While I think the current rule for selecting squadrons is perfectly fine (1/3 of points) how about this idea? "A Fleet may contain any number of squadrons up to and including it's Squadron Support Value". To calculate a fleets squadron value simply add together the squadron value for each ship in the fleet and the total gives you the maximum number you can take.

Thoughts?

I think most experienced players with squadrons wouldn't have more squadrons than the ship squadron value anyway though right?

Could work in a friendly environment. Like most houserules they tend to break if somebody is eager to exploid them. As your rule treats each squadron the same way no matter their respective costs, one could just bring all unique squadrons available, and have them carried by 4 vsd/AF2K with hangars. It would also favor ships with higher squadron value over those with lower ones, as their current point costs are balanced against the idea that they can activate x squadrons per round, not to bring x free squadrons to the table.

Anyway, try it, have it reworked with your friends and see where it takes you!

They never said it was free, it just changes the maximum numbers you can bring.

I think it sounds fun....it feels quite nice to me from a thematic point of view. Not sure how much different it'd make in game or the balance, but looks enjoyable to try.

This idea is actually also part of my homebrew ruleset. So, I like it.

Our house rule is x wings, y wings, tie fighters and tie bombers all cost 1 squadron point. A wings and tie interceptors cost 2 points and b wings and tie advanced would cost 3. Fleet points are needed to get Named squadrons only. We get a lot more out of the fleet points this way.

If that's the case, the table will be covered by snubs. Tried something similar against my sister once and even she had more Xs, the entire wing of 4 interceptors from Fel's Flying Circus gave her plenty of headaches. Throw in Mithel and she hates the chaotic snub melee.

Another case against my cousins, I brought x4 Rhymer Ball and x4 Flying Circus against his x1 X, x1 IN, x1 Advance. The whole entire table was cluttered by my snubs. It was hard to put the bendy ruler and pretty much spent a lot of time in the ship phase removing and putting back planes. This was a 350 point game and the x0.33 snub cap game.

Sure it does ramp up the epicness of it but rather messy.

One way to adjust is that possibly the fleet point for the non-unique snubs gets halfed? On one hand that increases the number of snubs you have on the table while on the other, mitigating chances of exploitation perhaps?

Alternatively you could do something like getting 5X the squadron value of each ship for free. That would get modified by E. Hangers I suppose. That way each squadron point isn't quite enough to get a TIE Fighter, but a VSD with Hangers gives you 20 points, the Demolisher another 10. Not bad for free points. It won't radically increase the number of squadrons, but it'll help every list include them without hamstringing the list.

Our house rule is x wings, y wings, tie fighters and tie bombers all cost 1 squadron point. A wings and tie interceptors cost 2 points and b wings and tie advanced would cost 3. Fleet points are needed to get Named squadrons only. We get a lot more out of the fleet points this way.

I will just take 100 Y-Wings. Seems fine to me. (sarcasm)

Our house rule is x wings, y wings, tie fighters and tie bombers all cost 1 squadron point. A wings and tie interceptors cost 2 points and b wings and tie advanced would cost 3. Fleet points are needed to get Named squadrons only. We get a lot more out of the fleet points this way.

So you pool the squadron points of the ships on the table first, then you buy the squadrons by paying with these points. Got it. Interesting approach.

Why is the Tie Advanced 3 points? This reflects its rarity, not its stats I guess?

An alternative idea, calculate your fleet squadron points and times it by 10 and spend them on unnamed squadrons. For example 4VSD would give you access to 12 squadrons and 120pts to spend on them. Thoughts?

An alternative idea, calculate your fleet squadron points and times it by 10 and spend them on unnamed squadrons. For example 4VSD would give you access to 12 squadrons and 120pts to spend on them. Thoughts?

I mean if you want to be fluffy, I'd make sure you could take the standard fluff set up of an Imperial-class Star Destroyer:

4 TIE Fighter squadrons

1 TIE Bomber squadron

1 TIE Interceptor squadron

...which comes out to 52 points and 6 squadrons despite the ISD's squadron value of 4.

My main concern with house rules is once you get used to them, getting re-acclimated to the generic rules you'll be using at stores and in tournaments can be jarring.

The way I see Armada is similarto World of Warships. I'm primarily a CV player there. IJN CV is my toppick for its combat air group composition. Its balanced as in you have divers, torpers and fighters. Though as you progress up the tech tree for it, the CAG size increases and it gets ever more difficult to micro manage. Having 8 plane squadrons to micro manage is no easy feat.

How does this relate to Armada? Both IJN planes in WoWs and TIEs have similar characteristics. They're en masse, fast and fragile. My concern for devaluing the squadron points in Armada is that you end up micro managing your squadrons more rhan your ships. Plus that'll also drag the Snub Phase. And in the ship phase, you'd spend more time rearranging the snubs.

For me, I'd make house rules for squadrons more for it's attack and movement. Example of I'm reenacting Operation Cerebus or attack on Taranto and/or Pearl Harbour, I'd simply allow the to attack AND move in the squadron phase. Fleet points would still be the ones printed on the cards though the ships would be devalued to say maybe 40% of their basic value??? And remove the 0.33 cap on the squadrons perhaps?

Depending on the reenactment, I'll adjust the ship points accordingly. Of course for Taranto or Pearl Harbour, ship points are negligible.

My real concern with armada atm is that squadrons take up too much valuable points, so I started to think up ways of still including them ( because they're cool) but still leaving plenty of points for ships. With this system you get squadrons but not an excessive amount of them but with the benefit of spending 400pts on actual capital ships (which lets face it is why we play armada). Named pilots and aces still cost fleet points though.

For me, I'd make house rules for squadrons more for it's attack and movement. Example of I'm reenacting Operation Cerebus or attack on Taranto and/or Pearl Harbour, I'd simply allow the to attack AND move in the squadron phase. Fleet points would still be the ones printed on the cards though the ships would be devalued to say maybe 40% of their basic value??? And remove the 0.33 cap on the squadrons perhaps?

Depending on the reenactment, I'll adjust the ship points accordingly. Of course for Taranto or Pearl Harbour, ship points are negligible.

If you remove the 1/3 of fleets cap and let them move and shoot each turn. I will set a motti VSD at speed 0 in the corner and have 300pts of squadrons in concentric rings in front of me. even if its just TIEs (9pts) That's 33 squadrons between your fleet and mine. 33 blue dice mines. I think that is a huge problem. At that point you are playing EPIC X-Wing, not Star Wars Armada.

House rules are fine but I agree they can lead to some bad habits if you decide to go the route of Organized play. Squadrons are fine right now, they just require some finesse and squadron commands as they are now.

For me, I'd make house rules for squadrons more for it's attack and movement. Example of I'm reenacting Operation Cerebus or attack on Taranto and/or Pearl Harbour, I'd simply allow the to attack AND move in the squadron phase. Fleet points would still be the ones printed on the cards though the ships would be devalued to say maybe 40% of their basic value??? And remove the 0.33 cap on the squadrons perhaps?

Depending on the reenactment, I'll adjust the ship points accordingly. Of course for Taranto or Pearl Harbour, ship points are negligible.

You know, a fighter raid on Imperial ships "in port" could be a really cool scenario.....will have to get cranking on this.

My real concern with armada atm is that squadrons take up too much valuable points, so I started to think up ways of still including them ( because they're cool) but still leaving plenty of points for ships. With this system you get squadrons but not an excessive amount of them but with the benefit of spending 400pts on actual capital ships (which lets face it is why we play armada). Named pilots and aces still cost fleet points though.

I had a post a while ago considering basically flipping the 33% squadron limit into a % (I recommended 25%, but you could stick with 33%) of bonus points that can only be spent on squadrons, while your other points are spent only on capital ships/upgrades. So like... in a 400 point game you would have 400 points for upgrades and ships and then 100 points for squadrons. That or something like it is probably the easiest pro-squadron house rule I could imagine using.

The problem is, again, nobody else would be using that house rule but you and your immediate play group. Once you leave the shelter of the house rule and go out into the real world you will be not used to a meta in which some opponents show up with no squadrons at all and will likely have competitive problems.

Furthermore, wave 2 has some positive developments for squadrons so it may be best just to wait and see for now.

I think most experienced players with squadrons wouldn't have more squadrons than the ship squadron value anyway though right?

No, I routinely go with More, because of what Squadrons I'm taking... Plus, its good practice - and makes the Squadron Command a Real Bonus to you.

Our house rule is x wings, y wings, tie fighters and tie bombers all cost 1 squadron point. A wings and tie interceptors cost 2 points and b wings and tie advanced would cost 3. Fleet points are needed to get Named squadrons only. We get a lot more out of the fleet points this way.

I don't like this at all. . . It skews the balance and makes a normal basic squadron 3 times better than any 3 point upgrade.

I will just take 100 Y-Wings. Seems fine to me. (sarcasm)

He wasn't recommending what to use, he was sharing what his group is doing.

Their house, their game and all that. Seems a guilt-free way of including squadrons. They will be in all games for both sides without having to miss out on ships that you couldn't have afforded otherwise.

He didn't say it literally but I'm sure there is a cap on how many squadrons his group may add to their fleets, ala total squadron command of his fleet.

Chill mang.

I think most experienced players with squadrons wouldn't have more squadrons than the ship squadron value anyway though right?

No, I routinely go with More, because of what Squadrons I'm taking... Plus, its good practice - and makes the Squadron Command a Real Bonus to you.

This is an interesting thought. Right now my 2x ISD1 list has 10 squadrons which means, I have no activations during the squadron phase. The issue is, If i put out bait squadrons for my opponent and lose them, I am now wasting points by having Expanded Hangar Bays.

In my video report you will see me toss out 2 interceptors to bait my opponents A-Wing. They have counter and I shouldn't get one shot. If I do, oh well I have counter as well. So the issue I ran into was, once my TIE Interceptors were both killed I now had either 2 expanded hangar bay upgrades I wasn't using or my choice of Tarkin as my admiral for auto squadron tokens was no longer worth it. So if i got over my squadron values on squadrons, I get more leverage out of my upgrades and admiral choice, the later the game progresses if I am losing squadrons.

I can't really speak from an Imperial Perspective... But I'm - at worst - usually looking at an AFMK-IIA, Neb-B Escort, and Neb-B Support, with BBBXYY

Yes, very very upgrade light.

That puts me one over my squadrons - at the worst potential - sometimes the X and a limited upgrade here or there is flipped over to A-Wings, but only rarely.

I still get 2-3 Yavaris Activations when I feel I need them (Bs, if not Ys, occasionally the X to really kill an enemy Squadron).

Could have explained my house rules better. We use 400 fleet pts for ships, upgrades, commander, and named squadrons. Then you can purchase standard squadrons with the total squadron value of your fleet. So maybe you have 10 or 12 squadron points to use to purchase standard squadrons. X wings, y wings, tie fighters, tie bombers cost 1 squadron pt each, a wings and tie int would cost 2 squadron points and b wings/tie advanced cost 3 squadron points. You're only gonna get a few squads still so the table isn't cluttered but you get to use the 400 points for your ships this way.

While I think the current rule for selecting squadrons is perfectly fine (1/3 of points) how about this idea? "A Fleet may contain any number of squadrons up to and including it's Squadron Support Value". To calculate a fleets squadron value simply add together the squadron value for each ship in the fleet and the total gives you the maximum number you can take.

Thoughts?

I like this idea, but I think it would require a change to squadron costs to properly balance. I see squadrons right now as in a bad way because they are essentially upgrades to ships as opposed to actual combatants. If squadrons changed to this method I could see them being a great addition to every fleet instead of something that has to replace ships.