Gallant Haven is actually really strong for fighter screening. I wish Empire had that

Keep in mind the Range Bands needed to Activate Squadrons. Having to keep that VSD tied to his squadrons will limit his mobility (moreso than VSD/ISD already are) making him easier to pin down and kill. In the meantime you may need to bubblewrap your HVUs (High Value Units) in fighters if you come across the dreaded Cherrio-Bomber combo.

Not with a little preplanning. Star Destroyers are way better at working with fighters than Rebels.

The Space Whale and some of the upgrade cards give the Rebels a bump.

Why is it the Empire players, weather X-Wing or Armamda, gloat about how awesome their stuff is? Is it an Imperial thing?

Mikael, care to comment?

For me it's because the Empire seems to have way better combo potential and flavor than rebels. And I for one like to get excited about things. Although I play a little of everything. But I haven't seen the rebels have any cool super cool strategic combos.

I personally see Yavaris or Gallant Haven as being strategic because you're going to have to go through hoops to enable it, but the returns are going to be incredible

just dumping upgrades that happen to work on the same thing doesn't really count as "Strategic" to me. It seems more obvious than anything. Chiraneau or Corrupter on its own is strategic because, like yavaris, he'll force your opponent's hand. Both of them together plus rhymer is just going to start skewing things.

But having a clear focus to my fleet is always fun. (Still makes you predictable) But when it feels like the entire fleet is a well oiled synergy machine I can only smile. The imperials seems to trip this trigger for me better right now. The way their fighters work seems better to me. Each having a role and high speed.

It makes the list building and execution more fun.

But I also enjoy lists that offer an element of control, which also tends to frustrate my opponents.

different models will cater to different people

by distinguishing the factions, FFG has done their job admirably

I'd just encourage people to see that both sides are being very well catered to, and also not to freak out about Chiraneau. Dude's left his decimator, it's okay to like him now

I'm curious will we see many supercarrier combos like Corruptor + Chiraneau + Flight Controllers + Expanded Hangar Bay + Mayor Rhymer's Flying Circus?

It's all about how the Imperial and Rebel squadrons are meant to be used, they are in no way mirrors of each other.

The Imp squadrons are essentially an extension of the capital ship and used in large generic quantities, even the named Imp squadrons are used to buff the generics rather than be superheros that act independently (Vader is the exception). Fighters only exist to screen the star destroyers, while bombers act as extra-long range weapons and zone control to cover the SDs weaker arcs. It was mentioned that bombers could be used to counter a flank by a corvette. Yes! That is exactly what they are for!

Is making sure that 3-4 bombers are not locked down by a single A-Wing all game really that much worse than Luke or Farlander double-tapping, or even triple-tapping a ship?

Imperial squadron buffs are about using and buffing large groups of generics, while Rebel squadron buffs let the hero units turn it up to 11. I think this asymmetry is very good for the game both in terms of rules quality and general enjoyment.

also to remind everyone, since we're so focused on talks of bombers + rhymer, Chiraneau is not limited to bombers

got a named squadron behind an A-wing screen that needs to die? Chiraneau those interceptors out of engagement

Just the reveal of this card is a big deal to those with only the core set. It reveals that FFG has been planning to make engagement shenanigans part of the ship upgrade system.

I'm not concerned with this card, as Imperial or Rebel. There's counters to either. I'm rather glad that there's ways to get squadrons moving about more now.

People freaking out over 1 combo when we don't know the whole system yet are being a bit silly.

It was pretty obvious that we would get something that would combo with Mauler's card text by letting him move when already engaged.

But, most of all, you can actually see Chiraneau's card in the Wave 1 preview and we've discussed it right here on these forums a while ago.

From a practical standpoint Chiraneau is less awesome IMHO than the card text would make you think BTW he's still awesome he just requires more thought than a quick reading of the card would make you think. Either you are already engaged and then limited to only moving 2 (3 with Corrupter) at which point you probably aren't moving fast enough to catch an enemy ship (Corvette in the OP) OR you get engaged on your attack run which still does nothing to help you get to the ships would want to kill.

It seems like the safe strategy when playing Imps is to just keep a fighter screen around distance 2. Stops Rhymer's alpha strike since it would require absolutely precise positioning to somehow get around the engagement area of your fighters and since your opponent would have to move to engage Chiraneau has no effect. Once the furball starts just move your ships away.