I have been playing X-Wing for a number of years now, mostly flying Rebels and really haven't player the Imperial Faction.

What would be the best starting point, Swarm, Aces, etc. I have all the ships that are currently available, so that side of things won't be a problem.

This path only leads to the dark side and woe.

You are signing up to the academy; when the empire is at it's weakest. I won't sugar coat that. Am an Imperial player 75% of my time. It's an uphill battle most games and it's basically X-Wing on hard mode.

But if this is your chosen path; Let me say "Welcome to the Academy!"

Depending on your strengths will depend on what to suggest. The current strong builds are;

1. HighPS Alpha Strike; Vader + Quickdraw (missiles installed) & and 3rd ship; Usually an Aggressor or a TIE Bomber (Tomex)

2. Rear Admiral C(something something can't spell) with Kylo Ren on board + One Ace (normal Quickdraw)

Controversial Number 3. Palp Aces, Palp in a Lamba and two aces traditionally x2 Defenders (Ryad and Vessery) still strong in my personal opinion.

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1 and 2 i suspect most will agree on and Number two would be the cheapest to get going with (provided you pick up Kylo from eBay.

I've seen "Control" Defenders doing the rounds at the moment, but 1 and 2 are the strongest.

Imperials... Aren't at the best place, and I doubt they will ever be. The game is placing an increasing importance on upgrades, something that imperials lack, with little compensation. This is unlikely to get fixed for most existing imperial ships.

Whatever you play you should avoid swarms, despite being The thing imperials excel at. There are way too many tools to handle swarms, and ffg seems ****-bent on adding more without considering it a problem "because nobody plays swarms anyway".

I think with the new FAQ, there could be some love for the Imperials again.

So, looking to try out a new faction. Should I try a swarm first up and then move to an Aces list?

Commanders, I find your lack of faith disturbing.

To the op: If you like the first order, I'd recommend getting a TIE/fo expansion (omega leader), a TIE/sf expansion (quickdraw) and an upsilon (kylo crew). Then a silencer

If you don't like the FO: get a striker, Imperial veterans and an additional defender expansion. Look to buy a decimator next.

Anyway, I think it's always a good time to start imperial. Swarms are great at teaching the game and so are imperial triple aces, mini-swarms and imperial gambit. For a Veteran player who comes from the rebel side of things, I would suggest to just right into some SF lists and sprinkle to taste with aces and maybe Palp or Kylo shuttle.

So come join us:

4 minutes ago, MaxPower said:

Commanders, I find your lack of faith disturbing

Oh don't get me wrong. My loyalty was never in question. I will go down with my ship, but I am not optimistic about the future.

Imperial doctrine is inherently flawed in the game, and it also has a lot of hate in terms of mechanics.

It's actually kinda beautiful how the narrative of the movies is represented. We need to be destroyed, only then can a new order arise.

Just go balls deep into buying first order. All of their ships are cool and well balanced so far.

Gunboat is all you need.

I have all the ships that are available, so no need to buy.

Just need a starting point to learn the ins and outs of flying a Imperial list.

Don't start with swarms...

Not only they are more difficult and demanding to play... Even in casual games you will encounter Harpoon Missiles, and you're not gonna have a good time with those on a Swarm.

But, if you don't fly in formation, there have been moderate success flying Strikers Swarms from people of the forum.

Go Double SF and a Defender. QD, Backdraft and Vess

I'm dabbling with the Imperials now that my base was nerfed down hard. I like both ps10 RAC + Kylo plus some ps11 ace love. Both are going to be really good in this bold new world. I also can't wait to fly gunboats.

The folks calling it uphill are only remembering the past. Right now, it's the empire strikes back.

Get some GUNBOATs, a Slave I for some tools, and a Punisher for LRS.

4 hours ago, the1hodgy said:

Depending on your strengths will depend on what to suggest. The current strong builds are;

1. HighPS Alpha Strike; Vader + Quickdraw (missiles installed) & and 3rd ship; Usually an Aggressor or a TIE Bomber (Tomex)

2. Rear Admiral C(something something can't spell) with Kylo Ren on board + One Ace (normal Quickdraw)

Controversial Number 3. Palp Aces, Palp in a Lamba and two aces traditionally x2 Defenders (Ryad and Vessery) still strong in my personal opinion.

1 and 2 i suspect most will agree on and Number two would be the cheapest to get going with (provided you pick up Kylo from eBay.

I've seen "Control" Defenders doing the rounds at the moment, but 1 and 2 are the strongest.

I would probably have RAKylo in first place. ISYTDS is a really powerful ability against a lot of other meta lists, has simple set up and can be triggered easily with the right builds. He works with a number of different wingmen in a number of different builds (I've personally seen Soontir, Whisper, TIE/sfs, Defenders, a second Decimator and more)

High PS Imperial Alphastrike is good, but much more limiting - you're giving up a lot of good Elite talents to secure PS10 or PS11, in a lot of matchups the PS bid won't make a difference and you need to really plan out your approach play in order to make the most of the alphastrike. I've played against it a couple of times now with x7 Defenders now and haven't lost yet.

There's nothing really controversial about option 3. Palpatine is still good. x7 is still good. People just dropped off the bandwagon after their nerfs. You probably want to go for the Commonwealth Defenders builds rather than the Wampa/Inquisitor/Omega Leader/Palp variants now, but it's still a solid list.

And while we're on the subject of x7, you can definitely add the triple Defenders archetype to the list. Three x7s is a really solid foundation for a list, you can take double generics and an ace or upgrade all three to aces.

2 minutes ago, FTS Gecko said:

I would probably have RAKylo in first place. ISYTDS is a really powerful ability against a lot of other meta lists, has simple set up and can be triggered easily with the right builds. He works with a number of different wingmen in a number of different builds (I've personally seen Soontir, Whisper, TIE/sfs, Defenders, a second Decimator and more)

High PS Imperial Alphastrike is good, but much more limiting - you're giving up a lot of good Elite talents to secure PS10 or PS11, in a lot of matchups the PS bid won't make a difference and you need to really plan out your approach play in order to make the most of the alphastrike. I've played against it a couple of times now with x7 Defenders now and haven't lost yet.

There's nothing really controversial about option 3. Palpatine is still good. x7 is still good. People dropped off the bandwagon after their nerfs, but it's still a solid list.

And while we're on the of x7 subject, you can definitely add the triple Defenders archetype to the list. Three x7s is a really solid foundation for a list, you can take double generics and an ace or upgrade all three to aces.

What do you think about Vessery/Ryad + SF (VI BD or Adaptability QD)? Tried it?

Get some defenders and imp vets that's a solid foundation.

Tie strikers are nice filler ships and lightened frame is an upgrade that can help ships like the sf out quite a bit, a tie shuttle benefits as well.

And of course at least 4 gunboats!

Just now, Bonza said:

What do you think about Vessery/Ryad + SF (VI BD or Adaptability QD)? Tried it?

Well, it's a decent amount of health and a good amount of damage output. Personally I haven't flown any TIE/sfs myself, but Quickdraw is definitely a very powerful ship in the right hands.

That said, I've always found the TIE/sf to be the weak point in the Imperial Alphastrike lists I've faced. They have good overall health, but nothing really in the way of mitigation like Vader, the Inquistor or Defenders have. In the games I've played against Imperial Alpha I've managed to isolate Quickdraw first each time.

1 minute ago, Hobojebus said:

Tie strikers are nice filler ships and lightened frame is an upgrade that can help ships like the sf out quite a bit, a tie shuttle benefits as well.

This as well. Countdown is a really, really good cheap filler pilot. Put Adaptive Ailerons and Hull Upgrade on him, have him flank and ideally engage targets one at a time and he's worth his weight in gold. Bombs hurt him of course, but then again they hurt most Imperial pilots.

Start by:

1. Flying Punishers with a few support craft.

2. Fall in love with their beefy frames and bloated loadouts.

3. Fail miserably, but still do well enough so that you think "There must be some way to make this work!..."

4. Give in to the feeling of frustration and disillusionment.

5. Move on to stronger wing lists but retain the salt.

5 hours ago, the1hodgy said:

Controversial Number 3. Palp Aces, Palp in a Lamba and two aces traditionally x2 Defenders (Ryad and Vessery) 2 Interceptors (Soontir and Carnor) still strong in my personal opinion.

FTFY

8 minutes ago, Jo Jo said:

FTFY

That's what i like to refer to B.T.T,W, version

1 hour ago, FTS Gecko said:

There's nothing really controversial about option 3. Palpatine is still good. x7 is still good. People just dropped off the bandwagon after their nerfs.

I like you Gecko, you get it. I agree Palp is still good.

Am just sick of arguing that fact, hence controversial.

Soontir will Rise again.......

also

ALL HAIL GUNBOAT!!!!!!!!