We're at a point in the game where pretty much every type of ship is viable. Like arc dodging aces? Totally viable? Like turrets? They're still a solid option, but not as game defining as they used to be. Zoom in to joust? There's some strong options for throwing a lot of dice at short range. Want to swarm? Both the Imperials and Scum have some good options for the TIE Fighter and Z-95 respectively.

There are still a few ships that feel like they need some love to be fully competitive - the Scyk is still pretty fragile for its points, and the E-Wing and T-65 X-Wing generics are a bit pricey still (although the X-Wing is about to get a sizeable helping hand on that front with Integrated Astromech) - but generally speaking you can pick the ships you like and stand a decent chance with them.

Certainly in my local scene, we're seeing more list diversity than ever. It's rare that I'll fly against the same thing twice, and I'm really looking forward to our Escalation tournament on Sunday.

When was the last wave you played? Depending on how long ago it was and what you enjoy running, you could be looking at a pretty big buy-in.

Welcome back, though! Hope you enjoy pew-pewing the plastic ships out of the felt void of space.

Well as you can see by my post count, when it came to forum contribution i was no slouch. My last wave was 4, where I took 3rd at Imdaar Alpha, and at the next tournament we held there I did a full sweep. But our local scene died out and eventually I just stopped playing. I think it was around the time that the Armada game came out.

Welcome back. We have an entirely new faction now - and they're awesome.

Oh, ok, nevermind. I looked it up. I see the difference now. It used to be right before moving, now they have to do it not knowing where the enemy will end up. Hmm. Not sure how I feel about that.

I can just tellyou how i feel about it... Very good.

I mean you could try and tell me that the pre-nerf Phantoms did require more skill than their counters, the fat turres. But unless your opponent ran hard counters to them it was total seal clubbing.

Now, they have to play the maneuvering game actually and they can very well be blocked. As a consequence, having less pilot skill than a Phantom is not an automatic death sentence anymore. I have played a lot of games where i managed to block and kill a Phantom or to force it into defensive maneuvers at least or force it to stay cloaked or risk to get no shot.

This loosened up the meta quite a bit. Fat Turrets stayed on top for quite a while afterwards, but eventually Autothrusters and Twin Laser Turrets have pushed them from their throne.

By the way if there is a new meta, you should know that these turrets, coming with the K-Wing are probably defining it quite a bit. They are beatable, but it put the humble Y-Wing pretty much to the top of competitive scene overnight with its reliable ping style damage.

You may be alarmed at first about ships using Twin Laser Turret replacing Fat Turretwing, thinking that it's no better. TLT has been the primary reason why Fat Turrets aren't in every single squad anymore, so remember that when someone flies 4 TLT Y-Wings at you, lol. They're less mobile and easier to deal with in general.

TIE Fighters are somewhat viable again because of an EPT called Crackshot. It's been FAQ'ed to trigger /after/ your opponent rolls and modifies defense dice, then you can cancel an evade result. Also, evade tokens count as evade results, so autoblaster weapons aren't absolutely terrible. Still not worth it generally though.

I'll give a slightly different take, but first I'll say it is better than the two ship meta.

Right now, it's more about Wave 7 upgrade cards for generics. If they can't take one of those cards, they probably aren't very competitive. TLT Ys are the new most frequently taken ship. Probably the biggest loser in the TLT meta is the basic generic (especially those that aren't cheap), and while it hurt the big ships, they are still competitive, just not as dominant as they once were. I'd guess this is the biggest change that you will see compared to the majority of your time playing where Wave 1-3 generics with minimal upgrades were often preferred over named pilots.

Beyond that, there is a some variety in which aces people run, though I think Scum is still a bit limited in that area -- with mostly Dual IGs as their best unique options.

Defenders and Bombers (and Punishers) are still in need of aid, the rest are fine.

I absolutely disagree with this statement.

Extra Munitions for my Tie Bombers is fantastic. I use a Scimitar with Homing Missile and Seismic Charge added with EM and it's a great use of 25 pts. I usually run 4 of them and do very well.

Defenders have done very well by the few people that ignore the internet for saying they suck. Biophysical has done exceptionally well in high level events running two Defenders. I've also found the new Tie FO to be fantastic to work with Col. Vessery. So does any of the Tie Advanced aces with ATC.

As for the statement about X-wings, they will get their Integrated Astromech soon enough. There will also be the T-67 card that will give them boost at some point in the future. No, it's not been named, but we have been told there is a title coming out for it. Not too hard to guess what it will let you do once you look at the T-70.

There's a third faction now too (surprised it's taken this long to mention it). Might be worth checking out.

Yes, I was already aware of that. I loooooooove shooting down Headhunters!

Let's see… as to everyone else, thanks for the comments on the state of the game. I just found the Ion Engine Mk II yesterday and immediately thought of Defenders. At my local scene, Phantoms were never a problem for me because having flown them, I knew how to fly them so I knew how to fly against them. My lists tend to have one heavy and a few cheaper supports, with about 3-4 units total. I never lost my love for the wave 1 unique TIE pilots, and they've served me well. I also was an early adopter and proponent (against quite heavy opposition) of the Predatory TIE, Black Squadron + Predator. They tend to be my go-to support. Though I also found they worked quite well with Outmaneuver if you had some scary guys in the list like Whisper or Rexler. This is also why Falcons were never quite as scary to me.

I'll have to read up more on all those upgrades I may have missed, and the Punisher looks like fun. I always got massive mileage out of Determination on Bombers, casting off usually 2-3 damage per bomber per game.

Did they ever make the Mag Pulse warheads?

You may be alarmed at first about ships using Twin Laser Turret replacing Fat Turretwing, thinking that it's no better. TLT has been the primary reason why Fat Turrets aren't in every single squad anymore, so remember that when someone flies 4 TLT Y-Wings at you, lol. They're less mobile and easier to deal with in general.

TIE Fighters are somewhat viable again because of an EPT called Crackshot. It's been FAQ'ed to trigger /after/ your opponent rolls and modifies defense dice, then you can cancel an evade result. Also, evade tokens count as evade results, so autoblaster weapons aren't absolutely terrible. Still not worth it generally though.

Y-Wings never scared me either. I mostly ran Interceptors, Defenders and TIEs with EPT slots. You'd be amazed how quickly Y-Wings evaporate into flotsam and screams when they don't get to roll evades at all.

Ion Pulse Missile? You need a TL to fire, but don't spend it. It gives 2 Ion to whatever it hits, so big ships are Ionized in one shot.

I've recently re-read the Ion Torpedo which does 4 red dice (and doesn't cancel them) and Ionizes everything in R1. I'm going to be trying this out, especially with Epic games.

Oh, and Epic is getting some boosts with the Gozanti. I'm really excited to try some more Epic games. I think it's a different way to play the same game and very refreshing.

I always find it amusing how people who were good in Waves 1-2 with regular Ties who still play the game can really surprise newer players who never saw regular Tie Fighters used that way before. Once the Interceptor came out, many people went to that as their elite Tie Fighter, but the old one in the hands of a good player is still amazing.

Yes, I was already aware of that. I loooooooove shooting down Headhunters!

You might like the scum & villainy version less!

One less pilot skill compared to the Rebel versions, but their unique upgrades - the Illicit upgrade - turn them into dangerous kamikazes with either Feedback Array or Deadman's Switch.

I always find it amusing how people who were good in Waves 1-2 with regular Ties who still play the game can really surprise newer players who never saw regular Tie Fighters used that way before. Once the Interceptor came out, many people went to that as their elite Tie Fighter, but the old one in the hands of a good player is still amazing.

Indeed. A pack of the named TIE fighters - there will soon be too many to use all of them at once - is very, very nasty. TIE/fo fighters are the same, too - both types have exceptional pilot abilities on their named pilots.

TIE Fighters are somewhat viable again because of an EPT called Crackshot. It's been FAQ'ed to trigger /after/ your opponent rolls and modifies defense dice, then you can cancel an evade result. Also, evade tokens count as evade results, so autoblaster weapons aren't absolutely terrible. Still not worth it generally though.

Autoblaster Turrets are alright. It is like a weird Seismic Charge that isn't as reliabel, but permanent. And only against one ship. actually it is almost nothing like it, but it can have similar effects. You are right for the cannon, though, just so useless.

Unless you put it on Super Dash, makes that ship highly skill dependant all of a sudden! I certainly enjoyed my time with that. Good Corranslayer, too.

Don't let people tell you weird things about TIE Bombers, they are not a bad ship and also really fun. None were played at worlds, but that doesn't mean much if you are looking for fun!

Ion Pulse Missile? You need a TL to fire, but don't spend it. It gives 2 Ion to whatever it hits, so big ships are Ionized in one shot.

I didn't mean those. They've been around for ages and I already knew about them, and used them a lot. I meant Mag Pulse Warheads. They disable weapon systems.

If you've been out for a while, and enjoy aces, someone should probably warn you about Stresshogs.

Y-wings went from 'not great' to 'toolbox of nasty tricks' in the past few waves, and key among them is the ability to lock a turret to the forward arc but then get two attacks, both it an their primary.

R3-A2 can dish out a stress once per attack selection, no hits required.

Yes, Y-wings are now one of the strongest control weapons in the game. Or one of the best high-agility-swatting turrets around with TLT. And they can carry bombs, for extra hilarity...

Needless to say, watch Soontir Fel very, very carefully around them.

If you've been out for a while, and enjoy aces, someone should probably warn you about Stresshogs.

Y-wings went from 'not great' to 'toolbox of nasty tricks' in the past few waves, and key among them is the ability to lock a turret to the forward arc but then get two attacks, both it an their primary.

R3-A2 can dish out a stress once per attack selection, no hits required.

Yes, Y-wings are now one of the strongest control weapons in the game. Or one of the best high-agility-swatting turrets around with TLT. And they can carry bombs, for extra hilarity...

Needless to say, watch Soontir Fel very, very carefully around them.

Oooooouuuutmaaaaaneeeeuuuuvveeerrrrr

TIE Fighters are somewhat viable again because of an EPT called Crackshot. It's been FAQ'ed to trigger /after/ your opponent rolls and modifies defense dice, then you can cancel an evade result.

Yes, that's in the FAQ, but that isn't a change -- it's a clarification. In the original rules, any ability that cancels a die had to happen at the beginning of the "compare results" step. That line didn't make it into the TFA rules, so they added it to the card's FAQ to make it clear. I believe the card was designed according to the first version of the rules, so it didn't need that clarification. Crack Shot was never a "modify defense dice" ability.

If you've been out for a while, and enjoy aces, someone should probably warn you about Stresshogs.

Y-wings went from 'not great' to 'toolbox of nasty tricks' in the past few waves, and key among them is the ability to lock a turret to the forward arc but then get two attacks, both it an their primary.

R3-A2 can dish out a stress once per attack selection, no hits required.

Yes, Y-wings are now one of the strongest control weapons in the game. Or one of the best high-agility-swatting turrets around with TLT. And they can carry bombs, for extra hilarity...

Needless to say, watch Soontir Fel very, very carefully around them.

Oooooouuuutmaaaaaneeeeuuuuvveeerrrrr

Absolutely!

Just some folks find it hard to keep out of a Y-wing that's deliberately hanging back and using its Range 2 & 3 as Deathtrap Zones... so that you're corraled into being shot at by the rest of their list.

It can be quite a tricky target.

no need to outmanuever anymore

we got Jukes!

cuts right through them, real brutal

(though I'm generally astounded by how many evades my opponents roll on 1 agility, frequently more than I do with the FOs, and how powerful you feel just pointing at the fickle dice and shouting JUKE! **** thing gives you an extra 3-4 damage per round that would've bounced off of sheer luck)

Is Juke good? I've been thinking of putting it on Serissu. I think you want it on high Pilot Skill pilots so that they can attack before needing to spend the token. I'm just not sure if 8 will be high enough.

oh it's great, but two things

1.) works better when spammed. Focus is a fairly ubiquitous action, and while Juke's threat is still great (can't focus upon losing action, which generally means no bumping, no obstacles, no red maneuver; no using it to modify offense etc.) it is far greater when stacked (only so many focus to go through). Plus, the more Jukes you have, the more you'll have after getting one or two shot off by higher PS pilots

2.) works better with modifiers. Unmodified dice are the ******* pits and Juke is utterly worthless without damage coming through. This is why Juke will be great on things such as Strom with Accuracy Corrector, or the FO ferrying an evade around with Relay so it can focus (+Howlrunner); not so much on Scyks

not so much on Scyks

I figured you'd say something like that. You have a good point about actions, though. If I could PtL to take focus and evade it'd be great, but that replaces Juke. I think PtL is the better EPT in this case. [sorry to derail the thread.]

What about Juke on Vader? Or is he too early in the combat to make it worth while? I'd think he can use the other action to move, get that TL, or Focus. Then, he gets the free extra crit when he attacks, why not make someone reduce their results?