Not 3 ships, Not 4, Not 5 ....

By Ronu, in X-Wing

So at least to me the game really sees changes at 6 ships. That’s where the change from mini-swarm and ace goes into all out swarm. That 6th ship also really seems to have an impact directly and indirectly on the game overall. Ships 7/8 seem to magnify that impact.

It’s a bit intimidating to look and see numbers across from you rather than pick a key target from the couple of ships there. It also never fails that ship 6 either outlast your normal output/defenses and is pushing through. They can also be the one ship to jam up every thing.

Yes, I’m aware of concerns over mental fatigue etc for events. Yet even for casual games and list, lots of people try to drop ship 6 (7 or 😎 to add more upgrades to fewer ships. If 2.0 has shown us anything it’s that naked ships are and can still be effective. So is it just habit that people want to go with less is more when clearly more is more?

People like quality pilots. They tend to forget that quantity has a quality of its own. Never count out the TIE swarm in 2.0, those thugs are deadly in good hands.

17 minutes ago, Ronu said:

So is it just habit that people want to go with less is more when clearly more is more?

I'm fairly certain that there hasn't been a swarm list (6+ ships) that has won a large (40+ players) competition yet. We may see something soon, as the Hyperspace format is starting to hit its stride and both FO and Imperials have good swarm options, but right now swarms do not seem to have a place competitively.

I have to admit I feel somewhat uncomfortable at running just three ships nowadays.

Even in Resistance, I feel most comfortable at 4+.

Rebel Heavy swarms such as BBXXZeb and YYYAAX put a lot of health and arcs on the Table.

Overall the extra body is key for coverage and locking out maneuvers for your opponent.

1 hour ago, Octarine-08 said:

I have to admit I feel somewhat uncomfortable at running just three ships nowadays.

Three is my bare minimum in 2.0.

1 hour ago, ScummyRebel said:

Three is my bare minimum in 2.0.

Yes, compared to our past metas, I find it ironic that two ships are practically unheard of in 2.0 unless it's two large bases.

38 minutes ago, Bucknife said:

Yes, compared to our past metas, I find it ironic that two ships are practically unheard of in 2.0 unless it's two large bases.

Boba/Guri, while they were not optimal in a world where Boba/Palob/4Lom fit, was both great and lot of fun. But Boba got reamed and Ion is way too prevalent since the points drops, so I've retired them atop their pile of tourney prizes.

Edited by prauxim
4 hours ago, Ronu said:

If 2.0 has shown us anything it’s that naked ships are and can still be effective. So is it just habit that people want to go with less is more when clearly more is more?

Raw chassis is better value than most upgrades, and for many ships, no upgrade increases the ships value, upgrades are only filler.

However, a common thread in top lists is finding rare cases of high upgrade synergy and that making the list. E.g. I think Aggressor/Ywing with Ion+VTG at 40/41 points blows any 40/41 pts chassis out of the water.

9 hours ago, prauxim said:


However, a common thread in top lists is finding rare cases of high upgrade synergy and that making the list. E.g. I think Aggressor/Ywing with Ion+VTG at 40/41 points blows any 40/41 pts chassis out of the water.

Unfortunately...true. Those double tap ion turret carriers are super scary right now.

Like, I have a five ship Resistance ( 4 AO+Heroic Rz2s plus a Rookie T70 ) list that I think is pretty decent, but against two or more of those ion turret menaces? Sounds almost like an auto-loss.

It's really tough... because I honestly think that's a really comfortable place for Ys and TIE/ag to be, except it pushes other generics into a tighter corner of edge-case viability that makes list building more difficult for everyone else.

AND THEN, ffg raises the price of the best anti-ion mod (Static Discharge Vanes ... Not a good idea, in my optinion).

Edited by Bucknife

I don't know how well this'll do against ion y's but it's got some efficiency from Fanatical.

Omega Six (198/200) ==================

TIE/FO Fighter: Omega Squadron Ace (31 + 2) + Fanatical (2)

TIE/FO Fighter: Omega Squadron Ace (31 + 2) + Fanatical (2)

TIE/FO Fighter: Omega Squadron Ace (31 + 2) + Fanatical (2)

TIE/FO Fighter: Omega Squadron Ace (31 + 2) + Fanatical (2)

TIE/FO Fighter: Omega Squadron Ace (31 + 2) + Fanatical (2)

TIE/FO Fighter: Omega Squadron Ace (31 + 2) + Fanatical (2)

4-5 ship lists are the optimal # right now. With 6+ ships, it means you're taking multiple 2-attack ships which means you're at a disadvantage when facing a list with significant amounts of 3-agility ships.

So what are Imperial and FO players supposed to fly?

On 2/16/2019 at 7:15 AM, Bucknife said:

AND  THEN, ffg raises the price of the bes  t anti-ion mod (Static Discharge Vanes ... Not a good idea, in my  optinion  ) 

When you throw in that feed back is 4 points, a range 1 guranteed Ion Token on the target of your choice for 12pts along side of Statics ability to dodge Ionizaton makes sense.

Swarms were kept at bay with launching mines, which just got costed higher. You may start to see an emergence in the lists of 6+ ships now.