13 minutes ago, NakedDex said:

Also, Sabine's TIE. Technically the Phantom too, but that's not available separately. The ARC is neither alone, nor the first.

Why not put no generics in a pack that people are only ever going to buy one or two of anyway?

I forgot about that rebel tie fighter. Just acquired that, and haven't really looked at it closely. From a lore sense, I guess that makes sense.

And who determines which ships players will only buy 1 or 2 of?

Yes, there's standard 100/Epic formats. But there are lots of other ways to play the game outside of the tournament setting.

2 hours ago, Astech said:

Also, a single large event was won by a list of generics? Clearly, there are no problems with them then...

I mentioned one event because it happened within the last two weeks; that's right, we're not talking ancient history here, we're talking recent history. And recently enough to immediately dissolve your blanket statement with no further evidence required.

Although, if you really want to push your argument:

2017 Malaysian Nationals (23rd September 2017)
Top 16 - 3 x Gold Squadron Pilots
- 1 x Jakku Gunrunner
- 3 x Contracted Scouts
- 3 x Contracted Scouts
- 1 x Kartakk Pirate, 1 x Syndicate Thug
- 1 x Prototype Pilot, 1 x Gold Squadron Pilot

2017 Baltics Nationals (16th September 2017)
Top 8 - 1 x Trandoshan Slaver, 1 x Syndicate Thug

2017 Polish Nationals (16th September 2017)
Winner - 1 x Rebel Operative
Top 32 - 1 x Lothal Rebel
- 1 x Glaive Squadron Pilot
- 4 x Kashyyyk Defender
- 3 x Academy Pilot, 3 x Black Squadron Pilot

2017 UK Nationals (16th September 2017)
Winner - 3 x Contracted Scout
Top 32 - 3 x Contracted Scout
- 3 x Contracted Scout
- 1 x Gold Squadron Pilot
- 3 x Green Squadron Pilot
- 2 x Gold Squadron Pilot
- 1 x Black Squadron Scout
- 1 x Trandoshan Slaver, 1 x Contracted Scout
- 2 x Jakku Gunrunner, 4 x Binayre Pilot

2017 US Nationals (1st September 2017)
Top 32 - 2 x Contracted Scout
- 1 x Gamma Squadron Veteran
- 2 x Gold Squadron Pilot, 2 x Bandit Squadron Pilot
- 1 x Omicron Group Pilot
- 3 x Contacted Scout
- 1 x Contracted Scout
- 1 x Contracted Scout
- 1 x Jakku Gunrunner, 1 x Karthakk Pirate, 2 x Syndicate Thug
- 3 x Contracted Scout
- 1 x Syndicate Thug, 1 x Lok Revenant
- 4 x Sienar Specialist
- 2 x Contracted Scout

That's literally every major event in the last four weeks featuring generics - and quite a wide variety of them - in the cut.

To be fair, a lot of those generics are just a TLT with a ship attached or a contracted scout. Taking out scouts and TLT you're looking at 8 generics at US Nationals, 11 at UK, 12 at Polish (6 in one TIE swarm), 1 at Baltic, and 3 at Malaysian. Of the generics on that list 28 are contracted scouts, 18 are Y-Wings with TLT, and 1 is a palp shuttle.

59 minutes ago, saturnflight said:

I forgot about that rebel tie fighter. Just acquired that, and haven't really looked at it closely. From a lore sense, I guess that makes sense.

And who determines which ships players will only buy 1 or 2 of?

There are ships that the vast majority of people will only ever buy one or two of due to their points values/uses. The Ghost and Decimator, for example, are two ships I'd have been ok seeing no generic for due to their nature. No harm in having them either, of course.

The Rebel TIE is something nobody but collector's would be buying more than two of, as two plus a core set will set you up to run all four unique pilots.

With the ARC, you could only run all four in an Epic or custom game (which is fine), otherwise you'd max out at three in a standard game. It's more likely, given their play style, you'd only run one or two though, so that's what most people would buy.

I'm not saying anyone is confined to a number, just that in some cases, the game rules limit how many you want to buy, rather than how many you can buy.

Even as a new player it wasn't difficult to see the benefit of generic pilots. With only 100 Points to work with, and especially considering my initial lack of usable upgrades, a strength in numbers approach seemed like a good way to go. As my collection has grown, I still find I prefer to have at least four or five ships on the table.

My son and I recently started with wave one and decided to work are way through. He chose the Alliance and I chose the Empire. Flying 6 or 7 Tie Fighters in tight formation not only seemed theatrically correct, but I was surprised how effective it was. Since those early games, I've done a little reading on the forums and improved on my swarm tactics a bit. So many good ideas posted here. My personal favorite.. 5 Sienar Test Pilots w/ title, missiles, and chips may not necessarily be dominating the tournament universe, but the small sector of space that my dining room table resides in is firmly under Empire control.

"The dark side is strong in me, for I am Sith."

4 minutes ago, mdl0114 said:

To be fair, a lot of those generics are just a TLT with a ship attached or a contracted scout. Taking out scouts and TLT you're looking at 8 generics at US Nationals, 11 at UK, 12 at Polish (6 in one TIE swarm), 1 at Baltic, and 3 at Malaysian. Of the generics on that list 28 are contracted scouts, 18 are Y-Wings with TLT, and 1 is a palp shuttle.

In fairness, if there was no TLT, you'd see fewer Y-wing generics, but you'd see a lot more other generics. It's swings and roundabouts. Either way, there'll always be room in high level lists for generics to do chip damage/block/meatshield/harass.

Yeah Generics certainly have a place, just not a very prevalent place at the moment, unless you're a contracted scout or TLT carrier.

19 minutes ago, mdl0114 said:

To be fair, a lot of those generics are just a TLT with a ship attached or a contracted scout. Taking out scouts and TLT you're looking at 8 generics at US Nationals, 11 at UK, 12 at Polish (6 in one TIE swarm), 1 at Baltic, and 3 at Malaysian. Of the generics on that list 28 are contracted scouts, 18 are Y-Wings with TLT, and 1 is a palp shuttle.

Of course certain (popular, cost effective, efficient) ships are going to prove more popular than others. No one disputes the fact that the JM5K is hands down the best platform in the game right now, regardless of the pilot you're flying. The point, however, is that a large variety of generic pilots were flown - and flown successfully enough to make the cut and in a couple of cases win outright - at a number of Premier level events this month alone.

24 minutes ago, NakedDex said:

No harm in having them either, of course.

This, right here, really is the point.

6 hours ago, Giledhil said:

Clearly a lot of generics are way overcosted by now. At the point whe've arrived now, I think the only fixing possibility is a revamp of ship prices. Too bad FFG isn't on that boat...

A squadron mechanic is needed badly. It would buff generics. . .

5 hours ago, DampfGecko said:

Apart from all those reasons, there is also something to be said for uniform squadrons. Feels so right!

. . .and be good fluff.

5 hours ago, FTS Gecko said:

Of course certain (popular, cost effective, efficient) ships are going to prove more popular than others. No one disputes the fact that the JM5K is hands down the best platform in the game right now, regardless of the pilot you're flying. The point, however, is that a large variety of generic pilots were flown - and flown successfully enough to make the cut and in a couple of cases win outright - at a number of Premier level events this month alone.

But a significant majority of successful lists either have no generics or more named pilots than generics. That shows that generic pilots are, on average, harder to fly well.

On 9/25/2017 at 5:41 PM, Fippo said:

I have started to question generic pilots. Considering the typical squad size is between 2-4 ships, it would make alot more sense if all pilots had a name...

I think all pilots should have pilot abilities, but different amount of upgrade slots depending on PS.

i mostly play generics. 5+ ship lists only went away because the jumpmaster is retarding the game and creating a toxic balance. i refuse to play against jumpmaster netlists, so it isnt really a problem for me.

P.s. thats the real jumpmaster fix, if someone puts them on the table say "no thanks" and play someone else

also 5+ z-95s with missiles hurt. assault missiles really shine when you stack em.

On 9/25/2017 at 3:53 PM, Kieransi said:

I almost never don’t fly generics! As a RPG player, I love having characters who don’t have a name, so that I can make up whatever story I want for them! Once a character has a long Wookieepedia page dictating exactly who they are, I get all worried about what is and isn’t thematic, and it starts to bother me. So I really like to fly a whole bunch of Black Squadron Pilots and give each one a different EPT and then imagine a personality for each one, based on the EPT!

Generics rock! Please don’t get rid of them!

That's actually an awesome reason to include generics.