So I don't play Armada, so I'm looking for some discussion. There was a massive errata for Armada, even larger than the recent xwing erratas. Now the question to those Armada players, is this- was Armada in a similar, much worse, or better place than xwing is at now?

discuss.

Why assume either are bad at all?

I'm still a novice at Armada and I haven't gotten into flotillas which actually was the linchpin for this FAQ as it was warping the game, at least at World's and my LGS. Lots of experienced players resorted to flotillas and Rieeken it to win tourneys much like our UN-beloved Jumpmaster in X-Wing. Major Ryhmer, the Demolisher Title and a few other things got swept up in the Errata too so that there was a balanced hammer, so to speak. I'm relying on acquaintances who play all the time to give me the real skinny on it.

They say it's akin to the X-Wing FAQ 4.3.2, but it was the whole enchilada for Armada, whereas we X-Wingers are awaiting the other shoe to drop so the Jump, Attani, Sabine and Biggs are evened out like the others that were high-points in their respective factions. Least that's what I'm thinking and what I've been told by people much farther up the food chain.

Armada had some issues, but they hadn't had the long term reign of one build the way the Jumpmaster has lingered. The big difference is that a number of old staples from wave 1-2 got hit- Most of which had been responsible for the current metagame arrising. The devs also seem to have been more precise in their nerfs- A lot of the needed cards are expected to stay a part of the metagame.

The great X Wing nerf was bigger than the recent Armada FAQ, though it will dramatically alter some builds that depended on the out of balance things that were fixed. A rebel who puts Rieeken on a flotilla hiding in the corner while sending waves of suicide ace squadrons and CR90s is going to have to completely rebuild though. Imperials were hit also, but in most cases will only need minor build changes or new tactics. YMMV

15 hours ago, Kdubb said:

So I don't play Armada, so I'm looking for some discussion. There was a massive errata for Armada, even larger than the recent xwing erratas. Now the question to those Armada players, is this- was Armada in a similar, much worse, or better place than xwing is at now?

14 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

Why assume either are bad at all?

Not sure where you read that he says it's in a bad state. As he uses comparative words like worse similar and better he nowhere states it's in a bad state. It could be in a glorious state and Armada still be in a worse similar and EVEN MORE GLORIOUS state.

Post title

Today I learned that turning all your unique units into Fel's Wrath is OP.

23 hours ago, Kdubb said:

So I don't play Armada, so I'm looking for some discussion. There was a massive errata for Armada, even larger than the recent xwing erratas. Now the question to those Armada players, is this- was Armada in a similar, much worse, or better place than xwing is at now?

discuss.

There is currently nothing as "broken" as the Jumpmaster in Armada.

Armada is in a slightly better place in my opinion. Mostly as very few players seem to think the nerfs were unfair or un-needed or too much. Largely there is agreement they will have some impact on the flotilla issue and some of the things that stem from them. The flotilla issue isn't just a one side problem so this isn't a killshot to just one faction. The changes are small and leave room for further adjustment and a new wave is on the way.

33 minutes ago, Quarrel said:

Today I learned that turning all your unique units into Fel's Wrath is OP.

vastly different game with different mechanics

because of Armada's activation order bouncing from player to player, there's no PS weirdness that can make Fel's wrath literally useless (if he's killed by lower PS)

because Armada's shooting and movement is done within a ship's activation, NOT in two separate phases after everyone's moved, and because you shoot before you move, having some ******* stick around in the spot where you wanted to go can be devastating. Having that same zombie ******* block you and still shoot at you during their activation just hurts (especially because bumping into another ship causes both to take a facedown damage card, except the zombie ******* doesn't care because he's already dead)

because you don't "turn into" Fel's Wrath, as his ability affected all ships and unique squadrons which are all already very powerful (i.e, they're not just a single crappy x-wing interceptor)

In some cases with very powerful ships and normally squishy ships, such as Yavaris which let commanded squadrons attack twice if they don't move that round, you can get some incredible trades because the normally squishy Nebulon would always stick around to do its thing instead of blinking out of existence after a Gladiator's close-range broadside. Any support abilities also offered by ships that would have otherwise died also stuck around for that round, such as Toyrn Farr (basically super Howlrunner)

Lastly, ESCORT squadrons had to be shot before the squadrons they were protecting (sort of like Biggs, only exception being ships anti-squad fire because they just hit every squadron in range) but with Riekan causing them to stick around for the entire round after they died...yeah you couldn't even hit the squadrons in the same round you killed "Biggs"

Riekan was really powerful

Everything FGD just said, but also remember - Armada is capped at 6 turns. Having a squadron guaranteed to last 1/6 more of the game than it should have because it had 'died' is a big deal , especially compared to X-Wing where 12+ turns are normal.

On 6/24/2017 at 7:49 AM, ficklegreendice said:

vastly different game with different mechanics

<snip>

I've not seen much of Armada, and had been wondering what the fuss was about. Thank you for explaining it quite so succinctly!

I wouldn't all it a "massive errata".

Five small card changes and adjusting flotillas so they can't take commanders? We're not talking wholesale changes here. Just a little bit of tweaking. A much needed tweaking, maybe, but tweaking nonetheless.

I must say that the errata is all aokay, and while some changes may be on the level of palp never-to-be-seen again (possibly Rhymer, as he lost a lost by now increasing squadron range by I think +50% when before he almost doubled it) they're all very even handed and the cards that were targeted are largely still incredibly powerful

Armada is a great, balanced game that learn a lot from X-wing, and I wish we played it more often locally, but space is tight in NYC

btw, if anyone of you ever get into the game, free tip: re-rolls stack (because there's no "focus") and you really want re-rolls