Got the idea for this from a post I saw in one of the Wave 10 threads: take the game's ten waves and rank them in order of favourite to least favourite.

I'd probably say:

• Wave 4 - It may have torn the game a new one but nothing'll ever beat seeing the new ships and they're the TIE phantom and the TIE defender.
• Wave 6 - The first Scum Wave. This scores second mostly for the joy that was Most Wanted.
• Wave 3 & Wave 7 - Tied. I like every ship in both waves.
• Wave 1 - I like every ship but it was the weakest wave for balance: it got by because the TIE swarm had yet to be discovered. If we went back to Wave 1 now it'd be a one list game.
• Wave 2 - Wave 2 is penalised for introducing the PWT, but it gets above 8 for the other three (which are awesome compared to 8's good). It's the wave I missed too so I don't have much attachment to it.
• Wave 8 - Similar to Wave 2, it's a 3/4 I like wave. I like the 3 much more in Wave 2 though.
• Wave 9 - They all look interesting so I might get a few but outside the ARC I'm not feeling the hype.
• Wave 10 - Underwhelming. Every wave prior had a ship that looked really exciting. I'm not writing it off until I know more about it but unless it's got something going for it mechanically I'm not really that interested.
• Wave 5 - I liked both at the time but they're PWTs and thus the dustiest ships in my collection. They're just not as fun as arced ships. I'll probably get a Shadowcaster to retrofit them into Mobile Arcs.

Non-Wave expansions don't count.

Counting all the things that have happened to the ships since release...

4

6

8

7

1

10

9

3

2

5

4: The wave whose promise got me into the game. A love letter to the EU.

123 The OT waves. Really the game meta I started with.

9 I am SO EXCITE, Mando Fighters, Arcs, the USS Defiant, even the TIE/SF's excite me This is the wave that makes me scum.

5 I LOVE the Deci, but aside from that this wave gave us debris tokens!

6 Eh Scum... Did give us BTL and bomb loadout though

8 TAP and Ghost are both a lot of fun. I enjoy the look of the JM

10 I like the black bat. But I just don't care enough for the rest.

7... It fixed ordnance, it gave us el presedente but............................ meh. Even though i've gotten to like the K-wing i've yet to field my punishers.

Wave 7 is the best hands down

Brought an end to the accursed era of two ship copy paste bull

Then wave 9 because the most beautiful model in the game is coming out

And then wave 10 because it is the most **** troll wave I have ever seen and I love it

6 - Scum introduced

7 - Bossk is awesome and I love the K-wing and TIE Punisher models.

8 - Zuckuss and Attanni Mindlink.

9 - Fang Fighter will be awesome

2 - introduced the Slave I

1 - The core days are always fun

3 - Support ships were an awesome idea

4 - TIE Defender nostalgia

10 - It's alright. I've no beef with any of it, but it doesn't light my world on fire.

5 - Uninteresting turrets deserve to be last

EDIT: People are adding 10, so I guess I should put it in here, too.

I've only been playing since wave 7, but I love the Phantom and Defender with my whole being - so wave 4.

And thank you for Veterans.

10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

It is getting better and better ;-)

1

2

4

3

the rest

Wave 1 - because it STARTED this amazing game

Wave 6 - because it CHANGED this amazing game

Wave 2 - original Trilogy brilliance

Wave 3 - more original Trilogy brilliance

Wave 7 - Kihraxz and the Hounds Tooth are the backbone of my Scum fleet

Wave 8 - Lots to love for all - the Bounty Hunters, Force Awakens and Rebels love

Wave 4 - TIE Defender underwhelmed, TIE Phantom hurt the game, the E-Wing somehow managed to do both

Wave 5 - Smallest Wave to date, and two PWTs. Only one purchase (Outrider)

Wave 9 - Might buy one ship (ARC-170)

Wave 10 - Probably won't buy any (although maybe there'll be some more interesting additions on Force Friday)

edit: I should mention I bought into the game after I saw the preview for the Tantive IV. Such a gorgeous model. Sold off a metric crapton of High Elves and Space Marines, and immediately bought the X-Wing Core Set and pre-ordered both Epic ships...

4

2

1

3

5

6

7

8

9

10

That EU vidya love in the beginning...

Wave 8 is the one true standout : Ghost design is thematic, wonderful, and playable. Every single Jumpmaster pilot is playable. TAP is neat. Zuckuss! Ordnance fixed! The only wave where I have purchased all the ships.

Most parts of waves 1-4 are good as that's the foundation of this game.

Waves have been at least 50% yuck since wave4 and waves 9 & 10 are no exception.

Wave5 = icky fat turrets

Wave6 = Syck and Starviper still utterly broken

Wave7 = Punisher and Kihraxz, more ships that lose

Wave9 = every single generic overpriced

Wave10 = Palpatine buff from the Upsilon

7 seems to be something of a Marmite wave: people either adore it or don't care for it much.

Started pretty late (around Wave 6), still, here I go:

- Wave 1: The New Hope Wave. Love it!

- Wave 2: more iconic ships, two big ones (Falcon and Slave): wow! and Interceptor plus A-Wing, the Jedi have returned for sure!

- Wave 3: more classic trilogy ships, nice! love that moveable wings on the Shuttle. Plus an HWK... I just love Jedi Knight and Dark Forces, those old games got me hooked onto Star Wars (movies only in TV, when aired, no VHS or DVD at that time)

- Wave 4: E-Wing? Ah, from the books... okay, can live with that! rest again: wow... Tie Defender, that took me back to the old Tie Fighter game (played that one back in the days on my 486)

- Wave 5: two ships I did not know before (just heared from Shadows of the Empire where the YT 2400 appeared). Still, loved the wave, two more big ships!

- Wave 6: Scum! Great... I am the Scum player among my friends. Neat move to have ships fly for more than one side. Plus that Scum starter pack really packs beautiful ships.

- Wave 7: love the Hounds Tooth, nice and scummy plus knew it from Empire at War which I totally loved. The rest... K-Wing and Punisher... puh. Might have been on Legends or something but only knew the Punisher from that old Age of Empires clone game. Still got both Punisher and K-Wing but would certainly have loved to see Missle Boat or Gunboat instead. Khiraxz: hm. they chose to take the most boring choice. Have seen more beautiful versions of it! Plus somewhat d.o.a., never put it on the table (despite being the Scum player etc etc)

- Wave 8: was sceptical about the Tie Advanced Prototype but still got some. Would have prefered the Avenger instead as model (same dial and all). Can't be helped, I thought to myself, don't like that Rebels TV show. No Ghost for me! Got two Jumpmasters and 4 Mist Hunters, though. Nice and scummy again! Plus also ships not unheared of. Totally ignored the Tie.

- Wave 9: sooooo... Jarjar Bingsy ship! No. Thanks... what else we got... nah, nothing for me here!

- Wave 10: so... a bat from my not so beloved sequel, a shoe box and a Tie Fighter that was dropped into a bucket of paint. Nope... nothing to see here!

After further review, I noticed plutt can take int agent and a bomb

Wave 10 shot up to #1 on my list

Most of the early waves were terrible from a design point of view, but awesome from a model point of view.

Sadly, as the designers have found their feet and worked out how not to make so many terrible ships and cards, they've run out of ships that we all recognize as 'star wars'

I, for one would be happy for aces packs and veterans packs and Most-Wanted-a-likes until the end of time. Give me repainted T-65s with a fix, give me more TIE Interceptor love, and hold the repaints.

Wave 1: It's the beginning

Wave 2: A-wings and Squints

Wave 4: EU

Wave 6: Scum

Wave 7: Pretty good all round

Wave 8: ^^

Wave 3: Eh, not bad, but I'm not really interested in any of the ships in it

Wave 9: Same reasons as 3

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Wave 5: Nice ships in lore, but boring concepts in game

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Wave 10: All the ships are a dud for me Except Sabine's TIE. I might get one of those.

Here are my wave rankings:

Wave 4: Not so great when it came out (Actually a bit too great...but not great for the game) but it's tough to beat a wave with 4 really nice looking models that fly so differently.

Wave 1: While the T-65 in mediocre at best, the Y-wing, tie and tie advanced are all great additions to the game.

Wave 2: I know it's blasphemy to have the Interceptor and the Falcon this low especially when you have the A-Wing as well! Firespray is good as well but still rubs me the wrong way that it still exists in the imperial faction!

Wave 7: I know it comes with two major duds (Punisher and the K-Fighter) but the k-wing and the YV-66 are two very cool additions to the game. This wave really got here because I really liked the wave 7 meta.

Wave 9: Wave 9 has me really excited. All the ships look great and each brings something cool to the game. Not sure which will have the biggest impact either which is also nice. Will we have 4 playable ships out of the gate?

Wave 6: New Faction! The scum wave comes with some pretty cool looking ships and hey, a few of them (2 or 3?) are actually pretty good!

Wave 3: Not the sexiest wave but the B-wing was always one of my favorite ships and the palp shuttle is still very relevant of course.

Wave 5: Tough to compete when you only have two ships in your wave. Both are very cool additions to the game but...only 2!

Wave 8: Not a huge fan of wave 8. In my opinion this one brought out a pretty bad meta. Ghost just doesn't interest me and the Mist Hunter was born into a meta that killed it in one turn. Omega Leader leads to some bad play experiences and the Jump Master leaves a bad taste in my mouth as I hate the U-Boats! Inquisitor is my bright spot in this wave.

Then....

Wave 10: Not sure how to feel yet. I put it at the end because I don't really know where to place it yet. Not a huge fan of the rebel tie fighter in theory but it's a neat idea and the model looks great. Kylo Rens shuttle is awesome looking and brings a new action which is interesting. I'm hoping the quadjumper will have some sort of surprise up it's sleeve because as of now it's just kindof there for me as another small scum ship.

TAP and Raider notwithstanding, I haven't bought anything since Wave 6. I was going to buy an ARC and a Shadowcaster but now going to hold back and see what happens.

I will eventually get Imperial Aces 2 but that's it for me for now.

I started playing wave3.5 ish. So my first few reviews are a grain of salt.

Wave1-3: 4/5. Solid start. Some balance issues. Han Shoots First is an irritation. Tie swarms are really good. Generics are strong. Bombers have somewhat of a place. 3 BH is a benchmark list.

[Wave3.5 GR75 and CR90: Oh boy. While fun, the GR75 is hard to use. CR90 bring us the super powered crew C3PO and R2D2. At this time epic needed a buff.]

Balance: 4.2/5. With Imp Aces and PTL there exists a seriously good place where normal naked ships, bombers, and ints can all co-mingle.

Wave4: 3.5/5. Personally, I loved Phantoms and Tie Defenders. Even though Defenders were so overcosted. Without autothrusters though, Phantoms were treading on Interceptors. Balance is horribly bad right now 3 +2 meta: Phantom5tie, Fat Han (ugh worse), Tie Swarm, Two falcons (puke), Phantom Soontir Yorr.

Balance: 2/5. Horrible basically rock paper scissors.

Wave5: 2/5. At least it brought the sickness of the Decimator to counter the now two fat turret options of Rebels. New expos did not benefit any existing ships to a large degree.

Balance: 0/5. Worst period in the game. All lists were large turrets plus an ace. Usually Whisper.

Wave6: 3.5/5. Scum is cool and well received. Fun.

Balance: 0/5. Continues worst obvious imbalance in the game: All lists require 1 or 2 large, super upgraded ships.

Wave7: 2/5. Punisher?? K-wing is a niche hit. TLT and Rebel Regen spoil the fun.

Balance: 4/5. The field is so much more diverse with the large ship nerf. That and TLT are the only saving grace to game balance. Still, much more varied than before.

Wave8: 3/5. Everyone seems to like their new TFA stuff. Although, it really doesn't help the old stuff. At this point, we're giving up. The jumpmaster is all sorts of broken, 3 Scouts. Dengaroo.

Balance: 2/5. Worse than wave7. More large ship dominance. Palp Aces.

Wave9: hype 4/5. Yay ARCs! Tie SF. Fang is well recieved. Shadowcaster is a niche hit.

Wave10: ... what? 2/5 Yay Upsilon with 4 attack die. I bet there's more to add to that wave.

Anyone see a trend about what's broken the game over and over??? LARGE SHIPS WITHOUT COUNTERS. (And yes. Arc dodgers too. Honestly, even I can't say with a straight face that palp aces doesn't win a huge amount. But we have tons of counters to those. You could build a counter list to aces, autoblaster turrets, conner nets, TLTs, etc. Just not both aces and Scouts. )

Anyone notice that Wave 1 notwithstanding, Even waves tend to rate higher? It's like the Trek movies all over again....

Figured I'd check, so I took everyone who gave a full ranking's replies and scored each wave based on them: first place scores 10 points decreasing to 1 point for last place. Evenly ranked waves share their total points evenly, so if 3 and 7 share third place then they score 7.5 points each (rather than 8 and 7).

Anyway, so far it's:

Wave 4 - 76.5 points

Wave 1 = 71.5 points

Wave 6 - 66.5 points
Wave 2 - 65.5 points
Wave 7 - 54 points
Wave 8 - 53.5 points
Wave 3 - 52 points
Wave 9 - 47.5 points
Wave 5 - 37.5 points
Wave 10 - 25.5 points

Yeah I noticed 4 and 6, the really, really EU waves got the most likage.

Surprised Wave 3 ranks so low!

Wave8: 3/5. Everyone seems to like their new TFA stuff. Although, it really doesn't help the old stuff. At this point, we're giving up. The jumpmaster is all sorts of broken, 3 Scouts. Dengaroo.

Balance: 2/5. Worse than wave7. More large ship dominance. Palp Aces.

So U-boat jumpmasters were the new hotness for a few months. That is old news. So far at Gencon I'm hearing about top tables with Palpatine, Defenders, Dengaroo, and even some Rebels

The R4 aggromech with Deadeye nerf was just the right amount of U-boat nerf. There is even someone with 4xTLT y-wings that is in the top 64 on day2.

These guys so far have the best coverage.

https://twitter.com/RadioTCXPodcast

Surprised Wave 3 ranks so low!

I don't know about others, but for me, Wave 3 was a wave of ships that aren't bad ships, but never really interested me.

Yeah I noticed 4 and 6, the really, really EU waves got the most likage.

Huh I don't know, maybe there's a reason why 4 and 6 rate so much higher then 9 and 10 on average...