I realize the answer to this question is highly subjective, not standard, and open to a range of interpretations.

I'm interested in anyone's answer; be it a hunch, a WAG (wild a$$ guess), an advanced mathematicallys (MATHS) derived formula, or your direct experience from having commanded a fleet of starships.

So, without further ado, how long do you imagine, in real-time, does the naval space battle represented by a 6 round engagement of Armada take?

I'm around 20 minutes. So about 3-4 minutes a round.

Five minutes tops.

5 minutes??? for the whole battle???

WOW. I was thinking about 10 minutes per turn, for a total length of about an hour of real time engagement for a 6 round battle.

Compare it to the Battle of Endor. It was a much larger fleet so it took about an hour? And we are using small fleets so I say less than that,

Compare it to the Battle of Endor. It was a much larger fleet so it took about an hour? And we are using small fleets so I say less than that,

I'm not sure I agree with that. It doesn't take 4-8 ships any less time to manuever, get their guns on target, issue orders, fire, adjust their thrust, engines and computers, etc, than it does several hundred ships. There's just more destruction with the several hundred ships.

I have played with people that take 5 min to just pick targets fire their weapons and another 5 to move the ship if there are things in the way.

In "Real time" these things are swooping in "peeoo peeoo peeoo" shooting - stuff blows up -- that's it. To me it is kind of like a D&D fight in a room. It takes an hour in game time but 2 minutes in real time.

I would look at the distance that can be covered in 6 turns and use that for the estimation. So my guess (as well as a direct experience from TIE fighter ) would be around 30 minutes, up to an hour

I would look at the distance that can be covered in 6 turns and use that for the estimation. So my guess (as well as a direct experience from TIE fighter ) would be around 30 minutes, up to an hour

I really wish they would reboot that series. Updated graphics, new stuffs, much funsies.

I am a little confused, reading the question, you are saying if somehow, we were able to make starships that are about a half mile long or longer and they were in space, how long would that battle take. What confuses me is the answer and if you compare it to naval battles back in world war 2. After the initial engagement those battles would last from a half day to a week in length. I would think that space battles would be about the same if not longer.

If you look at the battle of endor, it was made up of key scenes and did not show the whole battle but key moments.

Just my thoughts.

If Tycho is in the battle? About 30 seconds

Given what we've seen before, I'd imagine PT's on the right track: 30 minutes to an hour sounds about right. It doesn't have to sound 'real' but it does seem to be consistent with a lot of the media depictions of Star Wars style battles. There is always the distinct possibility that you could have several sqeuential battles in the same region or space (or the same ships engaging in other regions, both present the same possibility) where instead of saying 'The Second battle of Convoat' it would be melded into one and last considerably longer.

After all, an ISD arrives at a platform with intent to raid and capture the facility. The station's meager defense fleet is scattered and sends word for reinforcements, thus the ISD secures its objective and the defense forces are dispersed in short order. The distress signal that the defenders sent out is heeded and a more prepared response fleet hypers in to confront the ISD. Said Star Destroyer cedes the station and attempts to make the jump to hyperspace, only to find it's been trailed by the now reinforced battlegroup at the next hyperspace jump point. How many battles have taken place? Is that represented by 3 separate games of Armada, or just one 'Contested Outpost' engagement?

14 parsecs

14 parsecs

TWELVE

Vykes used the term 'media depictions' to refer to the films.

Disturbed.

So we've got anywhere from 5 minutes (Caribbean Ninja) to a few days (Modise).

That disparity is exactly why I asked the question. I think Modise's answer would probably reflect several "Games" of Armada linked back to back, while Ninja's answer is more like 1 round of Armada.

Again, this is just hunches and instinct on my part. I have nothing laid out to actually make an argument.

It could totally be 30 minutes.

My answers are based on a complete and utter lack of knowledge on any kind of warfare. Here's more of my lack of knowledge:

One round: VSD1 sends out a squad command to "launch fightas!" The TIEs scream in. the VSD continues to chug along at its glorious slow speed.

30 seconds tops.

30 minutes to an hour or so I'd say, given that ship crews have enough time to repair damaged shield capacitors, fight fires, treat panicked crew, etc. during the game.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Denmark_Strait

The above is a link recapping a battle in which the German ship the Bismarck fought against two British ships the Hood and the Prince of Wales. You can think of the Bismarck as an ISD and the britsh ships as assault frigates. After the clarification the battle started started about 5:35 and finished about 6:25, so about 50 minutes. I mark the start of the battle when the ships can estimate where the enemy was at to when the Bismarck disengaged from the battle. To me this is the closest thing to an armada battle. A lot of the naval battles involved 3-4 aircraft cariers or battle ships if not more.

I dedicate this to anyone who has ever attended the Arcanacon 40k Tournament in its 20+ year history:



"What's a Battle?"

They take as long as the story requires.

Star Wars is a universe of cinematic battles. Sometimes they will be brief affairs because they are in the intro to a story. Some times they will last hours because the heroes have an adventure during the course of the battle.

If, instead, you want to draw a parallel to WWII ship battles then it usually is usually an hour or so for the "interesting bits" - which is where Armada battles tend to pick up. All of the long approach and preparation for engagement (which can take hours) is dispensed with as you start a game nearly in firing range of the enemy.

If we're playing with my brother, about 2-2,5 hours

They take as long as the story requires.

Star Wars is a universe of cinematic battles. Sometimes they will be brief affairs because they are in the intro to a story. Some times they will last hours because the heroes have an adventure during the course of the battle.

If, instead, you want to draw a parallel to WWII ship battles then it usually is usually an hour or so for the "interesting bits" - which is where Armada battles tend to pick up. All of the long approach and preparation for engagement (which can take hours) is dispensed with as you start a game nearly in firing range of the enemy.

This works fine when you know how long you want the battle to take because the story demands it. But what if the length of the battle is what dictates the story?

To give you more perspective, my RPG group is trying to take down a planetside shield generator that protects an orbiting imperial manufactory. My buddy (who is in my RPG group and loves Armada with me) and I already played through the space battle (clearing out the Imperial fleet that was guarding the space station). Now I'm trying to convert those 6 rounds into time to figure out how long my ground heroes would have had to take out the power to the shield generator (or however they decide to go about it).

They take as long as the story requires.

Star Wars is a universe of cinematic battles. Sometimes they will be brief affairs because they are in the intro to a story. Some times they will last hours because the heroes have an adventure during the course of the battle.

If, instead, you want to draw a parallel to WWII ship battles then it usually is usually an hour or so for the "interesting bits" - which is where Armada battles tend to pick up. All of the long approach and preparation for engagement (which can take hours) is dispensed with as you start a game nearly in firing range of the enemy.

This works fine when you know how long you want the battle to take because the story demands it. But what if the length of the battle is what dictates the story?

To give you more perspective, my RPG group is trying to take down a planetside shield generator that protects an orbiting imperial manufactory. My buddy (who is in my RPG group and loves Armada with me) and I already played through the space battle (clearing out the Imperial fleet that was guarding the space station). Now I'm trying to convert those 6 rounds into time to figure out how long my ground heroes would have had to take out the power to the shield generator (or however they decide to go about it).

Sounds like a great game!

I think the point is still valid. The players have however much time you feel they need to maintain tension and fun. That's the magic of storytelling, whether it be in a film or an RPG session.

Figure out how well the battle went for your buddy. Reward his performance accordingly with the time now allotted for the ground team.

All tools in an RPG should serve the dramatic tempo.