I've never played in a tournament but I was just reading the 1.0 tournament rules and thinking about trying them out just to keep casual games quicker (specifically, the time limit with scoring plus final salvo if needed). Do we know yet of any changes to how all this works for 2.0?

Any recomendations for/against this format for casual games (or other/better formats for a faster game)?

thanks!

Officially, there are no tournament rules for Second Edition. However, you can pretty much take the First Edition rules and apply them to your games. 75 minutes is a standard match; if it's still tied at the end, final salvo to determine the winner.

As for making games go faster... One thing I've noticed is that the quickbuild cards make it "easy" to set up a ship and play, without needing to calculate all the points out, but the ships are very sub-optimal in terms of their build strength. This lends itself to drawn-out slugfests that result in lots of dice rolling, and very little damage. Obviously, the more points/threat you use, the more time will be taken in planning and executing each individual turn. A simple 2-threat v 2-threat battle of 1 naked x-wing versus 2 naked TIEs, between players who know the basic rules, can usually be finished within 15 minutes, while a full 8-threat battle can really grind.

The best advice I have, though, is just to play more. The more games you have under your belt, the more comfortable you'll be with the rules and the maneuvers, and the action will be that much more intense - and things will blow up a lot faster.