I love that the named pilots from X-wing will be in Armada. Like Howlrunner and Luke but I have to say, I kind of wish they were famous squadron names instead. I think in a large ship game it sounds better saying "Rogue Squadron" or "181st Imperial Fighter Wing".

Just my two cents, curious what everyone else thinks.

I was actually thinking the same thing.

Capital ships have titles, rather than commanding officers, it would make sense for Fighter Squadrons as well.

Examples:

X-Wings: Rogue Squadron (Core), Red Squadron (Fighter Expansion)

Y-Wing: Gold Squadron

B-Wing: Blue Squadron

TIE/Ln: Death Squadron (Core), Obsidian Squadron (Expac)

TIE/In: 181st

TIE/A: Black Squadron

etc

A, freaking, men. I was wondering why it wasn't done this way to be honest. The only conclusion I came to is that then you could field a famous squadron AND any aces from the squadron in the same battle. Granted that did actually happen, but it would be like having Darth Vader for your commander and also having Black Squadron perform in game with the same stats as when Vader was "part of the squadron". Naming the aces instead of the squadrons keeps this from happening, but I do get the feeling that someday I'm going to get antsy and start painting the squadrons for the aces to the lore.

This is a really interesting point....

I think marketing got to the game designers: This sort of game is pretty likely to sell to us hard core fans: both the hard core gamers and the hard core Star Wars collector.

Maybe they believe using recognizable characters makes it more likely folks on the fence will buy?

A, freaking, men. I was wondering why it wasn't done this way to be honest. The only conclusion I came to is that then you could field a famous squadron AND any aces from the squadron in the same battle. Granted that did actually happen, but it would be like having Darth Vader for your commander and also having Black Squadron perform in game with the same stats as when Vader was "part of the squadron". Naming the aces instead of the squadrons keeps this from happening, but I do get the feeling that someday I'm going to get antsy and start painting the squadrons for the aces to the lore.

I have a thread here where I was compiling my efforts to research this : Painting the fighters to match the "fluff" is exactly what I want to do.

Any and all assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Actually I think Cobalt's point is the most likely. Wedge was a general for most of the war after all so seeing him as a commander is pretty reasonable, and if the squadron were Rogue Squadron then you could kinda have two Wedges (sure, you could say Tycho was Rogue Leader for that engagement, but the ability would probably still reflect Wedge's style), so by having named characters they have the ability to prevent you from taking Wedge as a pilot when he is the commander. Ditto for Vader.

It also allows them more options when creating unique squadrons, since there aren't that many famous named squadrons, but there are tons of pilots (mostly because 4 or 5 of those pilots were all in one of two squads, either Rogue or the 181st).

Still I would have preferred fighter groups over individual pilots.

Actually I think Cobalt's point is the most likely. Wedge was a general for most of the war after all

He actually wasn't. He didn't become a General until the Wraith Squadron stuff (7.5 years ABY) It is specifically mentioned in the EU he turned down promotion so he could stay in the cockpit rather than be in charge of more, so I doubt we see him as a commander

I think Commander Kahlain is likely correct. For "marketing" of the game named pilots makes more sense than named squadrons.It targets the general Star Wars fan as well as X-Wing players. And I do agree there would be a problem with them possibly being in two locations for one team (fighter squadron and commander) with the squadron name idea.

But, I would have liked to see the squadron name but with a pilot's picture. Hence "Rogue Squadron" would have a picture of Wedge in the cockpit. Therefore still meaning Wedge was the leader (This would probably have to be stated on the card for rules clarity, if there was a crew card later). This isn't a perfect mechanic by any means though.

Actually I think Cobalt's point is the most likely. Wedge was a general for most of the war after all

He actually wasn't. He didn't become a General until the Wraith Squadron stuff (7.5 years ABY) It is specifically mentioned in the EU he turned down promotion so he could stay in the cockpit rather than be in charge of more, so I doubt we see him as a commander

Well since the war went on until 19ABY, he was a general for most of it (discounting everything BBY since that wasn't really a war, just some hit and run attacks and propaganda).

Seems like they could easily be introduced as squadron titles, as already mentioned, just wonder if it'd create balance problems

I mean, you'd be mad to believe Soontir couldn't roll with the 181st, but who knows what kind of monster their combination of abilities would create

I think the reason is that each base isn't meant to represent an entire squadron per se .

A squadron in the Star Wars Universe is 12 starfighters, according to a few sources, including the X-Wing book series (which FFG has borrowed HEAVILY from). If you have a look at the base, though, there are only 3 or 4 models per base.

I think these are meant to be "flights" within a squadron. Rogue Squadron was made up of 3 flights of X-Wings (Wedge, Corran and Tycho/Wes/Hobbie/Gavin Darklighter/Other) during the books. Currently I can see an Armada Rogue Squadron at current (given my own wacky theories about a sort-of meta timeline) being Luke, Wedge, X-Wing.

I imagine we'll see another fighter pack later on (wave 2?) with Turr Phennir, Hobbie, Corran and other pilots so you can put your 'dream squadron' together.

The starfighter cards specify the 3 models represent a squadron's worth or all 12 fighters. The 3 miniature models are symbolic since 1) at scale they'd be too small to see and 2) they represent multiple ships.

I think the reason is that each base isn't meant to represent an entire squadron per se .

A squadron in the Star Wars Universe is 12 starfighters, according to a few sources, including the X-Wing book series (which FFG has borrowed HEAVILY from). If you have a look at the base, though, there are only 3 or 4 models per base.

I think these are meant to be "flights" within a squadron. Rogue Squadron was made up of 3 flights of X-Wings (Wedge, Corran and Tycho/Wes/Hobbie/Gavin Darklighter/Other) during the books. Currently I can see an Armada Rogue Squadron at current (given my own wacky theories about a sort-of meta timeline) being Luke, Wedge, X-Wing.

I imagine we'll see another fighter pack later on (wave 2?) with Turr Phennir, Hobbie, Corran and other pilots so you can put your 'dream squadron' together.

The starfighter cards specify the 3 models represent a squadron's worth or all 12 fighters. The 3 miniature models are symbolic since 1) at scale they'd be too small to see and 2) they represent multiple ships.

Exactly, the three models we see are just representative of an entire squadron since it would be impossible (or at the least very expensive) to create models so small they would be appropriately sized.

As someone already mentioned, I think FFG have gone with pilots over squadron names for simple reasons of practicality - there are only a few named squadrons, but lots of named characters to draw from. Additionally, not everyone knows all the squad names but they do at least know some of the pilot names (I include myself in this category).

I think there's a chance of a future fighter expansion with special squadrons, that would be a few points under the named characters. It would either have an ability but no tokens (so it could be awesome but is just as fragile as a normal squad), or have no abilities, but the brace tokens. So kindve an in between of the basic ships and the named ones

I'm hoping anyway, they could also have the less skilled pilots do this too. Like Biggs wouldn't have an ability, but he can tank shots.

Maybe they'll add squadron names as titles for certain fighter types (a bit like ship titles). E.g. Rogue Squadron would be a title that could be added to an X-Wing squadron (maybe ace squadrons only) to give the squadron an extra ability, token, dice, etc. So with the current cards you could have Luke or Wedge as Rogue Squadron.

Maybe they'll add squadron names as titles for certain fighter types (a bit like ship titles). E.g. Rogue Squadron would be a title that could be added to an X-Wing squadron (maybe ace squadrons only) to give the squadron an extra ability, token, dice, etc. So with the current cards you could have Luke or Wedge as Rogue Squadron.

Named squadrons with named pilots as squadron "commanders" would be a nice touch

Maybe they'll add squadron names as titles for certain fighter types (a bit like ship titles). E.g. Rogue Squadron would be a title that could be added to an X-Wing squadron (maybe ace squadrons only) to give the squadron an extra ability, token, dice, etc. So with the current cards you could have Luke or Wedge as Rogue Squadron.

I think this is very possible as a title card, would just need a unique ID token to put on the fighter base if you wanted to do it to a generic squadron even

Titles could work, but they'd have to be expensive (about the same as the upgrade from generic to named) in order to prevent them from being auto-include.

They would also be unique also - so you could only field one of them.

I agree that named squadrons as title cards would be a great idea. It could maybe come in Aces packs in the future.

Of course, FFG has a ton of lawyers and (other) gremlins looking at this forum, and now that we've said it, they're going to scrap their plans of making it so.

They would also be unique also - so you could only field one of them.

Yeah definitely - can't have more than 1 named squadron.

This was probably also done to reuse artwork as well not to mention that Disney has a lock down on a ton of stuff right now. It's simply easier to say "Luke Skywalker" instead of "Rouge Squadron" anyways, more people understand the concept of Luke.

Don't worry, with this game not even out yet I am doubting they will leave out speacilized squadrons in this one.