So I have around $30 to spend on some X-Wing stuff (Yay!) and I'm looking for some advice on what to buy. I'd like to make the long over-due purchase of a Protectorate Starfighter, and that leaves me with around $20. Any suggestions on a good, self contained, solid expansion to get with the rest? I play all 3 factions so anything goes. Any advice is sincerely appreciated!

You forgot to tell us what you already have.

My advice is always this:

1. Buy a core set

2. Buy a second core set (best value for your $, plus extra dice, templates, damage deck)

3. Buy what you love. You’ll have a lot more fun flying your favorite ships from the movies than flying some obscure ship you’ve never heard of just because the inter-webs told you it was gud.

Well a solid ready-out-of-dem-box is the YT-2400... I hate rebels, but if you play all 3 then I will assure you that it is good... However it is 30$ on it self so then you have to delay the protectorate even longer...

tbh I have no idea what I can recommend on the Rebels and Imperials... I am pure scum, so for 20$ I would recommend 2 things: either a Kihraxz or a second Protectorate... M3A's arent half bad either...

good luck and have fun...

Ps. Why not save the 20 bucks for a bigger set? E.G. a Guns for Hire or a large ship...

7 minutes ago, Herowannabe said:

You forgot to tell us what you already have.

My advice is always this:

1. Buy a core set

2. Buy a second core set (best value for your $, plus extra dice, templates, damage deck)

3. Buy what you love. You’ll have a lot more fun flying your favorite ships from the movies than flying some obscure ship you’ve never heard of just because the inter-webs told you it was gud.

Yeah, You beat me by 1 minute... Therefore I just posted some things I would buy...

Good point, I forgot to tell you guys ? my collection currently consists of:

1 TFA core set

1 A Wing, 1 Y wing, 1 T-70, 1 Scurrg, 1 ARC 170, 1 HWK 290, 1 Rebel Aces, 1 Imperial Aces, 2 Special Forces TIE, 1 TIE punisher, 1 TIE Interceptor, 1 Upsilon class shuttle, 1 Lambda, 1 Guns for Hire, 1 YV 666, 1 Most wanted, 1 Slave One, 1 Khiraxz, 1 G1A, 1 Starviper

The most self-sufficient boxes are some of the newer ace-packs. Specifically Heroes of the resistance, Imperial Veterans and Guns for Hire. You can even fly a pretty good squadron just with the first one and some cards from one of the core sets.

Seeing your list, I would encourage you to buy the protectorate starfighter, if that is what you want. You have the cards to play Fenn Rau (Autothrusters and Push the limit). Another great scum pack if you want to reinforce that faction further is the Shadowcaster.

Another good buy for Rebels would be the Phantom 2. That would allow you to fly Poe, Norra and rebel Fenn.

Punishing One is still a solid ship and comes with A TON of upgrades! Thought I would tell you that too...

Gunboat or TIE Defender are both great, though you'll want the titles that come with Imperial Veterans.

18 minutes ago, Yearfire said:

Another good buy for Rebels would be the Phantom 2. That would allow you to fly Poe, Norra and rebel Fenn.

That's a good idea thanks! But I'm still kinda on the fence about the Phantom II, I feel like I'd need the Ghost to really get my money's worth out of it.

I've repeatedly regretted not getting Heroes of the Resistance. There's just a wealth of useful upgrades that are still unique to it. I guess Primed Thrusters finally just showed up in the Silencer, but it's long been in HOTR. I didn't want to get it because I didn't want to deal with storing a second Falcon, but I'm sick of having to eBay cards out of it that enable modern builds.

4 minutes ago, Jabberwock150 said:

That's a good idea thanks! But I'm still kinda on the fence about the Phantom II, I feel like I'd need the Ghost to really get my money's worth out of it.

Actually, depending on where you look, you can sometimes find the Ghost for about 30 these days. It's another one where it's just worth getting for all the stuff in it. Also one Ive come to regret eBaying my way around because I didn't want to store that big friggin' ship.

33 minutes ago, Jabberwock150 said:

That's a good idea thanks! But I'm still kinda on the fence about the Phantom II, I feel like I'd need the Ghost to really get my money's worth out of it.

It’s true that the Ghost really benefits from the Phantom II, but so does the small rebel ace-ships. Norra, Miranda, Wedge, Poe. Choose two and add Fenn or Strezra (Ezra with R3-A2).

Totally depends on what you have and what you like to play.

The Phantom II is a good buy right now, not only for the dirty ghost builds, but as well as piece to fly among rebel small ships like Poe, Nora, Lowrick, etc hey, even Ezra with a stress-bug build is a great piece.
The YT-2400 has always been a mostly complete package.

Heroes of the Resistance is a mostly complete package and around the budget you have given us.
Imperial Veterans are again very relevant and gunboats in general are great, especially if you have already Quickdraw or the Silencer to accompany 2 or 3 gunboats.
If you don't own The Inquisitor it would be a good time to pick him up, if you don't own autothrusters already it would be a good time to pick up a Silencer, etc

Many good options.

Imperial veterans and a regular defender!!!

I think the best way to start is purchase an existing collection. This is the only way to get cards from packs like the punisher, star-viper, aces, b-wing etc. you’ll likely need some common cards like engine upgrades, autothrusters, push the limit etc. that are likely in packs you might not want. Then you can strip the collection of what you want and sell it for a reduced price on eBay or other places. The other option is getting the ships you want and buy singles on marketplaces. I did a mixture of both starting out. Of course proxies are also perfectly acceptable in non-tournaments.

Good Luck and welcome to the game!

The Silencer is a formidable arc-dodger AND comes with 2 copies of autothrusters!

Thanks for the advice everyone! It's been good to get some outside input. As of now I'm leaning towards getting a Protectorate Starfighter and a Phantom II. I've heard enough good about the Sheathipede to have me pretty much convinced

3 hours ago, Wookiee_Slayer said:

The Silencer is a formidable arc-dodger AND comes with 2 copies of autothrusters!

New, New, New

Autothrusters come now in two different packages, so you don't need to buy the same showcase piece twice to fly your triple aces list.
And both LOOK really formidable, even when they are second-rate ships
Well, ok, the silencer wants to get a new paint job first. ;-)

I love the protectorate, but as far as I am concerned, it is the least valuable ship one can buy.

It has 5 pilots, 3 unique, 1 of which is great, and the other 2 are decent. But the 2 included upgrades are worthless for any other ship.

5 minutes ago, Yakostovian said:

But the 2 included upgrades are worthless for any other ship.

I beg to differ! Fearlessness can be quite destructive on Scum Boba and Talonbane Cobra (who gets it free)

5 minutes ago, Jabberwock150 said:

I beg to differ! Fearlessness can be quite destructive on Scum Boba and Talonbane Cobra (who gets it free)

Ketsu quite likes it too.

My thought: $30 doesn't go nearly as far as it used to. Once it was three small ships but now it's barely two.

Gunboat and a First order SF

Don't buy any, It's a trap!

Amazon often has the sets at reduced prices. the Warstore also tends to have it at reduced prices (usually beating amazon's, though amazon has wider inventory)