighter: Academy

TIE Bomber: Jonus Followed very closely by the Scimitar

Lambda: Omicron

Firespray: Bounty Hunter

Phantom: Echo

Defender: Vessery

Advanced: Vader

Based on experience:

Xwing - wedge

TIE - on his own, mauler, in a swarm, howlrunner

Advanced - vader

Y-Wing - Dutch

A-Wing - green

Interceptor - Fel

B-Wing - Blue

Based on what I want to try but don't own yet:

A-Wing: Jake Farrell (with garven)

B-Wing: Keyan Farla der

Lambda: Kagi (with weapon tech)

Defender: Delta

Phantom: Echo

E-Wing: Etahn

Cheerio,

Ben

X-wing - Biggs most, Garven second

HWK - Kyle, Roark second

A- prototipe (as blocker)

Y-Duch

I haven't played a ton of games, but I can't imagine going without Kyle ever again.

A Prototype

B blue

E ??? (Corran Horn)

X Rookie

Y Gold

Z ??? (Tala)

HWK Roark

YT Chewbacca.

As much bang for buck as possible.

TIE: um… crap I have no idea. I've been getting a lot of mileage out of Black Squadron lately.

Bomber: no clear favorite.
Interceptor: Soontir Fel.
Lambda: Omicron Group Pilot.

Firespray: Krassis Trelix.

Defender: Like both named pilots, but I'm going to say Rexler Brath here because my local meta heavily favors Chewbacca.

Phantom: Whisper.

also, totally unrelated: 1,000 POSTS! WOOT!

X: WEDGE!!!! He is simple, straightforward, and rightly feared.

Y: Dutch. Good action economy.

A: Green for now, I know Jake will be my new favorite. He's just so zippy!

B: Dagger. Shooting before other generics is a very good thing for a ship with one agility die.

HWK: Roark. Unlike the other named HWK pilots, he's a support ship with a support ship price tag. Cheap enough to fit in 4 ship builds, and firing at high PS is more important than ever.

Falcon: Lando. I like lending actions out.

Z: too early to tell. I like Cracken, Blount, and talas for different roles. I don't think bandits are worth the 1 point savings.

E: Etahn. Coran is fun but Etahn gives your squadron some serious teeth.

Couldn't say with imperials.

Just my opinion for the best rebel pilots...

X-Wing: Wedge, then Biggs

Y-Wing: Gold S.P.

A-Wing: Green S.P., then Tycho

B-Wing: Blue S.P.

HWK-290: Kyle

YT-1300: Chewbacca

Z-95: Airen or Bandit S.P. (need more experience with them)

E-Wing: Corran or Etahn (need more experience with them)

Who is your unsung hero? Do you have a pilot that you love who no one else ever seems to use? I like back stabber. I think he is awesome for the points. A mini interceptor that you ignore at you peril. Not as good as howl runner, but I find that flying ties out of formation messes with your opponents head and opens up so many tactical options. There is always a guy that you can put where you need him.

Not that "no-one" uses him, but my unsung hero would be Garven. The last tournament I went to had a Battle of Yavin subtheme, so I took Dutch (with ICT), Garven, Red, Red. Dutch took a munitions failure crit in two games (what are the chances) which soured me on him a little, but Garven was a rockstar. His scalps for the day included Soontir, Vader and Chewie

This is the list for me, not include the RA, and IA are include in TI, grettings.

-TIE Fighter Mauler Mithel

-TIE Advanced Darth Vader

-Firespray-31 Boba Fett

-TIE Interceptor Soontir Fel

-Lambda Class Shuttle Colonel Jendon

-TIE Bomber Major Rhymer

-TIE Defender Colonel Vessery

-TIE Phantom Whisper

-X-Wing Wedge Antilles

-Y-Wing Horton Salm

-YT-1300 Han Solo

-A-Wing Tycho Celchu

-B-Wing Ten Numb

-HWK-290 Jan Ors

-E-Wing Corran Horn

-Z-95 Headhunter Lieutenant Blount

I hate to say it but for Interceptors Turr maybe the best. I just got a large kd ratio with him per match. Fel has died many many times without a kill that it makes me sad. On the other hand I dont think most ships in game can survive salvo after salvo of torps and or missiles in one turn.

Here's my opinion:

-TIE Fighter Its a toss up between Howl and Black Squadron for me.

-TIE Advanced Darth Vader, duh

-Firespray-31 Bounty Hunter - 2nd best generic pilot in the game and the named FS pilots suck.

-TIE Interceptor RGP - Best generic in the game hands down. Just give them PTL and they work gloriously

-Lambda Class Shuttle OGP - Cheap and very versatile

-TIE Bomber Gamma, PS 4 and cheap

-TIE Defender Colonel Vessery - Nice ability and PS 6

-TIE Phantom Echo, but not really sure. Haven't used them enough

-X-Wing Luke w/ R2-D2. Super hard to kill, but naked would be Wedge.

-Y-Wing Dutch, TLs for everyone!

-YT-1300 Chewbacca - Tankiest in the game

-A-Wing Green Sqd, but Jake Farrel when he's out. Don't even have to play him to know he'll be a beast

-B-Wing Keyan Farlander is going to replace Ibitsam. Farlander is going to be nuts

-HWK-290 Kyle - Focus for everyone! But pricey when kitted out for the task.

-E-Wing Ethan - His ability is great

-Z-95 Headhunter Cracken - great ability and pretty cheap.

-TIE Fighter Academy (Howl close second)

-TIE Advanced Darth Vader

-Firespray-31 Krassis

-TIE Interceptor Soontir Fel

-Lambda Class Shuttle Omicron

-TIE Bomber Jonas

-TIE Defender Delta

-TIE Phantom Whisper

-X-Wing Biggs (Tarn close second)

-Y-Wing Gold

-YT-1300 Chewy

-A-Wing Prototype

-B-Wing Blue Squadron

-HWK-290 Rorak

-E-Wing Ethan

-Z-95 Headhunter Bandit

X-Wing-I'm torn, Biggs gets a lot of use for me but that is all about his ability to draw fire. Right now it's a toss up between him and Wes Jansen, though after giving Tarn Mison a try today with an R7 droid his star is rising quickly.

Y-Wing-Dutch, free target locks for a buddy are just too good to pass up when I'm flying a Y.

A-Wing-Tycho Celchu, how many stress tokens CAN you stack up on him? He don't care, and neither should you.

B-Wing-Ibtisam, sure her ability only triggers when you are stressed but in a B, hat can happen quite a bit.

HWK-Kyle Katarn, passing your hoard of focus tokens around is a big help.

E-Wing-Corran Horn, being able to double down on shots when you finally get a bead on a jinking arc-dodging squit or Whisper is well worth it for me.

Z-95-Lt. Blount, as much as I love free actions, a guaranteed hit to rid a stealth device or splash damage with assault missiles is clutch.

Falcon-Chewie, This can become such a tank, sure you can hit it but you are going to have to do that a lot.

Eyeballs-Howlrunner if you have a swarm going, if not Black Squad Pilot for the higher than rookie skill, talen slot and cheapness.

Squints-Fel with PTL modified to taste. Duh. Though Turr Phenir is a **** close second and Tetran Cowel and Lt. Lorrir are not far behind with their fancy maneuvers, which is why you fly this ship to begin with.

Dupes-Jonus if you are flying other bombers, if not then Gamma Squad pilots for being a mini-tank that fires before rookies.

Adv-Vader. Not even a contest.

Defender-Onyx squad pilot. I'm still getting a feel for this ship, but thus far I think the two named versions are taking up too many points for abilities that may prove difficult to use.

Phantom-Echo, soooo many places he can wind up moving to.

Shuttle-Jendon, synergising abilities are hard to come by on the Imperial side so having a buddy that can pass over a TL is a great thing to have in your arsenal.

Slave I-Krassis Trellix, mini-target lock with any cannon is a decent