So went with one of the first lsits someone posted which was: Major Rhymer, Colonel Vessery, and Countdown, and my friend switched things up and went with a K-wing and the new wide bomber ship (can't remember the name, not the wookie one though)

I lost again, did some decent damage, but not having shields on all but one of my ships hurt bad. In the first attack of the game he brought my TIE Bomber to 1 hull left. My Defender and striker lasted a good while, and the tractor beam was nice and let me get some good hits in with that ship the way I was told to have upgrade cards, but in the end he keeps picking cards that let him turn all blank results or focus results into hits or re roll them all. Which just overwhelms me. Then he also uses R2-D2 to get shield back and another upgrade card that gives a shield back at the cost of rolling 1 less attack dice. ugh I don't think I'll ever beat him

29 minutes ago, voltagejim said:

but in the end he keeps picking cards that let him turn all blank results or focus results into hits or re roll them all.

It sounds like he's attacking only when he has both a Focus token and a Target Lock. Your chances are extremely high to hit when you use both of those together to modify your dice, and you should try and make sure you do the same! The easiest way to make sure you're hitting when you shoot is to make sure you have those dice modifications (if you can. Countdown can't use Target Lock without an upgrade). It's often much more important than using your action to, say, barrel roll or boost.

1 hour ago, voltagejim said:

Then he also uses R2-D2 to get shield back and another upgrade card that gives a shield back at the cost of rolling 1 less attack dice.

This was Miranda Doni? Yeah...she's irritatingly tough. She's very much the priority target. Doesn't have much ability to modify her dice, though; no elite upgrade, and if she's got R2-D2 in the back seat, no accuracy-improving crew.

Advanced homing missiles are okay but not amazing; piercing shields is great but both those ships have pretty thick hulls and the actual damage output is relatively low.

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my friend switched things up and went with a K-wing and the new wide bomber ship

Scurrg.

If you got the Imperial Veterans pack, then you have a couple of nice new options:

• Major Rhymer - TIE Shuttle, Tactician, Snap Shot, Lightweight Frame

This is a good ace-hunter - anyone landing in his arc at range 2 gets snap-shot-ed and instantly stressed on completing their manoeuvre; which means no action - no slam, no target lock, expertise immediately shut down, you name it. Lightweight frame gives you a pseudo-agility-3, making him acceptably hard to put down. He's a good tool to keep stuff where you want it whilst you shoot the stuffing out of it with the other 2/3 of your squad.

• Tomax Bren - Crack Shot, Homing Missiles, Extra Munitions, Guidance Chips

Because you can use crack shot repeatedly, this guy's shots are next to undodgeable, and at PS8, he's on a par with Rhymer (and Miranda Doni, and Nym, and beats Dash Rendar).

thanks for the input! Some other things to note about his teams:

He usually picks ships with 360 firing arc or twin laser turrets. In our game last night every attack from the k-wing was TLT and he could do it 2 times in a row, and also had a card that made me NOT have any range bonus for defense dice.

He also had a card that let him drop a bomb before manuver AND after manuver

I actually really liked the setup with the Defender with colonel Vessery and the oher upgrade cards that were suggested. Because I would do tractor beam, immediatly after I would assign target lock, THEN I could attack again with primary weapon. This irratated him haha

Really didn't do much with the Major Rhymer setup that was reccomended. Never got to use any of the missles or bombs, and never got to use trick shot

8 minutes ago, voltagejim said:

thanks for the input! Some other things to note about his teams:

He usually picks ships with 360 firing arc or twin laser turrets. In our game last night every attack from the k-wing was TLT and he could do it 2 times in a row, and also had a card that made me NOT have any range bonus for defense dice.

He also had a card that let him drop a bomb before manuver AND after manuver

I actually really liked the setup with the Defender with colonel Vessery and the oher upgrade cards that were suggested. Because I would do tractor beam, immediatly after I would assign target lock, THEN I could attack again with primary weapon. This irratated him haha

Really didn't do much with the Major Rhymer setup that was reccomended. Never got to use any of the missles or bombs, and never got to use trick shot

points to note

1) All secondary weapons remove defence bonuses at range 3

2) TLT is one attack but with 2 "volleys" (i.e he should normally be rolling 6 dice total) and will give a total of 2 damage max per volley

3)you can only ever drop 1 bomb per turn, even if they have 2 differnt triggers (so one of either an on reveal or Action Bomb)

4) did you remember the -1 AGI dice for tractor beam token (after you move them)

Regen Miranda is a pig, i love using her though

13 hours ago, voltagejim said:

So went with one of the first lsits someone posted which was: Major Rhymer, Colonel Vessery, and Countdown, and my friend switched things up and went with a K-wing and the new wide bomber ship (can't remember the name, not the wookie one though)

I lost again, did some decent damage, but not having shields on all but one of my ships hurt bad. In the first attack of the game he brought my TIE Bomber to 1 hull left. My Defender and striker lasted a good while, and the tractor beam was nice and let me get some good hits in with that ship the way I was told to have upgrade cards, but in the end he keeps picking cards that let him turn all blank results or focus results into hits or re roll them all. Which just overwhelms me. Then he also uses R2-D2 to get shield back and another upgrade card that gives a shield back at the cost of rolling 1 less attack dice. ugh I don't think I'll ever beat him

These comments lead me to think that your friend puts a lot of time into X wing when you are not playing each other. He already has the new ship and kitted properly but you don't know its name yet. He runs Miranda which is a very popular ship but it took you by surprise (and how TLT works). It looks like your friend has the mechanics down while you are still struggling with some game concepts. If I may be so bold, your friend's dedication to X Wing is a lot higher than yours and this is why it puts him at a very significant advantage when your battles start. If your priorities don't match, which is perfectly all right (lots of things in life are more important than a game), this will be a barrier. You will have to match your friend's commitment or he will most likely get the better of you each time. .

5 hours ago, voltagejim said:

He also had a card that let him drop a bomb before manuver AND after manuver

No such combo exists, you're only allowed to drop 1 bomb a turn as per the rules. This, coupled with your comment earlier about his Dash always ignoring all obstacles, makes me think your friend might not have a full grasp of the rules himself, or plays in a slightly duplicitous manner (though I would hate to slander your friend here).

The Autothrusters upgrade modification is your best friend vs turrets, but it comes in a pack that you otherwise have no reason to buy really.