IF SWM20 is the SSD, when will FFG tease it?

If my theory is correct, we are looking at over a year of playtesting so far.

Something that size almost begs for a Christmas release, so perhaps at GenCon?

Would it be paired with a standard wave so the Rebel scum don't feel left out?

Would it be paired with a new campaign?

Disclaimers:

-You are not required to believe SWM20 is the SSD to participate in this hypothetical discussion.

-Participating in this discussion in no way counts as an endorsement for adding a SSD to Armada, adding Epic Play rules to Armada, or that FFG will be able to do justice to the Executor.

what does SWM20 and what does SSD stand for, so I can decide if I want to participate in this hypothetical discussion?

Super Star Destroyer? how would that fit in the deployment area? shouldn't that actually be the play area?

SWM20 is the mythical "missing sku" that Armada projects skipped over that instantly generated a wide range of opinions of what it was or could be.

SSD = Super Star Destroyer

I can easily see it as a part of a campaign. That would give it a reason to actually play it, besides the obvious "I want to play Epic games". I don't see them making it larger than the CR90 or Raider in X-Wing, however 3 feet could be a possibility. You can play it on a 9x3 like the AoA in CC.

I don't think we will ever get one though.

Admonition will still get in its rear arc and wreck it...

I am sure we will get one eventually. I am equally sure that it will come with conditions none of us actually want:

I think the SSD will be one if the last releases for Armada that FFG will be doing. Might really be number 20: see how the game sells and prepare the big one. Should Armada flunk in sales they could have released it immediately to boost sales and break even.

Did not come that way since Armada was doing reasonably well, but they keep the SSD unreleased, to do the same last breath boost as soon as the game stops to meet the economic expectations. And then Armada will be done.

I'd rather have Armada and no SSD than an SSD and no Armada, thank you very much.

Zombie, yavaris, Norra powered bwings backed up by bomber command will still end it like they do any ship.

If we ever get one it will likely be part of an objective, or maybe a cardboard token that lies along the players edge.

Simple fact here is FFG would have to absolutely murder the scale to make an SSD function on a 3'x6' anything less than 2 feet long would be too close to the ISD, anything over 2' long could become very difficult actually play....

Pshaw... all you need is an Arvel Crynyd.

3 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

If we ever get one it will likely be part of an objective, or maybe a cardboard token that lies along the players edge.

Simple fact here is FFG would have to absolutely murder the scale to make an SSD function on a 3'x6' anything less than 2 feet long would be too close to the ISD, anything over 2' long could become very difficult actually play....

Scale has never been Armada's strong suit anyway. Make it the size of the X-Wing CR-90, and it would be fine.

3 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

If we ever get one it will likely be part of an objective, or maybe a cardboard token that lies along the players edge.

I'd be surprised if we never get something like this for the Death Star or an SSD, at least as part of a campaign. It's essentially what Planetary Ion Cannons already is, but in a campaign environment could be up-gunned (and made much cooler).

Will be released after the Finalizer , which itself will introduce "Mega Bases". Mega bases will consist of two smaller bases, each having three arcs, and new set of rules. Mega bases will not take ram damage from small based ships. Then they will release then Executor class SSD on a "Super Mega Ultra Base" which will be three contiguous bases each of which have 2-5 arcs, and it will be immune to squadron fire, ram damage from anything smaller then a large base ship, and measles. The model will be made of die cast metal and ground rhino horn, and the paint will be finished with a solution distilled from the collected rage felt by every star wars fan born before 1988 upon mention of the word "Mediclorians" and aged 12 years in an oak cask. Touching the model will instantly give you an errection that lasts longer than 4 hours but does not require you to speak with a physician. It will be about 35 points to put on the table because the empire needs more cheap ships. You'll want to buy two, but no man can be entrusted with that kind of power.

4 minutes ago, GrandAdmiralCrunch said:

Scale has never been Armada's strong suit anyway. Make it the size of the X-Wing CR-90, and it would be fine.

Except it would face all the problems we already have for large ships. Especially if the rebels aren't given an "epic" ship too. Huge activation disadvantages for take an XL ship, limited defenses to fighters, low effectiveness against MSU fleets.

I just don't think it's very plausible in our current game state. If it happened as things stand there'd be almost no incentive to run it other than "oh look, big toy" lol which is almost where ISDs are now lol

2 minutes ago, Madaghmire said:

Will be released after the Finalizer , which itself will introduce "Mega Bases" Mega bases will be consist of two smaller bases, each having three arcs, and new set of rules. Mega bases will not take ram damage from small based ships. The they will release then Executor class SSD on "Super Mega Ultra Base" which will be three contiguous bases each of which have 2-5 arcs, and they will be immune to squadron fire, ram damage from anything smaller then a large base ship, and measles. The model will be made of die cast metal and ground rhino horn, and the paint will be finished with a solution distilled from the collected rage felt by every star wars fan born before 1988 upon mention of the word "Mediclorians" and aged 12 years in an oak cask. Touching the model will instantly give you an errection that lasts longer than 4 hours but does not require you to speak with a physician. It will be about 35 points to put on the table because the empire needs more cheap ships. You'll want to buy two, but no man can be entrusted with that kind of power.

/thread

16 minutes ago, Madaghmire said:

Will be released after the Finalizer , which itself will introduce "Mega Bases" Mega bases will be consist of two smaller bases, each having three arcs, and new set of rules. Mega bases will not take ram damage from small based ships. The they will release then Executor class SSD on "Super Mega Ultra Base" which will be three contiguous bases each of which have 2-5 arcs, and they will be immune to squadron fire, ram damage from anything smaller then a large base ship, and measles. The model will be made of die cast metal and ground rhino horn, and the paint will be finished with a solution distilled from the collected rage felt by every star wars fan born before 1988 upon mention of the word "Mediclorians" and aged 12 years in an oak cask. Touching the model will instantly give you an errection that lasts longer than 4 hours but does not require you to speak with a physician. It will be about 35 points to put on the table because the empire needs more cheap ships. You'll want to buy two, but no man can be entrusted with that kind of power.

35 points sounds a bit steep. Someone can still outactivate me with 18 point GR-75s. How will I be able to win?

The thing is I don't think the SSD has to play well at all.

I got into armada because of the ISD Model. It looked so cool I bought it without knowing the game and just after that started being interested in Armada as a game. When I stop playing armada I will jsut throw out all the cardboard and have cool loking models to display.

So... If the model looks as good as the rest of X-wing and Armada stuff FFG has put on the market I will buy it, and I believe so would a lot of people.

SWM20 is a new core with new rules and those things :/

37 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

If we ever get one it will likely be part of an objective, or maybe a cardboard token that lies along the players edge.

Simple fact here is FFG would have to absolutely murder the scale to make an SSD function on a 3'x6' anything less than 2 feet long would be too close to the ISD, anything over 2' long could become very difficult actually play....

Just make it a pair of play mats, just like Cloud City or Starkiller base.

27 minutes ago, Madaghmire said:

Will be released after the Finalizer , which itself will introduce "Mega Bases" Mega bases will be consist of two smaller bases, each having three arcs, and new set of rules. Mega bases will not take ram damage from small based ships. The they will release then Executor class SSD on "Super Mega Ultra Base" which will be three contiguous bases each of which have 2-5 arcs, and they will be immune to squadron fire, ram damage from anything smaller then a large base ship, and measles. The model will be made of die cast metal and ground rhino horn, and the paint will be finished with a solution distilled from the collected rage felt by every star wars fan born before 1988 upon mention of the word "Mediclorians" and aged 12 years in an oak cask. Touching the model will instantly give you an errection that lasts longer than 4 hours but does not require you to speak with a physician. It will be about 35 points to put on the table because the empire needs more cheap ships. You'll want to buy two, but no man can be entrusted with that kind of power.

Hidden deep in the comedy is a serious grain of the rules that would be required for an epic Armada ship to work- Shields are immune to squadrons (so they have to be dropped before bombing can be effective) and hull is immune to ram damage from anything less than a large base and in turn cannot inflict ram damage on anything smaller than a large base. This means it cannot be blocked by said ships, it uses displaced squadron rules for ships which when overlapped can be placed anywhere along the base that it touches by the opponent of whoever initiated the overlap.

I would love an SSD, I don't care how long it takes as long as they get it right!

All reasons for and against have been posted to death long before this thread. This is only a "what if" scenario, of how it would be best implemented assuming FFG already has it in the works.

Rocket propelled Giraffe's "Last Gasp" theory may have merit. Kind of the Armada equivalent of the "having a baby in a sit-com" trope, in an attempt to boost ratings.

I think UndeadGuy may be correct on the AoA for CC being the logical base for an Epic play system.

1 hour ago, Darth Sanguis said:

If we ever get one it will likely be part of an objective, or maybe a cardboard token that lies along the players edge.

Simple fact here is FFG would have to absolutely murder the scale to make an SSD function on a 3'x6' anything less than 2 feet long would be too close to the ISD, anything over 2' long could become very difficult actually play....

Could you give me an example of when scale mattered in armada? Are the squadrons scaled properly? How about the cr90? The ssd just needs to be bigger than an ISD. I'd say about the size of the raider in X wing would be good. Just my two cents.

I've said it before - y'know, in the actual SSD Thread - If SWM20 is the SSD, I'll eat a TIE fighter Squadron.

4 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

I've said it before - y'know, in the actual SSD Thread - If SWM20 is the SSD, I'll eat a TIE fighter Squadron.

Bow TIE pasta

7 minutes ago, ninclouse2000 said:

Could you give me an example of when scale mattered in armada? Are the squadrons scaled properly? How about the cr90? The ssd just needs to be bigger than an ISD. I'd say about the size of the raider in X wing would be good. Just my two cents.

The scale has been off, as in not "exact".... but a SSD is huge, it would be breaking the scale to a whole new level. To make it fit on the table, which it would not do well at any size that looks appropriate compared to the ISD, it has to shrink a ton....


see:

1 hour ago, RocketPropelledGiraffe said:

I am sure we will get one eventually. I am equally sure that it will come with conditions none of us actually want:

I think the SSD will be one if the last releases for Armada that FFG will be doing. Might really be number 20: see how the game sells and prepare the big one. Should Armada flunk in sales they could have released it immediately to boost sales and break even.

Did not come that way since Armada was doing reasonably well, but they keep the SSD unreleased, to do the same last breath boost as soon as the game stops to meet the economic expectations. And then Armada will be done.

I'd rather have Armada and no SSD than an SSD and no Armada, thank you very much.

I think you severely underestimate their chances. An SSD being released does not indicate any sense of death rattle for Armada. Sure it would make a ton of sense for them to do what you suggest however business wise you don't wait, you release when you are making the most money. There's no guarantee an SSD would sell that much considering its cost would be pretty high.

Its sort've niche, something you release at the height of popularity. If the game is dying it would mean less people are playing so as a consumer why would you shell out a lot of money for something you might only ever get to look at?