Pilot Archive

No one can really objectively list how hard every pilot squadron is in comparison to the others--with skills improving to the point that what was once difficult eventually becomes something you do in your sleep... err... who can say? This is further muddled by the fact that some people naturally gravitate towards certain types of ships which may be available at different spots in the pilot tree depending on profession.While I may prefer to fly interceptor-style craft in pve, for instance, many prefer to fly heavy gunships.

Consensus, however, states that Storm Squadron is the most frustrating (with a great deal of long escorts), and I've heard various people say CorSec is easiest.

Any squadron is going to have its easy missions and its challenges, though.

I've personally done Havoc (Rebel), Smuggler's Alliance (Freelance), and both Storm and Inquisition (Imperial). If you asked me to list them in order off difficulty, from hardest to easiest, my list from these would be

Storm
Smuggler's Alliance
Inquisition
Havoc

Storm really only has 2 missions that are difficult. More precisely, has two missions that end with difficult objectives. The hardest thing about the squadron is really the length of the missions, and the number of long escorts. Some of the missions I timed around 2 hours, but many of those included long and boring escorts so easy I literally did one AFK while not even in the house. Problem is, if you die somewhere along the way (some of the mid-tier missions run you through high-tier static spawns unrelated to the mission that can really beat you up if you're not prepared), you have to start the whole thing over. And two hours of long escorts can be capped by a fight against multiple gunboats, Nova Couriers, B-Wings, etc. Get blown up, and it's back to the beginning.

Smuggler's Alliance is much the same way. None of the missions, compared to Storm, are very hard (hardest one is the tier 4 exit mission, which is capped by destroying one gunboat and three Firesprays, compared to a final mission of two gunboats, 2 Novas, and several bombers for Storm), but there are some really gruelling escort missions. One in particular has you escort a Lambda class shuttle, and spawns several TIE Aggressors (hands down the hardest fighter/bomber in the game to kill NPC-wise) in attack waves. I finished that particular escort with no guns, having been partially disabled. All I could do was spend 35 minutes darting around in barrel rolls with no weapons, no capacitor, and no booster, trying to keep the Aggressors interested in me, but not killing me.

Inquisition is pretty easy, especially as far as Imperial squadrons go. On the other hand, my dog has aced Havoc squadron solo, and she doesn't even have thumbs.

Eventually I'll get around to doing Black Epsilon, Corsec, RSF, Crimson Phoenix, and Vortex. But, as some folks have said in the other replies, once you've gotten your first ace finished (usually with help from others), and then solod one squadron, the degree of actual difficulty goes way down. Some missions may throw a surprise at you that you weren't expecting, and you may have to repeat a mission here and there, but it's all usually pretty simple and straightforward.

Ive done everything except Black epsilon, cant remember specifics but heres a generalise hardness difficulty

Storm squad (only due to one of the missions)
Smugglers alliance (escorts zzzzz)
Rest of imp and privateer
Rebel ones

Dont ask me why but i find the rebel ones easier than the rest