Hello folks ! Time for the Sunday Tactics Debate !

We've seen the top players of the GenCon tournament use ships without many upgrades, but we all know we love our combos !

How do you approach that conundrum ? What did work best for you ?

The floor is yours !

play what you like is basically the best mode of approach

though gencon wasn't really a case of "few upgrades," as the top list had quite a few ACM + the demolisher title. Sure, it doesn't seem like a lot, but I personally haven't felt the need to overload any one ship with upgrades apart from fatties (they're so fun to load out )

all the other ships have some kind of crippling risk that can really hang you out to dry

*cr-90s are squishy, esp at close range where even MM can't really save them

*Nebs are also squishy (dem sides) and have a bit of a problem coming to terms with their excellent but very narrow front-arc. Havn't seen much need to load them with upgrades apart from Yavaris and Salvation (+Raymus, cause who trusts dice?)

*GSDs are incredibly short ranged (and are very sad when they only get to use their 2/3 red dice ). Only Demolisher gives it the flexibility to go loaded (which normally translates to engine techs and an officer), but it seems to have worked out with just the lovely ACM.

*VSDs maneuver like brick in cement. Most upgrades are an optimistic proposition for them, unless they directly get around the VSD's core problem. Hangars + Flight Controllers does this well, because squadrons don't quite care about their ship's facing (just positioning). Dominator is another fun one, since it works out of any arc (5 dice out the side? yes please!) and is just silly out the front. H9 + Warlord also works out of all arcs, but I havn't gotten the chance to try it.

and then there's the fattie, the lovely chuncky straffer itself. This is so far the ship that is most able to keep itself out of harm's way while still being effective, a product of long range and 2 very wide dominant side arcs, and is therefore my personal favorite point sink

in general though, FFG has a sort of policy when it comes to upgrades. This started in X-wing, when they released B-wings and bombers with a hilarious wealth of upgrade slots but on frames that just couldn't take enough punishment to hope to use them all effectively. They stated that this design was intentional, because it forces choice and customization rather than force feeding the poor bastards with a standard loadout of everything .

I have a feeling Armada is similar

My opinion: Upgrades are only good if it directly plays in to how you plan to use that particular ship.

Every upgrade

1.) Makes that ship more of a target - more value to take down.

2.) More of a threat to an opponent, and makes it even more of a target

3.) Limits your number of ships. More ships, mean more targets, and more defense tokens to avoid damage. Divides your opponents firepower.

If a seven point upgrade doesn't offer you 7 additional points worth of value in a particular battle, save it toward another ship/bidding for initiative.

Staying low on the points offers your opponent fewer opportunities to score points.