Played my first proxy game last night with Raddus and wanted to get a conceptual discussion going on how Raddus can affect the meta.

One of the most critical things about Armada is the deployment phase. Games can truly be won and lost at deployment based on the restriction of movement imposed on capital ships. This is one of the major things I like about Armada when compared to X-Wing. Movement is very important and relatively restricted.

After a while, most players develop a pretty good feel for where the enemy ships will end up in the next turn or 2, and the ability to accurately predict where the enemy will be has a massive benefit.

Concentration of fire wins Armada games by overheating tokens and removing the enemies guns and activation from the board. Concentration of fire often requires some sort of formation in order to achieve optimally.

What you end up with is a tenancy for fleets to stick together in a loose group so they can face the enemy at the same time without being picked apart one by one.

I am thinking that Raddus is directly counter to this. He likes having ships spread out across the map so he has options with regard to where he brings his hammer ship in.

Because of the decentralized nature of a Raddus fleet, I think as Raddus increases in play, things that need a big target to go bit (BTVenger) will have a hard time making themselves relevant.

I had good success last night with an MC80 Battle Cruiser coming in off the flank and pouncing on an Arquiten and Flotilla, then mauling another that got away, while completely denying the enemy "Cymoon," any meaningful front arc shots all game. I am intrigued by the prospect of surgically nipping off the weak edges of a fleet and avoiding the rest as a means to counter both BTA style fleets and swarms, which a large Gunnery Team laden ship can really tear into if it can avoid getting peppered from all angles for a few turns by hiding in hyperspace. I kept my Battle Cruiser out till turn 4 and them pounced once I had all the angels I wanted.

I think Raddus will affect much of the standard deployment and formation concepts we see in Wave 6. Fast Imp Bomber wings can track down the small ships :-( and may be an issue but you don't have to keep him out all the time...

I have always said that the best place to attack 2-3 Rebels is from directly behind it, Raddus can actually make that happen too.

I’ve been proxying Raddus a lot. He was my CC Commander for our last run. He provides the opportunity for some rather extreme concentration of force. In particular, I’ve been having fun isolating and killing ISDs with my Raddus fleet.

On the other hand, he CAN be countered with intelligent counterplay. Forward thinking can prevent him from deploying in several key weak spots. If you Force a suboptimal Raddus drop, he is a 26 point waste.

This is one thing I fear while trying a Dual ISD list, and I'm wondering if it's possible to use a modified scissor maneuver to get a front arc shot on the Raddusee.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scissors

I think a scissors counter would not work that well in most cases due to the following factors:

1. the Raddus ship gets to come in set at the ideal speed it wants, oriented exactly how he wants, and with the ideal command stack it wants. The target has to make due with what ever he currently has in terms of speed, heading, and command options.

2. Armada is a 6 turn game, the overshoot you need to create would be difficult to achieve in the limited number of moves remaining in the game. If someone is dropping in on the back of an ISD it is probably already turn 3.

The scissors could work but you need the Raddus ship to make a mistake and overshoot, or the ability to drastically change your speed up or down and turn sharply. You might be able to pull it off with a Moff J, Nav. Dial + Nav. Token.

I think this will be a bigger problem for slow ships. an ISD may be able to take the first salvo, then move away and extend out of effective range. One of the major downsides of trailing a ship in Armada is that movement it broken into discrete chunks, a trailing ship can sometimes not get any shots based simply on the activation order.

I also think Raddus is going to encourage play along the board edge even more than people currently do, denying a flank cuts down on the possible angles of attack considerably.

1 hour ago, Space_Cowboy17 said:

I also think Raddus is going to encourage play along the board edge even more than people currently do, denying a flank cuts down on the possible angles of attack considerably.

This is why I love the idea of ETRC90's for the signal ship(s). It's hard to deny them anywhere on the board they want to slip into.

2 minutes ago, Admiral Theia said:

This is why I love the idea of ETRC90's for the signal ship(s). It's hard to deny them anywhere on the board they want to slip into.

My WC list has an ETRC, Admonition, Quantum Storm, and Bright Hope. After playing with it and seeing the rest of Wave 7, I'm thinking two ETRC90s, Admonition, and QS make for excellent delivery vehicles for an MC75.

I know what TRC is, but what is an ETRC?

2 minutes ago, SoonerTed said:

I know what TRC is, but what is an ETRC?

Engine Techs + TRC.

Ah, that's an expensive ship with not a lot of hull. Wouldn't you be better of with hammerheads?

They are expensive and I think speed 4 is just fine for what you are trying to do. Hammerheads don't function well as wide flankers because of the lack of speed 4 and a very straight nav. chart at speed 3.

I almost see Hammerheads as cheaper versions of generic Nebulons in most cases, they like the target in front of them and don't want to over extend into the fight because crossfire can punch through their weak side shields.

Hammerheads can not compare to the CR 90, a double click at the end of speed 3 and 4 is pretty key.

4 minutes ago, SoonerTed said:

Ah, that's an expensive ship with not a lot of hull. Wouldn't you be better of with hammerheads?

If your goal is raw speed and agility, the only way to improve on this is to have a Madine list (which, ahhh, defeats the point). Add TRC just for kicks to the enemy's shins.

I also agree with @Space_Cowboy17 , the Hammerhead is much more similar to the Nebulon as far as combat maneuvering is concerned than a CR90.

So this is where the Interdictor comes into play again and I think @Valca means to surprise me with next Thursday. With a G7-X Grav Well projector and ship deployed by Raddus will be at speed zero......

5 minutes ago, jamie nasmyth said:

So this is where the Interdictor comes into play again and I think @Valca means to surprise me with next Thursday. With a G7-X Grav Well projector and ship deployed by Raddus will be at speed zero......

What if, and bear with me here, there were 2 G7-X tokens...

But then you are stuck playing with 2 Interdictors :-(

Nothing stops a Raddus player from just coming in conservatively on top of 2 on their side of the board.

27 minutes ago, Space_Cowboy17 said:

But then you are stuck playing with 2 Interdictors :-(

Nothing stops a Raddus player from just coming in conservatively on top of 2 on their side of the board.

As a Veteran of the Twin Interdictor Nose Punch list, and with heaping spoonfuls of my Personal Opinion:

... They might as well have not Raddus'd then... Your Grav Wells have taken Raddus from them... Raddus' big gamble is being able to drop and immediately have an effect.. If you drop and you're out of the battle having to come in... You're wasting time (and Raddus)...

I feel that Scenario Advantage is still with the Interdictors at that point... But that's based on some very limited personal testing... (The big test for me is going to be Regionals on the 3rd if everything drops on time, because I'll be seeing Raddus...)

But yes, you're right on blush - Interdictors aren't the easiest things to work with unless you're going all-in, and even then... But the surprise Grav Well token effect (since they never leave the board!) is going to catch the odd Raddus ship from time to time...

1 hour ago, Valca said:

What if, and bear with me here, there were 2 G7-X tokens...

You know that was exactly what I was thinking. I guess Dan is missing one of his interdictors....

38 minutes ago, jamie nasmyth said:

You know that was exactly what I was thinking. I guess Dan is missing one of his interdictors....

Days I'm there you can pinch mine.

5 hours ago, GiledPallaeon said:

I also agree with @Space_Cowboy17 , the Hammerhead is much more similar to the Nebulon as far as combat maneuvering is concerned than a CR90.

I'm fidgeting with a list that is Raddus and three ETRC90's, plus a HH to drop out of the Profundity when it jumps in. All with a 6 point bid (fairly plenty for my meta).

3 hours ago, Drasnighta said:

As a Veteran of the Twin Interdictor Nose Punch list, and with heaping spoonfuls of my Personal Opinion:

... They might as well have not Raddus'd then... Your Grav Wells have taken Raddus from them... Raddus' big gamble is being able to drop and immediately have an effect.. If you drop and you're out of the battle having to come in... You're wasting time (and Raddus)...

I feel that Scenario Advantage is still with the Interdictors at that point... But that's based on some very limited personal testing... (The big test for me is going to be Regionals on the 3rd if everything drops on time, because I'll be seeing Raddus...)

But yes, you're right on blush - Interdictors aren't the easiest things to work with unless you're going all-in, and even then... But the surprise Grav Well token effect (since they never leave the board!) is going to catch the odd Raddus ship from time to time...

yKnow, its kind of a dam shame you don't actually have 2 interdictors. For the level of contribution you put into the forums and into double interdictors, of all people you probably deserve two.

(Oh oops, I just noticed Giled is responding to someone else. Still, partly relevant)

Would it be beneath your dignity if someone set up a Patreon or GoFundMe to get you an Interdictor (and or have it delivered to the gnarly side of the globe)?

Although personally, I'm really not good at setting these things up. I have troubles plugging in a potato.

I think the original post is good. I have been fighting a LOT of '1 big one 5 floater plus squad ball' fleets through wave 6. I think raddus could severely hurt that style if a significant number of players start fielding him. BT avenger style lists really need to be hunting down and last-firsting your most expensive ship. But if this ship is going to raddus in and eat all the flotillas from behind bt avenger its a much tougher setup.

Dras, I will gladly lend you an interdictor at regionals.

4 hours ago, Mogrok said:

Dras, I will gladly lend you an interdictor at regionals.

Thanks, but I’m set on that front - it’s getting W7 that will be the rub.

I guess with a Strategic Shuttle you could shuffle the tokens forward to make a Raddus no go zone. might be kinds fun, and useful in other matchups if you are working an objective oriented list.

The point is, I think the ability to decentralize your fleet and avoid the deployment count game in order to place a large ship where you want, can be a threat to the flotilla swarms running around. It also makes using one large combat ship, or a slow moving, tight formation of ships harder to manage when the enemy could come in from any angle and will likely avoid your main death machine's powerful arcs.

I think a lot of peole are looking at Raddus and thinking "how do I drop my ship in to shoot the turn it arrives," which is a good idea after all it is probably a large % of your firepower that you need to get several turns worth of work out of, but with first player, I think the stronger play is often to set up in a position where the Raddus hammer ship can boost into a terrifying position to go first on the top of the next turn.

For this reason, I intend to try the MC80 Star Cruiser with ET. A speed 4 Large ship that can dart into the middle of the enemy fleet from far away and then go first is a tough thing to counter. Played well that ship could dart into a cloud of 3 Flotillas and then activate, gunnery team 2 away, and then double bump a third. An activation like that would cripple most relay wings. Also, if you are chasing with a Large ship, you need all the speed you can manage because the enemy may try and floor it and leave you with no shots due to the discrete movement in this game. Raimus Antillies, Nav. Dials and ET let you slot in where you want to be, yet have the token economy to slam on the breaks if they try to make you overshoot.

#RebelOzzel

Oh, if only you could Strategic Move the Grav Well Tokens....

25 minutes ago, Drasnighta said:

Oh, if only you could Strategic Move the Grav Well Tokens....

That is surprising. I had figured you could, but you're right.