Hi folks,

I've brought X-Wing a few months ago along with the X-Wing and Tie Fighter expansion - I was also hoping to get hold of the Tie Advanced, but alas no luck.

I'm keen on getting some games in with friends - but as the only owner of this game I need to make sure that the sides are balanced; and at a 1:1 ratio between Tie and X-Wing, it seems a little one-sided!

My question is, given what is currently available; what unit(s) could I add to the Imperials to even the balance between Rebels and Imperials?

From what I can see, the options available to me are:

Tie Interceptor

Tie Bomber

The big 3 winged ship that Darth Vader flew before the Imperial March song (Ok I need to reaquaint myself with the fluff)

The slave ship Bobba Fett used.

Or would none of these do the trick, meaning I need to wait for the Tie Advanced expansion to be re-released(?)

Many thanks!

So have you bought the Starter Set yet? That gives a basic balance as it's 2 Tie Fighters Vs. 1 X-wing. 2 Ties vs an X-wing with a couple upgrades is about equal.

What do you have all together?

The Tie Interceptor is a good ship, and while it can die just as quick, it's able to outmaneuver and trash X-wings with a good pilot. The Tie Bomber is good especially if you like ordinance. The Lambda (3-wing shuttle) should be your last purchase quite simply. The Firespray (Boba's) is an excellent large ship, lots of health, lots of firepower...it will definitely bring some potency to any imperial squad, but then you may be worried about the Rebels being on the weak side.

The Tie Advanced (to my dismay) is usually a subpar ship, and about on the level of the shuttle...though you will definitely want it for Lord Vader.

Hi I brought the starter set, 1 X Wing and 1 Tie - so 2 X Wing and 2 Tie in total. So it's something to give the Imperial's a boost to enable a balanced game against 2 X Wings

Well the term balanced is relative. Dice rolling and players with more experience playing this game tend to be a factor as well as just the ships themselves.

the 1:1 ratio you mentioned is not accurate in terms of ship to ship play as 2 Tie-Fighters is roughly equal to 1 X-Wing, again it depends on other factors too like the pilot cards have for example id back Wedge vs 3 Tie-Fighters any day of the week but vs a rookie x-wing id say two ties is pretty even (ignoring upgrades like stealth device/R2D2 and shield upgrades for now).

This is open to debate but id say fighters (small ships) with 2 attack dice rate slightly lower than 3 attacks dice ships (upgrades can help power up the weaker ship here though). So something like a Tie-Intercepter is pretty even with an X-Wing head to head (although the x-wing would still have the edge here imo). Put a name pilot like Turr or Soontir in that intercepter and give him stealth device and Push The Limit and the advantage swings back to the intercepter. So as i stated at the start Balance is relative and influenced by factors other than just what ships are played.

Taking a look at some of the wave 1-2 ships themselves id say

Y-Wings with Ion Cannon = 1.5 Tie Fighters

X-Wings = 2 Tie Fighters (or 1 tie-fighter and 1 lesser pilot intercepter or 1 upgraded name pilot like Turr/Soontir)

A-Wings = 1.5 Tie Fighters (A-Wings are like a tie-fighter with 2 shields)

Tie-Advanced are similar in power to X-Wings although the Advanced-Tie non-name pilots (pilot skill 2,4) are rather over costed imo and thats why they dont see much play whereas Vader with some upgrades is easily a match for any x-wing pilot, even Wedge)

Large ships are something different altogether but if u look purely at the points u are spending on them this will be a pretty good guide for power level - for example Han Solo is similar to having two X-Wings (rookie pilots + shield upgrade) in terms of power and durability in the game (sure the Falcon has more shields+hull than two X-Wings combined but its only got 1 agility die).

As for the new Wave3 ships the jury is still out on how good they are. To complicate power levels even more the synergy BETWEEN ships skews their power quite a bit so if u take something like the Tie-Bomber, on its own or even two bombers together are not nearly as powerful as Captain Jonus + 3 Scimitar Squadron Pilot upgraded to the eyeballs with missiles and mines.

Thanks, perhaps I wasn't clear - when I mentioned 1:1 ratio, I mean I currently have a 1:1 ratio of Rebel and expendable Imperial models (i.e. 2 X Wings & 2 Tie Fighters).

The issue I have is that I really have no gauge with the wave 3 ships on their points cost or effectiveness - is the Bomber or Tie Interceptor effective enough against X Wing fighters to balance the Imperial force against the Rebels?

I guess to keep things simple with comparisons to strike a balance, I'd like to compare the models assuming they are fielding rookie pilots.

Welcome to the game by the way

In that case, a Firespray would be a good match (along with the two ties) for 2 named X-wings. A Tie interceptor could also even up the odds quite a bit...though you would want a unique pilot for at least 1 ship. I'd suggest the Interceptor to start out with.

Just remember to try and keep the point costs even (or nearly so), and the rebels can get many more points usually because they can take droids and torps...while (at this point for you) the ties can't take anything but an elite pilot upgrade. So if the rebels take 60 points worth of ships, make sure the imps are within 5 points of that (or so)

The Bomber can be game changing if you get ordinance off once or twice (effectively), and then it's just a big tie fighter, so it could also be balancing, but it's hard to judge seeing how new they are.

Hi I brought the starter set, 1 X Wing and 1 Tie - so 2 X Wing and 2 Tie in total. So it's something to give the Imperial's a boost to enable a balanced game against 2 X Wings

If you bought the starter set, and 1 of each expansion, then you should have 2 X-Wings and 3 TIE Fighters.

2 X-wings should win more than they lose against 3 TIE Fighters

Hi I brought the starter set, 1 X Wing and 1 Tie - so 2 X Wing and 2 Tie in total. So it's something to give the Imperial's a boost to enable a balanced game against 2 X Wings

just read this latest post.

to even things up you def want more tie-fighters. id recommend getting another starter set and one tie-fighter expansion (this will give you 5 ties vs 3 x-wings as well as the best tie-fighter name pilots like howlrunner who come in the tie-expansion). from there id either go one tie-advanced (u get vader) or two tie intercepters depending on what ur preference is).

People will likely jump in and say YOU MUST get this or that but its honestly up to your individual preference. Big ships are not to everyones tastes. I own 2 slave1 and 2 falcons but i rarely fly them preferring the smaller ships for my squads. Nice to have them to play against and giving a new player the falcon is an easy way to give them something competitive thats easy to fly right away whereas the smaller ships take more skill imo.

its worth putting in the time mastering playing with the basic ships first. By basic i mean tie-fighetrs and x-wings. these are the backbone of most squads. jumping in and getting too many different ships too early will only confuse new players with too many options imo. new isnt necessary better. This years gencon finals was played between two tie swarms (both used 7 tie-fighters) and one of the semi finalists was playing 3 X-Wings. The other semi-finalist was playing two bounty hunters and howlrunner.

As previously mentioned if you got the starter and one of the X-Wing and TIE-Fighter expansions you should have 2 X's and 3 TIE-Fighters. If you have a 1:1 ratio of them (ie 2:2) then something seems to be wrong. There is also the strength aspect of the ships and it should be clear that an X-Wing is a lot tougher than a TIE-Fighter.

Now the TIE-Advanced and Firespray (Slave I) are really the most "rebel like" ships the Empire has although the Advanced lacks the firepower (while keeping the evasiveness) and the Firespray is a large ship. If you're trying to play the Empire like you'd play rebels I think you'll need a Firespray.

So sorry, you guys are absolutely right - I had completely missed the plot! I had the game and the X-Wing expansion, which was why the numbers were 2 X Wings and 2 Tie fighters - not 3 Ties like I first insinuated!

So I've made a couple of purchases and now have the following:

2 X Wing

3 Tie Fighter

1 Tie Interceptor

So from the games I've been playing, it now seems like the Imperials have an edge on points - for 2 high end X Wing Characters, I tend to be able to get 1 High end Interceptor and 2 base Ties. I'd like a craft different to the X Wing to balance off the sides and also add a bit of flavour - so I guess my choice is between a Y Wing and A Wing?

Points wise, are they priced similarly to an X Wing, or do they differ? i.e. is an A Wing closer in cost to a Tie Fighter? Is a base Y Wing more expensive than a base X Wing?

A wing costs from 17-26 points -> (Max at about 34 points with upgrades and best pilot (from the a-wing pack)
Y-wing costs from 18-25points -> (Max at about 41 points with upgrades and best pilot (from the y-wing pack)

A-wings are highly maneuverable, can have elite talents, carry missiles and have low health

Y-wings are not so maneuverable, carry proton torpedoes, ion cannon, r2 unit and have high health.

Think of the difference as A-wing = motorcycle, Y-wing = Tank. (X-wing = Sedan)

Since you have an interceptor - the A-wing is like an interceptor with missiles and shields.

You might try a squad building site to take a look at points.

http://x-wing.voidstate.com/build

Please tell me where you are planning on getting the Y-Wings... I CAN'T FIND THE ANYWHERE!

The next one you should get can play to your preference...do you like zipping in and out, dodging shots, doing bits of damage here and there? Or do you like to just fly through a war zone taking hits, shooting at whatever is close, dealing out punishment? A-wing for the first, Y-wing for the second. Y-wings tend to have a bit more synergy with x-wings, so if you can find them, they're great...but a-wings are more lone wolves...they can work quite effectively on their own (with practice)