It's been noted before that new squadbuilders have to sort through a ton of pieces as they're building. The new subset was a brilliant move to give a neat starter squad to learn many of the common game mechanics, but also gives some loose ends to chase in squad-building.

However, there's still a ton of stuff to work through, and many of the best pieces of the game don't appear all that impressive at first. I know it took me quite a while to figure out why movement-breakers in particular were so popular, so I couldn't (at first) understand the obsession with pieces like Doombot or Kelborn - they're both pretty low key aside from the tech they offer.

So, I thought it would be cool to come up with some starting points for squadbuilding for each faction. Grab some of the best/most versatile tech the faction has to offer - somewhere about 50 pts worth - so that pretty much anything else you add will go well with it, the idea being that a new player (or player returning after a while) can just add in whatever pieces look interesting to them, and already have some good-tech built in so that (a) they don't have to go hunting for it, and (b) they they learn how it works.

I came up with the following. They were designed to work well with just about anything you toss in with them. I included a tad bit of door control and other tech as needed:

--Rebel Starter Squad--
27 Luke Skywalker, Rebel Commando
14 General Rieekan
9 General Dodonna
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

I haven't seen Luke, RC show up a lot recently, but aside from Rieekan and Dodonna he seems like some of the best Rebel tech for generic usage. Princess Leia was also a contender, but I went with Luke.

--Imperial Starter Squad--
32 Thrawn (Mitth'raw'nuruodo)
11 Admiral Ozzel
8 Mas Amedda
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

This I wasn't sure about - this is obviously the beginning of a swap squad. However, I think between Thrawn Swap, Daala, and Vader of Lothal, Thrawn is probably the best for generic squadbuilding, as Vader of Lothal and Daala both restrict squadbuilding significantly. Even if you don't run it as Thrawn Swap, Imps have plenty of CEs that need Booming Voice, and Thrawn is still great support even if you use swap as the occasional party trick instead of a main strategic point.

--Republic Starter Squad--
33 Captain Rex
9 R2-D2, Astromech Droid
8 Mas Amedda
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

You can take this as healthy for the game, or a sign of the Republic's dominance, but the Republic has so many squad bases it's hard to boil it down to one, especially when you're looking sub-50s. Mas should almost always be useful, Doombot can always find something helpful to do, and Rex is just a solid piece that works well whether or not you use his CE. The Republic has a lot of expensive squad bases, so it's hard to narrow it down for a core 50-60 points of tech.

--Separatist Starter Squad--
20 General Whorm Loathsom
10 San Hill
9 Battle Droid Officer
6 Mouse Droid x2
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

I don't build with Seps a whole lot, so I don't really know what to do with them, but Whorm is an excellent fit for tossing in random pieces and making them work. The BDO will usually be useful. I added Mice because of Whorm. I'm not sure about San? There's no particular reason Seps need to go last unless you're running something that needs to outactivate... I also considered the BX Spotter, but the BXs don't synergize with Whorm, and I wasn't sure if grabbing one just for the shield is always worth it.

--OR Starter Squad--
33 Bastila Shan, Jedi Master
14 Old Republic Senator
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

This one is pretty self-explanatory... just add combatants and you're off to a good start.

--Sith Starter Squad--
20 Queen Amanoa
14 Exar Kun, Dark Force Spirit
4 Sith Recruit
3 Mouse Droid
3 XT-6 Droid
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

NOTE: Credit to FlyingArrow for this one. I was hesitant to use a Force ghost since it requires you to run a Unique Force-user, but it's hard if not impossible to do anything cool without using a Unique anyways.

--NR Starter Squad--
29 Ganner Rhysode
9 General Dodonna
9 Ugnaught Demolitionist x3

This is basically a re-hash of Rebels, but I think it works. I don't have Wedge in here because he is more expensive and less useful than Rieekan. Not really sure what else I could put in here? R2 Galactic Hero?

--Mando Starter Squad--
28 Kelborn
24 Mandalorian Tactician
12 Mandalorian Demolitionist x2

Although I went with the Twin commander for Seps, I thought Mandos would be better off with the movement/top-of-the-round strike afforded by Kelborn and the Tactician, especially with so many Mandos having Single-Shot Blaster or built-in Twin. Of all the squad starters here, this is probably the one of the easiest to use well, if you can connect the dots. Kelborn moves Tactician within sight of an enemy, Tactician lets your other fighters go wild top-of-the-round.

--Fringe Starter Squad--
32 Talon Karrde, Information Broker
27 Lobot
6 Ugnaught Demolitionist x2

Again, not really sure where to go/what to do. Even though recent sets have introduced alternatives to Talon, he is still the obvious choice for generic squadbuilding in Fringe. I'm not sure if Lobot is all that important here, but I couldn't think of anything else to add. Maybe Marn instead of Lobot?

--Yuuzhan Vong Starter Squad--
30 Supreme Overlord Quorreal
15 Yammosk War Coordinator
10 Zonoma Sekot Scout x2

I don't play Vong, so this is sheer guesswork - I've heard that Quorreal is the go-to squad base, although I don't know how to use him well. I was considering going with the Dovin Basal Keeper instead, as it's simpler and more straightforward to use.

Anyways, anyone have any thoughts? Important pieces I missed? Did I get any of the factions totally wrong?

That does look a lot better. I was hesitant to use a Force Ghost since that does require you to use a Unique Force user, but the Sith faction runs on those anyways.

Thanks for the feedback, guys!

Also interesting to note, many of the pieces up there are WotC. The four main factions and the New Republic are all pure-WotC. After that, it looks like only 4 pieces (Kelborn, Talon, Amanoa, and Quorreal) are post v-set 1. (there are some tech pieces from after, but I only have them in there where they work a little better than the standard Ugs/Mice as filler)

So while this doesn't guarantee that your squad will be competitive, it is at least easily-accessible to players returning from any era post-WotC.