Isolater wrote:
Players at home can certainly ignore this rule if they want - i know we do when we play team games!
I think "team game" might be a bit of a misnomer there: more like a one-player vs. one-player game, except each faction has several different people that take turns throwing the dice. ;)
But yes, at local friendly venues groups should play in whatever way they find most fun. For us, that's following the rulebook and actually feeling like you're only commanding a small element of fighters in a battle that's bigger than just you and your wingmen (the ships you as a player control).