Maybe no scenarios/missions? Imperial player pays fleet points to "field" rebel transports which immediately go under the control of the rebel player during the deployment phase (and the rebel player could do the same to the imperial player)? Now the opposition player has invested their own points in targets that you have to manage during the game. Hard to find a good system that doesn’t disrupt the core game (capital ships thumping on each other), though.

I dont see a use for transports in this game at all unless like some have suggested specific missions/scenarios are set up for them. Adding abilities and functionality to them outside of what they were built for seems a bit silly to me.

It's like a dark cloud rolled in and rained on everyone's parade....

But speaking of boarding, any suggestions how to do it or resolve the boarding action? You can reenact Leia's escape in A New Hope with the core set though this time round, Rebel HQ dispatches NebB and a squadron or 2 X-wings to rendezvous with CR 90

I'm working on a custom card for DX-9 Stormtrooper Transports, which will include a boarding ability. Still need to polish it some more, but watch this space

Use similar rules for boarding torpedoes in Battlefleet Gothic

Those are nice, but perhaps too involved for Armada's level of detail. My goal was (or rather, still is) to do something that fits neatly in a squadron card, even if it means sacrificing some "realism" for the sake of playability.

In my opinion, the major requirements for boarding are the following:

-The target ship should be stopped, or at least moving slowly

-The target ship should have its shields down, in at least one hull zone

-Small ships should be easy (but not guaranteed) to capture, large ships should be much harder

-Capturing ships should give some benefit over destroying them

It's very easy to write individual rules for each requirement... but way harder to come up with short, simple wording that accomplishes most or all of the above without adding extra components or rules overhead.

I went through several iterations before arriving at this (and I fully expect it to need further refinement after some playtesting):

Just some food for thought

EDIT: Just noticed boarding discussion has moved to a new thread - sorry about that!