I hear Sloane a lot but don't really hear of any archetypal builds for her.

Also, what do Rebels have?

Most importantly, how do we defeat it?

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1FwH6GiZMONeNsV4OAOw8yX6SCo6eQ_x3K8VUMh9tTiQ/edit#gid=1449590538

That's the current store championship data. Doesn't have this weekend's results in it yet, and I will try to get wave-6 only fleet comp results set up before too long.

Two ISD2's and a pile of aces.

Wave 6 has set three things in motion for the Imperials:

1. Sloan, usually built around a Quasar, plus lots of squads. The Quasar makes it easier to put Flight Controllers and EHB, and then go nuts with squads.

2. Quasar without Sloan. Still a lot of squads because of the Quasar. Usually with a different composition.

3. Avenger Boarding Troops, usually with a pretty big bid, and 5-7 activations. I've seen some variety in how much they upgrade Avenger versus how many other combat units are in the fleet.

Those three things crop up. Beyond that, if someone had a pet list from wave-5, it is doubtful that anything about wave-6 invalidated that list. HH have appeared to be more than a flavor of the week than something that we've really had to worry about.

Very helpful

Btw, thanks again for the public data. This is beautiful.

7 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

Btw, thanks again for the public data. This is beautiful.

Agreed.

I'm heartened by this: Top 4 overall is 51% Rebels, 49% Imperials.

38 minutes ago, Maturin said:

Agreed.

I'm heartened by this: Top 4 overall is 51% Rebels, 49% Imperials.

That is heartening. That's healthy for the game.

1 minute ago, Vergilius said:

That is heartening. That's healthy for the game.

What was it before?

4 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

What was it before?

Definitely not 51/49.

I just pulled the spread sheet for the past regionals:

Top 4 Wave 2: 53% Imperials, 47% Rebels

Top 4 Wave 3/4: 61% Rebels, 39% Imperials

Top 4 Wave 5: 59% Rebels, 41% Imperials

7 hours ago, Shadow345 said:

...

Also, what do Rebels have?

...

Uh only the most OP Commander in the game, Reiken. Huh, gimme a sec, Oh nevermind he got nerfed. Nothing until Sloane gets nerfed which is neigh inevitable. Could we have two more factions please? (Resistance/1stOrder or Repubic/CIS).

9 hours ago, Shadow345 said:

I hear Sloane a lot but don't really hear of any archetypal builds for her.

Also, what do Rebels have?

Most importantly, how do we defeat it?

This will be easier to answer after Labor Day, by when we'll see arguably the two largest and most important tournaments for the remainder of the year: GenCon and US National Championships. Hints are being dropped that we may see an FAQ drop ahead of the latter if not the former.

Right now, Imperials are still figuring out Sloane. What they aren't spending time figuring out is the Boarding Troopers combo with Avenger, because that is hot fire at the moment. Thanks partially to Sloane, Imperial generic squadrons are looking better and better, and certain Imperial aces are making a big comeback such as Soontir Fel and Howlrunner. There is also finally a resurgence of new interest in a classic yet maligned ship: the Victory Star Destroyer was never great, but it appears to be a potentially solid backbone to gunline objective fleets thanks to patched over maneuverability and threat projection issues from cards like Disposable Capacitors, Moff Jerjerrod, and Sloane's TIE swarms needing a viable control platform. In exchange, Demolisher and Rhymer have been toned down in significant ways. On a related note, expect to see a lot of Gladiator-2's running around with so many hull 3 squads on the board.

Rebels are in an awkward place, because arguably their best Commander just got a swift kick to the groin to boot him off the pedestal of "unquestionably the best commander in the game." That said, he's still good under some situations, so don't be shocked to see him continue doing well. This has also drastically toned down other builds, such as the super-best-friends Rebel Aces list of Jan Ors and a bunch of named escort squadrons. That said, the Hammerheads are poised to make certain other options more interesting such as a high-activation fleet throwing lots of black dice similar to the old Clonisher lists.

@Blail Blerg @Vergilius , while I agree with your conclusion, and the data in total supports the hypothesis that top table representation is much more balanced than wave 5, I have to point out that the top 4 is not as good of an indicator as it was in wave 5. Attendance for store champs is averaging 8.7, so top 4 is essentially top half, while in wave 5 regionals top 4 was the top ~20%, and could be reasonably contrasted with bottom quarter.

However winners for tournaments since wave 6 are 5/5 R/I, and 6/5 Rebel/Imperial for the 11 wave 5.9 (post-FAQ) tourneys.

Still fairly low data-size, so I'll have to math some to see what the error bars are.

(also these stats are from the "all fleets" tab. Imperials have been doing better at tournaments where we have gotten only partial results, so only the "all fleets" tab has the information from those tournaments. Insert spurious correlation=causation conclusion about imperial stagefright here.)

3 hours ago, Baltanok said:

@Blail Blerg @Vergilius , while I agree with your conclusion, and the data in total supports the hypothesis that top table representation is much more balanced than wave 5, I have to point out that the top 4 is not as good of an indicator as it was in wave 5. Attendance for store champs is averaging 8.7, so top 4 is essentially top half, while in wave 5 regionals top 4 was the top ~20%, and could be reasonably contrasted with bottom quarter.

All fair points. I'd also be inclined to take SC data with a grain of salt. When it comes to the data, some data is still better than none.

And I'd also agree that GenCon and Nationals will be revealing.

I saw some small data sets and some really quirky lists. They seemed unusual.

I don't think this game has enough people playing it to have a global meta, for lack of a better word. Not necessarily a bad thing, though. It's honestly one of the best things about this game for me. I love playing against players outside my local group because I always see different styles of play and different kinds of lists. The only common component I often see is 2-3 flotillas. I know Sloane is the new hotness, but in my local meta she hasn't been very successful.

I also see a large variety in admirals in the top 4 in the data, which implies the game is more about how you fly rather than the kind of list you run, which is great.

Rieekan is still great....if you were losing more than 1 ship or ace per turn you weren't playing him right.

Was going to start a new topic, but this looked appropriate enough.

I've been out of Armada for about 6 months, last game I played was with Arquitens / Peltas.

Going to be in a store tourney this weekend, and I'm very rusty, and totally not up on the local (or national) meta.

In light of not having played, I was going to fall back on my previous experience/tropes; 2-3 fast, hard hitters (either an MC30 + Liberty or 3 MC30s) and a support ship (a flotilla or a pelta with one of the fleet command things) and a fighter screen of 4-6 some combo of A, X, Tycho, YT-2400.

I've never been a Riekkan guy, so the nerf doesn't phase me. I've usually defaulted to Dodonna with APT on the MC30's, or Mothma to run my 30's around like an annoying brat. This time I'm thinking Sato, though.

Can that list still stand up? What are the current big meta threats...I know Sloane is a thing, but what else should I be looking out for?

@Rocmistro I think that style list can still hold up. Generic squads stand up to Sloane fairly well. As already stated Boarding Trooper Avenger is a big threat. Rieekan Aces are still a thing, maybe not as much with Sloane but still good lists. Be aware of Raiders and Hammerheads running external racks. Makes both of them punch way above their class.

On 7/31/2017 at 1:12 PM, Vergilius said:

All fair points. I'd also be inclined to take SC data with a grain of salt. When it comes to the data, some data is still better than none.

And I'd also agree that GenCon and Nationals will be revealing.

Very few players here fly anything remotely serious for SC season, it is all nationals, regionals and worlds.

50 minutes ago, Darthain said:

Very few players here fly anything remotely serious for SC season, it is all nationals, regionals and worlds.

Our pre-wave 6 SCs produced a lot of goofing off.

Post-wave 6, definitely serious lists, but lots of experimentation, moreso with Imperial lists than Rebels.