I would have to keep peaking at mine as i know i would forget who has what..lol

This is a great idea, but it certainly would change the game and the meta. Some upgrades are great unrevealed, while others not so much. People would often kit out a ship with a ton of cheap, even useless upgrades just to keep people guessing.

One argument seen above is that it benefits some lists (Fat Ships) while not others (BBBBZ). However, if this rule were in effect, you would see the meta change, as people wouldn't be bringing the ships without upgrades, but would instead include much more hidden upgrades because of this rule.

It could work fine in both a casual and tournament setting, as it is easily verifiable by both the TO on the official lists and by each player as each card is used and flipped up, or at the end of the game when all are revealed.

My (more casual) playgroup does this to some extent. Given, they prefer bigger tram matches to tight 100 pt games, but the principle is the same. I'm not really a fan;itt seems to exist mostly to allow for unexpected Assault Missiles shots.

The point cap would have to be higher for this to work right. People have spread sheet the 100 point game to death in the name of probability hedging. This would be a great idea for a higher point game and I would add a further ruling that all ships MUST equip a mod as that is the only universal upgrade between all ships. As others have pointed out this will never work for the serious gamers in a tournament. Cheaters and rules lawyers/mathmeticians exist, unfortunate but true, so one would abuse it the other can't control it. Great idea though and would fully try this variant with a good group. IMO ordnance should have always been hidden from wave 1 but it is what it is

I think the only way this works is for upgrades. Flipping the pilot cards down prevents you and your opponent from knowing who activates and shoots and in what order. You might be able to make special tokens that you are forced to reveal when the effect comes in to play. For example, first movement forces players to reveal (initial) PS. Then, before activation, they have to reveal the action bar or upgrade. Then when they attack, they reveal the attack value and defense values. All the way until the player triggers a pilot's ability, then their whole card flips over.

Alternatively, have ship cards and pilot cards separate. That is, the basic ship stats and action bar on one card, another card with PS, and another card with the pilot and pilot ability.

I'm not sure how you'd cheat outside of switching cards around. But that's a thing you can do even if they were face up. So I don't see how it's any worse.

Surely this would just punish new players who are less able to guess what upgrades ships might have, or have not yet had a chance to learn every upgrade in the game?

Fine for casual, but I'd say a big no for competitive.

Yeah, I feel for official competitive events, this just complicates things. But that's ok, leave that to the purists!

I would be very interested in this being a house rule LGS tournament rule with a Game Night kit at stake. I participated in a "Wave 1 Turbo" tournament once...You were restricted to wave 1 ships, but any pilots and upgrades were fair game (for instance, Porkins with Flechette Torps or Tempest Squadron w/ Assault missiles). It was a great way of shaking things up without agitating the purists.

I'm not a fan of the idea, as it takes away a fundamental aspect of the game: Information. The ambiguity of one's list may or may not add a factor to the game in such a way one would change their strategy or decision-making ability, but I can see it causing rules problems or disputes such as "I had Autothrusters the whole time but they weren't face up!"

Depends...

Do you consider X-wing a "wargame" or a "table top game"?

I ask, because in "wargames" (much like actual war) lack of complete information- or "Fog of War" is very much part of the game. In fact, since I come from a"wargamer" background, I find the "perfect intelligence" of X-wing to be an unusual silliness/artificiality and a concession to more "mundane" gamers and the competitive nature of tournaments (and the dual plague of uber-competitive players and rules lawyers)

This idea would just add an unnecessary complication to the game.

Many players may consider Stress or Critical Hits to be "unnecessary complications". I would consider it only natural and to be expected.

Cards like Greedo would present a problem. You'd have to rely on your opponent to flip up cards when it is in their best interest to forget that it is equipped.

Revealing cards while setting up at a tournament gives you a chance to ask questions or clarify how cards you aren't familiar with work before the timer starts running. If you reveal as you go it may introduce delays in play as opponents ask to read the card and ask questions while the timer is counting down. Also, any clever secret tricks in your list are likely to be blown after the first couple of rounds since people talk.

It might be fun way to play on league night at the FLGS where everyone is only playing a couple of games with the same list and time limits aren't usually as stringent.