From reading the articles, a ship's speed can only be increased/decreased by 1 with the Navigate command. Does anyone know what speed your ships begin a match at? (maybe those of you lucky enough to have played the demo).

I am assuming the answer will be speed 0, but it will take half the game to get fast ships up to top speed (e.g. it will take 4 turns to get a CR-90 to max speed, so its only gaining the benefits of this speed for turns 4, 5 & 6). This makes speed slightly less advantageous as the acceleration is so slow.

Raymus Antilles would solve this problem as he gives a free token of the ship's revealed command (an amazing, if costly ability). However, that's just for one ship and although there might be others that can help acceleration, the points cost will start adding up 'fast' fleet builds.

I would assume we either get to pick what speed our ships start at or they all start at max speed or 0 speed. There is no confirmation any which way yet, but hopefully within a month we will get a full copy of the pdf rule book.

From the demo videos and articles it states that all ships start at speed 2

I remember my ships starting at speed 2.

2 seemed to be the case when i saw it as well. Whether that was to simplify the demo game or not is a question though....but 2 seems reasonable. I'd be shocked if it was 0 certainly, that would basically remove at least 1 turn of action from the game.

Ah cool. Starting at speed 2 sounds like fair way of doing it, esp as all ships can move at least that fast. I agree Extropia, starting at 0 would pretty much force all ships to Navigate in the first round.

Thanks for the replies

So the poor Victories already come "bolting" out the gate

I predict the return of the space cows, on huge scale .

I think speed to gives the ability to speed up or slow down with a single command so that sounds reasonable.

So the poor Victories already come "bolting" out the gate

Maybe it represents the speed of ships dropping out of hyperspace and/or moving into position as the engagement begins?

So the poor Victories already come "bolting" out the gate

Maybe it represents the speed of ships dropping out of hyperspace and/or moving into position as the engagement begins?

Most likely. I just found it amusing that the Victory enters play at max speed

Which is rather slow...

Which is rather slow...

hence the amusement

they're all "YEAH!!! WE'RE HERE!! GET HYPE!!!" and then the Gladiators start to easily outpace them and they're all like "...guys?"

Heh, If that is the case I forsee Victories planning navigate commands for their first two turns perhaps, get themselves stopped and pointing in a direction that covers a large portion of the board whilst minimising the available space to get behind them into their weaker shields.

The fact they are slow and stear like such a cow, it would be foolish to drive them deep into the game board without a significant presence behind them to protect their ass.

Heh, If that is the case I forsee Victories planning navigate commands for their first two turns perhaps, get themselves stopped and pointing in a direction that covers a large portion of the board whilst minimising the available space to get behind them into their weaker shields.

The fact they are slow and stear like such a cow, it would be foolish to drive them deep into the game board without a significant presence behind them to protect their ass.

I doubt that will work well. Remember this isn't kill em all, but objective based. A stationary vsd will control a good segment of the board with good firepower, but he will also have to spend 2 turns of orders to do it and if he needs to speed back up will be out of luck because his command stack is so big.

Instead of that approach I think it will be much more practical to drive them in line around the board. Imagine deploying 2 vsds about range 2 or range 3 from each other pointing approximately 45 degrees into the board. The first vsd to move is the one further back who spends his movement closing up on the leading vsd and cutting to his inside edge. The second vsd then moves up further in front turning into the board. A third cap ship if brought would be further back with the goal of covering the rear. If you got a gsd bringing up the rear he will keep the corvettes off the backs of the vsd line and he has the speed to move up on later rounds if needed. A 3rd vsd would bring more firepower but less speed to that tail position.

The other basic lineup I can see is players setting their fleet up spaced apart by around range 3 and simply driving straight across the board or turning into the enemy if needed. If the reb fleet tries to pass between the imp line abreast formation 2 imp ships should be able to pummel down any single corvette as is passed through. If the rebs opt to deploy tight in one corner the imp fleet could answer by converging a 3 ship fleet into a line in the middle of the board by having both flankers turn to the middle while the middle guy pushes straight. Keep in mind though deployments will be heavily governed by objectives and I cant see swarming one side of the board as being very viable if objectives require your fleet to be in several places at once.

Heh, If that is the case I forsee Victories planning navigate commands for their first two turns perhaps, get themselves stopped and pointing in a direction that covers a large portion of the board whilst minimising the available space to get behind them into their weaker shields.

The fact they are slow and stear like such a cow, it would be foolish to drive them deep into the game board without a significant presence behind them to protect their ass.

I doubt that will work well. Remember this isn't kill em all, but objective based. A stationary vsd will control a good segment of the board with good firepower, but he will also have to spend 2 turns of orders to do it and if he needs to speed back up will be out of luck because his command stack is so big.

Yes, but also remember that one third of those objectives are "Assault" missions which generally involve killing something specific on each side, which for survivability sake the Imperial player would probably make his VSD The other missions are where I feel that Imperial players will need a range of ships to support a ship like a Victory, i.e. Gladiators and the eventual Imperial version of the corvette (or raider likely) to push forward whilst the VSD covers from behind and effectively acts as an area denial to keep the opposing player out of that side..

Yes, but also remember that one third of those objectives are "Assault" missions which generally involve killing something specific on each side, which for survivability sake the Imperial player would probably make his VSD The other missions are where I feel that Imperial players will need a range of ships to support a ship like a Victory, i.e. Gladiators and the eventual Imperial version of the corvette (or raider likely) to push forward whilst the VSD covers from behind and effectively acts as an area denial to keep the opposing player out of that side..

A couple of things come to mind about your proposed strategy.

1. Rebel fleets will simply pick a corvette and leave it behind, or a neb that will barely get into range while the rest of the fleet bunches up and rolls in on the vsd fleet from one firing arc only while turning so they get 2 firing arcs on you the following turn after their movement. Your fleet will be fighting with a slight advantage perhaps, but the rebels will be in range of their objective while having the option to never let you get into range of yours. I think all things being equal rebs will win that by getting their objective accomplished while losing a similar amount of points as you do in actual ships.

2. What will you do when your Imp fleet runs into another Imp fleet running that same strat? Spend 2 rounds each coming to a stop, then spend 2 rounds to come back up to speed with shots probably only being fired during the final 3 rounds of a match? I would hope that you would find that as boring as I would and I hope you would realize under most tournament formats you would both be dashing your odds of placing highly since you will likely draw with little to nothing destroyed for your match.

3. A better strategy might be to make a VSD be the target and keep him mobile while having another VSD screen him at fairly close range from the enemy and a third cap ship plays blocker or possibly follows up as the finisher. Your goal would then be determined by enemy fleet comp and objective chosen. A corvette as the objective will be difficult to nail down so perhaps go after the enemy neb(s) in a solid formation. If the enemy picks something like a neb as your objective again you will want to roll up on it and engage. If the enemy attempts to play flanking games with a spread out fleet take maneuver commands and use those extra click to hopefully turn in a a crucial moment to engage the enemy. Whatever you do though play to your strengths by keep a solid formation so your ships and squadrons are able to support each other. Recognize your vsds are weak to the rear and cover it with either a gsd or a few bomber squadrons.

I think Rebels benefit more from long range than Imps. A Neb-B has 3 Red Dice on the forward arc, a VSD has 3 Red Dice on the forward arc. An AF has 3 Red Dice on its sides (meaning it can maneuver its way around to the side of a stationary VSD quite easily while still bringing its full fire power to bear).

Imps have the options for a lot more Black Dice than Rebs. If anyone wants to hold back and play the distance game it would be the Rebels. The Imps wanna go in full-throttle, guns-blazing, screaming like a drunken monkey.

It's a bit of a trade-off on either end

The Victory is probably the land-scape defining ship with the most excessively awesome front hull-zone armaments of 6 freaking dice backed up by a turgid speed and turn-rate. It has easily the most punch of any ship in that particular arc, but it just doesn't have the speed to go ape-**** on the opposition. You could probably dictate the entire flow of the game with the threat of that front-arc alone (though you'd probably want the Victory 2 for that extra bit of range). Even the side armaments of the currently revealed Assault Frigate MK II matches up evenly with the front of a Victory at long range, but move a little closer and the Victory II is chucking 150% of what the Frigate can.

Imperials are going to have to temper their screeching rage and gung-ho bravado with the fact that their greatest weapon is dragging them back like the anchor that it is. The rebels are basically in the same boat, only it's their capital ships that go vroom and their squadrons (A-wings excepted) that start lagging behind.

It's all going to make for a neat little balancing act with different ship speeds, the Squadron command, a crap-ton of upgrades...

Unless you just want to roll Gladiators and blast some ride of the Valkyries while you're sweeping across the table.

I'm curious - how is the speed tracked? How do you know how fast a ship is going at any given time?

I really do like the idea of sluggish ships and momentum, but I'm curious how it will be implemented.

I'm curious - how is the speed tracked? How do you know how fast a ship is going at any given time?

I really do like the idea of sluggish ships and momentum, but I'm curious how it will be implemented.

There's a dial included with the mini

Momentum is implemented by making it impossible to change your speed without the Navigate command or token.

Revealing the Navigate command lets you adjust your speed by 1 and rotate the navigation tool 1 additional time at each relevant joint. Spending the Navigate token just lets you adjust your speed by 1.

You can turn while moving even without Navigate, you're just locked at a set speed (and the speed at which you're moving determines how you can rotate the navigation tool).

It seems two clicks ( II ) of rotation on the range ruler represent a 45 degree turn at that section. So, the Victory can turn 23.5 degrees without the navigation command and 45 degrees with it at either speed 1 or 2. The fastest any ship can go according to the speed chart is 4 (Corvette).

Like I said, turns like a dumpster truck. Honestly believe I might have to stack some command tokens and then nothing but navigation commands for the first few games

I think you are misunderstanding the Navigate Command. It allows you to change the 'clicks' of a single level by 1. So if the Speed of a ship at 3 allowed:

Joint 1: I

Joint 2: I

Joint 3: I

then with a navigation command it could do any of:

Joint 1: II

Joint 2: I

Joint 3: I

or

Joint 1: I

Joint 2: II

Joint 3: I

or

Joint 1: I

Joint 2: I

Joint 3: II

but not

Joint 1: II

Joint 2: II

Joint 3: II

derp got way ahead of myself

nevermind guys, we won't get a u-turning star destroyer

(but a Gladiator with engine techs can still make two speed 1 maneuvers for a 90 degree turn!)

I'm curious - how is the speed tracked? How do you know how fast a ship is going at any given time?

I really do like the idea of sluggish ships and momentum, but I'm curious how it will be implemented.

Like I said, turns like a dumpster truck. Honestly believe I might have to stack some command tokens and then nothing but navigation commands for the first few games

I think this is where Tarkin is realy gonna shine. Now I want a Victory SD with the "We brake for no one" sign on the back lol

I also think to get the best out of the Imperial fleet a Imperial fleet is gonna have to have a mix of Gladiators and Victories(at the start at least). Otherwise the Rebels will have the speed and agility to dictate when it comes time to start shooting. Although it would be super cool to see three Victories line abreast just slowly rumbling across the board blasting everything in their way.

With the Engine techs we will have to see if Armada uses the same wording as Imperial Assault for card usage (Im guessing it will), so if Exhaust this card means that you turn it sideways or something after use, then at the end of the round turn it back up for the next turn. Compaired to "Deplete" which in Imperial Assault means flip the card face-down for the remainder of the game.

Of interest on Engine techs though is the navagate icon at the beginning of the text.

I would read this as meaning that in order to use the card, you have to spend your navigate command (or possibly token?), so it wouldnt be able to do a navigate command, change speed and get an extra click, and then use the card to get a bonus move.

But then the text in the Star Destroyers preview does say: Engine Techs nearly double the efficiency of your navigation commands.

So that suggests that you maybe can use them as a bonus every time you reveal a navigate command? Or is it just implying that it gives you another way to use the command if you choose one?

Quite a different effect on gameplay depending on which way it pans out

If I remember right from the articles I read for my summary, Exhaust works as it does in Assault

The symbols are different, I think? Unlike Assault where you spend Surge or gain Strain, these are apparently conditions (when you reveal this command, do this).