I just picked up the core set, but I am wondering why the Nebulon B and CR90 can't also be used by the Empire? It seems like an easy fix to just print out CR90s with the Empire symbol and maybe a title upgrade like the "Warspite." The miniature bases already allow for placement of a faction token to show which side the ship is on.

From a business standpoint, I would think FFG would want Empire players buying these ships too. Of course, ships like the Star Destroyers and Mon Cal Cruisers can still remain faction specific only.

Any thoughts on why this is? (Game balance should already be good with point system)

I would say that there are two main reasons as to why the CR90 and the Neb-B cannot be used by Empire players (and why the Vic cant be used by Rebs)

1) The First reason is that it is not filmatic. While both the CR90 and the Neb-B are used by the Empire in the EU (and the Rebs use captured Star Destroyers as a large part of their fleet) we never see this in the films. It is possible that if a perspective new player saw the Empire using Princess Leia's ship they might be turned off from the game. By keeping these ships tied to only the factions we see using them on screen Lucasfilms/Disney can keep a cohesive feel to all their intellectual property.

2) The second reason I can see this being the case is for purposes of game design and balance. Although the ships do have a point cost to keep them balanced in relation to each other those point costs only consider in faction interactions between the different pieces. To include the ships in different factions they would have to consider all of their interactions with every ship and the point cost of ships like the CR90 would have to be adjusted to compensate for how powerful, or weak, they would be when combined with the other faction's pieces.

This is just my own thoughts as to why this is the case. i hope this helps to answer your question though, if any of my points need additional clarification please let me know

Well, FFG has been willing to use the same ships for different factions in X-Wing, I figure that they'd be doing the same in Armada.

not on the first few waves, surely

the more we can differentiate between the two factions, imo the more compelling the game becomes

They have not gone cross faction between Rebels and Imperials.

Eventually, you may see ships that look like star destroyers on the rebel side, however yu can expect very distinctive paint schemes / stats.

Well, FFG has been willing to use the same ships for different factions in X-Wing

They did that with 2 ship, and put them in the S&V faction, because the Z-95 and Y-Wing are fairly well known as being used by pirates and other criminal groups. So that means you might see CR-90's used by a S&V faction if they were to ever do such a thing.

That is not the same thing as giving the Empire a CR-90.

The Dreadnaught-class ships could be dual-faction ships. They were used by both sides in the war, and since they never showed up in any of the movies, the only people who would recognize it are likely to be familiar with its history with both the Empire and Rebellion\Alliance.

I would imagine that most ships would be a single faction though, both for visual distinctiveness and tactical distinctiveness for each faction. It might be interesting to try some faction mixing in casual games (though I'd probably make each person pick a single faction for titles/commanders/unique crew). Pretty much every ship likely to be in the game has been used by both sides in EU.

I guess I would just like to see the Neb-B given an opportunity to play with the Empire.... since they made it and all that.

The only reason X-Wing went x-faction is because otherwise they would have had to release 5-6 new ships all in Wave 6 to make S&V at all comparable to Rebs and Imps. Since Armada doesn't have this flaw we don't need any dilution of faction identity.

As Baron said - most people associate Nebs and CR's with rebs just as they associate pizza slice ships with the Empire. Hell, most of my friends only know CR90 by the name of Tantive IV.

Aside from that, again, as Baron said, some pieces might end up broken in the other faction, because suddenly, for some reason they would work three times better in the other faction due to some synergy, most likely becoming a must-have net list copy-paste pick. For example - if CR for some reason turned out to be a much better support ship for Victory than a Raider, you'd never see it fielded because virtually everyone would be playing the most efficient combo.

As it is now without faction-shared ships players will have to make the most efficient builds out of their own faction which, in my book, is much better because it'll look more uniform and nicer on the table. Sure, you could want to field some weirder, patchwork fleet, but what's casual play houseruling for if not for that?

Well, FFG has been willing to use the same ships for different factions in X-Wing

They did that with 2 ship, and put them in the S&V faction, because the Z-95 and Y-Wing are fairly well known as being used by pirates and other criminal groups. So that means you might see CR-90's used by a S&V faction if they were to ever do such a thing.

That is not the same thing as giving the Empire a CR-90.

The Nebulon-B is fairly well known as a pirate/privateer craft in the EU so it could show up in a scum pack as wel though I would prefer they just do an Imperial version

Not filmatic.

Tell us which episode the Victory Star Destroyer was in?

Anyways, nothing says you cant do that in casual games.

So one faction gets two small, unimpressive ships that have to make up with skill for the big guy's awesomeness in the core set... and the other one gets all three, just without x-wings? What's the point of picking rebs then, if you could field almost identical force just with SD's instead of lumpy calamari cigars?

Keeping them separate will help avoiding blurring the factions' visual style and integrity imho.

Not filmatic.

Tell us which episode the Victory Star Destroyer was in?

Anyways, nothing says you cant do that in casual games.

How DARE you assault us with logic, sir.

Also, once I receive my Wave 1 Expansion pre-orders, I plan to do this when, at night, alone in my garage, I play Armada versus myself in a mirror with an evil mustache drawn on it. Evil-Me always KNOWS what Me-Me will do next! He is a very difficult opponent.

There wasn't any cross faction ships in Empire at War and the distinction helped make the game.

Not filmatic.

Tell us which episode the Victory Star Destroyer was in?

Anyways, nothing says you cant do that in casual games.

Episode ?: Empire at War

But the Victory Star Destroyer is filmatic, though only because it reminds us of the actual OT star destroyer. Seriously, put the Victory & Imperial side by side and at the same size and only EU buffs will be able to tell the difference

EDIT:

speaking of smaller star destroyers, I hope we get the Acclamator (yeah it's a cruiser or something, still counts) before an imperial Neb. The ship looks far more "imperial" (mini-destroyer, so cute !) and it holds a soft spot for me because it made the Empire at War campaign interesting until the star destroyers were unlocked. I don't think I would have made it anywhere with those tiny, ugly tartan cruisers

In Empire at War, they occupied the same slot in the tech tree as the Neb did for the rebels (first tier anti-ship ship). The gladiator might already make them redundant, but they are different enough ships to merit the Acclamator's involvement in this game.

got to say that there will not be much stopping me from doing that in friendly games once we have a few waves out and my fleets are sufficiently sized to play out EU scenarios. I just got to have a retro-fitted Lusankya.

I hope we never see cross faction ships. Rackham did this with AT-43 with a mercenary army that was not only OP in and of itself, any faction could "hire" them into their army. This skewed the game into its final throes of obscene power creep.

I would love to see an Aggressor-class Destroyer with Tyber Zann as crew, but as a third "pirate" faction and not necessarily as a "I'll side with whoever I think is stronger"

we just need to wait for Armada Wave 6 for S&V

while I gotta say the forces of corruptions Consortium ships don't look much like anything in Star Wars (so many little lights) they do look pretty ******* awesome