Future Imperial Ships

By Crabbok, in Star Wars: Armada

The Victory is a very strange thing. It's odd that it's been around so long and yet been so pointedly ignored by those that make the highest level of canon.

I wonder if it will ever be on-screen canon. Star Wars has passed up a lot of opportunities to adopt it (Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One, canon novels). I found it amusing that the Venator was created in Revenge of the Sith and thought that was probably the end of the Victory altogether, but it keeps popping up in things like Armada.

I think the Han Solo movie will feature yet another type of Imperial ship and not the Victory. Victory's best chance is to get a passing reference in Rebels or a novel.

i remember the first time i saw the VSD i thought it was the ship from Clone Wars adapted over to the imperials' scheme.

Was quite wrong of course.

I think the Quasar is all but officially announced at this point in time. I also expect to see it come with a title that allows the Rebels to use it. Venators I also think are likely.
As for SPECULATION on other ships I would like to see :

  • Rogue One ISD I re-paint/rmodel changes with new cards.
  • I would also buy a ISD repackage with ISD III's and ISD IV's (even though I'm pretty sure none exist) and new upgrade cards.
  • Executor and Eclipse.
  • Immobilizer 418 cruisers. Make them weak small base ships with one Experimental Retrofit slot.
  • Tector Class SD but I worry about these being tougher ISD with no squadrons and just replacing the classic ISD's outright.
  • Unique ships with unique paint schemes like Thrawn's ISD.

The only new type of Imperial ship that would feel different from all the others would be the Conqueror SD (not sure if its a class or is unique). Basically its a mini Deathstar on a SD.

Conqueror_superlaser.jpg
Maybe give it a new firing mechanic such as for every engineering point you spend you may roll one additional Green Die (yes, new green super laser dice) when attacking from your front hullzone. I think that would be the most interesting new type of large base ship for me.

Also here's a decent video about the different Star Destroyers:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOXTmoZvbgE&spfreload=1

Edited by LordTesla

The Victory is a very strange thing. It's odd that it's been around so long and yet been so pointedly ignored by those that make the highest level of canon.

I wonder if it will ever be on-screen canon. Star Wars has passed up a lot of opportunities to adopt it (Clone Wars, Rebels, Rogue One, canon novels). I found it amusing that the Venator was created in Revenge of the Sith and thought that was probably the end of the Victory altogether, but it keeps popping up in things like Armada.

I think the Han Solo movie will feature yet another type of Imperial ship and not the Victory. Victory's best chance is to get a passing reference in Rebels or a novel.

That the Victory-class exists has seen passing reference in a novel. Only one, and only in passing, but in 'Tarkin' (one of the first "new canon" novels), a prefabricated garrison was noted as being deployed from a Victory-class Star Destroyer - during the Clone Wars, too.

But that'd be one of the issues with a reference in a novel - it could mean literally anything. Maybe the canonical name of the Gladiator-class (so far purely an EU ship) will turn out to be 'Victory'-class. Or maybe the canonical 'Victory'-class is a ship design we haven't seen before at all. Or just a design variant of the Venator- or Acclamator- classes. etc.

I somewhat doubt 'Rebels' is much of a candidate for that, unless this season really DOES end in a totally crushing defeat for them which sends them into hiding in the farthest reaches of the galaxy - I could see the designers of the show knocking together some new (inferior to the ISD-class) Imperial ships to reflect the unimportant distances they are now at, but...I dunno, 'model design time' seems to usually be at a premium for that series, and given they've already got so many Imperial ships (ISD, Interdictor, Arrrrghkittens, Gozantis, Quasar Fire-type carrier)...I just don't really see them doing a new one...

(A movie , on the other hand, is an obvious choice. Movies ALWAYS need to introduce at least SOME new ships for the merchandising push that happens around their release.)

I must admit, the Venator is near the top of my wish list. Making it weaker than existing ships, large base, high hull and squadron value, possibly even making it a broadside ship would be interesting, we'll see.

And the Quasar. I'd also love to see that, but worry it might step on the toes of flotillas and the Venator.

As for the Tector mentioned in the thread, I'd personally be happy enough to see a repackaged ISD expansion, with different ship cards, new upgrade/title/commander cards too. The only problem would be the hanger underneath. Perhaps even include ISD titles in the pack so it can function as an ISD, thus improving the ISD and maintaining its usefulness into the future.

I think a proper proportioned ISD would be awesome...

Not the weird wide bodied, snub nosed and mini bridged pizza slice that we got.

It's strange, FFG is usually so good on model accuracy but in this case they were way off.

they downscaled it for a reason. its already hanging off its base on all sides by a large margin.

FFG has minor scale differences in several of their ships. No manufacturer is perfect but what matters is the scale is believable. Unless you know the dimensions and the relative scale it would be compared to other ships exactly, you wouldnt notice.

You want bad scaling go look at StarTrek Attack Wing.

they downscaled it for a reason. its already hanging off its base on all sides by a large margin.

FFG has minor scale differences in several of their ships. No manufacturer is perfect but what matters is the scale is believable. Unless you know the dimensions and the relative scale it would be compared to other ships exactly, you wouldnt notice.

You want bad scaling go look at StarTrek Attack Wing.

I think he's complaining about the actual shape of the model not its size.

Which...I've got no idea what to do with that. The model looks perfect to the studio model?

Heck, throw some light on it, and it's like you're seeing a scene from the movie...

pic3310212_md.jpg

The other possible complaint is which ISD is it suppose to be? ISD-II doesnt really mean much.

I admit looking at the movie they seemed a lot longer than the model but SDs in general look so similar its hard to tell them apart, let alone tell versions apart (ISD-I, ISD-II, ISD-III, etc)

Also, glorious shot.

they downscaled it for a reason. its already hanging off its base on all sides by a large margin.

FFG has minor scale differences in several of their ships. No manufacturer is perfect but what matters is the scale is believable. Unless you know the dimensions and the relative scale it would be compared to other ships exactly, you wouldnt notice.

You want bad scaling go look at StarTrek Attack Wing.

I think he's complaining about the actual shape of the model not its size.

Which...I've got no idea what to do with that. The model looks perfect to the studio model?

Heck, throw some light on it, and it's like you're seeing a scene from the movie...

pic3310212_md.jpg

Yes it looks okey, however the FFG model is too short and the bridge is too small, compared to the original studio model. In fact, the 15$ disney diecast version is better proportioned though it doesn't have the same level of detail.

Edited by Lord Tareq

They should sell disassembled models so we can mod them.

they downscaled it for a reason. its already hanging off its base on all sides by a large margin.

FFG has minor scale differences in several of their ships. No manufacturer is perfect but what matters is the scale is believable. Unless you know the dimensions and the relative scale it would be compared to other ships exactly, you wouldnt notice.

You want bad scaling go look at StarTrek Attack Wing.

I think he's complaining about the actual shape of the model not its size.

Which...I've got no idea what to do with that. The model looks perfect to the studio model?

Heck, throw some light on it, and it's like you're seeing a scene from the movie...

pic3310212_md.jpg

Yes it looks okey, however the FFG model is too short and the bridge is too small, compared to the original studio model. In fact, the 15$ disney diecast version is better proportioned though it doesn't have the same level of detail.

Working on mocking up 2 on those into more accurate ISDs!

Their super structure is a little sleeker than the accurate model, so I'm going to see about thin sheets of plasticard with details to lay flat over it to buff it up and improve detail.

I'll need to raise the bridge slightly after that's all but it should be easy enough!

Does the Empire really need any new ships though? There's a reason that the ISD is so omnipresent.

Yes... Yes they do.

And I totally get that the Empire uses ISD's everywhere. Totally get it.

However for gameplay balance, you can't just say "Ok the Empire is done. Rebels get new stuff every 6 months for the next 6 years but the Empire is done. That just doesn't work. Empire is gonna need new ships just as often as the Rebels. That DOES make it hard from a fluff perspective, but I'm fine with it. There are enough triangular ships that will still look thematic.

And for the ISD-1 reprint - I actually expect it to be a whole new ship. Slightly smaller than the ISd2 model. Bridge, slightly different hull configuration as well. These can be "Defensive" Star Destroyers, or "Prototype" Star Destroyers. I'd expect their cards, and titles to be unique to this particular ship expansion, so no swapping over titles with the original ISD. This gives a real opportunity for the Empire as well......

Make them weaker Star Destroyers. It could be thematic to give them high squadron values, but give them less offense and much less speed than the ISD2. Also make them cheaper. If they are somewhere around 80-90 points, you would be WAY more likely to see more thematic looking lists showing up on the table, with 2 or 3 ISDs showing up more often. heck, if they are 80 points you could possibly see 4. Just make them weaker to compensate. The challenge is to find a way to do that without making the Victory obsolete. I think it is doable, and would be awesome if they could pull it off.

Agreed. The reality is that this is a game, and people want new stuff that's fun. As a military power, it makes sense that the Empire would standardize things and not have as much variation due to the manufacturing and budgetary expense of the Imperial government. But again, we need more Imperial ships pew pew reasons!

I also wonder how long it will be before they have to dip into the preequels. I mean they've done it with X-wing. And there are a ton of capital ships to choose from there. But I wouldn't want to see the Spearatists or Old Republic as new factions either. And I'm not sure how you'd stick them with the current factions. If we're talking bad guys, the Separatist = Empire. But the Empire is also a direct result of the Battle Fleet of the Republic. The later of which also had little variety in terms of capital ships compared to the Sepratists.

Edited by SPE825

The X-Wing Predator card has a wonderful shot of a Providence Class Ex-CIS ship sporting the Rebel Firebird Symbol

I really don't see why the quasar model can't be multi faction & use card to differ, if indeed the 2 factions do differ.

The commando carrier from the x wing game is a cool looking ship. I'd also favour the vindicator and the now non-canon smaller interdictor. And of course Executor & Eclipse.

My guess is the same reason that you do not see Empire Neb-B's.

Sadly its just tough for empire as they were so uniform in their ships. Much like a modern navy. Really too bad probably won't draw more from the legends. Large ships an assault carrier like the Doomgiver from jedi knights 2 or something special like the Arc Hammer would do nicely for a large. Will settle I guess for the quasar fire light carrier next though.

The Cards are designed to be Uni-Factional, when it comes to their design... You wouldn't see an upgrade card that makes them shift side, without a major re-design it would be a Single Box where one Variant is imperial and one is rebel ...

Of course, they could redesign things, but still, you woulnd't see a situation where a title would be expected to be the mechanism to change the faction of a ship - its frought with complexity (If its a Rebel card, then you can't equip it to the Imperial ship to make it rebel. If its an Imperial card, then you can't choose it to attach it to the ship to make it rebel in a rebel force... If its unsigned, you're still stuck with the fact that you can't choose an imperial ship and then make it rebel with an upgrade card, as you can't choose the ship in the first place).....

But certainly, a Ship whose Base and Token are Rebel One side and Imperial the Other? Perfectly Valid Application if the Ship Cards reflect it.

But certainly, a Ship whose Base and Token are Rebel One side and Imperial the Other? Perfectly Valid Application if the Ship Cards reflect it.

That's basically the extent of it - the hull zones are delineated in red for Rebel-faction ships, and green for Imperial-faction ships. So, presuming the stats between the two (shields and primary battery arrangement) do not need to differ within the faction (IE., each faction gets one version, and one version ONLY, of the ship)...then a single two-sided base tile like we have could handle it fine.

The real question is... will FFG do that? While the Imperial Light Carrier is unquestionably an Imperial design...the only screen time we've seen for one, it didn't even manage a full episode in that faction. And it's been Rebel ever since! I doubt we'll see one again, in Imperial colors, given it is a "kid's show" and the reluctance from the producers to risk confusing their target audience. Which is...frustratingly almost the same reason I don't think FFG would put out a dual-faction ship. On the table...it would just look aesthetically confusing.

I browse these forums during the day at work and I gotta say got some good ideas, but here is the best one:

MC75 - carrier for rebels

Venator - carrier for imps

A medium warship geared towards carrier builds that can be slightly modified kinda like the MK 2 assault frigate with good side arcs would be really ideal for the empire.

Venator is clone wars era ship, it has no place in the civil war themed Armada.

I think a Venator would be nice but I struggle to see where it would fit into the game.

As someone who is mainly 'in it for the models' though, I desperately want the SSD.

Venator is clone wars era ship, it has no place in the civil war themed Armada.

I think as long as it gets the arquitens treatment it would work. Refit the superstructure, the bridge and it's weapons setup, and you have a perfectly suitable carrier for outer rim operations.

Not sure if anyone mentioned it but in the LCG we already have the Neb-B2 and MC 40. So as FFG like to release the product over different platforms I would say these two are a lock! Thoughts?

The Victory 1 is a clone wars ship...so if its included,the argument about era is out the window.

The novel Tarkin, has Sentienl Base guarded by a Venator, the Electrum and has a paragraph on it coming into combat and "launching newly minted Ties from its dorsal hangar bay"

Make no mistake, those ships have a place...as a dedicated carrier that stands off at combat and lets its fighters due the work but can engage if needed, counter to what the victory does, IE get in your face and missile spam...where as the ISD was designed to fill both roles in a single hull.

Plus c'mon guys...its gonna look dope.

Edited by Gottmituns205