One of the things that I wonder about in the game is using a corvette as an independent ship in a fleet action game. Realistically, that should not happen.

Using history as a guide, ships in the same role as the Corellian Corvettes fought in small squadrons of 2 or 3. I'm looking at the example of destroyers in WWI and WWII. They would typically be used to swarm in and deliver torpedo attacks. In WWII, they were frequently used to finish off ships as big as battleships that had been weakened by other heavier warships. The corvette in this game ought to be used in the same way. The Battles of Leyte Gulf and Guadal Canal in 1944 and the attack on the Bismarck by a destroyer flotilla are good examples of how small ships were used and should be used here.

If that is done, the corvette's scale could be decreased to a much smaller size. It could be placed on a base like the fighter squadrons are currently, with two ships per stand. This would have the added benefit of making "corvette swarms" realistic. Not to mention more affordable than buying a dozen of the current, larger model. The current fighter stand could stay as they are since they are not really representing actual ships anyway. They represent squadrons. Put four ships or just one on the base. That's the true place for the sliding scale: the fighters.

Additionally,all ships up to the ISD could be in the same scale. This would make game play realistic in that you, like a real admiral, have to consider the relative size of the ships when deciding how to use them. Best of all, we would see a table top that looks like the Battle of Endor, with all its correctly sized ships.

Now, SSDs still present a size problem. They would still need to be on a sliding scale. However, what nobody is talking about is the potential points cost of an SSD. If games are going to be in the 3-500 point range and a VSD is currently 85 points, where is an SSD in that? How would Rebel Alliance players put together forces big enough to eat up the puts of just one SSD to mount a force at the same point cost? Just some thoughts there.

Thoughts?

This would have the added benefit of making "corvette swarms" realistic. Not to mention more affordable than buying a dozen of the current, larger model.

Perhaps it is? I mean it could represent more then one CR-90. That doesn't seem to be the case, but it's possible that they could change the concept even if they don't change the model itself.

If games are going to be in the 3-500 point range and a VSD is currently 85 points, where is an SSD in that?

That's one of the problems with a SSD, the same issue as a ISD in X-Wing. They're just too powerful for the game.

It's hard to accurately quantify the power of a SSD vs ISD, but looking at Wookiepedia, the SSD has the ISD II out gunned in Heavy Turbolasers by 40 to 1. 2,000 on the SSD, 50 on the ISD. Same for Turbolasers.

So to say that the SSD has the firepower equivalent of 10 ISD's is hardly outrageous, in fact I'd say that's a very conservative estimate. That means a SSD should cost about 10 times the points of a ISD. If a VSD is 85, that means ISD's are likely to be in the 125 range, that means a SSD is 1,000...

I'm happy with the size of the corvettes and I assume they would be used more as a flanker and fighter screen in the game.

I like the idea, and with bases being where firing arcs and range are measured a few Corvette's on a base should cause no gameplay issues.

It's kind of too late for this. Do you know how much turn-around time is needed for changing plastic components? FFG is committed to getting the CR-90 out as a single ship at that scale. Unless some drastic negative play experience changes this, we're gonna get what we see.

Not that I mind. I think to fly corvettes in standard matches you'll need a squadron of 3+ anyway. Just looking at the speeds and firepower ratings of the VSD and CR-90s it's clear the CR-90s are going to have to dance around into the rear of the VSD and pummel it from behind. It doesn't seem to turn well, but the CR-90s are speedy.

This is of course not considering what fighters are capable of either.

I do know how long it takes to produce a model from computer model to production because of interaction I had with another company.

I suggested a model to another gaming company as a support option for one their systems. I gave the idea to the company owner in January of 2011 and it was on store shelves by May 2012. It went from computer model, to rapid prototype which made the molds which then produced the models in that short time.

I'm just throwing out ideas here. I'm assuming they told us about their game at this point because they want discussion, ideas, and other in put. Why else would they tell us this far ahead? Why not just a month or two before it hits shelves? I don't think things are as finished as you do. If I'm wrong, no worries. If I'm not, well, maybe its a good idea and maybe they will or wont use it. Either way, its out there for what it's worth.

I think Armada is going to be in a similar scale to X-wing as far as unit size.

Really we play with squads in X-wing that are half the size or smaller than a true 12 fighter squad. Until you get into Epic play you don't see a side fielding +12 starfighters. Armada looks like its going to be similar based on the scale and fleet points we know so far. So you are really going to be fielding a quarter of what would be considered a "fleet". Now they might have some crazy "EPIC ARMADA" mode that is like 600 points or something, but still you'll only have 5 to 7 capital ships per side.

I think the corvette being its own unit makes sense at this scale of unit size. If they were going with 10-12 capital ships per side, having the corvette as a group of 2 or 3 would be sensible.

The SSD doesn't and won't fit here like the ISD doesn't fit into X-wing. Its just way too massize. To realistically put a SSD into a table top game, a ISD would have to be the size of a X-wing or Tie and the SSD would be bigger than the CR-90 in X-wing. It would look kind of silly.

If I wince I might be able to see a "huge ship Super Star Destroyer" happening, but it might be more likely we'll see some smaller battlecruisers on the table like the Praetor II.

Corvette squadrons would be a good solution to the incorrect scale portrayal relative to the Nebulon B. I think the main reason they opted for single corvettes is to push a "star destroyer chasing single CR-90" cinematic scenario recalling the beginning of A New Hope. Irritating for SW buffs given that a Nebulon B is twice the length of a CR-90 (300m vs. 150m), but I can see why they might choose to do it.

But in the end I would strongly prefer it was resized to be more reflective of the scale of the ships, though not necessarily as exactly as X-Wing's craft are.

Well, perhaps that and because this game is focused on individual ships.

And on that note something to consider... there's obviously a bracket of how large and how small the game is going to go. In X-Wing we don't see Space Troopers- that's silly, but we won't see anything bigger than a CR-90 would we? I wonder what the scale is going to be here with respect to capital ships.

If the CR-90 is the smallest single ship they treat as an entity the open question is what is the ceiling? Some say because of scale issues it won't be the SSD. That's probably true, unless they decide to reduce the scale of the ship down to get it into the game.

Of course we also don't know how big the playing field is. 4x4 perhaps? 6x4? With enough room would a larger ship like that fit?

Well, perhaps that and because this game is focused on individual ships.

Yet the attack craft squadrons are bunched together, so that isn't entirely the case. Now, for X-Wing, this is absolutely true, but I don't see how they can avoid bunching multiple smaller ships into single units for a game the scale of Armada. I think the real difficulty would be in damage/shield tracking for a squadron of CR-90s, as they are clearly large enough to have shield values individually, yet showing one shield value for two or three of them, as with fighter craft, wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.

The best solution, I think, in terms of the lore, would likely be to shrink the corvettes and include two of them in the starter set. But, as you suggested, they might be concerned with how far a model can be shrunk until it becomes visually insignificant on the tabletop, and the size of that CR-90 prototype we see in the reveal shots is possibly that lower limit for them.

Uh, when I say ship, I mean Capital ship . I've always refereed to space vehicles as craft. It's pretty clear one-man strike craft and any thing of that degree have been demoted to just flying on bases in groups.

We can talk all talk about "Would be nices" and "they should"s, but the truth is with FFG this far along in production to have a playable prototype with polished components, unless some grievous flaw in the game comes up the CR-90 is not going to change. We are getting one-ship, one-base CR-90s. So why bother discussing putting more than one on a base?

Frankly I don't mind it. I like Corvettes being the lightest single-ship elements in the game. I think it would be diminishing to make them smaller and needing to fly like squadrons.

Norse, the discussion was started before the promo was shown at Gen-Con. At that point it only looked like computer generated models in the pictures.

That being the case: Why not discuss it? They obvious want feed back, otherwise there would be no forums.

Yet the attack craft squadrons are bunched together, so that isn't entirely the case. Now, for X-Wing, this is absolutely true, but I don't see how they can avoid bunching multiple smaller ships into single units for a game the scale of Armada. I think the real difficulty would be in damage/shield tracking for a squadron of CR-90s, as they are clearly large enough to have shield values individually, yet showing one shield value for two or three of them, as with fighter craft, wouldn't make a whole lot of sense.

While I too agree with your summation, I still feel that the majority of us will rather handle single ships and individually move/shoot/etc with each ship. I don't know but I think that Star Wars is the perfect gaming universe to utilize a single capital ship represented a single ship, while fighters (and groups/wings/stacks of fighters) may represent a multiple number of craft that would be represented by a single model. (fighter stand)

All in all, this game system is going to rock.

The speed of the corvette reflects scale. That movement puts it on the other side of board in no time. Seems it's best to remove TIE squads first.

General question:

How many people have actually played this game?

I assume some of those posting here have actually seen/read the rules, yes?

Most importantly, can anyone give us any tidbits from the rules? Anyone???

Bueller? Bueller?

I'd like to see the ships side by side but I think I'm over the scale issue based on the Team Covenant video.

Uh, when I say ship, I mean Capital ship . I've always refereed to space vehicles as craft. It's pretty clear one-man strike craft and any thing of that degree have been demoted to just flying on bases in groups.

We can talk all talk about "Would be nices" and "they should"s, but the truth is with FFG this far along in production to have a playable prototype with polished components, unless some grievous flaw in the game comes up the CR-90 is not going to change. We are getting one-ship, one-base CR-90s. So why bother discussing putting more than one on a base?

Frankly I don't mind it. I like Corvettes being the lightest single-ship elements in the game. I think it would be diminishing to make them smaller and needing to fly like squadrons.

Norse, the discussion was started before the promo was shown at Gen-Con. At that point it only looked like computer generated models in the pictures.

That being the case: Why not discuss it? They obvious want feed back, otherwise there would be no forums.

The Corvette at speed 4 can almost fly like a single man fighter compared to the Victory. The movement seems so right at this point. Love the fact that once a squadron is engaged they need to stay engaged. Someone better engage Luke's squadron because they shoot right through your shields!