I've been lucky then. Do around 4/5 events a year and everyone is pretty experienced, so they just bring what they need. Have little trays to carry everything game to game, lists printed and all that.

Usually we just have to wait for people to arrive

Where is this organised Utopia? Most gamers I've ever met are a generally disorganised bunch that you have to herd like cattle.

Maybe I'm a bit too organized, and that's ok by me, I can find it fast. I do have all my upgrade cards in the same box, but they are in sections by type and sorted alphabetically. My pilots are organized by faction in separate boxes alphabetically by ship and sorted by pilot skill then by cost (you know, because X-Wings). My id tokens are in a box and as long as you don't go too high, they are all sorted by id (and then there's the quarter box that has the rest of them and that can take a while to find matching ones).

Oddly enough, my ship bases are thrown together, but they sort fast. I need a better system for them...

Maybe I'm a bit too organized, and that's ok by me, I can find it fast. I do have all my upgrade cards in the same box, but they are in sections by type and sorted alphabetically. My pilots are organized by faction in separate boxes alphabetically by ship and sorted by pilot skill then by cost (you know, because X-Wings). My id tokens are in a box and as long as you don't go too high, they are all sorted by id (and then there's the quarter box that has the rest of them and that can take a while to find matching ones).

Oddly enough, my ship bases are thrown together, but they sort fast. I need a better system for them...

Sounds like you run a similar system to me. The only things I have still mixed around are my dials. Each faction has it's own case, and each faction's dials are in that case, but they're still not completely separated. I always find I'm hunting for that last TIE Fighter dial and keep picking up TIE something else.

Yeah... it's TIE Everything in there! lol

I have some really cheap tool boxes that I picked up from Harbor Freight. They are about $3 apiece and they have removable trays which is nice. So, I have been keeping dials, cards, etc... for each build in separate tool boxes.

But something I just started doing is this:

I have a box of "normal card size sleeve holders" that I use in a folder to hold my pilots. Works dandy.

I have another folder where I turned my Upgrade cards on their side. Two of them will fit... but sometimes they fall out. Sometimes I tear the plastic trying to get to the card on the inside, bleh. Then I found found my local store was selling "Upgrade sized sleeve holder sheets." Huzzah!

I was transferring my Upgrade cards from big to small... and I happened to look at a pair of scissors I use to open the X-Wing packaging and I was like, "Wait a minute...."

I just cut one sleeve into four strips that can hold 4 cards each. So, when I am going to set up, I just pull that strip out of my tool box and put the pilot card next to it. The convenience is a plus, but the best thing is that you never look down halfway through a game and say "Wait! Where is my Recon Specialist?"

As much as the cards have incredible artwork on them and they certainly add spice to the game I'm finding they're becoming quite a burden in regards to filing, setup, and break down. It just takes too much precious game time away. Recently I've just been printing up the squads on the builder program. This keeps the table a lot cleaner and easily cuts down the prep and kill time by half. It just seems so much easier, however less visually contributive. You don't really need the cards to play.

I certainly wouldn't suggest getting rid of these awesome cards but I'm just curious as to how others deal with this issue. Do you still use them, even in small games?

When playing with my friends, sitting around building a squad is almost more fun than flying it. But we used to do the same thing with Magic way back when.

but I still have to locate the card and pull it

That's the point, I don't have to locate them because they're in my kit, and only the cards I'm actually going to use are in there. So the only time it takes is for me to remove them from the kit and put them on the table next to whatever pilot they go with.

No, I dont need the pilot card.

I don't think I'd care to play with someone who doesn't have at least the pilot cards on the table with shield tokens on them. I want to be able to glance over at the other side of the table and see what's there, how many shields it has left, how many damage cards it has, ect...What do you do with damage cards? How do you keep which pilot has X cards on them or crits?If people you play with are ok with that, then fine. But I don't think I would be and it would never be allowed at a tournament.

But, I am not making on the fly, I am building the squad in advance in the most efficent way possible, a squad builder. I am then not taking time to find the cards I need when its time to sort everything out, even if I am not playing that squad until 3 days later. I am not saying your qay doesnt work, but it cant possible be faster. The only it could is if you include the squad building step and you are faster and building a new squad than I am. That could be the case, but assuming that is equal, it is faster to print.

On the second item, we arent talking about tourneys. Already said I pull all the cards for a tourney. Perhaps its hard to invision, but it really isnt that complicated. The damage cards still go on the pilot printout as do the shields. Ill take a pic and post it for reference.

Maybe I'm a bit too organized, and that's ok by me, I can find it fast. I do have all my upgrade cards in the same box, but they are in sections by type and sorted alphabetically. My pilots are organized by faction in separate boxes alphabetically by ship and sorted by pilot skill then by cost (you know, because X-Wings). My id tokens are in a box and as long as you don't go too high, they are all sorted by id (and then there's the quarter box that has the rest of them and that can take a while to find matching ones).

Oddly enough, my ship bases are thrown together, but they sort fast. I need a better system for them...

I have lots of duplicates that I used to attach to my bike wheel to make it go fffftttbbbBRBBBBBbbrbrrrrrrtttttTTTTTTTffffttttttt as I rode along (but with a Star Wars flavor) but they started getting damaged, so I stopped doing that except as a good luck thing for tournaments. Given that I have to drive a distance to go to most tournies, I end up taking my bike with me and just ride it through the LGS a few times before the games start, or in little circles right outside the store. The noise really unnerves my opponents AND means I'm getting a second use out of my excess cards.

Do we "need" them? No.

Are they (+ a faq copy) the easiest and fastest way to settle any rule disputes? Pretty much....