Some random thoughts on commands...

Concentrate Fire - This command offers a single dice to any ship regardless of size. This makes it a more efficient choice for cheaper Ships (i.e. herd of Corvettes) while a VSD with a 6 dice frontal battery will not notice the effect as much.

Engineering - The value of this command scales with Engineering. Seems obvious but it becomes a more efficient choice for larger ships as opposed to the Corvette with a meager engineering of 2.

Squadron - This one is interesting due to the fact that the token is much less effective (only activate a single squadron) than the actual command. This makes it a more high risk option to set this command on your dial as if you come to use it and all your squadrons are engaged or out of range then saving the token doesn't do much for you. As such you may want to consider providing a 'carrier' style ship some way to change their commands - particularly the Command 3 ships as it is sometimes difficult to know if you will need a squadron command in two turns time or not...

Anyhow just thought that was interesting. It is a gross generalization but expect smaller ships to concentrate fire, larger ships to favour engineering, while squadron commands require careful consideration to avoid wastage. Navigation I find is just really good all the time - frequently more valuable than either a concentrate fire (if you can bring two arcs onto a single target) or an engineering command (if you can avoid an additional enemy arc).

I'd also suggest that Leia on a Corvette should be a default choice for any rebel fleet for emergency commands. Being able to throw a crucial navigate or squadron activation onto an assault frigate can swing the game.

so if small ships get more advantage from concentrate fire and big ships get more from engineering I you would call that balance...

I haven't played any games over 200 points as yet, but I've found the squadron command the most useful command by far, allowing me to clean enemy fighters away and then use my remaining tie fighters as poor mans bombers, I haven't found it too hard to keep my vsd around the fighter combat, to keep getting me the first activations (just core set games atm) but I don't see this changing much with wave 1 for my play style, (time will tell on that though)

so if small ships get more advantage from concentrate fire and big ships get more from engineering I you would call that balance...

Not sure I agree about Engineering.

A Ship with Eng2 needs an extra point to repair the critical.

Eng commands will always be useful, I don't think there is much scaling difference, nowhere near the percentage gain between say a CR90 and a VSD using ConcFire.

Paragon is a large ship that loves the concentrate fire command.

Same with dominator on the first pass. Squeezing all possible dice that you can out of them for an alpha strike can really swing the game.

CF is good with any ship at long range since no one so far can really shoot better than a Neb unless you dump EA on a whale

and as CC pointed out, CF with paragon is disgusting

I prefer to call it elegant! Just like the whale's shape.

I would disagree with ConcFire being de facto better on small ship...it's anextra dice, always. Armada is simply one of the most balanced mini games there is, and the dice/token system seems to be the core of that concept. So if you look at how amazingly powerful even a single dice can be on certain attacks, the fact that my VSD shot is only going up by 15%, my demolisher broadside by 25% my corvette front arc by 33% and my future raider side by double...it's still one more die to power through the tokens.

I've often opted to, on 2 seperate shots, to empower my heavy hit or my weak hit, and it works both ways. Loading up your 6 dice victory shot with yet one more black can pressure more damage through a single token, but adding it to your obscured side arc shot might be better depending on the situation.

Also, one of the few rules I'm not fully clear on is where you add the die. Some say after you roll, some with the roll. The rules say to add it to the pool, and you roll the whole pool from what I understand...yet you add it to the pool after you roll.

Now, if it is in fact after the roll it's even stronger as you can react to your roll when you're shooting twice.

Engineering is especially nice on 3eng ships due to tokens rounding up, and the dial can fix hull.

Manuever, to me, is very situational as you give up a lot use it if you're in a firefight...but it's a no brainer when out of one to speed up or slow down...and you don't need hard turns often when getting into a fight.

Squadron commands, to me, are easy to predict early. So far I've rab it as my second command on my Vic-1 "carrier" and it gets me bombing and set up to engage. Often follow up on turn 3 and if the opponent is fighter heavy I might just spam it 2-5 anyway as I love my fighter wing.

Though the one fighter token is pretty poor, though for the reasons you cite for ConcFire dials the tokens are great on squadron 1 ships, as you can bank them and dive into a fight, pushing the furrball in your favor as you unless heavy shots on dudes.

Look up in the RRG when it tells you you can resolve a Concentrate Fire Command.

I think the OP makes good points, and many of them leads to the next level conclusions players make while playing, ie "I bet that Corvette is going to concentrate fire rather than engineer right now given the situation."

In almost all cases, I won't use a squadron token without also using a Squadron dial. My VSD with enhanced hangers can activate 5 bombers all in one go. Huzzah!

Look up in the RRG when it tells you you can resolve a Concentrate Fire Command.

It took me a third section to see it clearly, actually.

As the Command says to add the dice to the pool. The Attack section says to roll the pool BEFORE you are able to add to it via the dial command.

However, I neglected to read the Attack Pool entry, which states it can consist of dice gathered after rolling.

Completely agree that the game is fantastically balanced. I was merely commenting on how the designers chose to differentiate between the commands/tokens (rather than make them all scale in the same way) which I find interesting.

Concentrate fire also seems a very solid banker token option as the reroll is often going to be as good as an extra dice if like me you tend to roll a lot of blanks!!

Of course the whole aspect can change by investing in some upgrades. Any ship with Turbolasers/Sensor Team is going to see synergy with concentrate fire as that extra dice is more valuable if it is driving a card effect.

**** I love this game!

Good thoughts. That tantive plus leia support ship can be really valuable.

Since I am a Rebel player without two AF mkii "space brains", 4 ship fleets are my focus. 4 extra Red dice are a big lift on key turns. I think thats not just about "small ships" as the tipping points argument above has something to it IME, same with engineering.

I think a squadron command being a risk is a really good point. That stated, I think it can have the most ppotential impact and you can often pick the right turn to time at least the initial one for.