I think many people would like to see this ship in the game. Here is what I would want the ship to look like:

What a beauty!

The most important thing first, its squad value. I think it should have a squad value of at least 5. I know that is a lot but here are my reasons. The Venator was a hard-core carrier. It should differentiate itself by more than 1 squad point from the Victory which is not a carrier at all. And it should have a higher squad value than an ISD. Now that sounds extreme but when you look it up an ISD has a starfigher complement of 72 while the venator has a starfighter complement of 420+ . So if a squad value of 4 represents 72 starfighter then the Venator should have squad value of over 23. Now that is clearly ridiculous but it proves the point that the Venator should have a higher squad value than an ISD.

Like the other Star Destroyer it would probably have command 3 and engineering 4.

Its armament should possibly be weaker than a Victory since the Venator was so focused on being a carrier. So I would suggest 5 dice in the front with a mix of red and blue dice and two or 3 dice on the sides. This way it still has a significant front arc like all the Star Destroyer but is a bit weaker than a Victory.

The ship would have a second variant called the front line combat refit or something that. It would trade one squad point (so it has only 4) for two additional red dice in it's front arc. Now how does that make any sense? Easy, like we see in Episode 3 the Venators ventral hangar bay was loaded up with a SPHA( Self-Propelled Heavy Artillery ). Which blocked one of the Venators hanger but allowed it to fire devastating forward facing artillery shots.

The anti squad armament would be between 1 and 2 blue dice, Its hull would be between 8 and 11, maybe 9. The defense token would be standard Star Destroyer defense tokens. Max speed would be between 2 and 3 (depending on whether it gets a support team upgrade slot). And upgrades would probably include Officer, Weapons Team, Offensive Retrofit, Defensive Retrofit, (Ion Cannons) and Turbolasers.

With a length of 1,155 meters it is right in between the Interdictor with 1,129 meters and the MC75 with 1,204.44 meters ( Thanks Wookieepedia, that is excessively precise. ) so it could be either a medium or large base ship.

It would probably cost a lot. I would guess high 90s or low 100s.

Now please be aware that I might be biased because I love the Empire, the Republic and most of all this ship!

These are my thoughts. Let me know what you think and if you want to see the Venator in the game!

I'm torn when I see this because I would love to see it in the game. I just don't think it belongs with the empire.

If the Venator ever joins Armada it should be in it's own faction.

Other than the Venator really being at peak usage during the clone wars, I also think there's really no place for it in the imperial line up. I feel like any way you cut the Venator, it's going to step one the toes of either a VSD, ISD, or Quasar.

I mean, let's look at what it's going to be lined up with for choices:


Both of these have an offensive retro and an officer slot allowing it to push up to 5 squads for anywhere between 83 points to 95 points, meanwhile keeping it's armament. There's really no reward to a 90-100 point carrier/destroyer because we already have one.

Even if you added speed, to differentiate from the VSDs, then you have to start looking at how you compete with the quasars, which are even cheaper carriers with just less than what you suggested for dice:



From here the only rational thought I can muster on where it belongs is to bump it to a large base for a cheap large base carrier, but immediately I see it overcasting existing roles again with the Imperial class I and II which can already get bumped to push 6 squads and have a real dice armament.




The Venator was kinda the Republic's iconic warship, I think if we get it, it should be in a "Old Republic" faction, large base, VSD dice/HP, ISD I upgrades and speed chart, around 90-100 something points, like you said.



I have no experience in game design, I just don't see it defining the unique role it deserves in the already cluttered imperial large/medium ships range.

3 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

If the Venator ever joins Armada it should be in it's own faction.

I see where you are coming from but honestly if the Venator comes to the game without an imperial variant I am going to loose it. I just love the ship and the Empire way to much. I would live in a constant state of denial where I would not accept that the Empire can't run them and every time I play the game I would tell my opponent that I do not accept this decisione and will play it as an imperial ship anyway! xD

I mean it is even canonicaly used by the Empire!

Even if from a game design standpoint there is no place for this ship in the Empire, which I am not convinced of, I am not letting anyone deprive me of the joy of playing this gorgeous ship under the imperial banner

Personally I think that the Venator might be a good place to depart from a front heavy arc, Personally I‘d argue for an arc setup like a arquitens with three dice in the front (possibly 2 black, 1 blue) and red heavy sides with something like four red and a single blue. I think that this would differentiate it enough from other ships, while also being a fairly good representation of its armament and weapon placement.

P. S.

@LordCola Same with me

15 minutes ago, Captain_Nemo said:

Personally I think that the Venator might be a good place to depart from a front heavy arc, Personally I‘d argue for an arc setup like a arquitens with three dice in the front (possibly 2 black, 1 blue) and red heavy sides with something like four red and a single blue. I think that this would differentiate it enough from other ships, while also being a fairly good representation of its armament and weapon placement.

P. S.

@LordCola Same with me

You’ve read my mind. I also think a support team slot (maybe 2 on a more carrier-oriented variant) is crucial, to set it apart from the ISD, VSD and Quasar, connect it a bit to the Pelta and Arquitens, and improve its value as a carrier/make it an exceptionally maneuverable battleship.

Yea, broadsider with support team for FCT/engine techs depending on carrier or battleship

A broadside very maneuverable large ship would certainly be interesting for the Empire. I am just not sure I want the Venator to be this experiment. I wouldn't mind it being a normal front facing Star Destroyer, especially with the SPHA that would give it extra forward firepower. Also if we get a admiral Piett with a “Intensify forward firepower” effect it would be nice for the Venator do be strong from its front. And I would not mind getting some more options for the 7th fleet title. Star Destroyer with strong front arcs would benefit the most from the 7th fleet title.

I posted this somewhere else, but this I how I would design it. A large based broadside carrier, with support not weapons teams to differentiate it from other Imp carriers. Red/Black to differentiate it from HO-MC80. Less eng, shields and defense tokens to represent its aging design. 2 officer slots to represent its Dual Command bridge, and also greatly frees up a slot for those less potent officers.

Looks very promising. I would prefer the side arcs on the Venator 2 to have blue instead of black dice. But I think that canonicaly a squad value of 3 or 4 just does not make any sense. I like the idea with the two officer  s  lot  s. But I don't like the lack of defense tokens. I get what the intention is but you would still want it to be balanced against what is already in the game and considering that I think the defense is a little to weak.

I could see those ship cards working with the arc's of a giant Imp Light Cruiser

Im not quite sure about the gameplay involed, so what I am going to say would all be theory.

Because the Venator is highly regarded as a Starfighter Carrier with assault weapon, put weak weapons on nose, broadside heavy's on each side, and minimal in rear, give it good speed and maneuverability, and for one of its title abilities, as i dont know if this has been done yet, If generic squadrons are destroyed, you can redeploy up to 3 times. *This ship though will be available to both Rebel And Imperial*

I remain firmly in the camp this is the ideal ship card (or something close to it) but I understand where several other posters come from.

The points about other ships that already do what the Venator does are well made. But if I had to, I’d favour the versions @Divad suggested above. Maybe bump the squadron value +1 as well.

Id favour the Acclamator over the venator personally. I think it could be a platform for an interesting expansion of the assault mechanism in the game.

Double officer slots I like!

11 hours ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I'm torn when I see this because I would love to see it in the game. I just don't think it belongs with the empire.

If the Venator ever joins Armada it should be in it's own faction.

I disagree. As an imperial, EVERYTHING must belong to the Empire.

9 hours ago, GiledPallaeon said:

I remain firmly in the camp this is the ideal ship card (or something close to it) but I understand where several other posters come from.

Wow, I like a lot of what I am seeing here! Just a bit mor yaw on speed three and I would agree that those are great cards. With the ridiculous "drifting" maneuverers we see the Venator perform in the Clone Wars I don't think you can get away with giving it worse manoeuvrability than an ISD.

And that Republic insignia needs to change to the Empires. ?

A lot of these ships have no dice fixing so I doubt any of them would remain competitive against a Vic or ISD. A long rand side arc flagship to pair with Arqs is cool, until you realize Arqs can't fix dice either without IF and DTT or TRC. Rebels get around this by throwing more dice and adding Defiance+LS.

I'd prefer the Venator to be a side arc ship that gets more effective the closer it gets. So 2 of each color on the sides, and 1 red, 1 blue, 2 black in the front. It boasts 10 dice on a double arc, which is consistent with all the other large ships, but not better than an ISD. Squad command can remain 3/4 and it won't displace Vics or ISDs because Imps don't get to play with side arcs very much. Upgrade suite would be the same as the MC75 armored cruiser. That ship hasn't really taken off in any OP builds, so I think the Venator could make it work as well. Perhaps the variant can run a fleet command slot to pay homage to the CW.

5 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

A lot of these ships have no dice fixing so I doubt any of them would remain competitive against a Vic or ISD. A long rand side arc flagship to pair with Arqs is cool, until you realize Arqs can't fix dice either without IF and DTT or TRC. Rebels get around this by throwing more dice and adding Defiance+LS.

I'd prefer the Venator to be a side arc ship that gets more effective the closer it gets. So 2 of each color on the sides, and 1 red, 1 blue, 2 black in the front. It boasts 10 dice on a double arc, which is consistent with all the other large ships, but not better than an ISD. Squad command can remain 3/4 and it won't displace Vics or ISDs because Imps don't get to play with side arcs very much. Upgrade suite would be the same as the MC75 armored cruiser. That ship hasn't really taken off in any OP builds, so I think the Venator could make it work as well. Perhaps the variant can run a fleet command slot to pay homage to the CW.

Vader.

Just now, ovinomanc3r said:

Vader.

I don't like the idea of ships that can only work well with one single commander.

Why not throw in an Ion-Cannons slot for leading shots?

7 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

Squad command can remain 3/4

Once again I think the Venator with a starfighter complement more than 6 times larger than an ISD can not have a suqad value that low.

52 minutes ago, ovinomanc3r said:

Vader.

The Venator is probably the most wanted ship right now, aside from the SSD. Letting it only work effectively under Vader would be a mistake. Plus, the nav charts people are making are terrible. You'll have to run JJ just to get in position. At the very least, the ship needs an ion slot for LS. Or we need a new upgrade that allows for dice fixing, but I feel like that is saturated.

48 minutes ago, LordCola said:

Once again I think the Venator with a starfighter complement more than 6 times larger than an ISD can not have a suqad value that low.

Yea well, that's called balance. Just because the Venator held 200sum squadrons does not mean it has to translate directly into the game. I don't think you've considered how game breaking a squad command of 7/8/9 would be. Run 2 Jumpmasters and 8 Tie/B with Rhymer, giving you an effective range longer than the ruler for an alpha strike of 9 black dice with rerolls from BCC. Follow it with the Venators attack and very little will be able to survive that. If you start with 4, you grab EHB and a token to push 6 squads. With only 1 offensive retrofit and a broadside template, the ship does not displace the ISD I's role of being a front arc super carrier.

I love the Venator, I grew up with the Prequel movies and while I accept 1 can be boring or dumb depending, AotC, Clone Wars (both tv shows), and RotS are great when seen as a set. The Venator is the staple ship from them, and I think is a fun design. So much so, I picked up the Mel's model and most of my ships are painted up as republic loyalists.

I would want 3 versions of the Venator, which sounds weird but hesr me out. They are all broadside ships, because the empire needs some variety.

1: The TIE refit: The Venator's orginal design isnt for the TIE fighter, its for ARC170's and fighters of a similar model. The TIE refit fixes this, and is used in conjunction in outer rim imperial controled locations as a large scale carrier. It has a higher TIE complement than the other two variants, with a base 6 squadron value, and the ability to command up to 8 with EHB and a command. It suffers from a lack of guns, using mainly missles and ion cannons, and has 1 blue flak.

2: The Combat Refit: Where some were refitted for carrier role, others were refitted to fill those hanger spaces with more ammo and guns. It has a better guns, with turbolasers, ion cannons, squad value of 4, and 2 black flak dice. Its designed as a line combat ship.

3: The Salvaged Venator: Pulled together by rebels in old scrap yards to be used as a symbol of the Republic Renewed, the salvaged Venator fills a multi-purpose roll for many rebel fleets. Command vessel, carrier, line combat, ect. Its got a turbolasers and missles, 2 red flak, and a squadron value of 5. (This is the rebel variant)

Title One: in turn 3, the Venator may redeploy a number of destroyed squadrons equal to its squadron value.

Title 2: The Venator may only command half its squadron value, but gains that number of red dice per attack.

Title 3: a fleet title with some republic theme.

I would like to see Obi-wan come with the venator, since we see him command them in CW.

3 hours ago, LordCola said:

I don't like the idea of ships that can only work well with one single commander.

2 hours ago, Undeadguy said:

The Venator is probably the most wanted ship right now, aside from the SSD. Letting it only work effectively under Vader would be a mistake.

I didn't make a point for those venator. I just pointed out there is also Vader, so you have DTTs, IF, TRC and Vader to fix red dice (also veteran gunners which are not great).

3-4 red dice can be fixed easily with DTT and IF. I mean, if you roll at least one hit, you may get another and use DTT to fish a third one (what means hitting aboce the average). I'd prefer the 4 red version to have the weapon teams slot (making veteran gunners an option at least or even sensor team). But as I said I am not defending any of those versions. I didn't spend any time figuring out fleets with them yet or thinking about optimal builds.

4 minutes ago, ovinomanc3r said:

I didn't make a point for those venator. I just pointed out there is also Vader, so you have DTTs, IF, TRC and Vader to fix red dice (also veteran gunners which are not great).

3-4 red dice can be fixed easily with DTT and IF. I mean, if you roll at least one hit, you may get another and use DTT to fish a third one (what means hitting aboce the average). I'd prefer the 4 red version to have the weapon teams slot (making veteran gunners an option at least or even sensor team). But as I said I am not defending any of those versions. I didn't spend any time figuring out fleets with them yet or thinking about optimal builds.

IF requires Chimaera, and if you are already spending 90+ points, taking another 114 for dice fixing is not effective. DTT is fine, but how many times do you run DTT on large ships? It's almost always XI7 unless you have another way to mitigate defense tokens.

Currently, every large ship (minus Cymoon) has access to a form of rerolling, except for the Venator ideas in this thread, which is why I suggest it have an ion slot. Vet gunners only saves you from a bad roll and doesn't increase your average damage, making it ineffective. With LS, a 4 red dice broad side can be stabilized with QBT, or you grab XI7 and move into medium range. That alone allows for different fleet builds.

Honestly, having a 6 dice (4 red/2 blue) side arc ship and a 6 die (2/2/2) side arc would work well with Imp fleets now.

3 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

Vet gunners only saves you from a bad roll and doesn't increase your average damage,

it is if your brave enough ?

But again I don't discuss the effectivenes of the ship. I just reminded you Vader.

27 minutes ago, ovinomanc3r said:

it is if your brave enough ?

But again I don't discuss the effectivenes of the ship. I just reminded you Vader.

I've never used Vet gunners, and I'm certainly not brave enough to try haha I don't want to whiff twice.

8 minutes ago, Undeadguy said:

I've never used Vet gunners, and I'm certainly not brave enough to try haha I don't want to whiff twice.

I didn't either. But I used Vader the same way (with a good roll) against a flotilla to get an accuracy and, voila, I got it with enough damage to blow it up. hahaha