As for why the Empire don't and never will have the turret upgrade, TLT-Ruthlessness combo.

That's easy enough to avoid, you just don't give that ship an EPT slot, same as rebel Y wings, same as Punishers, same as K Wings. It's not uncommon for turret carriers generally not to get EPTs because Turrets are good enough that EPTs make them crazy. Notably, two of the ships in that list are TLT carriers.

Even on a double-attack ship I struggle to feel that Ruthlessness is worth the points; it's autodamage, sure, but it's autodamage that kills your ships if you're not careful, and you're usually more fragile than they are.

As for why the Empire don't and never will have the turret upgrade, TLT-Ruthlessness combo.

Maybe they'll have a Twin Laser Cannon you can stick on Vessery.

A man can dream. Double laser cannon would be amazing. WOuld have to cost 3 or less to go with TIE/D though. Which wouldn't necessarily be a broken price point if you keep it at range 2-3 only, 1 damage per shot.

The Empires "thing" is about to be Defenders.

The Imperials have:

- High agility ships

- The easiest time fielding many high PS ships (fielding 3 aces at PS 9 is not a problem)

- Rebel captive (that one upgrade deserves its spot as a distinguishing feature)

- Fast and manoeuverable ships (From turn 1 to 3 and 5 straight in a single dial)

- Nice green moves on many vessels

And very soon, a nice Tie Defender and Tie Bomber.

Imperials, in their current state, seem like a faction for players who like flying and manoeuvering a lot

Imperials, in their current state, seem like a faction for players who like flying and manoeuvering a lot

This is why I play them. It's my favourite part of the game.

Imperial ships have the luck element. Well they have it more than the other factions. They live and die by the green dice with the lack of shields and high agility.

This I believe. The Imperials for all their maneuvers or whatever require more luck than others. Someone here told me that is why they have never appeared in the World's at a final. No matter how good you play it only takes one bout of poor luck to knock you out of competition. Luck is okay for casual playing but too unreliable for tournaments.

That someone is wrong. Worlds 2013 and Worlds 2014 both had an Imperial list in the final matches.

The only luck that made them lose was the misfortune of playing against Paul Heaver.

I think evasion is the Imperials' thing.

They have the most ships with 3 Agility. Plus lots of evade actions, plus cloaking, plus the new V1 title for the Inquisitor's TIE, plus Ysanne. Plus a lot of arc dodgers. The Imps are all about making you miss.

Imperials have the best 35 points you can spend in the entire game

Imperials have the best 35 points you can spend in the entire game

And the rebels have the best 38pts you can spend in the entire game. And the best 26pts too.

Imperials have the best 35 points you can spend in the entire game

And the rebels have the best 38pts you can spend in the entire game. And the best 26pts too.

I know the Soontir 35. What are the other two?

Imperials have the best 35 points you can spend in the entire game

And the rebels have the best 38pts you can spend in the entire game. And the best 26pts too.

Omega Leader is better than Stresshog, at least in a vacuum, IMO. Certainly equivalent on the annoying trollishness.

I'm assuming the 38 points is Poe, but TBH a well-flown Soontir or Vader (both 35) should be able to take down Poe.

Imperials have the best (free) titles. TIE v1, TIE x1, TIE /d, TIE x7, and royal guard TIE are all nutty good.

I dunno, A Wing Test Pilot is probably the best single title, at least in a vacuum. I suspect it would be better on Soontir than RGT. PTL/Predator/AT, anyone? Getting some rerolls on Soontir would be awesome without leaving him at the mercy of the dice gods or having to spend actions on this which have no way of saving his life, like Targeting Computer.

Rebels have synergy, shield regen, great PWTs (though that meta is getting punched a lot right now), they have the stress hog, good TLT carriers.

Imperials have great cheap ships, lots of green dice, easy ways to modify dice, fantastic aces (and a choice of them), phantoms/cloak, the emperor

Scum has ... umm... bro bots. Ok, and great named hawks, illicit (glitterstim!), and with wave 8, some amazing cheap crew.

I dunno, A Wing Test Pilot is probably the best single title, at least in a vacuum. I suspect it would be better on Soontir than RGT. PTL/Predator/AT, anyone? Getting some rerolls on Soontir would be awesome without leaving him at the mercy of the dice gods or having to spend actions on this which have no way of saving his life, like Targeting Computer.

I am not sure looking at titles which are inherently tied to ships in a vacuum makes any sense at all.

Imperials have the best 35 points you can spend in the entire game

And the rebels have the best 38pts you can spend in the entire game. And the best 26pts too.

Omega Leader is better than Stresshog, at least in a vacuum, IMO. Certainly equivalent on the annoying trollishness.

I'm assuming the 38 points is Poe, but TBH a well-flown Soontir or Vader (both 35) should be able to take down Poe.

Agreed, but games aren't played in a vacuum. The Stresshog is just a straight up better ship in most encounters: it's shaping the meta right now as much as any ship has in this game's history. Sure, it wouldn't win in a head to head, but that's not what it's for.

And as for one-on-ones with Poe, he has the fall-back, in that he doesn't have to kill Soontir to win the game. In a big tournament, where probability will drop the soontir player a game when he whiffs his greens, Poe will be the superior bet. And as you probably know, it's pretty hard to make a competitive cut with a loss on your record. Poe is the best 38pts in the game, hands down.

There's 2 things that stick out to me for the imperials based on some more recent expansions that really stick out to me, maneuverability and brutality. A lot of this also lends to a risk/reward kinda feel where, for lack of a better phrase, gotta risk it for the biscuit. I would say empire had the best crew in the game as well, but that kinda got washed out with wave 8...

How I see it is if you look at what the devs did with both aces expansions for imps, on one end we got pilots like Terran Cowell and LT. Lorrir who excel at going places no other ship has gone. Granted because of various reasons these guys don't really see play(not soontir and stress). On the defender we got the tie x7 title, which is beautiful. looking at other expansions they even gave the TAP sharp 1 GREENS, they even thought it was a good idea to give the punisher a boost! Even with the raider they tried giving the tie advance a maneuverable option with Juno Eclipse. Even the good ole tie fighter as many people have mentioned now is more maneuverable then half the ships in the other factions

Now the other side of the spectrum, the brutality. Imp Aces sees the wonderful Carnor Jax show up to wreck people's days and kir kanos with is wonderful ability but lack of an ept. Imp veterans gives us the Tie/d title, which give it to a pilot like Vessery for some powerful attacks coming your way. Looking at other expansions we get ATC to throw crits out everywhere on the tie advance, the decimator not caring at all about defense to just boost offense with Occiun and Chirpy, Redline and deathrain are the only reason why the punisher doesn't get thrown out, and a personal favorite Vader Crew, straight up trading damage for damage. Little Wampa over here to sucker punch you in the gut. Let's not forget about the inquistor coming out soon too!

So that's my take on imperials. We may not have TLT or astromechs, but we still gonna punch you in the teeth while you can't shoot at us

Edit - how could I forget about Omega Leader! He kills stuff!

Give Omega Leader time, I think he will find a similar niche in the meta that the stresshog holds in the rebel list design.

Imperials have the best (free) titles. TIE v1, TIE x1, TIE /d, TIE x7, and royal guard TIE are all nutty good.

I dunno, A Wing Test Pilot is probably the best single title, at least in a vacuum. I suspect it would be better on Soontir than RGT. PTL/Predator/AT, anyone? Getting some rerolls on Soontir would be awesome without leaving him at the mercy of the dice gods or having to spend actions on this which have no way of saving his life, like Targeting Computer.

I am not sure looking at titles which are inherently tied to ships in a vacuum makes any sense at all.

That looks to be exactly what you did, so...

The Inquisitor will be The One to make a permanent dent, not OL. Leader is so dependent on good rolls to force damage through, and he'll be hitting for one damage on most attacks. Even with his TL voodoo, it only takes one natural evade roll to make him look toothless.

The Inquisitor is tougher against multiples, and loves range three. He encourages and rewards sniping, both offensively and defensively. OL is also more action dependant for his effect, wheras the Inquisitor is being a pita with or without his double action. Finally, the Inquisitor has a better defensive profile and shoots at ps10 more often than not. All for three more points...

Imperials are the king of cost efficient aces.

• Whisper + VI / ACD / FCS
• Vader + ATC
• Soontir Fel + PtL / AT / SD

These ships have so much jousting value for their cost that there's barely any PS6 - PS8 aces that even get close to their cost efficiency* without being stuck on green maneuvers to regenerate via R2-D2. Whisper, for example, is as about as cost efficient as a generic B-wing, and that's before considering she is PS9 and has decloak shenanigans (even post-nerf).

* exceptions for other Imperial ships below...

Soon the Imperials will own the most cost efficient PS 6-8 aces as well:

• Vessery + TIE-D / TB / Ruthlessness
• Vessery + x7 / Juke
• Inquisitor + PtL / v1 / AT
• Omega Leader + Comm Relay / Juke*

*Already available, for sale in aisle 8....

Corran +PtL/R2-D2/FCS technically has the highest jousting efficiency of any ace in the game until Vessery+TIE-D comes to town, but he's stuck on greens and is only PS8. PS10 +R2-D2 Corran and Poe likewise are higher PS, but lower overall efficiency and are stuck on regenerating greens in order to hit their target jousting values.

And then, finally, after all of these pilots, you have the rest of the ships in the game. This includes all of the generics ships, which are actually less cost efficient than any of the above aces, once you factor in PS-killing.

Summary: The best ships are the best ships, and the Imperials have a near-monopoly on exceptional high PS Aces. The Rebels however have the stresshog, and can manage if they bid to PS10.

Yeah, what a lot of other people said: Fast and maneuverable. Lots of green dice. Not many shields.

A few others pointed out the large number of unique pilots. There are quite a lot of them. More so than Rebels.

Some also stated how variable they are. There are good Imperial ships for almost any point range.

Imperials only have the Decimator or Firespray for large based ships that can really be loaded up fat. So, maybe their strength is in small based ships?

Good generics can be another strength. From Scimitar Bombers to Academy Tie Pilots to Tie Advanced w/ Accuracy Correctors, all the way up to Imperial Guards.

Imperial ships have the luck element. Well they have it more than the other factions. They live and die by the green dice with the lack of shields and high agility.

This I believe. The Imperials for all their maneuvers or whatever require more luck than others. Someone here told me that is why they have never appeared in the World's at a final. No matter how good you play it only takes one bout of poor luck to knock you out of competition. Luck is okay for casual playing but too unreliable for tournaments.

That someone is wrong. Worlds 2013 and Worlds 2014 both had an Imperial list in the final matches.

The only luck that made them lose was the misfortune of playing against Paul Heaver.

I can't find the pie chart but it was on-line and it shows the Rebels winning at least or nearly 1/2 with the rest split between the Imperial and S&V faction. Sorry I didn't mean to imply no one played them just that according to the data as to who was winning the most. When I asked about this that was the answer he gave me. It does appear that he was right and it wasn't just because of back luck having to play Paul Heaver. Maybe their squads simply were not as forgiving (sheilds, regen, etc.) as his 'Rebel' squads and depended more on luck.

I wouldn't say he was wrong, a bit bold I think, but that you don't agree with him.

[P.S. I'd put his name down but if I paraphrased poorly it wouldn't be proper]

Aces, for sure. Empire has the market cornered on them. Point for point, they're superior to Rebel Aces, and Scum Aces are even further behind.

It's no surprise to us Imperial Players that when we win, it's because we brought better pilots rather than better toys.

REKT

I genuinely thought the aces thing was obvious for Imps, but Juggler just knocked that out of the park.

Edit: I'd also like to mention TIE Fighters still have a lot going for them in the swarm territory. Soooo, best aces and best swarms? Imps have it so hard.

players who know how to fly.