The game Pirates of the Spanish Main was a casual fleet-battle (naval ships) that effectively had "move and shoot" as its base rule (it was tied to an "upgrade", but one that every single combat ship would have in every game because of course you would).

It was faster, it was deadlier, and it made the game feel much less strategic.

I don't think that fits with Armada's design (or appeal for most people) at all. The current setup certainly felt weird to me, personally, because of my experience with Pirates, but after a few games it became pretty obvious why it works how it does in Armada.

Positioning is vital. Timing is vital. Planning is vital. The ways that navigation, speed, and shooting work all contribute to the general feeling of mass and momentum that Armada captures well.

For all of its faults, I did enjoy Pirates.

I still have all of the punch cards somewhere.

I loved the game, and grabbed up boatloads of it during college.

I still remember our "screw it, let's use hundreds of points worth of ships (when the default was... 40?) in one massive battle that fills the entire livingroom of one of our apartments" engagements very fondly.

I still have all of mine stored away in the garage, like so many other miniatures and collectible games I've gotten deeply into in the past.

I think the only game that I've actually gotten rid of was the Star Wars Miniatures Starship Battles from WotC. And that was only because that game was absolutely and completely garbage.

1. Shooting and movement choice

This seems like a last second rule do to demolishor points value. I playtested with option and the only thing effected was demolishor was priced right.

2. Ships should carry fighters

This also could be added with little disruption as rapid launch bays is during the ship phase

3. Concentrated fire

Make it like a Target lock from xwing seeing as a lot of us play that it would make easy to explain and it goes with the tokens ability

4. Speed changes

Should be allowed before movement. With nav adding to the change.

5. Large base bonus against small base ships

Some to overcome the activation penalty add increase theme. I propose automatic face even if you fell to hitt

I feel like you're really just wanting to play X-Wing but with big ships. The Attack before Move is one of the defining features for Armada to me. It is definitely very disruptive if you're coming from most other tabletops, but that, along with the necessity of having specific commands to manipulate your navigation makes Armada the long-thinking game that it is.

I feel like a big reason people have been responding to you so poorly is you're so clearly dissatisfied with Armada as a game. Saying you want to overhaul the majority of the core rules is really a sign you should play something else.

It's soooo nice to be able to grab a beer at an FLGS, but my wallet cries every time hahaha.

The designers of Armada did a pretty good job making a fairly mechanically simple game with a lot of strategic depth. It's a very good, practical balance. The movement mechanics especially are brilliant. I do kind of wish for some mechanics like what rapid launch bays enable (it's unlikely I will ever take that card though), but it would have cluttered things. The shoot then move mechanic is a radical break from the wargaming norm, and is a HUGE part of the planning and movement decisions that are intrinsic to the game and give it so much more depth than it otherwise could have had.

The only thing that is a little painful for me right now is how bad ships are statistically at defending against squadrons (antisqadron should be actively available regardless of arc, representing all around dedicated point-defense, and not tied to primary batteries having fired or not), but even that is just a balancing factor. The intended balance is taking a fighter screen, which is nice in theory but has been made a little more difficult due to intel and point efficiency of dedicated screening squadrons and the difficulty of keeping up with your ships. I had an idea for a ship escort mechanic where squadrons could parasite off of a ship during it's movement as an activation (ride along, up to squadron value, and/or deploy from ship at end of movement), and maybe would be available for a special intercept action (can engage any squadron that comes into range 1 of their mothership, even though activated. Maybe an additional rule that allows for an attack during intercept, like a one-use counter type attack that could in turn trigger counter, so A-wings and Tie-Ints would still be able to Counter the screening force as they were being attacked back). At the end of the day though, it does work ok without making things much more complicated (although my ship escort wing idea has some merit).

As to some of the other suggestions: Conc Fire is a good command as is, and although there is some merit to the command dial version allowing rerolls of any dice (rather than just the one that the token allows), the mode where it adds a dice to a single dice pool is a great boost for smaller ships, and is nice for the big ships that have a weak arc to boost it up a bit. The XI7 is perfectly fine how it is, and is specifically intended as a capital ship weapon in the first place. Speed change is a little annoying, but it's also part of planning your command dials, which is central to the game. Large base bonus is irrelevant, as a well planned loadout and maneuvering with a big bruiser can hole most of the little ships without much difficulty in one shooting phase (hell, I killed an untouched glad and goz in one round with a gunnery team MC80 battle spear one game, without crazy rolls, and proceeded to maul an ill-placed ISD and pop another goz later on in the same game, just fine).

Keep in mind it is pretty much the same design team that was involved with X-wing in the first place; they were fairly aware of the mechanics of that game, and chose not to use a similar approach, which I am thankful for (X-wing is fun, but lacks a certain something strategically that I am looking for in an entry-mid-range mini-wargame).

Just stop! For your own sanity stop. And if you only played in tournaments your not experienced enough yet to even suggest anything with any credibility.

So go take a break, read more about strategy, (which the forum has been sorely missing lately) and just take a break.

These changes seem to be moving Armada towards XWing... How about just play XWing, if that's your cup of tea?

Ben will still beat you with these rules and you will still complain that the game is broken.

As much some hate making things Xwing like which is funny the current meta is xwing mini it helps with crossover and teach also Xwing works a lot smoother and why not bring some rules over if it makes easier to understand for those players.

6. XI7 needs to be limited to small base ships. TRC should be a modification

Interestingly, I'm seeing people move away from X-Wing as a result of the what's been going on with rules and FAQs and as a result some have come to Armada as new players. <shrug>

One of the features of Armada is the very solid set of rules. Not that we don't have a rough edge or two here and there but looking over your list and thus the point of my pontification, I don't see a single thing that you've suggested that I find I would want to add.

The fire then move mechanic works, and it balances very well with the selection of player 1 as well as working with the strategy of activations. Target lock just doesn't map to Armada (nor should it), these aren't small ships so it doesn't fit the thematic play. Ships already can carry squadrons. On speed changes, dial and token is a +- 2 adjustment already.

PSA Folks: this is a troll. He is looking for a new home now that everyone has abandoned his original trolling threat.

Please don't feed the troll.

awww but i already popped popcorn! Guess i'll sit here and eat it myself.