So, I always tend to choose as my flagship the biggest, beefiest ship I have, generally that has the most hull, shields and defense tokens. I see this as being the best choice, since it seems most likely to survive.

However, it seems to me like a lot of the lists that I see on the forums tend to like to use gr75s as flagships. Given how squishy they sometimes feel, what is the reasoning behind this? Is it just because their support role tends to have them out of combat a lot of the time? How do you choose a flagship?

For me, when I put a commander on a GR75 it's doing a few things.

1. Spreading out points

2. Keeps fleet dependent Admirals out of the main action

3. May cause an opponent to divert firepower in a chase

Also gives you a stalling activation that will usually be out of the action, if you need it.

Putting your admiral on the biggest ship usually means it's the biggest target.

Putting your admiral on a different ship (doesn't necessarily have to be a flotilla) spreads out the points and makes your opponent make a difficult decision - focus on taking out the biggest tactical threat (your big ship), or on the fleet-wide admiral bonus (flagship)? Sometimes you can force an error by presenting them with that choice.

But sometimes the biggest ship is the right thing too.

I follow you on this one!

If you want to respect the theme, your admiral should be on your biggest ship or at least, on a command ship like the Pelta Class, not on a transport.

But, the fact that your big ship will be the first to go down as flagship, I can see why some person's are tempted to use flotillas as lifeboat.

As for anything in this game, there is not a ''you should always'' or ''you should never''. Sometimes, using a flotilla for your admiral could save is life, sometimes not. So do what you think will be the best for your fleet.

From an historical context, Admiral Spruance of the US Navy acted in Halsey's place during the battle of Midway. Spruance was not a capital ship guy and was known for commanding a flotilla of cruisers and support craft; incidentally, his own flagship was a heavy cruiser.

Halsey had to step aside from the Midway battle and hand picked Spruance for his ability to remain calm under extreme pressure.

It does happen that every now and then that something other than the biggest ship is the 'Flagship'.

I usually go with whatever is the most durable. Interdictors tend to be my flagship when I have them thanks to the high engineering value and the fact that you'd probably rather shoot at the Victorys or Gladiators that are doing all the damage. I can understand the logic behind placing the Admiral in a flotilla and cruising along the back of the map but I'm not really a fan of that for flavor reasons. I'm planning to suggest a house rule against Admirals in flotillas, since thematically it doesn't make much sense.

In my experience, the Flagship is either the ship with the greatest survivability in the fleet (ISD with Motti onboard with ECMs or something), or a flotilla that is flying away from the battle towards the sun.

There is literally no other decision for where to put your commander except how long you expect that ship to survive the battle. I'm a little disappointed that there isn't more to it than that.

13 minutes ago, Norsehound said:

In my experience, the Flagship is either the ship with the greatest survivability in the fleet (ISD with Motti onboard with ECMs or something), or a flotilla that is flying away from the battle towards the sun.

There is literally no other decision for where to put your commander except how long you expect that ship to survive the battle. I'm a little disappointed that there isn't more to it than that.

Well hold on a sec...

if if you had an ISD, Interdictor, and Gozanti, where would you put the Admiral? The ISD, where it's survivable yet also the biggest target? The interdictor, a less obvious target and still fairly survivable? Or the Gozanti, which can run away but is vulnerable to being taken out quickly?

the answer will depend on how you plan to fly your fleet, and on your local meta. I don't think it's as straightforward as you make out....

45 minutes ago, Maturin said:

Well hold on a sec...

if if you had an ISD, Interdictor, and Gozanti, where would you put the Admiral? The ISD, where it's survivable yet also the biggest target? The interdictor, a less obvious target and still fairly survivable? Or the Gozanti, which can run away but is vulnerable to being taken out quickly?

the answer will depend on how you plan to fly your fleet, and on your local meta. I don't think it's as straightforward as you make out....

It's most dependant on the intended goal for each ship. One of the more important reasons why Flotillas are often chosen lately is because they are going to be away from the combat while also being able to activate fighters via relay. Combined with speed 3 and you have a ship with one of the best defense tokens in the game avoiding combat while contributing directly to fleet performance.

Depends on what my flotillas are going to be doing. Relaying squads? Goes on the flotilla riding off into the sunset in a very thematic departure. Doing some BCC/Comms Net? It's gunna be going on something else.

There is no golden rule with where I put commanders. Just something that is hard to kill or will split my opponents fleet. Jainas Light is a good option too.

H9's have made a major return to my group at gigabites the flotilla is becoming increasngly vulnerable.

I put mine on a lone arq lately it just goes and puts shots into stuff at red range. anything they commit to kill it usually costs more than the ship and pulls shots off demo and my isd.

Dont do a lifeboat flotilla. Technically you can but expect a good ribbing

Edit: I edited my post because many were misconstruing my intent as far harsher then intended. Considering the atmosphere of the lifeboat flotilla threads I can hardly blame people for thinking it.

8 minutes ago, BergerFett said:

I put mine on a lone arq lately it just goes and puts shots into stuff at red range. anything they commit to kill it usually costs more than the ship and pulls shots off demo and my isd.

I too like The Arquitens flagship. It harasses at long range with DTTs and maybe blast Doors.

I also like the Needa TRC version but prefer not to put the commander on that one as it sometimes comes in closer if it faces enemies with evades.

2 hours ago, Forresto said:

Dont do a lifeboat flotilla. Technically you can but expect ridicule and being made fun of

I feel that's a Terrible attitude to have. Even in jest.

I just like putting my commander in the safest place. That can be a flotilla, it can be an expensive ship, it can be anything really. The only place I won't put my commander is on a dedicated glass cannon (or any neb-b). An MC80 Battle Cruiser with Mon Karren, Leading Shots, Gunnery Team and Spinal Armament is going to attract a lot of firepower. Make it the flagship and it will attract ALL the firepower. Without defensive retrofits, it's going to melt like Lucifer's ice cream cone. Put the commander on a different ship, though, and the other player has to decide whether to focus on the flagship or that giant spearhead of rerolling death doing an impression of an ISD made out of stucco.

Wildly circumstantial for me. My last regionals fleet was 103 in squads, Transport, CR90, CR90, Home One. My transport had Toryn and BCC and was expected to fly right into it like the MC80. So MC80 it was.

In the same fleet, If I had made it a comms net flotilla, I probably would have put my commander on the flotilla.

Then it it depends on who my commander is. I put Dodoma on support ships to bait players into attacking that over a Liberty. Same with a Jerjerrod Arquitens.

18 minutes ago, FatherTurin said:

The only place I won't put my commander is on a dedicated glass cannon (or any neb-b). An MC80 Battle Cruiser with Mon Karren, Leading Shots, Gunnery Team and Spinal Armament is going to attract a lot of firepower. Make it the flagship ALL the firepower.

This is why Mothma commands by cell phone in the cab of a retrofitted dump truck for me. What am I going to do, put her on one of the extremely fragile MC30's that are flying directly into harm's way, and are partly counting on my opponent's indecisive targeting to survive? No, she's taking the thematic Rebel approach of trying to win, danm doing it in style.

I've been musing on a build where I put my commander on a defensively built Interdictor with Tua, ECMs, and Targeting Scramblers, to make it as difficult as possible for my opponent to remove my Admiral, potentially with Tagge or Motti just to really next level the pain.

1 hour ago, Alzer said:

I've been musing on a build where I put my commander on a defensively built Interdictor with Tua, ECMs, and Targeting Scramblers, to make it as difficult as possible for my opponent to remove my Admiral, potentially with Tagge or Motti just to really next level the pain.

As I get more into playing Imperial, I've come to the conclusion that if I am fielding an interdictor, it's my flagship. High health, high engineering, low threat profile compared to other imperial ships. It's pretty perfect. I'm just torn between using Tua and ECM or Reinforced Blast Doors or using a damage control officer as a middle finger to Nora, APTs, etc.

20 hours ago, Drasnighta said:

I feel that's a Terrible attitude to have. Even in jest.

To clarify im talking about some pregame ribbing, not anything constant and definitely not hostile or serious.

I just want to be clear, its not really the flagship flotilla thats the problem its hiding in the corner that is. Its rare to happen so its not really a concern.

22 hours ago, Forresto said:

Dont do a lifeboat flotilla. Technically you can but expect ridicule and being made fun of

How can anyone ridicule and make fun of you when you're sitting in first place after keeping your most expensive upgrade card alive by flying it away from combat?

On 2/12/2017 at 10:53 PM, Maturin said:

Well hold on a sec...

if if you had an ISD, Interdictor, and Gozanti, where would you put the Admiral? The ISD, where it's survivable yet also the biggest target? The interdictor, a less obvious target and still fairly survivable? Or the Gozanti, which can run away but is vulnerable to being taken out quickly?

the answer will depend on how you plan to fly your fleet, and on your local meta. I don't think it's as straightforward as you make out....

You will note I said, "It depends on how long you expect that ship to survive in battle." Because indeed, if your flotilla is, say, carrying a repair team and trailing behind the other two ships, that's where your commander card goes, since it will stay out of range, be obstructed by the big ships, can cut and run if it has to etx.

1 hour ago, Norsehound said:

How can anyone ridicule and make fun of you when you're sitting in first place after keeping your most expensive upgrade card alive by flying it away from combat?

You will note I said, "It depends on how long you expect that ship to survive in battle." Because indeed, if your flotilla is, say, carrying a repair team and trailing behind the other two ships, that's where your commander card goes, since it will stay out of range, be obstructed by the big ships, can cut and run if it has to etx.

Edited my intial post cause it sounded harsher then I meant.

Honestly i'm not saying its an invalid strategy. It takes your opponent expending resources away from the main battle to eliminate your admiral however I do think its a very cheesy strategy and as such the player choosing it does deserve to get ribbed a little for doing it.

25 minutes ago, Forresto said:

i'm not saying its an invalid strategy...

I do think its a very cheesy strategy...

I really don't understand the difference. Maybe you are using the word "cheesy" to mean something different from my understanding?

I mean, I thought it pretty much did mean an invalid strategy: something that's technically allowed under the rules but only due to an unforeseen rules interaction. I could see this kind of thing happening under a system as arcane and rules-y as 40k, but I would be pretty stunned to find that FFG did not expect people to use flotillas as lifeboats. Particularly given that it was not uncommon practice to put them on corvettes even before flotillas were a thing.