Yup, that's some good quantity right there. Why doesn't anyone have any good Hitler quotes?
Since you asked: "The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one."
Anyway, back on topic: I don't mind grunt pilots, but I normally only use them to fill out or support a list that I've built around a particular named pilot I want to use. I don't think I've flown an all-grunt squadron in quite some time.
I like to play around in the Star Wars universe, I don't really care that much about specifically re-enacting the events of the movies or books or whatever. I usually use at least one or two unique pilots but I have no qualms about using generic pilots at all.
That all said, a squad of named TIEs is probably a lot of fun.
It's very good fun. I play 'black squadron' regularly (Mauler Mithel, Dark Curse, Backstabber and 2 'generic black squadrons') - essentially 5 PS6 fighters all with a stealth device or hull upgrade, but you could easily field a squad consisting of all six named TIEs and have three points spare for upgrades (maybe Stealth Device on Howlrunner?)
That gives you:
6 ships, all minimum PS5 and all with pretty good abilities. Gundark and Mithel need to be at range 1, so form a nice pairing, and you might as well add Howlrunner to them to get your main three-ship striking force, Dark Curse and Night Beast are buggers to kill, so can afford to go head-to-head (or as much as TIE/ln fighters ever can), and Backstabber.....stabs you in the back. Should be fun to use....
use the generics and call ...<ehm>... give them names, I think someone put up a list of squadrons where you could find some filler names.
to be honest, before the game I didn't really knew any Empire pilots (aside from Vader obviously), in most of what I've read and seen the Imps died so fast that giving them names was pointless. 
Generics are great. You earn that callsign, Skittles!
I tend to find low skill generic pilots quite useful in disrupting the other squad. Simply moving an academy pilot or outer rim smuggler in front of say a named fighter like soonter fel or tycho and watch your opponent curse in frustration as they bump (overlap) into your ship and not be able to take any actions.
To be honest I find allot of usefulness out of skill 1 and 2 pilots. It is the generic 3, 4, and 5 skill un-named pilots that I question on their usefulness. For 2 points you spend on a slightly higher pilot skill that is still lower than a named pilot. Also only a select few can have veteran upgrades (Green Squadron, Black Squadron, Saber Squadron, and Royal Guard to be exact). I guess you could use them as Academy, Rookie and Bandit hunters but other than that 2 points could get you a better upgrade.
I don't mind running generics, but I don't like to run ALL generics. I've got to have a named character or two to keep it interesting, but not everyone's wingman is a somebody.
With Cracken and Blount proving to be such great and cheap named characters, they can replace generic X-wings pretty well.
I tend not to play many generics, except as fillers. Whilst I totally understand generics can work very well, I just find them too boring - the unique abilities of named pilots make things more interesting for me, plus I also prefer high PS squads anyway. I sometimes run one or two generics, but will always have at least one named to make things more interesting.
Edited by Ghost DancerIm not a serious player, in the sense that I dont really play to win so I base my squad build on what i'd think would look great and what I want to field rather than knowing whats going to do really well. And as I have an incredible fondess for Rebel Assault II, I always field a Rookie x wing pilot with a 1 on the bottom. And as others have said, its a nice way of putting an avatar on the board.
(And hello all by the way!)
Edited by RookieOneSwarm tactics that's all you need to turn cheap wingman into lethal opponents, I can't tell you how often wedge has died to Vader or soontir using that to get your ps 1 pilots attacks off at ps 9.
Swarm tactics that's all you need to turn cheap wingman into lethal opponents, I can't tell you how often wedge has died to Vader or soontir using that to get your ps 1 pilots attacks off at ps 9.
Agree on that. I had a game against a rebel squad consisting of 2 rookies, Wedge with Swarm Tactics and Roark Garnet with an Ion Cannon Turret.
Finding two X-wings opening up at pilot skill 12 when you're supposed to be shooting first is not a fun experience.
Some figures to bear in mind when quoting Stalin:
"...1 million imprisoned or exiled between 1927 to 1929; 9 to 11 million peasants forced off their lands and another 2 to 3 million peasants arrested or exiled in the mass collectivization program; 6 to 7 million killed by an artificial famine in 1932-1934; 1 million exiled from Moscow and Leningrad in 1935; 1 million executed during the ''Great Terror'' of 1937-1938; 4 to 6 million dispatched to forced labor camps; 10 to 12 million people forcibly relocated during World War II; and at least 1 million arrested for various “political crimes” from 1946 to 1953." (http://www.ibtimes.com/how-many-people-did-joseph-stalin-kill-1111789)
Yup, that's some good quantity right there. Why doesn't anyone have any good Hitler quotes?
'ere you go:
A famous one many do not know was his:
Let the hate flow through you.
Scarily true:
Ah well. Let's go back to fictional characters in a galaxy far, far away.
Statistically, the game favors many generic ships over fewer named ones. Strength in numbers if you will. That's why the big swarms have been very effective and will continue to be popular. I tend to play Rebels more often though and I prefer the named pilots. The higher PS of named pilots has its advantages too of course.
If I wanted to play a game where all the pieces were the same, I'd play checkers.
I prefer the variety and synergy combinations afforded by elites.
My favorite thing the Phantom will bring to the game is hopefully and influx in high pilot skill ships out there. It's rare to see more than one named pilot in a list and that's super lame.
I have a hard time running generics for some of the reasons already listed, but primarily, I like to shoot first, and hit hard. If I can remove a problem ship before it shoots, so much the better. I also occasionally go after any mid-high PS enemy ships that are disrupting my shooting order, as I very occasionally run ships lower than PS6. I suppose it currently helps that in my local meta swarms are practically non-existent.
As Stalin said "quantity has its own quality" something has to be said for swarms, they work and masses are effective.
Yup, that's some good quantity right there. Why doesn't anyone have any good Hitler quotes?
Anyway, surely you can quote people you don't agree with?
It's less a matter of disagreement than it is bad taste. People should generally be wary of quoting those responsible for the deaths of millions of human beings.
Did you guys see the fuss this caused a few weeks backs? Perhaps I should be thankful that nobody has proposed any "final solutions" for their list building endeavors.
Edited by WonderWAAAGHwell.. back on topic..
I love using generics. I don't mind mixing in named pilots of course, or using all named pilots. Really depends on the list i want to run and what I'm going for.
Generic pilots have their place, especially in epic. I'd much rather field an attack group of generics vs a bunch of random named pilots. Alot easier to maintain your tactics with movement coordination and shooting.
I like to mix them, some generic and a wingcommander, I love soontir fel guiding his squad, and Im not that of a SW fan but I like to google search the named pilots of the game and know their story
I tend to use one or two named pilots simply because their abilities spice things up a little, then fill up the rest of the fleet with generics. I'd rather have more unnamed ships rather than lots of upgrades unless they really compliment the named pilots.
Of course this isn't always the most successful approach...
I love running named pilots. Thanks to Tarn Mison and Cracken I can run an effective 3x1z all named list