Congratulations! This ship is awesome!!!

Now we need a battle report!

Agree with Admiral Piett, we do need a battle report. Ouzel, that's a cool Battlestar, what is that model from? I would be curious what stats you are using with it. Having 8 hull zones, don't you have a problem with too much shielding?

Anyway, thanks to all the feedback, here is what I will playtest with this thing when I get around to it. Hopefully the right feel is found somewhere in this range:

Special Rules:

(Rule 3 may alternatively be a victory condition for the rebels)

Title 1: Executor: If you would cause a damage card to be dealt to an enemy ship, Exhaust this card to flip the first face-down damage card dealt face-up.

Title 2: Lusankya : You may activate any number of TIE squadrons within Distance 1.

Title 3: Iron Fist: When attacking a squadron, you may replace any number of dice in your anti-squadron armament with red dice.

(Also will have an upgrade card to increase AS by one die.)

PLAYTEST STAT RANGE:

LOW STATS

HIGH STATS

If anyone has other ideas for cool content - upgrade cards, or anything else I missed, please feel free to comment. Thanks again for all the input. May take me a while to get around to playtesting this due to my busy schedule but I'm looking forward to it.

One more note about the model build: There are some differing aspect ratios out there being thrown around the internet. This pic illustrates. I used the lower one as my template for this build.

Its a kit:

Ok, Here's some cards. I'm totally clueless on what the point values should be -- any recommendations?

Also, what could we have Admiral Piett and Grand Admiral Thrawn do?

The problem with the upgrades is... Well, what does six or eight points matter for a 260 point ship? Do they maybe need to be up costed a bit?

Ok, Here's some cards. I'm totally clueless on what the point values should be -- any recommendations?

Also, what could we have Admiral Piett and Grand Admiral Thrawn do?

*snip*

Piett: Doubles the effectiveness of the concentrate fire command and tokens when used out of the front arc.

Thrawn: Reduce the command value of all friendly ships by 1, able to move all ships and squadrons up to distance three after your opponent has finished deployment.

Piett: When friendly ships are spending engineering points, you may rebuild shields in your forward hull zone for one point each.

Grand Admiral Thrawn (commander): At the start of the round, discard this card to reverse the initiative order until the end of this round.

The problem with the upgrades is... Well, what does six or eight points matter for a 260 point ship? Do they maybe need to be up costed a bit?

260 plus Ozzell leaves fewer than 134 points for squadrons in a 400 point game. If you make it too costly, the ship is worthless.

Ok, Here's some cards. I'm totally clueless on what the point values should be -- any recommendations?

Also, what could we have Admiral Piett and Grand Admiral Thrawn do?

It seems obvious, but Lusankya should require executing a squadron command from a dial.

Piett: When a friendly ship is attacking from its front hull zone and would add a die to the attack pool, add one additional die of any color to the attack pool.

The problem with the upgrades is... Well, what does six or eight points matter for a 260 point ship? Do they maybe need to be up costed a bit?

260 plus Ozzell leaves fewer than 134 points for squadrons in a 400 point game. If you make it too costly, the ship is worthless.

Is it intended for 400 point games?

The problem with the upgrades is... Well, what does six or eight points matter for a 260 point ship? Do they maybe need to be up costed a bit?

260 plus Ozzell leaves fewer than 134 points for squadrons in a 400 point game. If you make it too costly, the ship is worthless.

Is it intended for 400 point games?

My initial thoughts were that this was going to shine the most in epic format - 500 or 600 points, but then I realized that if I could keep the cost below 300 then it could actually fit in a 400 point game (probably not in the most practical way, however). Also would probably be very well suited to some type of asymmetric conflict (somewhere around 500 or 600 point Imperial fleet vs a 400 or 500 point Rebel fleet) where the Rebels are outgunned but have a slim chance at achieving their objective and claiming victory (very thematic). So I guess at the end of the day, I'm more focused on an epic format so that we can get more ships on the table (hence the name "Armada"), but I would like to try and find a sweet spot of points so that it could actually function in a 400 point game. I mean, if it can actually work in a 400 point game that would be a great bonus, but come on - we all really want some sort of format where we can wield or face the SSD with at least two ISDs and a ton of fighters flying around all over. Now that is really Star Wars.

Amazing work on the model but...

Seriously how has no-one commented that the name (Imperial II) is wrong?

From the Wook:

The Executor -class Star Dreadnought , colloquially known as the Executor -class Super Star Destroyer , Executor -class Star Destroyer or simply Super Star Destroyer...

Any of the above names are acceptable, although I don't know when it started being a "dreadnaught".

Darth Vader's Executor is the first ship in the class so it shares names with the class. This practice is copied from real world navies.

Amazing work on the model but...

Seriously how has no-one commented that the name (Imperial II) is wrong?

From the Wook:

The Executor -class Star Dreadnought , colloquially known as the Executor -class Super Star Destroyer , Executor -class Star Destroyer or simply Super Star Destroyer...

Any of the above names are acceptable, although I don't know when it started being a "dreadnaught".

Darth Vader's Executor is the first ship in the class so it shares names with the class. This practice is copied from real world navies.

Yeah, that's a good point. I guess I was in a hurry and used the ISD card for a base. I will fix it at some point when I get around to it. Will still have number I and II versions, however, as a high and low cost solution. (They must have brought the low cost variant to the Battle of Endor)

The problem with the upgrades is... Well, what does six or eight points matter for a 260 point ship? Do they maybe need to be up costed a bit?

260 plus Ozzell leaves fewer than 134 points for squadrons in a 400 point game. If you make it too costly, the ship is worthless.

Is it intended for 400 point games?

Well, let's bump the cost up to an epic 600 points: Without upgrades it is 50% of your fleet. That's a massive investment.

If we bump it to a ridiculous 1000 points, that's nearly a third for a single ship.

If we bump it to an astronomically high 2000, then we are obviously going to outfit it like a Christmas tree. This may bring it to as high as 400 points, or about a solid 1/5th of your fleet. In a 2000 point game.

The cost is just fine.

I almost wonder if a ship like this should have no upgrades at all.

I know that sounds crazy, but I feel like it is so special that whatever coolness it has should be built in, and that whatever role it plays should be static.

That will keep it simple enough that you could add an interesting rule to it.

I kind of agree with Lord Ashram. What happens if you put EA on the ship? Do you buff all 4 side batteries for 10 points? Just the fwd pair? Most of the shooting cards are costed for one shot per target per turn. To allow double shots against a single target makes some cards very underpriced. Unless I've misunderstood the shooting rule?

Good points Lord Ashram and Sanguinary Dan. I will have to think on it. When I finally get around to play testing, I will be testing base stats only with no upgrades. Then, I will add upgrades and test those.

When we do test upgrades, we could solve the problem with the aforementioned two card split between forward and rear hull zones, or perhaps simply have two upgrade bars on the card: one for the front, and one for the rear hull zones. Could even make a rule which adds a certain number of points to all upgrade cards.

Then again - we could say that all upgrade cards (except commanders) are double in cost, but then the front and rear hull zones would have to be allowed to fire as if they are separate ships. But I kind of like the idea of being able to fire from three hull zones. I guess we could even blend these rules and say that it can fire either from any three hull zones, or from front and rear hull zones as if they are separate ships. Playtesting may even reveal that the thing needs to fire 4 times with a maximum of 2 times per hull zone. Endless possibilities. I appreciate the discussion, I find this fascinating.

OK, I'm brainstorming this as I type... let me sum up what I have so far:

Rule: All upgrade cards except commanders are double in cost

Different Firing Option rules for play test:

- SSD fires 4 times per turn but does not fire more than twice from the same hull zone.

- SSD May fire once each from 2 separate hull zones in the forward section and 2 separate hull zones in the aft section.

- SSD may fire once from any 3 hull zones.

- SSD may fire once each from 2 separate hull zones in the forward section and 2 separate hull zones in the aft section, or it may fire once from any three hull zones.

I look forward to testing these to see which ones fit the best. What do you guys think? What else have I missed?

The game is actually much better adapted to the two card ship concept than epic X-Wing. Again, the ship is already plenty expensive as is and even minor upgrades will rapidly push it past 300 points.

Split the ship into two halves. Upgrades only affect their section of the ship. Give each half a command stack, reveal both on activating, and allow both halves to attack as though they were an individual ship (2 sections, 2 attacks from each, potentially 4 attacks).

By keeping the ship grounded in the existing rule set, things will work out well.

As for balance, it seems to me that the most powerful ship in the Imperial fleet maybe should be a little overpowered. It's already almost 300 points with only a commander.

Agree with cactus - we definitely are in the mode of a two card ship (whether I actually have two physical cards or print one special design remains to be seen).

Ultimately, I am starting with the base stats for two upgraded ISDs. If I just took two ISD cards and slapped them together and called it a day, then there would be no compelling reason (besides the cool factor) to pick this ship over two upgraded ISDs which would be faster and more maneuverable. In fact, I started off with the base stats of an ISD and everyone said it was too fast - it should be slow and lumbering -- and I agree with that. But if it is slow and lumbering, then it needs to be a tank that deals some good damage. At 21 hull points, it is already less than two ISDs - again the two card system would fix that, but to me, I really like the idea of having to bring it down 21 total hull points. I'm thinking there should be a way to keep that concept. Of course that may be too tough a challenge, but I think it is mitigated somewhat by the option to take out the bridge by scoring a critical hit with fighters against an unshielded aft section. That may be a tough challenge as well, but it would cripple the ship by cancelling all command actions and upgrades.

Of course I realize full well that when you split the ship in two halves you still have the same combined number of hull points, so it really is the same thing - It just doesn't look as impressive - LOL. Anyway, that may end up being the only way to go so I have definitely not ruled it out. I just feel like taking out 11 hull points in front and 10 or 11 hull points in the back just gives the feel of two ISDs that move and maneuver like a VSD. That's not going to compel anyone to use it, so yes, it certainly will need to be a little overpowered, but balanced by slow speed and the "Achilles Heel" of taking out the bridge. Tough and powerful, but not impossible. Interesting challenge.

There is always the option to balance those two cards inconsistently...

25 Hull Points... Split as 15 on the rear, 10 on the Front.

But the ship isn't destroyed until the Rear Section is destroyed. Smashing the front Superstructure just silences those guns. Do something within boundaries of the rules (ie, not creating too many rules willy-nilly), but still providing something creative.

You could even up-gun the front at the expense of the rear section, to incentivise people to go through the front section to quiet the batteries, or attempt to go around and take more damage.

::shrug::

Just spitballing ideas.

There is always the option to balance those two cards inconsistently...

25 Hull Points... Split as 15 on the rear, 10 on the Front.

But the ship isn't destroyed until the Rear Section is destroyed. Smashing the front Superstructure just silences those guns. Do something within boundaries of the rules (ie, not creating too many rules willy-nilly), but still providing something creative.

You could even up-gun the front at the expense of the rear section, to incentivise people to go through the front section to quiet the batteries, or attempt to go around and take more damage.

::shrug::

Just spitballing ideas.

Awesome ideas Drasnighta. I like it - massive firepower in front, but less hull strength, and upgraded hull strength in the rear but less firepower. It will have to be very carefully fine tuned so as not to be too out of balance on either side. Will definitely consider that!

There is always the option to balance those two cards inconsistently...

25 Hull Points... Split as 15 on the rear, 10 on the Front.

But the ship isn't destroyed until the Rear Section is destroyed. Smashing the front Superstructure just silences those guns. Do something within boundaries of the rules (ie, not creating too many rules willy-nilly), but still providing something creative.

You could even up-gun the front at the expense of the rear section, to incentivise people to go through the front section to quiet the batteries, or attempt to go around and take more damage.

::shrug::

Just spitballing ideas.

I like this one, allows risk/reward gameplay which makes it automatically more exciting to fight the SSD rather than the "2 ISD's on VSD chasis" problem you were worried about.

Here is the latest change for two card format:

This kind of starts us over with regards to command stats, tokens, AS, points, upgrades... what do you think?

Also, here are some updates to upgrade cards:

Thank you all for contributing. Please keep the comments coming, this good stuff.

I think you've done a fantastic job of exploration and the contributions have been amazing! I think one of the offensive retrofit slots needs to be replaced with a fleet command slot asap. This is a command ship after all.

FFG could make one version like the Cymoon ISD with crazy offensive capabilities and then a command ship version with a fleet command slot and maybe a support team slot? Just my thoughts but for now this thing wants fleet command slot in the worst way.