Ties can be extremely fragile. The slightly more expensive ties with offensive abilities (like Backstabber or Howlrunner) are pretty vulnerable to getting focused (both focus actioned and focus fired) and picked off early in the game.

What are your tricks and strategies for keeping Imperial pilots in the game?

Is attrition the name of the game for the Imperial squadron?

I have one thought: Expert Handling is great on anyone who can use the elite pilot upgrade cards because it shuts down target locks (and torpedoes). However most tie pilots can't get elite upgrades.

I think that TIEs are shown to be strongest in a squad formation and are very good at making sudden maneuvers to get out of tight spots in the films. I think a double team on an X-Wing would be a good strategy. And don't forget barrel rolls!

I was thinking about trying to run my TIE's in pairs and once I can get my opponent to commit to going after one group or the other, the rest use their maneuverability to get behind and up close on a rebel ship and shooting it until it dies.

The bait ships will use evasion actions and use their speed to stay out of Range Band 1 to hopefully survive while the others will use their tight turns and barrel rolls to flank and backstab the rebs that take the bait.

Another idea I had was to fly right at the main Reb force enmass then scatter in all directions when they get in range. the following turn they swarm back in from both sides. They won't be able to chase everything all at once and odds are he won't be able to guess where they're going to go the turn they scatter. With their speed and barrel roll actions, the Rebels won't be able to keep all of them in their fire arcs.

Example: 4 TIE's in a group move in until the turn they're about to enter Range band 3. Then each pair takes a hard turn in opposite directions. The following turn, they all come around via the 180 degree move and hopefully catch a reb or two in a crossfire.

Now, I just wait for the UPS man so I can see how these ideas play out on the table.

-DavicusPrime

I find that I usually lose a TIE in every battle, but I usually start with two more ships than my opponent, so its okay.

Think about it. An academy pilot is only 12 points, a Y-wing can spend 13 points just on weapon upgrades. It is okay to lose a TIE or two in the process of putting down the destructive rebellion.

Utilizing barrel rolls and sharp turns to force contact from craft on your tail works great for keeping your opponents from firing on you.

How do I win with the empire? Pick scum instead!..

...oldest sort of balance related thread on the forums, officially necro-ed!

wow we're things simpler two years before I got in!

On 9/20/2012 at 6:26 PM, DrUnK3n_PaNdA said:

Utilizing barrel rolls and sharp turns to force contact from craft on your tail works great for keeping your opponents from firing on you.

Deliberately 'bumping' into ships? That sounds like cheating!

Dont worry, I'm sure the GUNBOAT will be added in a wave or two and then the Empire will know glory again.

Wait, "avoid loses"?

What the **** empire are YOU talking about?

Fly a TIE, prepare to die. Everyone's expendable!

how to avoid losses:

win

Thank you, please like and subscribe and buy my award-winning book, I'm a Winner and So Can You, available now

Is this the right place to say: "GIT GUD"?

Just now, MarekMandalore said:

Is this the right place to say: "GIT GUD"?

I think most people think there is no wrong place for it

7 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

Wait, "avoid loses"?

What the **** empire are YOU talking about?

Fly a TIE, prepare to die. Everyone's expendable!

Fly the TIE, never say die. Shield-less for thrills, swarming for kills.

Our brave elite fighter pilots (BRIANS) are highly trained and the backbone of the Empire. Any losses are sacrifices to the New Order, and definitely not expendable Heavy Laser Cannon fodder.

2 minutes ago, HammerGibbens said:

I think most people think there is no wrong place for it

Fair point. I wonder how many of those saying it are as far from doing it as I am....?

25 minutes ago, GLEXOR said:

How do I win with the empire? Pick scum instead!

Yeah, easy mode; or if you do love formation flying: fly Fairship 2!

21 minutes ago, ficklegreendice said:

Fly a TIE, prepare to die. Everyone's expendable!

Yeah, well, their Aces don't....really, didn't.

Actually, just relax, grab some pals and pints and play all original, all pre-errata/FAQs and don't allow anything post Wave 6. Those games are still pretty good for the Empire. If not? Win once in a while with them. ? The Empire are the thieves and bounty hunters living in the shadows; Scum are the well equipped rebellion; the Rebels now control the Galaxy.

Imperials of the Auturi Cluster would be nice. It could have a real TIE Fighter/Stele vibe. Or, you know, official campaigns or something.

RAC + ISTDS

Thats it.

Get used to the fact that there will be losses. Just make sure that you lose less ships than your opponent does. Don't squander ships.

I've only played a couple of practice games but Imperial wins most when:

I have a swarm of Tie fighters, just Academy Pilots, with the upgrade (can't remember the name - hey, I'm a newbie) that increases Agility to 4. In the game I give them the evade action and fly the swarm in a scattered formation. Each Tie moves as randomly as possible, even I don't always know what I'm doing, but always keep as many guns pointed at Rebels as possible.

Now I do still suffer casualties at times, but always the Rebels are wiped out.

High agility evasive scattered swarm with random movement. Enemy is so busy trying to figure out and counter your strategy they fail to recognize the obvious....

....there is no strategy.

7 hours ago, GrimmyV said:

Imperials of the Auturi Cluster would be nice. It could have a real TIE Fighter/Stele vibe. Or, you know, official campaigns or something.

Already exists, I believe. Search for "Defenders Of The Empire"!

Swarms are surprisingly good - and it's often surprising what you can fit in a squad when you strip away the luxuries. I was looking at a TIE fighter swarm recently with 6 academy pilots and realised (rather disturbingly) that I can fit in a TIE/x7 Defender with them! Still only PS1 - but having everyone in a swarm be the same PS isn't a bad thing - and that's one **** of an upgraded ride for your "squadron leader".

Like others have already pointed out, keeping all your TIEs alive is an almost impossible task, at least when you are facing decent or better players. You will have to accept losses, simple as that.

But that's not to say there aren't things you can do to try to minimize them.

One thing that has not been discussed yet is getting a favorable first engagement. I am not exaggerating when I say that a swarm lives and dies with the first engagement.

There is no real trick here, though. You have to be able to analyze the board to see where and when you want to engage. Deployment and obstacle setup are obviously the two main tools here, but I also want to make a point about patience. A lot of the mistakes I observe others make, and make myself, can be attributed to lack of patience. Most X-Wing players (and gamers in general) tend to just rush in, wanting to get the game going. Most often, this is NOT the correct play.

Edit:

Here is a match that really demonstrates the virtue of patience. There are no TIEs, but the Protectorate Starfighters are not that dissimilar.

Oh, and the commentators are kinda crap. A lot of the time they have no idea what is happening. Don't listen to them, just watch the game.

1 hour ago, MrAndersson said:

Oh, and the commentators are kinda crap. A lot of the time they have no idea what is happening. Don't listen to them, just watch the game.

I did wonder where the devs got the idea from that Advanced Slam is something they should be nerfing...

To TC's credit, they're targeting an audience that has barely seen X-Wing in action, and I'm sure one of them intentionally plays dumb to let Zack explain some of the game's concepts to their viewers.

1 hour ago, haslo said:

To TC's credit, they're targeting an audience that has barely seen X-Wing in action, and I'm sure one of them intentionally plays dumb to let Zack explain some of the game's concepts to their viewers.

I'm not talking about how they explain some of the effects in the game.

On several occasions, they are confused about what is happening, even though I could tell clearly by just watching the game. They especially seem to have trouble identifying which ship is attacking which, even in situations where Biggs ability triggers.

This is a necro thread people. Easy to spot since the OP is talking about Tie Fighters and X-wings.

25 minutes ago, Jo Jo said:

This is a necro thread people. Easy to spot since the OP is talking about Tie Fighters and X-wings.

Never stopped anybody from discussing things not related to the thread's subject or first posts That the thread is a necro can also easily be concluded from reading this post:

7 hours ago, Jo Jo said:

This is a necro thread people. Easy to spot since the OP is talking about Tie Fighters and X-wings.

Who would have thunk it that we would get teh GUNBOAT before THE X-wing fix. You do remember all those 'fix' threads, right? And how each time an astromech upgrade was announced it was speculated to be the fabled fix fir the flagship fighter of the game. I guess the X-wingers are Still waiting.