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Why is it that with the Empire, an organization not noted for cooperation but far more a what-can-I-do-to-get-what-I-want-even-if-I-need-to-kill-a-lot-of-people, do many of their pilot abilities buff their companions and synergize extremely well but the Rebellion, an organization that is far more about helping one another out, has pilot abilities that rarely interact with their companions and are very focused on just that pilot?(wow that was a really long sentence)
Just wondering (and honestly a bit of whining cause I am sick of Imperial players modifying my dice or denying me the ability to do something)

cheers

Papasmurf

I suspect to make the Imperials a vast machine while the Rebels are a rag tag group of idealistic individuals.

You mean that rag-tag menagerie of anarchists, criminals and terrorists? They could never match the precision and skill of Imperial pilots.

Lol love both answers

cheers
Papasmurf

Actually, there are quite a lot of rebel pilots with action-passing and support abilities.

Biggs, Garven Dreis and Wes Janson in X-wings
Jan Ors and Kyle Katarn in HWK-260s
Dutch Vander in a Y-wing
Lando Calrissian in a YT-1300
Etann A'Baht in an E-wing
Airen Cracken in a Z-95

Not to mention plenty of crew (Jan, Kanan, etc) and ships that work well in combinations (Blount with XX-23 tracers).

+Esege Tuketu in a K-wing
+Kanan Jarrus in the Ghost

Problem is, with the exception of Biggs, a lot of these Rebel support units are rather underwhelming.

In contrast, the Empire have a lot of very efficient support abilities on TIE's or the Lambda (Both ships noted for their low cost).

Howlrunner, Youngster in a TIE
Epsilon Leader in a TIE/fo
Captain Yorr and/or Palpatine in a shuttle

Carnifex that is the thrust of my wondering, completely underwhelming and it provides me with frustrations
alas ear wax


cheers
Papasmurf

You might be confusing the two dark side loons in charge as being representative of the Empire as a whole, the Imperial Navy is a military set up that, at least at grunt level, would encourage solid tactical teamwork to ensure victory, yes they have a few 'Aces' but not as many as the Rebels

The Rebels on the other hand are 'hero's' as seen in the movie, self reliant sorts with a wide range of abilities, most of which as you say only help themselves

Notice that the imperial buffs tend to be small bonuses to multiple ships (often at short range) and work best when you're flying a formation of identical generics, the faceless horde of the evil empire. Rebel abilities, on the other hand, tend to be more powerful but apply to a smaller number of ships and have a longer range, rewarding a pilot + wingman rather than a giant block formation.

IMHO Imperial pilot skills represent military discipline. Their support skills involve sharing pilot abilities, and favor coordinated flying.

Rebels are all about individual pilot skill and, sometimes, selflessness. Their support skills are geared towards aiding friendly ships in need, and often involve putting yourself in a disadvantage to help others.

Scum skills are, in turn, selfish and opportunistic. Their "support" skills usually involve hurting others for your benefit.

Rebels have the only ship that's ONLY a support ship, the HWK. I mean, yes, you could take it as a 16 point turret ship, but the Y-wing is just so much better at that, with 3 extra health an an astromech.

All the above answers are good ones, I might add this. Emperor Palpatine was known to influence his entire army/navy with the Force, a Jedi skill noone on the Rebel side ever had a chance to learn. Luke has good danger sense, but that's it. The other support ships are great though, I love me some Kyle Katarn. Haven't flown Wedge yet, but he's hilariously accurate.

 Nalydyn wrote:
Rebels have the only ship that's ONLY a support ship, the HWK.

Scum also have the HWK. Torkil Mux's ability is almost entirely about support. He also defends himself by nerfing an enemy pilot's PS but we all know the HWK is not a paramount of damage dealing and his chances of destroying an enemy ship before it shoots at him is low. So he relies on his buddies to bring the hurt.

Palob Godalhi also has a lot of support power being able to remove tokens and allow other ships to trigger opportunist. He was also a "good" guy in the background, possessing the Moldy Crow before Kyle Katarn and using it to assist refugees off-world.

The difference is that Scum HWK ships are all about debuffing enemies, instead of buffing friendlies.

 DanielBeaver wrote:
The difference is that Scum HWK ships are all about debuffing enemies, instead of buffing friendlies.

If your only criteria for a support ship is that it buffs friendlies then Serissu qualifies and any ship with bodyguard, a scum only upgrade, qualifies as well and the speculated Jumpmaster pilot who donates his tokens to friendly ships.

Razzi is borderline. Her ability trigger reads "when a friendly ship" but you are technically debuffing the ship being fired at. But only for one attack, which is a direct buff to the primary weapon of the attacking ship, akin to Wedge or Outmaneuver, an ability which strictly buffs his attack and in no way affects the ship in question (it's agility does not stay at -1 and no tokens are lost except shield tokens)