Good afternoon (or morning or evening) all.

My groups has been talking about the possibility of keeping the TIEs inside the hanger bay until needed.

I really like the idea of a ship hyperspacing in and then releasing the Squadrons as needed. Also perhaps allowing damaged squadrons to re-enter the hanger, perfect for a campaign where you may need to save Howrunner or Luke!

Perhaps it would take a Squadron command to do so, and if too much then maybe they could only move that activation.

So to start I will list, from Wookieepedia and some other sources, the Squadron capacity of the SW: Armada ships.

Squadron = 12 Starfighters typically divided into 3 flights of 4 fighters (or 4 flights of 3 fighters). Seems the same for Imperial and Rebel (scum).

Imperial Navy

Fighter Wing = 6 Squadrons of 12 Starfighters each

Imperial-Class Star Destroyer (I and II):

72 Starfighters/bombers (1 Fighter Wing)

8 Lambda Shuttles

5 Assault Gunboats

Victory-I Star Destroyer:

2 Squadrons or 24 Starfighters

Victory-II Star Destroyer:

2 Squadrons or 24 Starfighters

5 Lambda Shuttles

Gladiator Star Destroyer:

2 Squadrons or 24 Starfighters

Rebel Alliance

Fighter Wing= 3 Squadrons of 12 Starfighters

Nebulon-B Frigate:

24 Starfighters (originally 2 Squadrons of TIEs)

CR90 Corvette:

No Starfighter capacity listed.

Assault Frigate Mk II:

No Starfighter capacity listed on Wookieepedia

MC80 ‘Home One’:

120 Starfighters

MC30c Frigate:

12 Fighters (only according to rpggamer.org)

I want to also remind us that what Armada calls a Squadron is not necessarily, and most likely not, meant to be 12 Starfighters.

Actually I believe that what we see after deployment is exactly the moment. When the capitals spewed out their fighters after hyperspacing in. Lots of engagements in SW happen instantly with some ships popping out of hyperspace on top of the enemy to surprise them, it's actually very rare sight that fleets fly across the system to clash and so the deployment/first turn reflect the "just got out of hyperspace" status quo with both fleets starting stationary.

As for taking back fighters... I think it could screw up some scenarios, keeping your fighter squadron alive at 1hp to deny the opponent those points and, again, could bloat the game with unnecessary rules. Not to mention the time such maneuvers would take in a 6 turn match. Basically if you hide them, you will never get them back out because it'll be most likely sixth turn by that time.

Although it sounds like perfect moment to try houseruling it, just remember that it would make Empire's kill point denial outright broken.

I want to also remind us that what Armada calls a Squadron is not necessarily, and most likely not, meant to be 12 Starfighters.

On what basis do you make this assumption?

I want to also remind us that what Armada calls a Squadron is not necessarily, and most likely not, meant to be 12 Starfighters.

On what basis do you make this assumption?

Personally, I'm undecided about how many fighters each stand represents.

But... In favour of JMichael, if a Victory is supposed to carry 2 squadrons, and each stand is a squadron, why it does it come by default with a squadron command of 3?

I want to also remind us that what Armada calls a Squadron is not necessarily, and most likely not, meant to be 12 Starfighters.

On what basis do you make this assumption?

Personally, I'm undecided about how many fighters each stand represents.

But... In favour of JMichael, if a Victory is supposed to carry 2 squadrons, and each stand is a squadron, why it does it come by default with a squadron command of 3?

That assumes that its ability to command squadrons is equal to its carrying capacity.

I want to also remind us that what Armada calls a Squadron is not necessarily, and most likely not, meant to be 12 Starfighters.

According to the designer at GenCon, it is.

I don't think the Squadron Command value has anything to do with capacity. After all the CR90 has a Squadron of 1, but cannot carry any fighters.

One of the reasons I don't think the Squadron base actually represents 12 ships is just my feeling. I think, though they have 3 fighters on the base, they are most likely meant to represent a flight of 3-4 fighters. But this is only relevent if we do think of the Ship's actual transport capacity.

Klerych, I totally see your point and agree.

One of the main reasons I like the idea of transport capacity is to limit the Imperial forces fighters. Not to nerf them (I am an Imperial player), but for fluff.

So here is what I'm thinking.

Say a single TIE Squadron base represents 4 TIEs. This would mean a Victory class Star Destroyer could transport 6 Squadron bases (notice how the Core set has 1 VSD and 6 TIE squadrons...).

So in order to take 6 TIE Squadrons, you need to also have ships with the available capacity.

For example, if you wanted to take 8 TIE Squadrons, you would need to have 2 Victory Star Destroyers (or other ships when they are released).

I'm not sure how one would accurately represent this sort of thing, but I did always enjoy how Tie Fighters just kept spawning out of Star Destroyers like hornets out of a disturbed hive

In Galactic Conquest, the was the only way to get Fighters and Bombers if I remember correctly (since the ships weren't capable of operating independently of the ship thanks to lack of hyperdrive and life support)

The rebel ships just sort of didn't have hangars. The Rebel squadrons moved with the fleet, just like in RotJ

Course, Ties were balanced around continuous spawning (they sucked, until there were too many of them) and in Armada they're balanced directly according to their cost, so you'd have a hell of a time re-balancing everything

I want to also remind us that what Armada calls a Squadron is not necessarily, and most likely not, meant to be 12 Starfighters.

According to the designer at GenCon, it is.

Really, wow!

Then a VSD could only carry 2 Squadron bases.

I want to also remind us that what Armada calls a Squadron is not necessarily, and most likely not, meant to be 12 Starfighters.

According to the designer at GenCon, it is.

Really, wow!

Then a VSD could only carry 2 Squadron bases.

Someone suggested each base is an actual squadron, and he said something along the lines of that was exactly how he saw it. Each base represented a 12 fighter squadron.

You are assuming that the TIEs on the field are only coming from the capital ships. They could be from nearby planetary bases or something like escort carriers that have retreated into hyperspace.

This issue of squadron size has been discussed here. For sanity that should be continued there instead of the multiple topics in this thread about Ship capacity.

In this game, we have a situation where two Fleets/Task forces decide to meet and engage in battle. Unless there is a specific objective like Hyperspace assault or Fleet ambush.

But it could also be that by the time the ships revert, orientate themselves, do initial sensor scans, then could have deployed their Fighter squadrons in the time until they advance and get into range.

Honestly, why worry. unless you want to specifically create an objective were a fleet is completely surprised and didn't have any fighters deployed or ready.

Secondly, there are other ways to Transport Fighters into battle then the ships we have or know about. Simple pocket carriers, space hangers, or converted cargo ships could easily deploy squadrons as needed, but not be used in combat

So here is what I'm thinking.

Say a single TIE Squadron base represents 4 TIEs. This would mean a Victory class Star Destroyer could transport 6 Squadron bases (notice how the Core set has 1 VSD and 6 TIE squadrons...).

So in order to take 6 TIE Squadrons, you need to also have ships with the available capacity.

If you reduce the number of fighters per squadron to allow a VSD to carry 6 squadrons, you'll also allow a single ISD to carry 18. Which seems excessive to me.

So here is what I'm thinking.

Say a single TIE Squadron base represents 4 TIEs. This would mean a Victory class Star Destroyer could transport 6 Squadron bases (notice how the Core set has 1 VSD and 6 TIE squadrons...).

So in order to take 6 TIE Squadrons, you need to also have ships with the available capacity.

If you reduce the number of fighters per squadron to allow a VSD to carry 6 squadrons, you'll also allow a single ISD to carry 18. Which seems excessive to me.

18 sure does seem like alot, but the ISD is almost twice the size of a VSD and you would still have to pay the points for that many.