X-Wing: Easy flying

Let's Push the Limit!

Over the course of the last two weeks, I've flown a crap ton of games in X-Wing.  I started off getting the feel of the game with Tie Interceptors and found out just how vulnerable they are to turret ships.  As the games went on, I started flying Rebel ships and tried out a whole number of viable builds for them too.

Here's what I've tried so far:

Imperials:
Howl + Swarm, Mauler + Vet, Dark Curse, Backstabber, 2x BSP + DTF
A strong list with lots of moving parts.  There's a reason why this list is so strong and its because it has a lot of bodies, ways to disperse damage, and a lot of attack dice that re-rolls.  I'd say this is a pretty medium difficulty list to fly and you have to know how to fly in formation.

Fel + PTL + Stealth, Turr + Vet + Stealth, Vader + Conc Missiles + Engine
With a little more than 9 HP total in your entire force, losing one ship means you're cutting down the firing power of your squad immensely.  You're essentially flying around with paper airplanes armed with daggers, so there's no room for error here.  Runs into a pretty hard counter if someone brings plentiful shields and turrets.

Fel, 2x Saber, Howl, all PTL
A little beefier than the above list above, but not as elite.  Still pretty strong because you get the firepower from three Interecptors, and you can play off the benefits of Push the Limit and Interceptor movement.  Howl is actually the most expendable because most of the damage is coming from your elite Sabers.

Fel + PTL + Stealth, Howl, Mauler + Vet, Backstabber, Winged Gundark
The same thing here really.  You're looking for Fel to lead in a group of Ties that will do good damage if played correctly.  It's basically a mini-Tie Swarm list but you're fielding Fel for an extra flanker and damage dealer.

Kath + PTL + Gunner + Engine, 2x Sabers + PTL
Here's a list with the Slave-1 rocking PTL + Engines to close and do damage with Focus and Gunner.  Sabers with PTL for additional firepower.  Gives me a little beef over the standard Imperial chicken.

Rebels:
Wedge + R2 + PTL + Engine, Luke + DTF + R2D2, Biggs + Shield
The supreme team, three amigos, holy trinity or whatever else corny name for a team goes here.  Biggs soaks up the shots and adds his firepower when he can, Luke DTFs any crits off of Biggs and then heals it up with R2D2, and Wedge just does what he does best:  Kill everyone.  This is probably the hardest list to fly here because of all the synergetic components that actually requires you to be in range.

Wedge + R2 + PTL, Biggs, 2x Rookies
A pretty straight forward list with 4x Xs here.  Wedge brings the pain, Biggs dies honorably while soaking up damage for your 2x Rookies to do damage.  Very straight forward, just push models forward and shoot.

Wedge, 2x B-Wing + Sensors, Rookie
B-Wings are essentially better X-Wings with their Advanced Sensors.  I don't know about you guys, but I've seen these things do pretty ridiculous things, including Focus K-Turns or barrel roll craziness.  Why do they have 5 shields and 3 damage dice again?  Who knows, add Wedge and a Rookie for good taste.

Han + Marks + Gunner + Chewie, 2x Rookies
Super Han goes in there and does good damage while people freak out and ignore the 2x Rookies.  Big mistake here because the Rookies actually do good damage.

Han + Marks, Chewie + DTF + Gunner + Recon
I need a shower after playing this list.  I've only played it once and my opponent had some 2x Interceptor build with some Ties.  It was just bad times with him because of all the traffic jamming and me congo-lining through his army until there was nothing left.

Overview:
From what I've noticed in all of my games, I always feel that I have a much harder game with Imperials.  Even when piloting something like the Tie Swarm (which a lot of players see as played out and overly strong to begin with), I still have to be mindful of my movement at all times.  With the Elite Interceptor builds totaling 9 HP total, there's absolutely no room for error.  Even with you're playing your movements well, bad dice and poor evade rolls can still mean the end for your ships.

Slow and steady wins the race.

When I compare this with the Rebel ships, I feel like most of the time I can joust for days and just K-Turn as many times as I want.  Poor firing arcs are negated by having shields, the same with crit damage for the most part.  When one of my Interceptors get hit by a crit, they always get smacked with something like damage sensor array, damaged engine, or worst of all, direct hit.  The fact that B-Wings are packing 5 shields and put out as much damage as a an X-Wing is pretty ridiculous.  Target Locks are one of the best actions in the game to take when someone is out of your firing arc, giving you a drastic damage boost if one simple prediction goes wrong.  Lastly, the slower flying speed of the Rebel ships allow you to take advantage of your shooting phase a lot more.  Between the plentiful Target Locks, turrets and shields, combat seems to be a lot more intuitive than Imperial ships.

This is just my observation from two solid weeks of hardcore gaming.  I love the game to death and I feel there's still tons more to explore, but I can't help but think that Rebels are just easier to fly.  Good thing I chose Imperials.