Anybody else find it odd that when ships from different factions have the same Pilot skill the player with Initiative activates his ships FIRST? If that player had a higher Pilot skill he would activate his ship AFTER a lower Pilot skill. (In combat Initiative player resolves first so no issue there.) I assumed having Initiative was a benifit but here is seems a detriment.

Are they nerfing Initiative maybe? Am I reading it right?

I think they were trying to level the playing field for squad building play. If the points are tied and their are pilots with equal skill, the Rebel player gets the initiative advantage during movement and the Imperial will get the initiative advantage during combat. The fact that damage is simultaneous in this situation does lessen the effect, but if any simultaneous effects have to happen, advantage goes to the initiative holder. I wish they would have just let the Imperials have a straight up "I deal damage first" advantage, but it is what it is I guess

Moving first means you're not going to "collide" and lose an action, but moving second means you can plan your action in response to other pilots' movements and actions. There's a benefit to both.

Hashik said:

Initiative does not switch back and forth throughout the game from Imperial to Rebel and then back again. One player has initiative from the moment the game starts. That player keeps it until the game ends. He activates first during movement and during combat.

Roy

I wasn 't trying to imply that INITIATIVE passed back and forth, but that the advantage (or percieved advantage) in a tie situation was a trade off. So with equal squad values a rebel pilot in the rebel squad with skill 5 ends up moving after an Imperial pilot in the opposing squad with skill 5, possibly giving the rebel an advantage in choosing an action. But in the attack phase, the Imperial pilot has the advantage of resolving attacks first. This could allow for a critical hit that might keep the rebel from returning fire. But this is pretty limited…unless something special like this happens, even if the rebel is destroyed it still gets a parting shot as per p.16 in the rules.

Just thinking FF tried to split the advantages in a tie siuation.

Initiative only comes inot play when the pilots have the same skill. Moving first and shooting first means you get the advantage in the shooting phase but not in the moving phase. I think it is to balance the fact that the two pilots are supposed to be the same and one shouldn't get full advantage over the other.

@ Hrathen, That was my first take on it as well. Balance makes for good gaming.