15 hours ago, Flavorabledeez said:

Then there’s the community. Try posting something about a third faction option for this game and prepare to be “boarded from the stern” by the community crossing their collective arms and barking negativity at you.

I feel semi responsible for this. It's not that people don't want a third option, it's actually the opposite imo. EVERYONE wants a new faction, there are 6 million posts about it, I'm just tired of seeing the same post because people don't google/search the topic, everyone acts like it's an original idea when it's been talked about to death. The game development in this game moves SLOW, so seeing those posts several times in the same week when literally nothing has changed in the game is mind boggling.

42 minutes ago, ISD Avenger said:

It seems like a lot of people here want to give FFG their Armada money but for some reason they are making that difficult 😆

True.

On the other hand I'm buying X-wing 2.0 stuff that gets released, which is quite a lot.

(my dirty secret is I'm also buying older ships like crazy)

So it seems FFG has succeeded in taking my money anyway

7 hours ago, ISD Avenger said:

But hasn’t the SSD been in testing since wave 3-ish? It shouldn’t be eating R&D time now surely. And if anything legion & xwing are likely eating up the production capacity.

R&D for figuring out how it will work in game, designing the model, running proofs, prototypes, editing, preproduction, designing graphics for cards, graphics, new defense tokens, running proofs, prototypes, and preproduction for those, making sure wordings are good enough they wont need an FAQ right away. Then testing it and all its components in conjunction with all previously released content.

R&D is a lot of work. And thats just preannouncement stuff. Then they (should) have marketing materials that have to go through almost all the same processes.

100% the New Kid (legion) and the favorite child (Xwing) are eating up production on top of those things. Which, sucks, because Legion should have been held back another year and just dropped with all the stuff its come out with since it launched.

On 2/23/2019 at 2:30 PM, RedPriest said:

Yes. "Losing interest in a game because new toys aren't being released every other month," is insane. You either want to play a Star Wars fleet combat game or you don't.

Armada is a miniatures game. Miniatures games require players, venues, stock, and ongoing support. Lack of stock and ongoing support cuts into player numbers and supporting venues. Lack of supporting venues further cuts into player numbers. I've seen 3 different venues stop carrying Armada due to diminishing player counts and stock difficulties. The players in that area believe the game is no longer being supported. People quit, while other people can't start.

On 2/23/2019 at 7:41 PM, scipio83 said:

Exactly. Like, chess hasn't had any new releases in literally CENTURIES, and it's freaking impossible to find anyone to play the game with. Why bother? We'll never get any cool new pieces. I mean, the en passant errata was pretty neat, but that's not enough to hold me over for 500 years.

Armada chess is dead.

Apples and oranges much?

Chess is a balanced board game that is sold in one unit. Armada is something completely different, a living, expanding game environment. I can pick up a copy of chess from half a dozen places in my small town (walmart, grocery stores, dollar stores, drug stores, grocery stores), while my entire state only has 1 store that has any armada in stock (and you'd have a hard go of things to build an actual competitive force from what they have). Availability is a pretty important factor.

You see, someone, somewhere will always be producing chess boards. But if Armada goes unsupported, guess what, you can't buy it anymore, so you can't play it. If it's not on the shelves, it's not available. I can introduce anyone, anywhere, to chess for as little as $5-$10. If Armada is unsupported, I can't really get new people into playing the game now can I. Some venues won't give up valuable table space to games they don't sell.

While the game is fine as is, and I'll continue to play it, the game will effectively be dead when support ends. No more new players, more players quitting due to lack of people to play against, no expansions to buy, etc....

The sad part is, FFG has created a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts here. When they finally get around to producing and releasing an actual wave of expansions some 2 years after the last one, the sales numbers of that expansion will be far below that of the previous waves due to loss of players, which occurred due to lack of support. They will then use those figures to decide to further neglect or outright kill support of the IP. Keep in mind that Armada was at one time #3 on the top 5 list of miniature games. A list that it fell off for some reason (I have my suspicions...). Strong support from FFG could have possibly kept the game on that list.

Again, I doubt few people are looking for an X-wing like release schedule. But a wave every 6-12 months, along with a steady supply of expansions to retailers, along with some sort of ongoing support (news, articles, etc) would go a long way.

On 2/23/2019 at 8:20 PM, Drasnighta said:

This is where a community of positivity can really help. 

You are correct. But you have to admit that it seems odd that a successful, multinational company that produces some highly respected gaming products would need to rely so heavily on uncurated fan support to spread propaganda in order to cover-up company short comings.

"Man, I see people using Fel and Mithel effectively, I'd really like to add them to some fleets I'm trying. Where would I find those?"

What you really need is a Gladiator with Demo.

"Um, I have that, but maybe you could tell me where I could pick up Steele or some Lambda's?"

Have you tried adding some Vics to your builds? They are cheap on Amazon!

"I have two and almost never use more than 1 if that. Say, I've been hearing a lot about this Cymoon ISD, how do I get my hands on one of those?"

How about some Imperial assault carriers?

"You know, maybe X-wing or Legion is more my style, looks like I can actually buy some of that stuff."

Wait, wait...those squadron packs are on the boat!

"Oh, so what does that mean?"

Well, it means that they might be available in 1-2 months, if there are no delays, port strikes, shipping issues, weather problems, or natural disasters. Oh, and make sure you are standing in line for when they go on sale, because everyone and their mom is likely to pick up 2 or 3, and scalpers will buy them by the dozen and list them on ebay for 3x the price.

"Well, I was kind of hoping to build some fleets that use squads pretty heavily...but I have to wait for 2 months and hope I can get them before they sell out again?"

How about an Imperial light carrier instead?

"For what? I have 6 Tie fighters that came in the core. I can't purchase more TIEs, or advanced TIEs, or bombers, or interceptors, or phantoms, or defenders, or lambas, or decimators, or gauntlets...why would I want a carrier?"

You could pick up the campaign box. It has additional options for those TIE fighters you do have.

"Well, I mean, that's something. Let me take a look...wait, so this also gives me new pilots for a bunch of squads I can't buy...are you mocking me now?"

Have you tried just running fleets without any squads?

"Have I tried? Have I tried? What other option is there???"

Maybe you could buy 4 boxes of rogues and villains?

"Hey look, there's an opening at that X-wing table over there..."

13 minutes ago, kmanweiss said:

The sad part is, FFG has created a self-fulfilling prophecy of sorts here. When they finally get around to producing and releasing an actual wave of expansions some 2 years after the last one, the sales numbers of that expansion will be far below that of the previous waves due to loss of players, which occurred due to lack of support. They will then use those figures to decide to further neglect or outright kill support of the IP. Keep in mind that Armada was at one time #3 on the top 5 list of miniature games. A list that it fell off for some reason (I have my suspicions...). Strong support from FFG could have possibly kept the game on that list.

Again, I doubt few people are looking for an X-wing like release schedule. But a wave every 6-12 months, along with a steady supply of expansions to retailers, along with some sort of ongoing support (news, articles, etc) would go a long way.

Well said.

Its actually legit bonkers when you think about. Announce a huge new flagship model (no pun intended) then say next to nothing about it for 6months+ To say nothing of actually releasing it.

Someone please explain this to me & how it’s a great idea.

What is bonkers to me is that it looks like X-wing will be getting there 3rd wave before we get the SSD. I mean wave 3 X-wing was announced I believe 3 or 4 months after the SSD. Though from my understanding X-wing has lost more players then it gianed with the release of 2.0, and I think they pushed the clone wars for X-wing as hard as they could so they could grab that audience, and do damage control.

36 minutes ago, kmanweiss said:

Chess is a balanced board game that is sold in one unit. Armada is something completely different, a living, expanding game environment. I can pick up a copy of chess from half a dozen places in my small town (walmart, grocery stores, dollar stores, drug stores, grocery stores), while my entire state only has 1 store that has any armada in stock (and you'd have a hard go of things to build an actual competitive force from what they have). Availability is a pretty important factor.

Not to mention that if Chess was the same age as Armada, you can virtually bet some of its fans would be asking for expansions and new pieces!

Comparing Chess to Armada is rather unfair, as the games have evolved in very different circumstances and their players consequently have different expectations. Aside from the fact that both are strategy games played with a variety of distinct physical, 3D pieces...do they really have that much else in common?

If you showed up to your LGS looking to play a game of Armada and someone offered you a chess match instead, would you regard that as an good substitute? I'm not being sarcastic here; I'm genuinely curious as to how many players regard the two as near-interchangeable experiences.

Chess isn’t balanced - white wins at a much higher rate than black.

8 minutes ago, LTD said:

Chess isn’t balanced - white wins at a much higher rate than black.

Only 2%-6% more than black. I would not call it significant, but yes it is not perfectly balanced.

I love it when the Admirals son showed up.

3 hours ago, kmanweiss said:

“Man    , I see people using Fel and Mithel effectively, I'd really like to add them to some fleets I'm  trying. Where would I find those?"

What you really need is a Gladiator with Demo.

"Um, I have that, but maybe you could tell me where I could pick up Steele or some Lambda's?"

 Have you tried adding some Vics to your builds? They are cheap on Amazon!

"I have two and almost never use more than 1 if that. Say, I've  been hearing a lot about this Cymoon ISD, how do I get my hands on one of those?"

How about some Imperial assault carriers?

 "You know, maybe X-wing or Legion is more my style, lo  oks like I can actually buy some of that stuff." 

Wait, wait...those squadron packs are on the boat!

"Oh, so what do  es that mean?"

Well, it means that they might be available in 1-2 months, if th  ere are no delays, port strikes, shipping issues, weather problems, or natural disasters. Oh, and make sure you are standing in line for when they go on sale, because everyone and their mom is likely to pick up 2 or 3, and scalpers will buy them by the dozen and list them on ebay for 3x the price.

 "Well, I was kind of hoping to build some fleets that use squads pretty heavily...but I have to wait for 2 months and hope I can get them before they sell out again?"

How about a  n Imperial light carrier instead?

"For what? I have 6 Tie fighters that came in the core. I can't purchase more TIEs, or advanced TIEs, or bombers, or interceptors, or phantoms,  or defenders, or lambas, or decimators, or gauntlets...why would I want a carrier?"

You could pick up the campaign box. It has additional options for those TIE fighters you do have.

"Well, I mean, that's something. Let me take a look...wait, so this also gives me new pilots for a bunch of squads I can't buy...are you mocking me now?"

Have you tried ju  st running fleets without any squads?

"Have I tried? Have I tried? What other option is there???" 

Maybe you could buy 4 boxes of rogues and villains?

"Hey look, there's an opening at that X-wing table over there..." 

My only question is: why is some hypothetical utter ******* using misdirection and defeatism instead of lending the guy an Interceptor or two?

Alternatively, I trade my extra Mauler bases for Howl bases and give away the spare cards.

That convo sounds like one cold little gaming group.

3 hours ago, ISD Avenger said:

Well said.

Its actually legit bonkers when you think about. Announce a huge new flagship model (no pun intended) then say next to nothing about it for 6months+ To say nothing of actually releasing it.

Someone please explain this to me & how it’s a great idea.

And don't forget the new format that they said was meant specifically for the SSD. But still no news on when or If it is even close to being released

15 hours ago, dominosfleet said:

I feel semi responsible for this. It's not that people don't want a third option, it's actually the opposite imo. EVERYONE wants a new faction, there are 6 million posts about it, I'm just tired of seeing the same post because people don't google/search the topic, everyone acts like it's an original idea when it's been talked about to death. The game development in this game moves SLOW, so seeing those posts several times in the same week when literally nothing has changed in the game is mind boggling.

Have you heard about the Dornian (I can't be bother to spell it right) Gunship?

37 minutes ago, Do I need a Username said:

Have you heard about the Dornian (I can't be bother to spell it right) Gunship?

Or the never ending SSD threads. Glad its finally getting a model

2 hours ago, dominosfleet said:

Or the never ending SSD threads. Glad its finally getting a model

And once Clone Wars happens, the next thing will be the Sequels.

Then the Ryan Johnson trilogy.

Then whatever comes next.

And the cycle repeats.

Forever.

2 hours ago, Ling27 said:

And once Clone Wars happens, the next thing will be the Sequels.

Then the Ryan Johnson trilogy.

Then whatever comes next.

And the cycle repeats.

Forever.

Oh I don't care about the SSD itself, I'm just glad to never see a "what will the SSD be" thread.

I'm sure Rian Johnson is a great guy (yep, his name is spelled weird), I hope he never touches anything else in the star wars universe.

I dont care about new stuff, I just wish they would give us a reprint schedule so we know we arent cancelled. I know we arent, but I feel like most of the people in the community are more scared.

12 minutes ago, ExplosiveTooka said:

I dont care about new stuff, I just wish they would give us a reprint schedule so we know we arent cancelled. I know we arent, but I feel like most of the people in the community are more scared.

At least the squadron packs have been reprinted... "on the boat" so to speak