At first glance all commands on the command dial/tokens has some sort of equal value in usefullness.

But when you take a closer look at them, each of the commands has a value that is slightly better value for money than one of the others.

Anyway lets begin at the Command that I consider is by far the most valuable command of the four available.

Navigate: At first it I considered this command not as usefull as it only adjusted speed and I didn't pay attention at how usefull it was for stearing your ships, I got wiser, so after playing +100 games I must admit that this is the best command of them all, when used right, it is both a offensive orientated command as well a Defensive command, its the command that you can use to get your opponent into trouble and get yourself at the same time out of trouble. Armada is a game where a major part is good positioning of your ships and the Navigate command is the main facilitator of this.

The following two commands is what a consider the next best commands available:

Repair: From the very beginning I found this command very usefull, as it can repair or move shields about and remove the odd faceup damage card, the only vice it has is timing, In many games I admit I expect to get hammered quite hard on some of my ships from turn 3 and unwards, but when the attacks on my priced large ship fail to materielise in that turn, and or only arrive late in turn 5, having spammed away on Repair commands when it dosn't have an affect makes it less usefull, so timing is essential to get the full benifit of it. (Rather wishfully I hope that someday we will get an upgrade card that allow one to exceed the shields level on a hull zone with a Repair command dial). Medium and Larger ships obvioulsy gets more benifits from a single Repair command dial than smaller ships, so the Repair commmand has more value to them than small ships.

Squadron: The single most powerfull offensive attack command one has available, during a single ship activation. Simply cut this is the command that has an exponential growing value the higher the squadron value a ship has. With this command you have the potential to add up to 12x additional attack dice in a single activation against an opponent ship and thats before you let fly with your activated ships own main batteries. Even the Squadron token can alone add up to two attack dice against a ship. However timing is one of its vices asswell as the accompaning squadrons composition in ones fleet and ships with a squadron value of one would prefer to do one of the other three commands instead.

The last command is the one I consider with the least value:

Concentrate Fire: This command is the very poor sibling of the Squadron command, you only get one attack dice with a dial, or a reroll with a token, compared to the Repair or Squadron commands, its value dosn't increase, with the increased value stats of a ship the bigger the ship gets. It simply stays the same. On small ships the command is marginally on par with the other commands, but once you go up in size its value decreases, as the other commands are more paramount to use to make those bigger ships work.

This brings me back to the question: Should Concentrate Fire command have an FAQ?

Don't get me wrong, during wave 1 it was an okay command, but as the game evolved and squadron activations in particular went up, the usefullnes of this command IMHO went down, as it simply is underpowered when compared to the squadron command. I mean when a squadron token as mentioned earlier can yield up to two attack dice (four with Yavaris) during an activation, I fail to see why one in their right mind would use Concentrate Fire dial on a regular basis.

So here here is some suggestions to increase the Command value of the Concentrate Fire Command and bring it more on par with the Squadron Command.

CF token should be one attack die worth instead of a reroll so its on par with a squadron token.

CF dial should be one attack die + a reroll worth on Flotillas and Small ships.

CF dial should be two attack die worth on Medium and Large ships.

Alternatively the command value of a ship will dictate how many additional attack dice a CF command dial will yield.

Anyhow that was my little rant about giving the CF command a bit more love.

FYI: I use the CF command very seldom now because of he above reasons.

I do agree that conc fire is the weakest command (I mean who doesn't), unsure how to fix it without creating crazy situations though. I feel the smaller the ship, the more powerful it is, as you get more punch, relatively, per ship. That said the single die can be telling, as is.

I most often use this to up my chances to one-shot something, or trigger a crit effect, or to fish for an accuracy. I think CF is fine as is, combined with a token it is a powerful command and can convert a lot of damage. I personally find Engineering to be my least used command and Navigate my most used.

I like this idea, but I think it could quickly become unbalanced

Maybe the number of dice a command adds should remain the same but give rerolls equal to command value?

So:

Token : +1 die of any color already in pool
Dial : +1 die of any color already in pool (You may reroll a number of dice up to your command value)


I think this could massively benefit both sides....

For the Empire where ships like the ISD depend strictly on that powerful front arc, having a possible 2 extra dice with the ability of rerolling 3 is a huge help.

For the rebels, as most of their gunboats are command 2 or higher, it would grant much needed rerolls for red dice at long range... supplemented with akbar especially on an mc80, could be quite powerful... (also considering Leias ability, she would become like Akbar with rerolls)

I like this idea...

Let us pray to the FFG gods....

I enjoy using CF commands to add a third blue die to my ISD1 front arc. It greatly increases the chances of me landing a crucial accuracy icon against flotillas or ships with brace or contain tokens. I typically ignore using them on redirects since I run XI7s and that one point rarely makes or breaks the attack at close range. Granted, if I don't have access to blue dice or black dice (due to range on the latter), the CF command ends up lackluster with a 1/8th chance of an accuracy and a 1/4th chance of a blank on a red die. However on a kitten with enhanced armaments or slaved turrets, adding a fifth red die can be punishing as it's now throwing as many red dice as CF ISDs and MC80s (sans Ackbar, spinal armaments, slaved turrets, or enhanced armament on said ships) at long range.

I tend to think of a squadron command as a CF command at the same time. A Tie/B pushed by a ship is essentially the same as a CF die being added to the attack. It's just a separate attack. But you also can't compare a squad command to a CF because of the points associated with both commands. If you don't have any squads, may as well throw CF. But if you do bring squads, you are paying for those points. You don't pay anything to use a CF. You just get another die. I use CF and squad commands quite often since pushing extra damage is valuable. CF on black dice is amazing because you probablyl have an ordnance upgrade to trigger.

2 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

I tend to think of a squadron command as a CF command at the same time. A Tie/B pushed by a ship is essentially the same as a CF die being added to the attack. It's just a separate attack. But you also can't compare a squad command to a CF because of the points associated with both commands. If you don't have any squads, may as well throw CF. But if you do bring squads, you are paying for those points. You don't pay anything to use a CF. You just get another die. I use CF and squad commands quite often since pushing extra damage is valuable. CF on black dice is amazing because you probablyl have an ordnance upgrade to trigger.

Or just a substantial number (3+) of black dice tied to ordnance experts, like on an ISD1 which has 3 black dice in the front arc but no ordnance slot.

I like the added/rerolled dice number tied to the command value.

10 minutes ago, Joe Censored said:

I like the added/rerolled dice number tied to the command value.

Adding dice based on command would make admo a bit scary. (And demo I guess)

As that guy who plays ship too much according to the forums and uses conc fire more often than necessary: it's fine. And not underpowered. And that's from someone who rolls a lot of blanks.

1 minute ago, Darthain said:

Adding dice based on command would make admo a bit scary. (And demo I guess)

How about ½ the command value, rounding up

CF is not the weakest.

Part of the problem is people are not seeing it in the right context.

Consider this. Typically, the "shootin'" turn is turn 3 and most generally by turn 6 ships are either largely out of position or largely dead.

Therefore, you have a "prime window" of maybe 2 or 3 turns when ships are in optimal range and shooting arcs. Each ship can only shoot 2 times per turn, so basically there are (if you are lucky) 4 times you are shooting per ship. In other words, shooting and shooting effectively happens in a very narrow and concentrated window in this game, therefore anything that boosts this action is highly concentrated and impactful. The concentrate fire command, at the right time, is worth a tremendous amount. Look at it this way, spinal armaments and enhanced armaments and other "add dice" cards are MODIFICATIONS because they are so powerful and often cost 9-10 points. Once you understand this CF (at the right time) can be seen in its correct context. It is a highly situational and powerful command when thrown at the right time by a skillful commander. making it any stronger would viciously unbalance the game.

I've thought of a change before:

CF Dial
Small ships: Add 1 die
Medium ships: Add 1 die and reroll
Large ships: Add 2 dice

CF Token:
Small ships: reroll 1 die
Medium ships: reroll 2 dice
Large ships: Add 1 die and reroll

It makes larger ships much scarier, and thematically, it would make sense for them to throw more power behind their attacks. It's a small adjustment but really puts the firepower back into larger ships. Leia on MC80s would be adding 3 dice and 1 reroll. But you're also spending about 150 points to do that. And Comms Net gets a major boost by passing CF tokens around. It also keeps Demo and Admo in check, while providing a buff to Vics and Dics.

From a balance perspective the Repair command must be worth more in average than Concentrated Firepower or the Repair command becomes almost worthless.

In my opinion adding a single die can often be very valuable or even having just a re-roll even on larger ships. If you are not being shot at or you have plenty of health, shields and tokens left and there are no immediate threat to the ship you are better of with the CF command.

There also are the synergies with small ships generally benefiting more from CF than Repair and vice versa for larger ships, this is a good equalizer in the game between the two classes and benefit good skillful play rather than just rolling the dice.

It is a good skill to be able to judge when you will benefit the most of any given command due to ships positioning now and in the future.

I don't think that CF need to be boosted, it is pretty potent on small and cheap ships and useful to increase the chance to get an accuracy on larger ships. Basing it on the fact it is less beneficial to add a die on the front arc of an ISD is not a good argument for general balance. Each command does not have to be equally valuable to every ship.

I do agree that overall the Maneuver command is generally the best command, mainly because it is equally beneficial to all ships... but you still are never going to use ONLY Maneuver commands.

5 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

I've thought of a change before:

CF Dial
Small ships: Add 1 die
Medium ships: Add 1 die and reroll
Large ships: Add 2 dice

CF Token:
Small ships: reroll 1 die
Medium ships: reroll 2 dice
Large ships: Add 1 die and reroll

It makes larger ships much scarier, and thematically, it would make sense for them to throw more power behind their attacks. It's a small adjustment but really puts the firepower back into larger ships. Leia on MC80s would be adding 3 dice and 1 reroll. But you're also spending about 150 points to do that. And Comms Net gets a major boost by passing CF tokens around. It also keeps Demo and Admo in check, while providing a buff to Vics and Dics.

I also wanted to go something like this, but I feared that it would be to complicated for some, so I tried to make it more simple.

2 minutes ago, Kiwi Rat said:

I also wanted to go something like this, but I feared that it would be to complicated for some, so I tried to make it more simple.

I think managing it by ship size is pretty simple. Just need another insert with it to help new people get used to it.

I think Leia is going to turn it on to be very worth while. Adding a dice and getting a free reroll with it is pretty solid for one command. Adding one dice and "fixing" a second can result in a lot of good damage rolls. With blanks on reds and blacks possible, it helps there, especially given how the attack step works.

25 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

I've thought of a change before:

CF Dial
Small ships: Add 1 die
Medium ships: Add 1 die and reroll
Large ships: Add 2 dice

CF Token:
Small ships: reroll 1 die
Medium ships: reroll 2 dice
Large ships: Add 1 die and reroll

It makes larger ships much scarier, and thematically, it would make sense for them to throw more power behind their attacks. It's a small adjustment but really puts the firepower back into larger ships. Leia on MC80s would be adding 3 dice and 1 reroll. But you're also spending about 150 points to do that. And Comms Net gets a major boost by passing CF tokens around. It also keeps Demo and Admo in check, while providing a buff to Vics and Dics.

This would become really broken very fast, given the ships that throw 7-9 dice raw as is do huge amount of damage as is.

Imagine an Ackbar leet with Enhanced Armament being able to throw up to 9 dice + re-roll at long range, that would just be plain broken. Or why not a Vader ISD with 8 dice + re-roll and than additional unlimited re-rolls.

Evade tokens would become almost powerless.

The game would no longer be about ship maneuver but throwing dice at long range at each other and rely on luck... this just would never be balanced (or fun) unless some other fundamental defensive measures could be taken by ships,

11 minutes ago, jorgen_cab said:

This would become really broken very fast, given the ships that throw 7-9 dice raw as is do huge amount of damage as is.

Imagine an Ackbar leet with Enhanced Armament being able to throw up to 9 dice + re-roll at long range, that would just be plain broken. Or why not a Vader ISD with 8 dice + re-roll and than additional unlimited re-rolls.

Evade tokens would become almost powerless.

The game would no longer be about ship maneuver but throwing dice at long range at each other and rely on luck... this just would never be balanced (or fun) unless some other fundamental defensive measures could be taken by ships,

Slicer Tools is still a thing. And the most expensive ships are getting the largest bonus. You can still mitigate their attack advantage by having more activations.

6 minutes ago, jorgen_cab said:

This would become really broken very fast, given the ships that throw 7-9 dice raw as is do huge amount of damage as is.

Imagine an Ackbar leet with Enhanced Armament being able to throw up to 9 dice + re-roll at long range, that would just be plain broken. Or why not a Vader ISD with 8 dice + re-roll and than additional unlimited re-rolls.

The game would no longer be about ship maneuver but throwing dice at long range at each other and rely in luck... this just would never be balanced (or fun) unless some other fundamental defensive measures could be taken by ships,

So 9x red Ackbar dies is worse than 7x Red Ackbar dice + 3x black A-wing dice.

Just now, Kiwi Rat said:

So 9x red Ackbar dies is worse than 7x Red Ackbar dice + 3x black A-wing dice.

Exactly. The difference is where the firepower is coming from. A CF buff would put it on par with a Squad command and flush out a whole new play style. Ackbar would likely be more powerful, but it's just 1 extra die above what we have now.

Just now, Undeadguy said:

Slicer Tools is still a thing. And the most expensive ships are getting the largest bonus. You can still mitigate their attack advantage by having more activations.

I still think it is way unbalanced and slicer tools and easily be mitigated by a good officer or just destroying that flotilla before it can use it with all those dice.

Just now, Kiwi Rat said:

So 9x red Ackbar dies is worse than 7x Red Ackbar dice + 3x black A-wing dice.

No... not even remotely accurate comparison... first of you need to actually have three A-Wings to command who also cost 11p per squadron and who can be stopped by opposing squadrons and fired upon by ship AA etc...

The worth of CF comes in many forms. On small ships it kicks up their fire power by serious degree. The use on Larger batteries tend to be fishing for certain results. Generally ether by having all colors of dice in your battery or being able to obtain dice colors from outside makes the command super flexiable. I'm curious to see CF getting some major mileage in DC lists since 4 blue dice is some serious results to taking in the opening round of fire.

1 hour ago, jorgen_cab said:

I do agree that overall the Maneuver command is generally the best command, mainly because it is equally beneficial to all ships... but you still are never going to use ONLY Maneuver commands.

Ever tried to fly a LMC80 without Madine?