Inspired by the rebel light carrier thread, what ship roles do each side not yet have. Ignore for the moment what possible ships exist to be implemented in game, what archetypes are each side missing?

For example - the Imperials recently got the Arquitens but still do not have a heavy broadside combatant focused ship (Interdicter is close but I'm thinking like an Imperial MC80H1).

What other archetypes might we expect to see in future Armada releases?

I'd love to see dedicated anti-squadron platforms. If we're thinking WWII in space, I'd love little destroyers who's sole job is to escort the capital ships. Maybe even an upgrade card like

"Anti-squadron Escort

While a friendly large or medium ship at range 1-2 is making an attack against enemy squadrons, exhaust this card to add 1 blue and 1 black die to to the anti-squadron armament of that ship for the remainder of that attack.
While this card is exhausted, this ship may not perform attacks targeting squadrons.
After this ship performs an attack targeting enemy squadrons, exhaust this card"

I know that's probably worded a bit ugly, but you get the idea.

3 minutes ago, WWPDSteven said:

I'd love to see dedicated anti-squadron platforms. If we're thinking WWII in space, I'd love little destroyers who's sole job is to escort the capital ships. Maybe even an upgrade card like

"Anti-squadron Escort

While a friendly large or medium ship at range 1-2 is making an attack against enemy squadrons, exhaust this card to add 1 blue and 1 black die to to the anti-squadron armament of that ship for the remainder of that attack.
While this card is exhausted, this ship may not perform attacks targeting squadrons.
After this ship performs an attack targeting enemy squadrons, exhaust this card"

I know that's probably worded a bit ugly, but you get the idea.

how about "While a friendly large or medium ship is making an attack against enemy squadrons at close/medium range" instead? (meaning the escort needs to be close to the squadrons, not necessarily close to the flagship)

Long range Rebel medium ship that does not have a high squad value. The purpose of the ship is similar to the Arq. Issue is the side arc synergy with Ackbar.

Speed 3, medium ship focused on blue dice for Imps. 3-4 dice per arc and 2 Ion Cannon slots.

Wouldn't mind seeing a dedicated repair ship either. Interdictor is good with PE, but it's fairly expensive. And Repair Crews on flots is hampered by the range 1-2 to be effective.

A ship dedicated to fight squadrons would be nice to have on either side. The raider with flechettes is as close as we have at the moment.

But perhaps an offensive upgrade that let us count crits as hits against squadrons would be enough rather than an entire ship that would serve that purpose..

I'm in full agreement with you @WWPDSteven . I'd suggest a slightly different set of upgrades.

(Anti-squadron flotilla)

32 points/35 points
C1:S1:E3 / C1:S1:E3

Shields: F2:S1:R1/F2/S2/R1

3 blue AS, no ship battery/1 Red AS no ship battery

Anti-Fighter Escort (non-unique title): When attacking a squadron you are not obstructed by ships

Goal: provide large ships a low-cost anti-squadron platform that can replace a token squadron screen, while leaving dedicated fighter screens with additional abilities/threats against other squadrons and ships.

I would like to see an inexpensive, speed 2 (- not too fast), rugged small ship with high command values, and lots of red dice - like stupid lots of red - but no blue or black and in a fairly narrow arc. Cheap but really rewarding if you can figure out how to make your enemies fly into their arcs. As if they were heavy old tech that are predictable but hit like a sledgehammer. Like an American civil war monitor only more deadly.

I'm suggesting small base because we have lots of fast command 1 ships, and I don't want another VSD.

17 minutes ago, OgRib said:

I would like to see an inexpensive, speed 2 (- not too fast), rugged small ship with high command values, and lots of red dice - like stupid lots of red - but no blue or black and in a fairly narrow arc. Cheap but really rewarding if you can figure out how to make your enemies fly into their arcs. As if they were heavy old tech that are predictable but hit like a sledgehammer. Like an American civil war monitor only more deadly.

I'm suggesting small base because we have lots of fast command 1 ships, and I don't want another VSD.

So.... like a Nebulon, but not?

I would like to see blue dice only ships released. I think it would be interesting and different.

21 minutes ago, ninclouse2000 said:

I would like to see blue dice only ships released. I think it would be interesting and different.

So.... like a CR90 B, but not?

1 hour ago, thestag said:

So.... like a CR90 B, but not?

I totally forgot about it, my bad. How about a medium or large based ship with blue dice only, lots of blues along with some new blue dice upgrades. Counter the dice with weak shields or low hull to make it a gamble to live at medium range...or lots of shields/hull and fewer dice maybe.

I'd like the rebels to have a bruiser that isn't admo.

6 hours ago, WWPDSteven said:

I'd love to see dedicated anti-squadron platforms. If we're thinking WWII in space, I'd love little destroyers who's sole job is to escort the capital ships. Maybe even an upgrade card like

"Anti-squadron Escort

While a friendly large or medium ship at range 1-2 is making an attack against enemy squadrons, exhaust this card to add 1 blue and 1 black die to to the anti-squadron armament of that ship for the remainder of that attack.
While this card is exhausted, this ship may not perform attacks targeting squadrons.
After this ship performs an attack targeting enemy squadrons, exhaust this card"

I know that's probably worded a bit ugly, but you get the idea.

Agreed, there needs to be a dedicated flak boat out there thats more survivable than a raider. Maybe even something like a demolisher/mauler affect, "enemy squadrons that are distance 1 after your movement suffer 1 damage"

Models wise rebels can have a Dornian Gunship which has appeared everywhere!

As for roles missing im thinking of the following:

Command Ships - A ship that gives a bonus if the Admiral is on it, but would have some draw backs like needing to be within distance of the rest of the fleet or the ship itself is a bit fragile

Electronic Warfare Boats - a ship that can take a suite of game mechanics modifiers like slicer tools and jamming field. Maybe add something that when an attack is declared you can decide what the target is (maybe through a roll?), either another hullzone or another ship.

Tacklers - Ships that slow other ships down and make it easier for other friendly ships to attack via target painters or something. Maybe even give a Jonas affect and provide another ship an accuracy cheaply.

Submarines - Something like a stealth ship that can't be targetted until it makes an attack or is overlapped? could be a great flotilla hunter!

Missile Boats - They would launch " guided missiles" that are on a squadron stand and move and attack like squadrons but can be intercepted by enemy squadrons and can be attacked by ship AA.


Most of these are just for flavor though, not sure how they would go in terms of balancing!

@WWPDSteven Destroyers weren't really the best AA escorts though. Cruisers were good on that and even battleships had heavy flak back then.

42 minutes ago, Irokenics said:

Command Ships.... Electronic Warfare Boats.... Tacklers.... Submarines.... Missile Boats.......

EVE online? I used to play, and it seems you did/do too. Good game.

6 hours ago, Eggzavier said:

So.... like a Nebulon, but not?

oh I want ISD levels of Red dice, at least

(and without the paper thin side shields)

More utility ships besides Interdictors. Some kinda civilian ship, or a repair ship, or a stealth ship, or a surveillance ship, or a scientific ship. I'm looking for things besides new combinations of dice and arcs.

I'd like to see the B roadside-class cruiser as a long range ordnance platform that fits a new role. Currently most rebel ships enjoy staying at medium-long range. This ship could be a counter to that strategy, being itself vulnerable at close range.

18 hours ago, OgRib said:

For example - the Imperials recently got the Arquitens but still do not have a heavy broadside combatant focused ship (Interdicter is close but I'm thinking like an Imperial MC80H1).

1

Well, we still don't have the Imperial Dreadnaught cruiser in the game.

We should take care that in trying to fill all the gaps in each fleet we don't make both factions essentially the same.

There should be some doctrinal differences between Rebel and Imperial fleets - and the ships should be designed to reward adhering to a faction's doctrine.

I personally would much prefer a third faction after Wave 6 rather than trying to come up with edge case ships, but I agree with the majority of the posters on here that a Lancer Frigate type ship dedicated to an anti-squadron role would be great.Something like an Arquiten defensively, that has terrible battery but 2 Blue Flak, with an upgrade or title that allows it to count criticals vs. squadrons.

I also like the ideas posted about torpedoes that move and can be intercepted by fighters. A Marauder cruiser and Broadside cruiser wave would be interesting. Possibly even adding another dice color that is used only for attacks made beyond range 5. An artillary ship would be a nice wrinkle in the game.

Also would like to see Thrawn and his Carrack Cruisers (possible Imp. side arc option)

I am also going to go ahead and say it... I want a Super Star Destroyer, I know true scale is unmanageable, but fudge the scale and make it an Epic size ship. Bring in Epic style armada games played on a 6 X 6 cube that lasts 8-10 turns.

@WWPDSteven has identified a good gap in both fleets. The Raider is the closest thing we have. Flotillas dedicated to hunting squadrons would be a good counter balance to the carrier flotillas we currently have.

I'd like to see Rebels get a close range carrier as well. Right now, it's hard to justify a large ship carrier for Rebels because 1) they don't have a good flight controller platform and as a result 2) there is no reason not to take flotillas as your primary carrier platform since they're so cost efficient. I f we saw a Rebel ship with a squadron value of 4, an offensive slot, a weapons teams slot, and only blue and/or black dice for armament, it would compete well against flotilla spam because it could grab Flight Controllers while the shorter range battery would keep the cost down compared to the MC80CC.

19 hours ago, Undeadguy said:

Wouldn't mind seeing a dedicated repair ship either. Interdictor is good with PE, but it's fairly expensive. And Repair Crews on flots is hampered by the range 1-2 to be effective.

I both agree and disagree with this lol

I think we need a dedicated shield thrower. (shield throwing flotilla even?) Small base ship, low cost, losts of shields and can take PE... Something to mirror the CR90B except less dice, more shields, and lower cost.

On the other hand I think repair crews works great and thematically makes tons of sense. I run 2 RC Gozantis with my ISDs and they have been no small source of annoyance for my opponents.

Taking damage off means they're actually patching the hull.... that's not something you can do from afar.

-Anti-squadron Flotillas

-Large base, black dice ship with ordinance upgrade

3 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I both agree and disagree with this lol

I think we need a dedicated shield thrower. (shield throwing flotilla even?) Small base ship, low cost, losts of shields and can take PE... Something to mirror the CR90B except less dice, more shields, and lower cost.

On the other hand I think repair crews works great and thematically makes tons of sense. I run 2 RC Gozantis with my ISDs and they have been no small source of annoyance for my opponents.

Taking damage off means they're actually patching the hull.... that's not something you can do from afar.

I'm thinking more along the lines of a completely unarmed ship. No squad value.

Upgrades that give repair tokens, set repair dials, or repair shields/hull in some fashion.

The variant could be control based. So similar upgrades to the Interdictor.