Hey all,

I'm brand new to Armada. I'm an experienced Xwing player and volunteered to fill in for an Armada tourney this weekend. I was thoroughly pummeled, which was to be expected. The rules are very different, but the ships are gorgeous.

Now, I have done very well at Xwing (top 8 worlds last year) largely due to research and practice, and I KNOW that Armada has a ton of strategy in there, but I'm having difficulty finding it. I can tell that focus fire is going to be a big thing, but there's got to be more than that.

Is there a place where you can point me to start researching strategy? Is there a strategy for beginners place? I would likely fly exclusively empire (just like xwing).

I'm very tempted to make this game a thing for me. Maybe even replace xwing. But I need some serious strategic help.

Sunny

You can check out my commander's guides - general overview of each ship. I've got some tactics in there as well.

Concentrate Fire is another good resource - definitely check them out.

If you're more of a youtube sort of learner, Let's Talk Tactics is a good option as well.

And it definitely replaced X-Wing for me (more or less, I kept a few lists for casual matches).

As you may have figured out from your tournament this last weekend, it is a more slow-paced chess match sort of game, compared to X-Wing's dogfight feel. But the good news is that by getting in now you're getting in while we're doubling twice the number of squadrons and upgrade cards, and nearly doubling the available ships. So what meta there is we're going to see seriously shaken up in a month or so with the infusion of new ships.

Play games...form your own opinion.

If you win a lot...stay the course.

If you lose a lot...THEN research.

Don't ruin your journey into ARMADA with someone else's lessons learned (unless it significantly affects the wallet).

Learn fire is hot by putting your OWN hand in it.

That is, honestly, the best advice I can give. Play games. =)

I understand that playing games is a great way to learn, but I also found that if I can combine that with research, I have much better results. There's a lot of simple tactical advice for xwing that can improve your game exponentially faster if you're thinking about it while you make decisions. It doesn't play the game for you, but it helps solidify the way you approach situations.

That's the kind of stuff I'm looking for. Plus, when looking at things that worked for other people, I still have the ability to take it with a grain of salt. I enjoy taking in all strategic advice and then finding out what works best for me.

I enjoyed checking out that website. Got any other gems out there?

BiggsIRL's guides are awesome, they certainly helped me out. Lyraues and Schmitty both have excellent vids and guides as well, respectively. I'll let them post their own links here

Also, practice makes perfect. Just as you would practice flying past obstacles with X-wing, you should practice lining up shots for Armada. If you can get two arcs on an enemy you get to shoot at them twice which puts you at a huge advantage. Don't let premeauring give you a false sense of security. Yes, you will know where you will end up before committing to the maneuver, but the best players know where they will be several turns before they move.

Also, practice makes perfect. Just as you would practice flying past obstacles with X-wing, you should practice lining up shots for Armada. If you can get two arcs on an enemy you get to shoot at them twice which puts you at a huge advantage. Don't let premeauring give you a false sense of security. Yes, you will know where you will end up before committing to the maneuver, but the best players know where they will be several turns before they move.

I can't quote that enough. You not only need to know where you, and your opponent, will be 2-3 turns in advance, but you need to know what you will be doing when you get there. Guess wrong - Concentrate Fire when you should be repairing everything you have like mad, or fire off a squadron command when you should be navigating away from a trap, and you will find your ships out of position and quickly turned into crippled, burning wreckage.

Best mentality I had when I was doing my very first few games of Armada: Imagine all you're ships are shuttles while you are getting a grasp of the movement. Also take a look at the manuevering stick. Each 'click' is about 22.5°. So, for a VSD, with no Nav dials, it will take you 4 turns to complete a same orientation change as a hard turn in X-Wing (90°). Also, add to the fact that each game is only 6 turns, you start to realize how important you starting position and orientation is. As mentioned about, just need practice with the manuever tool to get it down, same as X-Wing with the various templates.

Oh, and welcome to Armada, you're just in time for whatever semblance of a Wave 1 meta to get shook up for the impending Wave 2 release.

Awesome. Good advice. Where are these Lyraues and Schmitty guides to be found?

Awesome. Good advice. Where are these Lyraues and Schmitty guides to be found?

Schmitty is my 2nd link.

Lyraeus is here.

Objectives, good place to start.

Set up the table for intel sweep and see if you can set up your VSD to grab an objective turn 2 and 3 with out having to speed change.

Figure out how a Rebel might want to place the objectives so he could grab them on 2,3 and 4. If you know where he's goin to be turn 4, before turn 1 starts...

Set up outpost, see how long it takes to get to range one and how long a ship can stay at range 1 with out dropping to speed 0.

Some people poo poo objectives, and in the big tournoments that may work, but in casual games the objectives are going to keep the game fun.

Objectives, and objective points in particular, have won me tournaments. Don't knock them even in big tournaments. It's easier to get the 10-0 if you pick up a lot of Victory Tokens as well. Try to make sure your ships and squadrons earn the points you spent for 'em.

Awesome. Good advice. Where are these Lyraues and Schmitty guides to be found?

Schmitty is my 2nd link.

Lyraeus is here.

Yep, that's the link to my blog. I've got a series there on formations that I'm pretty happy with. I'm currently working on a series about squadrons and how you can get the most out of them. My blog is still pretty new, so there isn't a ton there, but I'm trying to add to it regularly.

I will echo what others say and encourage you to practice maneuvering. You only get 6 maneuvers for the game and it is important to know not just where your ships can be, but where you can put your best firing arcs. Maneuvering Assault Frigates is very different from maneuvering Gladiators.

Something I initially struggled with (I played as empire with 2 V-class and 2 glad's) was whether I should put myself in a situation where I can fire twice, or if it's just important to fire broadsides. I read your articles about formations and it seems like just getting in there and mixing it up is ill advised. However, many of your ships in a line aren't able to fire twice since you wouldn't have arc.

Also, are empire ships more powerful from the bow? That'd make a fair bit of difference.

Something I initially struggled with (I played as empire with 2 V-class and 2 glad's) was whether I should put myself in a situation where I can fire twice, or if it's just important to fire broadsides. I read your articles about formations and it seems like just getting in there and mixing it up is ill advised. However, many of your ships in a line aren't able to fire twice since you wouldn't have arc.

Also, are empire ships more powerful from the bow? That'd make a fair bit of difference.

Generally speaking, it is very good to get a double-arc shot when you are talking about a single ship. For me formations are about making sure that multiple ships have overlapping fire arcs at the same target. Either way, weight of fire from multiple attacks is the most reliable way around defense tokens, etc. With a fleet setup to fire broadsides, Gunnery Teams, which allow you to shoot twice from the same arc, can be a real bonus.

And yes, generally speaking Imperial ships are strongest to the front, while Rebels have better and wider broadside arcs (with some exceptions). Different formations work better depending on the ships that you are fielding.

Thanks for all your help. This should be a solid start for me. I appreciate the community being so cool about helping a new player.

~Sunny