Editing Armada/Tactics/Empire (section)

==Why Play the Empire==

The empire is the big, unsubtle faction.  Star Destroyers (in all their forms) are brutal slabs that can throw and take obscene amounts of damage in their respective weight classes.  They have access to the most wunderwaffen, with superweapons like the Onager and the Interdictor that can muck with the enemy's plans at extreme range.  Their ship titles include some of the most hilariously potent titles such as the Demolisher and Cataclysm.  And they have the only huge-base ship in the game.  

But all that firepower comes at a cost, and it's paid in the squadron game.  Most Imperial squadrons are specialized for a single task, outperforming in that role and underperforming at everything else.  In addition they tend to trade hull points for speed, meaning they really want to get the first attack in.  While the empire does have access to multirole fighters like the Defender and Firespray, they pay more for them than the rebels would pay for equivalent choices.  Most of the TIE generics are very points economical; for the cost of a rebel ace the Imperials can usually field at least two generics.  But this also leaves the empire badly in need of squadron activation points to get the most out of their flimsier squads. 

Ultimately playing the Empire is a balancing act of defensive squadron use and offensive ship use.  Imperials will never get as much anti-ship bombing utility out of their squadrons as the rebels will, they don't have the dice and the ace abilities for it.  But what they can do is economically shut down the squadron game.  An ace-heavy rebel group can easily use up all its squadron points with 5-6 squads.  For the same points the empire can easily swamp them in generics, or match their numbers with a specialist anti-squadron force at a points discount.

Because squadrons are a side show for the empire.  The main event hinges on keeping their angry triangles pointed at the enemy, guns blazing.  The Imperial Star Destroyer sets the standard for large base ships.  Every other large but the Starhawk is deficient to it in one or several dimensions, whether it be shields, hull, dice, or maneuvering, and even the Starhawk envies its flexibility and points economy.