First off, this is NOT a "Fix the X-wing" thread. Please post ideas for that in the 6.02x10²⁴ other threads on that subject.

Now, what I'm asking is, what does the X-wing, as current rules stand, do in a Rebel list better than any other available Rebel ship? Why would I choose an X-wing over say a B or A-wing?

I'm having a little trouble on this:

1. It's the absolute cheapest way to get 3 red dice (by 1 point.)

2. Biggs or Wedge

That's about all I can see. Other than of course you enjoy the Star Wars universe and feel like you should run the X-wing as it's the iconic Rebel ship. But the rules don't seem to give you a good reason otherwise.

Please help with any suggestions!

Don't forget Tarn Mison or Luke.

But really. Can be PLEASE stop it. There are plenty of threads for this.

The absolute cheapest way to get 3 dice is an Alpha Squadron Interceptor, but for Rebels the X-wing is.

Tarn w/ R7 is pretty good. He almost an anti-Biggs because no one really wants to shoot him. But yeah the X-wing is fairly limited to what it can do for you.

First off, this is NOT a "Fix the X-wing" thread. Please post ideas for that in the 6.02x10²⁴ other threads on that subject.

Assuming you mean 6.02 x 10²³.

Honestly, Wedge really isn't that much of a draw anymore. All this high health bull (especially mind-numbingly dull fat turrets) will just grind him to dust.

Back in Wave 5, the reason to use the X-wing was the slap the phantom around. How? It's the only PS 10 (v.i) ship that can take R3-A2 without being absolute garbage (ala Corran). Luke with V/I, R3-A2, and EU basically stomped through Whispers, Dashes, and Soontirs which gave me enough breathing room for my two B-wings and A-wing to roll dice at the turret without auto-losing.

Nowadays, you have:

Luke:

*Still slaps around phantoms, dashes, and soontirs and anything trying to run ptl. Will see good use against the Advance esp vader because of how limited their greens are

*Luke by himself is a great anti-2 dice ship because of his ability. That + 3 red dice + high PS makes him a great cover for ships that don't like tie-fighters or Zs (Such as B-wings)

*Luke is the only X-wing durable enough to justify R2-D2. His ability also makes him uniquely viable with R5-P9. Stacked with LW or Predator, he becomes a great, durable flanker

Tarn:

*R7 astromech or bust. Tarn is the X-wing's Dark Curse or Gemmer, i.e the guy they don't want to shoot. He gets wrecked by swarms (unlike Luke) but is detested by squadrons relying on small numbers of highly modified attacks.

Biggs:

*it's Biggs

It is faster than the B-wing allowing it to hold formation with other ships better(E-wings a d Z-95s). Many of the pilot abilities are very good. (Read, nearly all of them.) It's one of the best users of Astromechs.

Adaptability.

its the only ship that looks the most like an X-wing.

Everyone's said it well, but yes, you either have a dearth of points (and can't squeeze in that B-Wing or pair of B-Wings) or you're using one of the named pilots for their ability, Pilot Skill, or both. X-Wings tend to get more out of certain astromechs than Y-Wings or E-Wings, especially the potent R2/PtL/EU combo that makes them a better A-Wing, but that is usually quite expensive. I like Hobbie and Wedge for that setup, but there are many good arguments for why you'd spend those points elseways.

It starts with a X and ends with a Wing.

It is faster than the B-wing allowing it to hold formation with other ships better(E-wings a d Z-95s). Many of the pilot abilities are very good. (Read, nearly all of them.) It's one of the best users of Astromechs.

Adaptability.

I actually don't see anything regarding "Adaptability"

The X-wing is one of the stiffest, least flexible ships in the game (right down there with the Z-95, slightly better than the Y). Apart from R3-A2, it's basically a chunk of health and dice and it's pretty anemic in the former.

While faster than the B-wing because of the four forward and better access to speed-3 maneuvers, the lack of B-roll (or boost or anything) makes it horribly rigid when it comes to navigating obstructions or flying in formation or generally adapting at all.

This is yet another reason (on top of fat turrets wrecking them and the B-wing being more efficient) that I can only find use for the more durable pilots, the X-wing really doesn't have much going for it otherwise.

If you want adaptability...well, the B-wing has it

It's efficient even without upgrades and maneuverable with b-roll

It's scary with FCS or HLC

It's maneuverable/great in a hairball with sensors

It can control with ion

It can control with stress (Flechette, tactician)

If you take Keyan, the bastard can even arc-dodge

I wanted to make a squad around Etahn A'Baht and out of necessity teamed him up with three rookie pilots. But the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to me that an X-Wing is not a bad choice next to Etahn. With three attack dice, your chances of a critical actually going through the opponent's green dice increase, maybe even so much that this is a better choice than the Z-95. I don't know how to do the math on this, so I may very well be wrong.

And in this case, the X-Wing might also be a better choice than the B-Wing, because the maneuver dial is more similar to the E-Wing's. This makes keeping formation more easy. In addition, you'll want to put some upgrades on Etahn, to make him more durable, and restricting yourself to rookie pilots saves a couple of points.

So it occurred to me that in this squad, the X-Wing possibly has its place.

The answer to this is, as it currently stands, spelled B-I-G-G-S.

Hobbie and R3-A2 are made for each other, and offer a decent all-range control option (as opposed to Tacticians which are range 2 only, and Flechettes which are one use only barring Munitions Failsafe zero damage).

Wes Janson & VI is a perfect opener, stripping tokens before other heavy hitters fire.

Wedge & R7-T1. Profit.

The main issue when running named X-Wings is it often limits you to a three ship build, which isn't ideal.

I've had lots of fun and some success running an XXXX list, though. Wedge, Biggs, Tarn/R7 & a Rookie being the basic.

It is faster than the B-wing allowing it to hold formation with other ships better(E-wings a d Z-95s). Many of the pilot abilities are very good. (Read, nearly all of them.) It's one of the best users of Astromechs.

Adaptability.

I actually don't see anything regarding "Adaptability"

The X-wing is one of the stiffest, least flexible ships in the game (right down there with the Z-95, slightly better than the Y). Apart from R3-A2, it's basically a chunk of health and dice and it's pretty anemic in the former.

Y-wing is way more flexible now then the X-wing. Not only can it carry an astromech, it can carry a bomb, a turret, and with the BTL-A4 title it can joust better too. Its a stress delivering machine with stressbot + BTL-A4.

I actually don't see anything regarding "Adaptability"

The X-wing is one of the stiffest, least flexible ships in the game (right down there with the Z-95, slightly better than the Y). Apart from R3-A2, it's basically a chunk of health and dice and it's pretty anemic in the former.

While faster than the B-wing because of the four forward and better access to speed-3 maneuvers, the lack of B-roll (or boost or anything) makes it horribly rigid when it comes to navigating obstructions or flying in formation or generally adapting at all.

This is yet another reason (on top of fat turrets wrecking them and the B-wing being more efficient) that I can only find use for the more durable pilots, the X-wing really doesn't have much going for it otherwise.

If you want adaptability...well, the B-wing has it

It's efficient even without upgrades and maneuverable with b-roll

It's scary with FCS or HLC

It's maneuverable/great in a hairball with sensors

It can control with ion

It can control with stress (Flechette, tactician)

If you take Keyan, the bastard can even arc-dodge

Both ships melt pretty quickly in the face of concentrated fire, and the B-Wing dial plus Barrel Roll give it a better degree of "adaptability" in the course of a short-range dogfight. That said, leaving upgrades off the table for the nonce, I would rather joust with three X-Wings than three B-Wings. Well, since the Phantom change, anyway. Here's why:

On the approach, regardless of initiative, three B-Wings and three X-Wings all move into Range 3 of each other and focus. They've got roughly equivalent durability in this situation (especially if you agree with the 1AGI:1xHEALTH::2AGI:1.5xHEALTH generalization). From my perspective, the X-Wings stand a chance at negating damage with three green dice against the three red dice of the B-Wings, while the B-Wings are unfortunately rolling one less green than the red they receive (although the X-Wings might be prudent to keep their focus for defense, depending on initiative). From this, both sides can 1-Straight into the joust, and Focus all in a line. Yes, depending on damage dealt the hurt ships might try to jump into blocking range, but for argument's sake let's say they all move 1 and focus for maximum offensive output. Again, the X-Wings have sturdier defense despite the stronger shields of the Bs, and they are matched in attack. It is not unlikely that both sides lose a ship in this exchange. Following up, the B-Wings wish to 2-K if they have the range, while the X-Wings all want to 4-K, creating distance to again put their green dice forward as an advantage. That third green die has saved my X-Wings plenty of times! If everybody gets to K-Turn, I think that puts them at Range 2 or 3 for a bunch of unmodified dice, which again favour the X-Wings. Dice are fickle, naturally, but I still put my money on the X-Wings cleaning up.

Sorry if that got a bit long there, but I'm just trying to illustrate my point clearly. It isn't that the B-Wing isn't a fantastic and efficient buy, but situationally I think the X-Wing still has lot going for it. Two or three for jousting and straight damage do quite well! I believe that since the Phantoms don't quite have an auto-win against Xs and Zs any more, it can come down to personal preference more whether you take an X or a B. I like the capacity of the X-Wing to shrug off more swarm damage, where the B-Wing is usually tanking those hits on the way in. It's got the shields to do it, no argument there, but the X-Wing is no slouch against a block of TIEs or Headhunters.

We still see the X-Wing a fair amount; well when I do get to play which isn't often enough.

We still see the X-Wing a fair amount; well when I do get to play which isn't often enough.

Amen to that, but then if I got to play as much as I want I'd have to force myself to actually sleep!

Well that's the big problem with the X-wing's "Advantage" in shrugging off swarm damage

it's green dice and not even in large enough numbers to be "reliable" (3 agility)

Seriously, most game it's like I'm just flying a B-wing without 3 shields. That 2 agility may as well be 0.

Even Luke has those days but luckily his ability is very reliable overall and will almost always get you at least one damage canceled per attack

Well that's the big problem with the X-wing's "Advantage" in shrugging off swarm damage

it's green dice and not even in large enough numbers to be "reliable" (3 agility)

Seriously, most game it's like I'm just flying a B-wing without 3 shields. That 2 agility may as well be 0.

Even Luke has those days but luckily his ability is very reliable overall and will almost always get you at least one damage canceled per attack

Oh I completely agree! The potential is there, but it doesn't always quite work out that way. Of course, I've had games where for some reason I absolutely just could not touch an opposing X-Wing or HWK or something, so I feel like if you work on your good karma you might have more luck with Xs!

I think it's less good karma and more showing up to an event with miniature rabbits' feet strewn across every X-wing you bring

In its price-range, it competes with the B-WIng and BTL-A4 Y-Wing as a solid fighter.
In that match-up, the X-Wing has one true advantage: 2 agility.

Moreover, it's more maneuverable than the Y and slightly cheaper than the B.

In its price-range, it competes with the B-WIng and BTL-A4 Y-Wing as a solid fighter.

In that match-up, the X-Wing has one true advantage: 2 agility.

Moreover, it's more maneuverable than the Y and slightly cheaper than the B.

In its price-range, it competes with the B-WIng and BTL-A4 Y-Wing as a solid fighter.

In that match-up, the X-Wing has one true advantage: 2 agility.

Moreover, it's more maneuverable than the Y and slightly cheaper than the B.

And that's just it. The X-Wing does all of that reasonably well! Hits hard, harder to hit, and can move and juke pretty well. The problem most people see is that they just want straight damage and more shields, so the B-Wing is definitely better in that scenario. If you need a 3ATK ship that can hit and then run, or form up and focus down a target, or shoot and then block, the X-Wing does all pretty well. Even better if you plug in an R2 Astro!

in everything but the "run" scenario, the B-wing does it better

it's not just straight damage and more shields, it's incredible versatility and barrel-roll (which in itself is incredible versatility) which allows it to focus targets far more efficiently (orientating arcs), set up blocks, juke around obstructions etc.

I forgot to add int agent to the upgrades, which just makes it all the more hellishly hilarious.

Honestly, the only actual concrete advantage I'd give the X-wing (apart from far more attractive named pilots that aren't just Keyan) is the 4k.

The 2k's great in a hairball of small ships, but holy **** is it irritating against large bases

it's not just straight damage and more shields, it's incredible versatility and barrel-roll (which in itself is incredible versatility) which allows it to focus targets far more efficiently (orientating arcs), set up blocks, juke around obstructions etc.

Barrel-Roll was the most powerful action in the game before Decloak came out.

If its mobility were simply attached to the dial of the ship in question, you're still looking at dozens of options for any ship with it.

However, it is used when the pilot activates, and so you have improved intelligence to your choice. It is a maneuver that is NOT pre-programmed, in a game where everything else is.

Unlike Boost, it was the only maneuver that did not extend through the front of your craft, making it the hardest thing in the game to block, and giving you the best time imaginable in asteroids.

It's not by accident that I rated every ship with a Barrel-Roll as more mobile than every ship with neither BR nor Boost when I attempt to collate them thereby.