Hello Everybody, pretty new to Armada, as you have probably figured out. I spent some time learning a bit about the game and strategy (as well as familiarizing myself with the jargon and abbreviations that players seem to use) , and then bought a few things, those being one core set, a glad, an AFMkII, an ISD, a CR90, and MC30c. As of now, I have played about 15 games, so I have some experience. I don't want to but more expansions just for the cards, so I'm probably going to use Printer Studio or something like that to get all the cards from wave 1 and 2 for 10 bucks or something like that. However, I don't want to print OP cards from later waves (i.e. Boarding Troopers or Raddus) without getting better ships as well. So any card suggestions from waves 1-2 are welcome, but nothing from later waves.
Anyway, the fleets I'm using use only cards from the expansions I have. So here they are:
Name: Starter Imps
Faction: Imperial
Commander: Admiral Screed
Assault: Advanced Gunnery
Defense: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation: Superior Positions
Imperial II (120)
• Admiral Screed (26)
• Captain Needa (2)
• Phylon Q7 Tractor Beams (6)
• Electronic Countermeasures (7)
• Turbolaser Reroute Circuits (7)
• Avenger (5)
= 173 Points
Victory II (85)
• Veteran Captain (3)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
= 96 Points
Gladiator I (56)
• Assault Concussion Missiles (7)
• Demolisher (10)
= 73 Points
Squadrons:
• Howlrunner (16)
• Soontir Fel (18)
• 2 x TIE Interceptor Squadron (22)
= 56 Points
Total Points: 398
Name: Mon Mothma's Corvettes
Faction: Rebel
Commander: Mon Mothma
Assault: Precision Strike
Defense: Hyperspace Assault
Navigation: Superior Positions
CR90 Corvette A (44)
• Mon Mothma (30)
• Jaina's Light (2)
= 76 Points
CR90 Corvette B (39)
• Dodonna's Pride (6)
= 45 Points
Assault Frigate Mk2 B (72)
• Ray Antilles (7)
• Advanced Projectors (6)
= 85 Points
MC30c Torpedo Frigate (63)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (5)
• H9 Turbolasers (8)
• Foresight (8)
= 88 Points
Squadrons:
• Dutch Vander (16)
• Wedge Antilles (19)
• Tycho Celchu (16)
• 4 x A-wing Squadron (44)
= 95 Points
Total Points: 389
For the Imperial Fleet, there is basically no bid, so I usually play as the second player. The ISD spends the evade token every turn to turn a blank red die to a 2-damage, so I don't spend it to cancel attacks until late in the game, if ever. Every other card is essentially self-explanatory. I set up my commands so as to get a navigate on turn 1, which I usually token, and then concentrate fire for the next to turns. Afterwards, I spam engineering, throwing in a navigate sometimes on turn 5. The VSD is kind of light, having only two upgrades. I get navigate and engineering tokens on the first two turns, then a squad on turn 3. Afterwards, I spam engineering, and use the Veteran Captain to get a navigate or engineering. The Glad needs a lot of engineering to stay alive, in my experience, so I spam engineering, with a concentrate fire on turn 2. The squads are intended for use as a fighter screen, with Howlrunner allowing each TIE interceptor to attack with 5 dice, as well as their counter attacks. Soontir Fel protects the more fragile generic interceptors, punishing squads that attack them instead of him. As for concerns, I would like to eventually incorporate an intel officer, is there anything that I should cut to make room for that ,and what are the benefits of ACMs vs APTs?
The Rebs have a higher bid, perhaps to high for casual play, but it guarantees being the first player every time. The nimble Jaina's Light is the flagship, aiming to protect Mon Mothma while skirmishing around at long range. The Assault Frigate can take quite a bit of damage in the early rounds with advanced projectors, but perhaps it would benefit more from ECMs? The command strategy is to use navigate commands on the first turn, snatching a free token with Ray Antilles. Turn 2, reveal a concentrate fire, and from turn three on, multiple things can be issued depending on deployment. The MC30c is the heaviest ship, with a ton of offensive stuff. I feel like it ends up dead too early, though, before it can deal as much damage as I would like it to. So what defensive retrofit suits it best? The final ship, the Dodonna's Pride, is used to deal a faceup damage card almost every time it attacks. Between it and the APTs, the precision strike objective ends up giving a lot of victory tokens. The squads are a fighter screen much like the imperial fleet above, intended to mostly attack other fighters. However, every squad has a black die for its battery armament, so it can deal some damage to ships.
For some general questions to wrap this up; what is the ideal number of activations? Should I drop some squads and try to squeeze in a Nebulon for five activations on the Rebel fleet? Or is four enough. Furthermore, what should them imperial list do against something like the Rebel list, where you get first-lasted like crazy? Also, about objectives. Take Hyperspace Assault for example. It seems completely OP. When you put it in a list, do you ever expect an opponent to ever choose it, or do you put it in so that your opponent will choose one of the other two?
Thank you In advance for all your help, and see you around!