Just played X-Wing for the first time since Armada was released

By Funk Fu master, in Star Wars: Armada

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@Eyegore,the main difference between the systems is that, while in X-Wing, you plan your move every turn, in Armada, you might be planning moves 3 turns in advance for the larger ships. Regarding play time, even though Armada is limited to 6 turns, it generally takes around 2 to 2.5 hours for a full 400 point game, so it is more suited for someone who has a lot of free time. As for learning curve, it is a steeper curve than X-Wing, as there are some ships, the Neb-b and the Raider, that are very difficult to fly well. And in regards to cost, after the 100 dollar buy in, the expansion's are much more reasonably priced.

Sorry for the wall of text, mobile isn't the best platform for posting.

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I just bought into x-wing two weeks ago. It's a good game and while I think i prefer armada more I think there's room for both games in my life. Armada seems like it takes more planning and the sides feel really different which I like. The rebs, scum and empire all look different in X wing but kind of play the same which can be good and bad. I like that a game of X wing is much faster. I'm a noob though so what do I know lol

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@Eyegore,the main difference between the systems is that, while in X-Wing, you plan your move every turn, in Armada, you might be planning moves 3 turns in advance for the larger ships.

Armada seems like it takes more planning.

I think this require some precision here, because it doesn't paint the whole picture and I see this comparaison pop a little too often without real details of what it means.
In X-Wing, you are planning your next move at the start of every turn, but you are doing it for all your ship at once and before activating, and your opponent is doing the same thing. You must also take activation order (PS) into account (your PS8 ship will move after all the ships with a lower PS, but before those with a higher one).You can never premesure, so you must be good with your distance and anticipating your opponent's next move. When playing with arc-dodgers, just one bad move, a bump, can mean game over for him. When playing competitively, just like with chess and many other games, if you didn't actually plan your moves a couple of turn ahead, odds are you will lose. I can't count how many time I saw a player lose because he didn't planned ahead: he made his move one turn without thinking about the repercussion it would had next round, then went to lose badly.... and then blamed dice for his loss. So, while it is true that in X-Wing you plan your move every turn, you still need to come with a course of action, a battleplan, and a bad planning can really screw you up. When you set your ship on the table, you should already have a plan and a couple of move already set, with some options to adapt to your opponent.
In Armada, you are not planning your moves up to 3 turn in advance, you are planning your commands. It does imply that you must have a course of action and a general idea of what will happen in 3 turns, but it's not actually planning your move. When it is time to move, you can premesure and do it only when it is your ship turn to activate. The move is not set, you can still react on the fly to your opponent. But when moving, you have to take into account at least the next round, consider if you will have a line of sight, because you shoot before moving. When playing competitively, just like with chess and many other games, if you didn't actually plan your moves a couple of turn, odds are you will lose. When you set your ship on the table, you should already have a plan and a course of action already set to achieve your objective, with some options to adapt to your opponent.
When playing competitively, both games require the player to plan a couple of turn ahead. I don't think one require more planning than the other, it's just different. But saying that X-Wing doesn't require the player to plan a couple of turn ahead is like saying that Chess doesn't require it either. It's true that you can play chess without any planning, but odds are you will lose against an experienced player that did plan ahead. While it is not as in your face as Armada is with the preplanned command, X-Wing require a lot of preplanning if you wish to succeed.
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Thanks for the replies. I will probably hold off picking up the Armada starter until Summer Break rolls around for my son. By then I will hopefully be fielding at least 100pt. Rebs and Imps in X-Wing. With some luck, my young daughter may even have a squad flying by then as well.

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If I were asked where the problems are with X-Wing to make it a "bad game", the only thing I can point to is green dice as a survival mechanic. It is entirely random, forcing players to take more maneuverable ships simply to not get shot at. It works wonderfully for an arc-dodging dogfighting game, but this is also a universe where turrets exist. And those with bad luck with green dice (like me) will always be frustrated with being unable to save ships when they are shot at. Because with Biggs in existence, no defensive upgrade will be too good.

Frankly though I can't think of any other elegant way to simulate dogfighting without going to a more complicated system of some sort. Even Armada's defense tokens don't feel as zippy as the green dice do for X-Wing.

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I don't mind the green dice, and - yes - I have fallen victim to them. (5 blanks on my TIE Phantom at a tournament once) But, I'm just as likely to fall victim to them as my opponent is. Also, that game is one about risk management. I'm not sure why so many people don't like that.

They say it's 'too random', but X-Wing's dice are easier to calculate than Armada's dice are. To use Rumsfeldian ontology there are the known-knowns, the known-unknowns, and the unknown-unknowns. Because Armada's dice: hits/crits, upgrades that trigger off crits, and accuracies with their interaction defensive tokens, there's a lot that slips into the unknown-unknown range, because it's harder to math that out. In X-Wing, the math is easier, and so the randomness is more of a known-unknown, and the known-unknown is a risk-factor you can anticipate. There's also the paradox that more dice means less randomness; not more.

Perhaps they feel (as I did when I was a teenager) that dice hate them more than they hate other people, but nowadays I don't buy into that voodoo.

I agree with what Red Castle is saying about planning moves. I think this is harder to do than Armada, because in Armada there are fewer significantly-different options for players to choose from per ship. That means that in Armada it's a little easier to gaze into the future, and that future is also bounded by the 6th turn.