So most of my friends are not heavy gamers, and while they enjoy playing with me they are not that into board and miniatures games to spend hundreds of dollars on them.

However i know that Armada is a game that we could enjoy for friendly matches. In that sense I was wondering if it's neccessary to buy a second core set in order for two players to play the game, or is it enough to buy 1 and some of the expansions.

In general, I am worried about a damage deck, dice, ruler and other components that come for only one player in the core set.

As far as I can tell, there is no reason that you need to buy 2 cores in order to play 2 players. If you want more dice or another ruler, they will be sold separately at reasonable prices. The only thing that may be needed from the second core is a second damage deck (we won't know for sure until the rules are released). Even if it is, in casual play I would probably just try to share one damage deck.

The bare minimum that you need to provide two fleets of 300 points each is: 1 core, 1 Assault Frigate expansion, 1 Gladiator expansion. If you want these fleets to be more competitive, you should probably add 1 of each starfighter expansion. I would recommend starting with one of everything (1 core, 1 of each ship expansion, 1 of each fighter expansion). I personally am starting with one of everything plus another copy of everything not in the core (1 core, 1 Victory, 1 Nebulon B, 1 Corvette, 2 Assault Frigates, 2 Gladiators, 2 of each fighter expansion), in order to maximize the number of fleets that I can build without totally breaking the bank.

As far as I can tell, there is no reason that you need to buy 2 cores in order to play 2 players. If you want more dice or another ruler, they will be sold separately at reasonable prices. The only thing that may be needed from the second core is a second damage deck (we won't know for sure until the rules are released). Even if it is, in casual play I would probably just try to share one damage deck.

The bare minimum that you need to provide two fleets of 300 points each is: 1 core, 1 Assault Frigate expansion, 1 Gladiator expansion. If you want these fleets to be more competitive, you should probably add 1 of each starfighter expansion. I would recommend starting with one of everything (1 core, 1 of each ship expansion, 1 of each fighter expansion). I personally am starting with one of everything plus another copy of everything not in the core (1 core, 1 Victory, 1 Nebulon B, 1 Corvette, 2 Assault Frigates, 2 Gladiators, 2 of each fighter expansion), in order to maximize the number of fleets that I can build without totally breaking the bank.

Thanks for the answer. Il probably do something similar. Though I think ill skip the gladiator a buy the revels an extra corvette, it seems that it makes sense for Rebels to have two of those.

The only thing im wondering is will there be multiple copies of the objective cards? if not, in order to have a 'legal' fleet you would need a second core for both players to have objectives they want. Of course, its not a big deal if your playing casually at your house i guess cuz both players could just agree to share an objective card if they want.

When I'm playing casually at home with friends who don't own the game we'll probably throw together some fleets and then do a random draw for the objective.

Thanks for the answer. Il probably do something similar. Though I think ill skip the gladiator a buy the revels an extra corvette, it seems that it makes sense for Rebels to have two of those.

Depends what you want to do. Like chemnitz mentioned above, that is the bare minimum to keep even and legal fleets. The other way you could do that besides the gladiator and the MK-II would be to buy two cores instead which I'm doing to avoid hassle, and because it really does come out to about the same price, but you'll miss out on the unique cards in the expansions. The objective card thing is also a good point! I'm surprised that hasn't come up in any other discussion on multiple cores yet...

Don't forget you can print the cards you don't have for use. Just can't use them in a tournament.