recorded a game tonight where squadrons played a very important role in the outcome. editting the video now will be posted tomorrow night with a brief article regarding some thoughts and excellent plays as well as some missplays. hopefully it demonstrates the squadrons strengths.

Forgot how clumsy iMovie is on iPad and my lack of motivation is disturbing. cut some of the bigger chunks out and exporting, just taking a bit, most likely still on for tomorrow around 5pm eastern. Will give me time to collect thoughts and post them.

recorded a game tonight where squadrons played a very important role in the outcome. editting the video now will be posted tomorrow night with a brief article regarding some thoughts and excellent plays as well as some missplays. hopefully it demonstrates the squadrons strengths.

Forgot how clumsy iMovie is on iPad and my lack of motivation is disturbing. cut some of the bigger chunks out and exporting, just taking a bit, most likely still on for tomorrow around 5pm eastern. Will give me time to collect thoughts and post them.

Looking forward to it berger.

And Rhymer increasing the range of the laser cannons of Tie Fighters to the range of full-scale turreted heavy laser cannons of capital ships .... this really feels like a glitch to me.

Rhymer represents a hero. Star Wars exalts heroes. Luke bypasses shields altogether. The full shield value of the largest capital ships in the game, and Luke's torpedoes magically penetrate the shields, despite being identical to every other torpedo fired by any random X Wing.

This a million times over. NO one is complaining about any of the other aces amazing abilities. I HATE when Luke get's an amazing critical through my FULL shields. How the hell can he shoot through shields? Oh yea, he's a hero and it's a game mechanic. That sucks, oh well.

That does not make Luke broken. Luke bends the rules. Rhymer bends the rules. Non-meta how the hell does it make sense? (Well, that's the best part, it doesn't have to, but it does.) Major Rhymer was the wing leader of Scimitar Squadron. By the Battle of Endor, he reached the rank of major. As the Death Star II was blowing up, Rhymer took part in the evacuation.

So, this dude was really good at what he did. His squadron was really good at what they did AND they had some pretty sick tech modified personally for their squadron.

The TIE/sa bombers of Scimitar Squadron were typically assigned to attack secondary targets and provide cover during bombing runs. Their targeting systems were calibrated to track fast-moving Rebel star fighters.

They were armed with proton torpedoes and proton bombs. Additionally the TIE/sa bombers of Scimitar Squadron were equipped with advanced targeting systems to increase damage during planetary bombardment, or in our case capital ships...

Also, fun facts:

Scimitar Squadron was assigned to Death Squadron during the Galactic Civil War and were utilized after the Battle of Hoth in the pursuit of the Millennium Falcon. Its TIE/sa bombers were sent into the Hoth asteroid field in an attempt to flush out the Falcon from its last known location on one of the larger asteroids.The squadron suffered several hardships during the search, including Scimitar 2 narrowly escaping a space slug and its subsequent damage from an asteroid collision

Now that everyone has been enlighten about Major Rhymer, can we stop bitching about him?

Also, fun facts:

Scimitar Squadron was assigned to Death Squadron during the Galactic Civil War and were utilized after the Battle of Hoth in the pursuit of the Millennium Falcon. Its TIE/sa bombers were sent into the Hoth asteroid field in an attempt to flush out the Falcon from its last known location on one of the larger asteroids.The squadron suffered several hardships during the search, including Scimitar 2 narrowly escaping a space slug and its subsequent damage from an asteroid collision

Now that everyone has been enlighten about Major Rhymer, can we stop bitching about him?

Well, I wasn't going to be convinced, but since you used 24pt font, I guess I'll agree.

And Rhymer increasing the range of the laser cannons of Tie Fighters to the range of full-scale turreted heavy laser cannons of capital ships .... this really feels like a glitch to me.

Rhymer represents a hero. Star Wars exalts heroes. Luke bypasses shields altogether. The full shield value of the largest capital ships in the game, and Luke's torpedoes magically penetrate the shields, despite being identical to every other torpedo fired by any random X Wing.

This a million times over. ....

Then for a million and one time: I think Rhymer's ability should only affect friendly squadrons with a 'Bomber' keyword on their card. Thats what I am basically talking about. Read the first post.

And read the post on which you have commented. And read your own post again. And notice that it would still fit to your fact and fun statements about Scimitar Squadron.

I think I also stated elsewhere that Rhymer levers the common mechanics for squadrons out, and therefore he is a broken element in this game. You can counter him, true. Rhymer is not an auto-win, check. Still it feels like you can glitch the mechanics out ... or even the mechanics don't work without him - this depends on your view.

Luke's ability is perfectly fine. His ability affects only himself and thus only a single black die. If all squadrons in range 1 of Luke would be able to ignore shields, I would consider him broken as well.

The other heros of the galactic civil war are also fine - or even greatly underpowered compared to Rhymer.

Armada still is a fantastic game. I think Armada would be even a better game if Rhymer had a different, less impacting ability, e.g. rerolls for friendly bombers.

Thats all for now, Starkiller out.

And Rhymer increasing the range of the laser cannons of Tie Fighters to the range of full-scale turreted heavy laser cannons of capital ships .... this really feels like a glitch to me.

Rhymer represents a hero. Star Wars exalts heroes. Luke bypasses shields altogether. The full shield value of the largest capital ships in the game, and Luke's torpedoes magically penetrate the shields, despite being identical to every other torpedo fired by any random X Wing.

This a million times over. ....

Then for a million and one time: I think Rhymer's ability should only affect friendly squadrons with a 'Bomber' keyword on their card. Thats what I am basically talking about. Read the first post.

And read the post on which you have commented. And read your own post again. And notice that it would still fit to your fact and fun statements about Scimitar Squadron.

I think I also stated elsewhere that Rhymer levers the common mechanics for squadrons out, and therefore he is a broken element in this game. You can counter him, true. Rhymer is not an auto-win, check. Still it feels like you can glitch the mechanics out ... or even the mechanics don't work without him - this depends on your view.

Luke's ability is perfectly fine. His ability affects only himself and thus only a single black die. If all squadrons in range 1 of Luke would be able to ignore shields, I would consider him broken as well.

The other heros of the galactic civil war are also fine - or even greatly underpowered compared to Rhymer.

Armada still is a fantastic game. I think Armada would be even a better game if Rhymer had a different, less impacting ability, e.g. rerolls for friendly bombers.

Thats all for now, Starkiller out.

From the rest of my post:

The TIE/sa bombers of Scimitar Squadron were typically assigned to attack secondary targets and provide cover during bombing runs. Their targeting systems were calibrated to track fast-moving Rebel star fighters.

Scimitar Squadron was assigned to Death Squadron during the Galactic Civil War and were utilized after the Battle of Hoth in the pursuit of the Millennium Falcon.

Rhymer was sent to chase the Falcon, obvious not only good at bombing, but shooting at star ships, so I see no problem with his ability either in just an in game regard OR from a non-meta aspect. He and his squadrons were good all around.

I just got the bad feeling you are only reading the first and the last 3 words of other ppls posts before you comment ...

I just got the bad feeling you are only reading the first and the last 3 words of other ppls posts before you comment ...

A targeting computer can send data to other ships so that they can link the shots to the one providing the data.

Since a targeting computer can send that information to any other targeting computer, how is it hard to consider that the data could be sent to non bomber squadrons?

I just got the bad feeling you are only reading the first and the last 3 words of other ppls posts before you comment ...

I have the bad feeling that you are not reading the posts and their inherent inflections.

A targeting computer can send data to other ships so that they can link the shots to the one providing the data.

Since a targeting computer can send that information to any other targeting computer, how is it hard to consider that the data could be sent to non bomber squadrons?

Cool, you are right.

And now lets sink this topic by not making any further futile comments.

Then for a million and one time: I think Rhymer's ability should only affect friendly squadrons with a 'Bomber' keyword on their card. Thats what I am basically talking about. Read the first post.

I think I also stated elsewhere that Rhymer levers the common mechanics for squadrons out, and therefore he is a broken element in this game. You can counter him, true. Rhymer is not an auto-win, check. Still it feels like you can glitch the mechanics out ... or even the mechanics don't work without him - this depends on your view.

Luke's ability is perfectly fine. His ability affects only himself and thus only a single black die. If all squadrons in range 1 of Luke would be able to ignore shields, I would consider him broken as well.

The other heros of the galactic civil war are also fine - or even greatly underpowered compared to Rhymer.

Armada still is a fantastic game. I think Armada would be even a better game if Rhymer had a different, less impacting ability, e.g. rerolls for friendly bombers.

Thats all for now, Starkiller out.

This would only have resulted in people taking 13 Tie Bomber Squadrons (+ Rhymer). And that's fine as long as FFG released a "Imperial Tie Bombers only Pack". :-)

Ok but in all seriousness, I'm inclined to agree with you that there is something 'off' about Rhymer given his ubiquity. That being said, I don't think Luke is fine (to use your other example). He's way too expensive (to me) for what he brings to the table. It's not like Luke is going to go off, by himself, and take down an enemy ship without any help. And since any help he gets inevitably involves chewing its way through shields, I think he's overpriced.

I'm liking Luke more and more. Particularly as other people bring more squadrons, I need something more than just B-wings. Luke flies escort to my B-wings, ups my anti-squadron game, and loves to be double tapped with Yavaris if they don't bring squadrons. Should he crit, I use Dodonna to go fishing for the dropping shields crit.

I think that squadrons would be overpowered if the OPs suggested changes were made. They are already quite powerful when used correctly, The worst hammering I have ever taken in this game was from a VSD carrier build spamming squadron commands from right behind his fighters and bombers.

while I like the idea of them being untethered, and thematically and tactically this makes sense, you then have a cloud of death which does not care about maneuvering, can attack and move in any direction, and can shred a capital ship like a school of piranha.

I thought they were pretty lame at first, but I have learned the error of my ways.

I just got the bad feeling you are only reading the first and the last 3 words of other ppls posts before you comment ...

I have the bad feeling that you are not reading the posts and their inherent inflections.

A targeting computer can send data to other ships so that they can link the shots to the one providing the data.

Since a targeting computer can send that information to any other targeting computer, how is it hard to consider that the data could be sent to non bomber squadrons?

Cool, you are right.

And now lets sink this topic by not making any further futile comments.

I REALLY don't like you.

Not only do you complain and whine about something being overpowering (which tells me you are not a strong player), but the when given reasoning for the ability and why you belittle people and call it a "futile"

I recommend that in the future you gain some tact and handle your approach a bit better. Thinking things through might just help you out.

I just got the bad feeling you are only reading the first and the last 3 words of other ppls posts before you comment ...

I have the bad feeling that you are not reading the posts and their inherent inflections.

A targeting computer can send data to other ships so that they can link the shots to the one providing the data.

Since a targeting computer can send that information to any other targeting computer, how is it hard to consider that the data could be sent to non bomber squadrons?

Cool, you are right.

And now lets sink this topic by not making any further futile comments.

I waited. . . Attempted. . . And gave a lot of thought to your statement. . . And one overriding though would not go away.

I REALLY don't like you.

Not only do you complain and whine about something being overpowering (which tells me you are not a strong player), but the when given reasoning for the ability and why you belittle people and call it a "futile"

I recommend that in the future you gain some tact and handle your approach a bit better. Thinking things through might just help you out.

Look, I have no desire for this.

You keep ignoring that I refered to the fact that Rhymer not only enhances the torpedos of his collegues, but also of the pewpewpews of his Tie Fighter escorts.

Repeating myself is futile because people read what they want to read. I'm sorry but your comment was futile in this respects. I'm just honest and direct, man.

Look, I have no desire for this.

You keep ignoring that I refered to the fact that Rhymer not only enhances the torpedos of his collegues, but also of the pewpewpews of his Tie Fighter escorts.

Repeating myself is futile because people read what they want to read. I'm sorry but your comment was futile in this respects. I'm just honest and direct, man.

Don't stress mate, just do like I do: put him on "Ignore" and move on.

I think FFG missed something because they though they needed to hold back the number of fighters a player fielded in a force, hence the you can only have 1/3 of your force in fighters. But as it turns out fighters are not worth the points and they could use a rule to force players to even use all the fighter command spaces in their forces.

I take a VSD park it in my corner and take 220pts of Squadrons or 320pts of squadrons. You now have to come through something like 32 blue dice to get to my one ship...... Squadron congalines. At that point we are playing EPIC: X-Wing and not star wars armada.

Not hard to do at all since your fighter mine field can only shot at ships with in range 1 you will be lucky if 10 can shot per turn and shooting at a non moving VSD it can't use any of its defense tokens

Since we so desperately *NEED* to justify this in a thematic sense...

There is no reason that a TIE Fighter shouldn't benefit from Rhymer based on his weaponry.

On ships, turbolasers are considered to have the longest range. Now, TIEs don't sport turbolasers, but they DO sport high power laser cannons, interestingly enough the same type of weapon system generally wrapped up into blue/medium range when ships are firing (Anti-squadron laser cannon dice are blue and fire at medium range, for instance). This makes sense, as with their long range targeting capabilities, they could achieve maximum accuracy with laser cannons.

Normally, a fighter's ability to meaningfully strike a target isn't based on his proximity so much as their limited targeting ability (All squadron dice fire at the same range regardless of weapon type, suggesting range is based on targeting). Rhymer targets like crazy, shoots his targeting over to a TIE who can use it to line up his laser cannons at greater distance than usual, and blam, makes his shot.

It makes sense whether you like it or not.

In game terms, I've never seen someone totally wiped off the board because a lowly TIE got to fire at medium range. Overpowered is most certainly is NOT.

I can't wait for this fad of fighter whining to end. They're fine. Maybe a little left-out when it comes to tournament scoring, but for the purposes of winning/losing a game, they're just another strategic choice during list building.

Honestly, It's going to be funny watching people whine in the opposite direction once Wave Two drops officially.

"I didn't take any fighter screen and Nym single-handedly eliminated all my brace tokens!"

Yep, that'll happen.

Since we so desperately *NEED* to justify this in a thematic sense...

There is no reason that a TIE Fighter shouldn't benefit from Rhymer based on his weaponry.

On ships, turbolasers are considered to have the longest range. Now, TIEs don't sport turbolasers, but they DO sport high power laser cannons, interestingly enough the same type of weapon system generally wrapped up into blue/medium range when ships are firing (Anti-squadron laser cannon dice are blue and fire at medium range, for instance). This makes sense, as with their long range targeting capabilities, they could achieve maximum accuracy with laser cannons.

Normally, a fighter's ability to meaningfully strike a target isn't based on his proximity so much as their limited targeting ability (All squadron dice fire at the same range regardless of weapon type, suggesting range is based on targeting). Rhymer targets like crazy, shoots his targeting over to a TIE who can use it to line up his laser cannons at greater distance than usual, and blam, makes his shot.

It makes sense whether you like it or not.

In game terms, I've never seen someone totally wiped off the board because a lowly TIE got to fire at medium range. Overpowered is most certainly is NOT.

I can't wait for this fad of fighter whining to end. They're fine. Maybe a little left-out when it comes to tournament scoring, but for the purposes of winning/losing a game, they're just another strategic choice during list building.

Honestly, It's going to be funny watching people whine in the opposite direction once Wave Two drops officially.

"I didn't take any fighter screen and Nym single-handedly eliminated all my brace tokens!"

Yep, that'll happen.

Yep. Wave 2 Squadrons are awesome, (I already have the villains) the rogues are really awesome as well. If every squadron had rogue, on it ships would be destroyed in a heart beat. As you pointed out, squadrons are a strategic choice. If you hate them, don't bring them. If you think it's unfair that Rhymer can shoot from so far away, when you see Rhymer on the board INTERCEPT HIM. It's not like he's "Major IG-88" who can shoot black dice at medium range and ignore counter and escort. Can't wait to see these people complain about grit and intel.

Since we so desperately *NEED* to justify this in a thematic sense...

There is no reason that a TIE Fighter shouldn't benefit from Rhymer based on his weaponry.

On ships, turbolasers are considered to have the longest range. Now, TIEs don't sport turbolasers, but they DO sport high power laser cannons, interestingly enough the same type of weapon system generally wrapped up into blue/medium range when ships are firing (Anti-squadron laser cannon dice are blue and fire at medium range, for instance). This makes sense, as with their long range targeting capabilities, they could achieve maximum accuracy with laser cannons.

Normally, a fighter's ability to meaningfully strike a target isn't based on his proximity so much as their limited targeting ability (All squadron dice fire at the same range regardless of weapon type, suggesting range is based on targeting). Rhymer targets like crazy, shoots his targeting over to a TIE who can use it to line up his laser cannons at greater distance than usual, and blam, makes his shot.

It makes sense whether you like it or not.

In game terms, I've never seen someone totally wiped off the board because a lowly TIE got to fire at medium range. Overpowered is most certainly is NOT.

I can't wait for this fad of fighter whining to end. They're fine. Maybe a little left-out when it comes to tournament scoring, but for the purposes of winning/losing a game, they're just another strategic choice during list building.

Honestly, It's going to be funny watching people whine in the opposite direction once Wave Two drops officially.

"I didn't take any fighter screen and Nym single-handedly eliminated all my brace tokens!"

Yep, that'll happen.

Yep. Wave 2 Squadrons are awesome, (I already have the villains) the rogues are really awesome as well. If every squadron had rogue, on it ships would be destroyed in a heart beat. As you pointed out, squadrons are a strategic choice. If you hate them, don't bring them. If you think it's unfair that Rhymer can shoot from so far away, when you see Rhymer on the board INTERCEPT HIM. It's not like he's "Major IG-88" who can shoot black dice at medium range and ignore counter and escort. Can't wait to see these people complain about grit and intel.

With wave 2 i am looking at running 10ish squadrons but with 134pts to spend I can add some more aces and feel comfortable. I am excited for Bossk and IG-88 the most right now. I will of course have to play the Fett-Man

Simply fix is rhymer can shooy at close range vs range one. Figure a glad I cost 56 points and has a side battery of 4 black dice at close range. Rhymer and three bombers cost 43 points and can fire 4 black at medium range. Both max out dmg at 4 crits/4dmg. But facing a assault frig the glad dmg can be braced to 4,with those 4 points spread among shield. The rhymer ball can only be braced to 6. Two bomber reduced from hit/crit to crit. But this means the brace is brunt and six points spread over shields.

Couple a rhymer with corruptor and the admiral that increase their speed and lets them ignore being engaged when a squadron command is used.

So rhymer should be change from range 1 to close and only with key word bomber

But b wings should be increased to speed 3 and x wings to speed 4. In the video games and books a xwing was as fast as a tie. Tie bombers slightly faster then y wings.

Simply fix is rhymer can shooy at close range vs range one. Figure a glad I cost 56 points and has a side battery of 4 black dice at close range. Rhymer and three bombers cost 43 points and can fire 4 black at medium range. Both max out dmg at 4 crits/4dmg. But facing a assault frig the glad dmg can be braced to 4,with those 4 points spread among shield. The rhymer ball can only be braced to 6. Two bomber reduced from hit/crit to crit. But this means the brace is brunt and six points spread over shields.

Couple a rhymer with corruptor and the admiral that increase their speed and lets them ignore being engaged when a squadron command is used.

So rhymer should be change from range 1 to close and only with key word bomber

But b wings should be increased to speed 3 and x wings to speed 4. In the video games and books a xwing was as fast as a tie. Tie bombers slightly faster then y wings.

My issue with this is if you Take Corrupter and the Officer you are all in on Rhymer, and if you lose him it comes appart too fast. Now add in the point costs for the title and the officer and it feels like over kill. I really prefer him as the only bomber with an escort of blue dice (at 400 i took an advanced and Vader) but i had points to spend.

I posted my battle report video from last night (see blog in signature). my opponent knew I was bringing him (he is my muse) and only brought 2 A-Wing squadrons. The video demonstrates pretty clearly what uncontested Rhymer and Co can really do to enemy ships. The problem with all bombers is you are not winning a dog fight and TIE bombers can only get alpha'd so many times before they die. So running interceptors with howlrunner and a small TIE swarm lets you win the dogfights while also still bombing ships.

Also the video shows how 1 squadron command can lead to 5-6 attack dice, which is in actualty 17-20 Hull points (3/squadron +2 extra cuz of the 2 aces). This nuetralizes the retaliation where I found with full ship builds Im trading ship for ship, hoping to score first blood so I can always maintain a ship advantage. The squadrons means I typically won't lose a squadron and will initiate the model trade from further away with more safety to my fleet. As shown, I drop my opponents shields and finish him off with a ship. he has lost a major points investment and I have not lost anything but maybe 2 squadrons in return which is still a 50-60pt swing for myself

Simply fix is rhymer can shooy at close range vs range one. Figure a glad I cost 56 points and has a side battery of 4 black dice at close range. Rhymer and three bombers cost 43 points and can fire 4 black at medium range. Both max out dmg at 4 crits/4dmg. But facing a assault frig the glad dmg can be braced to 4,with those 4 points spread among shield. The rhymer ball can only be braced to 6. Two bomber reduced from hit/crit to crit. But this means the brace is brunt and six points spread over shields.

Couple a rhymer with corruptor and the admiral that increase their speed and lets them ignore being engaged when a squadron command is used.

So rhymer should be change from range 1 to close and only with key word bomber

But b wings should be increased to speed 3 and x wings to speed 4. In the video games and books a xwing was as fast as a tie. Tie bombers slightly faster then y wings.

Bombers, including Rhymer can be intercepted and prevented from shooting at your ships. Your Gladiator cannot.

TIE fighters are fast, that is their one edge. TIE's have 3 hull points, X-Wings have 5. TIE's shoot 3 blue, X-wings shoot 4 blue. TIE's are not bombers, X-wings are bombers and escorts. X-wings do not need to be faster, you just need to use them by thinking a head.

If I launch a Rhymer ball at your ship, send X-wings on an intercept path, or if your worried about speed, send a few A-wings at them. When you see I'm deploying Rhymer and bombers, you should probably consider assigning some squadron commands. That's part of the game. It seems like a lot of people only want to play in a very ridged form.

"They brought Rhymer now I need to spend commands to activate squadrons to intercept and shoot at him, this game is broken."

(If they even consider doing that at all,) It seems a lot of people here would just sit there and take the damage and complain about how the game is not fair, when in reality they A.) didn't bring squadrons, so it's on them or B.) didn't activate the squadrons and therefore were unable to intercept and destroy. Once again, their fault.

Simply fix is rhymer can shooy at close range vs range one. Figure a glad I cost 56 points and has a side battery of 4 black dice at close range. Rhymer and three bombers cost 43 points and can fire 4 black at medium range. Both max out dmg at 4 crits/4dmg. But facing a assault frig the glad dmg can be braced to 4,with those 4 points spread among shield. The rhymer ball can only be braced to 6. Two bomber reduced from hit/crit to crit. But this means the brace is brunt and six points spread over shields.

Couple a rhymer with corruptor and the admiral that increase their speed and lets them ignore being engaged when a squadron command is used.

So rhymer should be change from range 1 to close and only with key word bomber

But b wings should be increased to speed 3 and x wings to speed 4. In the video games and books a xwing was as fast as a tie. Tie bombers slightly faster then y wings.

Bombers, including Rhymer can be intercepted and prevented from shooting at your ships. Your Gladiator cannot.

TIE fighters are fast, that is their one edge. TIE's have 3 hull points, X-Wings have 5. TIE's shoot 3 blue, X-wings shoot 4 blue. TIE's are not bombers, X-wings are bombers and escorts. X-wings do not need to be faster, you just need to use them by thinking a head.

If I launch a Rhymer ball at your ship, send X-wings on an intercept path, or if your worried about speed, send a few A-wings at them. When you see I'm deploying Rhymer and bombers, you should probably consider assigning some squadron commands. That's part of the game. It seems like a lot of people only want to play in a very ridged form.

"They brought Rhymer now I need to spend commands to activate squadrons to intercept and shoot at him, this game is broken."

(If they even consider doing that at all,) It seems a lot of people here would just sit there and take the damage and complain about how the game is not fair, when in reality they A.) didn't bring squadrons, so it's on them or B.) didn't activate the squadrons and therefore were unable to intercept and destroy. Once again, their fault.

Squadrons are a tool. When you take all ships you are essentially bringing a skew list. Skews can often work really well in other game systems (and this one) as if you don't hit someone with the answer to your skew you probably win.

The biggest issue in wave1 has been that most fleets only had 1 carrier. Listen to the IFF GenCon report when they talk to the GenCon winner and he states he strategy was to kill the carrier and the squadrons become non-threats. That is extremely smart play. That shows good tactics and strategic thought to be able to identify the lynch-pin of the list, neutralize it, and then win. Imperials at least have demolisher to distract your opponents from your carrier. As wave2 hits, I can take 2x ISD1s with Hangar Bays and Boosted Comms with motti and still take 10 squadron stands with aces and stuff mixed in. I now have 2 carriers with full squadron support. I am very excited for this. Motti affords me an extra turn of squadron commands as my ships have 3 more HPs. That is the stlye of armada i choose to play. All ships may be safer, or easier to pilot because your choice will typically be engineering or navigation commands. Ship spam is also with lower command value ships so you can adjust your plans and adapt much easier compared to high command ships.

squadrons force you to use other a different command other than navigate/engineering each turn. Some people don't like it as it means you may make a mistake and issue the wrong dial (watch my video report, I did that very thing). If you get comfortable running squadrons and know when and how to use them and how to place them to either shoot the enemy or catch them when they move they have a big pay off. Its great being able to shoot a ship and then move my squadron into its projected trajectory. Now my opponent has to decide if he wants to move into that little bees nest or adjust course, which sometimes takes him out of the fight.

Different strokes for different folks. If you don't like squadrons, don't play them. just don't complain when someone does, knows how to apply them, and starts picking apart your fleet. How many people would jump on a "squadrons have to be taken" campaign because a few people lost their carriers to all ship builds, so clearly all ships are broken and that's not how armada was intended to be played...... posts like these work both ways.

I've fought against Rhymer too many times to count. Frankly, if you think he's broken, you're doing it wrong. He is very easy to shut down. When Intel is added to the mix, then feel free to start complaining again.