Apparently I have triggered my Powergamer instincts. Now I am aware of my failings, and I am not proud. It comes from years and years of playing Warhammer 40K, and eeking out the most optimized possibly army.

But I just got into this game, I got a set of ships in trade for my WW1 Wings of War collection, and I wanted to learn what each ship does and why it would be good.

So I come on here, and start looking at imperials.

Well, I start reading about Vader builds, and Fel, and the best possible Arc dodgers...

And I start dismissing ships in my collection. For example, I have a Tie Punisher. No one ever talks about the Tie Punisher. Because its not part of the current meta. No one plays Tie Swarms anymore, for the same reasons.

But I realize now, instead of playing and learning and having fun myself, I have skipped over that and flipped directly to the end of the book. What I think I need to do, is just to walk away and play a lot of games. Fly the Tie Swarms.. fly the Tie Punisher.. because.. just because...

We have a thriving Xwing community of really nice players where I am, and I think I just need to get out and play some games.

Apparently I have triggered my Powergamer instincts. Now I am aware of my failings, and I am not proud. It comes from years and years of playing Warhammer 40K, and eeking out the most optimized possibly army.

But I just got into this game, I got a set of ships in trade for my WW1 Wings of War collection, and I wanted to learn what each ship does and why it would be good.

So I come on here, and start looking at imperials.

Well, I start reading about Vader builds, and Fel, and the best possible Arc dodgers...

And I start dismissing ships in my collection. For example, I have a Tie Punisher. No one ever talks about the Tie Punisher. Because its not part of the current meta. No one plays Tie Swarms anymore, for the same reasons.

But I realize now, instead of playing and learning and having fun myself, I have skipped over that and flipped directly to the end of the book. What I think I need to do, is just to walk away and play a lot of games. Fly the Tie Swarms.. fly the Tie Punisher.. because.. just because...

We have a thriving Xwing community of really nice players where I am, and I think I just need to get out and play some games.

Definitely play some games. Play with ships you like. You might be surprised. If you want to feed the powergamer beast, pick a ship that is not the top tier, build a squad around it, and see how far you can push it. I guarantee at local events, you'll be just fine, and who knows, you might find something that really works for you at higher level play (if that's something you think you'll ever be in to).

nothing wrong with being a powergamer, insofar as you recognize why some ships just fail

the punisher, for example, isn't actually a bad ship. You just have to recognize its limitations, as well as its strengths (namely, Deathrain)

Deathrain's an ace-killer extraordinaire who won me a store championship in a very competitive region because I was able to piece together that palp aces had won the last 3 store championships. Turns out, nothing hard-counters aces (and brobots and rebel regen) quite like conner nets and no one dispenses them as easily as Deathrain

while playing to have fun is obviously important, there are sadly just some things you cannot expect some ships to accomplish. Being able to understand these limitations allows you to save time you would have otherwise wasted on ships you won't like playing. For me, this means abandoning anything that can't fully modifying either its attack or defense (or both) or have some way to transcend dice entirely, because nothing wastes my time more than a game decided by random luck rather than player involvement

I'm addicted to the forums mainly becuase I don't get to play enough where I currently live, but I always keep in mind that a lot of folks on here are very focused on the tournament scene.

Also, I've got a lot of wins with the TIE Punisher under my belt! It's not a bad ship

I'd argue TIE Swarms have become MORE effective with the introduction of Crackshot and TIE/fo EPT generics.

Fly every ship you buy at least once and make your purchase worth it! You may find a new pilot you love and tirelessly work to make them effective (looking at you, Juno Eclipse).

Apparently I have triggered my Powergamer instincts. Now I am aware of my failings, and I am not proud. It comes from years and years of playing Warhammer 40K, and eeking out the most optimized possibly army.

But I just got into this game, I got a set of ships in trade for my WW1 Wings of War collection, and I wanted to learn what each ship does and why it would be good.

So I come on here, and start looking at imperials.

Well, I start reading about Vader builds, and Fel, and the best possible Arc dodgers...

And I start dismissing ships in my collection. For example, I have a Tie Punisher. No one ever talks about the Tie Punisher. Because its not part of the current meta. No one plays Tie Swarms anymore, for the same reasons.

But I realize now, instead of playing and learning and having fun myself, I have skipped over that and flipped directly to the end of the book. What I think I need to do, is just to walk away and play a lot of games. Fly the Tie Swarms.. fly the Tie Punisher.. because.. just because...

We have a thriving Xwing community of really nice players where I am, and I think I just need to get out and play some games.

Are TIE-Swarms not still valid and no one talks about them because they are an old hat? ;-)

No one plays Tie Swarms anymore

Yes, they do. Crackshot swarms are the hot thing in swarms these days. Rage swarms have been discussed, but until they win or place highly at an event they won't be a really hot thing.

TIE fighters are why I play this game.

Fly the Tie Swarms...

Yes.

I've been playing the game for 3 months and had never flown the TIE swarm. If you look back at my first post, it's asking about a TIE swarm and is what got me into the game. It is what I wanted to fly the most. But then I fell into the same trap you did.

Last Friday I got together with my brother and we played some games. I put a TIE swarm on the table to give it a go. He wanted to try the Poe, Corran & A-wing list that got second at Worlds last year. We played four games and it was the most fun I had playing this game since the first time.

Now I'm not going to go as far to say that the advice I've been given on these forums has been bad for me, in fact it is usually pretty good. But it's really on me for skipping past the "just put ships on the table, fly around, make mistakes and have a blast" stage and right into hyper-competitive/optimized build stage.

So I'm gonna play more swarms at our game nights. Heck, I'm going to put a TIE Bomber squad together.

Good luck on your journey. Have fun flying your ships around.

Personally, I hate to see people skip past Tie Fighters and jump straight to Tie Interceptors. Oh, I don't mean formations and Academy blockers. I mean mid to high PS Tie Fighter pilots. They were the original arc dodgers and if you can get good with them, you can be great with a Tie Interceptor.

Also, look into other forms of playing besides the hard core tournament game. I know you are from a 40k background and optimal lists to kick in faces is standard, but there are other ways to play the game.

nothing wrong with being a powergamer, insofar as you recognize why some ships just fail

the punisher, for example, isn't actually a bad ship. You just have to recognize its limitations, as well as its strengths (namely, Deathrain)

Deathrain's an ace-killer extraordinaire who won me a store championship in a very competitive region because I was able to piece together that palp aces had won the last 3 store championships. Turns out, nothing hard-counters aces (and brobots and rebel regen) quite like conner nets and no one dispenses them as easily as Deathrain

while playing to have fun is obviously important, there are sadly just some things you cannot expect some ships to accomplish. Being able to understand these limitations allows you to save time you would have otherwise wasted on ships you won't like playing. For me, this means abandoning anything that can't fully modifying either its attack or defense (or both) or have some way to transcend dice entirely, because nothing wastes my time more than a game decided by random luck rather than player involvement

Why is Deathrain giving Threepio a piggyback ride?

I thought subtly suggesting that deathrain somehow had c3po would discourage people from shooting him

not much luck there

If you look at some of the crazy squads that have done well at Worlds (even if that haven't won), you can see what can be accomplished when people really know how ships work.

when I started playing I started ignoring a lot of ships too. hell I even ignored the other factions and just played imperials.

recently due to a league where you needed two different factions to play the two games I've started branching out to other builds and other factions and it has really opened up a lot more of the game for me and been enjoying it more and more, to the point changing my favourite faction

Some of the best games I play are when my opponent and I are like "Lets fly something new and strange".

Few things feel worse than flying a brand new list with non-meta ships against a meta list. I don't like to be on either side of that game.

I'm lucky, one of my best friends is big time into X-Wing, so I can play however many casual games as I want.

I'm also going to be prepared to play at open gaming nights with both a proven competitive list and a for fun list. Last one I went to I had Whisper/OL/Carnor and mopped up on a guy who was flying something he brewed up. It didn't help me competitively and wasn't super fun for him I'm sure. Second game was against 3 jumpmasters, that game was the one I was looking for. I want to be able to ask my opponent "Are you practicing a list that you want to fly competitively or just trying something new out" and then adjust what I'm flying based on their answer.

Just remember that someone always needs to figure out new strategies before they are considered the new meta. I wouldn't doubt for a second that there are better squadrons possible than what the current "meta" thinks there are, just no-one has done them yet. That's one of the great things about a game with lots of flexibility like this one. I always think of food... well... because I like to eat it, but some combinations of food are strange, but taste great. I always wonder, who was the first crazy person that tried that food combination out? Anyway, do what you want to do. Make your own meta through trial and error.

Some of us realise that no matter what we fly we're not going to be tourney material. I'm one of those. So it doesn't matter what I fly I have fun. Truthfully, I'm probably less than 50% in wins for games played. A HWK and 4 Z95s will never make Worlds but was a fun fly.

My best friend and I play twice a week. I don't know how he theory crafts his builds but mine are mostly composed of off the wall combos along with suggestions I found here and some net builds. Recently, I played the scenario from the Ghost and was killed by the fourth turn. Not a very auspicious maiden flight but informative.

Swarms, for me, are a different matter. Rather than looking like a flight of birds moving in unison, it looked more like I kicked over an ant hill. My swarm flying needs work.

Fly what you want. Fly ships that you like. This is a game. It won't make you rich but it is fun and can be a rewarding pastime.

Competitive play is balanced on a razer edge, where even a small defficency of effectiveness see a ship fall completely out of use. Ships and lists which were previously world-championship calibre are now not particularly viable in competitive play.

But here's the thing: the balance in X-Wing is pretty good, so even ships that

are considered garbage-tier in competitive games are usable. You can actually win games with Knave Squadron E-Wings, you just won't win with any sort of consistency.

Also: experimenting with goofy lists will make you a better competitive player, as it will expand your thinking about the game.

This is why I want to have "meta" and "nonmeta" lists ready to go at Open Play. Nonmeta doesn't mean bad. It means it isn't a usual list. It also means the odds of it winning against a meta list are probably pretty low.

X-Wing is big enough now that the meta after any given rule change or release is going to be established rather quickly. I railed against it for years in Magic, hopelessly believing that I'd "break the meta" and win with a homebrew list.

It doesn't work.

There is room for creativity for sure even with meta lists, but if you don't start with a meta list, your odds of placing well are low. I quit Magic for a while, hating that I had to follow the trend. Then a friend got into it pretty hardcore. Sick of losing with homebrew lists, I just started playing meta lists tweaked a little to my taste, and I started winning. Not quite tournament champion level of winning, but I win more than I lose in competitive Magic.

In the tournament room, I'd probably be considered a WAAC player. I take Whisper to any competitive event because she's good, she's meta, and I'm experienced flying her. The day Whisper is forced out of the meta is the day I'll fly something else and that doesn't bother me. I probably won't ever bring a homebrew list to a competitive event, because I simply don't have the time to dedicate making sure that list can stand up to the meta.

I like open play. I like casual games. I like nonmeta. I also like winning, and I also like giving myself the opportunity to win. The objective of competitive X-Wing is to win. What you make the objective of any individual game you play is totally up to you.

I play casual. When I follow the current meta, I can usually beat my friends with not much issue. It's not fun. They don't like getting whooped either.

I prefer playing thematic or fun builds now. I try and make lists around ships that I hardly use. Sometimes if flops bad but it makes for a more fun night.

Play what you like. Save playing the meta for tourneys or when you've made the bet that loser buys the beer.

I'm glad I had that clueless period where I tried wacky things, I remember when taking swarm tactics on fel and boosting an alpha just decimated friends.

We've gotten better since then of course but I still build not meta builds I just find it more fun and because my opponents have no clue what they'll face I do well because they can't build counters in advance.

Embrace your inner madman and fly what you like after all in casual games there's nowt at stake.

For what it's worth, second place at our store championship was a Tie Swarm.

Fly what you like! It's a game, have fun.

When I'm checking in lists, I love to see stuff out of the "meta". It gets me excited to see new, creative builds that I don't see a lot of. Those are the players I track and see how they do because I'm curious. I know, generally, how a Palp shuttle with Darth flies. But when someone comes up with something unique it's fun to watch and see how it plays out.