For those who have played in an Escalation Tournament, how did you build your squad? Do you build as the rounds go? Did you first come up with a 60pt squad and keep adding to it as you planned your squad? Did you build your 150pt squad and peel away to match each rounds requirements?

Most people start from a 60 point squad and work up from there.

The dominant squad in escalation right now is a super falcon, typically Han, and then adding Biggs at 90 points, followed typically by HLC B-wings, so you need to build a list that can stand up to that.

My gaming group is going to Descalation next saturday. Should be interesting.

For me it varies on the list. I played one casual Escalation game with a friend, and we built the squads as we went. It was a tough series of games, all of them close, except for the first round, since he went with Han and I went with Wes and Wedge (and made a few piloting errors early). That series was much more about adding ships based on our whims rather than choosing a 150 point build and deciding how to get there.

On the flip side, I've done a few 150 point lists that I think would be fun, and have tried to break them up into the various levels, and that's really tough. If you have any combos/necessary upgrades, I feel like you really need to get them by round three, and sometimes that's not super viable. As much as I like 150 point games/list-building, if you only build for the final round, every round leading up to it will be balanced very carefully.

Honestly, as far as Rebel builds go, I feel like you need to drop any expensive ships/upgrades in the first 60 (so any of the YTs + upgrades). Having two small ships at 60 points is pretty tough. I can't speak to any Imperial strategy unfortunately, as I haven't played/built lists for the Imperial side in Escalation.

I agree with Antigrapist, right now in Escalation you're either playing a Super Falcon at 60pts or you have to assume you will face one. I won a 28 player Escalation tournament last weekend and my strategy was to plan against the falcon since I didn't want to fly it myself. I started with 5 Bandits and then added HLC Blues at 90 and 120pts. Finished off at 150 with Wedge w/ Predator. I faced at Falcon in the 60 and 150 pt. rounds. I finished as the only 4-0. The 5 Bandits at 60 did a number on the Falcon

I agree with Antigrapist, right now in Escalation you're either playing a Super Falcon at 60pts or you have to assume you will face one. I won a 28 player Escalation tournament last weekend and my strategy was to plan against the falcon since I didn't want to fly it myself. I started with 5 Bandits and then added HLC Blues at 90 and 120pts. Finished off at 150 with Wedge w/ Predator. I faced at Falcon in the 60 and 150 pt. rounds. I finished as the only 4-0. The 5 Bandits at 60 did a number on the Falcon

That is the one thing the Falcon will lose to every time in round 1, a swarm. Wether it be Z's or Ties it will never stand up to multiple shots. In my testing I had Corran Horn + Fire-Control System + Veteran Instincts + Engine Upgrade + R2-D2 (46) and left 14 points in the bank for the next round. I didn't have much trouble with the falcon as I would get in deal a couple and pull away to heal up.