Hi everyone,

I've been playing X-Wing for a while now but just got two huge ships so I'm brand new to the Epic scene. I feel a little bit like Darth Vader spiraling through space and I don't know which way is up!

I only own two huge ships (a Raider and a CR90 Corvette) so I only have those upgrade cards so I'm wondering if maybe part of the reason I'm so confused reading these forums is because I don't have some of the cards people are talking about, if they were in other expansions. For example, what are IG-RM Thug Droids? Or Harpoon Missiles? What about WED-15 Repair droids? And the one I see people talking about a lot are Ordnance tubes.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

Croc and imperial assault carrier come with some modifications (like ordnance tubes) which are on most raider/cr90 builds.

I'd recommend using a squad builder app so you can see and proxy all those cards in any epic you play outside of tourneys.

Why not try the builds in the FFG articles to get you going such as

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2015/8/13/hunt-down-and-destroy-the-rebellion/

They’re a good starting point to get something on the table and getting used to the huge ships. Then worry about the boring meta builds everyone goes on about and as @Dabirdisdaword says proxy away in epic.

Awesome! Thanks for the advice. I'll probably start with the suggested builds on the FFG site to see how they work.

Can anyone tell me more about IG-RM Thug Droids, Harpoon Missiles, or WED-15 Repair droids? Which expansion do those come in?

On 4/27/2018 at 12:51 AM, rasmussen81 said:

Hi everyone,

I've been playing X-Wing for a while now but just got two huge ships so I'm brand new to the Epic scene. I feel a little bit like Darth Vader spiraling through space and I don't know which way is up!

I only own two huge ships (a Raider and a CR90 Corvette) so I only have those upgrade cards so I'm wondering if maybe part of the reason I'm so confused reading these forums is because I don't have some of the cards people are talking about, if they were in other expansions. For example, what are IG-RM Thug Droids? Or Harpoon Missiles? What about WED-15 Repair droids? And the one I see people talking about a lot are Ordnance tubes.

Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks!

The biggest thing about Epic is it is usually a casual game. Just you and some friends going pew, pew. So the best thing to do is find an on-line squad builder. They will let you see what all the different possible cards are and how they work. You can build your epic ships any way you want them even if you don't have the actual cards. Then you print your list from the squad builder and they usually tell you all the abilities.

Its also a great way to find out what cards do in general so when you play other people you know what the cards do or you can decide which expansions you want to get cards you need most.

Most importantly, Epic really gives you a feel that you are in one of the movie space battles. Its very Star Wars. Have FUN!!!

Edit: My go to squad builder

(Yet Another) X-Wing Squad Builder

And, just to help a bit more: WED-15 is a crew that can fix damage, either normal or critical in exchange for energy and an action; Thug Droids are a team which convert a normal hit into a crit when attacking; Harpoon Missiles are the best type of ordnance. These cards come in the Assault Carrier (or possibly the Rebel Transport...), C-ROC Cruiser, and Guns for Hire respectively.

Thanks for the info! Sounds like good reasons to pick up the other Huge ships.

Until then, I'll check out the Squad builder site and try making some fun teams for next weekend. Thanks for all the help, everyone!

3 hours ago, rasmussen81 said:

Thanks for the info! Sounds like good reasons to pick up the other Huge ships.

Until then, I'll check out the Squad builder site and try making some fun teams for next weekend. Thanks for all the help, everyone!

And of course you are now required to post pictures of any Epic Action. Its in the terms and condition fine print.

2 hours ago, pickirk01 said:

And of course you are now required to post pictures of any Epic Action. Its in the terms and condition fine print.

I'm glad you brought that to my attention! I wouldn't want to be in violation of any terms, no matter the size of the print.

Forgive the ignorance, but how does one post pictures to these forums? I've seen a fair number of pictures that don't load and have a random symbol in place of what I'm sure was a beautiful picture of intense galactic combat!

14 minutes ago, rasmussen81 said:

I'm glad you brought that to my attention! I wouldn't want to be in violation of any terms, no matter the size of the print.

Forgive the ignorance, but how does one post pictures to these forums? I've seen a fair number of pictures that don't load and have a random symbol in place of what I'm sure was a beautiful picture of intense galactic combat!

Actually I have a hard time getting pics in here. I usually have to save them in a format that uses less memory (though at the moment I can't remember how to do that) or copy them from facebook or something. My stupid camera phone uses too many pixels for FFG to handle.

A recent match, not truely "Epic" but about 260 points each. The other guy doesn't have any Huge ships so I told him to make a 200 point list and then I kitted out each of my huge and let him add the one for the faction he chose and I had brought a 200 point list from each faction and picked a Huge from what was left after he choose. The Gozanti I made for him was really good, he kicked my butt.

When I tried to load this pic derectly it said the file was too big, but when I copied it from facebook it went in just fine.

XX-23 S-Thread Tracers in action...

Looks fun! I'll be sure to take a few pictures and it sounds like FB will be the easiest way to upload them.

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!e!150:29,129,64,91,83,169:38:22:;40:23,-1,184,-1:-1:-1:;40:23,-1,184,-1:-1:-1:;58:27:-1:-1:;58:27:-1:-1:;58:27:-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;56:-1,-1,45,21:-1:6:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Looking at giving this a whirl this weekend.

1 minute ago, SwordOwaR said:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v4!e!150:29,129,64,91,83,169:38:22:;40:23,-1,184,-1:-1:-1:;40:23,-1,184,-1:-1:-1:;58:27:-1:-1:;58:27:-1:-1:;58:27:-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;10::-1:-1:;56:-1,-1,45,21:-1:6:&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

Interesting team! I only own the Raider for the Imperial side but I wonder if I could mostly replace your huge ship with mine. I really like the variety of ships you used...especially the Shuttle and the Firespray. I own the Shuttle but haven't had a chance to fly it in a battle yet so maybe it's time!!

Aye.

But then I decided to play this here .

Here's what I'm thinking for Saturday . Please share your thoughts, since I have no idea if this is a decent list or not.

Thanks!

20 hours ago, rasmussen81 said:

Here's what I'm thinking for Saturday . Please share your thoughts, since I have no idea if this is a decent list or not.

Thanks!

Some basic Epic Advice...

1. Biggest piece of advice I can give for Epic play is the more guns you bring the better your odds. Lots of cheap generics is the way to go. Aces die fast, see 2.
2. There will be a lot of ships on the mat so you will never be able to dodge all the arcs and a single evade or focus token only goes so far against 3-8 incoming attacks. This means that a ship with a lot of expensive upgrades will be your opponent's first primary target and will often not survive the first round of shooting.
3. Pilot skill 4 is a key threshold. CR-90's and Raider's shoot at PS 4 and with their multiple attacks, can wipe a couple ships off the board in one round. If you can afford a point or two per ship, its good to upgrade your generics to the PS 4 or higher level or go with the cheap named pilots even if you run them with no other upgrades. This allows you to shoot before or simultaneously with an enemy huge ship.
4. Area of Effect weapons are actually good in Epic. Assault Missiles and Ion Torps are great. Especially Ion torps. You roll four dice against a target and damage is NOT canceled like with Ion cannons. Then if it hits, all ships at range 1 get an Ion Token. Also, Ions decrease the energy gain of Huge ships. If you hit the enemy Huge with Ion torps, you cripple it and possibly Ion its covering fighters, hopefully causing them to get run over by the ship they were supposed to be guarding.

Regarding your list... (Don't know how formal or casual this game is for you. If you can proxy stuff, then do it. If not, run what you have because it will still be fun no matter what.)

• The Shield Tech/Instigator combo on the Raider is a good one that will help you stay around for a long time. Downside: If you fire all your weapons in a round, you will use 6 energy. The most you can recover in a turn is 3 (plus your one time use Tibana gas for 3 more). Try to pull 4 points from somewhere else to put an Engineering Team on the Raider. This card can boost the energy gain up to 4. Even with this, there will be a weapon you cannot fire each round after the first. (If you can proxy stuff, then the Optimized Generators modification is an almost must have on your Raider as its a bonus 2 energy per turn.)
• Where is the Tie/x1 Title on Vader? Drop the missile and put Advanced Targeting Computer on him to beef up his attacks and make him cheaper. Also, since he will have plenty of wingmates, I would also consider either Squad Leader or Swarm Tactics instead of Marksmanship on him to help out your other pilots. And check this out... with Squad Leader, if he stays at Range 1 of the Raider, he can make the Raider shoot at PS 9 (don't run over your self!!!). With the Raider's long guns, you may be able to kill or cripple a key enemy ship before it can do any damage to you. This also helps Vader out with point #2 above. Keep him back by the Raider until the enemy is thinned out a bit, then let him go in where he can dodge an arc or two and tank up against the 1 or 2 shots left coming his way.
• If you have any different small based ship other than the Firespray, I would use it instead (A Gamma Vet Bomber with Deadeye and Ion torpedoes would be my first choice.) Not that the Bounty hunter is bad, just expensive. By trading it our for something in the 20-30 point range, you can afford the extras on the Raider I suggested and upgrade all your Ties to the Aces. Mauler, Scourge, Dark Curse and Night Beast all have great abilities with a PS higher than most of your enemy's generics and are cheap enough that you won't be too upset if they die early. Even Black Squadrons with crack shot are great.

All that said, your list is fine as is. Just use tactics to leverage your list's strengths and have FUN!!!

Wow! What a wealth of information and advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and explain all of that to me.

It's getting late tonight but I'm going to pour over it tomorrow and use your advice to perfect my team a bit more. Thanks again!

4 hours ago, rasmussen81 said:

Wow! What a wealth of information and advice. Thank you so much for taking the time to reply and explain all of that to me.

It's getting late tonight but I'm going to pour over it tomorrow and use your advice to perfect my team a bit more. Thanks again!

No problem. Bottom line though, if you have a play style or set of tactics you had in mind, by all means, you run what you want to run. Don't get too bogged down in getting the "perfect" list.

Based on your advice, here's what I've got now . My strategy at this point for my first epic battle is to see what happens! ? So the pointers are all helpful!!

Part of why I left the Firespray in there is because it looks so cool...but you're right that it's pretty expensive. Maybe I'll look though my collection from something else that would also be fun to fly.

6 hours ago, rasmussen81 said:

... here's what I've got now .

I think you may be surprised by Night Beast and Dark Curse. Night Beast can do a Green move for a free focus and then take the Evade or Barrel Roll. Behind his 3 agility this makes him a lot harder to kill. And Dark Curse blocking token use means opponents have a tougher time getting hits through so with a focus or evade he is also hard to kill.

Part of why I left the Firespray in there is because it looks so cool...but you're right that it's pretty expensive. Maybe I'll look though my collection from something else that would also be fun to fly.

You just nailed the whole point of Epic: It looks cool and its fun to fly. And I could very well end up being wrong about the Firespray. With RecSpec, 10 health and 2 agility, the Firespray may be able to hang around for a few rounds. Get in fast take double focus, have Vader squad leader a target Lock action so you can fire both Cluster shots with a focus token available. Then drop the bomb to discourage pursuit, run away and blast from the rear arc. Its got potential to be a good hit and run ship.

I recently played in a tournament with;

Gozanti; Suppressor (title), Grand Moff Tarkin, Weapons Engineer, Sensor team, Backup Generator, Cluster Bombs, Dual Laser. (PS2)

2x Glave Squadron TIE Defenders; VI, Tractor Beam, TIE/D title. (PS8)

2x Firespray-31 Bounty Hunters; Tail Gunner, HLC. (PS3)

Omicon Lambda Shuttle; Darth Vader, Mangler Cannon. (PS2)

2x Obsidian Squad TIE Fighters. (PS3)

1x named TIE Fighter 'Chaser'. (PS3)

The list worked ok, though with three large ships I had the trouble of losing one of them, namely a Firespray whom got run over and in another match was forced off the board, both times fairly healthy! Cost me two games because of this error. I nearly lost my Gozanti once but on the whole it stayed pretty much full health most of the games.
I'd prob drop VI off the Defenders and add Crack Shot or similar and may change up the Lambda and the TIE Fighters.

Lambda can't regent and is locked forward arc for Vader abiliyy, gozanti can regen and fire 360 consider that when using hp as a resource. Vi on tie/d glaives is nice but ruthlessness is infinitely better.

On the whole I did alright with this list.