I know Initiative is a huge factor in the game and I love going first and getting to leverage deployment. But I also love the objectives and getting to see a plan come together. What do you guys think is a good bid? How important is it to bid well? Just kinda looking for some opinions on this part of the game as it is unique to this and I don't find it in any other game that I personally play.

Personally just learned to do well first or second. Then, max points and just roll with whatever is handed to me.

More efficient that way for fleet building

It is very difficult to give a General Overview on the portion of Initiative that you should bid, as it varies from Area to Area, Meta to Meta.

For example, I was finding that 5 points was almost a guaranteed Inititive for Second Player - I preferred Second, as I was able to make Demolishers come to my B-Wings back in Wave 1.

However, that has changed a lot, and now, I'm looking at being out-bid, even when I go for 7 or 8 points...

Its a very tricky subject that will need constant alignment with your opponents to have any real meaning...

... Otherwise you go with your Gut and have Fun.

What is considered a good bid will depend on your fleet and how comfortable you are with going first or second. If you are truly comfortable going either first or second, as Mike is, then you don't need to make any bid at all!

For others you may want to go first to get the jump on the squadron battle, and for others they may want to go second to ensure a favourable objective.

That's one of the reasons this game is so great!

The bids importance varies from list to list and play style.

A few key points though

Black dice want 1st player

Red dice want 2nd player

Small ships want 1st player

Larger ships want 2nd player

Squads want 1st but have the most powerful objectives and help mitigate any 2nd player disadvantage

1st player picks objective so if an opponents objective is weak, it can easily be turned against the 2nd player (for example fighter builds tend to have a poor yellow objective which can be caused problems)

I usually bid 4-6 points just in case (even if I don't care picking is always good)

If I want to go 1st I go as high as 10-11 points

If I want to go 2nd I max out my list at 400

I'll largely echo Clon's suggestions and thoughts. I've never seen (or heard of) an initiative bid of 20 or more. If you want to guarantee that you get to choose first every time, something in that vicinity should do it (until that changes the "meta," of course). I have seen bids as high as 19, and bids in the 10-14 point range aren't uncommon.

20 points (and even 10-14, at least for me) feels like an awful lot of points to leave on the table, though. Personally I lean towards full-to-maxed out lists that have more flexibility, so that I can hopefully make something happen with either first or second. There are some list-building choices you can make to try to sway your opponent in your preferred direction. If you like going second, taking lots of ships (and Demolisher, if you're the Empire) is a good way to make your opponent really think about letting you go first. Taking Han can also be a deterrent, since he essentially allows you to have the first two activations of the game if you're first player (if you want it). Objective choice is obviously important, in the event you are second player. Having a lot of models (ships + squadrons) makes both first and second player less painful, in my experience, so I err on the side of packing more in than less, even if that means taking fewer luxury upgrades on my ships, or generic squadrons over heroes and Rogues.

If you're building a list that you feel has to be either first or second player to be effective/competitive, then that probably merits further attention to the initiative bid (or more list-building consideration, or playtesting, or practice, or all of the above). If you just have a preference for one over the other, then observing your local meta and/or going with your gut is the way to go.

It is very difficult to give a General Overview on the portion of Initiative that you should bid, as it varies from Area to Area, Meta to Meta.

For example, I was finding that 5 points was almost a guaranteed Inititive for Second Player - I preferred Second, as I was able to make Demolishers come to my B-Wings back in Wave 1.

However, that has changed a lot, and now, I'm looking at being out-bid, even when I go for 7 or 8 points...

Its a very tricky subject that will need constant alignment with your opponents to have any real meaning...

... Otherwise you go with your Gut and have Fun.

Larger ships want 2nd player

I will have to disagree with this. A 2 ship Twin ISD list does not always want to go second. Going first means you can hit something or even delay your opponents plans. Second is usually always reacting to first player.

Larger ships want 2nd player

I will have to disagree with this. A 2 ship Twin ISD list does not always want to go second. Going first means you can hit something or even delay your opponents plans. Second is usually always reacting to first player.

I agree. At least sometimes. Uh... it's complicated...

For my twin ISD lists, I usually want to be second player at the beginning--since I only have two ships (that are very arc-dependent), I want the opponent to be using my choice of objectives (Advanced Gunnery FTW), I want to see where he's deploying, I want to see what direction his fleet is moving. In other words, I want to react a bit so one of my ships doesn't get woefully out of position.

Right around the start of round 3, I want to be first player, so I can get an edge in the squadron battle and blow things up before they move away.

Fortunately, either way, I always get half of what I want, at some point during the match... for what that's worth

It depends on your meta. A bid of 2 pts was enough for the initiative in our last nationals. Ever since then and wave 2 a bid of 12 is common to secure 1st or 2nd. On the same token there are lots of players who roll no bid and max out efficiency

I have a couple of articles on my site in my signature that talks about this subject exactly. Check it out.

Also it strictly depends on list if you want initiative vs. Not.