The more I play with a particular fleet, the more I find myself flying that fleet in roughly the same formation. I've found that as I'm building fleet lists, I spend as much time considering how I will arrange the ships and space them out as I do picking out upgrades.

I ended up writing a series of posts on my blog about flying in formations, and this is my shameless plug:

http://concentratefire.blogspot.com/p/out-on-maneuvers.html

But I'm curious is anyone else thinks about this or if you fly different patterns with each game? What kind of formations have you found that work for you?

Vader: "Stay in attack formation"

I always found myself following the Enders Game philosophy of keeping a fluid and flexible deployment that adapts to the situation.

Some fleets need to have some degree of formation to function well, but generally I find that running in any sort of formation gives my plan away early.

I like to think in terms of what turn I expect engagement to occur, and run my ships in as formless a fashion as I can until they converge where I need them.

I find that it confounds many enemy plans, particularly if there is no obvious intention behind your deployments.

Of course, I also use squadrons to delay deployment so I can control engagement as much as possible.

I think we'll see more formations pop up with the addition of large ships, with MC-80s and ISDs acting as anchor points. I can see the benefit, for instance, of flanking an ISD with VSDs to actually physically obstruct any attempt to flank the ISD and take shots at its much less dangerous rear.

Good points Tvayumat, with the coming of 400 point games we'll see potential fleets from 5 -6 ships. So formation will be used especially with same class ships like MCShrimps perhaps or maybe a horde of Raiders escorting an ISD with a few fighters for added seasoning...By the Gods I can't wait...

Cheers lads !!

I will say i saw an interesting formation on Hyperspace Assault where the imperial player deployed in the corner of his deploynent zone at spd 1 and then navigated to spd 0 in such a way that all his front arcs fanned a 120 degree arc

Excellent article!

Thanks for posting it.

Great read! Thanks for posting this.

I myself have been thinking a lot about this kind of stuff lately mostly involving my experimenting with various VVV lists. I have successfully ran a echelon line and my favorite a little move I dubbed "reverse flank" which I pulled in a game 2 weeks ago.

Basically I set up in a very tight line abreast formation on the left edge of the map and then my opponent (he had superior position objective) set up an assault frigate across from me and then his nebs a little further in to come in on my flank.

Set up kinda liked like this:

- Mk2. N N N

-

- (Station)

-

- (Asrtoid and

- Debris)

- (V1) (v2) (v3)

Anyway he was planning on bringing his entire force around the inside of v3, which has you have detailed in your articles would be very bad for me. So to counter this I had "reversed flank" which means I cut my outside vsd v1 behind v2 and v3 using nav commands for 3 rounds straight.

This pivoted my line with v3 now the new center and cut off any chance of my opponent gaining a flank advantage

Looked about like this on turn 4:

- (Station)

-

- (Astroid and debris)

- (V2). N. N

- (V3). N

- (V1). Mk2

This caught the Assault frigate which had been moving ata speed 3 between a line of star destroyers and the edge of the board quickily killing it and left the neb-bs to fly right threw the middle of my line, unfortunately I was only able to kill one neb-b but my fighters and objective tokens gave me a solid win

We were playing 400 points and both had about 80 points in fighters

Edit: gosh darn it my diagrams looked so Purdy in the editor but as soon as I posted them it removed all the spaces :'(

Formation? What formation?

The only formation that matters the most is getting there in one piece

Aide: "Sir, enemy seems to be in attack formation while we're not. Your order Sir?"

Fleet Admiral: "You have much to learn. The Empire doesn't do such frivolous stuff. Relay this to all ships. 'Attack the enemy closely. Blaze into the breech. The Emperor expects every man to do his duty'."

I like Victory Star Destroyers in echelon formation. During one of my recent games that formation allowed by B-Wings to smoothly transition to the second target after destroying the first one.

Yes. Generally speaking formations are a good thing but you do need to remain flexible.

Nicely done!

I did some experimenting, and I found that nebbies do okay with an echelon too. At least 3 nebbies on an echelon, where the 'diagonal' is facing the enemy fleet allows you to maneuver, and has a devastating common arc. I've not actually done this in a real game because I am afraid. Have you had any luck?

Line abreast seems cool too. Perhaps with an AF on either side to protect a flank?

I myself have been thinking a lot about this kind of stuff lately mostly involving my experimenting with various VVV lists. I have successfully ran a echelon line and my favorite a little move I dubbed "reverse flank" which I pulled in a game 2 weeks ago.

Edit: gosh darn it my diagrams looked so Purdy in the editor but as soon as I posted them it removed all the spaces :'(

I can picture what you are describing and have used similar tactics. One of the things about practicing formations is that you discover ways that you can quickly rearrange them to respond to your enemies movements.

Some fleets need to have some degree of formation to function well, but generally I find that running in any sort of formation gives my plan away early.

I like to think in terms of what turn I expect engagement to occur, and run my ships in as formless a fashion as I can until they converge where I need them.

I find that it confounds many enemy plans, particularly if there is no obvious intention behind your deployments.

I can absolutely see where you are coming from. I have found that the advantage of flying in a formation and having my firepower concetrated from the beginning is a large enough advantage that I don't mind giving away what formation I am using. I've also found I have trouble coordinating getting all of my fleet to engage the same point reliably. When I see my oponent deploy in a dispersed setup, it is usually pretty easy for me to send my whole fleet against a part of theirs.

Nicely done!

I did some experimenting, and I found that nebbies do okay with an echelon too. At least 3 nebbies on an echelon, where the 'diagonal' is facing the enemy fleet allows you to maneuver, and has a devastating common arc. I've not actually done this in a real game because I am afraid. Have you had any luck?

Line abreast seems cool too. Perhaps with an AF on either side to protect a flank?

I haven't played with Nebulons as much, just against them. I would encourage you to give it a try. You might lose your first game or two, but I bet you would learn enough to make it work better.

I find when i play Imperials i tend to keep my ships in check with each other, only blasting my Gladiator off when they get halfway because otherwise i get collision issues.

Rebels....actually no i never do any kind of formation. Then again i like corvettes for some reason, i tend to rocket along the edge of the board with 2 corvettes while my frigate and fighters trek up the front. Usually it all comes together where i can rearshot the same ship my frigate is hitting with both corvettes (gotta love EMP hehehe).

Obstacles tend to be an issue though. Theyre also the reason ive started hating black dice on ships, since that extra 1-2" or whatever Medium range is seems to be the difference when obstacles are involved and i cant turn for squat so i have to drive by widely. Initially i always took the VSD-I because it was cheaper and black dice hit harder, but im slowly learning the hard way that when you add obstacles that ship suddenly becomes a liability. Went 2 games never getting a black dice shot off because of the path i had to take to dodge rocks lol.

Great read

This was a great read, all there articles. I was wondering about squadrons role in formations. The present undervaluation of squadrons in the meta could be poor use and not really a problem with squads in general. Maybe, learning their place in formations (and when to break from) could elevate squads positioning.

Some fleets need to have some degree of formation to function well, but generally I find that running in any sort of formation gives my plan away early.

I like to think in terms of what turn I expect engagement to occur, and run my ships in as formless a fashion as I can until they converge where I need them.

I find that it confounds many enemy plans, particularly if there is no obvious intention behind your deployments.

I can absolutely see where you are coming from. I have found that the advantage of flying in a formation and having my firepower concetrated from the beginning is a large enough advantage that I don't mind giving away what formation I am using. I've also found I have trouble coordinating getting all of my fleet to engage the same point reliably. When I see my oponent deploy in a dispersed setup, it is usually pretty easy for me to send my whole fleet against a part of theirs.

I'll happily let you focus your forces on one part of mine. Nothing makes me happier than when someone deploys some obscene amount of firepower all pointed in one direction and moves it all in concert toward one target.

This basically means I get to pick where you're going, and if I'm picking where you're going, you're not going to be happy when you get there, I guarantee it.

I don't mind losing part of my fleet if it means I'm driving the bus.

Part of why I love this game is that the variety of viable strategies seems to be limited only by the skill and imagination of the player.

Great article. Something deserving of more attention is how formations can be morphed into each other. Sometimes it can be useful to start your broadside ships in line abreast and as they turn go into echelon and then a battle line. Can make the turn simpler.

Great article. Something deserving of more attention is how formations can be morphed into each other. Sometimes it can be useful to start your broadside ships in line abreast and as they turn go into echelon and then a battle line. Can make the turn simpler.

Two VSDs that start side by side at different speeds is an interesting morphing formation, for instance.

Over the course of turns 2-3 one falls back until it's nearly behind the other, catching any ships attempting to flank the fore ship in the front arc of the rear ship

very good read thank you for sharing. I haven't had enough personal time in the game to polish my fleet maneuvering. But this will be a valuable building block for me to start practicing.

This was a great read, all there articles. I was wondering about squadrons role in formations. The present undervaluation of squadrons in the meta could be poor use and not really a problem with squads in general. Maybe, learning their place in formations (and when to break from) could elevate squads positioning.

That sounds like a good possibility for a future blog article. I know that I am planning on writing up how to use smaller ships to support a battle line of heavy hitters. I tend to play with a light squadron presence, so I may have to experiment with incorporating squadrons into my battle lines somemore.

Great article. Something deserving of more attention is how formations can be morphed into each other. Sometimes it can be useful to start your broadside ships in line abreast and as they turn go into echelon and then a battle line. Can make the turn simpler.

Yes, being flexible enough to morph your formation is a key. It is best to practice some to explore the possibilities. My current imperial build starts with an Echelon that I morph into a Line Abreast moving down the long edge of the table. It works really well at keeping people from getting around the flanks of my VSDs.

Nicely done!

I did some experimenting, and I found that nebbies do okay with an echelon too. At least 3 nebbies on an echelon, where the 'diagonal' is facing the enemy fleet allows you to maneuver, and has a devastating common arc. I've not actually done this in a real game because I am afraid. Have you had any luck?

Line abreast seems cool too. Perhaps with an AF on either side to protect a flank?

I have flown a three neb one AF list a couple of times, nebs always in echelon. It has shredded my opponents including a 3xGlad list which i was really worried about. If you fly slow enough and get them to joust then you can you can focus one or two ships down with the nebs in a turn or two. Often you can then disengage before giving them much of a chance against your flanks.

I still want to experiment with it a little. I didn't feel my opponents flew particularly well against it and want to be more confident if it is the list I decide to take to Massing at Sullust.

Does "pointy end goes that way" count for vsd and gsd formation? Lol

I like to think football line formation as well. If you can pull your opponent in one direction you can open up their sides.

Sorry for the necromancy but I was interested in bringing up the subject of formation flying again. Specifically, I'm interested in everyone's thoughts of formation flying with MSU lists.

When I played X-Wing I enjoyed the challenge of of maneuvering a tight block of TIE's or Kihraxz's. When you did it right you had a nigh-inescapable killing field and had the option to break up and prevent escape.

I wonder if something similar is possible with combination of CR90's, GR-75's, and MC30's backed up by Mon Mothma or Rieekan. Perhaps a tight block of ships with CR90B's nearest to the enemy, TRC90's on the outside, GR75's in the middle pushing a token squadron force, and MC30(s) trailing.

Its a tricker subject, especially in comparison to X-Wing. In X-Wing, you generally want to have your "Swarm" block in tight formation because they're generating direct benefits with each other... In Armada, those direct benefits are far more limited.

To take an example, you can certainly equip a member of your Swarm of Corvettes with Toryn Farr, but one blue Reroll won't make a difference if you're upgraded a certain way to stand... And formation flying can be good to increase your own firepower to an enemy hull zone, but make you Vulnerable to that ISD's Gunnery Team situation....

That, and its an absolute monster to consider all movement potentials.... Again, as an X-Wing Comparison, X-Wing has a simple mathmatical movement diagram, essentially - there are only so many maneuvers, at so many speeds, with so many degrees of turn, account for base, and boom, you have a movement plan... You can do that in Armada, but you are seriously limiting yourself to a base set of permutations and not accounting for all of your possibilities - and depending on enemy action - some of those possibilities may be requirements.

Formation Flying certainly helps in certain situations... Facing an Enemy that has a couple of Large Ships but no Gunnery Teams? Formation Fly in that big arc knowing only one of you will die.... Formation Fly in side arcs...

Generally though, in Armada, you are striving to find a good balance of pressure (being able to threaten a shieldless hull zone, or at the very least, be forcing them to consider and burn through their TokenEconomy faster), and maneuver for yourself (to survive)...

I think if Admirals were not Global Effects, and instead, were distance based, then you'd see a lot more of the Formation Flying....... But with the larger play area, we're encouraged to use what we have available to us.

If you have a lot of short range ships on the board at the same time, or otherwise need to concentrate fire in a very small area, the ability to formation fly becomes advantageous for freedom of movement.

I've flown both CR90B and MC30 swarms with success, and both of these fleets favor the ability to fly formations. You don't necessarily always want to, but knowing how they work is very helpful at deployment. Deploying in formation lets you minimize the real estate you're taking up while still concentrating those arcs.

I don't know that I agree with Dras, exactly. Ships in Armada certainly don't provide direct mutual support exactly, in the same way that they do in X-wing. What you do get from formation flying, though, is Mass: the concentration of your strength in one place to breach the adversary's force at that point. Specifically, virtually all of the most powerful forms of direct defense in this game are all gated in their throughout by turn: defense tokens, repair, targeting scramblers, shield regen, ECM, all provide their benefit on an X times/amount per turn basis. Achieving superior Mass enables you to overwhelm these defenses, and is generally speaking accomplished by focusing multiple ships on the same target. This is in contrast to X-wing where (according to my limited knowledge of the game, someone can correct me if in wrong) your primary defense is defense dice, of which you have the same number for every single shot against you, regardless of how many adversaries are attacking you.

In this sense, every ship mutually supports every other, and the more you can pile on, the stronger your Mass. With longer ranged ships or those with larger batteries, this is less of an issue: "massing" a list that's built around maximizing an ISD means pointing it where you want it. But achieving the same effect with, say, 8 CR90B's requires a little more finesse, and that's where you see the value in formation flying.