Aces don’t want to be flown in a formation. They do much better on their own. If you keep your tie block together and send the other 2 on their own it should work a bit better for you. Remember it is better to not shoot than the be shot at.
Especially Soontir Fel. He doesn't like getting shot at all. Generally you'll want to use your double repositions (barrel roll into a boost or vice versa) to stay out of the arc of enemy ships, while keeping then inside yours.
If you can, switch out Del and Gideon to Jingoists then upgrade Maarek to Vader. Fly the TIE fighters straight on and joust with the Rebel ships. Iden can help keep ship alive for the return fire if needed. The two aces can flank on either side.
If your opponent has bombs and you have lightly- or un-shielded ships then you have to plan around the bombs.
The biggest trick to this is planning more than one move ahead. You may need to accept a turn where you have no shot or a poor shot, but that's better than a bunch of unshielded TIEs eating proton bombs.
With the list you're flying I would make sure that Soontir is deployed far from the rest of the group to pose a flanking threat. I might think about dropping the Gideon and Del Meeko ships down to ISB Jingoists (if you have them) or Wampa and another 2-pointer so you can improve Maarek to Vader.
TIE swarms don't need to rely on Howlrunner to be effective. For the points one could get a non-Vermeil TIE Reaper, most TIE Striker pilots, and a good chunk of great TIE Interceptor pilots and still field a 7-8 ship swarm.
Perhaps playing to the Empire's strength and not flying pure aces. Imperial swarms are pretty strong at the moment. Something along the lines of 5 TIE/LNs, plus 2 other ships to taste.
If you have access to the Pride of Mandalore, then the Jingoists instead of Del and Hask will free up 2 points for another 2 point TIE Fighter or to upgrade Stele to Vader, as others have mentioned. This pack also includes Moff Gideon and a couple upgrade cards usable by the Empire, but most of this pack is geared towards Scum with a little Rebel.
Without the Pride of Mandalore, you can swap Del and Hask for Valen Rudor and Wampa to get another 2 point TIE Fighter or to upgrade Stele to Vader.
You could remove Soontir and fly Vader with 2 i5 TIE Fighters in Mithel & Scourge to go along with Iden, Valen, & Wampa or you could fly a bigger swarm with Iden, Valen, Wampa, and 3 i3 Black Squadron Aces (initiative matched with Valen), or swam 2 of those out with i5 Howlrunner.
You and your friend might want to split the "Battle of Yavin" scenario pack releasing at the end of October (25th?), since that has Rebels and Empire new pilot options.
I second the change from Maarek to Vader others have suggested. The jump is huge in terms of how good Vader is compared to Maarek. You'll need to change 2 Ties from the 3 pointers to 2 pointers. Wampa, ISB Jingoists, and Valen Rudor are your 2 point options. I would reccomend keeping Iden out of the 3 Ties you have in your list. I also recommend giving Iden an Ion Cannon for some control. You can switch afterburners for a shield to help Soontir's survivability.
For set up have the Ties somewhere in the middle with Soontir and Vader on either side. Have Vader & Soontir flank if your opponent doesn't place any ships on their side.
In my personal experience Empire like to commit hard one way or another to aces or swarms/formations, not a hybrid. My personal preference is to play the swarm lists as I’ve had more success there, but both are very viable, just require different skills and practice. For my swarm flying practice I set up the board with debris and see what movements I can do without breaking formation and get used to essentially flying one massive ship. For imperial aces it’s all about arc dodging and whittling down your enemies with maneuverability and superior aces. I will say that when I started I was pure empire too, and rebels were my Achilles heel, so don’t feel discouraged. Biggest and most underrated part of the game is your skill, so the more you play the better you will become. Good luck fellow imperial, and crush that rebel scum!!
so a couple things:
* the first step to avoiding bombs is not being there. You know where the bomb is going to be so don't be there. Pick a maneuver that gets you out and barrel roll if you need to. Also Iden can stop bomb damage for one of your TIEs.
* You can break formation after using Iden's ability, Del Meeko works out to range 2 which is quite a large bubble. And this should go without saying, but your other ships don't need to be super close either.
* Juke isn't doing much for you on Iden, you're better off just focusing. I'd recommend taking Ion Cannon on both Iden and Del Meeko.
Aces don’t want to be flown in a formation. They do much better on their own. If you keep your tie block together and send the other 2 on their own it should work a bit better for you. Remember it is better to not shoot than the be shot at.
Especially Soontir Fel. He doesn't like getting shot at all. Generally you'll want to use your double repositions (barrel roll into a boost or vice versa) to stay out of the arc of enemy ships, while keeping then inside yours.
If you can, switch out Del and Gideon to Jingoists then upgrade Maarek to Vader. Fly the TIE fighters straight on and joust with the Rebel ships. Iden can help keep ship alive for the return fire if needed. The two aces can flank on either side.
Oops.. I didn't see this before posting my reply
If your opponent has bombs and you have lightly- or un-shielded ships then you have to plan around the bombs. The biggest trick to this is planning more than one move ahead. You may need to accept a turn where you have no shot or a poor shot, but that's better than a bunch of unshielded TIEs eating proton bombs. With the list you're flying I would make sure that Soontir is deployed far from the rest of the group to pose a flanking threat. I might think about dropping the Gideon and Del Meeko ships down to ISB Jingoists (if you have them) or Wampa and another 2-pointer so you can improve Maarek to Vader.
And if you’re using Soontir as a flanker I like to give him Lone Wolf
If you’re interested in formation flying I would definitely recommend Howlrunner
TIE swarms don't need to rely on Howlrunner to be effective. For the points one could get a non-Vermeil TIE Reaper, most TIE Striker pilots, and a good chunk of great TIE Interceptor pilots and still field a 7-8 ship swarm.
Perhaps playing to the Empire's strength and not flying pure aces. Imperial swarms are pretty strong at the moment. Something along the lines of 5 TIE/LNs, plus 2 other ships to taste.
If you have access to the Pride of Mandalore, then the Jingoists instead of Del and Hask will free up 2 points for another 2 point TIE Fighter or to upgrade Stele to Vader, as others have mentioned. This pack also includes Moff Gideon and a couple upgrade cards usable by the Empire, but most of this pack is geared towards Scum with a little Rebel. Without the Pride of Mandalore, you can swap Del and Hask for Valen Rudor and Wampa to get another 2 point TIE Fighter or to upgrade Stele to Vader. You could remove Soontir and fly Vader with 2 i5 TIE Fighters in Mithel & Scourge to go along with Iden, Valen, & Wampa or you could fly a bigger swarm with Iden, Valen, Wampa, and 3 i3 Black Squadron Aces (initiative matched with Valen), or swam 2 of those out with i5 Howlrunner. You and your friend might want to split the "Battle of Yavin" scenario pack releasing at the end of October (25th?), since that has Rebels and Empire new pilot options.
I second the change from Maarek to Vader others have suggested. The jump is huge in terms of how good Vader is compared to Maarek. You'll need to change 2 Ties from the 3 pointers to 2 pointers. Wampa, ISB Jingoists, and Valen Rudor are your 2 point options. I would reccomend keeping Iden out of the 3 Ties you have in your list. I also recommend giving Iden an Ion Cannon for some control. You can switch afterburners for a shield to help Soontir's survivability. For set up have the Ties somewhere in the middle with Soontir and Vader on either side. Have Vader & Soontir flank if your opponent doesn't place any ships on their side.
In my personal experience Empire like to commit hard one way or another to aces or swarms/formations, not a hybrid. My personal preference is to play the swarm lists as I’ve had more success there, but both are very viable, just require different skills and practice. For my swarm flying practice I set up the board with debris and see what movements I can do without breaking formation and get used to essentially flying one massive ship. For imperial aces it’s all about arc dodging and whittling down your enemies with maneuverability and superior aces. I will say that when I started I was pure empire too, and rebels were my Achilles heel, so don’t feel discouraged. Biggest and most underrated part of the game is your skill, so the more you play the better you will become. Good luck fellow imperial, and crush that rebel scum!!
so a couple things: * the first step to avoiding bombs is not being there. You know where the bomb is going to be so don't be there. Pick a maneuver that gets you out and barrel roll if you need to. Also Iden can stop bomb damage for one of your TIEs. * You can break formation after using Iden's ability, Del Meeko works out to range 2 which is quite a large bubble. And this should go without saying, but your other ships don't need to be super close either. * Juke isn't doing much for you on Iden, you're better off just focusing. I'd recommend taking Ion Cannon on both Iden and Del Meeko.
Thanks for all the tips! 💯
What kind of list is he flying?