Empire.

I like the Empire.

I'm bad at this game.

I've tried triple aces,

Palpmobile,

Echo and 3 higher end tie fighters

And decimator with palpoutine wampa colzet.

Nothing's clicking.

I wonder if I should go back to basics and try a tie swarm or just screw it and try another faction against my wishes.

Sigh......(Charlie brown pout)

I feel you man... I'm trying to make Whisper and Tie/Fo's work. but I think I might just run back to my Ties, they are always there for me.

Pick a pilot you like flying. Build the squad around that.

What's the problem? Are you just losing games or are you not enjoying the games?

You've only played 4 lists? It takes a lot of games with the same list to get the hang of it as a new player, and even then you're a new player and probably won't master it until you do the same with other lists. It takes time to become a good player. A good player isn't good because of his list, although at a competitive level it matters. Anybody can fly Palp Aces, but not everyone can do it well enough to win.

Have you tried a VT and a mini-swarm? That's a fairly forgiving list but still feels Imperial.

The Empire wins through numbers or by out-flying your opponent. In today's meta, it can be very hard to escape all incoming fire and still dish out the punishment. I believe many Rebel ships and lists to be a bit more straight forward. The Empire takes practice and experience to fly well, but it is such a joy to drop ship after ship while not taking a scratch in return!

Stick with it! Do not be tempted by the Rebel scum and their cowardly shields...

What sort of problems are you running into?

X-Wing, like anything, is a matter of practice. You need to be able to have a good idea where each individual move is going to take you, what your opponent's ships are capable of, how to control the initial engagement, how to set up your initial deployment and asteroid placement, and how your opponent is likely to position their ships on both the current turn and the next turn. The only way to really build that knowledge is to play more X-Wing until you get good at it.

I'm similar with Rebels. I play a lot of Imperial as a result. Sometimes the best idea is to switch it up entirely though. I got into a bit of a rut a while back and played scum for a while just for the change of scenery. Gave me a bunch of new ideas and thoughts on my play style I hadn't really considered before. I'm not saying it'll definitely work for you, but I'd definitely recommend giving it a try.

To be honest, I've never understood why anyone would limit themselves to one faction.

I mean I suppose if money is an issue you may only be able to collect one faction, but since the OP had Palp that doesn't seem to be the case.

I just can't see why anyone would only want to play with 1/3rd of the toys they own.

Give yourself a bunch of games to get used to a list. A list isn't going to be at it's best during your first few games with it.

The Empire has a ton of ships that die quickly if you don't dodge your opponent's firing arcs. It is one of the most difficult factions to learn to fly well. It is easy to get discouraged with such a steep learning curve. Find a ship you like and keep practicing with it.

I think your all making solid points. I try each one two...maybe three times.get smoked...get discouraged and try something else.

I think the one I had the most fun with was echo and supporting ties (omeha leader juke,com... Wampa and mauler mithel.

I really enjoy Echo. I think I'll try to keep working at it. Maybe tinker with the wingmen now and then.

Have you tried a VT and a mini-swarm? That's a fairly forgiving list but still feels Imperial.

I'm also a fan of two TAs and a VT. Tempest with AC are easy to fly, hard to hit, and never have red dice problems. After RAC has blasted the target, the two TAs tend to have an easy go of hitting the "softened" target. Three tough ships that offer a great place to start with the Empire.

To be honest, I've never understood why anyone would limit themselves to one faction.

I mean I suppose if money is an issue you may only be able to collect one faction, but since the OP had Palp that doesn't seem to be the case.

I just can't see why anyone would only want to play with 1/3rd of the toys they own.

I feel the same. I've apparently become known as an Imperial player but the truth of that is that I just find them more enjoyable. When I started, I played mainly Rebels, but as time went on, the play styles began diverging more and I found myself gravitating more toward Imperial stuff (I'm a sucker for a glass cannon). I think much of that was my reluctance to spend 40+ points on a small base ship.

Scum are a kind of middle ground between the two for me. I didn't really think a great deal of them until the YV-666 came out, and I thought "ok, now I have a lynchpin to build around".

That said, my Rebel stuff goes largely unused. Every now and then I try to break it out properly, but the styles of Rebel lists I enjoy playing (generic As and Bs especially) is either ineffective, or downright hard countered, in the local meta.

I wanted to play Empire too....BUT the agility based style does not fit with what comes naturally to me. So I had a choice, I could swim upstream and learn to fly in ways that adapt to the theme OR I could switch factions and make lists that are more like me: Angry Viking smash.

Now eventually there will be a list (Imperial Aces release) that will let me take Defenders and be able to rely on damage output, but right now...I am a consistent TOP 8 tournament Scum player and am happy being such.

Playing multifaction, not only is more fun, it'll also help you understand other ships better, making it that much easier to beat them.

Could try something silly, ruthlessness swarms, vader crew, oicunn antics, something else unorthodox.

I know exactly what you mean. For me it's Rebels. I cannot for the life of me figured them out. I've fought and fought with myself about Getting Scum. OMG. Game changing for me. Scum clicks with me.

My first faction is Imperial, darting about is my style.

But then sometimes I just like a wall of ships and a hammer with which to smash the enemy into the wall (see the Rebel list in signature).

Scum I'm figuring out still, haven't found the click just yet.

You could try running Shuttle w/ Palp, Vader w/ VI, ATC, and tie adv. title, Omega Leader w/ Juke and Comm Relay, and Wampa. It is a varied list that gives you an ace, dice modification, prevents dice modification, and one extra ship for shooting. It helped me to really learn how to make Imperials click and was more forgiving if I made mistakes.

To be honest, I've never understood why anyone would limit themselves to one faction.

I mean I suppose if money is an issue you may only be able to collect one faction, but since the OP had Palp that doesn't seem to be the case.

I just can't see why anyone would only want to play with 1/3rd of the toys they own.

Because there are a plethora of lists that I would like to try out. Often, that means flying the list for a while to get a feel for how it operates (I dislike flying a list once and moving on, because I don't feel like that gives me enough data to get past the noise of dice and my unfamiliarity with the list). I suspect that were I a better player and/or were able to play more often, I could make those determinations more quickly, but I'm not, so I can't, usually.

I stick to a single faction because at least then there are some commonalities across lists that make it easier to get up to speed with how a given list "feels" on the table without having to make a bunch of mistakes, etc.

I picked imperial because the TIE pilots have better outfits. Also, Vader. Sadly, this lumps me in with a lot of people who's outlook on game balance I do not share. Save yourself, OP!

I like the Empire.

I'm bad at this game.

I've tried...

Nothing's clicking.

I wonder if I should go back to basics and try a tie swarm or just screw it and try another faction against my wishes.

Yes. Try Rebels or Scum. Try a lot of different stuff.

I love Rebels. I struggled to find a fun Rebel squad for the longest time, so I tried a lot of other stuff in between Rebel experiments. I never really got the hang of arc-dodging Imperials, and never got the hang of whatever Scum is supposed to do. Eventually I realized that I'd gotten pretty good with B-Wings and HWKs, two of my favorite ships from the lore. But it took about a year to feel comfortable flying anything.

I just had a swim to clear my head and think.

Things I need work on ...deployment, asteroids, the approach. Timing the attack.

This is what I fail at .from there I'm just flying wrong.

I'll figure it out one day! The chin is officially up.

Have you tried a VT and a mini-swarm? That's a fairly forgiving list but still feels Imperial.

I'm also a fan of two TAs and a VT. Tempest with AC are easy to fly, hard to hit, and never have red dice problems. After RAC has blasted the target, the two TAs tend to have an easy go of hitting the "softened" target. Three tough ships that offer a great place to start with the Empire.