Talk:Rookie Pilot/@comment-2001:410:A014:667:DDEC:2260:C2C8:A364-20170927120526/@comment-454133-20170927164926

One very important question: Are you okay with proxying cards? This means using placeholders for pilot & upgrade cards you don't own (you can just print them out with a squad builder, for example). You can't do this in official tournaments, but for casual play most people proxy. It can save you a ton of cash, and let you focus on buying expansions that have the ships you like instead of buying expansions for the cards (which is very expensive because the cards are scattered everywhere).

If you do like to play in tournaments, you may need to pick up a couple of expansions for the cards, but you can also usually borrow cards from other players. In my experience the X-Wing community is absurdly friendly and more than happy to help a fellow player out.

My suggestion (especially for when you're just getting started) is to direct your purchases at the ships that excite you, and just proxy the pilots and upgrades. Also you may need to pick up a couple expansions that offer bomb tokens, if you want to use bombs (though the tokens could be printed and proxied too, if it's done right).

Rebel:

As said above, Heroes of the Resistance is a good starting pack. It comes with a T-70 X-Wing and some great pilots (especially PS9 Poe) and a YT-1300 with Rey, the most popular falcon pilot right now. And good upgrade cards.

Also as already suggested, the Y-Wing is a really good choice. It is being reprinted and should hit the shelves again soon. I also second the HWK, which is one of my favorite support ships.

The ARC-170, Scurrg, and K-Wing are reasonably hot in the meta right now, but the K-Wing is very hard to find (needs another reprint). Don't fall for the absurd scalpers' prices, just leave it be unless you see one in a local store for its normal price. You might also be able to buy used from someone who is selling their ships.

I'm still quite fond of T-65 X-Wings, A-Wings, and B-Wings. X-Wings are a bit underpowered right now but if you're not fighting top meta they're good fun. A-Wings do best with a Cruise Missile or Proton Rocket, plus Guidance Chips or Autothrusters. B-Wings die too quick for their price in the current meta, but like X-Wings, they do fine if you're fighting more toned-down fleets, and Keyan Farlander for example is a fantastic pilot.

I like the original ships most in Original Trilogy games (where only the ships in Episodes 4-6 are allowed), and/or the Heroes of the Anturi Cluster campaign (which is a LOT of fun btw, you start with a basic ship and gain xp, adding abilities as you complete missions).

For large ships besides the Falcon, the YT-2400 and Ghost are delightful choices. Dash Rendar with his title and a Heavy Laser Cannon is brutal, and the Ghost has a variety of builds and roles that can kick butt.

Empire:

Imperial Veterans is a good expansion to start with. The TIE Bomber has a number of uses from munitions delivery to support, and the TIE Defender is fantastic fun.

The TIE Advanced expansion is being reprinted alongside the Y-Wing... As already mentioned, if you can't proxy cards you probably shouldn't start with a TIE Advanced. It received a fix via new upgrades specifically for the TIE Advanced to make it effective for its squad cost, but they're inside a $100 huge ship expansion that you probably shouldn't be buying right now. It's possible the reprinted expansion will come with the upgrade cards that make it effective, but that's not likely. :(  BUT if you can proxy cards, the TIE Advanced is a fun ship that's maneuverable, dodgy, and good at landing crits.

The Inquisitor (TIE Adv. Prototype) and Special Forces are popular in the current meta, and very fun to fly.

If you want a large empire ship, the Decimator is a great choice. The Upsilon or Lambda shuttle are good supports but they can be harder to fly because turning around is so tricky.

I love TIE Interceptors, TIE Fighters and TIE/fo Fighters, etc, but these cheap low-HP ships are suffering in the current bomb-heavy meta. An autoblaster turret or bomb is real trouble for them. I used to see a basic Academy Pilot fielded in lots of empire fleets to serve as a cheap blocker, but pilot costs have conspired to make this tricky (fitting exactly 3 aces in a fleet leaves no room, etc). TIE Interceptors are amazing but they suffer in the current meta too. For First Order TIEs, "Omega Leader" is still seeing use, but less so the others. As with the rebels though, these ships are returned to life if you're not fighting top-meta fleets, or if you're playing Original Trilogy games. Just like with the rebels, if these ships excite you, grab them because they're too delightful and iconic to dismiss due to top meta stomping them.

You can almost always find someone who's up for a more casual game that favors the ships that don't make it to the top tables. IMO that's where the game is the most fun, though tournaments do have their charms.

Scum:

Scum is packed to the gills with hot stuff right now, but it's more expensive to get into scum because there's no overlap with the ships you have already. Let us know if you're interested and we'll be happy to make suggestions, but by far the easiest start will be rebel and empire for now.

Other advice:

Common Terms, Fleet Construction, and General Rules still need stuff added to them, but they're a decent starting point for learning some terms and strategies like Blocking. And they link to the Compare Ship pages that can help you track down ships with certain properties, like 2+ crew slots, should that ever be useful.

I also recommend visiting the FFG forums, as you can get even more help & advice there from a variety of people.