Worth getting starter?

By Wired4War, in X-Wing

Specifically, if I dont want to play empire or rebels? It looks like dice, measuring templates, and soon damage cards will be available separately. So if you were brand new and wanted to play say separatists or resistance, would you still get the starter?

[I'm actually not new to x-wing, just 2.0, but I no longer own any models]

9 minutes ago, Wired4War said:

Specifically, if I dont want to play empire or rebels? It looks like dice, measuring templates, and soon damage cards will be available separately. So if you were brand new and wanted to play say separatists or resistance, would you still get the starter?

[I'm actually not new to x-wing, just 2.0, but I no longer own any models]

I wouldn't, especially if those were not my intended factions. Which, TBH, is the point that I think FFG is trying to get to--the core set was never a complete game in the first place, so why bother.

Edit:

They should go back and make faction-starter 3-packs for all factions.

Republic and Seps we got

Rebels = 2 Xs and a Y

Imps = TIE Adv + 2 TIE/lns

FO = TIE Silencer + 2 TIE/FOs

Resistance = Black One, plain T-70, and A-wing.

Edited by Darth Meanie

Stay On The Leader did the math pretty recently on his Buying Guide page. Core set wins.

http://stayontheleader.blogspot.com/2019/11/x-wing-buying-guide-introduction.html

core+set+finance.jpg

Core Set is amazing value of you *ever* fly any Rebels or Imperials (or have a friend who'd swap for other ships or buy them off you...), and if you don't hate hate hate cardboard components. Even if you could can unload the three ships for total $10-20, that's still a better deal than buying components separately.

New players often will be short on tokens. After playing for a little while, anyone will have bags and bags of them they don't need, but starting out, folks often don't have enough, and core set does provide some.

There are also a few cards which exist only in the Core Set. Instinctive Aim and Sense, plus some pilots and Rebel-only Astromechs. IA isn't too important right now for Separatists or Republic, but Sense gets played some.

Edited by theBitterFig
8 minutes ago, theBitterFig said:

Stay On The Leader did the math pretty recently on his Buying Guide page.

http://stayontheleader.blogspot.com/2019/11/x-wing-buying-guide-introduction.html

core+set+finance.jpg

Core Set is amazing value of you *ever* fly any Rebels or Imperials (or have a friend who'd swap or buy them off you), and if you don't hate hate hate cardboard components.

Yeah, but a 3 pack of Republic ships is only $40, so there's $20 back, and how many people actually keep playing with cardboard templates after week 2? So there's another $20 gone. Now you've only saved $17.70. :)

6 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

and how many people actually keep playing with cardboard templates after week 2?

I am.

I would reach out to the local players and see what they have spare, we’ve given away full acrylic sets, bags of tokens, dice, and even ships at various times. That will help you know what you can pick up for $0 and what you actually have to purchase.

Welcome back!

No its not worth it. Especially if you don't want the movable wing Xwing and 2 ties.

I will be honest, the moving xwing which has a different paint job than the expansion one too is honestly fun and makes me happy.

If you ask about pure value, I already had 4 Xwings.It was exceptionally poor value, nearly $40 wasted.

You can get acrylic movements now, damage decks for purchase, and everything else from someone else. Free dice from someone who has too many, especially if they're tournament dice.

5 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

and how many people actually keep playing with cardboard templates after week 2?

*raises hand*

7 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

They should go back and make faction-starter 3-packs for all factions.

Republic and Seps we got

Rebels = 2 Xs and a Y

Imps = TIE Adv + 2 TIE/lns

FO = TIE Silencer + 2 TIE/FOs

Resistance = Black One, plain T-70, and A-wing.

I would be interested in packs only if they had alternate paint schemes. Ok, some nice new pilots and upgrades would be great.

  • Empire: Red-striped TIE Defender and TIE Interceptors (paint schemes from Rebels). Elite TIE Defender configuration.

TIE_Defender_Elite_FotD.png

TIE_Interceptor.jpg

  • Rebels: B-Wing prototype (I could live with the same miniature mold) + Phoenix squadron A-Wings (pilots from Rebels)

latest?cb=20151112023125

Etyl8fV.jpg

  • First Order: "Sith" (red) TIE Daggers paired with TIE Whispers?

HSZ3V3A.png

  • Resistance: Black One X-Wing T-70 + ?
9 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

how many people actually keep playing with cardboard templates after week 2?

Over here. I think about getting a set of not cardboard templates and customizing it. Keep talking myself out of it as I'm already over-budget for all this stuff.

6 minutes ago, Frimmel said:

Over here. I think about getting a set of not cardboard templates and customizing it. Keep talking myself out of it as I'm already over-budget for all this stuff.

Ain't that the truth. Far too easy to go overboard and blow your budget.

11 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

Yeah, but a 3 pack of Republic ships is only $40, so there's $20 back, and how many people actually keep playing with cardboard templates after week 2? So there's another $20 gone. Now you've only saved $17.70. :)

I mean, I'm glad the technical option exists to get into the game without a core set, and there ought to be more Squadron Packs. But I think it's also nice to have the numbers laid out. It's hard to deny that, even for a player who never uses the core set ships, it isn't a terrible deal. If you use/trade/sell those ships, it gets even better.

Also, the only place for Sense and Instinctive Aim (for now) is in the core set.

//

And a friend I play with pretty much every week has only ever used the cardboard templates. He's got rulers from last year's store champs, but still.

As @theBitterFig and Stay On the Leader have shown, the core set is the cheapest way to get into the game and the only way to get sense and instinctive aim. If you're not playing imperials, it's also the only way to get heightened perception and supernatural reflexes (and if you are playing imperials, you should buy the core set).

The core set is also the only way to buy the core set asteroids and debris fields. The upcoming obstacles expansion pack will provide cardboard for more obstacle shapes, but from what I understand it will not cover the obstacle shapes found in the core set. You might be able to find friends with spares for the relevant obstacles, but hunting them down can be a pain.

The only time I'd recommend not buying a core set is if you have friends willing to give/lend you all of the components (rulers, templates, damage deck, dice, asteroids, debris) and upgrades. If you've got just one or two of these, it's still going to be cheaper to buy a damage deck than hunt down all the extra bits and bobs (don't forget that finding all the bits separately will also waste more time compared to just picking a core set up off the shelf).

On 11/19/2019 at 2:13 PM, Darth Meanie said:

Yeah, but a 3 pack of Republic ships is only $40, so there's $20 back, and how many people actually keep playing with cardboard templates after week 2? So there's another $20 gone. Now you've only saved $17.70. :)

I know a lot of people who have been using their cardboard templates for a while now. Helped in no small part because those plastic... things are absolutely hideous out of the box.

And, even if one buys the templates, $17.70 is most of the way towards another ship, so that's not actually an insignificant saving in this situation.

I didn’t get the 2.0 core, and just onsie-twosied the various parts of it I’d have wanted off eBay.

I also just realized recently that I still don’t have the initiative coin or the corner tool.

And I guess where I’m at in the end is that I wish I’d have just gotten the thing and been done with it. Yes, maybe I’d have spent a bit more money, but I would’ve just been done with everything in one shot.

Granted, I do play Empire... but I didn’t need more TIEs. I certainly didn’t need the X. But even there, I could’ve offloaded the X to my buddy, and more TIEs might not have been a bad thing in the age of Epic.

Regardless, I agree wholeheartedly that faction- (or era-) specific starters would be ideal!

Alright, alright, alright. Some people used cardboard templates still. . .

Image result for lando alright alright alright

Edited by Darth Meanie
On 11/19/2019 at 4:41 AM, Darth Meanie said:

They should go back and make faction-starter 3-packs for all factions.

Republic and Seps we got

Rebels = 2 Xs and a Y

Imps = TIE Adv + 2 TIE/lns

FO = TIE Silencer + 2 TIE/FOs

Resistance = Black One, plain T-70, and A-wing.

Scum should get something like: Fang fighter + 2 Kihraxz. Or because it's such an individuality driven faction: Fang, Kihraxz, Quadjumper(or StarViper).

You certainly don't *need* a core set. But is it worth getting? Yes. Just keep what you can use, and then trade off what you don't need.

On 11/18/2019 at 11:13 PM, Darth Meanie said:

how many people actually keep playing with cardboard templates after week 2?

I played with cardboard for six months until I paid the iron price, and I would have kept playing with them until I won some.

Oops, responded before I read through all the posts

Edited by Dr Moneypants
1 hour ago, Dr Moneypants said:

I played with cardboard for six months until I paid the iron price, and I would have kept playing with them until I won some.

Oops, responded before I read through all the posts

It's OK Dr Moneypants of House Grayjoy.

Just please tell me you don't have a salt wife. 😆

Edited by Darth Meanie
17 hours ago, Cerebrawl said:

Scum should get something like: Fang fighter + 2 Kihraxz. Or because it's such an individuality driven faction: Fang, Kihraxz, Quadjumper(or StarViper).

With both of the existing starter sets consisting of 2x filler + 1x "Ace"/Support a S&V Starter would probably be 2 Z-95s and a Fang...

14 hours ago, Darth Meanie said:

It's OK Dr Moneypants of House Grayjoy.

Just please tell me you don't have a salt wife. 😆

Ok, I will not tell you that.

5 hours ago, Hiemfire said:

With both of the existing starter sets consisting of 2x filler + 1x "Ace"/Support a S&V Starter would probably be 2 Z-95s and a Fang...

Z-95s are terrible and not faction unique. Any of Quadjumper, Mining Guild TIE, or M3-A would make a better choice for filler ship.

11 hours ago, Cerebrawl said:

Z-95s are terrible and not faction unique. Any of Quadjumper, Mining Guild TIE, or M3-A would make a better choice for filler ship.

Z-95s are fine, and are certainly much better than the dreadful M3-A. The scum Z is a little worse than the rebel one (because it inexplicably pays 1pt to have an illicit slot) but it's still a good ship. The main reason you don't see scum Zs on the table is that the quadjumper, mining TIE and escape craft are all around the same price and bring useful abilities to the table for only a few points more.

2 minutes ago, gadwag said:

Z-95s are fine, and are certainly much better than the dreadful M3-A. The scum Z is a little worse than the rebel one (because it inexplicably pays 1pt to have an illicit slot) but it's still a good ship. The main reason you don't see scum Zs on the table is that the quadjumper, mining TIE and escape craft are all around the same price and bring useful abilities to the table for only a few points more.

Scyks are overpriced but they're a whole lot more useful than the Z-95s, which should tell you something. 35 points for autoblaster+marksmanship i3 generics frequently do quite well. Mining TIEs are an even harsher comparison for the poor Z, with the same buy-in, and simply much better ships, between the chassi ability, ability bar, and that 3rd point of agility letting the flimsy things survive potshots better(especially since they have evade action). It gets even worse of a comparison when you see that the mining TIE generics with talent slot are 2 points less than Z-95 generics with talent slot(though also at 1 less initiative, which can be a positive, they're only 28 points with intimidation).