One thing I miss about X-Wing is the netdecking. This might seem counter intuitive but what it allows for (when not abused) is for a new player to focus on core aspects of the game and learn that without being hamstrung by poor list-building decisions elsewhere. Perhaps it's just me but I learn better when I can be confident that it was my decisions that were suspect and not my tools. TIE swarms or BBBBZ, while they had their natural predators, gave you a mechanically sound spring board to learn blocking, overlapping your firing arcs, planning ahead, range control, and more.

Perhaps this thread is better suited for the Fleet Builds subforum but I would be interested in seeing what your thoughts are regarding what an ideal learning fleet would look like. Would it be Rebel or Imperial? Does faction even matter? What upgrades do you avoid? What ships are an auto include? How do objectives play into it? How soon is too soon to introduce Demolisher or Gunnery Teams?

Ideally new players play the core set game at least once or twice to get a grasp of the basics.

@geek19 and I recently posted our thoughts on getting up to a reasonable learner fleet for Imperials and Rebels for a total investment of under $250 (including the cost of the core set). They're not top-tier fleets, but for learning purposes they should do all right and cover a lot of different elements. The Imperial fleet is more focused on ship-to-ship combat using a wide variety of ships with TIE Fighters to keep bombers honest. The Rebel fleet doesn't have as strong a focus on ship combat but it's got a more nuanced squadron approach.

I think the core set is the worst way to learn the game as it doesn't give a feel for how the game really works. You really need 2 or 3 ships per player so they can see how important activations are - for me this is one of the things I love about the game, making tough tactical decisions about which ship to activate next.

When I teach Armada, I tend to have a carrier ship each side and some basic squadrons, plus a couple of small, Command 1 ships to make up numbers and are easier to use. This gives a good general overview of the core concepts (different Command values and ship movement, plus squadrons). To keep it simple for a first game, I never use obstacles, objectives, upgrades or commanders, and aim for fleets of around 200 points. This has worked really well every time.

I'll answer the questions as best as I can based on my experience with the game and playing with complete beginners.

With regards to faction, I do not believe that it makes any difference which faction you pick, if all ships are available to you. Since both factions have access to ships that fit any role, the "ideal learning fleet" would have to consider what is easiest for the player to play with. For instance, some beginners may be comfortable with playing many small ships and getting behind the enemy. Others may be more keen on playing large ships that can quickly lay waste to smaller ships if they can catch them in their front/side arcs. And then there's everything in-between. Having one command dial may be preferable than trying to keep track of three.

I would argue that there are some things to consider aside from choosing ships, which may clog the experience for newer players. You mentioned "what upgrades do you avoid?". For new players, I'd argue it would be most optimal to avoid any upgrade at all. There are plenty of rules and mechanics to comprehend before delving into the wonders of upgrades. For experienced players, upgrades provide an opportunity to really gain some synergistic value out of their fleets. However, for new players, keeping track of what's going on can be enough in itself. Adding upgrades to the mix can thus be more confusing than fun.

TL:DR learn basic mechanics before jumping into mechanics that add exceptions to basic rules.

One of the newest player in my zone started (and still playing) with 2 ISD Motti with tractor beans and 6 defenders. And a gozanti. He is a veteran of WH40K so he is not new on wargames but I think his fleet is very clever as he doesn't know all the combos around there yet. So tanky ships and tanky squadrons with big dice pool and the tractor beans to make out maneuver him a bit harder is a good choice. I am not sure about the upgrades beyond te tractor beams but I am sure he goes with Relentless.

Easy to play, tons of hull and tons of fun throwing dice.

32 minutes ago, ovinomanc3r said:

One of the newest player in my zone started (and still playing) with 2 ISD Motti with tractor beans and 6 defenders. And a gozanti. He is a veteran of WH40K so he is not new on wargames but I think his fleet is very clever as he doesn't know all the combos around there yet. So tanky ships and tanky squadrons with big dice pool and the tractor beans to make out maneuver him a bit harder is a good choice. I am not sure about the upgrades beyond te tractor beams but I am sure he goes with Relentless.

Easy to play, tons of hull and tons of fun throwing dice.

Thanks for posting this. I am starting to get into Armada, but a basic fleet always turns into a list building exercise, than learning how to actually play the game beyond the basic out of the box game.

I've been considering this as well, and something along the lines of....

Honorable Imperial Officials

• Victory II Star Destroyer
• Arquittens Command Cruiser
• Gozanti Assault Carriers
• 6 TIE/ln Squads

Dirty Terrorists

• Assault Frigate mkII
• Nebulon B Escort Frigate
• GR-75 Combat Refit
• 4 X-Wing Squads

This gives each Player an "activation buffer"/carrier a front-arc combat ship, a side arc combat ship, and a ship each with one, two, and three command stacks respectively. The Rebel fleet plays to their maneuverability and multipurpose squadrons, while the Imperial fleet plays to durability and raw dice-throwing (sadly at the loss of maneuverability).

Unfortunately I don't own a potatoe, so I'm trying to find a way for this to work out while teaching friends. Maybe 2x Nebs and a Corvette?

Stay away from complex upgrades like engine techs. Only upgrades that increase armament. Boosted coms. Copy support officer, and navigation officer and put them on the big ships, like training wheels.

8 hours ago, ovinomanc3r said:

tractor beans

When I started I just went to fabs fleet builder and had it generate a random fleet from what I had at the time (which was the core set, a raider, and a Rogues and Villans pack) actually came up with a decent fleet somehow (still lost though but I still haven't beaten that guy yet).

We often play 200pt games at 3'x3' maps with beginners. Less activations and less complex interaction. And its fast! And they don't need to invest a lot of money. After a few games they want to do more... More games, more complex ones.

That's how I got my father into the game. Something like a Neb-B and a corvette plus squadrons versus a Gladiator and Raider plus squadrons, on a 3x3 map. Simple, but still with a mix of command dial requirements, points cost keeps the upgrades low and simple too.