I played with the core and wave one expansions months ago but haven't had the time recently. I'm looking to get back in, but what do you all advise I buy from wave 2, or more of from wave 1? What's been working? What hasn't? If anything use this as an opportunity to review what you like and don't like while helping out a noob

Game is fairly balanced right now. Do you prefer imperial or Rebel?

Rebels have a lot of good things going for them now. The MC80 is a nice taskforce centerpiece with good titles and a great dice pool. The MC30 is a very interesting, spunky ship, and is particularly tough with the titles in combination with a few new defensive officers (Lando, Wallex) to help their defense. There are opinions that Ackbar is overpowered, and Rieekan is an interesting twist.

The Imperials get the hefty and capable Imperial-II, the largest natural dice-pool carrier in the game and outside of Ackbar, quite a match for any rebel ship. Opinion is divided over the Raider's performance, with some claiming it's an adequite escort ship and AA screen while others feel it is useless and impractcal since it cannot protect itself. Ozzel I see somewhat frequently to help with Gladiator and Raider builds, along with being a cheap admiral. Vader I never see.

Out of the new fighter pack it appears everyone loves Jan Ors and the Intel carriers, with YT-2400s, YT-1300s, and their aces being occasional choices. The only competitive Nym I've seen is one I've been flying. Of the Imperial choices I see Dengar flown with any regularity, though Boba Fett and IG-88 are strong choices as well. Bossk is great on paper but I never see him taken either. Firesprays seem to be the new thing to take with Rhymer to fling dice at medium range.

All in all I don't think there are any bad options for the Rebels, and the Rogues and Villians pack gives you a lot of options (people like me buy multiples). The Imperial entries give you interesting choices, but I caution you about investing heavily in Raiders.

The most remarkable thing about the wave seems to be the ambient increase in firepower across the board- expect smaller ships to be one-shot now.

It's relatively balanced but rebels tend to be a tad bit stronger but nothing extreme. Listbuilding for Imperials compared to Rebels is alot more limited though.

I have been meaning on making a new State of the Meta Video. . .

Admiral Thrawn, I seem to remember you coming back after a long absence once before. You did fine that time, mostly... ;-)

I played with the core and wave one expansions months ago but haven't had the time recently. I'm looking to get back in, but what do you all advise I buy from wave 2, or more of from wave 1? What's been working? What hasn't? If anything use this as an opportunity to review what you like and don't like while helping out a noob

Demolisher and Rhymer are just as good (or better). Plus there is the ISD. What more do you need to know?

Admiral Thrawn, I seem to remember you coming back after a long absence once before. You did fine that time, mostly... ;-)

Oh don't think I didn't find time to study some artwork in by absence....

Rebels have a lot of good things going for them now. The MC80 is a nice taskforce centerpiece with good titles and a great dice pool. The MC30 is a very interesting, spunky ship, and is particularly tough with the titles in combination with a few new defensive officers (Lando, Wallex) to help their defense. There are opinions that Ackbar is overpowered, and Rieekan is an interesting twist.

The Imperials get the hefty and capable Imperial-II, the largest natural dice-pool carrier in the game and outside of Ackbar, quite a match for any rebel ship. Opinion is divided over the Raider's performance, with some claiming it's an adequite escort ship and AA screen while others feel it is useless and impractcal since it cannot protect itself. Ozzel I see somewhat frequently to help with Gladiator and Raider builds, along with being a cheap admiral. Vader I never see.

Out of the new fighter pack it appears everyone loves Jan Ors and the Intel carriers, with YT-2400s, YT-1300s, and their aces being occasional choices. The only competitive Nym I've seen is one I've been flying. Of the Imperial choices I see Dengar flown with any regularity, though Boba Fett and IG-88 are strong choices as well. Bossk is great on paper but I never see him taken either. Firesprays seem to be the new thing to take with Rhymer to fling dice at medium range.

All in all I don't think there are any bad options for the Rebels, and the Rogues and Villians pack gives you a lot of options (people like me buy multiples). The Imperial entries give you interesting choices, but I caution you about investing heavily in Raiders.

The most remarkable thing about the wave seems to be the ambient increase in firepower across the board- expect smaller ships to be one-shot now.

Thanks this is really helpful! Too tell you the truth I can't resist to buy an Imperial SD and Akbar whether they were good or not!

Wave 2 was in my mind a great addition. No real "duds" in my book. Added depth and fun to an already amazing game. I didn't really get too many multiples of wave 2 in the beginning ('cept 2 R and V) But now that I have a handful of games under my belt with the wave 2 schtuff I plan on getting some more of the expansions now for some more builds and more upgrade cards I was hoping to get. All in all. Highly recommended.

The Mc80 is versatile. The upgrade options between the two variants and three tittles make it easy to build any kind of fleet around it. I haven't got to play an Imperial class, but it takes real effort to design a fleet list that doesn't have my MC80 in it.

As I've said almost everywhere else on the forums, I have problems with the Raiders. Their role is, at best, unclear. The pack provides cards to suggest running them at high speed and their dice suggest close range, but advice on how to run them suggests otherwise. The debate is ongoing.

I definitely think the ISD and MC80 are strong choices for their factions. If the ISD wasn't so costly I'd call it the best ship in the game (so second best, after the A/F). The MC30 provides all manner of good upgrades for both factions, from Turbolaser Re-route circuits to assault proton torpedoes. The Raider does give the Empire Ozzel, Rapid reload, and Ordnance experts (to use on Gladiators and VSD-Is to great effect), but the ship itself is unclear.

I played with the core and wave one expansions months ago but haven't had the time recently. I'm looking to get back in, but what do you all advise I buy from wave 2, or more of from wave 1? What's been working? What hasn't? If anything use this as an opportunity to review what you like and don't like while helping out a noob

I've seen a lot of the Wave 1 dark horses come into their own. Many of the ships and squadrons that we couldn't find a place for before suddenly have good roles. Examples include X-wing, Glad-2, TIE Advanced, and Nebulon-B Escorts.

In large part this was spawned by the advent of Intel, which provided a way to prevent bombers from getting mired down by a token squadron force, making them less easily countered. This in turn provoked a surge in people taking squadron-killers--as opposed to squadron-delayers--like YT-2400's, TIE Interceptors, and X-wings, as well as ships with good anti-squadron defenses. This pushed the bomber-runners to include escorts in their lists to protect Jan and Dengar, bringing the whole squadron game together.

On the ship side, you're looking at new analogues to the same old complaints: the Rebels are too good at long range; the Imperials are too good at close range. Instead of AF2's with EA and Gunnery Teams being too good, now it's AF2's with Ackbar and Gunnery Teams (and maybe Home One) that are too good. Instead of Demolisher with Screed and ACM and ET being too good, now it's any of 10 different Demolisher + (Screed/Vader) + (Ordnance Experts/ET) + (APT/ACM/EL) builds that are too good. And so are ISD's/MC80's, depending on who one-shotted your Raider/MC30 last night. And I still snicker at people who use AF2A's.

This is not to say there's nothing new in the game. OE to make those black crits more reliable has triggered a resurgence of Motti as Screed feels less crucial. Ackbar/MC80 have made the Rebels much more accessible and newbie-friendly. Swarms are back in a big way, enabled by rogues who need no squadron support. EA is kind of obsoleted by Ackbar. There are rabid APT vs ACM supporters. The rebels have a punch-you-in-the-face ship in the MC30. Boosted Comms has Rhymer punching from 2/3 of the way across the board. Nebulons somehow are coming back. Raiders are amazingly dangerous in the right hands. ECM has supplanted AP almost entirely due to the ruling reversal on AP vs XI7, coupled with the advent of simply gigantic dice pools and guaranteed accuracies out of Home One.

A few of the new archetypes that we're seeing:

2 big ships, often ISD-2's, + 134 points of squadrons

CR90A's with TRC, either in swarms or escorting Home One

AF2's with Gunnery Teams, but now with Ackbar and sometimes Home One

Raider swarm (this one is about to explode in popularity)

Independence + B-wings

ISD-2 with XI7, Gunnery Teams, and ECM

All of the anti-squadron upgrades except PDR, which still sucks ass

Salvation with TRC

One ISD + a few GSD/raider escorts

In addition, *most* fleets run at least a few squadrons. If not, they have some other specific, creative way to address squadrons, because squadrons are back in force, and will mess you up if you don't have a plan for them.

Overall the game is in a very balanced, very fluid state. There are a few hot-button topics that I've mostly avoided here (are VSD's entirely obsolete now? Are raiders usable? Slaved Turrets or TRC on Salvation? Is Garm/Ozzel/Ackbar/Vader trash or the best admiral? Is the MC30 usable without Rieekan?) that you'll get wildly differing opinions on, but on the whole we're in a great place right now.

All is well with Armada, send more money.

(Old Danish joke, not sure it translates well to English)

There are Fleet Builders now that help you learn what's available and how to use it.

http://armadawarlords.hivelabs.solutions/

This is the one I use. It has a database built in, which has allowed me to learn what I don't have but might want. It also let's you know what expansion a given upgrade comes in.

I played with the core and wave one expansions months ago but haven't had the time recently. I'm looking to get back in, but what do you all advise I buy from wave 2, or more of from wave 1? What's been working? What hasn't? If anything use this as an opportunity to review what you like and don't like while helping out a noob

*snip*

Overall the game is in a very balanced, very fluid state. There are a few hot-button topics that I've mostly avoided here (are VSD's entirely obsolete now? Are raiders usable? Slaved Turrets or TRC on Salvation? Is Garm/Ozzel/Ackbar/Vader trash or the best admiral? Is the MC30 usable without Rieekan?) that you'll get wildly differing opinions on, but on the whole we're in a great place right now.

I'll push that hot button.

No.

Yes.

Slaved Turrets.

Ozzel is best.

Yes.

Controversy ended. All is well.

I played with the core and wave one expansions months ago but haven't had the time recently. I'm looking to get back in, but what do you all advise I buy from wave 2, or more of from wave 1? What's been working? What hasn't? If anything use this as an opportunity to review what you like and don't like while helping out a noob

*snip*

Overall the game is in a very balanced, very fluid state. There are a few hot-button topics that I've mostly avoided here (are VSD's entirely obsolete now? Are raiders usable? Slaved Turrets or TRC on Salvation? Is Garm/Ozzel/Ackbar/Vader trash or the best admiral? Is the MC30 usable without Rieekan?) that you'll get wildly differing opinions on, but on the whole we're in a great place right now.

I'll push that hot button.

No.

Yes.

Slaved Turrets.

Ozzel is best.

Yes.

Controversy ended. All is well.

You sir have left me with thought that buying 3 Victories was a good idea.

I played with the core and wave one expansions months ago but haven't had the time recently. I'm looking to get back in, but what do you all advise I buy from wave 2, or more of from wave 1? What's been working? What hasn't? If anything use this as an opportunity to review what you like and don't like while helping out a noob

*snip*

Overall the game is in a very balanced, very fluid state. There are a few hot-button topics that I've mostly avoided here (are VSD's entirely obsolete now? Are raiders usable? Slaved Turrets or TRC on Salvation? Is Garm/Ozzel/Ackbar/Vader trash or the best admiral? Is the MC30 usable without Rieekan?) that you'll get wildly differing opinions on, but on the whole we're in a great place right now.

I'll push that hot button.

No.

Yes.

Slaved Turrets.

Ozzel is best.

Yes.

Controversy ended. All is well.

You sir have left me with thought that buying 3 Victories was a good idea.

The Victory is in a funny place right now, there's no doubt about it.

The lack of ANY speed with two yaw hurts more than the lack of speed three, honestly, but the ship is still point for point a better deal than the ISD for dice, shields, and hull.

It's struggling to find a place in the meta with all these shiny new toys, but it's day is not yet passed.

I'll push that hot button.

No.

Yes.

Slaved Turrets.

Ozzel Garm is best.

Yes.

Controversy ended. All is well.

Fixed!

I'll push that hot button.

No.

Yes.

Slaved Turrets TRC.

Ozzel Garm is best.

Yes.

Controversy ended. All is well.

Fixed!

Fixed.

Ardaedhel, on 12 Feb 2016 - 3:09 PM, said:

Truthiness, on 12 Feb 2016 - 1:54 PM, said:

Tvayumat, on 12 Feb 2016 - 1:19 PM, said:

I'll push that hot button.

No.

Yes.

Slaved Turrets TRC Depends on list and your goals but both work really well. I prefer Slaved Turrets personally most times.

Ozzel Garm Dodonna/Vader is best.

Yes.

Controversy ended. All is well.

Fixed!

Fixed.

To note, the MC30 is good without Rieekan,

To note, the MC30 is good without Rieekan,

I think the better question is, "Is the MC30 good without a title?". Either one can make the ship incredibly resilient. More than the measly 4 hull would suggest.

To note, the MC30 is good without Rieekan,

I think the better question is, "Is the MC30 good without a title?". Either one can make the ship incredibly resilient. More than the measly 4 hull would suggest.

I think so. Those titles are expensive. A Torpedo Frigate with only APTs and Ord Experts comes in at 72 points. That's pretty good bang for your buck.

Yeah, I think the MC30 can be played quite nicely with 1 Title and 1 upgrade card, or just even one upgrade card.

I tend to see them loaded close to 100 points, but even with the titles they don't even come close to the resilience of an AFMK2 of Victory. Waste of points if you ask me !

Yeah, I think the MC30 can be played quite nicely with 1 Title and 1 upgrade card, or just even one upgrade card.

I tend to see them loaded close to 100 points, but even with the titles they don't even come close to the resilience of an AFMK2 of Victory. Waste of points if you ask me !

I build ships with a purpose in mind. I find that if you don't build the ship with a purpose other thank "tanks, speedy, etc" they don't preform as well for me. Flexibility is key when you build a ship and the MC30c can bring flexibility in spades!