A coworker is interested in the game so I thought I might show him a basic match tonight. I was thinking of having him fly a YT with Engine Upgrade (he plays other table top combat games so I don't expect it will be too complicated) and I'm trying to decide what to fly opposite.

I was thinking 3 Academy Pilots if you think that won't be unbalanced.

I'd play with x wings and ties... core of the game, give him one ship and he wont appreciate the subtly of planning movement.

I'd give him two x wings, a rookie and a red and put them up against a few TIE/ln

That way he'll see how staggered PS works, work out he needs to make sure he doesnt block himself but you're giving him quite 'forgiving' craft.

Starting off with turreted ship means he'll miss most of the point of manouvering

How about Biggs and a Rookie, against 4 Academies?

That could work as you get a gentle introduction to 'special character' rules.

at the risk of possibly complicating things you could perhaps give the imperial side one of the less overpowered (i use the term loosely, its all quite balanced) TIE ln pilots like 'mauler mithel' so your mate gets to see that he's lethal close up whereas he has a chap who can take fire away from his rookie?

For new players, I tend to stick 2 Z-95s against 3 TIE/lns. Seems to work okay, but may need one more Z or one less TIE. Still getting it all balanced out.

Instead of Biggs, whose ability will take choices away from the Imperial player, use another generic pilot. I'd avoid using any unique pilots or upgrades for now.

The problem with raw z95s versus raw TIE/ln is it can go on forever

Two red dice versus three green is about balanced but if your TIEs are evading most turns or at long range you're just never going to hit them.

When the wife and i started playing we had a few games with A wings vs TIEs with no special characters and she was almost put off quite early as those games involved lots of chasing each other for ages, firing off a burst, usually missing then looping round again.

Once we started playing with stuff with more 'options' she was hooked.

Use Luke and Vader. It feels very cinematic and if you're playing to introduce, it doesn't matter if you use a weaker ship like the Tie Advanced.

Luke and two Reds against Vader and a few blacks.

Jacob

Thats a good idea.

I was going to say if you stuck with your original falcon plan i'd have said 'do the death star escape' with a 'fully crewed' falcon against four or five TIEs but realised its a lot of rules to get to grips with and you've got potentially two sets of re-rolls with the falcon.

So yeah i think actually the above suggestion of the dog fight over the death star, luke vs vader with wingmen is perfect to get someone into the game as *everyone* 'gets' that fight.

I usually give the Rebels Garven and a Rookie and fly the Imperial with 2 Academy and a Storm Squadron Advanced. This way it:

-Shows how some pilot ability might interact in a game

-Allow the new player to fly 2 ship, which is enough to have fun while not being overwhelming

-Show the importance of shields

-Doesn't introduce too many action (Focus, TL, Barrel Roll, Evade)

-Show the importance of PS by having a PS6, a PS4, a PS2 and 2 PS1

Browse Mission Control for the "Erasmus Campaign Part 1-4". I found it to be a very good Tutorial-Campaign for the game...!

Getting another person's feet wet when you are playing the other side isn't a bad job for a Falcon. Not too sure about the Engine Upgrade but using Chewie can mean easing into critical hits and the YT's turret can easy a person into "proper" maneuvering. Adding a Gunner also helps keep things from going bad with the "I can't do anything," issue that sometimes shows up.

As the experienced player flying three TIE Fighters against that Falcon isn't a bad idea. Now three Academies may work but I'd encourage something a little bigger that can showcase some of the game aspects that flying a Falcon would ignore. With 50 points of T/F you can get Howlrunner to help demonstrate formation flying and group firepower; running Backstabber shows the importance of the Firing Arc even if the YT isn't limited by it when planning its attacks.