I know that many X-Wing players believe skill is the biggest factor in play, all things being equal... That said, all things are not equal. Imperial pilots and ships have more hard counters than Rebels. Scum is in a low choice situation currently, so they notice even more than imperials, perhaps, that while squad building many options are untenable.

I think the nature of shields makes many rebel ships inherently safer with regards to hard counters. Everyone from Turr to Mauler to Rhymer etc. are up against the possibility of a hard counter before they hit the table. There is no insulation versus an uphill battle. Squad building for imperials requires more consideration for opponent's build.

Rebels can double dip in squad building. They have the opportunity to build to the meta and experience native resilience versus the bad matchup.

needs elaboration as to what exactly said "hard counters" are

for example, the idiocy of PWTs against ships that needed to arc-dodge to live meant interceptors got hard countered to the extent to which baby seals are hard countered by baseball bats

but now they have auto-thrusters, which is like giving the baby seals shivs

Imperials have Vader crew. That makes them the hardest counter to a lot of lists from all factions. It's true imperials are fragile, but they are also precise.

what an analogy

Totally true taste the rainbow! Imperial tech counters imperials very well. Build around rebel captive or vader, yup.

needs elaboration as to what exactly said "hard counters" are

for example, the idiocy of PWTs against ships that needed to arc-dodge to live meant interceptors got hard countered to the extent to which baby seals are hard countered by baseball bats

but now they have auto-thrusters, which is like giving the baby seals shivs

Out of curiosity, did your language teacher in elementary school ever allow you to share during the analogy exercises?

I have no idea what this means. What hard counters, exactly, and what do shields have to do with it? What does the (slightly) smaller number of Scum ships available have to do with the existence of hard counters for some archetypes?

I'm sure you have a point, but I really do not understand any of it.

needs elaboration as to what exactly said "hard counters" are

for example, the idiocy of PWTs against ships that needed to arc-dodge to live meant interceptors got hard countered to the extent to which baby seals are hard countered by baseball bats

but now they have auto-thrusters, which is like giving the baby seals shivs

Out of curiosity, did your language teacher in elementary school ever allow you to share during the analogy exercises?

Not so much. I was not a friendly kid

I know that many X-Wing players believe skill is the biggest factor in play, all things being equal... That said, all things are not equal. Imperial pilots and ships have more hard counters than Rebels. Scum is in a low choice situation currently, so they notice even more than imperials, perhaps, that while squad building many options are untenable.

I think the nature of shields makes many rebel ships inherently safer with regards to hard counters. Everyone from Turr to Mauler to Rhymer etc. are up against the possibility of a hard counter before they hit the table. There is no insulation versus an uphill battle. Squad building for imperials requires more consideration for opponent's build.

Rebels can double dip in squad building. They have the opportunity to build to the meta and experience native resilience versus the bad matchup.

Considering I lose weekly (in friendly games) to an Imperial player, I consider most of this statement invalid.

I have taken everything against his one list, I have taken the falcon (I don't own the CR-90, so no C-3PO, but still Fat Han can be dangerous), I have taken X-wings, I have taken B-wings(I almost won that one, but the Baron claimed the day), A-wings, and all sorts of list against him. Still he prevails. It's a 3 ship build list, with minimal upgraded shuttle (to pass out target locks), the Baron, and Whisper.

Yes it does come down to player skill in the end. Is the bar higher for Imperial players, since most of their ships disregard shields? As a player would you need to have better knowledge of your ships than your Rebel opponent? Yes, but the bar is not so high that it is impossible.

Scum is limited at the moment, but FFG has two (technically three, kirhaz (or however you spell it) releases next week, if you didn't get it at gencon), more ships in the works and they will continue to put ships into the faction as waves progress. Remember, Rebels/imperials got 5 waves worth of ships before Scum was opened as another faction, so it will take some time.

another thing about the X-wing dice system is that it makes hard counters (apart from PWTs, which are just stupid, and guaranteed damage like Vader crew) difficult to come by

for example, take B-wings versus Ties

At range 3, the Ties will shred the Bs (would do a piranha analogy, but it wouldn't compare to baby seals)

At range 1, the Ties can and will pop (stupid green dice)

see, the thing about ficklegreendice is that they're ******* fickle, and that works both ways. You can (And should) have naked ties and interceptors going pop when shot at, but every now and again rngesus rears its ugly head and you got an invincible little squint putting the agents from the Matrix to shame

really, it's all you can do to bring more dice + mods to bear on the opponent and that comes 100% down to skill unless you don't have to worry about your firing arc, in which case all the skill comes in just boosting out of harms way

things may change now the conners exist (oh poor poor soontir) but those counter so much (including other conners, since you can't drop em without actions) and Imps have an easy parallel to the a-SLAM K in Deathrain and they have unparalleled access to the reliable, generic bomber

Some examples for the op, rebel captive and Roark both become dramatically more effective against phantoms. Torqal mux is brutal to phantoms. Ten numb with vi mangler cannon and advanced sensors counters pretty much every imperial small based ship. Yt1300s counter arc dodgers and swarms which are both staples for imperials. Biggs +somone with r2d2 and draw their fire counters the advanced targeting computer in a disgusting fashion, granted its half your list then.

As far as scum or rebel counters, you could try to argue that autothrusters counters turrets, but us nationals had more turrets than humans in the top 4 so its pretty clear that it doesn't do enough. Scum has a little trouble with arc dodgers, but they'll get more options as they get more ships.

In the current meta imperials dont get hit as hard by predator as rebels and scum do, generally thier more commonly played ships benefit from bidding up in Ps.

for example, the idiocy of PWTs against ships that needed to arc-dodge to live meant interceptors got hard countered to the extent to which baby seals are hard countered by baseball bats

but now they have auto-thrusters, which is like giving the baby seals shivs

Actually, Autothrusters don't improve your offence.

So it's more like putting a crash helmet on the baby seal.

Generally disagree with the premise. Every build has hard counters, and every hard counter has something else that counters it. Soontir Fel and Chiraneau was the defining combo of Wave 6, winning regional after regional. Wave 7 looks like it'll be largely defined by the Twin Laser Turret, which should be strong against AT Soontir and Decimators alike, but a TIE Swarm can chew that build to bits.

EDIT: This thread is the best thread for analogies.

for example, the idiocy of PWTs against ships that needed to arc-dodge to live meant interceptors got hard countered to the extent to which baby seals are hard countered by baseball bats

but now they have auto-thrusters, which is like giving the baby seals shivs

Actually, Autothrusters don't improve your offence.

So it's more like putting a crash helmet on the baby seal.

I was implying they had a chance to fight back, but I like your rendition a lot too

for example, the idiocy of PWTs against ships that needed to arc-dodge to live meant interceptors got hard countered to the extent to which baby seals are hard countered by baseball bats

but now they have auto-thrusters, which is like giving the baby seals shivs

Actually, Autothrusters don't improve your offence.

So it's more like putting a crash helmet on the baby seal.

I was implying they had a chance to fight back, but I like your rendition a lot too

They always had the shiv, but would get hit before they could actually use it. Now they have some measure of protection, which could allow them to finally get close enough to brandish their weaponry.

I say this largely because I want to reinforce that mental image of being overrun by shiv-wielding baby seals in crash helmets.

for example, the idiocy of PWTs against ships that needed to arc-dodge to live meant interceptors got hard countered to the extent to which baby seals are hard countered by baseball bats

but now they have auto-thrusters, which is like giving the baby seals shivs

Actually, Autothrusters don't improve your offence.

So it's more like putting a crash helmet on the baby seal.

Ad SD and they have full riot gear

insert Navy Seals pun here