@Crabbok just posted an awesome summary video about the recent FFG AMA:

Here are the bullet points for Armada:

• Clone Wars release target is end of 2020
• Release frequency for Armada will increase once Clone Wars is released
• FFG will continue to release new Rebel and Imperial ships once Clone Wars releases
• No more Armada expansions until Clone Wars releases (end of 2020)
• FFG was considering a rebel huge ship but decided against it

Something big is coming

I'm happy they are at least communicating and not just leaving us in the dark.

I actually have an Armada-specific video coming out tomorrow morning about this... since so many people are constantly asking me about the Clone Wars. I've just figured it'd be easier to have a video going over that topic, plus everything we learned from this AMA - but boiled down to an Armada only version.

15 hours ago, LordCola said:

• FFG was considering a rebel huge ship but decided against it

Me: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

My Wallet: Yes. YES. YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!

16 hours ago, LordCola said:

FFG was considering a rebel huge ship but decided against it

I'm happy about this as I can't see how they could have made a satisfying to fly/fly-against Rebel ship. If they made a Viscount too broadside heavy, it would result in boring games where the goal is to just park in its front arc and bump all day. If they made its front and side arcs fairly balanced it wouldn't feel satisfying to fly against as it would lack a defined weakness, and ECM big ships would probably still just park in the front arc.

17 hours ago, LordCola said:

• FFG was considering a rebel huge ship but decided against it

Well, per previous discussion, that does actually tell us a few things.

• Since FFG is obviously going to do an MC85/Raddus at some point, because obviously...that means it's either NOT 'huge' (IE., still in merely the 'large' scale)...or the Resistance gets its own faction. (Which does feel unlikely, given the Starhawks were built *after* the MC85s, and we are getting those in-game as Rebel instead of New Republic/Resistance. So this suggests the 'large' scale goes at least that far, meaning the Resurgent-class also just a 'large')
• This also suggests the Lucrehulk doesn't appear in Rebel colors. While the MC85 and Resurgent were definitely pushing reasonable limits for 'large', but maybe possible for it...the Lucrehulk is far more massive than either of them, so...yeah. Can't very well do the Clone Wars without it at SOME point, it seems possible as the lower limit of 'huge', thus no Rebel version if the Rebels don't get a 'huge' ship.

This tells us none of that

20 hours ago, LordCola said:

Here are the bullet points for Armada:

• Clone Wars release target is end of 2020
• Release frequency for Armada will increase once Clone Wars is released
• FFG will continue to release new Rebel and Imperial ships once Clone Wars releases
• No more Armada expansions until Clone Wars releases (end of 2020)
• FFG was considering a rebel huge ship but decided against it

• At least my budget has time to recover after the SSD. But then again, Xmas Clone Wars release.... O.o
• To be expected, but still great to hear.
• This is awesome. I was worried about the fate of the already existing factions. There is still hope for a dual-faction Dreadnought!
• See point 1.
• Good. There isn't even in the Disney canon anything that would legitimately make it as a Rebel huge. Other then the Lusankya, but that's EU, or the Raddus but that's Resistance (and heresy)

@Crabbok's more detailed video on the topic:

Go watch it, its good!👍

9 hours ago, Ginkapo said:

This tells us none of that

In what world does 'we were going to give the Rebels a huge ship but decided not to' mean the Rebels are going to get a huge ship?

Or is your argument that the Lucrehulk and MC85 are never coming to the game at all?

Because it otherwise means either the Lucrehulk and MC85 are not huge (IMHO, arguably true for the MC85, not the Lucrehulk)...OR the Lucrehulk and MC85 are not going to be Rebel ships (possible for both, but unlikely for the MC85 given the Starhawk).

The MC-85 won't be Rebel. It would be resistance, if and when they do sequel trilogy factions. And it would be huge.

Starhawk could pull double duty on the Resistance side of the house, especially depending on what we see in 9 and resistance season 2... but I believe the Starhawk is the line that differentiates the OT from the Sequels. The Battle of Jakku is effectively the final battle of the GCW, in terms of where you separate who is what and what trilogy they go with. MC-85s were made after that, and more importantly, are associated with TLJ, where Starhawks are associated with Aftermath.

That's my best guess anyhow.

The Starhawk was built *after* the war (well, mostly - obviously three of them were ready in time for the final battle over Jakku), using disassembled ISD parts.

The MC85 was built *during* the war, and 'was among the last type of ship built before the Military Disarmament Act was signed'.

If the Starhawks are built after MC85s, and Starhawks are Rebel ships...no way the MC85 isn't. That wouldn't make any sense at all.

1 hour ago, Crabbok said:

The MC-85 won't be Rebel. It would be resistance

Tomatoes or tomatos,

I wonder if there will be a great distinction between Rebel and Resistance fleet in Armada ( gameplay wise) also of course between CW era and OT era.

23 minutes ago, xanderf said:

The Starhawk was built *after* the war (well, mostly - obviously three of them were ready in time for the final battle over Jakku), using disassembled ISD parts.

The MC85 was built *during* the war, and 'was among the last type of ship built before the Military Disarmament Act was signed'.

If the Starhawks are built after MC85s, and Starhawks are Rebel ships...no way the MC85 isn't. That wouldn't make any sense at all.

The Military Disarmament Act was signed AFTER the battle of jakku. Starhawks were already built before the battle of Jakku - so if the MC-85 was the last ship built before the Disarmment Act - then It goes like this..

Battle of Endor -> Build Starhawks -> Battle of Jakku -> ****-> Build MC-85 ->Disarmment Act

The **** is where I'm drawing the distinction.

26 minutes ago, Crabbok said:

The MC85 was built *during* the war

Also isn't this a really dubious claim? Weren't there 2 directly contradicting sources about this? One stating they were build during the end of the GCW and one stating they were build after the war?

1 hour ago, LordCola said:

Also isn't this a really dubious claim? Weren't there 2 directly contradicting sources about this? One stating they were build during the end of the GCW and one stating they were build after the war?

I only know of Incredible Cross Sections as a source, which agrees with him. What’s the other one?

10 minutes ago, The Jabbawookie said:

I only know of Incredible Cross Sections as a source, which agrees with him. What’s the other one?

Unfortunately I don't remember. I could also be totally wrong here. I just believe to remember that we already had this exact argument before and people found 2 sources that disagreed on when the ship was introduced.

At least in the Aftermath trilogy there is plenty of mention and aparition of Starhawks but nothing about the MC-85, so I don't think that it was built or used during the GCW.

4 hours ago, Crabbok said:

The Military Disarmament Act was signed AFTER the battle of jakku. Starhawks were already built before the battle of Jakku - so if the MC-85 was the last ship built before the Disarmment Act - then It goes like this..

It wasn't, no. The Act was signed by the New Republic Senate *before* the end of the war - indeed Mon Mothma began advocating it (per 'Aftermath' and 'Life Debt') mere months after Endor. Although you are correct that it was only IMPLEMENTED after Jakku (IE., once signed, the act was only to trigger "once we are able to officially confirm an end to this war").

However the MC85 background describes it as being built before the act was SIGNED, not before it was later ENACTED - it seems likely there was a year or so between the two events. Certainly many months.

2 hours ago, Lemmiwinks86 said:

At least in the Aftermath trilogy there is plenty of mention and aparition of Starhawks but nothing about the MC-85, so I don't think that it was built or used during the GCW.

Maybe so - but I could as easily point out that the (canon) novelization of Last Jedi has Leia wishing for a Task Force of Starhawks to rescue them, not more MC85s. I doubt she'd be wishing for more ships of the older design, rather than whatever was the New Republic's mainline starship (if not also most powerful, which given the dire circumstances her fleet was in would likely have been the hope).

Interesting analysis. You may be right. Then again, we may simply be at the mercy of errors in the timeline, and what is simply common knowledge at this point. a year from now we may have no change in how people associate these ships..

MC-85 is always going to be associated with The Last Jedi, and thus Sequel Trilogy.

Starhawk is always gonna be associates with the Battle of Jakku, and thus GCW.

Now granted, Episode 9 may change all of that - but for now, my highlighted comments are probably gonna be the rule for FFG, as what is recognizable tends to dominate. After all, rebels have fielded virtually every ship imaginable at SOME point, including a Lucrehulk, Acclamator, Buzz Droids, Tri-Fighters, Quasar, and more.

Eh - I just don't see any path for the Starhawk to be 'popularly associated' with the Battle of Jakku. It got dropped into the Wendig novels, that not nearly as many read as saw the movies and TV series ('Resistance', here). Which same novels established the timeline that put the MC85 before the Starhawks. And both of those things are primarily set 30 years later, anyway. The only widely-seen rendering of the Battle of Jakku was in the EA games, which stuck with traditional Rebel and Imperial ship types.

You're not wrong that the MC85 is certainly going to be only/mostly associated with TLJ...but best guess is that the Starhawk will only first be seen on-screen in Resistance Season 2 and/or Episode IX. And I think the point you are driving at is largely correct - what people ASSOCIATE with a ship's time period, is when it's seen ON SCREEN. So, either way...whether Resistance season 2 or Episode IX...Starhawks first appear on-screen after TLJ, where the MC85 was the star of the show. Which is fine, given "canonically", the MC85 also predates the Starhawk (although, of course, both debuting 30 years earlier than the setting they'll first be seen "on-screen", because Disney can't do a timeline to save their lives).

Maybe you and I have a different view on the popularity of the Aftermath Trilogy - but I think since that introduced it, that's where it'll be most often associated.

What I'd like, ideally, is for the Starhawk to show up in Resistance Season 2 and Episode 9, but have it be SLIGHTLY different. Like a Starhawk Mk2 - maybe an extra cannon on top, an extra fin or something small, akin to the distinction between an ISD1 and an ISD2 - just so we have a distinction between a Sequel Starhawk and a Jakku Starhawk.

12 hours ago, xanderf said:

(although, of course, both debuting 30 years earlier than the setting they'll first be seen "on-screen", because Disney can't do a timeline to save their lives).

I mean... the legends timeline for just novels, YA books, and Ebooks (not including comics or short stories) range from 25,793 BBY (how has no one come up with a better dating system than BBY/ABY. You'd think Galactic Republic Star Calendar and Galactic Imperial Star Calendar would be better names, but whatever) to 45+ ABY. Many of those stories all take place at the same time or what should be the same time. But I honestly dont have the time to figure it all out because its about, three hundred things? Not including the fact it gets thrown off whenever movies come out anyway, just like it all did with 1,2,3.

Also, still more concise than the Zelda timeline.

I'll pull a (figurative) Warner Herzog and eat my shoe if the MC85 is introduced as a Rebel ship. I just don't believe that will be the case. Though I could be wrong (!), I think that the only way we'll see the Raddus is if and when the Resistance and First Order make it into the game. And being that my question on sequel trilogy factions was answered by Andrew Navaro during the stream, we now know definitively that the timeline for that is a solid "TBD."