prospective player questions

By gamefreak180, in Star Wars: Armada

Posted at
On 5/4/2020 at 5:02 PM, gamefreak180 said:

ok so which faction is better for squadron spam? it seems like with the carrier and the shuttle the empire would be better for it but what about the scum i mean rebels? Speaking of is there a golden ratio for squadrons to shuttles and carriers using the empire ships as the example? speaking of who has the better bomber spam?

There's definitely a golden ratio for squadrons: most squadrons need to be commanded in order to work at their best, and each ship can command only a certain number of squadrons (it varies from ship to ship).

For example the imperial carrier can command 4 squadrons (this number can be boosted by upgrade cards).

There's nothing that says you can't go over this number though, just that some of your squadrons won't run at their full potential.

The ratio of shuttles to fighters is a little easier. One, maybe 2 shuttles will cover all your needs generally speaking. (although the shuttles are just a nice thing to have; you don't need to use them.)

As for bomber spam... unfortunately the rebel scum do that best: Rebel bombers are flexible multirole ships that can also dogfight.

Imperial bombers are either a bit too specialised (tie bomber) or too expensive to spam properly (tie defender)

Posted at

To a prospective player, the first thing I would have to say that now is not a good time to get into Armada or X-Wing. Aside from the obvious reason that the whole world is dealing with right now, the main reason it's a bad time to get into Armada is because of the global stock shortage problem. This is a problem that predated the COVID-19 pandemic. Everything has been sold out since 2019 Black Friday an Christmas sales. It's very difficult to find any Armada products aside from the Core set and Victory SD. There are always plenty of those.

When I got into Armada a few years ago, I bought products from 4 different stores and put together a nearly complete collection in less than a month. I just couldn't get the Imperial and Rebel Fighter Squadron I expansions, the Imperial Light Cruiser, and Imperial Light Carrier. I had to wait approx. 6 months for those to be restocked.

Trying to get into Armada today will be exceedingly difficult (and expensive ) because I doubt you can find enough ships in-stock to complete a 400-point list for either faction. You might find Armada expansions on Amazon or eBay, but they could be priced twice the MSRP or more. Whereas my LGS sells Armada expansions for a fair price, but they're completely sold out. This past Friday, my LGS received some Liberty and Phoenix Home expansions, and they're sold out again. Occasionally, Armada expansions trickle in without any warning and they're snatched up immediately.

Others can tell you about what makes Armada a great game, but I'm telling you that the practical matter of buying Armada products will be your greatest obstacle ATM. It's a supply-side issue that is mostly unrelated to the pandemic disrupting the global supply chain. FFG is terrible at restocking their games and Armada suffers the worst from this problem because it's not as popular as X-wing or Legion, so it seems to get lower priority for reprinting.

Armada is my favourite board game and I highly recommend it to new players who have the patience and are willing to learn its intricacies. But for the time being, your best bet is probably playing Armada on Vassal or TableTop Simulator.

Posted at

Now is a great time to get into Armada for a multitude of reasons. First, since most people are on lockdown, it gives you are chance to purchase your fleet and get acquainted with how each ship/squadron functions and moves (as well as learn the rules of the game) before you play against someone. Second, it is not as terrible time to get product as some people will make it out to be. For instance, while the Core Set is out on FFG's website, it is in stock on Amazon for $20 cheaper (I would always ask your FLGS first if they have that or another expansion in stock though). As far as expansions, 6 of 13 Imperial Expansions (can find the Chimaera expansion on Amazon for the same price), 8 of 13 Rebel Expansions (the Profundity expansion is available on Amazon for $9 less), and 3 of 3 dual-faction/campaign expansions are in stock on the FFG site; that's more than enough stock to get you to a 400-point list (squadrons have always a little tough to come by while waiting for reprints). There will always be some issues with items being in stock, but you will be waiting forever if you wait until everything is in stock. And if you want to test the game out before fully jumping in, want to get in a few games while you wait for your ships to arrive, or get in some games before the restrictions to lift, like @Reavern said, there is always Vassal or Tabletop Simulator. Hope to see you make the leap into the game and this great community!

Edited by Admiral Calkins
Apparently I can’t spell “List”
Posted at
4 hours ago, Admiral Calkins said:

Now is a great time to get into Armada for a multitude of reasons. First, since most people are on lockdown, it gives you are chance to purchase your fleet and get acquainted with how each ship/squadron functions and moves (as well as learn the rules of the game) before you play against someone. Second, it is not as terrible time to get product as some people will make it out to be. For instance, while the Core Set is out on FFG's website, it is in stock on Amazon for $20 cheaper (I would always ask your FLGS first if they have that or another expansion in stock though). As far as expansions, 6 of 13 Imperial Expansions (can find the Chimaera expansion on Amazon for the same price), 8 of 13 Rebel Expansions (the Profundity expansion is available on Amazon for $9 less), and 3 of 3 dual-faction/campaign expansions are in stock on the FFG site; that's more than enough stock to get you to a 400-point list (squadrons have always a little tough to come by while waiting for reprints). There will always be some issues with items being in stock, but you will be waiting forever if you wait until everything is in stock. And if you want to test the game out before fully jumping in, want to get in a few games while you wait for your ships to arrive, or get in some games before the restrictions to lift, like @Reavern said, there is always Vassal or Tabletop Simulator. Hope to see you make the leap into the game and this great community!

I agree with @Reavern on this one, supply chain tangent aside.

Armada's release schedule is glacial, and much of the way you support your FLGS is with the initial buy-in. Buying a bunch of stuff from Amazon hurts them, especially because they often won't carry the expansions Amazon doesn't have either. Solo practice games are also wildly different from even a 2-player learning game, and having someone experienced (opponent or spectator) to walk you through the rules and tactics at first helps make things a lot less overwhelming.

Vassal and TTS are great, learning about fleet building and strategy is great. But I wouldn't be buying plastic spaceships right now unless you have someone else in quarantine to fly them with.

Edited by The Jabbawookie
Posted at

The downside with vassal and tts is i have no way to run them so i will only be able to play against some sort of player made ai for either x wing or armada. The stock, expansion release and player base was always a worry for me for armada versus x wing. Especially due to the popularity disparity. However id be at this point more willing to play armada due to the volume of squads i could deploy as well as the over all scale of the game compared to x wing. The one thing x wing has over armada is the price point. Ideally I'd play legion armada and xwing. My primary goal right now is getting one game at a time to where i am happy. Legion is already at that point so it is one of the other two now. So that when Covid is over I am good to go to compete.