It's true, all of it. And I can finally say it now that the product is released and in some hands. My name is Dante, and I was one of the many, many, many playtesters on 1.5/CW. And as I sat here over my celebratory champagne, (and carefully reviewed NDA, lol) I wanted to say thanks.

I won't lie. It was a lot of work. Of all the projects I've ever worked on as a consultant or tester it was one of the hardest. It was also a huge advancement stage as you now know for the game, with two whole new factions and the 1.5. So there was a huge sense of responsibility I think we all felt to get it as right as we could. Stakes like that are heavy. I think in some ways it was even harder than the games I saw built from the ground up to wrestle with. And it was the first time I had a huge investment in the game from before I was working on it, and I find it makes it hard to work on it when your that deep into it. But it all worked out I think. I'm satisfied with the outcome.

It was definitely a small highlight of my life to have the opportunity to work with the test group and get to see behind the scenes a bit in a small corner of our favorite galaxy far, far away. Having an official credit just a few lines below Lucasfilm Ltd. is kinda surreal. Definitely a lot of cool experiences in general really. And getting to watch all your reactions as the reveals came out has been like watching the kids open presents.

I just wanted to say thank you back. A big special thanks to this forum that keeps the game alive, and is the real super computer test group. You'da real MVPs! And keep giving your feedback and talking about the game, you never know who might read it! And an extra special thanks to FFG for inviting together such a broad group and organizing the absolute zoo of activity that we could be at times. A huge thank you to M. Gernes and B. Fluagur-Leavitt, for the time and effort you put into the project, and keeping up with the mountain of info we bombarded you with, and keeping a steady hand on the wheel. Great job gents! A special thank you to Z. Tewalthomas for your guidance and help over many emails. And one extra super duper big thank you, from the Heart, to my local guys for sticking together through the crazy that was going on in our own lives and getting the job done. We could get pretty heated at times and life outside the game definitely didn't help back then. But it was for the cause, and we pulled through. Mission Accomplished 614th Sector Fleet! I know we can be proud of what we did.

The story isn't over for Armada, and I'm grateful for my bit role I got to play. If you ever find an opportunity to work on one of your favorite games, do it. You'll appreciate the game all the more. My sincerest wish to you is that you enjoy this labor of love that that took so, so, so many hands to build, and is now humbly before you. Have fun! And go blast some plastic spaceships into honorable space dust! 😁

And of course, may the Force be with you. Always. 🍻

Hey @ForceSensitive !

This was...unexpected! I very much appreciate what you've written here. 🙂

I don't know what your NDA says exactly but I've got a question of curiosity if I'm allowed? What dates (roughly) were the play testing period?

19 minutes ago, Flengin said:

Hey @ForceSensitive !

This was...unexpected! I very much appreciate what you've written here. 🙂

I don't know what your NDA says exactly but I've got a question of curiosity if I'm allowed? What dates (roughly) were the play testing period?

NDA

@Flengin why thank you! I'd love to be able to answer questions, so long that I'm allowed too. Apologies but I don't think I'm allowed to answer that one. I think it technically falls under 'details of production process' and such. Common NDA line really. Even though my NDA is expired and the product is out now, that's technically still house secret. They wouldn't want competitors to know they could crank out a product in a week versus ten years Y'know? Per the dotted line, I can only really talk about things that are out as is.

2 minutes ago, ForceSensitive said:

Per the dotted line, I can only really talk about things that are out as is.

Can you tell us why Mon Karren got nerfed, and why less powerful cards didn't get a boost? (At least that we know of.)

Again, no. That's still behind the curtain stuff. I can tell you I like the nerf though. I think it's going to be good for the game.

Think of the NDA this way, if your going to ask me a question. Ask the same questions you would ask if you never knew I had been involved. Lol.

I won't ask about NDA stuff, but if possible, can you guys look at cards that are never used? Like Redundant shields, Independence title, Point defense reroute, Quad laser turrets.. etc.

I know most of the energy was spent on nerfing stuff that was overused. But, once we realize the "never used" cards remain never used. Can they get some love so we have a bit more options in the future?

Thank YOU and for YOUR labor of love and thank you to all the others whose involvement contributed to the latest wave and 1.5.

It appears to have been a huge undertaking, especially in these trying times.

@Sybreed I'm no longer a playtester, so I'm not the one to ask lol. I only did the content that we now have and called it there. I had other life things going on and couldn't juggle both playtesting and life moves. Besides, kinda took the fun out of game night when I couldn't talk about stuff lol. I'm with you though, I hope there is a time they do some more cards. But you and I are going to be waiting together for that one 😁

3 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

Mission Accomplished 614th Sector Fleet! I know we can be proud of what we did.

😀 😎 😎

1 hour ago, Bravo Null said:

Can you tell us why Mon Karren got nerfed, and why less powerful cards didn't get a boost? (At least that we know of.)

Aresius. This one came from the tournament data. He singlehandidly warped the Mon Karren stats, it was amusing to see it at the time a couple of years ago. Impressive stuff.

3 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

It's true, all of it. And I can finally say it now that the product is released and in some hands. My name is Dante, and I was one of the many, many, many playtesters on 1.5/CW. And as I sat here over my celebratory champagne, (and carefully reviewed NDA, lol) I wanted to say thanks.

Thank you for being such an integral part of the game. The play testers deserve tremendous credit.

3 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

And keep giving your feedback and talking about the game, you never know who might read it!

First Order and Resistance, please! (Hey, someone has to advocate for it! There aren't many of us here, by all accounts!)

3 hours ago, ForceSensitive said:

If you ever find an opportunity to work on one of your favorite games, do it. You'll appreciate the game all the more.

Out of curiosity, were the play testers all local to Minnesota? This might be well-known to everyone but me, but how are play testers selected? From the National and World championships, or by application, or both?

@Rmcarrier1 Well I can definitely say with no problem of disclosure that me and my crew are not from Minnesota, so that covers that 😂 . I think they extend invitations to big event champions, but that's just a guess from how often I see them show up in the credits. But much of the rest I think just wind up involved through other invites and by emailing them requesting to volunteer and getting chosen. I myself was tapped by a friend in the regular play group I had been helping to build here in my area. He had gotten an in and was building a test team on the down low. He just came up to me and asked to talk in the parking lot. Then he handed me a piece of paper and a pen. Cue the Hamilton "not throwing away my shot" chorus lol. Funny enough, Third time I've had to sign an NDA in that same FLGS parking lot, each for a different company lol 😂

But ultimately, I don't know anymore. Now that AMG will be taking over, I have no clue how they will run it. I imagine there will be some carry over, but maybe not? 🤔 You'd have to ask them I guess? I haven't looked but maybe there's a way to apply? Might be worth investigating!

1 minute ago, ForceSensitive said:

But ultimately, I don't know anymore. Now that AMG will be taking over, I have no clue how they will run it. I imagine there will be some carry over, but maybe not? 🤔 You'd have to ask them I guess? I haven't looked but maybe there's a way to apply? Might be worth investigating!

I've seen AMG ask for game tester applications (presumably for Crisis Protocol) via Twitter, so that might be the way going forward. Who knows? Thanks for the response.

3 hours ago, Ginkapo said:

Aresius. This one came from the tournament data. He singlehandidly warped the Mon Karren stats, it was amusing to see it at the time a couple of years ago. Impressive stuff.

Ok, I definitely missed this one!

What happened? And what did Aresius do with the Mon Karren?

Why are you guys named as the 614th Sector Fleet?

1 minute ago, Muelmuel said:

Why are you guys named as the 614th Sector Fleet?

Now there's a question they can answer without breaching NDA!

@Muelmuel for sure that's not a problem lol 😆 we're from phone area code 614. Around our town it became a fad to name things after the phone code. There was shirts and bumper stickers and mugs, you name it and there was a merch with 614 on it. Radio DJs would even say 'good morning to the 614!'. There was even a 614 magazine focusing on local events and stuff. I think the trend took off in a lot of places really. So naturally when we were trying to come up with a name for the group we pitched that in the hat with a little Star Wars naval flair. We liked it. It stuck. And that as they say is that! 😊

46 minutes ago, ForceSensitive said:

@Muelmuel for sure that's not a problem lol 😆 we're from phone area code 614. Around our town it became a fad to name things after the phone code. There was shirts and bumper stickers and mugs, you name it and there was a merch with 614 on it. Radio DJs would even say 'good morning to the 614!'. There was even a 614 magazine focusing on local events and stuff. I think the trend took off in a lot of places really. So naturally when we were trying to come up with a name for the group we pitched that in the hat with a little Star Wars naval flair. We liked it. It stuck. And that as they say is that! 😊

So....

Is it pronounced six-one-four or six-fourteen?

5 minutes ago, Flengin said:

So....

Is it pronounced six-one-four or six-fourteen?

Yes.

LMAO 🤣 Generally we call it in the same manner/style/whatever as the 501st is phonetically the "Five-Oh-First". So we generally call it the "Six-One-Fourth". Gives us a cheeky way to say 'May the six-one-fourth be with you!'. This also lines up with it's trend usage as 'the six one four' area code. But if it works better for something as 'Six-hundred and fourteenth', Sure, we call it that. Call us whichever way you want. Just don't call us late for a game 😆

6 hours ago, Flengin said:

Ok, I definitely missed this one!

What happened? And what did Aresius do with the Mon Karren?

Tortured kids

7 hours ago, Flengin said:

Ok, I definitely missed this one!

What happened? And what did Aresius do with the Mon Karren?

Googling aresius and mon karren actually has tons of results, so it was google-warping too, e.g.:
http://armadaihaveyounow.blogspot.com/2018/03/bully-in-playground-dodonna-mc80l-build.html?m=1

Googling anything gets tons of results. Google itself is machine accidentally designed to give us confirmation bias at the click of a button. Darn you goog-lol 🤣

But no joke, aresius did a ton of work with that ship in events. But that's not to say monKaren didn't show up in a lot of places besides that. Our local meta had it show up alot just from release too. Very common in madine builds for one guy I remember. I jumped to page 51(just picked plus fifty and clicked go) of fleet builds subforum and clicked the first liberty title that showed up. Surprise! (not really) Mon Karen. No Google required. I forget how old the game is until I go look at these dates. Man I'm getting old hehe

I'm super curious to see what happens to it now in the wild with the change. I think it's still good. I'd try it again. It's like the games all new again! 😁 lol just got to get back to public gaming eventually 🙄

4 hours ago, Xeletor said:

Googling aresius and mon karren actually has tons of results, so it was google-warping too, e.g.:
http://armadaihaveyounow.blogspot.com/2018/03/bully-in-playground-dodonna-mc80l-build.html?m=1

Five flotillas? Jinkies. I started playing after the flotilla rule change but I can see they were being abused.

11 minutes ago, flatpackhamster said:

Five flotillas? Jinkies. I started playing after the flotilla rule change but I can see they were being abused.

The hammerhead version wasn't any less horrid to face.