So, in SW Magazine recently, what was actually the first piece of the new canon, has Blade Squadron, which is a squad of B-Wings, taking out the Executor during the Battle of Endor.

If a single squad of B-Wings can bring down a behemoth like that.. why can't two Corvette's bring down a Victory-Class?

Hell, an A-Wing brings down a Star Destroyer by crashing into its bridge!

I'm really not sure where the idea is that a well-flown pair of Corvette's shouldn't be a threat. By the looks of it, if the Corvette's stay in the front arc of the VSD, they will get destroyed rather quickly as they'll be taking between 6 or 9 dice to the face vs 2 shields. But if they outmaneuver the VSD? All of a sudden they stand a chance, and since they're more maneuverable, they're potentially able to do that, hence their comparative cost.

Rebels took down their shields down before crashing the bridge.

Anyways, i think it is pretty soon to talk about in game stuff, or atleast come to hard conclussions from it. It looks good, and i don't expect it to follow 100% canon accuracy, but 100% awesome gameplay, which is at the end the most important thing for me.

Ahh the OP topics already for a game that isn't out till 2015 at the earliest. I am sure there is a lot more to it than the points spread. I mean, yes; the Corvette on paper looks like a 2 for 1. I think a big difference will be weapons power. A Star Destroyer's guns hit a lot harder than the single turbolaser setup on the Corvette. Just looking at the shield rating points out a few things too....

Well in the books torpedo's ignored shields entirely so b-wings packed with torpedo's are very lethal to capital ships, even a squadron of x-wings firing 72 proton torpedo's can inflict massive damage on a star destroyer.

The FFG article specifically notes that fighters in Armada shouldn't be ignored.

Also not to ignore: The engineering value. While we have no idea what it does (repairing? Extra firepower? Shield recovery?), it could very well tip the balance into the VSD's favour.

Kinda curious where they put a squadron of fighters on a Corvette, too. I mean, I've got the 'X-Wing Miniatures' version of it, and it's BIG, no doubt, but...a whole squad of fighters? Ummmm....

Recall that most (all?) Rebel starfighters have on-board hyperdrives. The Corvette doesn't need to be able to haul them around through hyperspace. I would guess that 1 squadron can be 'assigned' to the Corvette in the way that the Corvette provides command (coordinated communication, battlefield assessment, etc) and support (refueling, repair, etc) to that squadron.

You'd think it wouldn't be identified on the Corvette card, itself, then, but just able to bring them into battle on their own...

I think it's a very succinct way of saying, 'this vessel can command one squadron (i.e. bring it into your fleet). It cannot command two or more squadrons'.

Pff, two Corvette's against one Victory? That's piece of cake compared to what a single Corvette can do against four Star Destroyers.

And let's not forget the A-wing crashing into the bridge of the Executor. Dammit rebels! quit ramming our ships!

Looking at those cards again you start to get a feeling of how a battle like this could play out. The most powerful attack of the Corvette is equal to the weakest attack of the Star Destroyer. So being able to move into optimum position is the most important thing the Corvettes have going for them. If you mess that up and get flanked by that Star Destroyer the Corvette is not going to last long. That is why the deployment of fighter wings is important too. Do you take the shot on the Corvette, or deal with the fighters? That's what will make a good balance for both sides.

I don't know if this was brought up earlier in another thread but there seems to be only 2 dice assigned for Anti-Fighter defense for the VSD.

Thus, in my opinion, this might mean that the Imperial ships are rather weak against fighters, as compared to Rebel ships that might have a higher Anti-Fighter defense. (mere speculation here)

(thus, the Rebels have a definitive advantage with regards to Fighters and Fighter defense on their capital ships)

Seems that way. The symbol right next to the hull value on a ship's card seems to be the anti-squadron armament symbol. The VSD has two, the CR90 also two and the Nebulon-B has three.

Which makes sense. Lorewise the Star Destroyers relied on fighters to protect them, whereas the CR90 and Nebulon-B were equipped with plenty of anti-fighter armaments.

It seems to make sense to me, it the Corvette's come at the star destroyer one at a time they'd be smashed most likely, but by pairing up they can both take up the same arcs to prevent it bringing it's full power to bear, or if there is some shield facing mechanic they can split up to weaken its defenses. Ultimately numbers are a big deal in any fight, Teamwork, splitting focus to accomplish more things, so I think a 3 point difference seems fair, especially since we don't know the "standard" point total of a match ;though it seems far higher than X-wing, assuming the corvette is one of the smaller, cheaper ships it's still just under half its X-wing price where it is the largest ship available atm. A high point total would mean one or two points is far less important.

Just looking at the current ship costs, I would say a valid guess for squad points would be 300–500. At 300 points you could probably fit a single ISD and some support ships.

I think we can assume, especially with how the maneuver 'template' works in this game, that the points cost for the CR90s take into account their speed and agility, not just simple firepower and shields. A pair of CR90s may very well be able to use their double speed and ability to change facing to catch and hold position in the Victory-class' rear arc, engaging it where it is weak and can be overwhelmed.

Of course, the Victory-class has enough firepower that it may be able to destroy the CR90s outright before they get in there. Not to mention how each ship's fighter squadrons may affect the outcome here, since we pretty much don't even know how those work yet.

If you pitch two Academy Pilots vs a B-Wing, it's entirely possible that the B-Wing vaporizes the Academy Pilots in the first two shots, and it's also possible that the Academy Pilots can dance circles around the B-Wing and take it down with close ranged shots and better turns on their dials.

What amuses me is the idea that two CR90's can take on a VSD, but in X-wing Miniatures' Epic Play, they have a hard time taking out a swarm of TIE fighters (unless they run over them all).

What amuses me is the idea that two CR90's can take on a VSD, but in X-wing Miniatures' Epic Play, they have a hard time taking out a swarm of TIE fighters (unless they run over them all).

Different game systems, different rules, different outcomes?

It's amusing nonetheless. Just like how the Imperials and rebels switch sides in the swarmer and the swarmed between the two games.

What amuses me is the idea that two CR90's can take on a VSD, but in X-wing Miniatures' Epic Play, they have a hard time taking out a swarm of TIE fighters (unless they run over them all).

The article does point out that ships can't use their main weapons on squadrons and have to rely on generally weaker point defenses. Which is present in the x-wing game if you think about it, the Corvette's primary attack and single turbo lasers have trouble landing consistently solid hits compared to the close in quad cannons.

I think if you look at the paradigms behind the two ships: a fast and relatively maneuverable, but lightly armed ship facing off with a vessel much more heavily armed, armored, and possessing some carrier capacity, you start to see the design logic behind what we are seeing. My takeaway is that the roles of the two factions are pretty much inverted in Armada. Technically superior ships against numerically superior fast ships. Without the complete picture, it is still way to soon to worry about the difference in the power of the ships.

Add in a "swam" of X-Wings and see how they fare that close to the C90. They've already established that you can't just ignore that swarm. Which is exactly what you'd expect.

Pff, two Corvette's against one Victory? That's piece of cake compared to what a single Corvette can do against four Star Destroyers.

And let's not forget the A-wing crashing into the bridge of the Executor. Dammit rebels! quit ramming our ships!

It's alright, the v-19 Decimator coming out in wave 5 has plenty of ramming options available for the Imperial commander with a penchant for headbutting their foes.

The X-Wing games had corvettes that could often launch at least one fighter squadron. Some missions based you out of a corvette. So there is some canon precedence for fighters based on corvettes.

I don't know *who* worked out the scale. Though.

Wookiepedia cites evidence(?) from episode 3 for the CR90 having a 'starfighter scale docking bay'

Obi-wan lands Grievous ship on Tantive IV in Episode III.

Let go. Switch off your target computer and feel the game. The universe according to Lucas is more fiction than science and so not really fit for a table top game. So you have to mess up either the movie setting or the game design. FFG made the right choice. There is a minimum size for capital ships dictated by the base, which has to house four indicators of shield strength and a "done" marker. So you can't make the corvette, probably the smallest capital ship in the game, any smaller. If you keep star destroyers proportional to that corvette, they don't fit on the table anymore. So the size of the corvette is blown up out of proportion. If you don't blow up stats and firepower as well, that is counterintuitive, which is bad for a table top game. That's why two corvettes can take on a destroyer, which is not what George Lucas ever had in mind, but he was not a game designer.

I am a little dissapointed that the Nebulon-B has weaker Port and Starboard shields than the Corvette, Especially since it is a Anti-fighter Ship. It seems like it will be very vulnerable to flanking attacks (which Fighter Squadrons with their superior manuverablity should be able to easily pull off.) Guess we'll have to see what the actual full gameplay is, with upgrades and all...

2 Corvettes might be woth the same as ! victory and still got beaten all the time.

Point value is not only measured in head on joust.

Corvettes might have their cost increased becouse of:

- Good anti fighter defence, so they can screen bigger brother

- Good mobility that let them cap/destroy/protect the point of intrest and play a vital role in scenario.

Victory might possibly wreck 3 or 4 corvettes but his point value is decreased, becouse of his pathethic mobility (possible turns and big command stat) and voulnerability to fighter attack.

I have a few random thoughts. Upgrades available to the ships could certainly alter their power levels.

The Corvette is a C90a which is the "assassin" class designed to for military use. One advantage it should have over the VSD is it's payload of Proton torpedo's and maneuverability. Where the VSD just has lots of various Turbolasers. I could get behind the idea of two C90a's giving a single VSD a really good fight. The 3 point difference in cost is less then 5% of their value and again I looks like the VSD has access to some different upgrades that could certainly increase its power.

The scale is a bit off, but with larger ships in a game like this, that's to be expected. A VSD is 900m and a C90a is 140m, so scale is a bit off.

Actually the Assassin is a CR92a no a CR90a. Given that stock CR90s have no antifighter weapons my guess is that the CR90a is a common refit of the CR90 which trades some of its free customization hardpoints for anti fighter weapons, perhaps the pair of quad lasers added to the CR92a along with the CR92a's upgraded turbolasers (6 twin mediums on a CR92a to a CR90s two twin mediums and 4 lights on a CR90 in FFG.) and the torpedo tube. It might upgrade the turbolasers to the 6 twin mediums as well. (Pretty much every Star Wars RPG system has its own armament for the CR90 though thy all involve 6 turbolaser mounts. WEG and D20 revised had 6 twin turbolasers which would probably be twin lights in FFG (They do more damage then twin lights would in SAGA but less then twin mediums and are closer to twin lights in damage output.) while SAGA had 6 single mediums in two batteries and FFG has two twin mediums and 4 single lights.) My RPG group personally views all the variants as correct since CR90s are very common and easily modifiable it makes sense that a few common modification packages are out there.