I may be teaching a new player who is not very into Star Wars so not really tied to any lore preference.

Help me describe the mechanics of each faction as a sales pitch.

Real answers preferred. Memes...just as good.

Rebels - Teamwork and toughness

Imperials - Specialists and Aces

Scum - Tricks and Aggression (lots of range 1 of enemy abilities)

Resistance - Self sufficient and expensive tech. Very little teamwork abilities.

First Order - Revenge ships. Tavson, kylo,quickdraw,fanatical all proc from being shot at.

Republic - management of resources aka force.

CIS - numbers and lots of proprietary tools only droids can use. Very unique faction.

Rebels: Something for everyone (it's called "Leia")

[okay, I mean that they've got a good mix of beefy & mobile. The x-wing in particular is a great "middle ground" between the two, and it's very versatile due to its selection of pilots]

Empire: TIEs may look monotonous, but they're got the most ship-specific-abilities and therefore some of the most uniquely maneuverable (and fun to fly) ships in the game.

[warning, stuff like Ailerons and having to move to decloak ain't optional! But it IS half the fun!]

Scum: ...not even FFG knows at this point (hope you like high I arc-dodgers with less selection than empire?)

[seriously would avoid for now]

Resistance: Awesome A-wings, goofy bombers; don't think I've seen a t-70 in a dog's age

First Order: Not much of a coherent identity, but they've got cool ships + pilots and you can make a list of guys (Tavson, Kylo, and Quickdraw) that make your opponent regret daring to shoot at you.

Republic: Arcsarcsarcsarcs (and aethersprites)

[arcs and aethersprites are really ******* fun; you'll have to make meaningful decisions utilizing their unique capabilities every turn!]

CiS: Do you like exploding instantly (Vultures), weird ships no one's seen before (beeblebuzzles), and/or A SITH LORD(s)!?

(CiS is probably the weirdest/most unique faction, but Vultures are some squishy nonsense and I'd wait to see how Hyenas play out)

Now I say this as someone who's only getting into CiS when wave 4 drops, but they definitely seem like the single most difficult faction for a new player because there are just a lot of fascinating, additional mechanics to consider atop the base rules.

Rebels: damage tanks

Imperials: Aces or swarms

Scums: debuff another ship to buff your own.

Resistance: The A-wing faction + Poe

First order: Revenge is sweet

Republic: Want to be rebels but suck at it

CIS: sith infiltrators

Rebels: versatile and synergistic
Empire: specialized and efficient
Scum: aggressive and cheaty
Resistance: elite star players
First Order: punishing zealots
Republic: combined arms
Separatists: unique tech and mixed swarms, is secretly the most fun faction

They're not all good (in fact about half of them are bad), but the faction Talents (incl. battle med) are pretty representative of what those factions are, thematically.

Rebels - We haven't had a release in 5 waves. It seems we were made to suffer.

Imperials - We need a new release to be good. Too late!!!!

Scum - We've got a few new ships. It's no good to be dead.

Resistance - Poe and some mo'e.

First Order - The 2 ships of Kylo Ren, plus TIEs!!

Republic - We are so cool. Oh look, another new ship.

CIS - Roger Roger.

Republic: If you're a fan of Anakin and Odd Ball, then have I got a faction for you!

right, idk how relevant this is to a new player, but the OT factions won't be getting "new" ships for a while (because they're frakking HUGE, and the other factions are pathetic in comparison)

For us veterans, the ships cycling into hyperspace were available at the start of 2nd ed. This isn't necessarily the case for new players buying into the game, but it's something to mention.

Empire: Tie Fighters backed by specialists or aces.

CIS: lots of disposable droids to take the enemy down.

First Order: aces for the win!

Resistance: aces for the win!

Rebels: tough ships helping each other.

First Order: What doesn't kill us makes us stronger!

Rebels: United we stand, divided we fall.

Empire: Efficiency in numbers or efficiency in specialization only, as the middle is known as waste.

Scum: If you aren't cheating, you aren't trying.

Resistance: Everyone gets plot armor!

First Order: I always preferred my boss fights in stages, where the more damage you inflict only makes it more dangerous.

Galactic Republic: Powerful space wizards escorted by their selfless single-faced comrades combine heavy cavalry and supporting artillery.

Separatist Alliance: Immediately overwhelm the enemy or die trying.

Rebels: "I don't care what you smell, get in there!" (things that joust everything as a team)
Imperials: "Asteroids do not concern me..." (aces, block swarms, lots of list archetypes that prefer dust clouds)
Scum: "I don't like you either" (random named ships slapped together that work together to bully things)
Resistance: "...but by saving what we love" (tons of aces that can't win a joust and need to dance around the fight)
First Order: "I'll show you the dark side" (the named pilots are best and have abilities that let them basically cheat)
Separatists: "We're independent thinkers - roger roger roger roger..." (swarms of droids that follow orders)
Republic: "Live to fight another day boys" (valiant clones sacrifice themselves for the lies of the Jedi)

Rebel: ‘I can hold it’

Empire: Be mobile, be modern marvels, or be more. Just don’t be midway between.

Scum: Say that to my face

FO: Emo trust fund kids. Using daddy’s money to buy bigger more expensive toys

Resistance: ‘the script says I always hit what I’m shooting’ *cough* Heroic is undercosted

Separatist: who killed Roger Robot? Turns out everyone.

Republic: All right troopers, follow Commander Skywalkers lead.

Rebels: Generalists known for their toughness and support abilities

Empire: Somewhat fragile specialist units, with a mix of Ace pilots and swarms

Scum: Bit of a grab bag, but a general theme of underhandedness, cheating, backstabbing, and the odd bit of craziness.

Resistance: Tough, versatile, expensive ships

First Order: More elite version of the empire, with an emphasis on revenge

Republic: Straightforward troopers supporting space wizards with diverse abilities.

Seperatists: Swarms of drones with bizarre proprietary tech, directed by 1-2 more conventional vessels.

Of course, not every faction lives up to its promise (Seperatists are in a weird place in particular, and in the past Rebels have struggled to actually build a teamwork focused squad that didn't come off like a poorly built rube goldberg machine. On the other hand, a few times their teamwork got a little too good in 1.0), but especially with tools to rebalance the game, that's hopefully what each faction will move towards.

Good job boys. Now do it in haiku.

44 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

Republic: "Live to fight another day boys" (valiant clones sacrifice themselves for the lies of the Jedi)

Whether a Typo or a Freudian Slip on your part, I agree with this statement.

1 hour ago, Hawkstrike said:

Good job boys. Now do it in haiku.

Rebels Imps and Scum

Teamwork and Aces and Tricks

Four more factions, meh

15 minutes ago, wurms said:

Rebels Imps and Scum

Teamwork and Aces and Tricks

Four more factions, meh

The **** did you say

Republic is amazing

CIS, good weird

2 hours ago, Hiemfire said:

Whether a Typo or a Freudian Slip on your part, I agree with this statement.

Neither, that was intentional

Arcs are prettiest
and I guess jedi are fun
meme machine come on!

3 hours ago, Squark said:

Rebels: Generalists known for their toughness and support abilities

Empire: Somewhat fragile specialist units, with a mix of Ace pilots and swarms

Scum: Bit of a grab bag, but a general theme of underhandedness, cheating, backstabbing, and the odd bit of craziness.

Resistance: Tough, versatile, expensive ships

First Order: More elite version of the empire, with an emphasis on revenge

Republic: Straightforward troopers supporting space wizards with diverse abilities.

Seperatists: Swarms of drones with bizarre proprietary tech, directed by 1-2 more conventional vessels.

Of course, not every faction lives up to its promise (Seperatists are in a weird place in particular, and Rebels have historically struggled to actually build a teamwork focused squad that didn't come off like a poorly built rube goldberg machine), but especially with tools to rebalance the game, that's hopefully what each faction will move towards.

This is probably the best faction identity guide I’ve seen. Not too salty, and fairly accurate in the nuances of otherwise very similar factions.

I feel like Rebels of today still fit the idea of teamwork in that they like to be somewhat close by, and there are still some synergies that work (Cassian is doing fairly well for himself, Leia is an auto include, etc). The trick is that a list that is dependent on all the pieces falls apart as soon as one is removed, while lists with less synergy but still some aren’t hurt as bad when a piece is lost.

I don’t really know CIS that well - I’ve only flown against a few of the lists and none of them have been truly terrifying. 8x drones with ESC was probably the scariest, but they popped fast enough it wasn’t too bad after the first couple rounds of combat.

3 hours ago, ScummyRebel said:

This is probably the best faction identity guide I’ve seen. Not too salty, and fairly accurate in the nuances of otherwise very similar factions.

I feel like Rebels of today still fit the idea of teamwork in that they like to be somewhat close by, and there are still some synergies that work (Cassian is doing fairly well for himself, Leia is an auto include, etc). The trick is that a list that is dependent on all the pieces falls apart as soon as one is removed, while lists with less synergy but still some aren’t hurt as bad when a piece is lost.

I don’t really know CIS that well - I’ve only flown against a few of the lists and none of them have been truly terrifying. 8x drones with ESC was probably the scariest, but they popped fast enough it wasn’t too bad after the first couple rounds of combat.

I probably should have been clearer that I was speaking about rebel synergy in the past tense. There have been long droughts where it just. Didn't. Work. And of course, the occasional time it worked too well (Especially in late 1.0). Presently, while Rebel beef could probably use a retuning, but overall I'm pretty happy with Rebels as a faction right now.

Rebels: Tanky and forgiving.

Empire: Quantity with some Quality.

Scum: Everything that’s not the good or the bad, plus the kitchen sink.

Resistance: Big **** Heroes.

First Order: The Empire’s edgy younger sibling.

Republic: 2+2=5, with Jedi.

Separatist: Quantity with a quality of it’s own.