Hi guys!
So, I've gone bananas buying expansion for my core set over the last two weeks, and have now put together these two lists to compete against each other. What do you think?
Note: I have only the core set, and the expansion packs for the ships on the lists.

I do have some others, but I dont think you can add modifications from one expansion to another. Or can you?

Please let me know what you think and thank you so much

Rebels

Modified YT-1300 Light Freighter - •Chewbacca - 76
•Chewbacca - The Mighty (70)
•Informant (4)
•Lando Calrissian (2)

A/SF-01 B-wing - •Ten Numb - 50
•Ten Numb - Blue Five (48)
Fire-Control System (2)
Jamming Beam (0)

T-65 X-wing - •Luke Skywalker - 73
•Luke Skywalker - Red Five (61)
Proton Torpedoes (12)
Servomotor S-foils (Open) (0)

Total: 199

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

vs.

Empire

TIE Advanced v1 - •Grand Inquisitor - 58
•Grand Inquisitor - Master of the Inquisitorious (52)
Proton Rockets (5)
Predictive Shot (1)

TIE/sk Striker - Black Squadron Scout - 43
Black Squadron Scout - (33)
Trick Shot (4)
Proton Bombs (4)
Skilled Bombardier (2)

VT-49 Decimator - •Captain Oicunn - 99
•Captain Oicunn - Inspired Tactician (74)
•Lone Wolf (5)
•Darth Vader (14)
Proximity Mines (6)

Total: 200

View in the X-Wing Squad Builder

The first list I quite like, but you'll run into problems with Ten there.

What you'll find as you play is that Ten really likes to be stressed, as it lets him get more out of his dial and actions, but also gives him effectively a focus token for free. And spending that stress like a focus lets you remove the stress too. What that means is that you'll end up playing to deliberately get him stressed. And that means that it'll be very rare you actually take the lock action because that requires you to a) not be stressed at the start of the turn, b) perform a stress free white or blue maneuver and c) take only the lock action, with no way to get more actions or stressed.

For that reason, Fire Control System isn't a great pick on him. Yes, you can take a lock one round and use FCS to get a single re-roll and keep the lock till the next round when you can focus, but that's not very efficient.

However, for just 2 more points you can add the Stabilised S-Foils config card from Hotshots and Aces. This gives Ten access to a barrel roll action linked into a red action. Ten loves this card. That red lock gives him re-rolls and a pseudo focus token at the same time. That is ideal for performing an attack. And FCS makes him even more efficient by letting him keep that lock till next turn (when you might want to do a red maneuver, like a tallon roll and so won't get to lock again) or if you want to spend the lock on a second attack with the Jamming Beam (it's not common for this to be worth it, but it can be).

I would suggest either finding an extra point for the S-foils config, or dropping FCS and spending the points elsewhere.

Informant is a good card to drop here, I don't think it will do much for you as you don't really have many ways to react to the information you might gain from it. I'd be tempted to drop both Informant and Lando to run Agile Gunner on Chewbacca and Stabilised S-foils on Ten. Agile Gunner gives you a little more flexibility going into next turn if you think ships might end up in front or behind you rather than at the sides, or vice versa.

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For the Imperial list, I'll confess I'm not great with Decimator builds, but I would suggest at least dropping some of the upgrades on your TIE Striker to go for a named pilot instead.

The unique Striker pilots all have really good abilities, and the upgrades you've put on your generic strike me as a bit mismatched. Trick Shot especially is a strange choice. The Striker can only shoot forwards - i.e. the direction in which it will move next turn - so to trigger Trick Shot, your Striker will need to be pointed directly at an obstacle. Given that (so long as you're not stressed) you have to do a 1 speed bank or straight before the maneuver on your dial, there's actually a very good chance that triggering Trick Shot one round means going over a rock the next. Those 4 points alone get you Vagabond instead of the generic, who gives you an additional option for how to use the bomb you've equipped.

Dropping all the upgrades gets you Countdown, who could be a really good choice against that Rebel list. Countdown basically hard counters high damage spikes, like Proton Torpedoes. Shooting those ProTorps at Countdown would be a waste of a lot of points, so the Rebel player won't do it. That's something the Imperial player can exploit.

Predictive Shot is really, really bad, by the way. Save yourself a point and don't bring it.

Darth Vader isn't a bad shout on a Decimator, but I do wonder if he's a bit expensive for what he brings. And Oicunn really wants the Dauntless title to be at his best (means you get to ram into someone, still get an action and still get to shoot them while they can't shoot back). Even if you know you're going to be moving first, as you would be facing this list, there will be times when blocking another ship with a partial maneuver will prevent their maneuver from completing and leave them stuck in place. That's invaluable, especially if you still get to lock them.

I would say Vader in this build is far more useful for the Force point than he is for his ability, so you might want to look at Fifth Brother Gunner instead. It'll probably get you better results. Dropping Predictive Shot from Grand Inqy and dropping Lone Wolf (just take locks instead) gets you the points for Dauntless and some spare points that I would strongly suggest spending on Intimidation. It combos so well with Oicunn's ability that, as far as talents go, I would say means it should effectively be stapled to him.

I also don't love Proton Rockets on Grand Inqy. His ability won't work on them, as missiles can't get the range bonus, and he doesn't often want to be focusing. At I5, locking, rolling or boosting are all normally better choices, as he can use his Force token to change eye results. I'd probably not bother with missiles and give him FCS and Brilliant Evasion to focus on making him as efficient as possible.

6 hours ago, GuacCousteau said:

However, for just 2 more points you can add the Stabilised S-Foils config card from Hotshots and Aces.

Informant is a good card to drop here, I don't think it will do much for you as you don't really have many ways to react to the information you might gain from it. I'd be tempted to drop both Informant and Lando to run Agile Gunner on Chewbacca and Stabilised S-foils on Ten. Agile Gunner gives you a little more flexibility going into next turn if you think ships might end up in front or behind you rather than at the sides, or vice versa.

==================================================================================================================================

Dropping all the upgrades gets you Countdown, who could be a really good choice against that Rebel list. Countdown basically hard counters high damage spikes, like Proton Torpedoes. Shooting those ProTorps at Countdown would be a waste of a lot of points, so the Rebel player won't do it. That's something the Imperial player can exploit.

Predictive Shot is really, really bad, by the way. Save yourself a point and don't bring it.

Darth Vader isn't a bad shout on a Decimator, but I do wonder if he's a bit expensive for what he brings. And Oicunn really wants the Dauntless title to be at his best (means you get to ram into someone, still get an action and still get to shoot them while they can't shoot back). Even if you know you're going to be moving first, as you would be facing this list, there will be times when blocking another ship with a partial maneuver will prevent their maneuver from completing and leave them stuck in place. That's invaluable, especially if you still get to lock them.

I would say Vader in this build is far more useful for the Force point than he is for his ability, so you might want to look at Fifth Brother Gunner instead. It'll probably get you better results. Dropping Predictive Shot from Grand Inqy and dropping Lone Wolf (just take locks instead) gets you the points for Dauntless and some spare points that I would strongly suggest spending on Intimidation. It combos so well with Oicunn's ability that, as far as talents go, I would say means it should effectively be stapled to him.

Thank you SO MUCH! for this reply. Holy moly I'm so in awe that you took the time to go so thoroughly through my lists.

Main issue is that I don't own many of the cards mentioned (at least I don't think I do - the "my collection" section kind of confuses me)

Done some modifications as per your advice - can't wait to take the lists into battle.

THANK YOU!!!!

Everything @GuacCousteau said is solid advice. Generally speaking, one of the most useful things anyone told me when I first started playing this game was, “Do not over-upgrade your ships.” Upgrades are useful, but particularly on ships with limited survivability (like your Striker, with two Agility and four Hull), it’s often better to keep them lean. There are, of course, exceptions. But especially in your first few fleets: more ships, fewer upgrades.

i would use this

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (76)
Darth Vader (14)
Dauntless (4)

Ship total: 94 Half Points: 47 Threshold: 8

"Duchess" (44)
Fifth Brother (12)
Targeting Computer (3)

Ship total: 59 Half Points: 30 Threshold: 2

Seventh Sister (43)
Ship total: 43 Half Points: 22 Threshold: 2


Total: 196

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0: https://raithos.github.io/?f=Galactic Empire&d=v8ZsZ200Z214XWW26WWWWWW147Y211XW82WW249Y170XWW&sn=Unnamed Squadron&obs=

2 hours ago, Nexion said:

Thank you SO MUCH! for this reply. Holy moly I'm so in awe that you took the time to go so thoroughly through my lists.

Main issue is that I don't own many of the cards mentioned (at least I don't think I do - the "my collection" section kind of confuses me)

No problem at all, that's what this forum is here for.

Fair enough. Most people round here will tell you that it's totally fine not having the cards, you can just proxy by making the lists in a squad builder and referencing their effect from there. But I've always liked having the physical cards in front of me, and I think it's especially helpful when you're starting out because it helps you remember that you've got them, and when to trigger them.

With that in mind, here are some tweaks I'd make that should keep to cards you already have (not sure entirely what you've got, so I've only gone with cards found in the Core Set, B-Wing, Millennium Falcon, Decimator, TIE Striker and TIE Adv v1 expansions):

Rebel:

Chewbacca (70)
Leia Organa (7)
Lando Calrissian (2)

Ship total: 79 Half Points: 40 Threshold: 7

Braylen Stramm (52)
Jamming Beam (0)

Ship total: 52 Half Points: 26 Threshold: 4

Luke Skywalker (61)
R2-D2 (8)
Servomotor S-Foils (0)

Ship total: 69 Half Points: 35 Threshold: 3


Total: 200

I've swapped to Braylen because he's a little more self-sufficient than Ten without additional upgrades. Braylen basically wants to do the opposite of Ten. Stress gives him re-rolls, so you'll rarely - if ever - need to lock with him. Instead, you should look for ways to get focus tokens and stress, if possible. The best way is to use the built in focus > barrel roll linked action the B-Wing has. Hint: you still get the stress if you fail the red barrel roll, so if you won't fit you can trigger the roll anyway and deliberately fail to get stress

Leia is there for turns when both Luke and Braylen want to turn around, or if Braylen is already stressed but really wants to do a red maneuver.

To fit this, I've had to drop Torpedoes on Luke. While that's a shame, because Luke is really good with Torpedoes, in the old list he was a very obvious target because of how dangerous he is. R2-D2 technically isn't great value - you're better off running the generic R2 astromech for the points because it's rare you'll get to use R2-D2's third charge anyway. But for a first list, I figured it wouldn't hurt to pair Luke up with his buddy. I think you'll enjoy flying them together.

Imperial

Grand Inquisitor (52)
Fire-Control System (2)

Ship total: 54 Half Points: 27 Threshold: 2

"Pure Sabacc" (43)
Shield Upgrade (6)

Ship total: 49 Half Points: 25 Threshold: 3

Captain Oicunn (74)
Fifth Brother (12)
Proximity Mines (6)
Dauntless (4)

Ship total: 96 Half Points: 48 Threshold: 8


Total: 199

What you've got here is a list that can really mess with the Rebel list by giving it no good options to go for. Ignore the Decimator, and you're ignoring a close range tank with a ton of health that will be hard to get off the board. Ignore Pure Sabacc and he's throwing 4-5 red dice at you. With a Shield Upgrade, you've got to land two damage on him for that to stop. Ignore the Inquisitor, and you're ignoring a mobile little ship that can dodge yours, can hit hard and can be hard to kill if you don't focus your fire.

When starting out with Strikers, I would recommend not using Duchess. A lot of people will say the opposite, that Duchess making the ship ability optional means she's more forgiving and you can get used to it without making as many mistakes. Personally, I think if you want to get good with Strikers, you need to get to grips with how most of them fly, and treat Duchess' ability as a bonus once you've figured it out. Duchess is a crutch that IMO will weaken you Striker play.

9 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Everything @GuacCousteau said is solid advice. Generally speaking, one of the most useful things anyone told me when I first started playing this game was, “Do not over-upgrade your ships.” Upgrades are useful, but particularly on ships with limited survivability (like your Striker, with two Agility and four Hull), it’s often better to keep them lean. There are, of course, exceptions. But especially in your first few fleets: more ships, fewer upgrades.

great advice! thank you

6 hours ago, GuacCousteau said:

Fair enough. Most people round here will tell you that it's totally fine not having the cards, you can just proxy by making the lists in a squad builder and referencing their effect from there. But I've always liked having the physical cards in front of me, and I think it's especially helpful when you're starting out because it helps you remember that you've got them, and when to trigger them.

strangely enough - the squadbuilder doesn't alarm me that the cards are not in my collection, so I must have them

I think I got confused because, for example my Skriker expansion doesn't have "Shield upgrade", but I have it because it is in the core set. I didn't realize that I could "swap" modifications like so

On 12/9/2020 at 2:09 AM, Nexion said:

strangely enough - the squadbuilder doesn't alarm me that the cards are not in my collection, so I must have them

I think I got confused because, for example my Skriker expansion doesn't have "Shield upgrade", but I have it because it is in the core set. I didn't realize that I could "swap" modifications like so

Oh, yeah! You’re totally allowed to use upgrades from any expansion or the Core Set on any ship with the appropriate upgrade slot(s). That’s part of the fun of the game, using cards in fun new ways on ships that didn’t they didn’t come with.

That said, the designers have done a pretty good job of mostly pairing ships with upgrades that work well on them, in most cases, and the included pairings can often provide little clues on ways you might want to use a ship that’s got you scratching your head a bit.

Of course, not every upgrade is good. For some reason, new players always tend to be drawn to the (awful) Composure talent, for example. And like I said, not every ship needs very many upgrades at all; in fact, most need very few, and some need none, to be very, very good indeed.

If you are hunting for particular upgrades which you may have seen in a squad builder app, but aren’t sure where to find them, the “X-Wing 2.0 Wiki” is an excellent resource that gives you information on which cards are found in each expansion. All the expansions also have a complete list of contents, so you can see how many of each thing you’ll get when you buy a particular expansion.

2 hours ago, Cpt ObVus said:

Oh, yeah! You’re totally allowed to use upgrades from any expansion or the Core Set on any ship with the appropriate upgrade slot(s). That’s part of the fun of the game, using cards in fun new ways on ships that didn’t they didn’t come with.

That said, the designers have done a pretty good job of mostly pairing ships with upgrades that work well on them, in most cases, and the included pairings can often provide little clues on ways you might want to use a ship that’s got you scratching your head a bit.

Of course, not every upgrade is good. For some reason, new players always tend to be drawn to the (awful) Composure talent, for example. And like I said, not every ship needs very many upgrades at all; in fact, most need very few, and some need none, to be very, very good indeed.

If you are hunting for particular upgrades which you may have seen in a squad builder app, but aren’t sure where to find them, the “X-Wing 2.0 Wiki” is an excellent resource that gives you information on which cards are found in each expansion. All the expansions also have a complete list of contents, so you can see how many of each thing you’ll get when you buy a particular expansion.

haha, well I mean, there IS a pretty obvious reason why new players are drawn to composure. they're more likely than experienced players to misjudge where a ship will land on barrel rolls, etc..

If I might make a SLIGHT recommendation, which depends ENTIRELY on how "into" the game you foresee yourself becoming, but if you like the thought of having many of the upgrades I might recommend a conversion kit? They are around a 23-30 dollar investment (assuming you purchase them from Amazon discounted).

Conversion kits are sets of cardboard, dials, cards, etc., that were used to allow players with models from x-wing 1.0 to use their models in 2.0. Although their main purpose is to allow 1.0 models to be used for 2.0, they also can be good ways to amass upgrade cards quickly. They are specific to each faction, and the rebel/empire/scum will contain the most upgrades since they are the oldest factions and require the most "upgrading."

They have the additional benefit of potentially making future purchases cheaper! Let's say you have a rebel conversion kit and want to add another T-65 X-wing to your ships available to use. Instead of buying a 15-20 dollar x-wing expansion, you could hop on Ebay and probably find just the ship model for 10 or under.

Although I mainly planned on playing Separatists when I began, I found a good deal on a Scum conversion kit and went ahead and grabbed it since I can find many Scum ships cheap on Ebay. I gotta say, playing a "new" faction while secondarily dipping my toe in an old faction with a conversion kit is turning out to be a pretty good experience. I buy Scum models cheaply, and when new upgrades come out I usually end up getting them when I buy new Separatist expansions.

but then again, if you mainly plan on playing very casually, hopefully the people you're playing with are fine with just "proxying" upgrade cards that you don't have!

8 minutes ago, player655164 said:

haha, well I mean, there IS a pretty obvious reason why new players are drawn to composure. they're more likely than experienced players to misjudge where a ship will land on barrel rolls, etc..

I mean, that is true. But most of my friends immediately gravitated to it because they thought it worked different than it does, and they all misunderstood it in a variety of different ways. All of them were surprised when I explained how it actually worked.

There ARE a couple of pilots it’s actually OK on, by the way. Turr Phennir can use it to gain a Focus action after he performs an attack, for example, by intentionally failing his bonus Boost/Barrel Roll. Marginal benefit, gaining a Focus token after you’ve attacked, but for 1 point, I can imagine throwing it on him when I don’t care about a bid at all. I feel like there are a couple of other weird Composure combos, too, but I can’t recall them, and they’re all pretty mediocre.

1 minute ago, player655164 said:

If I might make a SLIGHT recommendation, which depends ENTIRELY on how "into" the game you foresee yourself becoming, but if you like the thought of having many of the upgrades I might recommend a conversion kit? They are around a 23-30 dollar investment (assuming you purchase them from Amazon discounted).

Conversion kits are sets of cardboard, dials, cards, etc., that were used to allow players with models from x-wing 1.0 to use their models in 2.0. Although their main purpose is to allow 1.0 models to be used for 2.0, they also can be good ways to amass upgrade cards quickly. They are specific to each faction, and the rebel/empire/scum will contain the most upgrades since they are the oldest factions and require the most "upgrading."

They have the additional benefit of potentially making future purchases cheaper! Let's say you have a rebel conversion kit and want to add another T-65 X-wing to your ships available to use. Instead of buying a 15-20 dollar x-wing expansion, you could hop on Ebay and probably find just the ship model for 10 or under.

Although I mainly planned on playing Separatists when I began, I found a good deal on a Scum conversion kit and went ahead and grabbed it since I can find many Scum ships cheap on Ebay. I gotta say, playing a "new" faction while secondarily dipping my toe in an old faction with a conversion kit is turning out to be a pretty good experience. I buy Scum models cheaply, and when new upgrades come out I usually end up getting them when I buy new Separatist expansions.

Yeah, the Conversion Kits are great! They also allow you to buy old 1.0 models for the factions you’re into, and use them in the 2.0 game. It widens your options considerably, since many of the ships that they had planned to update to 2.0 never got updated (there seems to have been a general lack of demand; presumably there’s enough stock of most of the old ships still floating around). So if you come across a good deal on a 1.0 Rebel E-Wing or an Imperial TIE Bomber or something, you can buy the model and play it using the dial and cards you’ll get from the Conversion Kit.

A word of caution, however: I got the Rebel and Imperial Conversion Kits when I started, and it led to a wicked cycle of, “Well, I’ve got all these cards and dials, and gee whiz, this Lambda Shuttle looks pretty fun, let’s go see what one costs on eBay,” and now I’ve collected one of every ship in the game, with multiples of most. These things are dangerous!

Just now, Cpt ObVus said:

Yeah, the Conversion Kits are great! They also allow you to buy old 1.0 models for the factions you’re into, and use them in the 2.0 game. It widens your options considerably, since many of the ships that they had planned to update to 2.0 never got updated (there seems to have been a general lack of demand; presumably there’s enough stock of most of the old ships still floating around). So if you come across a good deal on a 1.0 Rebel E-Wing or an Imperial TIE Bomber or something, you can buy the model and play it using the dial and cards you’ll get from the Conversion Kit.

A word of caution, however: I got the Rebel and Imperial Conversion Kits when I started, and it led to a wicked cycle of, “Well, I’ve got all these cards and dials, and gee whiz, this Lambda Shuttle looks pretty fun, let’s go see what one costs on eBay,” and now I’ve collected one of every ship in the game, with multiples of most. These things are dangerous!

Yup!

I think it's best to view it as "a pretty good deal for a bunch of upgrade cards" first and foremost.

On 12/10/2020 at 3:39 PM, Cpt ObVus said:

Yeah

On 12/10/2020 at 3:40 PM, player655164 said:

Yup!

Guys, thank you so much for your insights. I absoutely love the advise.

My main issue: Covid-19 and not having anyone to play with (wife doesn't want to haha). Been rocking Fly Casual vs AI, just to get a fix. trying out my squadrons in there got recked flying rebels - guess it takes some getting used to

14 hours ago, Nexion said:

Guys, thank you so much for your insights. I absoutely love the advise.

My main issue: Covid-19 and not having anyone to play with (wife doesn't want to haha). Been rocking Fly Casual vs AI, just to get a fix. trying out my squadrons in there got recked flying rebels - guess it takes some getting used to

If you have a PC and a buddy who’s interested, download TableTop Simulator. TTS has X-Wing 2.0 available as a free mod, and it absolutely rocks. The game is constantly upgraded with the newest releases, and it automates all of the stuff you’re normally required to do by hand. My friend and I usually play a couple of games each week, and it’s been a fantastic way to learn and practice and use crazy stuff we don’t even own (the downside being that once we figure out how much fun something is, I usually feel compelled to go buy it on eBay, but that’s my problem, not TTS’s).