Armada is a great thematic game that draws from a rich universe of characters, technology and events. A couple of years ago, the Tuesday Knight Games podcast was talking to one of the FFG designers for Armada and reported that when making new cards for characters and ships their design decisions come firstly from a considerations of theme, and they work to derive the mechanics form there.

Some examples of cards are more obvious in their origin and in-game function, but the fluff for the game mechanics for many of the others are... slightly more obscure.

What are your favourite personal fluff explanations for the origin and function of ships, squads, upgrades and objectives in the game?I'll start with some of my (more obvious) interpretations.

Commanders

• Moff Jerjerrod
  Origin: "We shall double our efforts" .
  Fluff: Filled with the fear of being choked to death by Vader, Moff Jerjerrod drives his fleet as hard as possible in pursuit of the rebels, forcing the captains to push their ships so hard (to get that "double" turn) that they damage them in the process.
• Mon Mothma
  Origin: Mon Mothma is a diplomat skilled in diplomacy and evading difficult situations.
  Fluff: Her ships are better at evading trouble. This somehow equates to them evading attacks better (maybe MM is on the radio coaching her captains on how to be more evasive?).
• Admiral Raddus
  Origin: His fleet turns up part way through the assault on Scarif to ambush the Imperial forces and support the assault.
  Fluff: HYPERSPACE!!! (with the coordinates triangulated from the known position of a nearby friendly ship).

Ship Titles

• Home One
  Origin: Home One was the legendary command ship in charge of the assault on the second Death Star, coordinating the massed fleet.
  Fluff: Home One uses unique tech to paint targets for all nearby friendly ships, making it easier to score damage on them.

Squadrons

• Luke Skywalker
  Origin: He one-shot the Death Star, bypassing all its defences and hitting its weak spot.
  Fluff: He uses magic the force to target his most powerful shots through weak points in ships' shields to hit their hull and deal critical damage.
• Biggs Darklighter
  Origin: Biggs took one for the team during the Death Star assault by getting destroyed by vade when escorting Luke.
  Fluff: Biggs flies in to take shots for his team mates or lead part of the salvos away into other escorts.
• Darth Vader
  Orgin: Darth is a killer TIE pilot, destroying his opponents with ease.
  Fluff: General badassery withthe pew pews, probably because of The Force.
• Han Solo
  Origin: Han Shot first at Greedo (There is no 'first' if the other person didn't shoot back!)
  Fluff: Han uses his superior wits to get the jump on his opponents before they have a chance to respond.

Upgrades

• Lando Calrissian
  Origin: Lando the gambler is always playing the odds.
  Fluff: It looks like Lando jumps in an escape pod the moment things get a bit hairy! Perhaps this distracts the attacking ship? ("Captain! the rebels are launching an escape pod!". "Gunner, redirect fire to attack that escape pod, it's probably important")
• Darth Vader (boarding team)
  Origin: Vader boards the Profundity at the end of Rogue One and does some astounding one-man demolishing of the crew.
  Fluff: Vader turns up and kills the relevant crew or hacks up the crucial machinery that lets the target ship do it's special thing (like a crazed Kylo throwing his toys out of the pram). Or, for a more amusing image, just lightsabers off the the ship's name from its hull.

Objectives

• Most Wanted
  Fluff: The most wanted ships are important targets to the opponent and are worth more prestige and push the crews on the firing ships to squeeze a bit more out of the guns.
• Intel Sweet
  Fluff: Both sides are rushing to piece together vital information that has been jettisoned, or is on the fragments of a destroyed ship, floating in space. Only one ship is equipped the scanners/tractors necessary to recover the intel as they zoom past. Whoever get the most gets the critical tactical advantage.
  

Those are some starters. It doesn't answer how Motti keeps his flaming wrecks of ships still flying (is it just a bulk order of gaffer tape?) or how Tagge does... well, not very much really, or what the zoomies are that everyone is trying to catch in sensor net.

Engineering Teams / Engineering Captain:

Origin: N/A

Fluff: This part of shipboard life was deemed far too boring to be shown the light of day in films, and this is reflected by the fact no one ever uses them on the table either.

Sovereign: it's the personal ship of Tarking and its crew knows perfectly what their commander desires are, specially its com officer.

fluff: when due to his senile dementia Tarkin says "command squadron!" His com officer diligently says: "concentrate fire, he meant concentrate fire".

Since you've set the tone:

Grav Shift Reroute
Orgin: An experimental refit equipped to the Interdictor that uses grav wells to move obstacles.
Fluff: The droids are having such as massive rave that the noise is knocking over asteroids next door and making the Space Station operators either rush to get away or to come and join in.

Motti was the guy confident the Death Star was indestructible. Makes sense to me.

9 minutes ago, svelok said:

Motti was the guy confident the Death Star was indestructible. Makes sense to me.

Makes sense. So it's basically a classic case of overconfidence vs actual ability.
"WE'RE GOING DOWN! ABANDON SHIP!"
"Stay at your stations! The rebels could never destroy an Imperial Star Destroyer"
"...but.."
" I said stay at your stations! Return FIRE!"
*pew pew*

BOOM!

36 minutes ago, ManInTheBox said:

• Lando Calrissian

Origin: Lando the gambler is always playing the odds.
Fluff: It looks like Lando jumps in an escape pod the moment things get a bit hairy! Perhaps this distracts the attacking ship? ("Captain! the rebels are launching an escape pod!". "Gunner, redirect fire to attack that escape pod, it's probably important")

Those are some starters. It doesn't answer how Motti keeps his flaming wrecks of ships still flying (is it just a bulk order of gaffer tape?) or how Tagge does... well, not very much really, or what the zoomies are that everyone is trying to catch in sensor net.

Lando Calrissian

Fluff: Lando is too busy gambling and trying on new capes to do his job, so Shriv has to do it instead. If it's fixable, then he mends it and both him and Lando escape before the unholy amount of space duct tape falls apart. If it isn't fixable, they both bail before anyone finds out the did jack-s**t.

Motti

Fluff: Motti applies troll physics to the ships, which keeps them alive due to his shear ignorance to their flaming wreckage. Once he dies, the entire facade is broken, resulting in a chain of exploding ships that just had a very nasty bump back to regular physics.

40 minutes ago, ManInTheBox said:

Commanders

• Moff Jerjerrod
  Origin: "We shall double our efforts" .
  Fluff: Filled with the fear of being choked to death by Vader, Moff Jerjerrod drives his fleet as hard as possible in pursuit of the rebels, forcing the captains to push their ships so hard (to get that "double" turn) that they damage them in the process.

Moff Jerjerrod

Fluff: Jerjerrod tricks the navigation officers away from their posts so he can attempt to do this:

38 minutes ago, ManInTheBox said:

Some examples of cards are more obvious in their origin and in-game function, but the fluff for the game mechanics for many of the others are... slightly more obscure.

Commanders

• Moff Jerjerrod
  Origin: "We shall double our efforts" .
  Fluff: Filled with the fear of being choked to death by Vader, Moff Jerjerrod drives his fleet as hard as possible in pursuit of the rebels, forcing the captains to push their ships so hard (to get that "double" turn) that they damage them in the process.
• Mon Mothma
  Origin: Mon Mothma is a diplomat skilled in diplomacy and evading difficult situations.
  Fluff: Her ships are better at evading trouble. This somehow equates to them evading attacks better (maybe MM is on the radio coaching her captains on how to be more evasive?).
• Admiral Raddus
  Origin: His fleet turns up part way through the assault on Scarif to ambush the Imperial forces and support the assault.
  Fluff: HYPERSPACE!!! (with the coordinates triangulated from the known position of a nearby friendly ship).

Ship Titles

• Home One
  Origin: Home One was the legendary command ship in charge of the assault on the second Death Star, coordinating the massed fleet.
  Fluff: Home One uses unique tech to paint targets for all nearby friendly ships, making it easier to score damage on them.

Squadrons

• Luke Skywalker
  Origin: He one-shot the Death Star, bypassing all its defences and hitting its weak spot.
  Fluff: He uses magic the force to target his most powerful shots through weak points in ships' shields to hit their hull and deal critical damage.
• Biggs Darklighter
  Origin: Biggs took one for the team during the Death Star assault by getting destroyed by vade when escorting Luke.
  Fluff: Biggs flies in to take shots for his team mates or lead part of the salvos away into other escorts.
• Darth Vader
  Orgin: Darth is a killer TIE pilot, destroying his opponents with ease.
  Fluff: General badassery withthe pew pews, probably because of The Force.
• Han Solo
  Origin: Han Shot first at Greedo (There is no 'first' if the other person didn't shoot back!)
  Fluff: Han uses his superior wits to get the jump on his opponents before they have a chance to respond.

Upgrades

• Lando Calrissian
  Origin: Lando the gambler is always playing the odds.
  Fluff: It looks like Lando jumps in an escape pod the moment things get a bit hairy! Perhaps this distracts the attacking ship? ("Captain! the rebels are launching an escape pod!". "Gunner, redirect fire to attack that escape pod, it's probably important")
• Darth Vader (boarding team)
  Origin: Vader boards the Profundity at the end of Rogue One and does some astounding one-man demolishing of the crew.
  Fluff: Vader turns up and kills the relevant crew or hacks up the crucial machinery that lets the target ship do it's special thing (like a crazed Kylo throwing his toys out of the pram). Or, for a more amusing image, just lightsabers off the the ship's name from its hull.

This thread derailed itself in the most amazing way

But anyway, I believe your interpretations are quite interesting and surely close to the original intent. With a few adjustments, they don't even sound too silly to my ears. For example:

Jerjerrod knows full well that failure equals death, even when no conventional means could lead to the expected outcome. So the man improvises, cuts corners, puts men and material into- in any other situation- unnecessary risk, but gets the job done. Think re-routing power to a single engine to initiate a spin movement- sure, it turns your nose, but your engineers won't thank you for it.

Mon Mothma is the figurehead of the rebellion apart from Leia, maybe. You can bet the crew of any ship she boarded is hand-picked by her staff and working their a**es off to keep her alive.

Admiral Raddus is known for his fighting spirit, but also a pragmatist that knowns the value of having reserves and won't let an enemy mistake go unpunished if he can help it. The rebels' major advantage is their capability for hit-and-run attacks, and R1 showed that Raddus has the "hit" part of that down to a T.

Et cetera et cetera.

1 minute ago, DampfGecko said:

This thread derailed itself in the most amazing way

Yeah! I'm happy to take serious or silly suggestions I guess!
Maybe I should compile all the interpretations into the first post.

Admiral Akbar-

Fluff-Makes traps 20%less trappy

Rules- more dice to punch your way out of the trap!

Motti: fluff, Motti was a brilliant engineer. He knows all the little tricks to keep a ship in the fight.

I always imagined he hovered around the tactical display, reviewing status data of his fleet, constantly ordering the engineering crews to reenforce that bulkhead, or structural point, rerouting power through secondary systems, sealing sections, to preserve the integrity of the ships. Got to imagine that his micromanaging isn't great for morale in engineering.

Toryn Farr:

responsible for the Ion cannon in Empire.

Knows how to hit stuff, I mean that transport was a hairs breadth away from being hit but she made the crew hit perfectly.

Mauler Mithel

Origin: Mithel was a skilled tie fighter ace and Vader's wingman. In the Battle of Yavin, he panicked after another wingman was killed and collided with Darth Vader, damaging Vader and removing him from the fight.

Fluff: Apparently that wasn't the only time Mauler ran into someone, because every time he charges in to battle he damages every enemy he collides with.

Alternate Facts: Mauler is a violent alcoholic who lashes out and hurts those closest to him.

Relentless

Origin: Konstantine's flagship in Rebels.

Fluff: Having to deal with Konstantine all the time, the crew has shown needing less command from Admirals.

Or something.

6 hours ago, DampfGecko said:

Jerjerrod knows full well that failure equals death, even when no conventional means could lead to the expected outcome. So the man improvises, cuts corners, puts men and material into- in any other situation- unnecessary risk, but gets the job done. Think re-routing power to a single engine to initiate a spin movement- sure, it turns your nose, but your engineers won't thank you for it.

For some reason this one stuck out to me.

Just so so it is clear, the engineers who design this kind of stuff know **** well that someone is going to try stuff like that and we design for it. We don’t get mad when Jerjerrod does that. The mechanics/technicians in the other hand, are PISSED.

In legends, CR90s had a joystick available for the helmsman or Commander to fly the ship like a ginormous fighter in emergencies. Corellian engineers knew those situations would come up and planned for it.

Darth Vader as fleet admiral, he encourages his ships to trade offence for defence. Burn those tokens! Yeah that worked really well against Obi Wan Kenobi on that lava world in ROTS. Which explains why he always gets my fleet killed (not my flying, obviously).

Admiral Ozzel likes to drop in at high speed on the Rebel fleet just like in ESB - surprise! He only costs 20pts as you get a discount to make up for Vader force choking him mid-battle.

Nah! Jerjerrod is too obviously based on that deleted scene where Vader see his path toward Emperor's chamber and Jerjerrod, thanks to a brave maneuver, put himself against Vader and say: "you may not enter".

I do that all the time with my JJ-ISD

JJ almost die there but a little throat pain is a low price for becoming the most badass character in SW universe.

Edit: I know is somewhere in the forum. Maybe it's time to necro the best titled thread ever!

Edit 2: I couldn't wait to see that jewel so...

Also credits to @Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun

5 hours ago, Church14 said:

Just so so it is clear, the engineers who design this kind of stuff know **** well that someone is going to try stuff like that and we design for it. We don’t get mad when Jerjerrod does that. The mechanics/technicians in the other hand, are PISSED.

In legends, CR90s had a joystick available for the helmsman or Commander to fly the ship like a ginormous fighter in emergencies. Corellian engineers knew those situations would come up and planned for it.

Well, to be precise, I meant he's making them operate tech outside of safety parameters/ past usual limitations. Putting stress on the material it wasn't designed for, just because it withstands it (for a time).

I mean, given how much further you can turn some of the more sluggish warships with him, I guess they DID plan for that- I'd argue that an engine ripping itself out of its socket constitutes more than a single point of damage. Could also be interpreted as "reroute power to maneuvering thrusters!"

Ah, the big M paradoxes

Remember the Admiral doesn't actually have to do anything, they can just be important

For example, MM's fleet is better trained at evasion because they're elites assigned to escort a figurehead of the rebellion

In Mothi's case, everyone's just so ******* terrified of him that theyll remain aboard their ships long past the point in which they should have been abandoned, squeezing a few more minutes of operation at the doubtless cost of thousands of lives when the barely-held-together-destroyer goes down with all hands

Of course, as MM dies her fleet becomes demoralized and loses its composure to execute precise, defensive manuevers

Motti's probably breathes a sigh of relief

I had heard it explained to me that after Motti dies his Wookie slaves escape and start stripping all the extra armour off his ships....

Being a canny and cautious commander, General Tagge knows every Rebel craft poses a very real threat to his ships. Through ceaseless planning and drilling, his crew are able to evade CR90 firing patterns longer, contain heavier fire from B-wings and regroup into previous formations only to scatter again. Of course, he’s also too careful to ever get sent to a combat zone...

Being an eventual Rebel sympathizer and a civilian official, Minister Tua is someone the Rebels will hesitate to fire on. Besides, if they blow her up, the Empire will likely exploit it as propaganda.

4 hours ago, ovinomanc3r said:

Nah! Jerjerrod is too obviously based on that deleted scene where Vader see his path toward Emperor's chamber and Jerjerrod, thanks to a brave maneuver, put himself against Vader and say: "you may not enter".

I do that all the time with my JJ-ISD

JJ almost die there but a little throat pain is a low price for becoming the most badass character in SW universe.

Edit: I know is somewhere in the forum. Maybe it's time to necro the best titled thread ever!

Edit 2: I couldn't wait to see that jewel so...

Also credits to @Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun

Hehe, @ovinomanc3r man...can't like this post enough!!!

Jerjerrod IS the man! How many folks can stand up to the Dark Lord and yet still LIVE!?

Well...there was Motti but...

15 hours ago, DampfGecko said:

Jerjerrod knows full well that failure equals death, even when no conventional means could lead to the expected outcome. So the man improvises, cuts corners, puts men and material into- in any other situation- unnecessary risk, but gets the job done. Think re-routing power to a single engine to initiate a spin movement- sure, it turns your nose, but your engineers won't thank you for it.

Yeah, nah! See, we only knew half the story! Only because the Emperor demanded it: "YOU WILL DESTROY IT!" (Endor) did Jerjerrod comply. Thanks to the recovered deleted scene, we have a totally different view of Jerjerrod. OMG those Naval Troopers - so OARSUM! Hehe.

Whoa @Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun What happened to the full reel? Hehe.

Motti actually has a pretty legit explanation that his knowledge of starship design is superb and he can lead the damage control efforts during battle extraordinarily well. I’m pretty sure there are real life analogs to this.

1 hour ago, Alpha Xg1 said:

Whoa @Imperial Advisor Arem Heshvaun What happened to the full reel? Hehe.

You mean all the deleted scenes?

Here you go.

The Royal Guards combat stance is mirrored in the final Rebels episode.

Also, that deleted scene wherein Vader and Jerjerrod confront each other, which also appears in the script and radio dramas, is highly important.

It proves this fact, like the Roman Senators around Caesar, or the court of Medieval Kings, or the highest echelons of the Nazi regime, in the inner circles of power within The Empire, those closest to The Emperor vie and jockey for position to best one another, but of course they all know who the top dog is, and while they all must bend the knee, they just as readily use his name to further their own agendas.