Ive only just started into armada and am loving it so far. Much more depth than its few pages of rules would suggest. I've been looking at the points costs and Imperial ships seem to be much better than their counterparts for only a few extra points.

The Gladiator seems much more brutal than the Nebulon B and the VSD much better than the RAF mkII, each for only a few points more.

Am I missing something here?

Other factors within the points...

Its not just about the Damage it can deal, its the Range it can deal it at, over which arc and its size, its the Speed it can move, its defensive capabilities baseline, etc, etc, etc.

The Vic is more brutal than the AF. But the Vic1 is shorter Ranged, and both variants are Slower. That accounts for a lot of it.

Yup. A Gladiator has to get into a very short 7ish" range while the Nebulon-B has a full 12" of range. Then there is the double Brace (which is say is the strongest defense token), movement, shields, etc all factor in.

Another thing to note is that imperial ships tend to be very independent while rebel ships rely on synergy so in 1 on 1 comparison s imperial ships seem stronger but when the whole fleet is there it is very much balanced.

But because of this rebels seem to be a little bit harder to use especially for neww players