Prompted by a thread and /u/isop on reddit I did some digging regarding crew and imperials. I used meta-wing, limited to wave11 (13.7.17) until today (8.8.17).

There are 65 crew in total. 23 are exclusive to Rebels, 16 for Scum, 11 for Empire, 15 are neutral.
A total of 2246 times are these crew cards used in a squad. Mind that there can be an overlap, so we are not looking at 2246 different squads. We are also not looking at 2246 usages of a crew card because non-uniques can be used more than once (looking at you, K4 security droid on Jumps!). Despite these limitations I think we can get something interesting out of it.

Crew exclusive to Rebels amounts to 988 entries (44%)
Crew exclusive to Scum amounts to 619 entries (28%)
Crew exclusive to Imperials amounts to 220 entries (10%)

Neutral crew amounts to 17%.
I split them further up, because the idea is that we'd see more on imperial ships if imperials were content with their crew choices but just chose non-exclusives because they are better. That would explain the very low amount of imperial-exclusives out of the total pool because the crew slot is already occupied.
But instead we see that 29% of these 17% are used by imperials - which is almost perfectly what we expect to reject the idea that imperials are happy with crew choices.*

We can also look closer at the 11 crew for empire. The good ones are Palpatine, Vader, Kylo, Rebel Captive, and apparently Systems officer. The rest is Kallus (huh? That far down?), Ysanne Isard, Hux (why isn't he used more? Too expensive?), Fleet Officer, Mara Jade and Moff Jerjerrod. The better 5 are 81% (178) of all imperial. Including Kallus and Ysanne ups that to 91%, or 200.

Comparing these 178 or 200 to the 988 of rebel exclusives is interesting. Keep in mind that it is skewed towards uniques. However that's not too much of a problem because Wookie Commandos is the only non-unique Rebel-exclusive crew card. K4 Security droid is likely much higher, could be double, but that doesn't affect imperials much. If anything it's worse than I'm claiming. I also took a closer look at a non-unique imperial, Systems officer. There wasn't a single squad where he's used more than once.

So what is the limiting factor here? Are crew carriers bad for the empire? I don't belive that - after all, RAC is the 6th most frequent pilot for imperials, Kylo as shuttle pilot is 9th.

Or do imperials need more diversity for their crew options?

(edit: porque no los dos?)

* It's interesting though that some neutral cards are used very often on imperial ships and one not at all. Top8 of neutrals, amounting to 87% of neutral cards:

• Gunner is used 40% on imperial ships
• Recon Specialist: 15%
• Intelligence Agent: 30%
• Inspiring recruit: 22%
• Tactician: 16%
• Tail Gunner: whooping 0%
• HSCP: whooping 74% (however in absolute numbers, that's 17, the most used unique crew is Rey with 221, and K4 is most likely higher. Gunner had 34 uses on imperial ships)
• Operation Specialist: 65%

Edit: Also, Rebels and Scum have (salvaged) astromechs as an additional form of exclusive crew which exacerbates the problem.

It's hard to find a good ride for a lot of the unique empire crew as a lot of them are support based

You're basically stuck on one of the three (TIE included where possible) shuttles and none are particularly great ships

Vader goes well with a deci I suppose, given a meta in which it does not melt

Cheri has particular synergy with Ren due to ability but that's about it. He won't accommodate a hux or palp generally; too expensive

Whisper you can forget about because she needs direct support ala kallus or captive

Captive is great though **** expertise and ML

Not enough Imp diversity, for both crew and their carriers.

1 minute ago, BlueSquadronPilot said:

Not enough Imp diversity, for both crew and their carriers.

You're right, why should it be limited to one when both could be a problem. Well, I'm now at least convinced that diversity for crew is definitely a problem.

9 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

It's hard to find a good ride for a lot of the unique empire crew

You're basically stuck on one of the three (TIE included where possible) shuttles and none are particularly great ships

Vader goes well with a deci I suppose, given a meta in which it does not melt

This is basically it. Running crew in Imperials is basically a conscious decision to run either a shuttle or a Decimator. The shuttle needs to be able to provide a lot of economy to your squad since it will likely do little to no shooting over the course of the game (hence why usually Palp), and any Decimator build is going to eat up anywhere from half to two thirds of your list. For basically any other list, you have actually nowhere to fit in any crew.

Compare that to Rebels with their YTs, K-Wings, Arcs, VCXs, and Auzitucks, or Scum with their Jumpmasters, YVVs, Scurggs, and Shadowcasters. All these ships can slot in crew while also filling an offensive role. And while some still eat up the same points as a Decimator, most can be run as a third of your squad, allowing for more list creativity.

The ships that Imperials field the most of late are Tie SFs, FOs, Defenders, Strikers, Advanced (Vader with Cruise), and occasionally now even bombers. None of these ships have crew.

21 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

Are crew carriers bad for the empire? I don't belive that - after all, RAC is the 6th most frequent pilot for imperials, Kylo as shuttle pilot is 9th.

I would disagree with this conclusion. Lets not forget that the cost of both RAC and Kylo Upsilon limits them to certain builds/crew types. What the Empire is lacking is mid-points (20-25 pts) ship with a single crew slot and acceptable combat characteristics.

21 minutes ago, GreenDragoon said:

I also took a closer look at a non-unique imperial, Systems officer. There wasn't a single squad where he's used more than once.

Systems Officer is Limited and therefore requires two different ships with the crew slot to be included more than once, which is a non-starter in this case.

It looks like a conscious design choice, but... that shucks. So many admirals, commanders and captains to choose from. So many shuttles and "command ships" to implement. And yet they are the faction that deliberately avoids crew and crew carriers?

Just now, PT106 said:

Systems Officer is Limited and therefore requires two different ships with the crew slot to be included more than once, which is a non-starter in this case.

Yes. Fleet Officer is also only used once per squad for all entries. Was still worth making sure, even though I'd have expected nothing else.

Def one of the bigger crimes of game design was tarkin not being range 1-3 and epic only

And despite the joke the gunboat has become, empire could really use a chunky ship and a more efficient, less clunky crew carrier

4 minutes ago, PT106 said:

I would disagree with this conclusion. Lets not forget that the cost of both RAC and Kylo Upsilon limits them to certain builds/crew types. What the Empire is lacking is mid-points (20-25 pts) ship with a single crew slot and acceplable combat characteristics.

Sorry I split my reply into two posts.

You are right, both ships are heavily skewed towards few combinations. As I mentioned in the reply to BlueSqdPilot: it looks like both are a problem.

But I'm not sure why you think that a 20-25pt ship is necessary. If the other factions are any indication, then the crews are predominantly on 30+ pt ships

12 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

Def one of the bigger crimes of game design was tarkin not being range 1-3 and epic only

And despite the joke the gunboat has become, empire could really use a chunky ship and a more efficient, less clunky crew carrier

Oh man. A range 1-3 Tarkin would be amazing in standard play. He might need a 1-2 point cost reduction, but even that I'm not sure about.

1 minute ago, PhantomFO said:

Oh man. A range 1-3 Tarkin would be amazing in standard play. He might need a 1-2 point cost reduction, but even that I'm not sure about.

Sad he isn't, though

god forbid we make ketsal viable, right?

A crew slot on the Tie/sf would have been perfect.

Edit: or perhaps the striker (but rather the sf)

6 minutes ago, Calibri Garamond said:

A crew slot on the Tie/sf would have been perfect.

you'll get one as soon as sabine steals one

3 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

you'll get one as soon as sabine steals one

It's funny because it's true.

And by funny I mean sad.

Its just one of the many bad design decisions that the empire is on the wrong end of....

I do think the empire needs some more crew and crew rides. Right now why would I chose to run one of the various shuttles? If I want to play with ships that fly like garbage I will just play rebels.

Crew: Stealth Agent- Increase your pilot skill by 3, you may not equip an EPT. Phantom Only. 1 Pt

Screw you Nym.

3 minutes ago, Icelom said:

I do think the empire needs some more crew and crew rides. Right now why would I chose to run one of the various shuttles? If I want to play with ships that fly like garbage I will just play rebels.

I don't know... Oh wait I do. Maybe you want to fly a garbage ship next to a striker?

Well this has been discussed but it isn't just crew but upgrades. Imperials have always been at the disadvantage because at inception that wasn't the imperial character. Taking a look at the classic core set Imperials had ships with no upgrades but had a larger selection of unique pilots. Now it is well known that those unique pilots don't have any OP ability (ironically that falls to Biggs I guess), but that was the faction characteristics. FFG has made measures to correct this for example Royal Guard which allows Imperials the only ship to have 2 modification (untill scum varski comes). Also wave 11 did correct some of this but it also add more to the rebels. (Imperials finally get the <turret> upgrade slot but rebels now have access to unique <salvaged astromech>.

I think there are more stuff in works for wave 12. The fact so many people are arguing over Wave 11 meta not realizing that there are literally 6 ships off the horizon means all this biggs and scurrg and bomb hate is rather exaggerations. Also I have to remind everyone that atanni mindlink were absent from the top table at lasts worlds.

1 hour ago, GreenDragoon said:

Sorry I split my reply into two posts.

You are right, both ships are heavily skewed towards few combinations. As I mentioned in the reply to BlueSqdPilot: it looks like both are a problem.

But I'm not sure why you think that a 20-25pt ship is necessary. If the other factions are any indication, then the crews are predominantly on 30+ pt ships

Are they? (And lets be clear - I'm talking about the base cost of the ship with the cheapest pilot, so the total cost with the loadout and the crew is likely to be in 30+ pts)

Rebels: ARC170 - 25 pts base cost, Wookie Ship - 24 pts, K-Wing - 23 pts (There are YT1300/YT2400/Ghost, but these are in a separate league)

Scum: JumpMaster (need I say more?)

Heh, I found it highly amusing that no one has mentioned the Imp Firespray. Then I remembered why

Anyway, I have to agree with the consensus that it is a combo of limited crew options and carriers. I've seen Hux be pretty scary on a Llamda with two SFs, but those SFs are chained to him. Try to use him with Defenders or Aces, and the space cow ceases to be truly affective.

Honestly, I think a few more of the Empire's current roster would get some good use if the Empire got a big based ship with capabilities akin to a Lancer. That's what most of my Imperial buddies have been wishing for. Something fast and offensive that can provide fire support and stay in the fight, without the Decimator's price tag.

There are also some dud crew. Mara Jade sadly doesn't really cut it. If she assigned a stress regardless, then we'd be talking. As is, eh.

Now, for the future, I am expecting two things. One, a zero point cost Imperial crew like Chopper and Vizago (I nominate Admiral Konstanine to keep the zero pointers coming from the Rebels show and he's flipping useless.) And Two, a 2 point crew card that gives a bomb slot plus some sort of bomb effect, similar to Sabine and Cad to keep with the pattern.

Now, if they could just give us a Thrawn crew card, all problems would be over.

7 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

a 2 point crew card that gives a bomb slot plus some sort of bomb effect, similar to Sabine and Cad to keep with the pattern.

Where would that be good? Decimator maybe?

TIE Shuttle for extra ridiculousness?

Phantom would be sick as heck with reveal bombs.

Our heavy bomber does not have a crew slot sadly

31 minutes ago, PT106 said:

Are they? (And lets be clear - I'm talking about the base cost of the ship with the cheapest pilot, so the total cost with the loadout and the crew is likely to be in 30+ pts)

Rebels: ARC170 - 25 pts base cost, Wookie Ship - 24 pts, K-Wing - 23 pts (There are YT1300/YT2400/Ghost, but these are in a separate league)

Scum: JumpMaster (need I say more?)

28 seems to be a better cut off.

Rebels: Norra is 29, Lowhhrick is 28, Miranda is 29, Nym is 30, the large base rebels are more expensive of course. The other pilots of the ships you mentioned are negligible. Keyan is 29, but also negligible

Scum: Jumpmaster is undercosted, so I wouldn't treat it as template. Apart from that one we got the G1-A (ahem...) and Quadjumper

So cheap crew carriers are Quadjumper, rebel TIE and Hawks, U-Wing and attack shuttle. But I doubt you'd take these as good examples for crew carriers. At least their performance seems to be very low.

1 minute ago, RufusDaMan said:

Where would that be good? Decimator maybe?

TIE Shuttle for extra ridiculousness?

Phantom would be sick as heck with reveal bombs.

Our heavy bomber does not have a crew slot sadly

If it comes in an Aces pack with new stuff for the punisher, like a title that adds a crew slot, it could work. The smart move is to make it a mod. I'm just not sure FFG will make the smart move here.