new player buy recomendations

By DerRitter, in Star Wars: Armada

Hello I'm looking at this game with a lot opf interest, but as I come from x-wing I must ask before commiting money to this:

- What are the recommended ships to buy for each faction? I am guessing the fighter packs are a must, but dont know anything about the newest waves.

- Are many dead ships? I mean ships/squadron that are completly overpowered be newer releases?

Thanks for the advice!

Honestly, the first answer answers the second question too :)

1) The first recommendation is usually "pick what you think is cool", because everything is useful in its own way, for at least a single purchase. Multiple purchases, perhaps not... But at least for a single, anything goes - so pick what is cool. You will always do better when you're excited to learn how to play and use something.

2) See above. Everything has a use. Some things work better in conjunction with other things, but really, we are in the Golden Age of Armada where everything is useable in its own way.

6 minutes ago, DerRitter said:

Hello I'm looking at this game with a lot opf interest, but as I come from x-wing I must ask before commiting money to this:

- What are the recommended ships to buy for each faction? I am guessing the fighter packs are a must, but dont know anything about the newest waves.

- Are many dead ships? I mean ships/squadron that are completly overpowered be newer releases?

Thanks for the advice!

2) First off, there are no 'dead' ships. So far, every ship has its uses, and every ship sees play. There are some used less than others, some that are harder to fly, but all see usage. There are however upgrades that don't see much, if any, play. However they are few and far between, and even then there's the occasional group where they are all the rage.

1) As for what ships to buy, it depends. If you intend to play only or predominately casual, then it doesn't matter, get what you like. If you intend to play in tournaments, then fighter packs are recommendable , but by no means a must , as people can make viable fleets using only core set fighters. Common first purchases are, however, the Imperial Star Destroyer, the Gladiator Star Destroyer, the Gozanti, and the Imperial Squadron (I & II) packs for the Imperials and the MC80 Home One, the CR-90, the MC30c, and the 2 Fighter packs for the Rebels.

Really though, as everything is viable, I suggest getting what you think is cool even for tournament play.

Just to chip in.

All ships are pretty good right now, things seem amazingly balanced, but there are a few things you may need to bolster smaller collections. Firstly, squadron packs. Squadrons are very important. Secondly, I'd look into the flotillas. They offer an excellent level of support for collections with less to choose from. They fill activations, provide support, and push squadrons... really the Swiss army knife of this game, not likely to kill anything with it, but super handy at everything else.

Thanks for the answers! It is nice that they are not very underperformed ships so I can go more what I want !

Buy nothing. Armada is dead.

Don't buy nothing.

Armada is not dead.

In all seriousness, I agree with most others here: the game is very well-balanced right now, so buy what sounds like fun. You can also go look through the fleet builds subforum to get some ideas of fleets you might like to run, and go from there.

Edited by Ardaedhel

I wouldn't quite go with, "Every ship is great!" Every ship currently has a role to play, but some are more niche than others;

- The Victory Class Star Destroyer really, really wants to use the commander from the Imperial cruiser expansion, and using the disposable capacitors from the Quasar expansion is nearly mandatory on the Victory II stat destroyer (although 3 points to give the Victory long range firepower only matched by a ship that's usually almost twice as expensive is a pretty good deal). The Victory expansion does have some great cards, though.

- The Nebulon-b frigate relies heavily on its titles to contribute, particularly the ones found outside of the core set. On the other hand, the Salvation punches well above its weight class at long range, and the Yavaris turns b-wings into terrors. The expansion also comes with a lot of very nice upgrades.

- The Interdictor is tricky to use in the deathmatchs of competitive Armada (Although it definately can catch people off guard). It excels in the campaign, though.

Of course, I could go on about every ship in the game like this to some extent- FFG has managed to avoid creating a "super ship" the way pre-nerf X7 Tie Defenders or the jumpmaster are in X-wing. Even the ISD II, which is very good at almost everything, pays a premium for that privelage and usually has to pay even more points to specialize.

It really depends on what you want out of the game.

Do you want to make competitive lists and go to tournaments?

Do you favor one faction over the other?

Do you want to be able to field a wide array of fleets?

Do you want to fund the total expense for a group?

Your answer to those questions would help us arrive at VERY different answers.