I'm still fairly new (not necessarily in terms of time, but in terms of number of games played), and I find that one of my biggest problems is figuring out the following two things:

a) What do I need to destroy (and keep alive) to win the game?

b) What can I destroy with a certain commitment of units?

Both of those are basically a matter of doing some rough maths (be it points or damage), and it's not even that I'm particularly bad at maths – I just never seem to think to do it, and sort of wing it instead.

What ends up happening when it comes to a) is that I make bad late game decisions regarding whether or not to commit to finishing an enemy off, or whether to disengage with a certain ship or keep it in the fight, because I'm not aware of the current score and how exactly losing/killing a given ship will impact it.

What ends up happening with b) is that I commit either too many or too few units to destroying a target. Last game I played I was flying Cracken MSU against an ISD+Interdictor, and I threw a bunch of ships at the Dic because I figured "Interdictors are super tanky". Turns out I blew it up much quicker than I thought (with pretty average rolls, I'd say), and suddenly I had two unactivated Hammerheads pointing at empty space with nothing useful to do for the rest of the game. (In that particular example I probably couldn't have taken down the ISD anyway, but it serves well enough to illustrate what I mean.) Other times I've realised halfway through an ISD that there's no way it's going down and I've wasted a lot of firepower that could have gone elsewhere.

So yeah. I imagine that sort of stuff will become more instinctive with more games under my belt. Still, doing some rough maths during the game probably wouldn't hurt – but when I'm actually playing, it doesn't seem to even cross my mind. I just sort of do stuff.

https://youtu.be/Z1-1BA6MJyM

Not having a beginner’s mindset makes for more early losses. Ask questions, listen often, carefully consider advice, break down the game afterwards and look for your opponent’s take too. It’s a useful approach for everybody (I still aspire to it,) but incredibly handy for newcomers.

5 hours ago, CaribbeanNinja said:

4. Activating squads turn 1. Bank a token and activate them in the squad phase to start your attack run.

Just re-emphasizing this. This is probably the number 1 error I see in Armada.

Are your squadrons in position to be either shooting or taking fire this turn? If not, there are very few good reasons to be activating them. And it is likely to be actually detrimental to activate them, because you're committing them to move before you have to, tipping your hand and allowing your opponent to respond much more effectively to them.

5 hours ago, CaribbeanNinja said:

3. Rushing in. A lot of new players will rush their ships in without much thought.

This one I actually see go both ways--some players dive straight into the meat grinder, other deploy in the opposite corner with grand plans of circling around, flanking, wearing down defenses, then laying an ambush, then this that and the other thing. It can be hard to spot which side of "appropriately aggressive" you fall on without raw experience.

One thing that helped me visualize the overall engagement envelope of a game was to take an AF2, plop it on the table, and plot out where it can end up over the course of six rounds based on its maneuver profile. Then I did the same thing with a VSD. That really helped me to internalize what the pacing of a game looks like and start to plan for it.

16 hours ago, Fuzzywookie said:

What does a newbie do or don’t do that makes them lose? Ie. using bad ships, squadrons, placement etc.

Overwhelmingly, the biggest mistake new players make is during deployment, over- or underestimating when they'll make contact with the enemy.

Despite the 3x6 playmat, most Armada games can be played entirely in a 3x3 space. Learning how to deploy so you can engage as a combined force is the hardest lesson to teach to an observer, so new players make mistakes repeatedly over and over for their first several games.

Tips:

1: chart a course across the table as soon as you start planning obstacles and objectives.

2: Know what turn you want to engage to inflict maximum damage and then escape. Brawlers want to engage at the last second, long range plinkers want to engage early and stay just out of optimal range for as long as possible.

3: Pick objectives and place obstacles so you can know exactly where/how to deploy. A good friend once showed me how he could park an MC80H in a corner on turn 2 and be effectively unapproachable without getting shot to pieces. When objectives force the enemy to engage in the place you choose, you can know in advance exactly where to deploy to win the game.

6 hours ago, thecactusman17 said:

Overwhelmingly, the biggest mistake new players make is during deployment, over- or underestimating when they'll make contact with the enemy.

Ah.. like having Ten Nub saunter across the mat with synergy shenanigans and destroy your Sloane ball where it sits by rolling 2 crits on three attacks turn one.