I'm already pretty sure that I'm going to be loving the Victories (until the ISD comes out), and probably the TIE Bomber squadrons.

Why, you ask?

Because I just lurve me some Star Destroyers and TIE Bombers. I've been flying the hell out of my TIE Bombers in X-Wing, and I like the idea of continuing that trend.

So, what about you guys?

I'm looking for a couple of decked out victory star destroyers (also until we get the ISD), supported by a bomber wing and a solid screen of ties

For the rebels, I hope that a couple of new b frigate's at long range with a heavy fighter contingent will work. We'll see how much weight fighters can take though. I may have to use the assault frigate. Not that it's a bad thing, I just really like the idea of rebels making lightning strikes with lots of fighters

I'm looking for a couple of decked out victory star destroyers (also until we get the ISD), supported by a bomber wing and a solid screen of ties

For the rebels, I hope that a couple of new b frigate's at long range with a heavy fighter contingent will work. We'll see how much weight fighters can take though. I may have to use the assault frigate. Not that it's a bad thing, I just really like the idea of rebels making lightning strikes with lots of fighters

It's really hard to tell how these ships will translate into game pieces and how those will translate into viable tactics. I think a lot of it will depend on how significant fighters and bombers will be.

Of course, the Star Wars universe is already significantly fleshed out, but we don't have too detailed an idea of what the balances are. This game will be one interpretation. Hopefully it coheres closely to what we already have in our minds.

Mix of Neb-Bs, and CR90s plus any other frigates and corvette that come later (Note I count the Assault Frigate II as a Heavy Cruiser since that's what it is under the in universe classification system.) with some fighters and an Assault Frigate or two for when I feel like a heavier flagship. Someday I might try to make a modified version of Wedge's fleet from Darksaber if they never make an Assault Frigate Mark I or a straight copy someday if they do for larger scale games. (His fleet was 1 Assault Frigate Mark I, 1 Neb-B, and 6 CR90s)

Mix of Neb-Bs, and CR90s plus any other frigates and corvette that come later (Note I count the Assault Frigate II as a Heavy Cruiser since that's what it is under the in universe classification system.) with some fighters and an Assault Frigate or two for when I feel like a heavier flagship. Someday I might try to make a modified version of Wedge's fleet from Darksaber if they never make an Assault Frigate Mark I or a straight copy someday if they do for larger scale games. (His fleet was 1 Assault Frigate Mark I, 1 Neb-B, and 6 CR90s)

Ugh, I really had to stop reading Darksaber. I'm just not a fan of Kevin J. Anderson, but kudos for going for something thematic!

Gonna work on building up my fleet already made sure to have 2 Galdiators and a extra Victory SD in my pre-order. Then it's just sit down and grind away at a decent combo of ships/fighters/upgrades/ect. Then it's play baby play!

Eventualy I wanna have a fully fleshed out Battle Squadron(1 Imperial Star Destroyer with 18 support ships) sitting on my shelf. So while that means I need a Imperial SD I hope they don't release for a while because there is a ton of other fun ships that I wanna try.

Im torn on what I what to use for a fleet I definitly want TIE bombers and i dont know if i want to run three VSD or One VSD and two GSD. I see GSD's as agile missile boats and I do like to use explosive ordnance on games so they could be fun or run three VSD's and take out ships with concentraited vollys of the front arcs from the three VSD's sounds devastating in theory.. the thing that sucks is all I can do is speculate on the ships till we can all get some games in with them.

Im torn on what I what to use for a fleet I definitly want TIE bombers and i dont know if i want to run three VSD or One VSD and two GSD. I see GSD's as agile missile boats and I do like to use explosive ordnance ongames so they could be fun or run three VSD's and take out ships with concentraited vollys of the front arcs from the three VSD's sounds devastating in theory.. the thing thatbsucks is all I can do is speculate on the ships till we can all get some games in with them.

From what I've gathered a Vic and 2 Gladiators gives you 7 squadrons. I was thinking 2 Interceptors,2 Bombers and 3 Tie. Although if the Advanced has decent stats in the game I might swap a bomber sqdrn for a Advanced sqdrn.

I want to run 3 Victories but somthing in the back of my head keeps nagging me that it would be a clumsy formation and I stuggle with clumsy stuff.

Im torn on what I what to use for a fleet I definitly want TIE bombers and i dont know if i want to run three VSD or One VSD and two GSD. I see GSD's as agile missile boats and I do like to use explosive ordnance ongames so they could be fun or run three VSD's and take out ships with concentraited vollys of the front arcs from the three VSD's sounds devastating in theory.. the thing thatbsucks is all I can do is speculate on the ships till we can all get some games in with them.

From what I've gathered a Vic and 2 Gladiators gives you 7 squadrons. I was thinking 2 Interceptors,2 Bombers and 3 Tie. Although if the Advanced has decent stats in the game I might swap a bomber sqdrn for a Advanced sqdrn.

I want to run 3 Victories but somthing in the back of my head keeps nagging me that it would be a clumsy formation and I stuggle with clumsy stuff.

One good thing about being out of work, is having to wait for a new job before starting a new game, and that means waiting to hear how this fleshes out before jumping into it. One thing I'm going to wait and see on, is if playing purely Movie themed list can work, because the AU stuff in this game looks as fugly as the AU X-wing stuff looks to me. So, Impy Star Destroyers and a SSD versus Blockade Runners and Nebulons and Mon Cals for me, or it's a no go.

I think one of the most promising elements of Armada is the objective system, which could competely shake up (if done well) the whole way we play. I have seen heaps of people making lists sofar based on different ships and suggesting builds that may be "better" than others, but if a mission calls for something other than (just) blowing up our opponent then having ships and lists that are flexible, yet still powerful will be a critical point. Where that balance falls we will have to wait and see when the game finally releases - hence why I am not betting on anything at this point, but I will be getting 2 core sets and at least one of each upgrade (to start) so that however it plays out, I have plenty of options.

I think one of the most promising elements of Armada is the objective system, which could competely shake up (if done well) the whole way we play. I have seen heaps of people making lists sofar based on different ships and suggesting builds that may be "better" than others, but if a mission calls for something other than (just) blowing up our opponent then having ships and lists that are flexible, yet still powerful will be a critical point....

Ditto!

I am very much looking to having the semblance that these skirmishes will be about something, other than the mastery of six asteroids.

Yup, it could also help the game avoid the power creep that we are starting to see in X-Wing, with ships having to become either better at blowing up ships, or better at not dying (im looking at you Decimator!) because it creates situations where other attributes like speed, agility or special abilities could be more important than damage dealt/received. Also it means that ships that are stronger/tougher can have reduced agility or other drawbacks and have that make an actual impact on the success of the mission. At the moment in X-Wing that doesnt happen. :/

Mix of Neb-Bs, and CR90s plus any other frigates and corvette that come later (Note I count the Assault Frigate II as a Heavy Cruiser since that's what it is under the in universe classification system.) with some fighters and an Assault Frigate or two for when I feel like a heavier flagship. Someday I might try to make a modified version of Wedge's fleet from Darksaber if they never make an Assault Frigate Mark I or a straight copy someday if they do for larger scale games. (His fleet was 1 Assault Frigate Mark I, 1 Neb-B, and 6 CR90s)

Ugh, I really had to stop reading Darksaber. I'm just not a fan of Kevin J. Anderson, but kudos for going for something thematic!

I know how you feel. He's number 4 on my list of my 5 least favorite Star Wars authors. The wargame scene between fleets led by Wedge and Ackbar from Darksaber is pretty much the only scene he wrote which I like. To this day I still debate if his writing of Daala and her battles was sheer incompetence or if it was his natural incompetence mixed with sexism on his part.

Hmm now that the horrors he created are at the front of my mind rather the buried as deep as I can I bet you could use Wedge's fleet from Champions of the Force in a standard game.

Yup, it could also help the game avoid the power creep that we are starting to see in X-Wing, with ships having to become either better at blowing up ships, or better at not dying (im looking at you Decimator!) because it creates situations where other attributes like speed, agility or special abilities could be more important than damage dealt/received. Also it means that ships that are stronger/tougher can have reduced agility or other drawbacks and have that make an actual impact on the success of the mission. At the moment in X-Wing that doesnt happen. :/

Lets not bring X-wing into it. I have lost a lot of faith in the X-Wing fourm crew when they started wanting things from the 90 games but then shot down anyone else's ideas that didnt go along with what they want.

Yup, it could also help the game avoid the power creep that we are starting to see in X-Wing, with ships having to become either better at blowing up ships, or better at not dying (im looking at you Decimator!) because it creates situations where other attributes like speed, agility or special abilities could be more important than damage dealt/received. Also it means that ships that are stronger/tougher can have reduced agility or other drawbacks and have that make an actual impact on the success of the mission. At the moment in X-Wing that doesnt happen. :/

I don't find the Decimator all that über-powerful. I do think that the TIE Phantom was a bit more powerful than they should have made it. That said, its introduction created its own reaction in the rise of turret ships.

I guess it depends on what you mean by power creep. I don't think they deliberately set out to increase the power of the new things in order to sell more new stuff. I think they had a bit of a nerdgasm over the Phantom.

BUT, that's that game. This forum is about this game. I agree with you that the objectives can help create balances, or at least unforeseen circumstances. It will create incentives for people to build balanced forces to deal with the objectives that they'll have to deal with.

I will be focusing on everything, because not only do I want to create balanced fleets in my collection but I know I'm going to be supporting several players, and I want to have access to multiple cards.

I'm strongly tempted to do 2-3 Gladiators, 2-3 CR-90s, 2 Nebulon-Bs, but no more than 1 assault frigate. I like the Imperial navy better and I think the rebels are better with a more diverse squadron and not running with juggernauts. I feel like the Empire's going to have the rebels beat in stand-and-deliver combat but their fighters are better jack-of-all-trades than the Empire.

If they create this game to where winning the game is more based on objectives and missions that would be great instead of focusing on just trying to destroy everything your opponent has. I hate to bring up other games but that kind of game system worked for Malifaux where you dont win a game by killing off your opponent its won by compleating objectives and holding teritory and this works out great. But anyways it would be great to see a Star Wars game that is won more from being cunning and holding objectives and compleating different tasks instead of " go forth and pew pew pew"

If they create this game to where winning the game is more based on objectives and missions that would be great instead of focusing on just trying to destroy everything your opponent has. I hate to bring up other games but that kind of game system worked for Malifaux where you dont win a game by killing off your opponent its won by compleating objectives and holding teritory and this works out great. But anyways it would be great to see a Star Wars game that is won more from being cunning and holding objectives and compleating different tasks instead of " go forth and pew pew pew"

I hope your right I hope Armada does become more about objectives than simply going pew pew. I think a win by doing somthing like taking a objective is more meaning fore for both players rather than just blowing each other up.

If they create this game to where winning the game is more based on objectives and missions that would be great instead of focusing on just trying to destroy everything your opponent has. I hate to bring up other games but that kind of game system worked for Malifaux where you dont win a game by killing off your opponent its won by compleating objectives and holding teritory and this works out great. But anyways it would be great to see a Star Wars game that is won more from being cunning and holding objectives and compleating different tasks instead of " go forth and pew pew pew"

Yeah, that seems to be a common sentiment here, one that I certainly share.

I'm strongly tempted to do 2-3 Gladiators, 2-3 CR-90s, 2 Nebulon-Bs, but no more than 1 assault frigate. I like the Imperial navy better and I think the rebels are better with a more diverse squadron and not running with juggernauts. I feel like the Empire's going to have the rebels beat in stand-and-deliver combat but their fighters are better jack-of-all-trades than the Empire.

But so far AFmk2 is the only one that have Enhanced Armament card. And if it is the best upgrade for VSD... I don't want buy this ugly ship 2 times.

So far the best question for me is it worth to buy 2 GSD and will the game force us to buy 2x core and 2x AFmk2.

I'm strongly tempted to do 2-3 Gladiators, 2-3 CR-90s, 2 Nebulon-Bs, but no more than 1 assault frigate. I like the Imperial navy better and I think the rebels are better with a more diverse squadron and not running with juggernauts. I feel like the Empire's going to have the rebels beat in stand-and-deliver combat but their fighters are better jack-of-all-trades than the Empire.

But so far AFmk2 is the only one that have Enhanced Armament card. And if it is the best upgrade for VSD... I don't want buy this ugly ship 2 times.

So far the best question for me is it worth to buy 2 GSD and will the game force us to buy 2x core and 2x AFmk2.

Well....not force. The choice would be yours, in the same way you aren't "forced" to buy 2 Falcons for Engine Upgrades in X-Wing. You might however be stuck with only 1 of the cards you want if you dont though, at least until it hits a second expansion. And thats assuming it IS the best upgrade, which is very far from certain.

And it certainly isnt forcing you to buy 2 core sets. How do you come to that?

And it certainly isnt forcing you to buy 2 core sets. How do you come to that?

As long time capital ships fan I'm planning to buy 1 core, 1 VSD, GSD, AF, 1 rebel fighter pack, 1-2 imperial fighter pack and maybe additional GSD, CR90 and Neb-B.

Great! Now I have enough stuff for fielding 2 player game at home! Or do I not?

I'm not sure about damage deck, if it is 33 cards as X-Wing it's not enough for 2 player standard game. 3 dices of each color is clearly not enough. So spending up to 250-340 USD and then proxying damage deck for the home game, buying app for dices. In my mind it is forcing.

Biggest problem for me, that in Moscow where I live Armada probably would appear a year later. Even if it would appear fast, prices would be insane. (something like MSRP +30-50%) Community would buy Armada from foreign retailers mostly. And it is month waiting to receive another package if you have not enough of something.

It's incredibly unlikely that you'll be forced to use 2 damage decks. Hell, in X-Wing you aren't even ALLOWED to use 2 decks.

The chances of FFG not putting enough damage cards in the core set to actually play a standard sized games is unbelievably slim....it goes against basically their entire design ethos.

Dice is personal choice, and you can just buy an extra dice pack or the app if you wish to avoid inconvenience. I agree it IS an inconvenience only having 3, but nothing more than that (and again, X-Wing had the exact same).

I think you're misusing the word "forced".

I dont think you will need two core sets with this game, thats just ones personal choice. I wouldnt worry about what cards came with what when this game is released....unless your into competitive play. But hell the game wouldnt even been out long enough for anyone to get used to any of the ships or the game mechanics.. I think everyone when getting into this game should just get the ships that they want, dont worry about buying anship you dont want be feel obligated to get because of a silly card. Honestly does it make sense buying a near $30.00 ship just so you can have that one special card? I feel you are just ruining your fun if you feel obligated in buying a ship your not even interested in using just to score a special ability. Id find a way to work around it instead of basing my fleet builds off of that one thing.

For all we know this game may be all about compleating objectives instead of destroying your enemy.

Even im unsure still on what to buy because of the unknown of the game mechanics...What I do know is that I will build a fleet that I want regardless of upgrades. Im more interested in the raw stats of the ships and how well they can perform without the use of upgrades. I have a rough idea of how some builds could possibly run like three VSD's would have a powerful front ark fire and haveing all three doing concentraited shots on one ship could be devistating, but also they would move really slow. While GSD's would be good at speed and getting up in your enemies face and could possibly be better at scoring objectives than a VSD could.

The possibilities are endless and I belive that this game has a good chance of not having many mirror matches during tournament play...I think alot of people will have unique fleet builds. This game will be fun either way