So this is a measure of curiosity. I want to see what people think is their faction's best ship. Not so much the pilot, exactly, but just what ship do people think is the best for the factions? If you comment, please say which factions you play, and then list which one you think is the best for each and why. I am also curious to see how people assess ships for factions they don't play, so even if you are an Imperial, you should still say what ship you think is best for Rebels.

Not wanting to bias early results, I'm gonna wait a little while before saying what I think.

"Best" isn't a good word to use, so here are my personal preferences.

Rebels: B-wings. Good argument could be made for the Falcon, but I feel like that's the cheap option.

Empire: Hard to say, as I don't get to play Imps much (I provide everything, friends like to take em). I'd say Interceptors, as they're great all around. Or the Firespray, but since it's cross-faction I'll leave it out.

Scum: Aggressor, hands down.

basically yeah, "best" is meaningless without further context

for example, the r3-a2 Gold Squadron may be the "best" rebel ship and it will win games for you, but it ain't winning games on its own. In fact, you're lucky if it even kills a single enemy

Best double tap:

Rebs: Corran, duh (stresshog honorable mention)

Imps: defender with /D title

Scum: TLT BTL unhinged Y

Best blocker:

Rebs: Prototype A with refit

Imps: academy TIE

Scum: feedback Z (Scyk honorable mention)

Best arc dodger:

Rebs: Poe

Imps: Fel (honorable mention prenerf phantoms)

Scum: ? IG, I guess

Best control:

Rebs: TLT stresshog

Imps: ? Ship with Mara and captive

Scum: Scyk with ion

Best unique trick pony

Rebs: Biggs

Imps: doom shuttle

Scum: Z with deadman switch

Just musing really, don't really know what the OP wanted for sure.

I play rebels. The best for me are the Falcon and E-wings.

Being fairly new to playing X-wing I have no "best" ship options as of yet, probably never because to me it will come down to style of play and "eyeballing" the field while playing.

I do want to play out the Ghost/Phantom combo in the upcoming winter tourney. I do think they gave a good balance of pilot abilities and crew upgrades to match the characters from the show and will give a good showing vs all comers.

For Imperials, I am partial to the TIE Fighter. I like just how cheap the TIE is, it has a decent dial too, and a lot of nice pilots. I think it makes for good filler or bulk in lists, depending on what you are doing.

Imperials and Scum.

The TIE Fighter is it for me. It's cost-efficient and doesn't have any direct counters when fielded en masse. It works against TLTs, large ships, can block action-dependent ships, and can fit into most Imperial lists.

For Scum, the Aggressor on paper, but the Firespray is more versatile and I've had most success with the latter (46-9 with Scum Firesprays).

Are we actually getting to a point in this game where loadouts and pilots are basically understood and built in pre-set blocks?

eg:

Soontir usually run with ptl auto + stealth/shield ALWAYS now for 36 points as one block.

Vader VI ATC EU 35

Palp 29

In a vaccum, nothing is better than a buzzsaw Oicunn. It slices and dices and kills any other one ship.

Then points come into play, and a 50 point ship that takes 2 a turn isn't desirable.

Are we actually getting to a point in this game where loadouts and pilots are basically understood and built in pre-set blocks?

eg:

Soontir usually run with ptl auto + stealth/shield ALWAYS now for 36 points as one block.

Vader VI ATC EU 35

Palp 29

largely, except for the newer releases/buffs

Y-wings are split between thug life ICT + btl-a4, TLT (+/- r4), or TLT + btl-a4 +r3-a2

K-wings got both Miranda and Warden packing TLT tacticians, except Miranda also rocks C3po and seismics charges very well. If sabine takes off, A-SLAM Wardens will be the new hotness etc.

for the new stuff, Tie FOs seem to promise a variety of builds, the two Defender fix titles will leads to different varieties of defender, and god alone knows how long it'll take to sift through all the possible builds of the Ghost/Phantom

Wellll as much as I like the idea, I think I'm incapable of saying which three ships are The Best for each faction, so instead I'll list the three I currently most enjoy playing, listed in my faction preference...

1 Imperial Tie Adv. - lots of great pilots, two distinct archetypes and above them all like a gloriously violent old-school god sits Vader. Its limitations only make it more fun to try and use correctly, unlike the interceptor. Hout out to the accuracy corrector tempest, the ship that always strays into my lists without me consciously meaning it to!

2 Scum Khiraxz - not my favourite pilots (bugzapper Z, Xizor, Kath) but my favourite collection ... the cartel marauder is a punchy cheap ship for 20pts whose best asset is its great dial. The Blacksun Ace was born for the rock n' roll glittercrack lifestyle, and talonbane is always a brief but excellent moment of violence in any game. Very closely followed by the starviper, but I'd rather take a generic Khiraxz out to play any day of the week!

3 Rebel K-wing - I love ma bombs, and this thing is hands down the greatest bomber in the game. I also find the tlt tactician a big dollop of fun, and Miranda has some serious flexibility in how she can be run. Such a great combination of chracteristics in one ship, it rocks.

For me I think the A wing is my favourite Rebel ship, it has some of the most interesting pilot abilities and I love nippy interceptors generally.

Phantom is my favourite Imp ship for much the same reason, though Soontir is a close second.

Scum don't really have a really good nippy interceptor, but I do have a soft spot for the YV666, especially with Latts Razzi/K4/Weapons Engineer. And probably a Tractor Beam now, with a high-init ally with Swarm Tactics.

I play mostly scum and imps. If we are just looking at the ships and ships only (without upgrades and pilot abilities) I think the Kihraxz and the Headhunter are the best ships in scum to fill the wholes at the moment. nothings beats the headhunter in cost efficiency and for 8 points more you get one more health, a better dial and that important extra red die.

the empire doesn't really do generics well except for the TIE fighter. maybe the firespray but I would only play it in scum anyway

the rebels have the best choices for generics in my opinion as the B-Wing is still a very good allround ship for those 22 points. 3 attack dice, 8 health and barrel roll plus lots of options on that dial! (especially 2 k-turn and 1 hard turn). headhunter and both x-wings are good options too (especially of course with IA). I still think that BBBBZ is one of the best allround lists out there.

now in my opinion the best (best = fun + somewhat competitive) ships including upgrades and pilots are these:

scum:

- IG88B+C w/ various loadouts

- Bossk w/ calculation and outlaw tech (you can load it up more, but I like to keep it cheap for more ships in my squad)

imps:

- Soontir w/ RGT,AT,SD,PTL

- tempest w/ AC (I'm still amazed by how good this ship can be with evade every turn)

rebels:

- Jake w/ title,AT,PTL,VI,CR (or prockets if you have the points)

- Keyan w/ PTL

- Super Dash

and of course there is the TLT's but I don't particularly enjoy flying them I suppose the Stresshog is a very good ship but fortunately my buddy likes to fly fast and aggressive ships

Best double tap:

Rebs: Corran, duh (stresshog honorable mention)

Imps: defender with /D title

Scum: TLT BTL unhinged Y

Best blocker:

Rebs: Prototype A with refit

Imps: academy TIE

Scum: feedback Z (Scyk honorable mention)

Best arc dodger:

Rebs: Poe

Imps: Fel (honorable mention prenerf phantoms)

Scum: ? IG, I guess

Best control:

Rebs: TLT stresshog

Imps: ? Ship with Mara and captive

Scum: Scyk with ion

Best unique trick pony

Rebs: Biggs

Imps: doom shuttle

Scum: Z with deadman switch

Just musing really, don't really know what the OP wanted for sure.

The Imperial ship you are looking for is perhaps the Tie Shuttle Bomber Jonus with Mara and Captive/Tactician?

• Best rebel ship: That one is hard. rebels have a lot of really strong ships in different departments. The Falcon and Outrider are kings of the fat ships, but they have rightfully fallen out of favor because of TLT and don't really have other competetive archetypes. The B-Wing is an amazingly efficient ship and also a sweet toolbox thanks to systems and E2. It has also suffered from TLTs being more reliable because of the turret advantage. E-Wing, T-70 and to a lesser extend K-Wing have really good aces, but the generics are just bad. Z-95s and A-Wings are really strong fillers. My pick here is the A-Wing, which might be suprising, but in addition to both generics being amazing it gets one great and one good ace. It is set to perform well in a world of aces and TLTs. It also helps that it is very fun.

I'll go with my preferences too. I'm mostly a Rebel player, but I do play all factions and lately I've been having a lot of fun with Scum & Villainy.

Rebellion: B-Wing (yes, TLTs hurt it a lot but it still can't be ignored)

Scum & Villainy: StarViper (costly but maneuverable and resilient... with Autothrusters as an auto-include of course)

Empire: TIE Defender (always loved that ship, and now with the upcoming Imperial Veterans' pack it will be even better)

I more or less exclusively play scum. I have three teirs because my "best" is condictional for what I want out of the craft.

Best scum big ship: VG-666. Unlike most ships it doesn't lie about how duriable it is for a cut throat price. Won one game because the oppoment formed a parking lot infront of it and he didn't stop blasting all game. XD Aggressor is a very honourable mention and strictly speaking is probably the better ship.

Best Small ship: Y-wing. Absolute workhouse for what he does! Noteable mention is the Starviper, which is actually my favourate ship. Z-95 is only barely third because I've had some blow out turns involving them.

Best Unique Pilot: Either Guri or Xizor. The latter of which actually turns the starviper into a mega duriable crit sponge.

Best ship?

CR-90 with Weapons Engineer, WED-15 Repair Droid, Sensor Team, Ordnance Experts, Engineering Team, Backup Shield Generator, Ordnance Tubes and 3 x Homing Missile Hardpoints.

Don't know why everyone else is suggesting starfighters.

If best=most cost-efficient then

Empire: Tie Fighter

Rebels: B-wing

Mercs: Kihraxz

If best = solo-powerhouse then

Empire: Soontir mother#### Fell

Rebels: Pony Damerony

Mercs: IG Crabs

Maybe in tournaments and these forums, which isn't where most x-wing is played.

Are we actually getting to a point in this game where loadouts and pilots are basically understood and built in pre-set blocks?

eg:

Soontir usually run with ptl auto + stealth/shield ALWAYS now for 36 points as one block.

Vader VI ATC EU 35

Palp 29

Clearly the TIE Fighter, flown by the Curse of Darkness.

"Best" isn't a good word to use, so here are my personal preferences.

Rebels: B-wings. Good argument could be made for the Falcon, but I feel like that's the cheap option.

Empire: Hard to say, as I don't get to play Imps much (I provide everything, friends like to take em). I'd say Interceptors, as they're great all around. Or the Firespray, but since it's cross-faction I'll leave it out.

Scum: Aggressor, hands down.

I'd be curious to know how you are using/kitting out your Firespray. Love the ship, but I am getting little use out of it.

Thanks

Defenders, As, and StarVipers.

Also.....best for what? The B-wing is better in 100 pt Deathmatches, but the X-wing is better in missions or epic play where speed is more important.

the empire doesn't really do generics well except for the TIE fighter.

I disagree with this. I love my Scimitar Pilot Tie Bombers. Omnicron Pilot is still the best Shuttle. Accuracy Corrector Tie Adv is solid. Royal Guard Pilots aren't bad. Tie FO's are also good.