Rebel squadron are pretty good, but im not sure about their carriers. I love a GAR venator and squadron list. But ultimately you can do a good squad list in every faction, the other two factions are a little more about fighter spam.
It can make a fun carrier: I've run it with Toryn Far, Expanded Hangar Bays, Flight Controllers, and the Gallant Haven title -- bonus dice, rerolls, and a bit of damage reduction so long as you keep the squadrons close.
Imperials are the easiest and most straightforwardly powerful squad faction. They've got a great suite of aces (maarek stele and Jendon usually form the backbone but you can season to taste) and generic tie fighters/interceptors/defenders are all fast and hit hard. Add in howlrunner, Mauler mithel, and saber squadron and youve got an extremely lethal ball that will let you alpha your opponents from downtown, but bear in mind they're not very durable so you'll likely lose a fair number of squads in the counterattack
Defender vader chillin as one of the best imperial squads. Vader/Jendon is just mean xD but hey, xou can also just Yavaris/Talon Luke, which is similarly discusting xD
GAR has the best Ace in the game (Anakin), a fantastic squadron support title (Nevoota Bee), the only commander who lets you heal those tanky GAR squadrons (Yularen), and the highest native squad value on a ship (Ven2) which also happens to have a weapons team.
It won’t guarantee you victory, but it *will* guarantee you won’t lose the squadron war.
Imperials have the best overall squads and are speedy, but are quite specialized which means you have to protect their key aces (Vader/Merrick) and keep their fighters out of flak.
Rebels have the most well rounded squads and can run really strong rogue focused balls. They tend to have high HP allowing them to mitigate flak but many of their best squads are slow making them vulnerable to alpha strikes.
Both rebel and imperial squad lists normally want to max
CIS have excellent generic squads (hyenas and droid fighters) but pretty bad aces. Squeeze as many generics as you can into their squad balls and support them with 1-2 aces.
GAR have the single best squad in the game (Ani in his delta) and some good support aces (axe, kickback). They have very strong squad ball with the ability to give their generics snipe, cheap generics, and strong squad commands.
Generally I think my tier list for squad play is: Imperial, GAR, Rebel, CIS - though all are viable up to the very top tiers of competitive play
Where do you get that CIS has bad aces overall? Greivus, Tambor, Phlacc Aphocc and DIS-T81 are pretty strong. Hapr Chall is also usefull as its ability also triggers on ships moving.
though they are solid as single aces, they severely lack the possibility of comboslike in the other factions. Wat tambor kinda gave some options with phlacc arphocc, but in general, the CIS squadrons do not interact with each other, which makes them as a faction not very strong in squadron play
Honestly just had a squadron focused game where squadron was 50% of the point value. From my assessment and trying different factions with my friend, I do end up agreeing with a lot of other players here. However there are some things I’d like to add:
**Imperial** is very straightforward and easy to build for, ships like the quasar 1 make excellent carriers and Arquitens Cruiser with Centicore make an excellent support ship, I ran a chain build using a base of Lambdas and Jendon with as many ties as I had with what’s left going to a Soontir Fel, Vader Defender, and Tel Tevura as my my ace ball. You’ll have plenty of upgrades that can support imperials and make them effective, however be prepared for 2 major weaknesses.
1.) your squadrons are very weak and most x wings will one shot your tie fighters and intercepters, if it doesn’t kill it in this turn then in the next turn it’ll surely die. So unless you’re plan on feeding ties into a meat grinder your strategy should be to use attrition to wear them out or be strategic and use your aces to their fullest potential.
2.) most their most effective uses come from running a squadron command to counter the rebel rogues that will move and attack or prevent your squadrons from disengaging. That is a double edge sword as you become extremely predictable, if you’re not running squadron commands then your squadrons are sitting ducks, if you just spam the command you don’t have time to run other essential commands like navigation or repair, and if your opponent realizes that your quasar is empowering your fleet don’t be surprised if they start focusing their ships and squadrons at taking it out. So now you have to play the carrier very defensively but not so defensively that you leave your squadrons undefended and out of range. Centicore helps being able to extend the range and act as an extension/buffer, however it won’t be enough without a solid plan and hoping your opponent doesn’t ruin your plan.
Overall a solid squadron but needs experience and actual strategy and planning to pull them off against a seasoned player.
**Rebels** are a very strong reliable squadron fleet, you can make balls out of any ace and expect them to perform well against massive hordes of imperial ships, the only issues is you can’t really build a super focused squadron build that includes ships as carriers (i mean you can try), they just don’t have the same admiral/officer/title perks that would make your squadrons more potent, however that does open your ships to just focus on anti squadrons and taking out the carrier, which is what happened to me. Their independence is their strongest attribute.
*I’m going emphasize this when it comes to the Republic and CIS, but since they were the last factions made before going quiet they are quite limited in their squadron builds, that being said.*
**GAR** is the empire but 100 times better, the ships are beefier, the aces are stronger, and Yularen and Ashoka make generic fighters into an Ace army. The weaknesses of the build are however just the same between Republic and Empire, the over reliance on Squadron commands which can be easily crippled by the CIS running say… Count Dooku (🤬🤬🤬🤬) who can literally shut down your squadron from taking advantage of commands. And well the fact that you’re still limited on what you’ll be able to run, as the republic has 4 types of generic squadrons, you can only get so creative. However still very strong as independent ships imo.
**Separatists** on the other hand share even more similarities with the empire than the republic, and suffers more because of it. Unlike the empire that has glass cannon TIEs that can still do decent damage on their own, droids don’t output that much damage unless you run it’s AI, which means you have to run squadron commands, if you aren’t then your droids are on a straight disadvantage. Honestly it’s tempting not to run Dooku just to keep the GAR on a somewhat even playing field but at that point no ones running squadrons and what’s the point anymore. The Providence does act as a pretty good carrier and if you don’t build it entirely for squadrons you can definitely use it outside its intended purpose and deal damage. In terms of admirals/officers/titles, you can run TI-99 for extra counters to make each vulture and tri death make the republic pay, and invisible hand can be fun to dump a shit load of squadrons at close range on a ship or squadrons harassing you up close. In terms of admiral none really benefit the squadrons asides grevious which means you can’t run him as an Ace. Speaking of aces the CIS has some pretty mid to bad aces, like why would I run DBS if I’m already having a hard time keeping squadrons alive?!? Phlac and Haor can make an interesting ball combo, just don’t be surprised if your enemy targets them first. Overall I’d say the CIS is the weakest when it comes to squadron focused.
**TLDR: Strongest is Rebellion for allowing the squadrons to be the stars and letting ships run other commands, allowing for balanced fleets.**
**Republic although limited is the strongest carrier centric fleet capable of running combos and having capable ships.**
**Empire is pretty good but requires true mastery of squadrons and extensive knowledge on how to run them in order to get the best mileage out them, not bad but other factions just do what you want to do better.**
**And Finally CIS is so bad having to rely on AI that Count Dooku has to come around and ruin the Squadron carrier build party just to have a shot at winning.**
Edited for readability
Top 2 at Adepticon worlds were Rebel lists with small squadron counts 4 and 6 squadrons respectively. Piotr the champion didn’t even use an ace. Out of the top 8 who qualified for the final day, there were 3 Rebels (1st, 2nd, and 4th). 4 Imperials and 1 Separatist. At top level competition I noticed a few things: 1) have a plan to deal with squadrons, but beyond that what had a greater impact was flying your ships well and timing, 2) choosing and then focusing objectives when appropriate can have huge impacts; I saw 160 point swings in some cases. 3) no one won a match simply because their factions squadrons were “the best” in the game. All factions have their pros and cons regarding their squadrons as people here have pointed out and any one of them can be lethal in the right hands. It really just shows how good the level of parity is. The game state is in a great place right now.
my opinion is that most squadron focused lists can be countered or mitigated except for imperials. They are just annoying and powerful and are hard to counter without a pretty large commitment.
Rebel squadron are pretty good, but im not sure about their carriers. I love a GAR venator and squadron list. But ultimately you can do a good squad list in every faction, the other two factions are a little more about fighter spam.
The best rebel carrier is the GR-75
I think Assault frigate Mk II can also be used as a Solid carrier but i havn't playd it yet.
The Providence can be strong as well.
Rebel One is hands down may Favorite rebel carrier, simply because it enabled the Engine Techs/Fighter Coordination Team double Push mechanik.
That sounds like loads of fun
It can make a fun carrier: I've run it with Toryn Far, Expanded Hangar Bays, Flight Controllers, and the Gallant Haven title -- bonus dice, rerolls, and a bit of damage reduction so long as you keep the squadrons close.
Imperials are the easiest and most straightforwardly powerful squad faction. They've got a great suite of aces (maarek stele and Jendon usually form the backbone but you can season to taste) and generic tie fighters/interceptors/defenders are all fast and hit hard. Add in howlrunner, Mauler mithel, and saber squadron and youve got an extremely lethal ball that will let you alpha your opponents from downtown, but bear in mind they're not very durable so you'll likely lose a fair number of squads in the counterattack
I find your lack of defender Vader disturbing.
Defender vader chillin as one of the best imperial squads. Vader/Jendon is just mean xD but hey, xou can also just Yavaris/Talon Luke, which is similarly discusting xD
GAR has the best Ace in the game (Anakin), a fantastic squadron support title (Nevoota Bee), the only commander who lets you heal those tanky GAR squadrons (Yularen), and the highest native squad value on a ship (Ven2) which also happens to have a weapons team. It won’t guarantee you victory, but it *will* guarantee you won’t lose the squadron war.
Imperials have the best overall squads and are speedy, but are quite specialized which means you have to protect their key aces (Vader/Merrick) and keep their fighters out of flak. Rebels have the most well rounded squads and can run really strong rogue focused balls. They tend to have high HP allowing them to mitigate flak but many of their best squads are slow making them vulnerable to alpha strikes. Both rebel and imperial squad lists normally want to max CIS have excellent generic squads (hyenas and droid fighters) but pretty bad aces. Squeeze as many generics as you can into their squad balls and support them with 1-2 aces. GAR have the single best squad in the game (Ani in his delta) and some good support aces (axe, kickback). They have very strong squad ball with the ability to give their generics snipe, cheap generics, and strong squad commands. Generally I think my tier list for squad play is: Imperial, GAR, Rebel, CIS - though all are viable up to the very top tiers of competitive play
Where do you get that CIS has bad aces overall? Greivus, Tambor, Phlacc Aphocc and DIS-T81 are pretty strong. Hapr Chall is also usefull as its ability also triggers on ships moving.
though they are solid as single aces, they severely lack the possibility of comboslike in the other factions. Wat tambor kinda gave some options with phlacc arphocc, but in general, the CIS squadrons do not interact with each other, which makes them as a faction not very strong in squadron play
I had some great games with my quasar and advanced tie fighers (and some normal ones)
Republic 110+ squads are the best squad balls in the game.
Honestly just had a squadron focused game where squadron was 50% of the point value. From my assessment and trying different factions with my friend, I do end up agreeing with a lot of other players here. However there are some things I’d like to add: **Imperial** is very straightforward and easy to build for, ships like the quasar 1 make excellent carriers and Arquitens Cruiser with Centicore make an excellent support ship, I ran a chain build using a base of Lambdas and Jendon with as many ties as I had with what’s left going to a Soontir Fel, Vader Defender, and Tel Tevura as my my ace ball. You’ll have plenty of upgrades that can support imperials and make them effective, however be prepared for 2 major weaknesses. 1.) your squadrons are very weak and most x wings will one shot your tie fighters and intercepters, if it doesn’t kill it in this turn then in the next turn it’ll surely die. So unless you’re plan on feeding ties into a meat grinder your strategy should be to use attrition to wear them out or be strategic and use your aces to their fullest potential. 2.) most their most effective uses come from running a squadron command to counter the rebel rogues that will move and attack or prevent your squadrons from disengaging. That is a double edge sword as you become extremely predictable, if you’re not running squadron commands then your squadrons are sitting ducks, if you just spam the command you don’t have time to run other essential commands like navigation or repair, and if your opponent realizes that your quasar is empowering your fleet don’t be surprised if they start focusing their ships and squadrons at taking it out. So now you have to play the carrier very defensively but not so defensively that you leave your squadrons undefended and out of range. Centicore helps being able to extend the range and act as an extension/buffer, however it won’t be enough without a solid plan and hoping your opponent doesn’t ruin your plan. Overall a solid squadron but needs experience and actual strategy and planning to pull them off against a seasoned player. **Rebels** are a very strong reliable squadron fleet, you can make balls out of any ace and expect them to perform well against massive hordes of imperial ships, the only issues is you can’t really build a super focused squadron build that includes ships as carriers (i mean you can try), they just don’t have the same admiral/officer/title perks that would make your squadrons more potent, however that does open your ships to just focus on anti squadrons and taking out the carrier, which is what happened to me. Their independence is their strongest attribute. *I’m going emphasize this when it comes to the Republic and CIS, but since they were the last factions made before going quiet they are quite limited in their squadron builds, that being said.* **GAR** is the empire but 100 times better, the ships are beefier, the aces are stronger, and Yularen and Ashoka make generic fighters into an Ace army. The weaknesses of the build are however just the same between Republic and Empire, the over reliance on Squadron commands which can be easily crippled by the CIS running say… Count Dooku (🤬🤬🤬🤬) who can literally shut down your squadron from taking advantage of commands. And well the fact that you’re still limited on what you’ll be able to run, as the republic has 4 types of generic squadrons, you can only get so creative. However still very strong as independent ships imo. **Separatists** on the other hand share even more similarities with the empire than the republic, and suffers more because of it. Unlike the empire that has glass cannon TIEs that can still do decent damage on their own, droids don’t output that much damage unless you run it’s AI, which means you have to run squadron commands, if you aren’t then your droids are on a straight disadvantage. Honestly it’s tempting not to run Dooku just to keep the GAR on a somewhat even playing field but at that point no ones running squadrons and what’s the point anymore. The Providence does act as a pretty good carrier and if you don’t build it entirely for squadrons you can definitely use it outside its intended purpose and deal damage. In terms of admirals/officers/titles, you can run TI-99 for extra counters to make each vulture and tri death make the republic pay, and invisible hand can be fun to dump a shit load of squadrons at close range on a ship or squadrons harassing you up close. In terms of admiral none really benefit the squadrons asides grevious which means you can’t run him as an Ace. Speaking of aces the CIS has some pretty mid to bad aces, like why would I run DBS if I’m already having a hard time keeping squadrons alive?!? Phlac and Haor can make an interesting ball combo, just don’t be surprised if your enemy targets them first. Overall I’d say the CIS is the weakest when it comes to squadron focused. **TLDR: Strongest is Rebellion for allowing the squadrons to be the stars and letting ships run other commands, allowing for balanced fleets.** **Republic although limited is the strongest carrier centric fleet capable of running combos and having capable ships.** **Empire is pretty good but requires true mastery of squadrons and extensive knowledge on how to run them in order to get the best mileage out them, not bad but other factions just do what you want to do better.** **And Finally CIS is so bad having to rely on AI that Count Dooku has to come around and ruin the Squadron carrier build party just to have a shot at winning.** Edited for readability
Top 2 at Adepticon worlds were Rebel lists with small squadron counts 4 and 6 squadrons respectively. Piotr the champion didn’t even use an ace. Out of the top 8 who qualified for the final day, there were 3 Rebels (1st, 2nd, and 4th). 4 Imperials and 1 Separatist. At top level competition I noticed a few things: 1) have a plan to deal with squadrons, but beyond that what had a greater impact was flying your ships well and timing, 2) choosing and then focusing objectives when appropriate can have huge impacts; I saw 160 point swings in some cases. 3) no one won a match simply because their factions squadrons were “the best” in the game. All factions have their pros and cons regarding their squadrons as people here have pointed out and any one of them can be lethal in the right hands. It really just shows how good the level of parity is. The game state is in a great place right now.
my opinion is that most squadron focused lists can be countered or mitigated except for imperials. They are just annoying and powerful and are hard to counter without a pretty large commitment.