Galactic Empire Ship Rankings

By McGarnacle, in X-Wing

1 hour ago, william1134 said:

Somebody with shields or a turret.

Like Han, Chiraneau, Kavil, Quickdraw or Norra? Rexler has no problem picking either of those apart. There is no single ship that can easily deal with him, save maybe for Supernatural Vader. Actually I'd say his points worth in Sentinels, Alphas and Academies would be more of a threat to him than any ace.

Rexler is really what FFG thought all the Defenders would be like. Would love for Ryad and Vessery to be more appropriately costed.

Has anyone had any luck with Duchess with Afterburners? Seems she doesn't do enough 3 speeds for that to work.

I think the cheapest support option for Vessery besides a naked Bomber or Apha-Class, would be a v1 Baron of the Empire with Crackshot (34pts) and possibly Fire Control (36pts). That’s not a bad little ship to use as a target locker, and you can cram 3 of them into a list with Vessery loaded up with Juke.

But you could also just take 3 Interceptors with Ryad... So... meh...

I ran this Vessery list the other day:

TIE Advanced v1 - Inquisitor - 48
Inquisitor - (38)
Fire-Control System (2)
Supernatural Reflexes (8)

TIE Advanced v1 - Inquisitor - 48
Inquisitor - (38)
Fire-Control System (2)
Supernatural Reflexes (8)

TIE/D Defender - •Colonel Vessery - 101
•Colonel Vessery - Contemplative Commander (86)
Juke (5)
Advanced Sensors (10)

Total: 197/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I lost an Inquisitor to some hot dice and a well placed seismic bomb. My opponent’s two Delta Squadron Defenders were easy to wear down though.

The Inquisitors can get a focus and target lock every turn and then stick to their target like a wart. Once they have the target lock, they start picking up focus and evade and become quite tanky. Anything of lower initiative is going get hanged up on real fast.

Edited by Phelan Boots
2 hours ago, Phelan Boots said:

I ran this Vessery list the other day:

TIE Advanced v1 - Inquisitor - 48
Inquisitor - (38)
Fire-Control System (2)
Supernatural Reflexes (8)

TIE Advanced v1 - Inquisitor - 48
Inquisitor - (38)
Fire-Control System (2)
Supernatural Reflexes (8)

TIE/D Defender - •Colonel Vessery - 101
•Colonel Vessery - Contemplative Commander (86)
Juke (5)
Advanced Sensors (10)

Total: 197/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I lost an Inquisitor to some hot dice and a well placed seismic bomb. My opponent’s two Delta Squadron Defenders were easy to wear down though.

The Inquisitors can get a focus and target lock every turn and then stick to their target like a wart. Once they have the target lock, they start picking up focus and evade and become quite tanky. Anything of lower initiative is going get hanged up on real fast.

That's really neat actually. How'll it do against higher init lists or swarms though?

I don't get it.. how are your inquisitors getting targets lock and a focus lock in turn?

30 minutes ago, william1134 said:

I don't get it.. how are your inquisitors getting targets lock and a focus lock in turn?

SR -> Boost/BR -> Linked Focus -> Reveal blue maneuver -> Target Lock?

(Can still do linked action off a SR'd Boost/BR, right?)

But you need a blue maneuver every turn you want to do this, unless there's something else I'm missing.

6 hours ago, wildcrdj said:

SR -> Boost/BR -> Linked Focus -> Reveal blue maneuver -> Target Lock?

(Can still do linked action off a SR'd Boost/BR, right?)

But you need a blue maneuver every turn you want to do this, unless there's something else I'm missing.

This is correct. As for how it will do against higher Initiative, I’m not sure. If think it comes down to how well you can leverage the squirrelyness of the inquisitors to block.

9 hours ago, wildcrdj said:

But you need a blue maneuver every turn you want to do this, unless there's something else I'm missing.

True, but the TIE/v1's dial is pretty impressive, given the speed 1 blue turn and bank.

Their weakness is that Inquisitors only get 2 attack dice on a 4-a-squad ship, so they'll struggle to hurt high agility opponents, but aside from that they're crazy efficient little ships - focus/lock is nice and their ability to keep turtling up behind focus/evade on an agility 3 ship is equally crazy.

15 hours ago, Phelan Boots said:

I ran this Vessery list the other day:

TIE Advanced v1 - Inquisitor - 48
Inquisitor - (38)
Fire-Control System (2)
Supernatural Reflexes (8)

TIE Advanced v1 - Inquisitor - 48
Inquisitor - (38)
Fire-Control System (2)
Supernatural Reflexes (8)

TIE/D Defender - •Colonel Vessery - 101
•Colonel Vessery - Contemplative Commander (86)
Juke (5)
Advanced Sensors (10)

Total: 197/200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

I lost an Inquisitor to some hot dice and a well placed seismic bomb. My opponent’s two Delta Squadron Defenders were easy to wear down though.

The Inquisitors can get a focus and target lock every turn and then stick to their target like a wart. Once they have the target lock, they start picking up focus and evade and become quite tanky. Anything of lower initiative is going get hanged up on real fast.

One question, if you run tie defender with advanced sensor, if you do an action before you move, can you do the evade action after move?

THX!

No you can't.

But it is still crazy good. Boost white 4k is brilliant

Rexler Brath- 9
An absolute monster, can easily solo ships worth well more than his points. Advanced sensors borders on the unfair

Countess Ryad- 7
I don't get the hate on her being I4, it is arguably better than her PS5 in 1.0. Though no PTL options hurt her to a point

Colonel Vessery- 5
I get why they priced him high, but makes him hard to fit in with things that want/need/can get locks to trigger his ability

Onyx Squadron Pilot- 3
Not sure why you would bother

Delta Squadron Pilot- 6
I1 great jouster, no loss of efficiency

Duchess- 9.5
Absolutely amazing arc dodger. Juke and 5th Brother should almost be stapled to her. Evade, Force in defense means 1 paint gets you 2 evades. She can take the stray shot with the evade

 Pure Sabaac- 7
Draws so much aggro so the rest of your list can blast away unimpeded. Flank comically hard with him and make your opponent squirm

 Countdown- 7
Ability is great as always, but no longer the budget option he was

Black Squadron Scout- 2
Why???

Planetary Sentinel- 6
Only 'good' with Sloane, but even then still not great.

Edited by Roundy1161
18 minutes ago, Roundy1161 said:

No you can't.

But it is still crazy good. Boost white 4k is brilliant

Thanks! And yes, It is crazy xD

2 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

True, but the TIE/v1's dial is pretty impressive, given the speed 1 blue turn and bank.

Their weakness is that Inquisitors only get 2 attack dice on a 4-a-squad ship, so they'll struggle to hurt high agility opponents, but aside from that they're crazy efficient little ships - focus/lock is nice and their ability to keep turtling up behind focus/evade on an agility 3 ship is equally crazy.

Could be worth considering swapping out AdvS Vessery for FCS Rexler. That'd put you at 189, which would be enough to fit in a Conc and an Ion Missile, to give the Inquisitors a little more bite.

Rexler Brath-6 - I played him quite a bit and he did ok. I think Defenders are still too expensive. Also without adv. sensors they're predictable, which hurts them.

Countess Ryad- 3

Colonel Vessery- 2 - too pricey, only I4, lack of good wingmans

Onyx Squadron Pilot- 2

Delta Squadron Pilot- 6 I played Palp Defenders a bit. It's a fun list to fly but not super competitive

Duchess- 6 She won me my first 1.0 tournament. Nevertheless Strikers have a big problem in 2.0 - 4 Hull behind 2 Agility. With all the badass I5 and I6 pilots out there, it's hard to keep her alive to do some work.

Pure Sabaac- 6 Same as Duchess. But he's Biggs somehow. If you can bring other wingmans your opponent wants to see dead asap, he can perform well.

Countdown-8 Awesome for his price point. Run him naked and he will do some work

Black Squadron Scout- 1

Planetary Sentinel- 3 They just die so fast :(

Edited by Ryuneke

Its been a full week, thanks everyone who voted. I've added the results to the OP as well as the next two ships we are voting on. If you didn't get a chance to vote, feel free to also vote on ships from previous weeks, I'll change the OP as new results come in.

Considering a lot of the discussion has revolved around Vessery enablers, how about we evaluate the Empire's finest target-lockers?
Darth Vader-
Maarek Steele-
Zertik Strom-
Storm Squadron Ace-
Ved Foslo-
Tempest Squadron Pilot-
Grand Inquisitor-
Seventh Sister-
Baron of the Empire-
Inquisitor-

Most interesting!

Poor Countess Ryad. Shame on you doubters! I won't argue with her position in the table though.

Love to rate the new lot but only just getting into using a couple of them properly. Tested a few a bit and played odd games.

Some predictions.

GI will be low scored simply because he is too expensive and wants a bid too hard. Personally, that's SNRs fault. He's awesome with it but can't justify the price. 5

Seventh Sister is brilliant.

Value to be had in others.

Vader is obviously Vader and stands in his own place, your scores are nothing next to the power of the Dark Side.

Maarek is actually pretty great if you can divert attention from him. He's very murderous. 3 green dice on a ship that can switch between fast and slow quite easily, are not to be sniffed at on a good pilot. 7

Ved with Adv Sen and Elusive is a sleeper hit.

Coord coord coord and more coord for the x1.

Darth Vader- 10
Vader is Vader
Maarek Steele- 7
I think Maarek is a cheap budget option instead of Vader, and flipping crits is fun with Rexler and Seyn
Zertik Strom- 5
Haven't really had any experience with Zertik. That hasn't stopped me from voting in my own poll before, so it won't now!
Storm Squadron Ace- 4
Just get a cheaper generic or a named pilot, as always.
Ved Foslo- 4
I guess there are some fun combos with Elusive and Adv Sen, but it seems kinda pricey for how much damage he can put out.
Tempest Squadron Pilot- 8
A solid budget option on a really good chasis
Grand Inquisitor- 6
Like Cuz said, GI is really hurt by the price of SNR. Basically 3 red dice is nice, but expensive.
Seventh Sister- 8
So I guess she is really great. Never used her, but Crackshot every 2 turns on a pretty cheap ship is nice.
Baron of the Empire- 6
The Baron seems good, great dial, cheap, great action bar, just lacking the hitting power we come to expect from Empire ships. Maybe better with missiles?
Inquisitor- 4
With the new price of SNR that seems like an interesting option, but I'd rather just take a Baron of the Empire.

Grand Inquisitor - 5

I'm not convinced by this guy. +1I over Seventh Sister is nice, but he has the same amount of force charges, his ability is barely better, there is no obvious talent for him, and he's a whole 10 points more expensive. I'd take Fel or Whisper over this guy.

Seventh Sister - 8

She's seriously one of the best pilots the Empire has access to. Two red dice are bad, sure, and I4 has its issues. On the other hand, she is as slippery as a Resistance A-Wing, can hit as hard as Wedge if you give her Concs, and is as hard to hit as a Defender at 60% of the cost. Like a Defender ace though, she dies to focus fire, so make sure she only takes on one or two ships at a time.

Inquisitor - 7

Most of what's true for SS is true for this guy, but +1 for cheap access to SNR and having the same init as Jendon. Again, his strength is the ability to switch between Defender-like token stacking and fully modded missile/R1 shots.

Baron of the Empire - 6

This one is interesting. He's basically the Empire's third option for a generic Interceptor, coming in close in cost to the Alpha and the Sentinel. He's tougher than both and has a higher initiative, but needs to work harder to do damage. I think I still prefer the Sentinel, but maybe Crack Shot and FCS could make for an annoying fly to swat.

Darth Vader - 9
Vader is very solid. Without evade he's a little too dependent on luck on the defensive side, but he hits like a truck, can perform every single action on his action bar most turns, stick to his target with FCS, and Afterburners makes up for any lack of maneuverability of his chassis. SNR might be gonne, but Hate, Sense and likely Brilliant Evasion are all decent choices for him. Like Soontir Fel, Fenn Rau and Poe Dameron, he's also perfectly playable without any upgrades.
Maarek Stele - 7
I think he's pretty good for his cost, but also very vulnerable. Bad action economy and a dial that's just okay is a problem for most of the x1s, but this guy in particular suffers from it. Give him FCS and bring someone that can biggs for him, like Vermeil or Sabacc.
Zertik Strom - 6
He's fun. Relatively inexpensive, decent wingmate for a Lambda.
Storm Squadron Ace - 3
This guy has the usual generic ace problem: Worse than a proper ace and more expensive than a generic, with an initiative boost of questionable value, and no obvious use for the talent slot. You won't necessarily lose if you bring a couple of these guys, but there's really no reason to.
Ved Foslo - 4
I don't see it. Fun ability, but going faster or slower generally don't allow you to dodge, it just prevents (or causes) bumps. I'd pick Maarek og Zertik instead.

Tempest Squadron Pilot - 4
Unfortunately I don't particularly like this guy either. Too dependent on the target lock, no evade action, no boost, not a terribly useful linked action. These are problems with x1s in general. Vader overcomes the problems of his dubious ship by being an amazing pilot. Maarek Stele is too dangerous to ignore, and Zertik Strom can be hilariously irritating if you let him. The generics are just mediocre to bad. If you're spending 38 points (realistically 40, with FCS), you can get an Inquisitor, a Baron, a Sentinel, an Alpha, a Barrage Bomber, an Ion Turret Aggressor or a Starwing with Ion Cannon, Concussion Missiles or Ion Torpedoes, all of which are likely to perform better for the points. You're also getting dangerously close to the cost of a Striker ace, or even two Academy Pilots. If that new Passive Sensor is one or two points, I think we'll see more x1s hit the table. If it's three or more, they'll probably sit on the shelf for a while longer. Wish they'd just given it a 3 dice attack, or the old Accuracy Corrector.
Edited by Okapi

Haven't really played any x1s or v1s outside of Vader (or against them for that matter), so I won't participate this round, other than to say I'd put Vader at 8 or 9. He wouldn't get the full 10 from me because the x1 feels too meh on its own. I believe Vader is the only x1 pilot who isn't overcosted (and that's largely because 3 Force). I feel the same about the v1, if a little less so, but again, haven't played with or against any of them. Again, I think the go-to for Vessery should absolutely be Sai.

So what is so great about Zertik? It seems he's better off saving his lock for Advanced Targeting Computer.

Vader - 10

3 forces charges and multi action probably make him the best pilot to have in 1v1. Add a little Hate and Afterburner to the mix and you have a crazy ship.

Maarek - 7

His power is really strong and can produce nasty results (multi fuel leaks or direct hits can burn any ship really fast) but he definitly needs some support to compensate the lack of action. He will shine with a coordinating ship nearby, or as I have tested, he is pretty solid in a TIE salad swarm with support from Howlrunner and other ships to draw the aggro off him.

Ved Foslo - 6

Maybe the ship with the craziest dial in the game. Being able to change your maneuver makes you quite adaptative and unpredictable. A little bit too pricey to make a good budget ace. But I have seen him make 2nd place in an hyperspace (Outmaneuver, afterburner, FCS with Vador and Pure Sabacc)

Zertik Strom- 3

Seems odd to spend your lock to expose a random card when you lack action so bad and need the lock to attack. Also I3 is terrible for this ship.

storm - 2

tempest -2

Don't really care about the generics. Too expensive for a bad chassis and init.

Edited by Ximatique

Grand Inquisitor - 5

Too expensive and fragile for little damage output. He is always out of force due to his ability.

Seven sister - 7

Really good ability. Even better with Hate or/and FCS. I4 is a little low but she can do stuff.

Baron - 5

Good for missile spam. Very good with a Jendon nearby.

Inquisitor -6

Same as Baron but with Heightened perception or Supernatural Reflexes, you can shoot your missiles first or token stack which is very good in 2.0.

Edited by Ximatique