I am trying to improve my over all game I am not very good at flying or making use of abilities ect.

I figure by sticking pretty close to one build for a while against my friend who is doing the same, so far we have only played with a thrown together build on the spot before playing and we figure its time to stick to something simple for a while and focus on playing rather than trying to remember what each ship has on it.

We are each going to have 2 builds one reb and one imp.

This is my thought for a good learning build for rebels.

Eaden Vrill / YT-2400

32

PS 3

When performing a primary weapon attack against a stressed ship, roll 1 additional attack die.

7

Heavy Laser Cannon

Etahn A'baht / E-Wing

32

PS 5

When an enemy ship inside your firing arc at Range 1-3 is defending, the attacker may change 1 of its results to a result.

2

Flechette Torpedoes

2

R3-A2

Roark Garnet / HWK-290

19

PS 4

At the start of the Combat phase, choose 1 other friendly ship at Range 1-3. Until the end of the phase, treat that ship's pilot skill value as "12."

4

Blaster Turret

2

Tactician

Or perhaps this one

Dash Rendar / YT-2400

36

PS 7

You may ignore obstacles during the Activation phase and when performing actions.

2

Expert Handling

7

Heavy Laser Cannon

3

Lando Calrissian

4

Engine Upgrade

5

Outrider

Jan Ors / HWK-290

25

PS 8

When another friendly ship at Range 1-3 is attacking, if you have no stress tokens, you may receive 1 stress token to allow that ship to roll 1 additional attack die.

3

Predator

4

Blaster Turret

3

Recon Specialist

4

Engine Upgrade

3

Moldy Crow

This is my Imp build I may use when I play the dark side

"Mauler Mithel" / TIE Fighter

17

PS 7

When attacking at Range 1, roll 1 additional attack die.

2

Swarm Tactics

"Dark Curse" / TIE Fighter

16

PS 6

When defending, ships attacking you cannot spend focus tokens or reroll attack dice.

Black Squadron Pilot / TIE Fighter

14

PS 4

2

Expert Handling

"Winged Gundark" / TIE Fighter

15

PS 5

When attacking at Range 1, you may change 1 of your results to a result.

"Whisper" / TIE Phantom

32

PS 7

After you perform an attack that hits, you may assign 1 focus to your ship.

2

Expert Handling

The problem with your Dash Build is you have so many actions to choose from and you can only do one of them. I would drop Expert Handling off of him because he already has a barrel roll and if your playing against Imperials who don't have any TL's its a waste. I would recommend Dash built with a heavy laser cannon, Outrider, either PtL(Push the Limit) or VI(Veteran Instincts) (Seeing as your up against Whisper I'd take VI). If you want lando id use Experimental Interface as your modification to use him. Although just a standard recon spec is good with Dash. That comes out to 55 Points. Now for Escort ships it comes down to personally opinion but i recommend 2 other ships. Im gonna take Roark as it seems you would like a Hwk in your list. So Roark with Ion Cannon Turret. (Ion is a lot more reliable for damage than a blaster turret is and it also provides your list control). He will come out to 24 points, leaving your last 21 points enough for a rookie x-wing or and awing or a z95 of your choosing. Id recommend the rookie as it is a balanced ship and forgiving. So your List will look something like this

Dash Rendar - 36

Veteran Instincts - 1

Heavy Laser Cannon - 7

Outrider - 5

Lando - 3

Experimental Interface - 3

Total - 55

Roark Garnet - 19

Ion Cannon Turret - 5

Total - 24

Rookie Pilot -21

The problem with your Dash Build is you have so many actions to choose from and you can only do one of them. I would drop Expert Handling off of him because he already has a barrel roll and if your playing against Imperials who don't have any TL's its a waste. I would recommend Dash built with a heavy laser cannon, Outrider, either PtL(Push the Limit) or VI(Veteran Instincts) (Seeing as your up against Whisper I'd take VI). If you want lando id use Experimental Interface as your modification to use him. Although just a standard recon spec is good with Dash. That comes out to 55 Points. Now for Escort ships it comes down to personally opinion but i recommend 2 other ships. Im gonna take Roark as it seems you would like a Hwk in your list. So Roark with Ion Cannon Turret. (Ion is a lot more reliable for damage than a blaster turret is and it also provides your list control). He will come out to 24 points, leaving your last 21 points enough for a rookie x-wing or and awing or a z95 of your choosing. Id recommend the rookie as it is a balanced ship and forgiving. So your List will look something like this

Dash Rendar - 36

Veteran Instincts - 1

Heavy Laser Cannon - 7

Outrider - 5

Lando - 3

Experimental Interface - 3

Total - 55

Roark Garnet - 19

Ion Cannon Turret - 5

Total - 24

Rookie Pilot -21

I am not flying against whisper, thats the build I will be using when I play Imp. I don't know what my friend plans to use yet.

I must admit I have never found a way to make Ion work for me so I have to learn, I suck at setting up ion and taking advantage of the ship on the next turn.

Don't run Expert Handling on anything that has a Barrel roll naturally. Especially on a Phantom! It really becomes a two point upgrade that all your opponent needs to do to counter is: Focus.

Also, Whisper needs Advanced Cloaking Device at a minimum. Without it she won't last long at all. I prefer to run with Vet. Instincts too. It limits the amount of ships that can shoot before her.

You aren't mentioning exactly what aspect of your game you'd like improving... For me you'd improve you game play more easily using simpler lists with limited/no upgrades so you're concentrating on the basics rather than list building/remembering special actions and abilities...

My biggest leap in play has been through playing in our FLGC league where we've used only base level pilots (except "you" who is one generic up from base level). I can now pilot a defender a **** site better than I could before...

If it's piloting your own ships check out the tutorials in the pinned useful links thread, if it's tactics again there are some great articles in the useful links thread the lambda threads as an example are great). For anything else more specific give us the details and we'll help where we can...

Here's a couple of lists you may want to try.

For rebels, if you want to play a YT2400 and HWK, try this out:

Dash Rendar (36)
Push the Limit (3)
Heavy Laser Cannon (7)
Kyle Katarn (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Outrider (5)

Roark Garnet (19)
Ion Cannon Turret (5)
Recon Specialist (3)
Moldy Crow (3)

Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Dash can PTL to get two actions, and when he removes a stress he gets a focus, from kyle. That's basically 3 actions per turn. Roark gets Kyle up to PS12 to fire first. The one thing you are going to have to worry about is the range 1 doughnut hole around dash where he can't fire. Use Roark's ion cannon to try and keep ships out of it.

If you want to run a phantom, here is a pretty good list that will give you a chance to practice, while still having a strong support cast is 5 TIEs.

"Whisper" (32)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Academy Pilot (12)

Total: 99

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

You aren't mentioning exactly what aspect of your game you'd like improving...

Thanks for taking the time to help.

I need to improve it all.

Remembering to use everything, setting up for things like ion (I suck using ion) and flying, I am far from being a good pilot.

We've all been there mate-bumping ships and losing actions was practically a speciality of mine:-/

The answer of course is practice but I would definitely say the following guide (found in the "Strategy guides: movement" section of the "useful links" pinned thread at the top of page 1) is fantastic and really helps you to visualise your ships movement;

http://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/110115-earning-your-wings-a-guide-for-understanding-movment/

To help with getting your head around piloting keep it simple-use only 1 or 2 different ships in your squadron at a time. You'll get used to a ship and its dial much more quickly this way.

As regards actions again keep it simple-start off ALWAYS focusing. EVERY time. You'll soon get in the habit of "reveal dial, perform movement, perform focus action". Focus is a great action; everyone has it, it can be used defensively and offensively and will be of potential use in nearly every situation. I used to "not bother" assigning actions to ships out of harms way, such as at the beginning of a game, until I got stung a couple of times. Now I always think "ok I've moved, why shouldn't I focus?"

Finally ion cannons. Honestly? I'd leave em until you've nailed piloting without crashing and using the correct actions for each given situation and as such I don't want to go into the minutae of all the weapon's benefits. If however you do want to use them right now, of the many benefits they have the single biggest is the knowledge that your opponent WILL be going 1 forwards next movement phase (he can of course then boost or barrel roll if he has it available) but even so his next turn positioning, AND facing, will be pretty predictable... Its THIS predictability that then allows you to greet him with a... ahem... welcoming party

Here's some tricks I use that will help with your flying so you won't have to guess about whether a maneuver is safe.

One trick that I use all the time to know if I'm going to hit an asteroid or ship by going straight (or k-turning, which is really important to not get blocked) is a I bring my eye down to the level of the board and line it up with the ship's base and the obstacle I'm trying to avoid. This counteracts a common optical illusion, called the Poggendorf Illusion, that is created when looking down at the board at a 45 degree angle, where a ship that looks like it has an obstacle in front of it is actually clear, or a ship that looks clear actually has an obstacle directly in front of it.

Another trick to avoid colliding when moving in a straight line and there is something in your way, is to know that the speed of a straight maneuver is equal to that many small ship bases long. Which means that when you do a straight maneuver, the front of your ship will end up that many small ship lengths away from where it started, plus the length of its own base. So if you do a 1-straight with a small ship, the front edge of your ship will end up 2 small base ship lengths away from where it started. If you do a 3-straight, your ship's front edge will end up 4 small ship bases ahead of where it started, etc. The length of a large ship is equal to the length of 2 small ships, so a large ship that does a 1-straight will have it's front edge end up 3 small base lengths ahead of where it started. Knowing this makes it much easier for me to judge how fast I need to go avoid being blocked or landing on an asteroid (or knowing if my K-turn will be successful), because it gives me a reference point where I can use my ship's own base to gauge distance.

Once you know how to accurately gauge distance of straight maneuvers, you can use that to gauge your turns and your banks. A 2-speed sharp turn is the same thing moving you ship 1-straight, turning it 90 degrees, and then doing another 1-straight. A 3-speed turn is the same thing, except your ship's near corner will be overlapping its far corner if it had done a 2-speed turn. Same for a 1-speed turn, except your far corner will overlap the near corner of your ship if it had done a 2-speed turn. Here's a picture for reference of what I'm talking about.

Keep in mind that big ships turn and bank very differently from small ships, but I'll leave it up to you to figure that out. It's a good idea to practice your maneuvers at home in your free time. You don't need a full 3x3 table to do it, just maybe about 1x1' of space, a couple of asteroids, a ship base and your maneuver templates. Find out what works and what doesn't

Here's some tricks I use that will help with your flying so you won't have to guess about whether a maneuver is safe.

One trick that I use all the time to know if I'm going to hit an asteroid or ship by going straight (or k-turning, which is really important to not get blocked) is a I bring my eye down to the level of the board and line it up with the ship's base and the obstacle I'm trying to avoid. This counteracts a common optical illusion, called the Poggendorf Illusion, that is created when looking down at the board at a 45 degree angle, where a ship that looks like it has an obstacle in front of it is actually clear, or a ship that looks clear actually has an obstacle directly in front of it.

Another trick to avoid colliding when moving in a straight line and there is something in your way, is to know that the speed of a straight maneuver is equal to that many small ship bases long. Which means that when you do a straight maneuver, the front of your ship will end up that many small ship lengths away from where it started, plus the length of its own base. So if you do a 1-straight with a small ship, the front edge of your ship will end up 2 small base ship lengths away from where it started. If you do a 3-straight, your ship's front edge will end up 4 small ship bases ahead of where it started, etc. The length of a large ship is equal to the length of 2 small ships, so a large ship that does a 1-straight will have it's front edge end up 3 small base lengths ahead of where it started. Knowing this makes it much easier for me to judge how fast I need to go avoid being blocked or landing on an asteroid (or knowing if my K-turn will be successful), because it gives me a reference point where I can use my ship's own base to gauge distance.

Once you know how to accurately gauge distance of straight maneuvers, you can use that to gauge your turns and your banks. A 2-speed sharp turn is the same thing moving you ship 1-straight, turning it 90 degrees, and then doing another 1-straight. A 3-speed turn is the same thing, except your ship's near corner will be overlapping its far corner if it had done a 2-speed turn. Same for a 1-speed turn, except your far corner will overlap the near corner of your ship if it had done a 2-speed turn. Here's a picture for reference of what I'm talking about.

Keep in mind that big ships turn and bank very differently from small ships, but I'll leave it up to you to figure that out. It's a good idea to practice your maneuvers at home in your free time. You don't need a full 3x3 table to do it, just maybe about 1x1' of space, a couple of asteroids, a ship base and your maneuver templates. Find out what works and what doesn't

Thank you very much, that was a big help man.

Thank you very much, that was a big help man.

Happy to be able to share what I've learned. Another thing you should do when you're practicing is treat every maneuver like it's an open book quiz. Try to guess what the best maneuver is, and if it doesn't work out, put the ship back and then try maneuvers until you find the ones that do work (It's up to you whether to you want to hold yourself to the original maneuver after that). That way when a similar position comes up in a real game, you will have seen what the correct maneuver looks like and know what options are available to you, rather than just knowing which moves didn't work before. Practicing that way will let you quickly leapfrog up to the level that takes most people a long time to get to because they are just learning by eliminating moves one at a time each time they make a mistake in a game.

Edit: If your opponent's are friendly enough, they might even let you do this in casual game against them. After you make a mistake, just tell them you're trying to get better at flying and ask if you can test some other maneuvers to see what would have worked, but keep the original maneuver you made.

Don't run Expert Handling on anything that has a Barrel roll naturally. Especially on a Phantom! It really becomes a two point upgrade that all your opponent needs to do to counter is: Focus.

Also, Whisper needs Advanced Cloaking Device at a minimum. Without it she won't last long at all. I prefer to run with Vet. Instincts too. It limits the amount of ships that can shoot before her.

Thank you very much, that was a big help man.

Happy to be able to share what I've learned. Another thing you should do when you're practicing is treat every maneuver like it's an open book quiz. Try to guess what the best maneuver is, and if it doesn't work out, put the ship back and then try maneuvers until you find the ones that do work (It's up to you whether to you want to hold yourself to the original maneuver after that). That way when a similar position comes up in a real game, you will have seen what the correct maneuver looks like and know what options are available to you, rather than just knowing which moves didn't work before. Practicing that way will let you quickly leapfrog up to the level that takes most people a long time to get to because they are just learning by eliminating moves one at a time each time they make a mistake in a game.

Edit: If your opponent's are friendly enough, they might even let you do this in casual game against them. After you make a mistake, just tell them you're trying to get better at flying and ask if you can test some other maneuvers to see what would have worked, but keep the original maneuver you made.

The problem with your Dash Build is you have so many actions to choose from and you can only do one of them. I would drop Expert Handling off of him because he already has a barrel roll and if your playing against Imperials who don't have any TL's its a waste. I would recommend Dash built with a heavy laser cannon, Outrider, either PtL(Push the Limit) or VI(Veteran Instincts) (Seeing as your up against Whisper I'd take VI). If you want lando id use Experimental Interface as your modification to use him. Although just a standard recon spec is good with Dash. That comes out to 55 Points. Now for Escort ships it comes down to personally opinion but i recommend 2 other ships. Im gonna take Roark as it seems you would like a Hwk in your list. So Roark with Ion Cannon Turret. (Ion is a lot more reliable for damage than a blaster turret is and it also provides your list control). He will come out to 24 points, leaving your last 21 points enough for a rookie x-wing or and awing or a z95 of your choosing. Id recommend the rookie as it is a balanced ship and forgiving. So your List will look something like this

Dash Rendar - 36

Veteran Instincts - 1

Heavy Laser Cannon - 7

Outrider - 5

Lando - 3

Experimental Interface - 3

Total - 55

Roark Garnet - 19

Ion Cannon Turret - 5

Total - 24

Rookie Pilot -21

I messed up that list, I failed to see the x wing and tried to fill in the extra 21 points using only two ships! I feel real stupid now.

I will try it the right way next game.

Here's a couple of lists you may want to try. For rebels, if you want to play a YT2400 and HWK, try this out: Dash Rendar (36)Push the Limit (3)Heavy Laser Cannon (7)Kyle Katarn (3)Engine Upgrade (4)Outrider (5)Roark Garnet (19)Ion Cannon Turret (5)Recon Specialist (3)Moldy Crow (3)Bandit Squadron Pilot (12)Total: 100View in Yet Another Squad Builder Dash can PTL to get two actions, and when he removes a stress he gets a focus, from kyle. That's basically 3 actions per turn. Roark gets Kyle up to PS12 to fire first. The one thing you are going to have to worry about is the range 1 doughnut hole around dash where he can't fire. Use Roark's ion cannon to try and keep ships out of it. If you want to run a phantom, here is a pretty good list that will give you a chance to practice, while still having a strong support cast is 5 TIEs. "Whisper" (32)Veteran Instincts (1)Fire-Control System (2)Advanced Cloaking Device (4)Academy Pilot (12)Academy Pilot (12)Academy Pilot (12)Academy Pilot (12)Academy Pilot (12)Total: 99View in Yet Another Squad Builder

So I tried this Dash build and liked it even though I lost bad, mainly do to the fact that my flying skill are far too poor to make use of ion, I think ion may be best left to skilled players.

How so? Its a turret? Get close, shoot, Ion them and then blast them with something else. Rinse and Repeat.