Now I don't want to tell you how you should play or that you are wrong, we are all different, but I might have a few suggestions.

By all means. This is what i am basically asking for, some advice on things to do.

As a side note (I don't think this has anything to do with me not getting the game), list building in Armada is sooooo much harder than in X-Wing, or just about any other wargame I have played. Then again, maybe it does have something to do with it. I never liked deck-building in Magic and this feels a lot more like that than x-Wing does. Hmm.

I can believe that. X-wing has no analogue to the global effect of Admirals, and there are about as many weapons to choose from like X-Wing's Canon/Turret/Torpedo/Missile spread. There's a lot more synergies to consider... such as where to get tokens from, or how upgrades/ships are going to react with a chosen Admiral.

And on the other hand no weapon in Armada is truly obsolescent. X-Wingers are still wondering what to do with their ordnance, which for over half the lifetime of the game has proven to be an almost useless upgrade category compared to other secondary weapons.

If you and your opponent are going back and forth on winning, this means you are relatively even in a match up. This is a good thing but when you play a tougher opponent it will feel less random.

Try this, set all of your ships to one speed slower than max (specific numbers don't matter here). Then do nothing but navigates. The first time you see an Assault Frigate "drift" the whole game opens up a lot.

Not quite sure what you mean here? Do this during a game, or set this up as a practice scenario? What do you mean by drift?

Do this in a game. Focus in a single aspect of your plan. Work on that. Polish that. Make it shine. Once you do, move on to the next.

This game to me is like Go to me. Area control is key, range and application of power is crucial. Focusing on a target is important.

It is a thing. Once I get a better camera (my Amanal cam!) I will be putting out Tactics's as I see them. Sadly this won't be till next year. I am working my self to hell and back. . .

"how do I keep these assholes in disintegration distance?"

I'm having this engraved on the Helmsman's Station.

Rather than get stuck on X-Wing and Armada, they are different, so completely and utterly different there just is no valid comparison. Ultimately I doubt that I could tell you what to like and how to like it.

A game is about making decisions, you are presented with a problem and you have to figure out what choices you have and what they mean in terms of the game.

So with regards to Armada here as some of the decisions you may have to make:

1. List building, what and how to build a fleet.
   1. Are you building to account for why you lost or
   2. Why your opponent won
   3. Are you spending all 300/400 points or are you leaving some to pick to play first or play your missions?
2. Have an idea about the obstacles and what you want
   1. Are you denying an area to yourself and your opponent to try and force the fight somewhere else
   2. Are they just randomly thrown down
3. Deployment
   1. If you are going first can you read the obstacles and figure where your opponent is coming from
   2. Where do you want your opponents ships (front or side of yours)
   3. What speed serves you best at keeping that arc aimed on your opponent for the longest
4. Command Phase
   1. The command you give to your ship is going to give you an advantage in an upcoming turn.
   2. If you are unsure play a maneuver dial that is I think the better choice when you don't see what is happening or how to make it happen
5. Ship Phase
   1. Understand this game is based on WW2 ships, they had turning circles measured in kilometers
   2. You are right that a ship has very limited choices, but you are never going to be able to avoid being shot at, it's by what at what range and with how many arcs More obviously if you can't get out of the front arc of an ISD then do you want to get to a position where you are in the side and the front?
   3. Look at your opponents ships, think about where you don't want to be and how he will try and make sure you end up at that place you don't want to be
   4. Squadrons that activate during the Ship phase have an advantage
   5. Some fleet builds can fly past squadrons so you may have to figure out where that ship may be in future turns
6. Squadron Phase
   1. You only get to shoot or move without Rogue
   2. Some turns leaving your squadrons be and moving them here is OK, other time you want the ship phase to move and shoot with them

Now I don't want to tell you how you should play or that you are wrong, we are all different, but I might have a few suggestions.

By all means. This is what i am basically asking for, some advice on things to do.

As a side note (I don't think this has anything to do with me not getting the game), list building in Armada is sooooo much harder than in X-Wing, or just about any other wargame I have played. Then again, maybe it does have something to do with it. I never liked deck-building in Magic and this feels a lot more like that than x-Wing does. Hmm.

I still believe and even a little more now that you and your opponents should try smaller faster ships and squadrons. These really open up the maneuvering game and places more on positioning from turn to turn. It opens up flanks, pincer moves and those all so lovely sacrificial ramming frigate. Cheaper ships means you will have more of them and it won't be bothering you as much when you have to use a ship to block your opponent's Flagship by ramming its front hull preventing him from moving for a turn.

When I thought of the Two Large Ships on each side I thought of an X-Wing game where both opponents flew YT-1300's kitted out. Maneuvering means nothing and it is all dice.

Wait, how was he configuring his ships to prevent you from using defense tokens? He'd have to either have H9s or Intelligence officers, and part of Armada strategy is considering how you would deal with such cards opposite of you.

Both, I believe. On all 3 of his ships. I couldn't use Brace without discarding it and I couldn't use Redirect effectively at all. With Ackbar and Orca's with gunnery teams.

If I may, I'd like to examine your list.

OK, let me dig it out.

ISD2 - Vader, Relentless, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team, Redundant Shields, SW-7 Ion batteries, Heavy Turbolaser Turrets

Vic2 - SW-7 Ion batteries, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team

Vic2 - Warlord, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team

The thinking was that with the front batteries of star destroyers, I would have spare accuracies and to maximize offensive output by using those. Hence the Ion Batteries and Warlord. The engineering captains were because I have noticed that repairing can be a huge benefit to the bigger ships, but only if you have the command at the right time. I figured he would give me more flexibility in my commands so that I could navigate or concentrate as needed by MY battle plan, and change to repair to respond to HIS attacks.

It is a mistake to presume that Armada is lacking depth considering the game is a successor of sorts to X-Wing.

That's just it, I assume that it ISN'T lacking depth, but that I just can't find it. If I thought the game truly was shallow and random I could cope and either enjoy it for what it is, or not play it. It's t fact that it does seem like their is depth to it but that it is hidden from me that is so frustrating.

Play the ships naked, no upgrades, and play them all.

Armada really is about foresight, and making the right decisions several turns (or before the game) before the ships get into firing distance of one another.

But how do you accomplish this? What factors to consider? I see this kind of advice a lot in threads about many games (not trying to pick on you here Mikael). To go back to the chess metaphor, I think I am looking for advice like "control the center of the board" and "have your pieces cover each other" not "capture the other guys pieces". I know what I am supposed to be doing, there just doesn't seem to be a way to reliably DO it.

If you're not really sure what you're doing during deployment, it's probably tough to figure out what made for the good or the bad plan when the battle happened.

That is an excellent point, and part of the problem. whenever we play, there is no indication of WHY the game turned out the way it did. Can't learn from your mistakes if you can't identify the mistakes.

for the VSD, "planning ahead" is "how do I point my nose at the thing I want to die." This involves gauging the enemy position, seeing where he wants to go (Esp in relation to obstacles, not to mention objective choices) and cutting him off or waiting for him there

I've actually gotten pretty good at this. Like I said, I had his ships in my front arcs the whole time they were alive. Didn't help.

for empire, it's more a question of range as in "how do I keep these assholes in disintegration distance?" as well as "arc."

OK, how do I keep these assholes in disintegration distance?" as well as "arc?

As a side note (I don't think this has anything to do with me not getting the game), list building in Armada is sooooo much harder than in X-Wing, or just about any other wargame I have played. Then again, maybe it does have something to do with it. I never liked deck-building in Magic and this feels a lot more like that than x-Wing does. Hmm.

I can believe that.

You can't believe what? I said list building was harder in Armada than elsewhere and then you listed all the reasons why it is harder. I don't follow?

If you and your opponent are going back and forth on winning, this means you are relatively even in a match up. This is a good thing but when you play a tougher opponent it will feel less random.

And in the meantime we are not improving because we don't understand what to improve.

Do this in a game. Focus in a single aspect of your plan. Work on that. Polish that. Make it shine. Once you do, move on to the next.

What do you mean by aspect?

Wait, how was he configuring his ships to prevent you from using defense tokens? He'd have to either have H9s or Intelligence officers, and part of Armada strategy is considering how you would deal with such cards opposite of you.

Both, I believe. On all 3 of his ships. I couldn't use Brace without discarding it and I couldn't use Redirect effectively at all. With Ackbar and Orca's with gunnery teams.

If I may, I'd like to examine your list.

OK, let me dig it out.

ISD2 - Vader, Relentless, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team, Redundant Shields, SW-7 Ion batteries, Heavy Turbolaser Turrets

Vic2 - SW-7 Ion batteries, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team

Vic2 - Warlord, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team

The thinking was that with the front batteries of star destroyers, I would have spare accuracies and to maximize offensive output by using those. Hence the Ion Batteries and Warlord. The engineering captains were because I have noticed that repairing can be a huge benefit to the bigger ships, but only if you have the command at the right time. I figured he would give me more flexibility in my commands so that I could navigate or concentrate as needed by MY battle plan, and change to repair to respond to HIS attacks.

It is a mistake to presume that Armada is lacking depth considering the game is a successor of sorts to X-Wing.

That's just it, I assume that it ISN'T lacking depth, but that I just can't find it. If I thought the game truly was shallow and random I could cope and either enjoy it for what it is, or not play it. It's t fact that it does seem like their is depth to it but that it is hidden from me that is so frustrating.

There's really no great counter to intel officer, you just have to play around it as best you can. But I would highly recommend taking Electronic Counter Measures in your Defense Retrofit slot, as it will allow you to at least ensure the ability to redirect.

It doesn't look like you or your opponent were running any squadrons. There is a great deal of depth in the squadron game. Especially if you are running big, slow ships like the Vic, Rhymer enhanced Tie bombers and/or Firesprays will allow you to reach out and touch those faster rebel ships should they be foolish enough to fly without fighter cover. I could go on for a while, but several blog posts have been made on the subject. Biggs, Hero, Smitty and I feel like I'm still forgetting a couple of people, all have very excellent blogs and have written excellent stuff on the subject. Norse also has some fine articles on boardgamegeek.com. I'm too lazy to look for the links, so I'll let them plug their own stuff.

As others have already stated, the Vic is a particularly slow moving ship. Try some of the others out. Also, play both factions, as it gives you a greater handle on how all the ships move.

If you take the time to do a bat-rep next time you play, with some pics, you'll get considerably more specific advice. There are some very insightful and helpful posters on this forum, and they aren't shy with the wisdom.

Both, I believe. On all 3 of his ships. I couldn't use Brace without discarding it and I couldn't use Redirect effectively at all. With Ackbar and Orca's with gunnery teams.

That's only affecting two tokens per attack. It's tough to deal with getting shot at by that much, but H9s are a good card. Intel officers are exhausts, so he shouldn't have been able to do that for two attacks...

When I'm facing Intel Officers I know to hold the brace token until I get a grevous amount of damage I can't handle. I know holding the Brace until my ship is destroyed won't save it, so I'd better use it at some point. For Intel Officer Assault Frigates with gunnery teams only one of their targets will be braced, and he has to decide before you spend defense tokens if it will trigger or not.

Seems like his list was a standard MC80 + AF broadside special. An opening strategy is to try to find a way to deploy in their front or cause them difficulty with terrain. Dangerous territory is kind of, well, dangerous in this regard since you can't use the terrain to force his deployment. What were the other objectives?

OK, let me dig it out.

ISD2 - Vader, Relentless, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team, Redundant Shields, SW-7 Ion batteries, Heavy Turbolaser Turrets

Vic2 - SW-7 Ion batteries, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team

Vic2 - Warlord, Engineering Captain, Gunnery Team

The thinking was that with the front batteries of star destroyers, I would have spare accuracies and to maximize offensive output by using those. Hence the Ion Batteries and Warlord. The engineering captains were because I have noticed that repairing can be a huge benefit to the bigger ships, but only if you have the command at the right time. I figured he would give me more flexibility in my commands so that I could navigate or concentrate as needed by MY battle plan, and change to repair to respond to HIS attacks.

Engineering captains are great but I think they are sucking up a lot of points. An element of strategy in Armada is knowing when to time your commands effectively so that you shouldn't have to lean on them. I just remade your list and it looks like you're undercosted by a few points... you can use some of them to trade your Engineering Captains for Intel officers of your own and fight on his terms.

Redundant shields is not seen as a particularly good card. My recommendation is ECM, because another key point of strategy in this game is just how important protecting that Brace is. With it, you can turn 8 damage into 4, which is a lot more manageable. Even if an Intel officer is staring at your Brace token, now you can clear the lock-downs with the H9s and use your fresh redirect.

And I'm not particularly fond of Heavy Turbolasers... I'd rather take H9s or XI7s, because preventing braces utterly is more effective than still allowing them to be used.

I'd also lose Warlord and trade that out for SW-5s, or trade to another kind of turbolaser. I'm not wild about the titles myself, especially when there are other cards you can take that are more familiar with other parts of your list.

That's just it, I assume that it ISN'T lacking depth, but that I just can't find it. If I thought the game truly was shallow and random I could cope and either enjoy it for what it is, or not play it. It's t fact that it does seem like their is depth to it but that it is hidden from me that is so frustrating.

I think just reading up on strategy articles and figuring out what other players do can help you grasp a little more of the complexities going in Armada, especially if you read the reasoning behind some of the player's decisions for taking their ships. If it helps, I've written a number of tactical guides I posted on Boardgamegeek talking about various aspects of things. It's mostly ships and fighter squadrons, but I have a page on Admirals there as well. Some of the articles also talk about some good combinations to take with the ships.

Armada really is about foresight, and making the right decisions several turns (or before the game) before the ships get into firing distance of one another.

But how do you accomplish this? What factors to consider? I see this kind of advice a lot in threads about many games (not trying to pick on you here Mikael). To go back to the chess metaphor, I think I am looking for advice like "control the center of the board" and "have your pieces cover each other" not "capture the other guys pieces". I know what I am supposed to be doing, there just doesn't seem to be a way to reliably DO it.

it's difficult to describe anything too blanket given the complexity of the game and the varying nature of objectives

which is why I advocated that star destroyer spam list. You're going to be doing a lot of trial and error, so having an easy to understand fleet at least gives you a basis to spring from

in short, for that fleet in particular, you set up the VSDs nearish the middle and then stall deployment with the four rogues before you put the ISD down on the outside of the formation. Basically, you want the VSDs to be the inside of the formation, because if they get in front of the ISD they're going to cause 3-destroyer pileup that'll make the Deathstar exploding look like confetti. That, and the ISD can hit speed 3 and has superior range that'll let it serve as an incredible flanker

SPAM navigates on the VSDs (they turn like a broken wrist, otherwise) to get them into position ASAP, pausing only to que repairs for the one your enemy begins to focus fire upon. Then, flag down the priority target by concentrating the tractor beams on it; destroy it like a star

"how do I keep these assholes in disintegration distance?"

I'm having this engraved on the Helmsman's Station.

just don't let Lord Vader see it

So with regards to Armada here as some of the decisions you may have to make:

1. List building, what and how to build a fleet.
   1. Are you building to account for why you lost or
   2. Why your opponent won

Don't know why anyone wins or looses so can't account for why.

I still believe and even a little more now that you and your opponents should try smaller faster ships and squadrons. T

Keep in mind that the 3 heavies was just one game, this has been a problem over a dozen or more games. Before wave 2 came out I was focusing on a couple Gladiators with lots of squadrons and sometimes a single Vic (because I didn't have any other option). I think we both went with small, heavy lists the last game just because they're the new toys.

Play the ships naked, no upgrades, and play them all.

Did that the previous game. Won that one, but still don't understand why exactly (although I am becoming convinced that having more activations is not just really good, but absolutely critical. Something I would consider a design flaw)

OK, how do I keep these assholes in disintegration distance?" as well as "arc?

Generally heavy Star Destroyer lists (especially VSDs) are waiting for the enemy to come to them. They advance as a wall of heavy firepower and their only fear is ships trying to flank behind them (like CR-90s/MC30s/Raiders/Gladiators/Nebulon-Bs/Assault Frigates). In this case your concern would be the assault frigates, but if he kept pace with the MC80 he wasn't going anywhere fast. This list was going to be an exchange of heavy firepower in a slugging match.

The key is making sure your list construction, with synergies, was superior to his. Already you can note that his MC80 can't take gunnery teams, so that one side arc is only firing once. Meanwhile all your Star Destroyers can take gunnery teams, so you can already pummel him better than he can pummel you.

Also you were not obligated to rush out to meet him. Meeting him at speed a in the middle of the board is just fine, as long as all your ships can fire at targets at roughly the same time.

You can't believe what? I said list building was harder in Armada than elsewhere and then you listed all the reasons why it is harder. I don't follow?

...I can believe that. And I was highlighting examples of why Armada list building was more complicated than X-Wing... for all the headaches and flexibility it can give players for the system.

And in the meantime we are not improving because we don't understand what to improve

We're trying to help

What do you mean by aspect?

Something like "Where is most of my damage coming from?" "When I do damage, what kind of effects am I triggering with it?" "Do I have fighters, and what is the best way to activate them?"

I don't play X-wing (not super interested in it, If I'm going to be doing something like that I'm digging up a joystick and playing some X-wing or TIE Fighter.) However, I've played most of the other games mentioned (Axis and Allies has some dice randomness. (Gotta love the dice there, one of my fiends now refuses to ever play Japan, as he couldn't sink anything in the Pacific, Pearl Harbor was his doom. Oh, and even the British ships survived.))

Armada is a game about predicting your opponent. Planning how to get where your opponent is going first, with more. Now how you do that varies greatly, especially depending on the objective.

VSDs are Slow, plodding and easy to run from, and predict. I tend to play Imperials with 2 ships an ISD and a VSD with a lot of squadrons. I've ended up wit the ISD followed by the VSD, both at speed 0 and the models touching, to deny my opponent the ability to do what he wanted, and shoot the hell out of me. (He had an absolutely beautiful line of ships with broadsides pointed at where I would be. NOPE NOPE NOPE!) A lot of it is about controlling the ranges of engagement, and angles, to get multiple attacks against a target. Because my opponents generally ignore my VSD as a fighting platform, I can use it as a squadron command platform (and the few opportunities to shoot with it, Woo!), and it's to unwieldy to force an engagement, but can hurt them at long range.

Now, with the commands, you have to predict. Where and what your opponent is going to do, and what you can do to prevent it. Are they coming with close range ships like Gladiators, that have to get really close? Are they going to be long range and try to prevent you from closing? Fighters to smother you if you do close?

There's more randomness, but I'm having trouble thinking of a game that really requires as much foresight as Armada that's not something fairly abstract, like Starfire. Chess may require you to think more moves ahead, but the positions are easily known. Actually, that's not too bad of an analogy, considering the number of ships (3 in a general game, to plan for 3 turns in advance, you have to think at least 13 complicated moves in the future. (6 ships each turn, and if you are the first that goes in turn 3), in this though there is the randomness of dice. Then the calculation of expenditure of defense tokens. Am I going to need this in 2 turns, is there something nastier I want to save this brace for? Is that ship still going to be in range?

That's the sort of thing you need to predict. For you, I'd suggest running something like a rebel fleet with nothing bigger than an Nebulon-B, and a lot of fighters. See the flexibility that gives you and how that's amazingly different from the Imperials. (Though the individual ships are quite fragile compared to the Imperials.)

Hope that helps you some.

So with regards to Armada here as some of the decisions you may have to make:

• List building, what and how to build a fleet.

• Are you building to account for why you lost or
• Why your opponent won

Don't know why anyone wins or looses so can't account for why.

Well, what do you think was the turning point of your last game? What tipped the balance from one side or the other?

Was it a ship blocking a movement? Was it an accidental ram? Did a player use a squadron command at the right time or was it too early?

Who won? Was it by points or was it by fleet destruction?

If it was by points, did the objective provide a lot of points? Was it useful?

What ship did the most work for you? Why?

Answer these questions as best as you can for your last few games. It will help you provide an insight.

Play the ships naked, no upgrades, and play them all.

Did that the previous game. Won that one, but still don't understand why exactly (although I am becoming convinced that having more activations is not just really good, but absolutely critical. Something I would consider a design flaw)

Why? It's about the same as having more bodies in X-Wing. More TIE Fighters to take hits and die without losing is just like having more CR-90s to activate and out-initiative your opponent.

That said I've taken on four CR-90s in my Star Destroyer before. Blew up three of them and sped away from the forth as it tried to flank. So at least as of Wave 2 it's not impossible to overcome once you're in firing range. That kind of attacking is also something you can't do in X-Wing without using Bombs.

Amanal has some great points about decisions in his post above.

Armada really is about foresight, and making the right decisions several turns (or before the game) before the ships get into firing distance of one another.

But how do you accomplish this? What factors to consider? I see this kind of advice a lot in threads about many games (not trying to pick on you here Mikael). To go back to the chess metaphor, I think I am looking for advice like "control the center of the board" and "have your pieces cover each other" not "capture the other guys pieces". I know what I am supposed to be doing, there just doesn't seem to be a way to reliably DO it.

I think my vile and contemptible Rebel opponent Lyraeus once said that Armada is like watching a train wreck in slow motion. (He probably stole the quote, being all Rebel and all.)

Having foresight is about thinking a number of moves ahead; thinking about which ship is going to move when in the turns ahead. Unlike X-Wing, where starfighters can dramatically change course (they can feint), ships in Armada cannot do that as much. You have an idea of where they're going to go and roughly when, depending on speed. Obviously, your opponent might try to fake you out, but he might pay a cost for it. That means you should do some contingency planning.

While I don't feel that I have that much insight into the game, I guess my stack of medals (and two Sullust ISDs) tells me that I'm okay at it. (I give all thanks to the Dark Side for that.) But I can say the following:

* More activations is good; it's not the end-all/be-all.

* Unless you have Raiders/Corvettes, or an Engine-Teched Demolisher, getting around and behind your opponent's ships is not worth the effort. People will see that coming.

* Do evil things to appease the Dark Side (If you're an Empire player that is).

* The conventional wisdom of your local meta is their weakness. Use it.

I think you're only one realization away from it, which might be why it is so maddening.

You may be well served reading articles, as previously mentioned, but making note of all the variables you see, regardless of their category: Speed, armament, cost, ship count, activations, maneuvers, formations, commands, all of it. Build up the vocabulary before you try to conjugate.

Play the ships naked, no upgrades, and play them all.

Did that the previous game. Won that one, but still don't understand why exactly (although I am becoming convinced that having more activations is not just really good, but absolutely critical. Something I would consider a design flaw)

Why? It's about the same as having more bodies in X-Wing. More TIE Fighters to take hits and die without losing is just like having more CR-90s to activate and out-initiative your opponent.

That said I've taken on four CR-90s in my Star Destroyer before. Blew up three of them and sped away from the forth as it tried to flank. So at least as of Wave 2 it's not impossible to overcome once you're in firing range.

If you are hitting the same hull zone over and over it will do more damage over time than hitting multiple hull zones

Both, I believe. On all 3 of his ships. I couldn't use Brace without discarding it and I couldn't use Redirect effectively at all. With Ackbar and Orca's with gunnery teams.

That's only affecting two tokens per attack. It's tough to deal with getting shot at by that much, but H9s are a good card. Intel officers are exhausts, so he shouldn't have been able to do that for two attacks...

Just looked up the cards and it was Intel officers and XI-7s (another part of the problem, its impossible for me to remember what the various upgrades with random names do). So he could Intel officer to prevent me from using brace (unless I want to discard it) and the XI-7s stopped both redirects from doing anything meaningful. Meaning the Vics had no tokens that were worth a ****, and the ISD only had a contain.

I think you're only one realization away from it, which might be why it is so maddening.

You may be well served reading articles, as previously mentioned, but making note of all the variables you see, regardless of their category: Speed, armament, cost, ship count, activations, maneuvers, formations, commands, all of it. Build up the vocabulary before you try to conjugate.

helps to understand the little things

distance v maneuver template v size of ship bases, the amount of degrees your hullzones shift when you execute a specific maneuver, the fact that every 2-clicks is approximately 45 degrees etc.

least that's how I came around to X-wing.

Both, I believe. On all 3 of his ships. I couldn't use Brace without discarding it and I couldn't use Redirect effectively at all. With Ackbar and Orca's with gunnery teams.

That's only affecting two tokens per attack. It's tough to deal with getting shot at by that much, but H9s are a good card. Intel officers are exhausts, so he shouldn't have been able to do that for two attacks...

Just looked up the cards and it was Intel officers and XI-7s (another part of the problem, its impossible for me to remember what the various upgrades with random names do). So he could Intel officer to prevent me from using brace (unless I want to discard it) and the XI-7s stopped both redirects from doing anything meaningful. Meaning the Vics had no tokens that were worth a ****, and the ISD only had a contain.

XI7s are another good card, for that reason. It's not easy.

I think in your case what I would have done was start to spam engineering commands as we were getting into range, and before then setting up maneuvers to collide with him to stop your ships and fire away. You have no fighters, and as much as you'd love concentrate fire you really need to preserve your ship and use your engineering (1 point to move shields) to do what your redirects should have been doing otherwise.

For a Star Destroyer list you need to focus on doing as much damage to punch out a ship to get a numerical advantage. With gunnery teams on everybody this should be easy, and your dice pools are bigger than the rebel ships in that list. With Vader, keep pummeling them until something breaks and keep up the engineering. You're not going to be flanked, so move shields from the rear and flanks first before repairing the front ones.

You also have more hull points then they do. Higher attack power and higher hull count means you should be able to sustain more damage while you're closer to cracking their ships like eggs. If you know to switch your commands manually to Engineering and flip your Engineering Captains to Intel officers, now you can put him under the gun and make him sweat out his brace tokens.

...by reading advice like this, from posters like us, it can help grasp some of the strategies to use and glean a little more understanding of what cards are what and how to deal with them. I hope, anyway.