So a lot of talk about the Meta and how Imperials only have one build. Maybe two variations but there tends to be an imperial lynchpin of so to speak. Well when looking at Imperials they really are light on upgrades slots. Take the following facts.

• Imperials have 3 ships with NO upgrade bar(excluding the EPT for higher pilot skill)
• Imperials have no ship with the turret upgrade slot (rebels and scum do)
• Imperials have no ships with the access to illicit upgrade slot (and rebels now have the cloaking device)
• No astromech type slot (imperial astromech) that can aid with bad dials having to take a valuable modification slot.

So for a faction who's doctrines rely a lot on technological terrors it is hard to not notice the lack of technology used by Imperial ships. So I think Imperials either need to gain access to the same non-faction upgrade slots that Rebels and Scum have or get their own faction slot (such as Imperial Astromech or Imperial Tech).

edited:

For more info please consult the following chart.

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Well, the only "technological terror" really is the death star

Tad too big for this scale

And they still have the only legit (and advanced) cloak in the phantom

And twice the tech in the ups

Amd systems tech with it and the sf

Also 3 times the number of tech bearing ships

Dumb question what rebel ships have cloak?

But canonically Tie's are mass produced and are pretty much identical. The 'upgrades' don't really fit the fluff whereas rebel pilots have more say on their ships and more custom parts to represent them scrounging for stuff.

What would you like on a Tie fighter for example? They never had munitions or cannons like ions or tech or crew, etc.

Dumb question what rebel ships have cloak?

The TIE Fighter.

But canonically Tie's are mass produced and are pretty much identical. The 'upgrades' don't really fit the fluff whereas rebel pilots have more say on their ships and more custom parts to represent them scrounging for stuff.

What would you like on a Tie fighter for example? They never had munitions or cannons like ions or tech or crew, etc.

TIE Fighter no, but I am taking a look at the faction as a whole. TIE Fighter is a swarm ship and swarm units don't get much (if any upgrades). But Imperials have no turret slot, no illicit slot, and no faction specific slot like and astromech or some thing. So with all of that it seems like Imperials as a faction don't have all the upgrade options available as the other two factions. What upgrade does imperial have that the other factions don't, I guess the 2x crew upgrade bu that really doesn't count.

Any imperial ship which could equip a turret should not have an EPT slot, due to Ruthlessness.

Then Empire is known for overwhelming by fielding LOTS of cheap fighters, with some few exceptions like the e.g. TIE Phantom. So many of the Imps not having upgrade fits, why waste lots of extra-money on ships which anyways might die.

How did the old saying go... Gameplay over fluff?

I thought you needed the cloaking action to cloak

Yep the factions are different, you solved the mystery of x-wing.

I thought you needed the cloaking action to cloak

Dumb question what rebel ships have cloak?

The TIE Fighter.

Sabine's masterpiece title gives illicit slot. Put on the illicit cloaking device and the rebels can have 1 TIE Fighter with a cloaking device.

Any imperial ship which could equip a turret should not have an EPT slot, due to Ruthlessness.

Then Empire is known for overwhelming by fielding LOTS of cheap fighters, with some few exceptions like the e.g. TIE Phantom. So many of the Imps not having upgrade fits, why waste lots of extra-money on ships which anyways might die.

I don't know how turret with ruthlessness would be broken. Ruthlessness is only good against swarm as any other AOE. It came with a PWT ship and you didn't see it much in play with that. Plus it is a double edge sword if you have a ship in range 1 and it is the only ship you have to damage it too.

Still EPT or not, Imperials need a ship with a Turret Upgrade slot (or a ship with a new upgrade slot that none of the other factions have).

Thanks much everyone for info

But canonically Tie's are mass produced and are pretty much identical. The 'upgrades' don't really fit the fluff whereas rebel pilots have more say on their ships and more custom parts to represent them scrounging for stuff.

What would you like on a Tie fighter for example? They never had munitions or cannons like ions or tech or crew, etc.

TIE Fighter no, but I am taking a look at the faction as a whole. TIE Fighter is a swarm ship and swarm units don't get much (if any upgrades). But Imperials have no turret slot, no illicit slot, and no faction specific slot like and astromech or some thing. So with all of that it seems like Imperials as a faction don't have all the upgrade options available as the other two factions. What upgrade does imperial have that the other factions don't, I guess the 2x crew upgrade bu that really doesn't count.

Well, yeah, cause no imperial ships have turrets. Imperials didn't add illegal upgrades to their craft, they're an authoritarian Empire, nor did any have astromech slots.

The huge difference that separates the Empire from everyone else that that the Empire's craft are all identically mass produced. Their thing is that their ships aren't special. The only functional difference between one TIE Defender and another is which kind of missile it's carrying.

Rebels and Scum rely on the slight edge they can push out of their machines with modifications, whereas the Empire fields their ships as-is. The TIE Advanced is really the closest you get, because it was hand crafted for Darth Vader, and is possibly the singular exception. Rebel and Scum pilots fly THEIR ships. Imperial pilots fly A ship.

So how exactly is this bad? You can fly their upgradeable ships if you have to have cards.

If you want to fix the dial, just about any of them can take Twin Ion mk2.

Don't like it, fly something else. Everything has a chance, given proper flight and effective planning to play on your list strengths and mitigate your opponent's ability to play off their strengths

The TIE Defender. They have the TIE Defender.

<drops mic>

Yep the factions are different, you solved the mystery of x-wing.

But their access to upgrade slots are not, unless you are Imperial. So are Rebels and Scum Different? Well the answer is yes they are but when it comes to upgrade access the answer is no. The only difference is Rebels have Astromech, Scum have salvaged astromech and imperials don't get #$%& because we can't let the space fascist win any more elections . Well anyways when it comes to upgrade access it is not that Imperials are different as much as they are just left out.

So how exactly is this bad? You can fly their upgradeable ships if you have to have cards.

If you want to fix the dial, just about any of them can take Twin Ion mk2.

Don't like it, fly something else. Everything has a chance, given proper flight and effective planning to play on your list strengths and mitigate your opponent's ability to play off their strengths

Might be an interesting idea to turn the TIE only modification into a TIE only modification slot. The thing with TIE only upgrades is they take the modification slot and there are a lot of good modifications that are also available to other ships. So really the Imperials don't have any thing that is the envy of the other factions. So that leave Imperials "green with envy" I know bad joke.

But allowing the Imperials to extensively customize their ships via astromechs goes against the archtype of the faceless Empire. Each faction has their own quirks in this regard.

For example, the Rebels are the only faction without a faction-specific generic crew. Imperials have their fleet and systems officers, and Scum have their Security Droids and Outlaw Techs.

You can probably make a case for them having turret access, but FFG hasn't released the right ship for that yet.

But allowing the Imperials to extensively customize their ships via astromechs goes against the archtype of the faceless Empire. Each faction has their own quirks in this regard.

For example, the Rebels are the only faction without a faction-specific generic crew. Imperials have their fleet and systems officers, and Scum have their Security Droids and Outlaw Techs.

You can probably make a case for them having turret access, but FFG hasn't released the right ship for that yet.

The only ship i can think of with a turret would be the TIE Aggressor, but that wasn't so much a turret like a Y-Wing, it was more like... well, the TIE/SF. It was crewed by a second pilot who shot backwards with it, cause it was too short to shoot forwards over the ball cockpit. It'd probably better see form in a front arc and then a rear auxiliary arc that covers the sides and back of the ship. Other than that, Imperials didn't do turrets. Turrets are for craft that are otherwise unmanevuerable and need them to fight. Imperial archetype is the exact opposite of this.

I totally agree that it is a shame that the Empire has "just one build".

You are right about this is partly caused by the lack of upgrade slots on many ships but I think what is a much worse problem is that the pilots don't make a difference in how the ships feel.

The Go-To Imperial Pilots like Whisper, Carnor Jax, Soontir, Vader, Inquisitor are used because they are the only pilots that make sense on their respective ship (arc dodgers need the PS).

RAC is used because he can arc dodge, Ryads ability is just ridiculously good and Vessery is worth the one point over the generic PS6.

Omega Leader is like the only pilot that comes to my mind, that really changes a ships play style.

Now compare with Rebels: Miranda Doni, Corran Horn, Dash Rendar, Poe Dameron (plus that shield reg droid in his case), Biggs or (maybe) Luke Skywalker totally redefine, how these ships can be played, Biggs even affects other ships.

A K-Wing is not the same as a K-Wing with Miranda Doni as a pilot.

But the Imperial ships are pretty much the same, no matter the pilots that fly them.

I agree, they are rather left in the void when it comes to certain upgrades. Having a Astromech slot or faction specific upgrade could do a lot for them. The question though is, would they make it backwards compatible?

Dumb question what rebel ships have cloak?

The TIE Fighter.

And the Millenium Falcon, and the Outrider...

​Edit: Ah, forgot it was small ship only...

Which indeed proves that a ship that small cannot have a cloaking device.... It has to be smaller!!!

Dumb question what rebel ships have cloak?

The TIE Fighter.

And the Millenium Falcon, and the Outrider...

Small Ship only...

Dumb question what rebel ships have cloak?

The TIE Fighter.

BOOOOOOM

Plus (Ruthlessness) is a double edge sword if you have a ship in range 1 and it is the only ship you have to damage it too.

I'd forgotten that! FFG tried everything they could to nerf the TIE Swarm in Waves 4 &5, didn't they? The Phantom, to raise the value of PS; Predator, to give ships the ability to reroll 2 dice; munitions failsafe, to make Missiles and Torpedos viable, Captain Oicunn and the Dauntless to make bumping less effective...

Oh the irony...

The TIE Defender. They have the TIE Defender.

<drops mic>