After Store Champs late last year, I haven't really touched the game.
The fortillas being announced as "Wave 3" was really off-putting for me, and Wave 4 looks to be pretty decent.
How has the meta evolved? What do you guys think about fortillas? Is the game still 400 points? 
Nothing really, as the Flotillas havn't arrived to really shake things up...
On Vassal, you're seeing them really make huge strides in changing things up... Slicer Tools getting under a lot of people's tactical skins, and the scatter token is making people change their upgrade selections.
Also there's a campaign box in the pipeline with some new stuff, but we dont have a great deal of info on it yet.
New tournament document with new scoring table
Nothing really, as the Flotillas havn't arrived to really shake things up...
On Vassal, you're seeing them really make huge strides in changing things up... Slicer Tools getting under a lot of people's tactical skins, and the scatter token is making people change their upgrade selections.
How has the inclusion of the flotillas eaten into the typical Wave2 fleet points? How much are players typically spending on these support elements?
Nothing really, as the Flotillas havn't arrived to really shake things up...
On Vassal, you're seeing them really make huge strides in changing things up... Slicer Tools getting under a lot of people's tactical skins, and the scatter token is making people change their upgrade selections.
How has the inclusion of the flotillas eaten into the typical Wave2 fleet points? How much are players typically spending on these support elements?
Again, most of this is my own anecdotal vassal viewing, both within and outside of the tournament structure provided by Doobleg.....
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1-2 seems to be the inclusion point for them... Either one specialised for distruption or command... But some people are getting mileage out of 2-3 as well...
Points cost coming back from Rogue Inclusions, with people looking at Standard Squadrons over R&Vs for their fighter cover, because the Flotillas are comparatively c heap activations for their points.
Otherwise fleet points are crawled back from other means - seeing the Clonisher-Demolisher backing down in points, because a single Flotilla in the way is a bit of a speed bump for it to chew on, and Slicer tools/Tractor beams further go against it...
A few upgrades - like Tractor Beams - are, excuse the pun, gaining Traction, as are Sensor Teams and H9s, instead of more expensive choices.
Its a real shakeup. A lot of things are turned on their head by their inclusion. Its not as simple as, "I get more activations by having them", or "slicer tools are it", or even "Bomber Command is a game changer"... its very much the whole package that has found its way as a legitimate choice, but not a "best choice" or "first choice", because plenty of people are combating them without going to them...
Flotillas are radically changing the fleet composition away from the wave 2 meta especially in regards to Rebel squadrons.
So you're saying that some people have started to incorporate them, while some have retained success without them at all?
Sounds like a good design to me as they're no mandatory choices.
Flotillas are radically changing the fleet composition away from the wave 2 meta especially in regards to Rebel squadrons.
Oh? Please expand on this if you don't mind.
For example, how did it change your Wave2 tournament list?
Rieekan murdered Ackbar as the preferred Rebel admiral. We buried Ackbar out back.
I have added 2 GR75's with Tractor Beams and Slicer Tools into DtO to combat small ship spams and Demolisher as well as. Stronger fighter cover and counter carriers who don't have a redundancy to getting that carrier command.
Flotillas are radically changing the fleet composition away from the wave 2 meta especially in regards to Rebel squadrons.
Oh? Please expand on this if you don't mind.
For example, how did it change your Wave2 tournament list?
I haven't changed my list significantly as I'm working on something special. But I will say that I've seen Rebels in particular have a huge upsurge in generic X-Wings and the non-Rogue R&V squadrons thanks to the far cheaper activation cost. 2 squadron activations AND a ship activation for less than 25 points is a big change to the game.
The Wave 3/4 tournament preview threads should help you get an idea of how the game is changing right now, you'll see these changes in your stores soon enough.
Game is still 400 points.
I'm not on the "experiment with Flotillas" yet list, but I'm not surprised by the comments of the others. The inclusion of Flotillas will enhance the stragegic and tactical dimensions of the game considerably, and I can see one being an almost auto-include in any list. You minimally get a cheap activation and maximally get whatever Flotilla support upgrade you've decided to take with it. I expect them on sale at GenCon minimally, if not outright released during the convention.
Evolving meta:
DeMSU became a really big thing in early March, and almost all of the meta since then has reacted to it in some way. Rhymerballs are definitely very plentiful and a decent DeMSU answer. Screed and MOtti are by far the two most popular Imperial commanders, but there is pretty good diversity in what types of fleets they command. Rieekan and Ackbar are the most popular Rebel Commanders. I see a lot of diversity in how Rieekan fleets are designed, and we're seeing more creativity in how Ackbar fleets are designed. Dodonna certainly has some key followers, and a Mon Mothma fleet won Nationals. Garm is a bit underrepresented now. I've tried various versions of lists for Garm, but I almost always find myself returning to one of the other three commanders. Most of the units and titles are represented in the good fleets we've seen.
In short, I agree with our National Champion who calls Armada "The People's game." Any fleet could win on any day.
I wouldn't say flotillas are an auto-include, as I've found you run out of points very rapidly, especially with the wave 4 stuff. Every flotilla decreases your overall firepower, so there definitely is a place for fleets without them. The utility of the flotillas can't be denied however. Cheap activations, bomber command center, and sliced tools are powerful. You need a way to kill flotillas in your fleet so, otherwise they can be hard to kill.
After Store Champs late last year, I haven't really touched the game.
The fortillas being announced as "Wave 3" was really off-putting for me, and Wave 4 looks to be pretty decent.
How has the meta evolved? What do you guys think about fortillas? Is the game still 400 points?
Welcome back!
Flotillas are nice, if you take them for a purpose.
1 - Gain an extra activation, possible boat for Admiral and/or Most Wanted.
2 - Ideal for pushing around squadrons, with stuff like Toryn, Boosted Comms, and/or BCC. OR Admiral boat + Slicer Tools platform
3 - This is starting to push it IMO. Not that you can't find good uses for 3 flotillas, but at this point you've taken a big chunk of points, esp. if the flotillas are upgraded (Imps have it worse of course).
I feel that as new toys, upgrades, and "support" options increase, this game will need to see 500 points. 400 feels really really skinny with all the the things coming down the pipeline.
But not everything is priced super-expensive either... So it makes the decisons tricky, yes, but neccessary.
I still think 400 is a good balance for the game, as it gives you options, but still constraints the game length to a reasonable level.
I feel that as new toys, upgrades, and "support" options increase, this game will need to see 500 points. 400 feels really really skinny with all the the things coming down the pipeline.
Agreed. I'd like to be able to take a large ship, several supporting ships, a couple of small ones...upgrades and a good chunk of squads. That's 600 pts or so.
But I don't think that will happen on the tourney scene.
So I'm praying for 450 
I feel that as new toys, upgrades, and "support" options increase, this game will need to see 500 points. 400 feels really really skinny with all the the things coming down the pipeline.
Most games I'm playing don't take more than an hour. I think you can safely take the game to 500 and it wouldn't go too long. I could only see it dragging if both players take 166 points in squads, but you could easily change up the timing rules and use something like chess clocks. An example of this in action was with warmahordes - you could take a ton of infantry but you better get good at moving them really fast.
As it stands though, I'm okay playing in tourney's with the limits as they are, I just keep finding myself over a point when I start building lists...Maybe we can start building 401 point lists?
I feel that as new toys, upgrades, and "support" options increase, this game will need to see 500 points. 400 feels really really skinny with all the the things coming down the pipeline.
Agreed. I'd like to be able to take a large ship, several supporting ships, a couple of small ones...upgrades and a good chunk of squads. That's 600 pts or so.
But I don't think that will happen on the tourney scene.
So I'm praying for 450
500, aside from sounding better, it also has numerical advantages over the current setup.
I've actually playtested with 500 points before in a tournament setting and we didn't find it much different. The game length was typically ~15 minutes longer with a participant of 12 people, and I've finished my games in around the same time frame.
I'm would be in favor of another 100 points. My only concern is what really skewed fleets look like at that point level.
I'm still against it.
Take pride in your picks, calls and decisions.
Getting everything you want isn't as challenging.
I'm still against it.
Take pride in your picks, calls and decisions.
Getting everything you want isn't as challenging.
Not sure how getting 100 more points is getting everything you want At best it's another ship with a few more squadrons.
I'd keep the game at 400 points, and give players a squadron allowance based on Commander choice similar to how army composition works in a certain mini game by a piratical company elsewhere. Basically, give free squadrons to players by way of a built-in discount, which gives even the most absurd bid a handful of cheap squadrons. Would make tables look better at least.
I think, however, that squadrons should be reexamined at the most basic level. The currently add immense amounts of time to each game.