Lets start with the fact I will be playing Rebels.

I loosely understand how to read ship cards.

I have an interest in the Hammerhead corvette, and have heard you should run them in groups of at least 3 to guarantee their title sees SOME use.

on to the questions.

-Some ships have different slots. Fleet command slots seem very good, are they a must have?

-when I see lists, some list a ship as flagship, is there any meaning toward that? Is it for objectives?

-Are hammerhead corvettes effective? Does anyone take them to competitive events?

-A lot of lists on this forum seem to be imperial, are Rebels underperforming in the current meta?

-How many squadrons are recommended? Mostly bombers or mostly fighters that can bomb, or pure fighter screens?

-Is FFG dropping support for this game? I havent seen any product releases for a while, and the SSD has been delayed.

Does armada support matches with more than two players?

A few of these are "easy" answers I can hit, I think others with more experience may want to address the rest.

• Fleet Command slots CAN be useful - but never universally so. You have to specifically build the list with them in mind, focusing on what they add to the list. I wouldn't advise them for new players - it's a slight (but noticeable) advantage if you've got a particular style they fit well, but you aren't going to pick that up right away.
• All lists have a flagship, some just call it out differently depending on list builder. The flagship is the ship your commander is on. All lists require a commander, and he has to be assigned to one non-flotilla ship.
• Rebels remain quite strong, but everything with Armada is about planning, so don't get discouraged if your first attempt feels like an uphill battle
• Support is actually looking good - while the SSD is well anticipated, the game relies MUCH more than X-Wing on the objectives. Indeed, I'd offer caution since you haven't called these out - objectives ARE the game, here. Every match will be won or lost by picking objectives. The best fleet in the game, with poor objective choices, is going to lose. And the worst fleet...well, it'll have a tough fight, but with good objectives and an opponent not paying attention...may well win. Objectives ARE the game - so many of us are more excited about the 'Rebellion in the Rim' campaign than the SSD. (Although yeah, the SSD is amazing of course). Also, it's been leaked that besides the campaign and it's upgrades and objectives, and SSD, there are two more ships to be announced this year, too. And really - I cannot emphasize this enough - Armada works VERY differently than X-Wing this way. The ships are ALL viable. Practically anything CAN be made to work. It just depends on your objectives and experience, so the game works well having wave upgrades come much slower, as it takes so much more to fully process how to take advantage of everything.

26 minutes ago, DakkaDakka12 said:

Lets start with the fact I will be playing Rebels.

I loosely understand how to read ship cards.

I have an interest in the Hammerhead corvette, and have heard you should run them in groups of at least 3 to guarantee their title sees SOME use.

on to the questions.

-Some ships have different slots. Fleet command slots seem very good, are they a must have?

-when I see lists, some list a ship as flagship, is there any meaning toward that? Is it for objectives?

-Are hammerhead corvettes effective? Does anyone take them to competitive events?

-A lot of lists on this forum seem to be imperial, are Rebels underperforming in the current meta?

-How many squadrons are recommended? Mostly bombers or mostly fighters that can bomb, or pure fighter screens?

-Is FFG dropping support for this game? I havent seen any product releases for a while, and the SSD has been delayed.

Does armada support matches with more than two players?

Welcome to the game!

1. Fleet commands are nice. They’re not a must-have by any stretch of imagination, but they can be amazing when you build around them and are not a slot to casually leave empty.

2. The flagship is where your commander is placed. This makes it worth more to kill, and the the commander (usually) stops affecting the game upon being destroyed. There is a ship class called the “flotilla” which cannot serve as a flagship.

3. Yes, Hammerheads are quite good, and pretty much any fleet appreciates them for some cheap, durable firepower.

4. No. Imperial 2-ship took worlds by storm, but the game remains fairly well-balanced as players learn 2-ship counterplay. Personally, I think a focus toward Imperials stems from 1. A new archetype coming into the limelight fairly recently, and 2. Rebels having very little by way of announced upcoming content to experiment with.

5. Right now the meta basically says “don’t go halfway.” Pure bombers aren’t really a thing due to the success of maxed-out fighter and mixed arms wings. No squadrons is entirely viable if you know what you’re doing.

6. Very unlikely with Clone Wars and a new campaign announced after the SSD, and a new prize system announced with several unreleased promos shown. The future of this game might be more secure now than it’s been since wave 2.

7. Until recently, Team matches were unofficial. Sector fleet rules now support large-scale team games.

@DakkaDakka12

My biggest advice given where you’re coming from is, basically, to get your brain to “slow down”.

XWing is more likened to an adrenaline fest of snap decision after reaction after snap decision... It is it’s own class of thought to manage.

But in Armada, EVERYTHING is slower, more contemplative- from gameplay to releases to meta evolution!

Given initial planning for some ships is 3-4 turns in advance at the start of the game, you only have limited opportunities to react, so your reactions have to be measured well. Hammerheads are one of the more flexible given they plan turn by turn, and their ability to maneuver isn’t bad, so it’s not deep ending too badly that way 🙂

Releases have much larger shakeups for Armada than in XWing, and that’s partly due to the way the tournaments are played and things evolve. You could say that basically, in both games, it takes a certain amount of actual games played for an idea to develop. You could even assign an arbitrary number to it, say, 50 games played to see a concept from start to finish.

With 5 people playing a lust in XWing, it would take one tournament to hitbthat game number basically. Because if the sheer amount of games played. The idea has been kicked around and tested and feedback generated.

Flash over to Armada, and 5 people playing the same list might have to play 4 tournaments to hit the same levels of familiarity and feedback - so ideas just take longer to percolate.

We know so far that the SSD is delayed to Q3. The Rebellion in the Rim campaign is coming, and tgats a card and paper expansion with 8 alternate squads, 12 objectives and a bunch of upgrades to shake our game up - it is likely to go more shaking than the SSD, Nd side as said above, with a 6 turn game and the distinct differences between 1sr and 2nd player, Objectives make a huge difference to games.

The other part to consider differently when it comes to “competitive “ Armada, tgat can be a shock to the system, is that we effectively integrate MOV as a primary point, rather than JUST a tie breaker- Quality Of Win is important at all times, it’s not just good enough to win at any cost, which takes again, sone getting used to 🙂

The games are different enough that it gets hard to find actual comparison points, so I hope you enjoy the different experiences between the games and find happiness in them both!

Thank you all for your responses, before playing X-wing I played a capital ship game made by games workshop called Battlefleet Gothic, a game that they unfortunately dropped.

I have played many objective based games in the past such as Mordheim, Wraith Of Kings, Warhammer(40k and Fantasy)

Are there any rebel capital ships or squadrons that have very niche or unorthodox use that I should avoid until I further understand the game?

16 minutes ago, DakkaDakka12 said:

Thank you all for your responses, before playing X-wing I played a capital ship game made by games workshop called Battlefleet Gothic, a game that they unfortunately dropped.

I have played many objective based games in the past such as Mordheim, Wraith Of Kings, Warhammer(40k and Fantasy)

Are there any rebel capital ships or squadrons that have very niche or unorthodox use that I should avoid until I further understand the game?

I think with each ship it's pretty easy to figure out a general idea with how it should be played. While things like titles can alter/specialise a play style, they aren't all too hard to comprehend.

I recommend playing a few games without upgrades, just to get an idea of how everything plays. After you have a general sort of idea on how the game tends to flow, dice, etc. Then you can start chucking in upgrades here and there, experimenting with tactics, combinations and building lists.

The only ship I'd really recommend staying away from due to its play style is the interdictor, just because it relys on upgrades and some slightly more advanced tactics. But after a few games, it's pretty easy to understand what it brings to the table.

2 hours ago, DakkaDakka12 said:

Are there any rebel capital ships or squadrons that have very niche or unorthodox use that I should avoid until I further understand the game?

It's not easy to find a good answer to that question! Maybe I'll try with 4 answers:

1) What ships are best for you depends on your play style. In general nearly every ship can find it's role. But there are some ships that need more practice to get along with. I think the rebel ships you can most easily adapt are CR90s, MC30c, MC75 and MC80-H1. 1 or 2 GR-75 can always be added to the fleet.

2) I think it's a good way to buy things in order they came to the game. It can help to understand they way things interact with each other. So if you're not sure which Expansion to take, you could take the "older" one first.

3) Always take the ship you think, that's most sexy! You don't like the AFII but like the Liberty? Go for it! It's a game! Have fun with it and don't try overly hard to be successful. If you like what you have and play with it a lot you will get better. If you only want to optimize, you'll fail! (Dark side of the Game!)

4) Sometimes a ship seems bad, because you only got 1 vessel of the type. But never buy more than 1 expansion to begin with it. If you got friends, then try to lend and exchange ships to experiment before you buy a second or third. Or more!

Liberty is pretty hard to master, and I wouldn't recommend Hammerheads for a beginner either, simply because you have to learn about when and how to sacrifice them.

Comparing Armada to Xwing.

For armada you plan all six turns first, and on your actual turn you do your reposition moves. Everything is a joust of some sort, arc dodging is something that is dependent on activation order most times.. Every fleet is formation based. Range control is still key.

Having played entirely too much of both and started with xwing, that should get you going.

As an x wing player who is also new to armada, it is a very different game. X wing is a lot of thinking on the fly, adapting immediately to everything going on. Armada is almost a very complicated chess, meaning you have to plan in advance a lot more. (In my experience at least)