Using Imperial Commander Cards on 180pt army

By thanosazlin, in Star Wars: Armada Rules Questions

from what i have seen building 180pt Imperial fleet, the 3 commanders Motti, Screed, and Tarkin, they all affect "other ships" in your fleet. but with what is available in the box set or combining 2 box sets etc... you can't IMO build an effect army with 2 Victory's they eat up your pts quickly. so having a commander upgrade on 180pts is useless but you are required to have 1 commander OR am i reading the cards wrong meaning the affects of those 3 commander cards ALSO include the ship the command is assigned to?? thanks

Tarkin affects friendly ships, not "other friendly" hence he affects the ship he is on. I would have to double check, but I believe the same is true for the others.

It's true. We haven't seen the depths of Tarkins true potential.

But he's already very good. So I wouldn't worry.

this is from the wiki site and what is on the cards, tarkin specifically say "EACH" friendly ship.

tarkin - At the start of each Ship Phase, you may choose 1 command. Each friendly ship gains a command token matching that command
screed - Once per activation, when a friendly ship is attacking, it may spend 1 die to change a die to a face with a SWM01 crit hit black icon.
motti - The hull value of each friendly ship is increased according to its size class
i read these as affecting other ships for each commander. BUT i am not sure if that ALSO includes the ship the commander is on? if so then that answers my question for 180pts.

i read these as affecting other ships for each commander. BUT i am not sure if that ALSO includes the ship the commander is on? if so then that answers my question for 180pts.

it doesn't say other ships, it says each ship. Every single ship you own benefits from it while in play.

Shich begs the question. What happens when Motti dies?

Do those hull points go away?

Will I be able to destroy 3 Star Destroyers in a single shot if I arrange things just right?

(I really want this to happen.)

@ Toqtamish , ok sorry i should have quoted the card i was just thinking and speaking :) . but you confirmed that the ship tarkin is on plus all others get the command token. i was reading it wrong much thanks.

Edited by thanosazlin

@ Toqtamish , ok sorry i should have quoted the card i was just thinking and speaking :) . but you confirmed that the ship tarkin is on plus all others get the command token. i was reading it wrong much thanks.

The reference for this is on page 6 of the rules reference under Friendly and Enemy: a ship or squadron is friendly to itself and can be targeted by an effect that specifies a friendly target unless it explicitly specifies "another" ship or squadron.

Shich begs the question. What happens when Motti dies?

Do those hull points go away?

Will I be able to destroy 3 Star Destroyers in a single shot if I arrange things just right?

(I really want this to happen.)

I actually just answered this in another thread in detail. Check this:

I'd say Motti's HP boost is lost to all ships if he dies, based on the following:

Commanders, RRG page 3: "A commander is a special type of upgrade card ..."

Destroyed Ships, RRG page 5: "All ship and upgrade cards belonging to the destroyed ships are inactive"

Given that the essentially 'active' effect of Motti's card being in play is rendered inactive if his ships gets blown up, then it defaults to the normal rule of:

Destroyed Ships, RRG Page 5: "A ship is destroyed when it has damage cards equaling or exceeding it's hull value" and "When a ship is destroyed, remove it from the play area"

So basically, with Motti gone, his card effect is rendered inactive, triggering the *when* of having damage cards matching or exceeding it's hull value, and when that happens, the ship is removed from the play area. Please note that it doesn't say when a damage card is applied, but just when the number of damage cards match or exceed.

So by the rules, as written, the moment Motti dies, so do all ships who's damage cards exceed their base hull value. Chain reaction. Fun times ;)

As for the OP's question, all commanders affect ALL ships in their fleet. Would be silly if they only affected other ships. He's respected everywhere except where he is ... **** mutineers, lol

Shich begs the question. What happens when Motti dies?

Do those hull points go away?

Will I be able to destroy 3 Star Destroyers in a single shot if I arrange things just right?

(I really want this to happen.)

I actually just answered this in another thread in detail. Check this:

I'd say Motti's HP boost is lost to all ships if he dies, based on the following:

Commanders, RRG page 3: "A commander is a special type of upgrade card ..."

Destroyed Ships, RRG page 5: "All ship and upgrade cards belonging to the destroyed ships are inactive"

Given that the essentially 'active' effect of Motti's card being in play is rendered inactive if his ships gets blown up, then it defaults to the normal rule of:

Destroyed Ships, RRG Page 5: "A ship is destroyed when it has damage cards equaling or exceeding it's hull value" and "When a ship is destroyed, remove it from the play area"

So basically, with Motti gone, his card effect is rendered inactive, triggering the *when* of having damage cards matching or exceeding it's hull value, and when that happens, the ship is removed from the play area. Please note that it doesn't say when a damage card is applied, but just when the number of damage cards match or exceed.

So by the rules, as written, the moment Motti dies, so do all ships who's damage cards exceed their base hull value. Chain reaction. Fun times ;)

As for the OP's question, all commanders affect ALL ships in their fleet. Would be silly if they only affected other ships. He's respected everywhere except where he is ... **** mutineers, lol

As for the OP's question, all commanders affect ALL ships in their fleet. Would be silly if they only affected other ships.

All commanders we know of so far. There is actualy nothing in the rules explicitly stating that any commander affects all ships in the fleet. It's the wording on each individual commander card that determines what ship/ships are affected.

It's very safe to assume that all commanders affect all ships in the fleet from now into the future of the line. At least from a purely logical perspective. No one, and I mean no one, would ever play a commander who can't be used on his own ship.

It's very safe to assume that all commanders affect all ships in the fleet from now into the future of the line. At least from a purely logical perspective. No one, and I mean no one, would ever play a commander who can't be used on his own ship.

Mon Mothma doesn't affect Home One

It's very safe to assume that all commanders affect all ships in the fleet from now into the future of the line. At least from a purely logical perspective. No one, and I mean no one, would ever play a commander who can't be used on his own ship.

Depending on the effect and the point cost of the commander in question, I think it would be very easy to imagine one that a great many people would play even if he did not affect his own ship. But that is all hypothetical any way.

My point is that the reason the commanders we have work the way they do is because of the text on their cards, not some general rule about commanders affecting all ships... as there is no such rule.

Mon Mothma affects all ships that have an Evade token. If a ship doesn't have an Evade token currently, it can't take advantage of her ability. She still affects Home One ... it's just that Home One can't take advantage of it. But if ever an upgrade card comes out that for some reason can grant a ship an Evade token, then suddenly Home One will be able to use it. It's a bit nuanced, yes, but I think you see what I'm getting at. It's not the Commander that refuses to affect the ship per se. It's the ship that can't situationally take advantage of it. The same applies for Tarkin. Tarkin affects all ships, but if he issues a Repair token, and one of the target ships already has one banked, then that token gift is wasted to that particular ship situationally.

My point being that while, yes, I agree that known text trumps assumption, it is very very unlikely that a *Commander* will not affect his or her own ship, assuming the ship itself is situationally capable of handling that command.