I've seen numerous threads about the ships and squadrons of wave V, but I wanted to know what people thought about the new objectives. Who benefits the most from this new set and who potentially loses? Will the new strategic keyword play into the choice that players have? What about Interdictor lists?

GLORIOUS

Who benefits the most? The person who p[ays attention to objectives...

And Strategic is awesomel

Love it, keeping the game fresh!

I don't think anyone has got a complete handle on them yet. Everything is really brand new, which means it will take time to work it out on the board.

Some preliminary thoughts:

1. The new objectives expand the number of fleet types that can play specifically to an objective.

2. Strategic is a real wild card here. 75-80 points is nothing to sneeze at.

3. Experience is going to be critical. At only a few games per week in many localities, and often with only one stellar player or two in an area, it gets really difficult to get enough experience on quality objectives over a long period of time. Especially those navigation objectives will take a lot of practice to get good at them, but Navigational Hazards, for instance, might just seriously repay you both in points destroyed and victory tokens gained.

4. We really ought to see more bidding for second, and bids increasing for bidding for second. Bidding for first should still remain a thing.

5. Jury is still out on Interdictor lists. The new objectives will definitely give them many more possibilities for competitive fleet builds.

6. Who wins sounds like a Rebel versus Imperial? That's an enormously complicated question that wraps itself up into the state of the game going into the wave, the results of all the new squadron cards and units, and the ship/upgrade combinations that the new wave produces. I wouldn't say the old objectives necessarily benefited either faction, and I'd say the same here. The real winners? We the players. Creative options expanded considerably for us. FFG--they make money, and they get the pride of saying they've really designed a game well.

I'm thinking more along the lines of which type of fleet build will benefit more than which side. Sure, the Lambda might see a bit more play because of the slight increase to relay but I do want to try a few Rebel lists that can really use the VCX or take advantage of certain objective choices. The new objectives actually make me want to point bid again.

CC broken down into two contents Quality Products and Low Quality Filler.

Products

• Mission Objectives
• Squadron Cards
• Obstacles

Filler

• Campaign Map
• Stickers
• Admiral Roster List

What it needed is either replace stickers with tokens or at least give the squadron bases that come with the cards.

... and if the Top 3 are worth $30 alone, why do we care about the bottom 3?

We playing Targeting Beacons tonight and it was a bit underwhelming. 2 caveats though. The first is neither of us had strategic. The second is that the beacons were spread out.

Nonetheless, if you actually get opponents near the beacons, they net you a few extra damage or an accuracy. Nothing to laugh at.

GLORIOUS

Who benefits the most? The person who p[ays attention to objectives...

And Strategic is awesomel

I agree

Only new one weve tried so far was Contested Outpost and quite frankly having the objective BE the station threw my opponent off during setup lol. He kinda..left the station so i literally won because of those 20pts i got from the station lol.

Though i cant help but fear ISDs just camping the station lol. "Cmon, contest me, i dare you..."

Only new one weve tried so far was Contested Outpost and quite frankly having the objective BE the station threw my opponent off during setup lol. He kinda..left the station so i literally won because of those 20pts i got from the station lol.

Though i cant help but fear ISDs just camping the station lol. "Cmon, contest me, i dare you..."

That isnt a new one

You dont pick it against ISDs often, though it is very useful for keeping the enemy close together and predictible. Though as first player you need to be able to table fast if you pick it.

My only complaint about the new objectives is that I wish Blockade Run allowed second player to choose whether they were the "Blockade" or the "Runner." The objective is so dang fun (the single time I have played it) but as it stands my first impression is that I don't think I'll ever run it in competition because of it's ability to swing spectacularly in the favor of a first player running the right fleet.

It means that second player will almost never be able to "Trade up" in an exchange of fire because you essentially have little ghost-Ozzel's worth of points sitting on your ships if they go down.

CC broken down into two contents Quality Products and Low Quality Filler.

Products

• Mission Objectives
• Squadron Cards
• Obstacles

Filler

• Campaign Map
• Stickers
• Admiral Roster List

What it needed is either replace stickers with tokens or at least give the squadron bases that come with the cards.

I'm getting my laminator out and hitting everything with plastic.

CC broken down into two contents Quality Products and Low Quality Filler.

Products

• Mission Objectives
• Squadron Cards
• Obstacles

Filler

• Campaign Map
• Stickers
• Admiral Roster List

What it needed is either replace stickers with tokens or at least give the squadron bases that come with the cards.

The campaign structure itself more than deserves a place in the list of quality products. I won't entertain a debate over the price point of the CC when I think of the new squadrons, new objectives, and the campaign that are all packed in there. The campaign by itself or the new tournament thingies by themselves could be worth the cost of the box if they were for another game. The fact that we get both at loss-leader prices is just an endearing signal that FFG is testing the waters and trying to keep us happy.

That's why I don't mind the map being paper. If I have to treat it as a single-use experience, then that's fine. I played Pandemic Legacy as a single-use experience and didn't once second-guess the value. Next time through the CC, my buddy will just pony up the cost of buy-in and we'll each get our copies of the tournament components. If I instead invest extra money into laminating the map so it can be reused, then that added cost is still less than what I consider the CC's contents to be worth.

To the topic at hand, I love the new objectives. I'm a second player at heart, since I love building around my fleet's objectives. So, I'm happy to be able to specialize my fleet, and I'm glad that there are some blue objectives appropriate for large ships, for instance. On the other hand, I know that we all have to come to terms with the fact that the enemy will have perfectly tuned objectives, too. Fleets need to be more flexible now. One-trick ponies that count on everything going their way will not be effective.

If you want to punish people who auto-pick blue, try solar corona. Your braces suddenly become usable again, which is great for VSD's. Unless it is FAQ'd, it will even work on SW7's.

I'm not sure what you mean.

Solar Corona only effects one (1) Accuracy Result, and only if that Accuracy result is rolled at the very start of the attack.

And Secondary, rerolled to, and modified dice that result in Accuracy results... are legitimate...

The campaign structure itself more than deserves a place in the list of quality products.

Agreed. What you're REALLY paying for here is an official non-standard, linked, progressive and narrative style of play. You get a (hopefully) balanced and tested system where you can build your fleets from a blank canvas, develop a narrative for your commanders and their ships, and play out the fate of a part of the galaxy with your friends.

Properly packaged and presented, that alone is worth the price of the box. The new squadrons and objectives are just the icing on the cake.

I'm not sure what you mean.

Solar Corona only effects one (1) Accuracy Result, and only if that Accuracy result is rolled at the very start of the attack.

And Secondary, rerolled to, and modified dice that result in Accuracy results... are legitimate...

SW7's ensure that each unused accuracy is added to the damage total. If one of these accuracies is lost before the total is found, we have found a way to mostly negate SW7's.

I took a peek at the rules thread and I'm 90% certain it referred to "modifying dice" rather than attack effects. This is one for the FAQ, tbh. The smart money was on X17 Adv Prj interacting such that you could put a damage on each hull zones' shield(if it had 1+). We all know how that turned out.

Lessons I've learned

Navigation hazards is great fun to play and as I found out horrendous if you have a large ship travelling at slow speed

Fighter ambush if you over extend your fighters on this you will be punished

Station assault - very cheeky mission as it effectively causes your opponent to waste 20 hits on the 2 stations which would have gone against your ships, assuming he tries to complete the mission of course.

Planetary ion cannon - nobody's had the balls to play it yet

Solar Corona - love this mission especially if you manage to get your whole fleet deployed and turned so it's behind you causing every shot from the enemy to lose a die (blacks excluded obviously)

CC broken down into two contents Quality Products and Low Quality Filler.

Products

• Mission Objectives
• Squadron Cards
• Obstacles

Filler

• Campaign Map
• Stickers
• Admiral Roster List

What it needed is either replace stickers with tokens or at least give the squadron bases that come with the cards.

I'm getting my laminator out and hitting everything with plastic.

I'm glad there were no counters for the map making the cash cost more expensive.

Every Armada expansion I have came with 2-4 Objective counters, the dark ones with the heraldic yellow cross. I now have over 40 of the blighters and rarely need more than 10 for scenarios like Superior Positions. If you want counters just stick your Corellian stickers onto your spare objective counters. Being double sided you can still use them as objective counters on the reverse.

Played Station Assault and it was awesome! So much fun broadsiding them. It does force you to have a plan as player one and make some tough choices about targets, do I shoot the VSD or continue to hit the station? tip: Hit the station and run, you will get killed if your not focused!

If you have at least 4 ships, you can game salvage run to automatically give the second player 80 points by the end of turn 2.