We've got a thread commemorating the times when it's killed, but it makes me wonder, is the SSD losing more games than it's winning?

We drop $200 on the largest miniature FFG has ever produced. I hope this doesn't make it the most expensive upgrade card pack ever- is this thing actually winning games?

11 minutes ago, Norsehound said:

We've got a thread commemorating the times when it's killed, but it makes me wonder, is the SSD losing more games than it's winning?

We drop $200 on the largest miniature FFG has ever produced. I hope this doesn't make it the most expensive upgrade card pack ever- is this thing actually winning games?

I think it won a 400 point match on the table next to mine the same night I beat it at 800.

I get to use mine today at 800 points too, I'll update you on how it goes

2 minutes ago, Darth Sanguis said:

I think it won a 400 point match on the table next to mine the same night I beat it at 800.

I get to use mine today at 800 points too, I'll update you on how it goes

That's a good followup question; is it seeing more play at 800? Makes sense- the Executor variants are sexier than the prototypes. It's for all intents and purposes an Epic ship out of X-Wing with the option of showing up in standard games.

I played a 400 point match up against a Raddus list and was able to win. I wasn't able to kill his MC-75 that he dropped in my rear but I was able to take out his Liberty and two GR-75s. As first player I was also able to get to speed 2 and stay out of close range of the 75. My two Repair crews Gonzatis probably pulled 6 damage off of it over the course of the game on top of only engineering commands from turn 3 on. Final score was something like 200 to 54.

5 minutes ago, Norsehound said:

That's a good followup question; is it seeing more play at 800? Makes sense- the Executor variants are sexier than the prototypes. It's for all intents and purposes an Epic ship out of X-Wing with the option of showing up in standard games.

Personally, I see 800+ as the way Armada was meant to be played, so I'm hella biased.

The competitive scene, 400 point builds or lower, they just don't do anything for me anymore. You always have to sacrifice something, I never feel like I'm building a whole fleet. Honestly the game shouldn't have even been labeled "Armada" at the standard point build. "Task force" or "Do-group" would have been better suited.

Anyways, I think those who are inclined to play competitive games will see some niche SSD usage during the next few months as the SSD and RitR meta matures. After that I expect to see the SSD played almost exclusively in sector fleet battles. (Unless a couple JankMasters™ such as myself crawl out from under a rock to get thrashed at a tourney once in a while.)

I played a 400 and a 1200, lost the 400, won the 1200 (though I was using the executor 2 variant in the 1200, which is a monster of a ship).

I really like the way it plays. Seems to balance well with the rest of the game. The 400 point game came down to my squads being a few mm out of range so I couldn't bomb the last hp off of home one, which swung the game.

I saw two 400-point games last week with an SSD. SSDs won 6-5 and 8-3.

My game; I had an SSD Assault Prototype, Executor, two Gozantis (Comms Net + Repair Crews), and Cienna+Valen. Up against a Thrawn 2-ship; BTAvenger Pryce, Squall+all-the-upgrades, and a bunch of TIE Defenders. I was give 2nd, and we played Capture the VIP (for the free 50 points). The SSD deployed in the middle, the ISD and Quasar in opposite corners. Round 1 Maarek+Jendon double-tapped the front of the SSD, and I turned towards Avenger. Squall kept its distance, which meant it couldn't fully support the squadrons (particularly after I took out Jendon - with some lucky dice), and with QLTs, the double-flak and Cienna+Valen, the squadrons all died, while taking down most of the shields on one side. BTAvenger came in and walloped the SSD on the other side, but with Captain Brunson, Redirects and Contains didn't do that much damage, before being scared off by the return fire. It fled under the back of the SSD, taking pot shots at the Gozantis, but failing to kill them. Game ended with full health on all my ships (thanks Repair Crews!), about 120-points of dead squadrons on the other side, and 50 for the VIP.

Second game also had a Piett Assault Prototype, but with Krennic, Ravager, a whole load of offensive upgrades, one Gozanti and 6 TIE Fighters. Other player was a Sloane list with an ISD, Arquitens, Gozanti and a load of squadrons. SSD was given 1st player, and they went for Targeting Beacons. Again, SSD deployed in the middle, opposing ships in opposite corners. A lot of squadrons died, as did both Gozantis. The Ravager ran out of tokens and couldn't make all its things work, but survived with only 6-7 hull damage and no Defense Tokens. The ISD survived on 1 hull - almost certainly due to getting a Faulty Countermeasures crit from an asteroid on approach, negating Ravager's Palpatine Crew. The SSD side traded up on both squadrons (6 TIE Fighters for 3 20-point aces) and Gozantis.

However, that was the first time we'd played them. More attempts likely this week.

How long does it take you guys to do the larger-point games with the SSD?

I'm thinking about drawing up a custom battle of Endor scenario now that the SSD is out. Thinking it would be, at least, a 3v3 with maybe some 1v1 wings on 3x3 tables to give it that epic feeling without bogging everyone down.

I've played two 400 point games with it so far and in both games it's been destroyed. Normally I'd chalk that up to me playing bad, but with the SSD only being able to be maneuvered so much, it really came down to how well the dice rolled. It feels bad when it seems a lot easier to kill in games than it does at first glance, but I have to assume that's for balance.

One game was against Imperial, squadron-less MSU. 2 Gladiators, a Heavy Ion Emplacements Raider-II, a TRC Arquitens, and two flotillas. The amount of critical effects overwhelmed the contain defense tokens with Damage Control Officer (as well as all other defense tokens), and the sheer amount of damage output easily outpaced continual engineering commands my SSD spammed. It didn't help that it's painfully easy for ships to get double-arc shots on the SSD while remaining in one of the "safer" side arcs themselves.
Even so, it took the very last shot of the game from the Arquitens, on the last round, to do exactly enough damage to destroy it. The raider, flotillas, and Insidious were destroyed and Demolisher had limped away with one hull left, but they put out enough combined firepower over all six rounds to get the job done.

The second game was an SSD slugfest between my Piett commanding the Annihilator vs Sloan in the Eclipse with a squadron blob. Squads stripped enough defense tokens on the Annihilator for it to be destroyed by round 4.

My theory is that the 400 point versions of the SSD were intentionally designed to only be so good so that it doesn't warp the meta around it. But I think it will shine much more in Sector Fleet games of 800+ when using the Executor -class versions.

My friends two-ship was tabled by the Assault SSD.

My three ship + squads won against an Assault SSD+Squads, I kept my ISD-II but lost the VSD-II and the Kittens, and a few squads. I got all his squads and the SSD. I think it would've went differently if he dialed in mainly Navs instead of mainly ConFire. I managed to swing the ISD around behind it because Rounds 2, 3 and 4, he had CFs for Ravager and Krennic and stayed at Speed-1 with 0 Yaw for too long.

15 minutes ago, Norsehound said:

How long does it take you guys to do the larger-point games with the SSD?

I'm thinking about drawing up a custom battle of Endor scenario now that the SSD is out. Thinking it would be, at least, a 3v3 with maybe some 1v1 wings on 3x3 tables to give it that epic feeling without bogging everyone down.

That's a tough bit of calculus right there.

The more activations, the more squads, the longer it takes. At 800 points I was able to get 7 activations with 3 large ships on the table. Some people get significantly more, plus full fighter compliments. It took us close to 2-1/2 to 3 hours?

I have played 4 games all at 400 1 win 3 losses with it.

1 hour ago, Norsehound said:

How long does it take you guys to do the larger-point games with the SSD?

I'm thinking about drawing up a custom battle of Endor scenario now that the SSD is out. Thinking it would be, at least, a 3v3 with maybe some 1v1 wings on 3x3 tables to give it that epic feeling without bogging everyone down.

1200 pt games are 3-6 hours, though the SSD helps because it cuts the number of activations available down.

I had a thread awhile ago working on endor rules, the community really helped flesh it out. You should take a look.

I plan to play it soon.

I've played two 800 point games with it and absolutely dominated both games. Perhaps it only gets particularly gross when you get up to Executor II levels.

Im taking mine out this weekend for some casual games with a few friends. Got a 2 Ship version with the SSD and a Kuat which im iching to try. I'll let you know what I learn

3 hours ago, Norsehound said:

We've got a thread commemorating the times when it's killed, but it makes me wonder, is the SSD losing more games than it's winning?

We drop $200 on the largest miniature FFG has ever produced. I hope this doesn't make it the most expensive upgrade card pack ever- is this thing actually winning games?

I am also wondering with that other thread how many of the non-SSD fleets are being fielded knowing they are up against the SSD and built accordingly.

Sounds like a balanced ship with wins & losses at 50/50 depending pn strategy and play...

1 hour ago, Zamalekite said:

I am also wondering with that other thread how many of the non-SSD fleets are being fielded knowing they are up against the SSD and built accordingly.

I know the fleet I went against was built just to go up against an SSD.

I am 1 - 0 with the command prototype. He still had squads left and was a newer player, but on round 2 I noticed some major flaws in my list. Trying again with a squad heavy SSD list. We shall see.

18 minutes ago, zingerwhip said:

I am 1 - 0 with the command prototype. He still had squads left and was a newer player, but on round 2 I noticed some major flaws in my list. Trying again with a squad heavy SSD list. We shall see.

It's certainly going to require more practice before I feel comfortable with it, between the huge swing at each click of yaw and ALL THE UPGRADES.

I went 3-0 on a 9 player tournament and finished 2nd with a single ship SSD list. Only 1 of those games was vs another SSD. I think it's well balanced but not overpowering. It probably isn't the most competitive thing out there at the moment but give it time and people will make it shine.

7 minutes ago, Thrindal said:

I went 3-0 on a 9 player tournament and finished 2nd with a single ship SSD list. Only 1 of those games was vs another SSD. I think it's well balanced but not overpowering. It probably isn't the most competitive thing out there at the moment but give it time and people will make it shine.

where did the other SSD list come and what sort of fleets did you face? What finished 1st?

I won two games out of three in a tournament. Put me in 1st after those two games. Second game was a mirror match but different SSD builds. He had the bye the first round. 3rd game was another mirror match but he beat me so I ended the tournament in 4th.

In short yes. It is winning games. My very limited opinion is that it's balanced enough to be competative but it will be no means take over the meta. I can win games but it also is destroyable. We will see how it fares once people really figure out how to run it best and how to destroy it best.

Actually my one loss was against Thrindal. I had two 8-3 victories and should have just not engaged the last game and gotten 5 points.

27 minutes ago, XR8rGREAT said:

where did the other SSD list come and what sort of fleets did you face? What finished 1st?

See above

5 hours ago, Grinoch said:

I know the fleet I went against was built just to go up against an SSD.

Exactly. So I suspect if taken in tournaments it may do slightly better as a fleet built to do well vs the SSD may not do so well against other tournament fleets, so you can't really take an 'anti-SSD' fleet to tournaments. Instead, players will just need to bear in mind that they might face an SSD. Slow-moving fleets in particular are going to struggle I think.

Overall I think SSD builds are going to struggle most vs Raddus. Especially against Raddus fleets with an MC80L as the drop ship as it can chase the SSD and stay in blue range.

The key for the SSD is to avoid getting shot in the rear and to keep the front 3 arcs in action. For this Jerjerrod is best, especially with a nav command and the turn can really catch players out. And definitely better going first vs faster ships.