An old friend and I play or discuss armada almost every day, and since wave 2 I have been theorizing a new idea. Thanks to the novels tarkin and catalyst, and rebels the show; we see lots of old clone wars ships and equipment being used. Even the arquitens and pelta have come to armada. I think that its time for ships like the venator, providence and others to come to armada as well. Separatist tech being used by the rebels and republic stuff for the empire. However, with this tech there could be new factions as well. As Dras has recommended in other threads, have two ship cards but with different factions for the cards. So, here is my wave 6/7 wish list (hammerhead and mc-75 aside):

Empire/Republic:

Ships: Venator (medium), acclamator (medium), consular frigate (small)

Squads: Arc-170, V-Wing, V-19, and republic shuttle

Sep/Reb:

Ships: Providence (large), munificant (medium), reclucant (medium/small), lucrehulk (I'm an idiot and forgot this, large)

Squads: Vulture droid, Tri-fighter, Hyena bomber, trade federation shuttle

Please give me your thoughts on armament, movement, squad questions, anything really. Pictures, models, and any input is welcome. i'm calling on the big names for thoughts. That means you dras, lyearus, gottmituns, mcworrell, green knight! we need to make this happen people!

It already happened.

Reference kdyards.com (especially the things authored as DiabloAzul or entered by DAinTrust), and search for the DiabloAzul Custom Design Thread.

A lot of them are dated in thoughts and patterns now, but there's a starting reference point, at least, for the way things were thought to be going.

I've been to the kdyards a few times, idk how i feel about some of the designs there. I was just curious as to the community's thoughts. and thanks for the reply man, your a legend here.

KDY is great, but its completely community driven - this means you get the best and the worst. Honestly, if you want to improve what is there, give stuff a playtest and give feedback.

I somewhat doubt "dual faction" ships would happen, if for no other reason than the shows tend to prefer having distinct aesthetics for each faction, and this would interfere with that. Indeed, even in the TV show, we see this is the case. Once that Quasar-Fire-type-carrier was captured by the Rebels, we've never seen another one in Imperial hands since (despite there being several places it would have made sense)...for no other reason than a desire not to confuse audiences/mix aesthetic.

(Also it would also reduce sales of a wave, if players buying 'both sides' only had to buy one ship for both of them, instead of one ship for each. And obviously FFG isn't going to do anything that would reduce sales.)

3 minutes ago, Chuntsinger said:

I've been to the kdyards a few times, idk how i feel about some of the designs there. I was just curious as to the community's thoughts. and thanks for the reply man, your a legend here.

I wouldn't say Legend. More... "Infamously an Arsehole" or something like that.

But yes, to echo FoaS - its community based and community Driven. I sometimes (when I have a moment) go over some things and Rules-Ify some wording here or there with suggestions... But I am also notoriously conservative when it comes to Games Design. And probably more so than most others here... So in doing so, I also tend to be grossly negative when it comes to pure creativity in others. Its a failing of mine, which more often, just has me keeping quiet than inputting. So I apologise.

2 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

I wouldn't say Legend. More... "Infamously an Arsehole" or something like that.

But yes, to echo FoaS - its community based and community Driven. I sometimes (when I have a moment) go over some things and Rules-Ify some wording here or there with suggestions... But I am also notoriously conservative when it comes to Games Design. And probably more so than most others here... So in doing so, I also tend to be grossly negative when it comes to pure creativity in others. Its a failing of mine, which more often, just has me keeping quiet than inputting. So I apologise.

being conservative is never a bad thing. it keeps people in check.

5 minutes ago, xanderf said:

I somewhat doubt "dual faction" ships would happen, if for no other reason than the shows tend to prefer having distinct aesthetics for each faction, and this would interfere with that. Indeed, even in the TV show, we see this is the case. Once that Quasar-Fire-type-carrier was captured by the Rebels, we've never seen another one in Imperial hands since (despite there being several places it would have made sense)...for no other reason than a desire not to confuse audiences/mix aesthetic.

(Also it would also reduce sales of a wave, if players buying 'both sides' only had to buy one ship for both of them, instead of one ship for each. And obviously FFG isn't going to do anything that would reduce sales.)

that makes sense. im less concerned with how the factions would work than how the ships and squads would work. I do see your point about sales and confusion.

Thanks for the input guys, keep it coming

Venator should be a large base. It's about 1200m, which is the length of both MC80s, and it gives Imps another large base. Otherwise you'll have 3 Rebel large ships, and still 1 Imp. I know the game doesn't have to be even, but I really would like another large ship for Imps that can be used in several roles and have many different upgrade slots.

I fully agree. definitely needs 5 squad slots. The empire is missing a real dedicated carrier and while the quasar would be nice, it's not a centerpiece ship. the venator is. like the empire so often does, i like symmetry with my fleets (latent ocd haha) and a venator and 2 arquis would give me that. not to mention the glourious nostalgia of the clone wars.

So one idea I've seen (not sure who said it) regarding the CIS stuff is introducing a "Droid" key word, that allows them to perform normally when in medium range of a friendly ship, and if they are beyond medium, they have a penalty. Basically it gives the theme of a droid control center, and without that they perform much worse.

7 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

So one idea I've seen (not sure who said it) regarding the CIS stuff is introducing a "Droid" key word, that allows them to perform normally when in medium range of a friendly ship, and if they are beyond medium, they have a penalty. Basically it gives the theme of a droid control center, and without that they perform much worse.

I think this might work better as a fleet command (limited to Lucrehulk/Core Ship only) that gives friendly squadrons rogue and maybe a re-roll, extra dice or a defense token while within close-medium range, rather than new keywords. That let's you make the squadrons super weak at a baseline and they become much better when they stay close.

Also, the lucrehulk (as much as it would be almost necessary if full blown CIS/Republic factions were done) is BIG. Like, double the length of an ISD. Even with a sliding scale, that sucker will be massive. Maybe just a core ship is a better option?

12 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

So one idea I've seen (not sure who said it) regarding the CIS stuff is introducing a "Droid" key word, that allows them to perform normally when in medium range of a friendly ship, and if they are beyond medium, they have a penalty. Basically it gives the theme of a droid control center, and without that they perform much worse.

This could help keep their cost down, further staying on theme of "cheap disposable droids"

I see your points here, but remember, after episode 1 they realized how poop the control ships were for that roll and thus upgraded their computers to fix that problem. However, the idea in application to squadrons is actually a really cool idea.

6 minutes ago, FatherTurin said:

I think this might work better as a fleet command (limited to Lucrehulk/Core Ship only) that gives friendly squadrons rogue and maybe a re-roll, extra dice or a defense token while within close-medium range, rather than new keywords. That let's you make the squadrons super weak at a baseline and they become much better when they stay close.

Also, the lucrehulk (as much as it would be almost necessary if full blown CIS/Republic factions were done) is BIG. Like, double the length of an ISD. Even with a sliding scale, that sucker will be massive. Maybe just a core ship is a better option?

despite luducris size, you have to do the entire ship. it would simply be wrong no to. and if they can scale up a cr90, they can scale down a lucrehulk

If I were handling Droid ships...

First, I would make Droid a positive keyword, instead of Negative. I think it's easier to balance around that, and work with it at the table.

Maybe something like:

• Droid ( when this ship is activated by a Squadron Command , its anti-ship and anti-squadron armament is increased by 1 blue die until the end of its activation )

Then make Droid fighters be cheaper and weaker than both TIE Fighters and Z-95s, but still come with Swarm . Give their big command ships incredibly high Squadron values, with other stats lowered appropriately. Or give a combat retrofit upgrade that specifically benefits the use of Droid ships - maybe something like the Liberty's "activate an additional squadron when you spend a token" effect.

I don't know where the heck you would get aces from for that faction, but the concept of droid ships at least is an interesting one.

this is an interesting question as to what aces would there be. I'd say that droid ships would be about equal to a z-95. definitely have to have swarm.

these are the types of questions and opinions I was hoping to see, thanks for all of the support guys!

1 minute ago, Greatfrito said:

If I were handling Droid ships...

First, I would make Droid a positive keyword, instead of Negative. I think it's easier to balance around that, and work with it at the table.

Maybe something like:

• Droid ( when this ship is activated by a Squadron Command , its anti-ship and anti-squadron armament is increased by 1 blue die until the end of its activation )

Then make Droid fighters be cheaper and weaker than both TIE Fighters and Z-95s, but still come with Swarm . Give their big command ships incredibly high Squadron values, with other stats lowered appropriately. Or give a combat retrofit upgrade that specifically benefits the use of Droid ships - maybe something like the Liberty's "activate an additional squadron when you spend a token" effect.

I don't know where the heck you would get aces from for that faction, but the concept of droid ships at least is an interesting one.

The problem with making a ship with high squad command is what's stopping someone from taking 1 of those ships with, let's say 6 squad command, adding EHB, taking a token, and activating 8 A-Wings? Or 8 Tie/I? And what if the ship can take Flight Controllers? Now my 8 squads gets an additional die, or my Droid squads are getting 2 additional dice.

The whole positive/negative buff thing can go either way. I think it should be negative, because it balances out taking a dozen cheap squads, that get even worse if a friendly ship dies. Or even subsidize an upgrade.

Droid Command Center: Offensive Retrofit: 10 points. "You are allowed to add Droid squads to your fleet."

Droid: "If you are activated by a ship with Droid Command Center, add 1 blue anti-squadron die to your attack. If there are no friendly ships with Droid Command Center, you lose 1 speed and 1 anti-squadron die of your choice."

I actually just combined a positive and negative buff because the idea flowed nicely together. Maybe make the cheap Vulture Droids 6 points, so you don't really get a large bonus to your fleet until you take more than 5 of them. This way each squad essentially costs 8 points, and every squad other that costs 6. (10 points split among the initial 5 squads to get your benefit if that makes sense.)

I think this would pair nicely with the thought of having them operate within proximity to the ship: vultures and hyenas close to medium and trifighters close to long. really great points guys

I was brainstorming a "what if" on the assumption that they'd be their own faction, and you could deal with it accordingly. But yeah, even then, I think I'd rather use offensive retrofit upgrades to make Droid work than just boost the native squad value through the roof.

Something like making your " Droid Command Center " upgrade let you activate twice your squadron value worth of ships, but prevent you from activating any non-droid squadrons.

And I lean toward positive effects, just because I think it is "neater", and easier to manage. Really there's not much difference, either way.

I like the flexibility of an offensive retrofit, "droid control computers" because you could put it on something like an mc80 or neb-b and really diversify the rebels even farther. That is where the rebels started after all. the first rebels were nothing but old sep holdouts. Even in the rogue one novel, cassian reveals that he too was a sep. the fact that everything flows together from one timeline to the next is really quite great. an unexpected side affect of darth mickey's eu purge.

4 minutes ago, Greatfrito said:

I was brainstorming a "what if" on the assumption that they'd be their own faction, and you could deal with it accordingly. But yeah, even then, I think I'd rather use offensive retrofit upgrades to make Droid work than just boost the native squad value through the roof.

Something like making your " Droid Command Center " upgrade let you activate twice your squadron value worth of ships, but prevent you from activating any non-droid squadrons.

And I lean toward positive effects, just because I think it is "neater", and easier to manage. Really there's not much difference, either way.

I was under the impression it would be added to the current factions. If it was CIS and Republic, your idea would definitely work.

I think it is only a matter of time until we see these ships make their way onto the table. In my opinion, there is no way for the new content to keep up with the desire for new waves. I was the one thinking duel faction ships, but I never thought about it from an economics side...it doesn't economically make sense.

As for these Clone Wars Era ships, do you all think that they have similar stat lines compared to the galactic civil war equipment? Or are they not as strong because of the dated technology? Granted the Vic was there at the end of the Clone Wars, but when we compare that to more "modern" equipment we all know the speed and navigation difficulties they have. You could even see the same kind of deficits in the Arquitens, let's admit it the movement chart is not the greatest. I guess it gets into those theme verses gameplay questions....I don't want that to start over.

I really like the ideas above about the droid key word or even the droid control center offensive upgrade. I'm going to have to think on this more.

31 minutes ago, mcworrell said:

I think it is only a matter of time until we see these ships make their way onto the table. In my opinion, there is no way for the new content to keep up with the desire for new waves. I was the one thinking duel faction ships, but I never thought about it from an economics side...it doesn't economically make sense.

As for these Clone Wars Era ships, do you all think that they have similar stat lines compared to the galactic civil war equipment? Or are they not as strong because of the dated technology? Granted the Vic was there at the end of the Clone Wars, but when we compare that to more "modern" equipment we all know the speed and navigation difficulties they have. You could even see the same kind of deficits in the Arquitens, let's admit it the movement chart is not the greatest. I guess it gets into those theme verses gameplay questions....I don't want that to start over.

I really like the ideas above about the droid key word or even the droid control center offensive upgrade. I'm going to have to think on this more.

Well, first off, I tend to think 'new content' is able to keep up with 'new waves' for Armada , just fine. Armada seems to have a much slower release cadence than X-Wing does, and the 'Rebels' TV series (nevermind the movies - Episode VIII this year, Han Solo next year, etc) seems content to release new designs (and/or bring things over from the EU) all the time.

Still, it wouldn't necessarily surprise me if Clone Wars ships did come in, as one of the possibilities of introducing new factions...but I suspect it would be a while (and likely the only instance of 'dual faction' ships - as with how X-Wing did it. IE., as part of the normal release cycle, we get an Imperial Venator and Imperial Acclamator, and Rebel Recusant-class and Rebel Munificent-class ships....then when the 'Republic' and 'CIS' factions are ultimately released, the intro pack for it comes with bases and ship cards for those four designs under the new factions). I wouldn't count this as likely , mind...just that it wouldn't surprise me if it did happen. I can't really imagine the game permanently staying two-faction, anyway, and this would certainly be the most "obvious" way to have new factions.

As to the capability of the ships...I'd expect they'd be pretty close to what we have. Maybe fewer upgrade slots, maybe slightly less effective shields or hull for the size, but nothing MAJOR. Tech in the Star Wars universe, after all, being pretty stagnant.

2 hours ago, Undeadguy said:

So one idea I've seen (not sure who said it) regarding the CIS stuff is introducing a "Droid" key word, that allows them to perform normally when in medium range of a friendly ship, and if they are beyond medium, they have a penalty. Basically it gives the theme of a droid control center, and without that they perform much worse.

2 hours ago, Greatfrito said:

If I were handling Droid ships...

First, I would make Droid a positive keyword, instead of Negative. I think it's easier to balance around that, and work with it at the table.

Maybe something like:

• Droid ( when this ship is activated by a Squadron Command , its anti-ship and anti-squadron armament is increased by 1 blue die until the end of its activation )

Then make Droid fighters be cheaper and weaker than both TIE Fighters and Z-95s, but still come with Swarm . Give their big command ships incredibly high Squadron values, with other stats lowered appropriately. Or give a combat retrofit upgrade that specifically benefits the use of Droid ships - maybe something like the Liberty's "activate an additional squadron when you spend a token" effect.

I don't know where the heck you would get aces from for that faction, but the concept of droid ships at least is an interesting one.

I am intrigued. If discussion on this continues in a way that everyone agrees and people come to a consensus, I can add the keyword to KDY for people to experiment with. I know DiabloAzul was also kicking around with something for droid, but I cannot remember how he worded it.

This has definitely been the key issue to debate during the thread. I wonder how the reclucant class would work, I've always been intrigued by the look of it. I feel like it's basically an mc 30 type of ship. The droid keyword would be good to take to the rules developers to see what they think. It's these types of questions and debates that made me think of this thread. its supposed to be a big, broad, all encompasing idea.

4 hours ago, xanderf said:

(Also it would also reduce sales of a wave, if players buying 'both sides' only had to buy one ship for both of them, instead of one ship for each. And obviously FFG isn't going to do anything that would reduce sales.)

sadly this^^ however i feel that dual faction ships would be nice (Venator, Quasar, Dreadnought) as for venator stats mabe: Front 3 shield, 2 red 1 black, sides 3 shield 4 red, back 1 shield 2 blue, 9 hull 2 blue AA, Brace 2x redirect, 1speed 1 tick, 2 speed 0 -> 1 tick, options Turbolasers + Combat retrofit + officer + weapons team + ordnance + defence retrofit