Going off of AdmiralCrunch's post, what other ways can you make Armada fun for a single player or run a practice session? Would enjoy hearing y'all thoughts and ideas.

One thing I thought of in addition to the bases is some sort of scenario to play out where there is only a need to play one side but Imperiale and Rebel ships both on the table. Not sure how that would play out however.

I don't think that you really can. Any kind of random movement system doesn't equal a thinking opponent.

Now, I'm not against playing a solo "game" to help brush up on the basic mechanics or come up with a movement strategy.

I don't think that you really can. Any kind of random movement system doesn't equal a thinking opponent.

Now, I'm not against playing a solo "game" to help brush up on the basic mechanics or come up with a movement strategy.

I guess you could formulate it like playing chess against yourself and play both sides as well.

Playing a tabletop wargame with yourself will never be 100% realistic, because you will know what the opponent wants to do, but as long as you don't start favouring one side over the other, you can keep trying to simulate a situation when both sides face an enemy good enough to predict their every move, and then react accordingly. While that gives you very little valuable competitive experience, you can, keeping that all in mind, figure out how to react in such situations and remember them in future to use them like all those famous chess moves. If you know how something works in various situations (especially when you know that enemy will predict your movement), all that's left is to learn when to use those tactics and how to react to those you didn't come up with while playing against yourself.

So, all in all, I think it's possible to play against yourself to make simple simulations of various situations that are likely to pop up while playing against other players, although it'll never prepare you for the random factor of other human player.

Very good point Klerych. One possible "game" I thought of was to set up a scenario where you assume it's the last turn of round 6 and the latter side has already moved. It would be required for you to perform certain actions in order to "win" the game in your last turn. I.E. ISD has x damage left and you have x points remaining and you have to move and attack in a certain way to either destroy the ship or cause enough damage points to win the game. I think the community could come up with some cool "last effort win" scenarios that would help build end game strategy.

Very good point Klerych. One possible "game" I thought of was to set up a scenario where you assume it's the last turn of round 6 and the latter side has already moved. It would be required for you to perform certain actions in order to "win" the game in your last turn. I.E. ISD has x damage left and you have x points remaining and you have to move and attack in a certain way to either destroy the ship or cause enough damage points to win the game. I think the community could come up with some cool "last effort win" scenarios that would help build end game strategy.

That's a fine example right there, mate! Another nice thing would be pausing a battle report at some point and trying to figure out what you think would be the best idea in such situation and then comparing it to what the player does instead and if it ends up being a better option than what you came up with (dice rolls aside, of course).

Playing a tabletop wargame with yourself will never be 100% realistic, because you will know what the opponent wants to do, but as long as you don't start favouring one side over the other, you can keep trying to simulate a situation when both sides face an enemy good enough to predict their every move, and then react accordingly. While that gives you very little valuable competitive experience, you can, keeping that all in mind, figure out how to react in such situations and remember them in future to use them like all those famous chess moves. If you know how something works in various situations (especially when you know that enemy will predict your movement), all that's left is to learn when to use those tactics and how to react to those you didn't come up with while playing against yourself.

So, all in all, I think it's possible to play against yourself to make simple simulations of various situations that are likely to pop up while playing against other players, although it'll never prepare you for the random factor of other human player.

if i were to play this game solo i would take my preferred faction and set all command dials first after thinking about what the opposing side could do

then i'd move to the other side and give an exact counter and move those ships in the most strategic places and activate in the best way possible to make it as difficult on my opponent as possible knowing full well on where i plan to move the other ships and play accordingly

again not not as good as playing another human being but at least it will give you the worst case scenario to fight in every instance

Chess.com does something similar called "the Daily Puzzle" and that could totally be a thing for scenario training (though there are a lot more variables in this game....)

Chess.com does something similar called "the Daily Puzzle" and that could totally be a thing for scenario training (though there are a lot more variables in this game....)

That's basically where I got the idea from haha. I think it would be cool for someone to post a puzzle and then people could talk about what they did in that scenario, compare outcomes, etc. With the dice some of the same approaches may come out differently.

Also going off of executor's post, that's a great way to practice "opening" (I know lots of chess references but it's pretty much my interest in chess to why I find this game fascinating). Again would be interesting to post your opening and how you would respond vs others as well.

I would play both sides! Gives me the practice, and seeing the game in motion from both perspectives helps me study it. Unlike X-Wing the "surprise" of the command reveal isn't as game-changing.

Full agree with the chess similarities and glad I'm not the only one who made the same connection

We've seen something similar in X-wing, with certain list archetypes gaining traction and opening moves becoming more predictable and functional. Hothie wrote an excellent article about his "drunken shark" opening for X-wing that allows him to react to a variety of situations. Obviously as the meta evolves we'll get a better idea of what works and how it might be applied to a puzzle scenario but I'd be very interested to see if we could work in some kind of daily puzzle.

I may port this idea over the x-wing forums as well....

If the ships could get ported over to the X-Wing Mission Control or Vassal that is how you could come up with scenarios obviously. However, you could use that as the basis for the "chess" match.

IMHO you cannot enjoy single player Armada without well developed schizophrenia.

IMHO you cannot enjoy single player Armada without well developed schizophrenia.

Good for you, mate!

IMHO you cannot enjoy single player Armada without well developed schizophrenia.

I am enjoying it and playing exclusively singleplayer—same as XWMG—with zero intention of ever having a real opponent for either game.

IMHO you cannot enjoy single player Armada without well developed schizophrenia.

I am enjoying it and playing exclusively singleplayer—same as XWMG—with zero intention of ever having a real opponent for either game.

i feel sorry for you

table top games are designed for social interaction. you should play video games instead. they cater better to the solo players

Maybe add some game mechanics? Add agro counters to each ship, make some targeting / movement logic cards. I'm thinking Myth/Recon style logic. Now the ships are semi-automated. You still fly it and shoot it, but the major decisions are resolved by the situation on the tabletop.

IMHO you cannot enjoy single player Armada without well developed schizophrenia.

I am enjoying it and playing exclusively singleplayer—same as XWMG—with zero intention of ever having a real opponent for either game.

i feel sorry for you

table top games are designed for social interaction. you should play video games instead. they cater better to the solo players

Why would you be sorry for him? If he enjoys playing it like that then what's wrong with it? also I am fairly sure he already knows about the existence of video games...

Maybe add some game mechanics? Add agro counters to each ship, make some targeting / movement logic cards. I'm thinking Myth/Recon style logic. Now the ships are semi-automated. You still fly it and shoot it, but the major decisions are resolved by the situation on the tabletop.

I like this idea a lot. Any ideas for possible cards?

Agro might be based on ship cost + upgrades initially. Then modified after placement giving additional points to aggressively placed ships or ones near objectives. Then "in game" agro goes up and down based on shots taken or support actions.

Cards could have different doctrines like:

Berserker: Fly directly at the strongest ship, consentrate fire on only one hull section.

Vulture: Manuver ship to attack the weakest shielded hull zone on the weakest target.

Etc...

Probably useful to also define the types of commands that each doctrine would aim for. These are probably bad examples, though. Hopefuly the forum would have better ideas.

I definitely like those ideas I'll have to think of some myself. Can also have some more "defined" objectives such as "you need to occupy a 1x1 square in the middle of the board" so there's more of a central flow to the game for both sides, then you pull cads for the other faction to make the attack decisions.

I like the idea, did try the learning game but the kids saw me and wanted to throw the dice so it wasnt solo by the end.

You have to build balanced squads then randomly determine first player and mission. In game though its easier than xwing to play solo and i didnt look at whats coming next on the vsd as i had forgotton anyway, plus the first 3were fixed.

If you get REALLY good and drunk, then you can play against yourself and truly not know what your opponent is planning...

I play against myself sometimes to test things out.

Based on the fleet build you can pretty much predict what the each sides overall apraoch should be. I play both fleets to their streanghts as 2 oposing players would do.

For example in a deathmatch game

Imperial fleet

Victory will alwayes want to start in the corner at speed 1, this way if the rebels try to flank it at high speed they will run into teh corner without place to manouver.

Victory wants to keep enemies in its forward arc if possible and take down 1 rebel ship early.

Ties are used defensively to protect the victory from xwings, going on the offensive against X supported by a Neb is a suicide.

Tarkin and offensive liason make it very flexible so you dont have to stress with planning too much

Rebels

Deploy ships apart and try to flank victory, use your speed to avoid getting destoryed

Neb flies with x-wing and atempts to deal with ties as quickly as possible (thats the priority)

Corvette aproaches from another angle and threathens the other flank, if needed it can make a sharp turn with manouver order at speed 3 to get out of range

There are three main functions where the AI rules must work the best possibly and without Human decision.

All other decisions to be made for the AI player can be made using the best possible decision.

Orders

Orders must be given in different ways if the ships have 1, 2 or 3 command points.

Ships with only one command point cannot save as many options but can act in a quicker way.

Command One Ships Table of Orders

Go down the list and use the command that first makes sense

a) If the ship is heavily damaged use Repair

b) If the ship is in a tight spot use navigate

c) If the ship is near squadrons that can be directed use Squadron

d) If ship can fire it's main weapons use Concentrated Fire

e) If all above doesn't make sense use Repair

f) If all above doesn't make sense use Navigate to put this ship in a better position

Command Two Ships Table of Orders

Roll 1D6:

1 - Choose the best: Use Repair or Use Squadron

2 - Choose the best: Use Navigate or use Concentrated Fire

3 - Choose the best: Use Repair or Navigate

4 - Choose the best: Use Repair or Concentrated Fire

5 - Choose the best: Use Concentrated Fire or Use Squadron

6 - Choose the best: Use Navigate or Use Squadron

Command Three Ships Table of Orders

Roll 1D6:

1 - Use Repair

2 - Use Navigate

3 - Use Concentrated Fire

4 - Use Squadron

5 - Choose the best: Use Concentrated Fire or Use Squadron

5 - Choose the best: Use Navigate or Use Repair

Command tokens should be used as soon as the need arises.

Target selection

Target selection should be made considering the type of ship and the type of targets available.

More soon

Movement

The tough part.

More soon