I really shouldn't speak without actually driving a Victory myself (waiting for Core set to come in, curses!) but talking to my manager today about Armada strategies and it was his opinion that Victories and the Empire really suffer in the core setup. Even with only core equipment the empire is always going to be at a disadvantage against the rebels.

Yeah, I haven't touched them yet but I'm not so sure he's right. My plan for taking a victory is to drive at speed 1 with a banked speed command, and hold my fighters in reserve until 1-2 turns later when I activate fighters, pounce on and chip away the X-Wings, and then annihilate any Nebulon-Bs that I know can't escape the forward guns.

If the rebels ever get behind me I'd throw that speed command to crank it up and try to get out of the rear arc. I expect my turn would be wide enough that I can throw off a pursuing CR-90.

And if the Rebel does something foolish like split his X-Wings or charge at me with the CR-90 I can respond accordingly by picking off the former, and shooting up then ramming the latter.

I guess I'm just wondering if more people are doing things like never changing speed and timing their fighter moves off and that's why the Empire has a purported loss ratio. Just because you're driving a victory doesn't mean it's going to be simple to win.

Nothing wrong with either side. Played ten games and watched many more. Both sides have an equal chance to win, model-wise, even with just a core set.

I played 2 games 1 as the rebel and 1 as imperial, and I will say that the learn to play scenario is heavily leaning in favor o f the rebels(as long as there admiral is halfway competent) but the turn limit balances it out because the rebels don't have the firepower I guess... Anyway

in my game as a rebel I was easily able to keep my ships at long range untill they were behind the Vic and then began following for the last 2 turns, during this my opponent did a similar thing to what you suggested by keeping his speed down to 1 after the 2nd round and slowly turning but a speed 4 corvette easilly gets behind it and then I slowed down and matched the vice speed similar thing happened with the neb-b (just a little slower)

Now my game as a imp we played a 180 or game as opposed to the learn to play and this balanced out the game for me a lot, first of all the set up on the learn to play (Vic in the center and the rebels strait across with there ships slightly spread) sets up a instant pinched for the imp which I corrected in the 180 point match by placing in the corner slanted inward,

That set up change made the world turn upside down preventing the rebels from getting a single shot on my rear arc and allowing my dominator to consistently throw 5 dice at them and I even had 1 8 dice attack!

I really shouldn't speak without actually driving a Victory myself ...

Sorry to be 'that guy', but you do not "drive" a spacecraft, you pilot it

Kuat drives star destroyers...

(Hmmm hmm see what I did there ha?... no? kuat drive yards lol)

Kuat drives star destroyers...

I hate bumper stickers, but I would put this on the back of my car in an instant.

Now my game as a imp we played a 180 or game as opposed to the learn to play and this balanced out the game for me a lot, first of all the set up on the learn to play (Vic in the center and the rebels strait across with there ships slightly spread) sets up a instant pinched for the imp which I corrected in the 180 point match by placing in the corner slanted inward,

That set up change made the world turn upside down preventing the rebels from getting a single shot on my rear arc and allowing my dominator to consistently throw 5 dice at them and I even had 1 8 dice attack!

My 2 Vic plan is a variant of this: set them up in opposite corners, facing towards board center.

Cannot wait to try it.

in one of my "learn to play" games I started at speed 2, and first turn I did a navigate to grab a token to slow down later. during round 4 I tried to navigate again to gain the extra yaw. Both times i ended up in the middle at speed one, failing at trying to out turn the rebels. In the first game the Corvette went head to head to the VSD and got one shot off. But the VSD returned with a closerange shot and finished off the last hit point of the corvette with a collision. With hindsight i think i should have spent rounds 4-6 just doing repair and regaining shields in both games

the VSD just cannot out maneuver the faster more nimble Rebel ships... but that shouldn't matter

I really shouldn't speak without actually driving a Victory myself ...

Sorry to be 'that guy', but you do not "drive" a spacecraft, you pilot it

You do in the English navy.

I really shouldn't speak without actually driving a Victory myself ...

Sorry to be 'that guy', but you do not "drive" a spacecraft, you pilot it

Submarines aren't strictly driven either but the helmsman are still called "Sub-drivers."

Piloting is also a thing I see more for starfighter pilots. "Helming" sounds too much like you're only steering them, and "Commanding" was too formal. Bleh

I played 2 games 1 as the rebel and 1 as imperial, and I will say that the learn to play scenario is heavily leaning in favor o f the rebels(as long as there admiral is halfway competent) but the turn limit balances it out because the rebels don't have the firepower I guess... Anyway

in my game as a rebel I was easily able to keep my ships at long range untill they were behind the Vic and then began following for the last 2 turns, during this my opponent did a similar thing to what you suggested by keeping his speed down to 1 after the 2nd round and slowly turning but a speed 4 corvette easilly gets behind it and then I slowed down and matched the vice speed similar thing happened with the neb-b (just a little slower)

Now my game as a imp we played a 180 or game as opposed to the learn to play and this balanced out the game for me a lot, first of all the set up on the learn to play (Vic in the center and the rebels strait across with there ships slightly spread) sets up a instant pinched for the imp which I corrected in the 180 point match by placing in the corner slanted inward,

That set up change made the world turn upside down preventing the rebels from getting a single shot on my rear arc and allowing my dominator to consistently throw 5 dice at them and I even had 1 8 dice attack!

If your corvette was at speed 4 and the VSD was at speed 1, it would take 3 rounds of navigate commands to slow down to its speed. Were you not ending the game after 6 rounds?

Personally, I have only played each side once.

The CR90 can really easily get behind the VSD. However, it becomes more difficult if you shade the VSD off to one side. I ran my VSD at speed 1 the entire time, threw my fighter screen out to catch the X-Wings, and shot down the Rebels as they approached. Took out the Nebulon B and then turned my attention to the CR90. The game ended with 2 HP on the VSD and 1 HP on the CR90. The CR90 rammed the VSD twice, but well timed repair commands meant his shots were not strong enough to finish it off.

I really shouldn't speak without actually driving a Victory myself ...

Sorry to be 'that guy', but you do not "drive" a spacecraft, you pilot it

You do in the English navy.

The English Navy has spaceships??

I have found that in my 7 games as Rebels & 2 as Imperials that the trick isn't getting behind the VSD I find that doesn't work well because how movement works (I shoot & long range, move into medium range, they fire medium then move to long)

I find its much easier and clip the ship at medium range by coming in from angles, the side barrage even at 2red 1 blue can be dealt with where with Dodonna & Dodonna's Pride upgrade makes it pretty ugly sometimes you get lucky enough to shoot from two different arcs.

I also have found that its never a good idea to send out the xwings far from the Nebulon B ... and use squadron commands to try and get first strike, moving out towards the tie fighters always ends up with my xwings dead ...

I have found that in my 7 games as Rebels & 2 as Imperials that the trick isn't getting behind the VSD I find that doesn't work well because how movement works (I shoot & long range, move into medium range, they fire medium then move to long)

I find its much easier and clip the ship at medium range by coming in from angles, the side barrage even at 2red 1 blue can be dealt with where with Dodonna & Dodonna's Pride upgrade makes it pretty ugly sometimes you get lucky enough to shoot from two different arcs.

I also have found that its never a good idea to send out the xwings far from the Nebulon B ... and use squadron commands to try and get first strike, moving out towards the tie fighters always ends up with my xwings dead ...

As far as the Squadrons go I think this is going to be the scenario till the wave 1 fighters get here. The Howlrunner pack and X-Wings pretty much clear most of each other off the table fast leaving one maybe two on the table by turn 3 and then the anti-squadron Fire from the capitals can finish them. Also the named characters are the first ships to target everytime.

Still though, I am loving the game and when wave 1 hits we will see the game's changing the way we see our games. The VSD is a good ship but it is too slow at turning to use its sweet 6 dice effectively so it will need help from the Empire's more swifter ships.

It's just the coreset

Empire has two assets: the Victory and Ties

Ties aren't exactly an anti-capital asset, so the poor Victory has to do all the work

the poor Victory is also slower than country-wide legality of *** marriage and has Command 3, which is going to take a new player a long time to adjust to.

That's about it.

Once Wave 1 hits and Imperials can bring more options (even just more Vics) the ship will slot right in as a right terror that can't just be driven around because it's got buddies on either side, hemming you in.

It's just the coreset

Empire has two assets: the Victory and Ties

Ties aren't exactly an anti-capital asset, so the poor Victory has to do all the work

the poor Victory is also slower than country-wide legality of *** marriage and has Command 3, which is going to take a new player a long time to adjust to.

That's about it.

Once Wave 1 hits and Imperials can bring more options (even just more Vics) the ship will slot right in as a right terror that can't just be driven around because it's got buddies on either side, hemming you in.

It does seem like the core set is limiting to the Imperials, but it's all about working within your restrictions right? I found that medium and long range were such a crapshoot against skilled navigators that I started using the VSD 1 instead of the 2 and have had decent luck. It does sort of exacerbate the existing problem, with the Rebels excelling at range and avoiding 'melee' range at all costs, but such is life.

In another vein I found that if you play two sets it opens things up a lot. One VSD pushed out front and focused on repairing and maneuvering while the other held back and made Ion shots to protect its brother. They were still close enough together that the rebels couldn't attack the rearguard without drawing fire from the vanguard, but the distance let them cover objectives, each other and even the TIE's I brought.

I played 2 games 1 as the rebel and 1 as imperial, and I will say that the learn to play scenario is heavily leaning in favor o f the rebels(as long as there admiral is halfway competent) but the turn limit balances it out because the rebels don't have the firepower I guess... Anyway

in my game as a rebel I was easily able to keep my ships at long range untill they were behind the Vic and then began following for the last 2 turns, during this my opponent did a similar thing to what you suggested by keeping his speed down to 1 after the 2nd round and slowly turning but a speed 4 corvette easilly gets behind it and then I slowed down and matched the vice speed similar thing happened with the neb-b (just a little slower)

Now my game as a imp we played a 180 or game as opposed to the learn to play and this balanced out the game for me a lot, first of all the set up on the learn to play (Vic in the center and the rebels strait across with there ships slightly spread) sets up a instant pinched for the imp which I corrected in the 180 point match by placing in the corner slanted inward,

That set up change made the world turn upside down preventing the rebels from getting a single shot on my rear arc and allowing my dominator to consistently throw 5 dice at them and I even had 1 8 dice attack!

If your corvette was at speed 4 and the VSD was at speed 1, it would take 3 rounds of navigate commands to slow down to its speed. Were you not ending the game after 6 rounds?

What happen was the corvette got around and at speed 4 was long range from the rear arc then slowed to 3 and was at medium and slowed to 2 at close, that was was the last turn but after that it would have matched speed and been behind that thing permanently

Well once the Assualt Frigates hit the Rebels will have some good firepower too. Their speed 3 and Yaw will make getting into a flank exchange of fire easy and the Assualt Frigate's fire power on the flank sides are better than the VSD's.

It is going to be fun to see how strategies develope over time but the Empire can't survive on one ship. I am getting 2 GSD's at wave 1's release and I am going to workout some good strategic ideas.

Well once the Assualt Frigates hit the Rebels will have some good firepower too. Their speed 3 and Yaw will make getting into a flank exchange of fire easy and the Assualt Frigate's fire power on the flank sides are better than the VSD's.

It is going to be fun to see how strategies develope over time but the Empire can't survive on one ship. I am getting 2 GSD's at wave 1's release and I am going to workout some good strategic ideas.

Me too Admiral, me too.

I have had good success switching to the Victory-I also. Giving it the expanded hangers and enhanced armament upgrades with the cost savings over the VSD-II has been a good help. My best success has been engaging the rebel X-wings with a 4 tie squadron command as early as turn two and sometimes 5 if I have a token saved. This usually buys my Victory valued maneuver space, free of dirty X-wings that I will end up overlapping otherwise. Several times my cunning opponent has just put his fighters in my path of maneuver, and waited for me to land on them. My ties will not win generally, but they do hold up the X-wings for many key turns.

Enhanced armament allows me to have a decent return fire volley at rebel ships who like to skirt long range on the flanks. I dont see the point of paying for the blue dice VSD-II when they are never in range.

Kuat drives star destroyers...

I hate bumper stickers, but I would put this on the back of my car in an instant.

"Vader is my co-pilot."

I had a cool learn to play game last night, i have so much love for this game and that demo doesnt have list building or missions!

The Vic was heavly damaged and couldnt steer the Neb was dead and the corvette was coming up at speed 4. the ties were all dead and there were 3 dmaged xwings moving for the kill.

The vic was able to redirect all damage against the shields. The corvette rammed the vic . The return fire finished the corvette and then the xwings killed off the vic. it was epic!