New players often wonder whether to focus on getting the most recent ships or on starting with the earliest ships first. Fortunately, the game is so well-balanced that it really doesn't matter.
2x Patrol Leader, both w/ Seismic Torps + Cluster Mines + EU = 100 points
That oughtta smash some face and be frustratingly cheesy and broken!
Oh... wait!
You meant like T-65 broken...
Oh well then... I'll just leave.
I always introduce new players thusly:
1. Here's the game -2 rookie pilots and a novice v 5 academy pilots, teach them the game concepts like movement, actions, combat.
2. Here's some more of the game. Introduce named pilots and simple upgrade cards (usually swap an academy for a black with swarm tactics, add Vader with swarm tactics & engine upgrade, and Luke with R2D2 - the former to teach chaining of actions (3 fighters shooting at PS9), the latter because Lukeand R2D2 are iconic.
Then, when they're good and hooked on the game, THATS when I let them know their beloved star wars ships and characters are basically worthless and it's time for them to invest in some obscure EU or Disney bollocks they've never heard of.
Then, when they're good and hooked on the game, THATS when I let them know their beloved star wars ships and characters are basically worthless and it's time for them to invest in some obscure EU or Disney bollocks they've never heard of.
Woah now... Let's not get too hasty. There are plenty of iconic ships from the movies that are viable:
T65 X Wing: Biggs, Wes
T70 X Wing: Pretty much everything, especially Poe
Y Wing: Gold, Gray to a lesser extent (PS bid over Uboats)
A Wing: Prototype, Green, Jake
B Wing: Yea, not so much
YT-1300: Han is still good, just not top tier anymore, and it's soon to be buffed
TIE Fighter: Academy, Black, Wampa, Howl, Backstabber and I'm sure a few more
TIE Advanced: Vader, the rest can hold their own, but not really the best
TIE Inteceptor: Fel, Fel, Jax, and Fel
TIE Bomber: ??? I haven't seen many since Imp Vets, but I would expect them to be better?
Lamdba: Omicron, Yorr
Firespray: Yeah, not so much
TIE/FO: Omega Leader for sure, Zeta Leader in Crack swarms
Did I miss any?
You guys are right about the core sets for brand new players.
I'm in a wierd spot where the guys I'm playing casual against have several expansions, but nothing particularly synergistic.
So,tbey get the game but I think are struggling with list building because of not having all the stuff that goes with all the stuff.
I'm seeing ships with generally only what comes in the box, or an odd piece of ordnance on something just because.
I can explain why some things work or don't work all day, and I've let them use my stuff to try alternative builds. But... for some reason it's hard to break them out of stuff that just doesn't work.
I want the game to be fun for both of us and to do that I need to tone it down ,but I can't run short point lists and play training wheels. I think the randomised list maker will be perfect. It will make ridiculous combos and I'll fly them and hopefully the guys will see from the other side why things are going poorly.