9 minutes ago, Bulwyf said:

Just as an observation: is S&V the weakest faction? I can't help but notice that most of the recommendations are for Reb and Imp and not many for S&V. Are they just not that good and should be only brought out for fun games and nothing competitive?

After the last great nerfing, Scum went from top of the pot to bottom of the barrel. They’re really hurting without torp boats and while the other factions hotness more powerful they got left behind.

theyll be back eventually. It’s a cyclical thing.

12 minutes ago, Bulwyf said:

Just as an observation: is S&V the weakest faction? I can't help but notice that most of the recommendations are for Reb and Imp and not many for S&V. Are they just not that good and should be only brought out for fun games and nothing competitive?

Currently yes, but it'll change. The game runs in cycles.

Scum are a bit on the outs because they only have one truly top tier competitive ship - Asajj Ventress - who doesn't have any really good allies to pair with.

But in play outside top tier tourneys, you probably won't notice the discrepancy, they've got plenty of a- and b-tier stuff, just nothing s-tier apart from Asajj.

36 minutes ago, Bulwyf said:

Just as an observation: is S&V the weakest faction? I can't help but notice that most of the recommendations are for Reb and Imp and not many for S&V. Are they just not that good and should be only brought out for fun games and nothing competitive?

Their small ships are mostly balanced, with FFG having a tendency to overcost them. The larger ones are mostly better, JM5000 was utterly broken. Leading to people hating the whole faction due to this stupid ship. Scum has some very funny toolboxes. But the most competitive people fly the currently broken rebel stuff.

I honestly don't see Imperials as being out and out better than Scum, apart from maybe Quickdraw being excellent

They have one excellent Harpoon Missile caddie in the Alpha-class (gunboat) but otherwise they're just not on the rebellion level of sheer wtfery hyper-efficient turrets and ridiculous sheathe support

I know I personally never had any troubles running scum against empire, especially when the Jumpmaster is such a nightmare of a blocker. I do agree, however, that Asajj is and the Jumpmaster remains on a different level than scum's small ships (though I found Thweek and Xizor enjoyable and probably quite powerful provided someone other than me is rolling their goddamn green dice)

Even Ketsu I feel isn't bad at all, even if she can't compare to Asajj (but she CAN be run alongside her)

And woe to the rest of the X-wing world if Scum finds a powerful compliment to Boba crew and his Phantom / Outrider /r2d2/TLT slaying prowess. We're almost there already with the SCURRG being a very decent harpoon caddie, but hotshot Fenn basically singlehandedly makes deadeye worthless

14 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

woe to the rest of the X-wing world if Scum finds a powerful compliment to Boba crew and his Phantom / Outrider /r2d2/TLT slaying prowess. We're almost there already with the SCURRG being a very decent harpoon caddie, but hotshot Fenn basically singlehandedly makes deadeye worthless

Scurgg can take LRS and deadeye for redundancy. Only issue is then no crit guarantee with chips.

gotta have the chips, never leave anything to chance

guess you just have to TL as an action and hope for the best

On 3/26/2018 at 4:59 PM, Bulwyf said:

My wife and I played pretty heavily until the Force Awakens new starter box came out. We bought that box and took a break from the game. We are coming back now and would like some advise.

We have almost every non epic size ship up to the Force Awakens starter box came out. What are the "must have" ships for all 3 factions since then that have come out? We don't want to go out and just buy every ship release since then but trying to get the ships/upgrade cards that are considered "must have" for current meta.

Appreciate any help!

all you need is 5x gold squadron pilots equipped with btl title and autoblaster turret

Just wanted to update since we've gotten some of the recommend ships:

My wife only plays Rebels so I'm default forced to play Scum or Imps. I don't mind, I much prefer them to Rebels.

That being said...wow. Rebels are clearly more powerful. The other factions seem to pay an inherent cost in terms of durability versus weapons or versatility. The Rebels seem to get all three with no negative consequences to it. My Imp Decimator, for example, is simply nowhere near as good as the Ghost. The Imp ships still seem to want you to run swarm lists and not give you as many options to run powerful ships.

We're both avoiding the bomb everything mentality that our local meta seems to be because my wife and I both enjoy dog fights versus dodge the bomb play. Since we both prefer more standard play, she has so many strong ace pilot options in her ships that I find myself scrambling to try and match it so my ships don't get shot off the table early in the game.

Has there been a T65 fix yet? Or is that going to be in the Saw expansion?

Cheers

Baaa

9 minutes ago, Baaa said:

Has there been a T65 fix yet? Or is that going to be in the Saw expansion?

Cheers

Baaa

We are waiting on a t-65 specific fix in the Saw pack. The more general additions of Intergrated Astromech several waves ago and the recent release of Flight Assist Astromech have been nice for the T-65 and I suspect will continue to play a role in the future of the chassis.

if you can't wait for Saw's to fly x-wings though, Poe's already been "fixed"

2 pages in and no one's said the game is dead yet? Have I fallen into the upside down?

7 minutes ago, Nyxen said:

2 pages in and no one's said the game is dead yet? Have I fallen into the upside down?

Despite what this forum might lead you to believe, the game is still going strong.

5 minutes ago, SabineKey said:

Despite what this forum might lead you to believe, the game is still going strong.

I've been here too long to not expect the salt.

13 minutes ago, Nyxen said:

I've been here too long to not expect the salt.

Fair.

29 minutes ago, Nyxen said:

2 pages in and no one's said the game is dead yet? Have I fallen into the upside down?

I'm more confused about the last replies after my last post. I'm still not sure what relevance those posts have to my returning player thread lol

The game is definitely going strong, plenty of people play it in my local area. My wife and I just got caught up in too much work to play it like we wanted, now that we have more free time we're enjoying the hobby again.

19 minutes ago, Bulwyf said:

I'm more confused about the last replies after my last post. I'm still not sure what relevance those posts have to my returning player thread lol

The game is definitely going strong, plenty of people play it in my local area. My wife and I just got caught up in too much work to play it like we wanted, now that we have more free time we're enjoying the hobby again.

I should amend that I'm pleasantly surprised, welcome back!

On 3/27/2018 at 10:56 AM, Bulwyf said:

Just as an observation: is S&V the weakest faction? I can't help but notice that most of the recommendations are for Reb and Imp and not many for S&V. Are they just not that good and should be only brought out for fun games and nothing competitive?

4x ps1 scurrg with inspiring recruit and long range scanners

Apart from quickdraw, imps are in and have been in a rut lately, however the reaper should help the fragility of some of their aces with krennic. (Vader, Soontir, Inqy, and some others), basically the rebels dominate the meta right now, as scum is still recovering from the massive nerf.

I have another question, this one from my wife. It is a valid question. She looked at this thread and was curious if any of the waves before the force awakens starter box are still in use. Most of the ships I see on the boards being talked about are the newer waves. Did power creep kinda kill off the earlier ships?

24 minutes ago, Bulwyf said:

I have another question, this one from my wife. It is a valid question. She looked at this thread and was curious if any of the waves before the force awakens starter box are still in use. Most of the ships I see on the boards being talked about are the newer waves. Did power creep kinda kill off the earlier ships?

To an extent, but there are outliers and some who have adapted newer upgrades to keep them around. Case in point, a recent tournament was won with I believe Hortan Salm in a Y-Wing. Not a sign that all is well with the chassis, but it goes to show that some of the older stuff can still be useful.

Vader in the Advanced still sees play, usually as a high ps missile carrier. As long as you've got the X1 title and Advanced Targeting computer, you're reasonably solid.

The Lambda Shuttle is still the best ride for old Palp, with Captain Yorr being part of one of the Empire's top lists currently. This might change with the release of the TIE Reaper, but we'll have to see.

HWKs (both Rebel and Scum) still seem to find their way to cuts. It's definitely on the prowess of their team mates, but these beauties still have some good support or nasty tricks to add to a team.

Technically, Defenders. While you definitely need the Imperial Vets to get them in fighting form, but pilots from the pack (Vessery and Deltas) are still good choices. Even Rexler seems to have his followers. (Poor Onyx Squadron.)

Decimators are still a thing, with RAC usually being the most popular. Team him with an ace, and you have a solid enough team.

YT-2400s are still around, though it's usually just Dash. The old smuggler is still a thing and has managed ride up some of the worst times the Rebels have been through.

The K-Wing technically came before the Force Awakens Starter. Miranda is a meta monster and has been for a while.

Starvipers have their place, though like Defenders, they need their fix to get going. Guri still sees some use, and I've heard some people swear by Xizor (as long as Harpoons don't factor into the enemy list).

Anyway, that's what I can think of. Again, we still see some of the older ships not listed here pop up every now and again (heard about a Brobots list doing well at one tournament, Scum Boba Fett's taken a few tournaments). A lot of the older ships need a touch up, but newer upgrades and packs like the upcoming Saw's Renegades pack will hopefully give some of them a leg up.

10 hours ago, Bulwyf said:

I have another question, this one from my wife. It is a valid question. She looked at this thread and was curious if any of the waves before the force awakens starter box are still in use. Most of the ships I see on the boards being talked about are the newer waves. Did power creep kinda kill off the earlier ships?

To expand on SabineKey the stuff from pre-TFA core set waves is stuff that can take a good upgrade. Y-wings and HWKs can take Twin Laser Turret just like Miranda or Nym. Dash is still around-- a large base with lots of health that ignores obstacles, has a reposition action, can take Heavy Laser Canon or Mangler Canon in a 360 arc, can take a crew upgrade and elite upgrade, and has a good set of maneuvers.

The question shouldn't really be what wave something is from but what upgrades it can take. T-65 X-wing is very limited in what upgrades it can take and doesn't have any re-position actions while also not having a turret arc or auxiliary arc.

12 hours ago, Bulwyf said:

I have another question, this one from my wife. It is a valid question. She looked at this thread and was curious if any of the waves before the force awakens starter box are still in use. Most of the ships I see on the boards being talked about are the newer waves. Did power creep kinda kill off the earlier ships?

there is powercreep in the baffling design of certain ships (pre-errata jumpmasters especially, and now fenn rau's Sheathapede ridiculous utility), but this was a kneejerk response from the initial horrible design of the early waves. So really, it's half power creep and half these things never being good in the first place

For example the X-wing was strictly, mathematically inferior to the TIE fighter since the core set and remains that way to this day. In fact, most of the early ships were varying degrees of "bleh" until the TIE phantom brought in the abominable turret meta. Really, the TIE fighter (which rode high on the advent of the Crackshot ept) was the only thing that got truly powercrept out of the game alongside 4 B-wings + Z-95 that got diced by the release of Twin Laser Turrets (which Y-wings love)

The generally largest symptom of powercreep is the marked increase in how many modified red dice are thrown as well as a general upwards trend of pilots that comfortably sit at PS 11 which make ships like "Whisper" and Soontir Fell far less powerful than they used to be. Bombs, particularly Captain Nym, had also forced them into hiding but has since been very significantly curtailed by hitting the upgrade card largely responsible for his power, "Genius"

BAD DESIGN: stuff like the X-wing (apart from Biggs' ability, which got so silly with rebel synergy that it had to be errated), TIE bomber, Imperial Firespray, A-wing, Non-Vader Advance, Scyks, K-fighters, Punishers, YV-666s were never ever particularly good

stuff like the Defender and Starviper were also horribly designed by being overpriced, but they were later fixed via new expansions

POWER CREEP:

a very specific 4 B-wings + z-95 list got crept out by Twin Laser Turrets and later red dice creep

IG-2000s (brobots) got crept out by stuff. Never had any interest in these guys, other than smacking them with conner nets, so I don't know the details as to why

TLT y-wings got the shaft since contract scouts with torpedoes introduced massive red dice at PS > 2.

"Whisper" got crept out by higher pilot skills, but this was due to the phantom being poorly designed around Advanced Cloaking Device which made it hyper-dependent on pilot skill

Soontir Fel got initially crept out by Nym and later red dice + higher pilot skill, I think

Corran Horn suffered a similar fate to "Whisper" and Fel, I believe. His measly 2-hull also leaves him pretty screwed-over against harpoon missiles. The e-wing is otherwise, however, a horribly overcosted ship

STILL AROUND:

the TIE Defender isn't setting the world on fire anymore, but its Imperial Veterans fix was so potent that it had to be errated. Still remarkably solid ships that I'd reconmend playing. Upon release, though, they were awful out side of what our lord and savior, Biophysical, could accomplish with them.

the Starviper was released as a grossly overpriced ship and later addressed by Hired Guns. Again, not setting the world on fire, but I believe they're very solid and very fun

Lambads still exist to ferry Palpatine around. Will probably be crept out by the TIE reaper, but imo the Lambda was never a "good" ship given its **** awful dial

Darth Vader can hit ps 11 comfortably and can carry harpoon missiles

VT-49s (cheri with kylo ren crew) and yt-2400s (dash only, as if there were any other worthwhile pilot) remain quite good


and that's about it.

X-wings are next on the block to receive their fabled "fix", so you might see them FINALLY return to the game sometime (relatively) soon

17 hours ago, Bulwyf said:

I have another question, this one from my wife. It is a valid question. She looked at this thread and was curious if any of the waves before the force awakens starter box are still in use. Most of the ships I see on the boards being talked about are the newer waves. Did power creep kinda kill off the earlier ships?

Basically yes, although you can still find some older ships around.

I flew the YT2400 at my regionals in January. Dash is still around, and in some whacky circles you can find Leebo too. Decimator is still good to some degree.

The tie defenders are around to some degree. Same for the lambda. Most of the other ties are gone. Tie interceptors have been competitively dead ever since Miranda pilot and Sabine crew.

Ive seen some folks dabble with z95s as harpoon missile carriers, and of course the viper is showing up in B team lists everywhere now that the fix is here.

Actually, Scum across the board is B team listing. Nothing top tier there, except for literally Asajj (and then who do you fly with her, plus she’s a wave 9 release).

I’m going to try a scum ace build for this weekend but I am not overly confident in the world of Rebels run amuck.