what's the ideal number of ships to run in wave 2.
generally for rebels I was looking for four ships in most of my wave one lists. And I never went lower than three.
So in wave 2 are we looking at more ship activations for the rebels or the same number of more expensive ships.( I can see imperials running with more ships now they have the raider).........
At two ships, I start to feel overwhelmed at my total lack of board control.
Three ships feels okay.
Four feels good.
Five makes me feel like the supreme overlord of board control.
Wave two has me exploring just how many Raiders I can pack into 400 pts.
I feel that 3 is the best balance between upgrades, squadron support and activations.
I have used 2 ISD 2's against 4 ships and while I took a ton of damage I was able to control who was first player (me) which meant I was able to prioritize what ship went first to get out of attack range and get their shots in. Gunnery Teams helps a lot here.
At two ships, I start to feel overwhelmed at my total lack of board control.
Three ships feels okay.
Four feels good.
Five makes me feel like the supreme overlord of board control.
Wave two has me exploring just how many Raiders I can pack into 400 pts.
I am also going to weigh in on the side of three or four, with four being the "sweet spot" for me. Less than three is a pain. More than four is crazy activation domination.
Personally, for wave 2, i think 3 or 4 ships will be the "sweet spot".
Wave two has me exploring just how many Raiders I can pack into 400 pts.
If you go with Raider I, Ozzel, APT and ordnance experts on each one, you can have 7 and a 9 point initiative bid (or season to taste).
One of the first lists I toyed around with, but expensive to actually be able to do it.
I've run five-ship lists. Love having my opponent go "And the rest of the turn is yours". Nice to play with perfect information.
3.
2 is too easily countered.
3 strong ships dont go down easy.
4 is awesome.
5 is some seriously nimble stuff. You beter bid like 10 points here.
6 youre going raider or corvette spam. (or nebulon spam, which is funny too)
This depends a lot on deployment and fleet composition. Two big ships doesn't feel like much until you are overwhelming your opponent with fighters and bearing down to intercept them on the next turn.
I've been playing 5 lately and absolutely loving the board control that you get. I know I wouldn't play less than 3 and 4 will probably be the most common for me.
I'll bite and go for 3.5:
When I read Tvayumats' post I went "Yup yup!" then I read Heros' post and went "Yup yup!" too.
Four is great, but I just can't get a good reliable build with squadrons from a 4 ship fleet. As such a three ship fleet is obvious, but then I hit a wall where I just feel like sure, now I have the squadrons but I am a ship short. Wave 2 is just driving me nuts (in a nice way) as there just doesn't seem to be a reliable build, just lots of compromises. I keep finding that 400 points just isn't enough.
I have a build with an ISD and 4xRaiders that could be fun, and the 3xMC30's and 2xCorvettes. They look like they'll be a blast to play.
Wave 2 has flipped the question for me and I've been thinking way too much about how much squadron support to bring. I'm thinking that when I finally settle down from the wave two initial lists, my lists will contain 3-4 ships with modest anti squadron support.
However, I actually think that there will be a lot of room for small ship fleets in Wave 2. Ozzel makes a Raider fleet hop around and would be so fun to use. Turbo Laser Reroute on Corvettes are amazing (I have been punished with these a few times already.)
If you go with Raider I, Ozzel, APT and ordnance experts on each one, you can have 7 and a 9 point initiative bid (or season to taste).
My god... It's beautiful.
I only need three more...
I have an article written up on this exact topic, but I'll wait for a bit before releasing it. It will be this week though!
If you go with Raider I, Ozzel, APT and ordnance experts on each one, you can have 7 and a 9 point initiative bid (or season to taste).
My god... It's beautiful.
I only need three more...
Almost brings a tear to your eye rights?
For me I would need 5 more raiders and also 6 more mc30s to get the APTs....my wallet will hate me though
I'll bite and go for 3.5:
When I read Tvayumats' post I went "Yup yup!" then I read Heros' post and went "Yup yup!" too.
Four is great, but I just can't get a good reliable build with squadrons from a 4 ship fleet. As such a three ship fleet is obvious, but then I hit a wall where I just feel like sure, now I have the squadrons but I am a ship short. Wave 2 is just driving me nuts (in a nice way) as there just doesn't seem to be a reliable build, just lots of compromises. I keep finding that 400 points just isn't enough.
I have a build with an ISD and 4xRaiders that could be fun, and the 3xMC30's and 2xCorvettes. They look like they'll be a blast to play.
Exactly this: except for the "400 points just isn't enough."
Well, yes, but let me put forth the argument that I gave my brother, who feels the same...
BECAUSE 400 is a little low and calls for such sweeping compromises is what makes it the most balanced and interesting point level. If you had more points, then you can very easily take max squadrons, 4 activations, AND lots of bells and whistles.
Simply: you'd get your cake and eat it too, and so would everyone else. Then you'd end up in the Warhammer-land of which flavor cake is best.
I never really considered the point levels in Warhammer as being one of the issues that hurt the balance of the game (Very few, I feel, would argue that Warhammer fantasy or 40k was terribly well balanced) beyond the sheer lazyness/incompetence of the book writers. However, I think it might actually be a factor; and with a game with only two factions to worry about and a MUCH better balance team working on it...I honestly feel that having a fairly contentious limit on points drives a far more balanced and interesting game.
So, I agree, that 3 activations is pretty much standard, while 4 is likely more "ideal".
The problem lies in the opportunity cost of getting 4+ activations on the rest of your list. You'll, as i've argued before, dump squadrons or power to get those numbers. Of course, the beauty of Armada immediately shows through here is that if you like swarming people with raiders, it's viable and fun but you'll have to make sure you can play around your limited ship power and relative lack of squadron assets. If you want to run 2 Large ships you'll have to dance around your lack of activation presence, but it can be done if you understand your strengths and limit your weaknesses.
Armada is amazing, and 400 points is perfect imo. (Round time for tourneys is too high though)