I was thinking recently:

Rebels got Jan to give red dice and change focuses into evades on most clumsy ships even. The got Kyle to benefit from PtL even more, they got multiple turrets, k-wing that can be fielded in milion of ways, now they even get lumbering-decimator-like behemot in form of Ghost. Heavy assault fighters? Bwing say hello. Nimble ones? Ewing. All around? Xwings... Not to mention fat turrets. I even forgot about sabine bomber sheanigans.

Similar is with Scums: HWK pilots that steal ps and focuses, Brobots, turrets slots like rebels, illiclits. Even they arrived 5 waves later they still have more options...Variety of fighters are same here: Starvipers for nible ones, Kihrax for all around, and G1-A as heavy. And heavy large ones as YV and Firespray. Even some clumsy cloaking.

And they got ASTROMECHS to even make more options.

Plus they are mostly viable in competetive (with kihrax exception maybe).

And what our fellow Empire has? Plethora of nible fighters, 1 heavy that waited few waves for fix, lambda has 1 supportive pilot that sees some usage and palpatine. Decimator is somehow unique. No turret slots. They wanted them to be superior with bombs and rockets with bombers and punishers but they are lacking for now. Phantom is well...just a bit different ace.

It becomes even more noticible when we look at jugller lists:

Rebels: EVERYTHING.

Scums: Maybe not everything but lots of variety.

Empire: swarm/2ShipDeci/3ShipAces and nothing more.

Do you see my point? Only 3 competitive list archetypes, even casual there is hard to build something different.

It's just you...

To be fair, the Empire out flies the other two factions. It has more viable aces lists than any other faction and because of the shuttle and the Decimator, it can also tank with the best of them.

As far as lists go, few would argue that the Imperial Navy has the best swarm lists and aces lists.

Empire has it's own theme, part of that is Imperial uniformity.

To be fair, the Empire out flies the other two factions. It has more viable aces lists than any other faction and because of the shuttle and the Decimator, it can also tank with the best of them.

It has more viable list with aces true.

But there are always the same aces. You hear vader and you already knows what he has, you hear whisper you just ask what crewman. Same with OL , Fel, and Jax. With rebels and scums i always need to look at the list to at least read it. With Imps i see the ships on table and instantly know what opponent has

Yes, i agree with that, and thats not the point. I wanted to point out that this uniformity, while really nicely done in fluff way, leads to lacking options from more gaming point of view.

Palp/aces

Trip aces

Crackswarms

Ace/miniswarm

Decimator/ace

Omega Leader, the Imperial Stresshog.

More high-PS multiple repositioning options than anyone else.

More cheap and highly points-efficient (sub 35 points) competitively viable aces than anyone else (Vader, Soontir, Carnor, Omega Leader, Echo, Inquisitor, plus a bunch of the f/o aces who are not bad).

Basically imps are about aces and swarms, but that covers SO much ground in three words that it's not really a fair summation.

They lack turrets and regen, which is annoying in terms of the meta, though I have to say not something which personally bothers me as an Imperial player too much, regen moreso than turrets, and they lack really strong control options compared particularly to Rebels, but they're certainly not without options.

They also have Soontir who is a whole slew of options all by himself, it's just that they're all in play rather than in list building.

Plus, Imperial Veterans on the horizon.

If anyone lacks competitively viable options, at least prior to wave 8, it's Scum.

Git gud bro

Scum is mostly uncompetitive aside from Dual IG and Twin Laser Turret. Should change with Wave 8 but that's how it stands.

TIE Swarm is still a monster, just not Wave 1 TIE Swarm. Crack Swarm FTW! The Inquisitor is a cool budget ace with surprising punch for his cost. The new Defenders will give them another tool, as will upcoming ordnance updates. Redline and Deathrain will be monstrous. The TIE Shuttle will bring a new, budget support option.

There are good things coming. Patience. Scum, as a whole, however, has always been in a much weaker place since it's release. And it's not really a big problem that there are only a few archetypes that work. And Rebels still have some shortcomings. Many people REALLY want to be able to play their original X wings, but they are unfortunately terrible with no improvement in sight that we are aware of. Even B wings have fallen out of competition, which is a hint that the G1A will meet a similar fate due to its similarities. How many kihraxz do you see? Suffers from same problems as the X wing. Cheaper yes, but with a notably worse dial and an Illicit is far from a fair tradeoff with an Astromech. The Firespray and YV are far from equal to the large ships of other factions. And this is from a primarily Scum player. Can't wait for Wave 8 cards to improve these ships.

Empire doesn't have as many options as Rebels as far as archetype, but they do have a lot of choices to fool those few archetypes. Scum has 2 choices: Dual IG and TLT. Wave 8 and Imperial Veterans will bring new options to both of them.

and Jax.

I do not agree with you on that particular point. I personally find him way superior with VI, AT and maybe hull or shield if I have points.

and Jax.

I do not agree with you on that particular point. I personally find him way superior with VI, AT and maybe hull or shield if I have points.

Someone won a local Store Champ with 43 players flying a Palpatine Aces list that included Carnor with VI.

There are lambda shuttle options beyond just using the Emperor. Remember Buzzsaw Shuttle? Or Doom Shuttle? These haven't gone away, even if they aren't used as much.

Tie Defenders are actually good. Yes, there is Imperial Vets coming out, but people have been using Tie Defenders in Store Championships and placing high with them. This is all before the title upgrades. Once those come out, I'm sure you will see a lot of Tie Defenders on the tables. Even then, they can be highly different.

Tie Bombers are actually quite good if you load them right. Homing Missiles with Extra Munitions don't cost that much and can be quite effective. Everyone always states that "action economy" is what prevents ordnance from being good, but Homing Missiles have it. I've been flying Tie Bombers for a year and with Extra Munitions, I rate them pretty high. This is before Guidance Chip and LRS comes out. Once they do, I see Tie Bombers as the best ordnance ship in the game (and ordnance being worth it).

Imperials have some of the best cheap unique pilots around. There are a number of good Tie Fighter and all the Tie variants that are quite good, but don't cost as much as the other Factions. Look at ships like Dark Curse, Backstabber, or Omega Leader. There are a ton of them. They might not have the synergy between them, but they work for themselves and are not that expensive.

Once Wave 8 hits, I'm looking at a list with all Tie variants that boost their own attack value: Inquisitor, Zeta Leader, Backstabber, Mauler Mithel, and Scourge. All the benefits of a high agility ship without the issues of low attack dice.

Empire has Palp Aces, stop complaining.

You guys have plenty of options, Deci and Soontir/Phantom, Palp Aces, Palp and Wampa and Omega, etc. Last thing this game needs if for Empire to get TLT or regen.

Empire has Palp Aces, stop complaining.

You guys have plenty of options, Deci and Soontir/Phantom, Palp Aces, Palp and Wampa and Omega, etc. Last thing this game needs if for Empire to get TLT or regen.

I think he's asking if there is anything good for the Empire besides Palp aces.

Empire has Palp Aces, stop complaining.

You guys have plenty of options, Deci and Soontir/Phantom, Palp Aces, Palp and Wampa and Omega, etc. Last thing this game needs if for Empire to get TLT or regen.

I think he's asking if there is anything good for the Empire besides Palp aces.

^THAT

I dont say Empire is lacking! They got superb options. All they options just feel so...similar to each other.

I've been playing empire for a few years now. I totally agree. I am always trying to mix it up and use pilots i don't use much. But to stay competitive, it really only feels like we have a few builds. I know more stuff is coming out that will help. But i totally agree with the OP.

Empire doesn´t have a heavy jouster.

I am thinking about one... try to guess what I am thinking..

Imperial issue is that the devs keep giving the other factions our trick but we never get anything back.

I think the only thing the Empire is missing is a heavy fighter role atm. Granted it HAS the defender, but the Defender isn't fixed YET. Once Imperial Veterans goes live I think the Empire will be much more well rounded.

STIL - They do have a ton of options. The OP says they have only 3 options, and lists one of those options as "3 aces"... but that can be a pretty different setup of aces. Could be Palp aces, or could be Phantoms, triple interceptors, I mean there are a lot of options right now. And Swarms have a TON of new options as well. The Empire is REALLY good with it's aces, so the triple aces list idea is really more like a starting point rather than a single list.

Empire doesn´t have a heavy jouster.

I am thinking about one... try to guess what I am thinking..

Empire doesn´t have a heavy jouster.

I am thinking about one... try to guess what I am thinking..

Assault Gunboat?

Nah, Missile Boat.

Empire doesn´t have a heavy jouster.

I am thinking about one... try to guess what I am thinking..

Assault Gunboat?

Nah, Missile Boat.

Empire doesn´t have a heavy jouster.

I am thinking about one... try to guess what I am thinking..

Assault Gunboat?

GUNBOAT!!!!!!

Nope, it's not just you. The Empire has an empty 'toolbox'.

Empire doesn´t have a heavy jouster.

I am thinking about one... try to guess what I am thinking..

Assault Gunboat?

Nah, Missile Boat.

Skipray Blastboat

Assault Skipray Gun Missile BlastBoat.

Empire doesn't have turret upgrades and only one PWT that has no agility.

So we have to fly better in order to win.

So we have bragging rights.

The only thing the Empire really lacks is turrets. As for everything else:

Heavy assault fighter: The B-Wing is strong, but an AC Tempest hits just as hard and moves much faster. Fewer hit points, but hides then behind three agility and an evade token. The x7 Delta Defender is similar, but hits even harder and has an extra shield to boot.

Nimble fighter: All of them? Every single fighter the Empire has access to has barrel roll, boost or both, and with a couple of exceptions they also have three agility. There is no Rebel or Scum pilot that can reliably outmaneuver Whisper and Fel (although Farrel comes close, he's far less dangerous).

Allround: Back to the Advanced and Defender against, and the FO and TAP Aces are also decent choices.

Fat turrets: Kenkirk (Ysanne, Kallus, Jerjerrod) is pretty chunky, and Chiraneu and Oicunn aren't exactly skinny either.

Empire also has the strongest carriers for Guidance Chimp, Long Range Scanners and Thread Tracer-enabled ordnance, which may very well shake up the meta in the coming weeks.