State of the Meta: You need at least one of every ship to build competitive builds. Meta is a giant pendulum where new ships are always creating better combinations than old ships alone, so if you're not a Vassal playing, life-commitment X-Wing player, don't show up at your local FLGS because everyone else there is just a tournament practicing NPE-giving ace with a single-minded desire to find out the most broken combination of ships and cards that can ignore standard game mechanics.

Nerf Zuckuss!

Too many new ships too fast (which happened for me between wave 6 and 8, so I quit playing). Rules eating rules eating rules. Followed by a re-release that tries to fix everything without re-releasing any cards, followed by a slow abandonment of casual players, leaving the game resembling a game with primarily card mechanics, and a little movement and dice thrown in to make it look less ike Magic the Gathering than it really is.

Games Workshop rebooted Warhammer. Age of Sigmar was announced and one "fan" burnt his collection. Yet Games Workshop gets less hate from its fans than Star Wars. That ain't right! This is a lie. No one hates the game they play like Warhammer players (40K or WHFB). Nobody. I stopped buying stuff for X-Wing when I saw the tractor beam rules. Now they release a wave that has fixes for ships released earlier. Then they announce a wave to fix the ships and/or cards that they just released. FFG is undermining this game just fine by themselves.

The standard, 100-point competitive game is dead (to me). The balancing is beyond laughable, as can be seen in the number of viable lists. There was a time in this game when, if someone asked "What should I buy next?" the answer was "anything, they are all good ships." No longer is this true, and never again will it be true. You now need to buy everything, from Jumpmasters (because they're awesome and come with Boba Fett, who is needed to defeat the ubiquitous "Emperor Palpatine" builds). You need to buy the Raider so you can get Emperor Palpatine, since he's the only list outside Crack-Swarm that can be fielded in an Empire 100 list (meanwhile you buy 3 TIE/x1 titles & Adv. Targ Computers that you will NEVER field). You need to buy a K-Wing for TLTs. You need to buy M3-A interceptors for mangler cannons, even though the ship is one of the weakest. Basically there are about 10 competitive lists at any given time nowadays. Sure, you can field 'different' lists, but the odds are you're still piling one or two "standard loadout" ships, like a stress-hog, or a Soontir Fel, or a TLT-Scum Y-Wing, etc. I get that there is a cadre of loyal, competitive players who think I'm an idiot whiner. But I actively discourage people from playing this game now, and I don't even play on Vassal (which is where you can truly see how poor the 'variety' of competitive builds is). The ONLY thing that can save this game now is composition rules, such as limiting the amount of certain things that can be taken, or requiring ship X to be taken before ship Y can be taken. Similar to how 40K has Heavy/Fast Attack/Troop. Playing against the same 10 lists is dumb, and when I go... back when I went to open X-Wing events, ALL that showed up were competitive builds. There's no fun in that for me. And so I quit buying, and encourage others to do so as well. If you absolutely NEED your X-Wing fix, play on Vassal for free, and remind yourself why this game is no longer fun without the regret of having bought ships. At least I never got hooked into Armada, because that's going to end up in the same place.

Are there places where you can find community created scenarios for the huge ships? Campaigns?

There is no harm in having miniatures on a shelf (or in a box in the basement, whatever). If you're a gamer, you should keep your toys. You never know when you'll want them again. I have a thousand dollars of Games Workshop miniatures which I've never built lying in a basement unopened. I don't even play GW games anymore. But last year, I traded (traded!) all of my GW 40K tanks at current face value for X-Wing stuff. That's how I originally got into X-Wing - just a straight trade. You aren't going to get near the money you hope you will, so it's probably not worth the trouble to sell them. You can always sell them and get some "bonus" cash back. But if you sell them and you want them back for any reason, you're out of luck unless you decide to buy again.

The FAQ for Vessery explains he may immediately use that TL on the dice he just rolled.

Stupidest card ever released, completely obviates maneuver and sends the game even further toward 360-degree weapons. Will make new players stop playing because how can you learn to fly when you never get to shoot, and are constantly bricked, taking damage, losing actions, rinse repeat. More proof that the game is eating itself with game-breaking mechanics and confusing rules on new objects.

For god's sake - From out of left field came Keyan Farlander's ability to remove a stress token even if he doesn't roll a focus result, via FAQ. Nothing made sense about the HLC being able to critical hit on re-roll because via FAQ, FFG decided that a re-roll isn't a 'roll.' Those who think that the TB forces a damage roll on obstacles do not understand how to read, do not understand the basic sequence of play functions, and are clearly choosing to ignore the distinction between the movement phase and the combat phase. You only check for damage during the activation phase - it's as clear as day. Maybe there will be a FAQ that comes out of left field and says that you have to roll for damage during the combat phase when it involves the Tractor Beam. But if a 1-point, range-three, 3-attack weapon card that can brick me, force me to miss a shot, move me out of arc, and lower my agility also forces me to roll for damage immediately, then X-Wing is over. Tractor beam is already one of the best functioning weapons in the game, to the point of being better than a TLT in many ways. It completely breaks from the Star Wars mythology, it's the worst example of 'physics' in the game (and star wars universe in general), it will permanently drive inexperienced players from the game by making it possible to 'learn to fly', and it will further drive the game to more 360-degree weapons. This game is eating itself and its players via constantly over-powered, too-cheap BS that is clearly not play-tested thoroughly. Oh, and exceptions that don't make sense and prove the fact that play-testing is going to hell.

Well I've got to find a way to use my ships. I bought the raider only to learn that running four TIE Advanced was stupid... And the TIE Advanced was/is my 'favorite ship' for whatever that's worth. I'm looking for ways to try out Epic, and I already know a little about missions. The problem has been finding players who will break away from the 100 point 'normal,' and finally forcing myself out of it as a requirement for continued play myself, and I've only reached that point now. But Epic does have promise to me (and 'non-standard' points matchups). I'm also interested in a 'composition requirement' the way someone talked about. One of the things that balanced out lists and play-style differences in lists was the requirement for a composition of forces (40K had Troop, Heavy, Elite, etc.), and then you would show up at an event and not know what terrain you would face and what the scenario mission would be. I can understand why that can't happen in 100 point games (and why others may not want it) but I always enjoyed it as a balancing factor (especially the unknown scenario/terrain table stuff). Anyway, if anyone wants to do Vassal Epic, I would be interested in learning. Just send me a message and we can find a time to meet up. I'm also a pretty good Vassal teacher, if you've never used it before. I'm off on Easter Sunday... but I work in a restaurant so I work quite a varied schedule week to week.

Is this tuesday Vassal epic night on the normal vassal X-wing server? I would be interested in playing that.

My fear is that 150-points of small ships can do anything 150 points of huge ship can do, but the small ships can do it better. I have played the Gozanti campaign, which is not quite epic in scale (110 points and 150 points for the various missions), but it's a blast to have the Gozanti out there, and the requirements to squad building are a great regulator of that campaign. I would really like to do more Epic, and including the Huge ships, but for that fear of imbalance. I've heard of house rules; I've heard that Huge ships are balanced best against the small-ship problem by requiring both sides to take a Huge ship (that kind of makes sense). Any opinions on the balance aspect of Epic?

The game isn't fun anymore because of the competitive player focus on the meta. The competitive players are drowning out the players who thought X-Wing would be a game to throw some 'interesting combinations of ships'' together. In the time I have been playing (I started when Rebel Aces was released), the meta really has changed the game to the point where competitive play lists totally dominate casual play lists. Sure, well and good - thus the different adjectives: 'casual' versus 'competitive'. So the first part of the game becoming un-fun really has to do with the people who play it. Competitive X-Wing play reminds me of the worst of Magic The Gathering, and I'll leave it at that. The game has also lost a ton of fun because of the power creep and what appears to me to be a clear lack of concern for the consequences of new releases. TLT/K-Wing drove me out of the game. I saw so many versions of TLT lists that it became nauseating. The way TLT could work with the Tactician card (no limit stress) and the Stress Hawg led me to the conclusion that balancing older stuff against newer stuff was low priority. I look at the difference between Flechette torpedoes/Flechette cannon and TLT/Tactician/Stresshog and I do perceive that as an indisputable sign of power creep. When I played against my first Tractor Beam (on Vasssal, prior to official release), I knew I had to quit. A one-point, range-3 cannon that can brick you/move you out of your firing arc was more than I can stand. Now I see that the Jumpmaster contracted scout is so amazingly versatile that it is again clear to me that balance between new and old source material is getting further out of whack. There are far too many 360-degree shooters now. No upper-limit on stress effects makes them over-powered against a lot of ships, plain and simple, which means those ships are poor choices in the meta. I don't think the tractor beam makes any sense at all in balance or capability. I don't think the game can attract new members because there are so many poor ships for competitive play. I don't think it can attract new members because of the cost in this ever-evolving pay-to-win design tradition and release schedule. I don't think the game is fun anymore. I don't recommend it to new players. It is a game of the haves and the have-nots.

I personally fail to see how a 25-point ship with unparalleled versatility can be considered balanced against, say, the 30-50 points of TIE/fo fighter you get in the Force Awakens boxed set. I'm not trying to rant; I have a different viewpoint than most. I cant recommend this game to kids (17 and under). It's not casual-friendly anymore. Too many cutthroat players, too many 'uselessly non- competitive" ships and combinations of ships. Too many mechanic-bending exceptions too quickly released. If I know a kid with little disposable income, or worse, his/her working-class parents, I have to tell them that this game is very hard to learn, and a lot of ships just aren't worth buying, so you have to know before you buy. In my view, the game has jumped the shark, in that a new-comer has a very, very steep hurdle of knowledge and cost to overcome before he or she will be able to compete with existing competitive players. And in open gaming, my experience has been that everyone is competitive.

This chicken little points to the tractor beam as impending doom for the game.

If we're talking about this squad: 2x Proton Torpedoes + Extra Munitions + R4 1x Plasma Torpedo + OCR4 ... then there are a couple of pertinent points. You can't stop any of the Jump Masters from firing their Torpedoes in the first round, unless you manage to dodge their arcs, kill them outright, or prevent the focus from being spent. A stress control list will not be able to do any of these. The OCR4 doesn't care if it gets stressed, because its Plasma Torpedo will already be spent anyway. Even if it has 5x stress, just ram it down your opponent's throat and block with it, it just became your control piece. So a stress list needs to aim to get multiple stress onto the two Jump Masters that have one more Proton Torpedo left in the tube. Combat will go down something like this: PS4 pieces put some stress onto the 2 Proton U-boats. U-boats kill Biggs in one round. With a little luck Biggs dies after the 2nd shot, and one of the support ships eats a Proton Torp. Proton Torp U-Boats rush in with 2 FWD greens, while the OCR4 boat rams itself down their throats with a 3 or 4 FWD to really gum up the works, because it doesn't care about shedding stress. The goal is to get the stress ships at R1 so their TLT is useless. Stress ships try and focus fire down one of the Proton U-boats. U-Boats try and focus fire down one of the remaining stress ships. It's off to the races to see who does more damage first. The U-Boats may not even need to get off a 4th torpedo, but if they do it's probably game over. l. I realize that the stresshog cannot prevent an overclocked from firing, but it can stress two of them which leaves the overclocked the choice of firing without using the droid or double stressing, in which case it should give your list a firepower advantage for a couple of rounds. If you are using rock placement effectively and using a good approach, you shouldn't take all three torpedoes R1 unless you are just jousting, which only higher PS ordnance lists will be able to do. It's a situation that needs to play out on the table. I'm not looking forward to CS and am not thrilled about their point cost or the myriad of options they have, but I do have some ideas on how to tackle them. Between them and TLTs, I think we're going to see lists that aren't really all that fun for newer, inexperienced players. That last sentence! It says everything I believe about the future of X-Wing. Don't forget tractor beam which will take the struggling newbie and throw him onto rocks and/or out-of-firing arc/bricked for no shot. I saw a lot of teens, parents in tow, buy the Force Awakens starter set, show up on game night during the SC practice period, and never come back... This game is becoming like Magic: The Gathering: lots of super-pros who view new players as "meat." Lots of cards that new players cannot begin to wrap their minds around strategically (not to mention the requirement for the current meta's ships), resulting in a community that goes beyond competitive to cuththroat and immediately alienates new players. New kid shows up with his new Decimator wanting to try it out. Pro player waits till after the new kid has his list out on the table, then makes his list, pulling out 3 K-Wings with Tactician and TLT. "Why would you bring that list against a new guy" I asked him. "He has a decimator - I saw a decimator and I'm bringing TLTs."

Wait till you see how Tractor Beam affects the game. This is no longer a game I recommend to people. Using a weapon with a firing arc (unless you get a shenanigan allowing you to fire twice) is pointless. Tractor beam will make flying pointless.

The competitive X-Wing community is a pretty lousy community. Get used to it.

Once you accept 'physics' of the Star Wars universe, you can't really question anything else. it is space opera.

Electricity... for Vassal... I have no intention of paying for the TLT-Tractor-beam era. Saving on gas to go to FLGS and get pwned yet again by ships that don't actually have to maneuver or have actions. Vassal.

Not only do you need to nerf TLT, you also need to nerf the "no upper limit" stress on Tactician and the R5 stress mech. Wait till tractor beams land. Why have movement dials at all when 80 percent of all lists use turrets (mostly TLTs) and 25 percent of them can stress you without upper limit, and then tractor beams can plop you right down on an asteroid so you get no shot this turn, and next turn you have to roll for damage and lose your action. If this is the game you're happy with, I'm glad I only play on Vassal...

See signature.

I'm excited for the way people will be outraged by the tractor beam OPness and how overwhelmingly powerful Mindlink will make S&V lists.

Learn to play on Vassal. Completely free, more games available, and you can just exit a room if someone brings a broken list that you don't want to play. Stop buying overpriced plastic, and use the free binary version. Plus you'll get a lot better a lot faster on Vassal.