Hyperdrive rule for squadrons

By TheRealStarkiller, in Star Wars: Armada

There has been discussions about to limit imperial squadrons to their squadron command value to represent that the rebel snubfighters are actually equipped with hyperdrives and thus they had no limitations. On the orther hand I'm not sure whether the squadron command represent the amount of squadrons carried or not. I more belive it is the amount of squadrons that could be guided/commanded/supported at a time by the ships flight assist operation. So its kind a wash.

On the other hand, during the deployment phase all squadrons are placed within short range og a ship, which kind of represent that the ships just dropped out of hyperspace and launched their fighters. Based on this thought came the idea of representing squadrons with fighters that are equipped with hyperdrives: They could be placed independently of ships within the set-up zone or within the range of ships. So that you can actually start to place your squadrons first. Of course a list of fighters would have to be FAQ'ed to distinguish those without a hyperdrive: this would be the Tie Fighters, Tie Interceptors and Tie Bombers. Those have to be placed within range 2 of ships, all others could be placed in the setup zone as if they were ships, to represent the indepentence from ships due to their hyperdrives.

What do you think? Would this be a proper representation? Would this put the Empire behind or even break the game?

Yes, any changes would "break the game". As they are pointed appropriately for using the Command, Deployment and Activation Rules as described.

You would first have to find FFG's formulae for working said things out, and then modify every ship and squadrons points to account for any change.

As the first step is proprietory and would account to industrial espionage depending on how you went about it, I'd say the rest is academic at that point.

There has been discussions about to limit imperial squadrons to their squadron command value to represent that the rebel snubfighters are actually equipped with hyperdrives and thus they had no limitations. On the orther hand I'm not sure whether the squadron command represent the amount of squadrons carried or not. I more belive it is the amount of squadrons that could be guided/commanded/supported at a time by the ships flight assist operation.

What do you think?

I think the squadron rating represents the number of squadrons carried and that every ship can command all of its fighters. This is why you get Expanded Hangars (not expanded Control Facilities) to control more fighters. Simply putting more hangar space on a ship allows it to then control the extra squadrons.

That being said, I think limited fighter deployment is an excellent idea for campaign and story play. Squadrons without hyperdrives need a way to get to the fight.

There has been discussions about to limit imperial squadrons to their squadron command value to represent that the rebel snubfighters are actually equipped with hyperdrives and thus they had no limitations. On the orther hand I'm not sure whether the squadron command represent the amount of squadrons carried or not. I more belive it is the amount of squadrons that could be guided/commanded/supported at a time by the ships flight assist operation.

What do you think?

I think the squadron rating represents the number of squadrons carried and that every ship can command all of its fighters. This is why you get Expanded Hangars (not expanded Control Facilities) to control more fighters. Simply putting more hangar space on a ship allows it to then control the extra squadrons.

That being said, I think limited fighter deployment is an excellent idea for campaign and story play. Squadrons without hyperdrives need a way to get to the fight.

Yes, the Expanded Hangars are misleading - but so is the name of the slot 'Offensive Retrofit Upgrade Cards' and the symbol of the slot, showing a three-barreled battleship gun turret, which reminds me more to a WWII battleship then I could find a connettion to star wars or to this game. Nevertheless, I think that the value represents the operations value rather then the transport capacity value. Because, does a CR90 have flight hangars or external docking clambs for a squadron of fighters? I don't think so. But it would be able to command a fighter squadron. And this is represented by the value of 1.

Yes, the Expanded Hangars are misleading - but so is the name of the slot 'Offensive Retrofit Upgrade Cards' and the symbol of the slot, showing a three-barreled battleship gun turret, which reminds me more to a WWII battleship then I could find a connettion to star wars or to this game. Nevertheless, I think that the value represents the operations value rather then the transport capacity value. Because, does a CR90 have flight hangars or external docking clambs for a squadron of fighters? I don't think so. But it would be able to command a fighter squadron. And this is represented by the value of 1.

Yeah, we do see externally mounted fighters in the show Rebels (Phoenix Squadron a-wings).

So it's easy to imagine Expanded Hangers being more makeshift docking rings for a few more fighters.

Yes, any changes would "break the game". As they are pointed appropriately for using the Command, Deployment and Activation Rules as described.

You would first have to find FFG's formulae for working said things out, and then modify every ship and squadrons points to account for any change.

As the first step is proprietory and would account to industrial espionage depending on how you went about it, I'd say the rest is academic at that point.

Thats a different discussion, but I think Rhymer breaks the game. Its the only element that is not in balance. The game would be more balanced if the Rebels would get an equal advantage. This could be done by adding more value to their fighters in terms of flexibility.

Yes, the Expanded Hangars are misleading - but so is the name of the slot 'Offensive Retrofit Upgrade Cards' and the symbol of the slot, showing a three-barreled battleship gun turret, which reminds me more to a WWII battleship then I could find a connettion to star wars or to this game. Nevertheless, I think that the value represents the operations value rather then the transport capacity value. Because, does a CR90 have flight hangars or external docking clambs for a squadron of fighters? I don't think so. But it would be able to command a fighter squadron. And this is represented by the value of 1.

Yeah, we do see externally mounted fighters in the show Rebels (Phoenix Squadron a-wings).

So it's easy to imagine Expanded Hangers being more makeshift docking rings for a few more fighters.

Yeah - maybe the Disney ships have magic sqadron docking rings all around - but the classic CR90 have not, as far as I know of.

The core idea, though, is solid.

In a campaign there should be rules for fighters with/without hyperdrives.

In particular, during the strategic movement phase you could allow all fighters with hyperdrives to move from one system to another. But fighters without them (Tie Fighters/Interceptors/Bombers) could not leave a system unless carried on a capital ship.

This could become critical if you also play with an economic system. Ferrying cheap attrition units to the front will be much easier for the Rebels than the Imperials - who must dedicate ships to the rear echelons in order ferry fresh fighters to critical systems.

This could create whole new scenarios where such fighter convoys are ambushed by raiders to disrupt supply.