Full Disclosure, I'm primarily a scum and imp player.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems the strong meta builds as of late have been heavily favoring Rebs, and to a lesser degree scum. All the stuff out there to turn Y wings into death machines, the mini falcon K wing, and the nearly as good as super fel t-70 aces all seem to be way more powerful and, more troubling, exploitable than what the Imps have received as of late. I'm not saying imps have gotten nothing good, just that what they have gotten seems less exploitable. There's some potent stuff on the horizon for the imperials, namely imperial veterans will finally make the tie defender scary. But somehow this seems eclipsed by the other recent developments to the rebel and scum metas, Thoughts?

I agree. The lists with Palpfalcon, Vader's X-Wing and Soontir in an A-Wing have been unbeatable for me. Rebels really dominate this game.

The wheel turns. There was a time when it was Rebels that couldn't compete with all the new stuff the Imperials had. Wait until Imperial Veterans is released, and those days will be back.

At least the main Imperial fighter in the films is good. Unlike the poor X-wing

No. Game to game, Imperials are balanced with Rebels ... perhaps even better. Rebels close the gap and edge ahead in multi-round tournaments, due to their reliance on consistency over luck: HP instead of AGI; shields instead of hull; TL instead of Focus; and so on.

Over multiple games, the chance that Imperials will have terrible luck, costing them a game or two, is higher than that of Rebels. Losing a game is devastating to finishing high in a tournament.

It's also true that sometimes Imperials will have tremendous luck, crushing someone hopelessly in a game. The problem is, that game doesn't count twice.

Because of this, BTW, Imperials are much harder to balance than Rebels. That's why Imperials tend to need fixes -- explicit or implicit in new releases -- more than Rebels do. (And of course, whodafuk knows with Scum?)

I say wait for the new wave to hit in about a month. That prototype may change things being another cheap ship.

Double Poe Rebs mirror match at Worlds finales.

That's all.

No way. Imperial lists are dominating the store championships right now.

They've won most of the big championships in hyper-competitive metas so far: Las Vegas, Atlanta, Phoenix, DC.

Imps didn't win Raleigh/Durham, but they were half of the Top 4.

Just wait until Imperial Veterans.

Then Defenders will probably be in the meta.

IT does feel that way when you take a look at all the releases from wave 7 to 8. In Wave 7 Scum and Rebels got TLT which started right at the top of the meta. Imps got more useless missile torpedoes and bombs and a ship to deliver them.

In all the TFA release this time it was Scum that was the biggest looser. The winner, Rebs with Poe, and a big winner too as Poe was in the worlds champion list.

Now with Wave 8 approaching Scum finally get their 360 PWT ship and Rebs now get a flying mini-huge ship much like the decimator and hounds tooth combine. What do imperials get? An A-wing.

So yeah when you look at it it does seem like Imperials get the less especially in compassion with what the Rebels got. What Imperials need is their own turret slotted ship. They don't need any more arc dodgers or fast ships. A whole set of secondary weapons is begin kept from them for practically no reason. Maybe Wave 9 will fix that but as for now they just have to make do with Soontir and ATC.

Imperial Veterans may help a little. The Jonus Brothers might turn into a good list. But to be fair after these past launches they deserved a cookie. Still scum needs their aces pack too, they have been out in the cold with all the TFA stuff.

I wonder how much Ruthlessness is holding them back on Imperial turrets. TLT + Ruthlessness could be goofy overpowered..

I'm hoping for a TIE Aggressor so Imp get their own TLT platform.

And will Veterans gives Imp a boost, Rebels will most likely get one as well. The last time a regular wave had an Imperial ship that was better than the Rebel one was wave four, and they removed that one with errata.

I'm hoping for a TIE Aggressor so Imp get their own TLT platform.

And will Veterans gives Imp a boost, Rebels will most likely get one as well. The last time a regular wave had an Imperial ship that was better than the Rebel one was wave four, and they removed that one with errata.

Its not what is was, but its still better than the rebel ship(s).

I wonder how much Ruthlessness is holding them back on Imperial turrets. TLT + Ruthlessness could be goofy overpowered..

Good point, it would be well ruthlessness and vader in terms of balance concerns. But IMHO I think it is more thematic reasons why Imperials don't have a ship with a turret slot. All their small fighters are TIE Fighters and with the exception of the TIE/SF (Which hopefully will come out in wave 9) all shoot straight forward.

Hopefully Wave 9 they will get their own TIE/SF with 4 hull 0 shields and a crew. I don't think vader would be that much of a concern as it would be just as effective as putting it on a Phantom. Ruthlessness maybe might be a thing but that would mostly be for a swarm. If you can't hit Corran and your opponent makes sure not to fly him near other friendly ships ruthlessness won't be a thing. You don't see it that much on ships like the decimator which it came in. That EPT can be easily played around.

I just played in a store championship yesterday (35 players) where all 4 top four finishers were Imperial. Empire is getting huge new instruments for their lists. Rebels are still solid. Scum is still brobots.

The Empire seriously just got a pilot that can move every time he's attacked in the attack phase, and another that can attack with 3 Die at any range. Even range 3. And reduce their agility. At range 3.

No.

They're about to do very, very well.

I wonder how much Ruthlessness is holding them back on Imperial turrets. TLT + Ruthlessness could be goofy overpowered..

It would make the TLT either overpowered or practically unuseable, depending on the situation. However, it would be funny to see enemy ships hugging yours to avoid the Ruthless TLT

Just wait until Imperial Veterans.

Then Defenders will probably be in the meta.

I hope so with a fiery burning passion.

The Empire seriously just got a pilot that can move every time he's attacked in the attack phase, and another that can attack with 3 Die at any range. Even range 3. And reduce their agility. At range 3.

No.

They're about to do very, very well.

Just remember, you can only do a particular action once per turn.

The Empire seriously just got a pilot that can move every time he's attacked in the attack phase, and another that can attack with 3 Die at any range. Even range 3. And reduce their agility. At range 3.

No.

They're about to do very, very well.

Just remember, you can only do a particular action once per turn.

This.

We just got a pilot who can maybe move once, after he's been attacked and suffered any damage. Not super impressive.

The Empire seriously just got a pilot that can move every time he's attacked in the attack phase, and another that can attack with 3 Die at any range. Even range 3. And reduce their agility. At range 3.

No.

They're about to do very, very well.

What pilot gets to do that? I don't think I saw that combo yet.

I felt like the Empire was getting shafted after the Ghost was spoiled right up until Imperial Vets got announced and then felt better about it. I'm pretty sure that's why they announced it when they did.

But after the inevitable Rebel Veterans release that advantage will probably be lost. The Empire is ready for another standout regular wave ship.

Imperial Vets is amazing and make defenders into killing machines. The inquistor is so good it's silly. Bombers are going to be the next biggest thing with guidance chimps, or tie shuttle.

But what about now?

Well elite tie swarms are amazing. Ace Poe and Rebel stress meta folds hard against a halfway descent Tie or Tie F/O swarm. You can two stress all you want, I have 4 more ships ready to go. You can regen? That's cool, take 10 - 15 shots a turn and try to regen. Or I'll jump in my Phantom and just get rid of your Poe in two shots.

I have been testing two lists:

4 F/Os and an academy. (Jukes and comm relay like wild plus Zeta leader). 1-2 evades (Kwing, Ywing, t70, Dash) all double regen lists melt to lord juke. I've also ran a two F/O with palpshuttle and Doom shuttle (double shuttle!) and popped Poe in alpha strike by getting 4 hits through with the help of Palp then Vader critting for a direct hit.

Now, Firesprays will get a chance to add a crit to their ordinance, making Krassis and Kath totally a thing again (especially with Rebel Captive teaching them not to attack the big ship) finally, again, the inquistor is amazing. I'm so excited, imperials rule all. Scum is in a weird place, but I'm holding out for the moisthunter and Jumpmaster.

I agree wit thhe OP about 50%. Back in the pre-Decimator days the Empire was a lot more limited. Below is a list of all the ships we had and how good they were.

Poor to Average ships:

TIE Advanced: Vader was OK, everyone else was poor.

TIE Bomber: Ordnance was poor and aside from swarm variants, the Bomber was not so good.

TIE Defender: OK due to being overcosted for what it does. They fill a role that no other ship in the Imperial fleet does so they are OK at best.

Firespray: Named pilots are meh, it is solid but unspectacular.

Shuttle: OK in limited roles. Worst dial in the game due to lack of turret.

Good Ships:

TIE Fighter: The old backbone of the fleet. Cheap and disposable. Best filler ship in the game. Must be run in a swarm of some sort or as a blocker. Named pilots are good.

TIE Interceptor: Some of the best pilots in the game. Royal Guard title made these guys great. Fragile and unforgiving.

TIE Phantom: Pre-nerf one of the scariest ships in the game. The penultimate arc-dodger. Only ship with 4 Attack. Lack of top-of-the-line PS made them susceptible to PS 9+ turrets.

What you really had was a swarm variant of some sort. Phantom and mini-swarm. Fel and mini-swarm. Full on TIE swarm. Some sort of aces list with Interceptors and/or Phantoms. Maybe a doom Shuttle. Every list suffered from the same thing, low HP ships and fickle green dice.

Now the Advanced is a good ship with the title. Defenders will be once the titles are out. The lowly shuttle got new life as a Palpatine carrier. The Bomber will with Monkeys, TIE Shuttle, and all the new Ordnance improvements. The Firespray is still solidly OK. The Phantom was hit with the nerf bat and is now OK.

The problem I see is that all the new ships are more of the same. Do we really need more low Attack, low HP, high Agility ships? Is there a real difference between the TIE Advanced, TIE F/O, and the Advanced Prototype? Aren't we just rearranging the chairs a bit and calling it a new house? I think the Punisher is a step in the right direction, but it is just a suped-up Bomber. I think teh Decimator is above average, but not great, because with 0 Agility it just dies under focused fire. And there is no C-3PO to help it out. Yssane Isard helps, but the ship is halfway dead before she kicks in.

I think the Imperials are better off then they were because of more diverse competitive ships (soon), but they may be limited due to the theme of the faction as a whole.