I do play everything but only the Empire has defenders my one true love.

Rather than a FFG bias towards rebels, maybe they are just a wave ahead at present and wave 9 will bring balance to the force.

Agree, it's just that rebels have been, and will no doubt continue to be, a wave ahead in terms of big expansions, with scum trailing behind. With the Gozanti, imperial parity was briefly achieved for a week; I think that's part of the contributing factor, to be honest. That and unique rebel abilities staying that way, as opposed to, for example, imperial bombs and stealth. It's more of an emotional reaction than anything, I think. But hey, if imperial players aren't allowed to give in to the darkside from time to time, then who the hell is?

What I would agree though is that Rebels seem to be getting more 'cool new toys' lately. ... the new imp stuff revitalises and gives options for existing strategies whereas the new toys for the Rebels have more of an impact on play style. This is creating more of a buzz. There's just so much you can do with the contents of the Ghost for example. ... I'm hoping the Ghost gets an Imperial counterpoint in the TFA FO shuttle perhaps. Hux, Ren and Phasma all yet to be seen too and could bring the cool new toys to everyone's favourite oppressors.

Agreed.

Anyway, doesn't matter which way you cut it, the Ghost is an incredibly exciting expansion for X-Wing, I think it has to stand out as FFG's best yet, right? Great times.

actually, the only standard we have for matching ship-types is for ship-restricted upgrades

as defined by the rule reference, they must contain the entirety of the specified ship in order to be a legal target

it then goes on to explicitly give the FO as an example of a Tie Fighter

Tie Fighter Only

Tie/FO Fighter

for the same reason, the T-70 X-wing is an X-wing

by contrast, the Tie Adv. Prototype is not a Tie Advance (and it was given that silly name specifically to prohibit the overpowered Tie/x1 fix on a ship that doesn't need it)

Thank you, ficklegreendice!. I can't for the life of me figure out why Hobojebus persists that they're different when it's EXPLICITLY STATED IN THE RULES! So frustrating when people disseminate erroneous information, misleading the masses.

EDIT: Sorry, I don't usually get my feathers ruffled like that. Nothing personal against you Hobojebus, but in this case what you said just wasn't true.

to be 100% fair, that is only from the rule reference definition of ship-type restricted upgrades (such as titles)

it doesn't technically state that the same definition would apply to Youngster or Docking Clamps

we can, however, assume it'll be a horrible un-intuitive nightmare if it does not

So it seems not only are Rebels ahead in the cool stuff they get, but thier ships are biggdr then our Imperial ships(just referring to regular play, not epic format)

Now the Ghost is coming with some kind of new stand and peg.

that's just standard, though

imperials have the teeny tiny cloud of hornets type ships

to compensate, they got real ******* huge hornet's nests

that's just standard, though

imperials have the teeny tiny cloud of hornets type ships

to compensate, they got real ******* huge hornet's nests

that aren't anywhere to be seen because power-level progressed far from the beehive swarm or howlie swarm.

Yea, IMHO the TIE swarm just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.

yeah, I get it. you should totally quit TIEs.

better yet: quit empire.

send them to me, I will take care of all those ships nobody wants to fly because they are useless*

*except E-Wings. they go straight to the wastebin because of looks.

TIE swarm is still really, really good. You don't see it played much in a tournament because it's an exhausting list to play.

TIE swarm is still really, really good. You don't see it played much in a tournament because it's an exhausting list to play.

Doesn't have to be, as long as all the ships and dials are clearly marked. What really helps is putting decal numbers on the plastic part of the dial. If you've got an afternoon to color code the dials and tombstones with citadel paints, it becomes even better. It's just so much easier to think of them as mr pink and mr white than 42 or 66.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

The empire has some amazing options. My goal currently is to build an Imperial build that instead of being crippled by stress, laughs at it. Too any Imp aces (Vader, Soontir, whisper) shudder at stress

The empire has some amazing options. My goal currently is to build an Imperial build that instead of being crippled by stress, laughs at it. Too any Imp aces (Vader, Soontir, whisper) shudder at stress

Vessery with Wired (or Crackshot).

Part of the current feeling is how great the Ghost release looks (and quite a few look powerful and playable) and that the rebels literally have an extra ship over the empire and scum to fly. Another problem is top tier competitive imperial lists feature the same pilots that is imperials were flying in wave 1 and 2; they are better than they were back then but they are the same.

yeah, I get it. you should totally quit TIEs.

better yet: quit empire.

send them to me, I will take care of all those ships nobody wants to fly because they are useless*

*except E-Wings. they go straight to the wastebin because of looks.

Use hobby knife, plasticard 1mm and FIX IT or FIX IT ANOTHER WAY

We've been browsing the possibilities and came up with an epic "FIX ECHO SO THAT IT'S USEFUL" fix

not even Han will shoot first now!

Muahahaha

People get way too caught up on the absolute most popular bits of the meta. There's a truly silly amount of competitive way to play Imperials, and there's truly a wealth of pilots that can be put to good use (even if a number of them are often overlooked). And even at the "pinnacle" level of the meta there's Palp+Aces, and RAC+Whisper/Fel can beat literally anything (though a TLT swarm will require some work). Oh, and crackswarms, of course.

With that said, you could also fly a more "traditional" swarm (or a massive variety of variants that include TIE/FOs, INTs, or Bombers), some combination of aces (Three Amigos, or really any combo of INTs and ADVs), generic ADVs with ACs is solid, TIE Bombers are flying murder now thanks to EM if you take the time to actually learn how to fly them, Ace/Deci+miniswarm, the TIE/FO is freaking amazing is you haven't given her a proper spin yet... virtually anything beyond TIE Defenders strike me as potentially awesome in Imperial hands (even Imp Firesprays can be effective still!). And heck, I still hear others talking up their beloved Defenders, though all I can think is Brath+PTL+TIE/MkII... which is silly expensive still.

Point is, the Empire has a lot going for it. Just because they don't have TLT-spam or C-3PO doesn't change that at all, and if anything the Empire's only problem is that it has a lot of options that are simply being overlooked. I've been having both a lot of fun and success running TIE/FOs, especially Omega Pilots with PTL. Phantoms are still awesome (and not just Whisper, but she is awesome), Interceptors are still awesome (except "Fel's Wrath"), the TIE Advanced has a litany of fun pilots and possibilities (up to and including Vader), Bombers have a steep learning curve but are underrated (even Rhymer can be squeezed into a list these days without feeling overly guilty), Punisher has a duo of rockin' named pilots... Just so much you can do with em'.

I'm not sure of that. Phantoms (even post nerf) and Decimaters have gotten play. Individuals have had major success with Bombers (Sable's 2014 list), bit I'd love to see them more mainstream. If this is truly the time of the ace, you'd think Death rain would get more play, but stress hoses him as much as anyone.

Yea, IMHO the TIE swarm just doesn't seem to cut it anymore.

It made top 16 at worlds.

Edit: this was in response to Rakky Wistol's post.

TIE swarm is still really, really good. You don't see it played much in a tournament because it's an exhausting list to play.

Doesn't have to be, as long as all the ships and dials are clearly marked. What really helps is putting decal numbers on the plastic part of the dial. If you've got an afternoon to color code the dials and tombstones with citadel paints, it becomes even better. It's just so much easier to think of them as mr pink and mr white than 42 or 66.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

TIE swarm is still really, really good. You don't see it played much in a tournament because it's an exhausting list to play.

Doesn't have to be, as long as all the ships and dials are clearly marked. What really helps is putting decal numbers on the plastic part of the dial. If you've got an afternoon to color code the dials and tombstones with citadel paints, it becomes even better. It's just so much easier to think of them as mr pink and mr white than 42 or 66.

Where there's a will, there's a way.

Keeping track of your ships' dials is not what makes playing a swarm challenging. It's the cognitive load of planning maneuvers for 7-8 ships instead of 2-4. A swarm isn't going to stay in formation for very long, and turns when you assign most of your ships the same maneuver are few. Once the swarm breaks you have to consider where each ship is going, including which order to move them to prevent bumps, their resulting firing arcs, and how much damage each ship has. Formulaic strategies like the Death Blossom can help somewhat, but it doesn't fully mitigate the fact that you usually have to do twice as much thinking as your opponent.

While a well-played swarm can wreck face in friendly games, playing a swarm match after match in a tournament is draining. I believe this is one of the reasons why the two-ship meta is so pervasive; there's fewer opportunities to make mistakes when you only have to plan maneuvers for two ships. Concentration is a limited resource, and when you have to play multiple consecutive games it's in your best interest not to over-exert yourself.

This.

I've flown a swarm at a tournament before (Zs with Ebaht, but hey, still six ships!), and it was a draining to mentally plot all those paths. By the end of it, I was almost excited to be done (despite having a lot of fun and actually doing really well). And that was with only six ships...

And I had no problem keeping track of dials and which ship was which, that part was easy. It's the whole "okay, need to keep these guys lining up their arc with this guy, and if he moves here then he needs to move here but then I can't because my opponent will be there probably so I need to go here instead which means these guys have to actually do this instead..."

It's still a load of fun, but several hours of it will wear on you.

I'm not sure of that. Phantoms (even post nerf) and Decimaters have gotten play. Individuals have had major success with Bombers (Sable's 2014 list), bit I'd love to see them more mainstream. If this is truly the time of the ace, you'd think Death rain would get more play, but stress hoses him as much as anyone.

It's worse in some ways because he's still two attack base for a 40 point ship.

They do indeed have a place - breathing down the neck of rebels in pole position! It's so close that we really shouldn't be too worried I think. Plus the /fo is about to get really nasty, I can't wait to take it out for a spin! I look forward to playing against the Ghost, it looks a lot more fun to fly against than Dash, for example. Roll on Wave 8 i say.

I'm not sure of that. Phantoms (even post nerf) and Decimaters have gotten play. Individuals have had major success with Bombers (Sable's 2014 list), bit I'd love to see them more mainstream. If this is truly the time of the ace, you'd think Death rain would get more play, but stress hoses him as much as anyone.

It's worse in some ways because he's still two attack base for a 40 point ship.

D. Rain is 37 points for

Acc corrector

Seismics

Conners

Munitions

The reason he doesn't see much play is because hes incredibly Skill intensive (need to position very well for bombs; lack of defensive tech) and difficult to build around

It has little to do with stress, at least in my experience. Seismic into premove roll into post move boost is pretty apt at arcdodging r3-a2, god of stress

Imperial meta? Haven't you heard. The Empire lost at Jakka, and the First Order are the new overlords of the galaxy, or was that the Rebels with all their crazy what seems to be OP ships...