1 hour ago, ISD Avenger said:

For every person on here sick of people moaning the opposite is true when the happy police feel the need to weigh in also.

Just wanted to back you up a bit on this. The people that are upset love the game too, we just want more from it. Repeating the same tired line of "this game is fantastic and I'll play for 20 years even if they stop supporting it now" is just as helpful as the complaining (to be clear, I'm saying neither are helpful).

Regardless, we are going to have the same arguments ad nauseam until we either get more attention or they announce the death of the game, because we don't have anything else to talk about.

13 hours ago, daggertx said:

They don't want to buy in if the game is fixing to be cancelled. its that simple.

That is disappointing. Shouldn't a good game stand on its own? Even if it were cancelled tomorrow, it is still clearly good enough to play, because people have been playing it. If you can enjoy the game up the current point, why can't a new person do the same, even if it is cancelled? I have heard tell of people still playing games long after they have been cancelled, why wouldn't Armada players? And as long as Armada players are playing, what does it matter that the game is 'dead', since one can still buy into it and enjoy it? Granted, without a continuation of production the community will at some point buy up all the stock and cease to grow, but in order to prevent that we wouldn't need new products, just more of the existing ones.

In essence, I don't think that a lack of new products is what keeps people from buying into the game or continuing to play, generally speaking (there are always exceptions). Whether consciously or not, it is probably something else, as Dras pointed out.

9 minutes ago, GhostofNobodyInParticular said:

If you can enjoy the game up the current point, why can't a new person do the same, even if it is cancelled?

I think the big issue is mileage per dollar for new people. Armada is cheap, by all means when it comes to TTGs, but it's still an investment... If the game is no longer supported, there's less of a chance for a community to play. Even if you bought in with another person, guaranteeing an opponent, they may be the only person you can play....

It's a hard sell without new releases or an active community or ongoing competitive play to prove it's supported.

4 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I think the big issue is mileage per dollar for new people. Armada is cheap, by all means when it comes to TTGs, but it's still an investment... If the game is no longer supported, there's less of a chance for a community to play. Even if you bought in with another person, guaranteeing an opponent, they may be the only person you can play....

It's a hard sell without new releases or an active community or ongoing competitive play to prove it's supported.

That is how I play. I make the purchases, and I convinced a friend of mine to play. There isn't a store within 2 hours of me that even sells the stuff (and I haven't actually been there to double check that it actually still does, or even exists, as it's cheaper to buy stuff online), and I have yet to play anything but casually, excepting Vassal. Were I in a country or region that had a community, I would play competitively, and would have bought in without having a friend to play with at home, because there would have been other people to play with. I didn't even know of the forums for the first year of my playing the game, so an active online community isn't a requirement either. Just a couple local people to play with, and a convenient place to do so.

Just now, GhostofNobodyInParticular said:

That is how I play. I make the purchases, and I convinced a friend of mine to play. There isn't a store within 2 hours of me that even sells the stuff (and I haven't actually been there to double check that it actually still does, or even exists, as it's cheaper to buy stuff online), and I have yet to play anything but casually, excepting Vassal. Were I in a country or region that had a community, I would play competitively, and would have bought in without having a friend to play with at home, because there would have been other people to play with. I didn't even know of the forums for the first year of my playing the game, so an active online community isn't a requirement either. Just a couple local people to play with, and a convenient place to do so.

I mean, in terms of investment though, that's pretty high risk. I don't know a lot of people that weigh in like that.

Most new players we've gotten have evaluated what's out, evaluated what's coming, played a demo, and then either bought in by buying a full fleet or piecemealed in ships one at a time over the course of a few months... or they skip the game because they don't see enough activity to merit the money and time.

7 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I mean, in terms of investment though, that's pretty high risk. I don't know a lot of people that weigh in like that.

Most new players we've gotten have evaluated what's out, evaluated what's coming, played a demo, and then either bought in by buying a full fleet or piecemealed in ships one at a time over the course of a few months... or they skip the game because they don't see enough activity to merit the money and time.

I didn't buy everything at once, mind. I bought the Core and Wave one at first. After we played and liked it, I started buying the rest over the course of a year.

Edit: The point was to indicate that the only thing that was needed to make me play was the game itself, and at least one person willing to humor me.

3 minutes ago, GhostofNobodyInParticular said:

I didn't buy everything at once, mind. I bought the Core and Wave one at first. After we played and liked it, I started buying the rest

This is how I started as well, back in 2015. I was hesitant at first because the core set didn't really appeal to me, and I had never even seen the ships from wave 1. Once they announced wave 2 that April though, I bought in. The ISD is probably to this day my favorite release. I remember being so excited for my ISD and raider to show up from coolstuffinc lol

16 hours ago, GhostofNobodyInParticular said:

I don't get this. For a new player, our old content is new. So why do we need new content specifically to attract new players? I get better advertisement, but FFG does do that anyway, so new content wouldn't change that.

New content generates interest. New content gets articles. New content gets advertisement. New content gets people buying the product again. New content causes people to talk about the product again.

I often hear about a board game before it releases...but then for whatever reason I kind of forget about it. When the expansion to that board game gets announced, I'm reminded of the original game and I buy it.

But going beyond that, you are taking that completely out of context...I explained all the ways that a lack of new content affect the landscape. Lack of new content and stale sales numbers mean stores stop carrying product. No product makes it really hard to get new players.

A store that I check in on occasionally used to have Armada stock front and center on the floor. You couldn't miss the stuff. Sales slipped, and while the store kept stuff stocked, they moved it from the main display floor to wall shelves in a dark corner behind the register. The regulars knew where to look, but most other people likely missed the stuff. Sales dropped further, and the last time I stopped through they had a CR90, a Vic, a Neb-B, and 1 pack of R&V. Clearly they had given up on the product. New releases would have likely kept it front and center as it would have kept selling. Keeping it front and center attracts new customers.

My community has gotten 5 new players in the last 3ish months so we are doing pretty good, it has taken some work on my part but the local community is becoming more engaged then ever out here and our game night attendance keeps growing, we have highs and lows, it has taken some heavy investing from me, and also stepping out of my comfort zone a bit, but maintaining an active community is still possible.

4 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

This is how I started as well, back in 2015. I was hesitant at first because the core set didn't really appeal to me, and I had never even seen the ships from wave 1. Once they announced wave 2 that April though, I bought in. The ISD is probably to this day my favorite release. I remember being so excited for my ISD and raider to show up from coolstuffinc lol

Yeah, I very excited for the ISD as well, but I think that the most beautiful model for me is the Victory, and that was what caught my eye at first.

4 minutes ago, kmanweiss said:

New content generates interest. New content gets articles. New content gets advertisement. New content gets people buying the product again. New content causes people to talk about the product again.

I often hear about a board game before it releases...but then for whatever reason I kind of forget about it. When the expansion to that board game gets announced, I'm reminded of the original game and I buy it.

But going beyond that, you are taking that completely out of context...I explained all the ways that a lack of new content affect the landscape. Lack of new content and stale sales numbers mean stores stop carrying product. No product makes it really hard to get new players.

A store that I check in on occasionally used to have Armada stock front and center on the floor. You couldn't miss the stuff. Sales slipped, and while the store kept stuff stocked, they moved it from the main display floor to wall shelves in a dark corner behind the register. The regulars knew where to look, but most other people likely missed the stuff. Sales dropped further, and the last time I stopped through they had a CR90, a Vic, a Neb-B, and 1 pack of R&V. Clearly they had given up on the product. New releases would have likely kept it front and center as it would have kept selling. Keeping it front and center attracts new customers.

I didn't mean to take it out of context, and my apologies for seeming as if I did. I was trying to say that I felt that a lack of new products oughtn't mean a lessening of sales if people liked the game enough to get into it, because those getting into it would be getting the older stuff anyway. So, if they saw the game, or people playing the game, and liked it, they would get into it and buy the old stuff, meaning the store would still stock it. I haven't much experience with stores stocking Armada, however, so I don't know how it would work in practice. You provided a helpful example above, but I feel the missing step is 'Sales slipped' - why? Because people got out of the game, because fewer people were joining, what was the reason for the sales slipping?

I also don't know how the stuff surrounding new content that you listed above has an effect, because I haven't had any experience of it. Does FFG really advertise it's products all that much? Wouldn't articles be only visible to people actually visiting the forums, meaning they would probably know of Armada anyway? Wouldn't most of the conversation be between people already playing Armada?

Once sales slip and the game is regulated to obscure corners I agree it can be harder to pull new players in, as then you rely on them seeing you playing. But for sales to slip people must not have been that into the game in the first place, right?

59 minutes ago, GhostofNobodyInParticular said:

That is disappointing. Shouldn't a good game stand on its own? Even if it were cancelled tomorrow, it is still clearly good enough to play, because people have been playing it. If you can enjoy the game up the current point, why can't a new person do the same, even if it is cancelled? I have heard tell of people still playing games long after they have been cancelled, why wouldn't Armada players? And as long as Armada players are playing, what does it matter that the game is 'dead', since one can still buy into it and enjoy it? Granted, without a continuation of production the community will at some point buy up all the stock and cease to grow, but in order to prevent that we wouldn't need new products, just more of the existing ones.

In essence, I don't think that a lack of new products is what keeps people from buying into the game or continuing to play, generally speaking (there are always exceptions). Whether consciously or not, it is probably something else, as Dras pointed out.

It is a good game, and it does stand on it's own. But cancelled games have many obstacles.

Cancelled games are often seen as failures. If it was good, it would still be going after all right?

Cancelled games prices go up. Squadron packs go for a premium now and sell out almost instantly. Can you imagine the mark up if the game was canceled and you knew no more were coming? Hello $100 squadron packs.

Cancelled games don't get republished, so not only are prices going up, but stock isn't being replenished. I really wanna start playing the game, but I can't find any ISDs, or squadron packs...well, that makes it a little hard to actually enjoy the game to it's fullest.

Cancelled games don't attract new customers. I'm not sure how bad I want to invest hundreds if not thousands of dollars into a game I can't play because I can't find anyone else to play against. Honestly, for the investment, you can get a lot more game play out of a lot of other options.

People will still play the game for years and years if it were canceled today. Someone would probably be teaching the game to their grand kids 40 years from now. But just because a few people keep playing doesn't mean that it's a living game with healthy competition. It's just a REALLY expensive two player game at that point.

Not everyone here is content with just playing the game against 1 person. It's the thrill of taking on multiple people in a tournament format. It's the concept of making adjustments to ever changing metas. It's the challenge of building new fleets to take on different people who are also bringing new fleets and tactics to the table. It's the concept of trying to out-think, out-manuever, and out-perform a group of players.

The game isn't just a 2 player experience. To MANY, the game is the culture that is built around it. When the game is canceled or the player count falls low enough, that culture is no longer there to be a part of. This is what people are trying to preserve when they ask for news, articles, regular releases, support. The physical concept of the game is FINE AS IS. But the culture, the community of the game is failing. This is what people want addressed. Sure, players themselves can try to address this in many ways, but it takes time, effort, and sometimes straight up cash to do so...it takes work...to support a product that FFG won't even support. And without support from FFG, many of those attempts will fail, where as they could succeed if Armada looked like a vibrant, living game again.

Buried in FFG's Facebook Event page for their Adepticon stuff is a tease for product announcement:

Quote

Join us on Thursday, March 27th at 1PM (Euphoria Ballroom) for a product announcement and Q&A with Alex Davy and Brooks Flugaur-Leavitt

They're also running demos for Destiny, Legion and X-Wing (but not Armada).

So the product announcement is probably going to be something for one of those games. Maybe a new Wave of X-Wing, or Clone Wars for Legion. But there's a small chance it will be an Armada thing. And we can hope.

11 hours ago, Drasnighta said:

What’s out of stock now that Squads are in the wild? Truly out of stock?

Chimaera. Profundity. Imperial Squads 2.

There are still some of each in shops, but FFG is out.

4 hours ago, RobertK said:

Chimaera. Profundity. Imperial Squads 2.

There are still some of each in shops, but FFG is out.

Yeah, I can understand it being a mesaure, but I can't take FFG being out isn't really a good monitor of that at all in that regard... Their own webstore stock is deliberately low, and well... Heck they can't even stock IA there...

8 hours ago, Drasnighta said:

Yeah, I can understand it being a mesaure, but I can't take FFG being out isn't really a good monitor of that at all in that regard... Their own webstore stock is deliberately low, and well... Heck they can't even stock IA there...

Oh, I agree. But I actually regard the last wave being out of stock is being a decent indicator that demand for Armada is still relatively high.

Imperial Squadron 2 being out of stock is probably because of the popularity of lists with Phantom swarms.

Day 400 since new product was released: it has been 229 days since the announcement of the SSD we have had little to no updates, we had an advertisiment in GTM in November, but have heard nothing more about this ship. Meanwhile X-wing continues to get supported and continually get articals for product anounced over 100 days after the SSD and seams to be scheduled to release on time. FFG has promised Armada content at a panel at Adepticon, I wait patiently for this panel, but they have announced demos for nearly all their Star Wars games, though Armada has been excluded from the demos. It gives the impression that they care not to build the community for this game, why would a company not want to build a customer base for one of their products? I still continue to hold out hope in this panel, even if it is just a fools hope. I pray content may come soon for I fear I am slowly losing my mind...

4 minutes ago, xero989 said:

I pray content may come soon for I fear I am slowly losing my mind...

It's a relief to pester their social media drones about it...

Just now, Darth Sanguis said:

It's a relief to pester their social media drones about it...

I have, and will continue to do so.

4 hours ago, RobertK said:

Oh, I agree. But I actually regard the last wave being out of stock is being a decent indicator that demand for Armada is still relatively high.

Imperial Squadron 2 being out of stock is probably because of the popularity of lists with Phantom swarms.

The burst of popularity of MMJ spurring those who didn’t have one to get it.

On 3/6/2019 at 9:09 AM, xero989 said:

My community has gotten 5 new players in the last 3ish months so we are doing pretty good, it has taken some work on my part but the local community is becoming more engaged then ever out here and our game night attendance keeps growing, we have highs and lows, it has taken some heavy investing from me, and also stepping out of my comfort zone a bit, but maintaining an active community is still possible.

And we thank you for it - even those of us that can't make it to the weekly nights.

Despite no new expansions or announcements, I'm excited to try a commander I haven't played much in a brand new CCC as well as take the new Sector Fleet Multiplayer rules out for a spin in a casual event!

How about an Armada 2.0 announcement?

4 Starter sets...

-Empire

-Rebel Alliance

-Grand Republic

-CIS

...

I hope so!

So we got an interview articlevwith the two titbits:

1) No SSD pre Worlds

2) Expansion Announce coming at AdeptiCon

14 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

So we got an interview articlevwith the two titbits:

1) No SSD pre Worlds

2) Expansion Announce coming at AdeptiCon

"What will be announced? And how will the new materials impact the game's activations, squadron battles, and punishing ship-to-ship combat? We won't have to wait too long."

Not going to lie though. At this point, if I had been able to make it to worlds I wouldnt have wanted the SSD to launch in time. Because some shithead with minimal experience flying it would have used it and that would have caused more problems than it was worth. Or even just fighting against the new cards would have been a pain. I am glad it wont be out for this years worlds, and that it'll have gotten some time to be played with for next years worlds.

Who knows, maybe they needed an FAQ because of a mess up in the printing of cards and thats why its taking so long. They dont want to drop the SSD, between the new rules of the SSD, then throwing on a new FAQ before worlds... could have been meh response, and as a marketing guy I'd have told them to hold off at this point.

That article was perfect. Some interesting insights, a piece of new info or two, useful tips for those who are new to the game, confirmation we're getting a new wave... and that line about Coda's son:

"What’s his name? And when he gets old enough that the Armada squadrons might be interesting game concepts rather than choking hazards, how do you plan to convince him to try a game with his dear old dad? "

I'm not saying Armada will still be around by the time the kid's old enough to play it, but you'd have to be a real jerk to ask that question if cancellation was at all on the horizon. 😁