Thread:Wazat/@comment-2001:410:A014:667:9486:45FC:D27:F479-20171104205202/@comment-454133-20171105010947

I'm happy to help.

So there are two things to collect for tournaments: ships and cards. FFG's devious and very effective business strategy is to distribute cards you need across as many expansions as possible, so you have to buy them all. You may even have to buy ships from factions you don't play, or buy ships you don't particularly like to fly (e.g. the Lambda shuttle or U-Wing, which aren't super-popular on the table right now). If you're able to afford them all (and you pace yourself, which is important), then eventually this isn't so bothersome. But it's big trouble for new players, or for players on a tight budget.

My recommendation is that you work with some fellow players and borrow cards from each other during games, so that you're not each spending a fortune chasing after all the exotic ships that hold cards you need. Also, game stores I've been to had great communities and players were happy letting people borrow their cards, as long as you remember to give them back, of course. ;)  This could save you a fortune.

Large ships:

Empire's large ships are not particularly top meta -- it's more about the small ships for them. They're good at soaking squad points and damage, and some of them can be used very well. You may also choose to pick one up for the upgrade cards, though I prefer to borrow in those cases. I like to buy ships to fly them, personally.

For Empire, my favorite firespray pilot is Boba Fett thanks to his cool ability. He does well with an HLC, maybe VI and little else (so he's not a points pinata -- expensive and easy to burst open, to your opponent's delight). The Firespray isn't bad for Scum either, as Kath offers a fantastic pilot ability. I have a very fun fleet with Kath with Swarm Leader + Engine Upgrade and some Light Scyks feeding her evades, and she waddles around nuking things with her butt. The firespray can be tricky to fly, and it's not top-meta, but it's reasonable and it serves both Scum and Empire. That may make it a valuable purchase for you, since both factions appear to interest you.

The Lambda is a very difficult ship to fly, and almost the only time you'll see it is to carry Palpatine around (a "Palpmobile"). Palpatine is locked away in an absurdly expensive huge ship expansion, and he's been kicked in the face by a recent nerf, so son't worry about him. It can do okay shuttling Systems Officer and Fleet Officer around, but the TIE Shuttle does it better IMO simply thanks to greater maneuverability. If you do buy a Lambda (preferably used so it's very cheap), it'll mainly be for the cards that come with it. Rebel Captive is fantastic, and the other crew have neat uses too.

The Decimator has made a surprising comeback in my local meta, particularly RAC as a Kylo Ren (Crew) carrier (plus Engine Upgrade). Beating ships like Nym meant being able to take a lot of damage, and in this case, being able to shut a ship down before it could attack (using ), which Kylo + RAC did extremely well. With Nym, Bombs, and even Jumpmasters now nerfed and no longer absurdly OP, that may no longer be the case and maybe this ship will slip out of the meta again, even in my local area. However, the Decimator does a good job at soaking damage and filling the points in your fleet, and if equipped well, can be a good use of points. Its turret and good dial make it very easy to fly, and it has a good selection of pilot abilities. It also comes with some decent upgrade cards. Even when it wasn't high in the meta, it was one of my favorite large ships to fly, and one of my early purchases when I was first getting started.

Like the Lambda, the Upsilon is hard to pilot because of its dial, but much less so (its dial is better). It also packs a lot more punch and IMO is more worth fielding despite its higher squad point cost. It also has useful upgrade cards, particularly Kylo crew.

My blind guess on what may serve you well: I'd recommend either the Firespray or Decimator if you want a large ship.

Small Ships:

Imperial Veterans is a very good purchase. This will give you two small ships with good abilities, good pilots, and good upgrades. Instead of putting a lot of points in one large ship, put them into two very effective small ships. In particular, "Deathfire" is very affordable (17 points before upgrades), is decent for deploying a missile or torp, and has a great bombs ability. All the TIE Defenders are fantastic with the titles, and Tractor Beam is very useful for them. So many great abilities...

Special Forces TIE is a mean ship, and another very good buy. It has great mechanics with its title and rear arc, good dial and pilot abilities, overall great choices. It's fun to fly, and really effective.

TIE Adv. Prototype is another good small ship. It's quite slippery and effective, and it does well with a missile like Prockets or Cruise Missiles but doesn't need them. Ideally you give it PTL but it doesn't necessarily need that either.

Finally, the TIE Striker is a fun ship with some good upgrades. It's cheap so it makes a good filler ship to hit 100 points, and its title can be very useful. I like "Pure Sabacc" the most because opponents are afraid of him and want to attack him first, which takes some pressure off the rest of your team for a while. Or if they ignore him, he can do massive damage.

Scum:

I like their Firespray, Aggressor and Lancer the most for large ships. The Firespray will require the Empire expansion and the Most Wanted scum expansion for the pilot cards, so that's two purchases to get it working, but both come with good cards to have, and MW comes with a Y-Wing which isn't a bad deal at all (Y-Wings are very relevant in today's meta).

The Aggressor is a fun and interesting ship even if you only buy one (its abilities work better if you field two, but you really don't need to do that). It's not super-relevant in the meta right now, but I like it a lot and I see it from time to time.

The Lancer though? I see it often. Asajj Ventress   in particular is capable and terrifying. I expect her to make another stellar comeback now that stress is rising in importance again (though it's difficult to gauge where the meta will shake out next, with the recent wave of nerfs, and the new wave of ships coming). The Lancer is a great ship with a lot of useful abilities, ranging from its mobile firing arc, to its great dial, its pilot abilities (especially Asajj), and its respectable HP. It's another ship that loves Engine Upgrade (actually a lot of large ships want that upgrade).

The YV-666 is interesting, and comes with great cards. It hasn't been very relevant in the meta for a while though, and it's a strange ship to fly. You might consider trying it, but I don't know that today's meta is friendly to it right now.

Jury's still out on the Jumpmaster. It was so, so, so powerful, but it finally got a really thorough nerf just recently. I think Dengar is still a very potent threat, and Manaroo is a great support, but I haven't flown them in a long time, nor have I flown against them since the nerf so I don't know for sure.

Scum have great small ships too. The Protectorate Starfighter is delicate, but very powerful, and learning how to fly it effectively will teach you a lot of skills that will serve you well for both the Scum and Imperial factions. The Scurrg is a mean bomber that just took a hard nerf because it was so powerful, but I suspect it will still be relevant and effective; also comes with great upgrades. Guns for Hire is very new but so far is turning out to be decent, with good upgrades too. Finally, the Quadjumper is a quirky support craft with some neat abilities, like the Spacetug Tractor Array.

I hope those give you some ideas! And honestly these are just my opinions. It could be a very good idea to ask on the FFG Forums too, see what they recommend.