Republic article

By ninclouse2000, in Star Wars: Armada

Really a bummer, as I had thought for awhile about using a couple of Seperatists ships as old ships in a Rebel fleet for friendly battles, but not if I have to pay more for them than any other ship, save for a Starhawk.

1 hour ago, AegisGrimm said:

Really a bummer, as I had thought for awhile about using a couple of Seperatists ships as old ships in a Rebel fleet for friendly battles, but not if I have to pay more for them than any other ship, save for a Starhawk.

There are places that sell at a discount, such as miniaturemarket.com. I am sure they will be "only" about $55 there. . .

Im not going to say that people dont have a justification for being cranky about the price hikes.

But these games are fairly specialised and well produced. I get the impression that just about all the product they make sells out. But (on a global scale) quantities and total revenue would still be pretty low. So economically it makes sense for them to charge what they think they can get away with. (Like others have pointed out, nearly everything in the facebook group is 'LOOK! AT ALL THE! SHIPS! I BOUGHT!1!'. So i reckon their assessment of demand elasticity to price is quite low.

But if they make good money from it, they are more likely to keep supporting the game and things like organised play.

If anything, what id really like to see is them bringing manufacturing 'back' (dunno if it ever was) to the US. Id pay 10 bucks a ship to see that, and im not even American!

37 minutes ago, Ophion said:

Im not going to say that people dont have a justification for being cranky about the price hikes.

But these games are fairly specialised and well produced. I get the impression that just about all the product they make sells out. But (on a global scale) quantities and total revenue would still be pretty low. So economically it makes sense for them to charge what they think they can get away with. (Like others have pointed out, nearly everything in the facebook group is 'LOOK! AT ALL THE! SHIPS! I BOUGHT!1!'. So i reckon their assessment of demand elasticity to price is quite low.

But if they make good money from it, they are more likely to keep supporting the game and things like organised play.

If anything, what id really like to see is them bringing manufacturing 'back' (dunno if it ever was) to the US. Id pay 10 bucks a ship to see that, and im not even American!

I think this is mostly true. We frankly shouldn't care about their upkeep costs or ongoing support when making purchase decisions. It's not the customer's job, it's begging to be taken advantage of and there's no reason to have confidence in increased support with this track record.

But it may well be a sensible business decision, and these ships will sell.

My speculation is two groups won't be spending as much: some subset of "whales" who would bear a truly painful cost increase to maintain a high purchase rate, and new players.

Sticker shock was a problem with this game already, and it got worse just as the most iconic prequel ships drop.

Whether FFG desperately needs the money, is counting on the raw appeal of CW to cause buy-in, or is beginning to cash out because there's not much A-grade material left after sequels isn't clear.

But I would be surprised if this doesn't hurt the game to some extent, even if every model flies off the shelf.

The company isn't a restaurant running on razor thin margins. I would be surprised if they aren't selling these on a massive markup already. I'm not sure tariffs/shipping account for a $15msrp increase. Star wars and especially Clone wars appeal is very high. Unless FFG was just bumblingly incompetent when it came to profit and we just don't know about it, causing Asmodee to yank on the reins. This seems to be more of a GW-style price hike to me.

7 minutes ago, Ilostmycactus said:

The company isn't a restaurant running on razor thin margins. I would be surprised if they aren't selling these on a massive markup already. I'm not sure tariffs/shipping account for a $15msrp increase. Star wars and especially Clone wars appeal is very high. Unless FFG was just bumblingly incompetent when it came to profit and we just don't know about it, causing Asmodee to yank on the reins. This seems to be more of a GW-style price hike to me.

I am sure papa disney takes a cut of that profit.

On 1/26/2021 at 10:40 AM, NeverTellMeTheOdds said:

Why do people keep saying $15 increase? These ships aren’t as big as an ISD, especially not the separatist destroyer. Even the Interdictor was only $40. This is $25 price increase (at least). That’s a 60% increase. There’s no excuse for or defense of that.

I don't the focus on size - is that what affects manufacturing costs? I'd have thought it was complexity, and the ISD is a much simpler model than the Invisible Hand, or even the Munificent.

Not saying there isn't an element of greed.

On the other side, reorganizing the company letting long time employees go, unexpected price hikes are all signs of a company that may be in trouble.

Combine that with new terifs, on both import and export, increased shipping costs and I am honestly surprised that it didn't happen earlier.

It sucks when it happens, but I'm not convinced it is just a money grab.

On 1/26/2021 at 9:18 PM, JediPartisan said:

So if those are not fakes (no reason to think they are), the Venator has equal shields to the ISD, but 2 less hull. And a 5 in Squadron! I am not disappointed. ☺️
So maybe the other version of the Pelta will have the Fleet Command slot as others have pointed out, but it looks like that’s another ship that has a Fleet Support slot for the Republic. I’m starting to think the people who have been saying, the Republic might not get a flotilla, might be right. Also, the Pelta is cheaper than the Rebel version that starts at 56. Boy I hope the Venator is speed 3. 🤞

They aren't fakes. The new expansions are listed on the Asmodee site and have these pictures. They are the artwork from the back of the expansion box which is also pictured. See: https://store.us.asmodee.com/catalogue/sw-armada-venator-class-star-destroyer_3369/

Sad I can't make a Lion Rampant Imports account, I'm really curious to see the actual "cost" !

3 hours ago, cynanbloodbane said:

Not saying there isn't an element of greed.

On the other side, reorganizing the company letting long time employees go, unexpected price hikes are all signs of a company that may be in trouble.

Combine that with new terifs, on both import and export, increased shipping costs and I am honestly surprised that it didn't happen earlier.

It sucks when it happens, but I'm not convinced it is just a money grab.

Didn't Asmodee announce price hikes last year?

21 hours ago, JediPartisan said:

Did you find it up on a Canadian web site already? Or was that just with conversion from a US site?

I haven’t been able to find a Canadian site that has any of it up yet for preorder. I knew the price in CAD would be bad, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be more than $75 CAD.

Yeah I did $65 USD to CAD + 13%. And if you have to order from somewhere with shipping cost, then there is that to consider as well.

9 hours ago, BlueSquadronPilot said:

Yeah I did $65 USD to CAD + 13%. And if you have to order from somewhere with shipping cost, then there is that to consider as well.

True, but some Canadian sites nock off a bit so the price isn’t so oppressive, still bad, but not so oppressive (though they have to charge tax, the price is set by the store and they do have a bit of leeway). Also I usually get 1 of each ship, so my order will be enough for free shipping. Gotta save where ya’ can. 😁

It would be nice if the core sets were simply available. Still not released here yet and supposedly not til end of feb.