(Okay, okay, I know I asked this about eight months ago, but . . . I kinda forgot the answer 
)
When do the escalation tournament rules take effect? I feel like it is supposed to be in January, but that begs the question as to why there are so few Escalation lists out there and so many 100-point lists. So . . . what's the dealio?
I think its because escalation is a rolling format that is hard to test and its just simpler to make a 100 point list and tweak it.
I very much want to play some escalation, however it is very hard to look past a list that doesn't either start with Fat Dash, Fat Han or 5x Academy pilot
(Okay, okay, I know I asked this about eight months ago, but . . . I kinda forgot the answer
When do the escalation tournament rules take effect? I feel like it is supposed to be in January, but that begs the question as to why there are so few Escalation lists out there and so many 100-point lists. So . . . what's the dealio?
Escalation hugely prioritizes list-building, and draws in players who enjoy delving into that complexity.
It is a niche market within the general play, and therefore gets much less press and forum-space.
Would be great for a sub-forum, imho.
Well, now, I seem to have gotten myself confused. I just checked the official tournament rules and they have entries for both the 100-point and Escalation formats, whereas I thought that there was a full-scale change to Escalation. So now, my question becomes, Which tournaments will use Escalation instead of the standard Dogfight format?
My store ran a big escalation tournament a while ago. Musta been over the summer or something.
It was alright. A lot of people turned out but I think most players, myself included, seemed to prefer the standard 100 pt format.
My store hasn't done one since, though the owner told me he has big plans for a huge event in January.
I'm hoping for a Team-Epic tournament.
Oh.
It's an officially sanctioned variant. Kinda like Magic's "Commander".
It'l be a side-event of the larger tournies 
Also, what lists are you considering playing?
Oh.
It's an officially sanctioned variant. Kinda like Magic's "Commander".
It'l be a side-event of the larger tournies
Also, what lists are you considering playing?
Thanks for the info!
I was toying around with some A+B lists. Two Chardaan Prototypes fits perfectly into each new price range, as does a Dagger + FCS + E2 + RecSpec or Weapons Engineer. B-Wings with Rec Spec are pretty hard to take down, and still generally dish out a bunch of damage. And Weapons Engineer always pairs well with FCS.
Oh.
It's an officially sanctioned variant. Kinda like Magic's "Commander".
It'l be a side-event of the larger tournies
Also, what lists are you considering playing?
Thanks for the info!
I was toying around with some A+B lists. Two Chardaan Prototypes fits perfectly into each new price range, as does a Dagger + FCS + E2 + RecSpec or Weapons Engineer. B-Wings with Rec Spec are pretty hard to take down, and still generally dish out a bunch of damage. And Weapons Engineer always pairs well with FCS
Don't try to create 30 point micro-lists. Down that path lies Filler.
Remember that you can add upgrades to ships you already have in your fleet (though you can't lose upgrades or trade pilots).
Instead, come up with your Themed Archtype, then figure out how to parse it into waves, and how to adjust it to the metagame at those levels.
Remember: You can theoretically face a Howlrunner swarm of 11 ships, or 8 assault-missile bearing Headhunters, or 3 Gunner'd Falcons, et c....