D503's ship conversions and repaints

[D503's ship conversions and repaints]

Someone collects Eldar! Hahaha, some really neat kitbashes here. 

[Going Naked]

@Tvayumat - exactly!

 

The skill required to fly fleets effectively in this game does wonders to prevent optimific list building. The game I played most before this (as I suspect is the case with many players) was Warhammer 40k. In that game, you move all units like you move squadrons in this game. If you make a list with a bunch of units who can outshoot the enemy at range X, then your plan is generally keeping them at range X - thus the two biggest remaining variables are luck (a horrible reliance on the outcome of dice in this case) and list building.

 

In armada it doesn't matter what is on your ships if you are getting hit in the worst arcs, not firing your best arcs, or not being able to focus on and bring down any one ship. Luck is still a factor (we have all lined up a perfect shot with our most devastating arc, only to see a bunch of blanks and an accuracy), but when I lose, 9 times out of 10 either I messed up my flying, or my opponent just outflew me. 

 

The differences between ships, which are simply made more stark through the use of upgrade cards, dictates what it is you need to do to fly them well (for example, with a rebel fleet using assault frigates and ackbar you need to fly past them at long range as much as you are able to), but it does not dictate whether or not you will fly them well. Only you can do that!

[Going Naked]

I think it is testament to the quality of the game that questions like this will never receive a single simple answer. Snipafist made a very valid point in his post where he cited an example of what might be a bad loadout for a ship, but I stress "might be". I would be wary of generalising from this case to the point that ships should always be upgrade light and should specialise. Getting extra activations and exploiting your commander abilities by going upgrade light can be a solid strategy. But this game has really taught me the value of ships with versatile roles, as well as those with specialised ones. It has also taught me that one tooled up mega ship can be more valuable than multiple cheap ones, if the cheap ones are all over the board, and all of your expensive gear is on one ship in one place doing what you spent it's points on.

 

There will even be times when a carrier ship that can also pack a real ranged punch can be the star of your fleet. If you can keep a certain ship alive, why not throw everything you can on it? As long as you are still able to use it effectively.

 

This is a wonderful game that takes nuance, planning and thought to construct effective fleets, and then to get the most out of them. And even then, the best laid plans of mice and men...

 

Another thing I have learnt to recognise is that upgrades are not always wasted when they seem to be. Have you ever thrown expanded hangers onto a ship only to find that you needed to change your orders to focus fire, and that in fact your squadrons have done fine without being activated very often? You might not use your EH even once, and so you might conclude that it was a waste of points. Perhaps it was! But consider first - did the fact that you had EH make your opponent change his mind about where to place his ships? Did the fact that you could have used a big squadron activation make your deadly focus-fire salvo all the more surprising and devastating?  Sometimes the value of such abilities is not just in using them, but in being able to use them.

[The useless cards thread]

Yeah H9s are good, though I do maintain they are overpriced.

 

I do often wish things could be a bit more fluid. FFG absolutely do a great job of balancing things generally, but a way of updating things constantly would be ideal. Take MMORPG's for example. Games like WoW (iirc - long time since I played one) rebalance the abilities of different factions and classes with each patch. While I love the tactile aspect of board games, perhaps games like ours should embrace technology a bit more. A suggestion might be using Apps over cards (I don't claim this is without drawbacks itself, merely that it would be one possible way to address this).

[The useless cards thread]

Do you think there is any chance FFG will errata certain cards? It seems unlikely, but would it be so wrong for them to go: "Well we playtested these and thought they were balanced with the others, but having seen them in action and received significant feedback from the community we can now see that we ****** them up a bit".

 

I feel a lot of them could be fixed with a points tweak. H9s for example are a great idea, and become particularly good in certain combos. Who the hell thought they were worth more than XI-7s though?

 

A lot of people have made the valid point that some cards are bad due to the slot they compete for. I can see the concern, but this doesn't bother me so much. As long as there are times that you aren't using the slot for the more commonly useful card (and I don't think there is a single card I use every time!) and the card is by itself useful and fairly costed, I don't see a problem.

 

The real bummer is effects that are too naff to bother with. I agree that the liasons are ****, and straightforwardly replaced by the new 6 point officers. Having to spend a token is just too much. You are already sinking points into something that is essentially there to rectify your mistakes. 

 

It is also very upsetting that so many (if not all) of the anti-squadron cards are so meh, as they have missed the opportunity to add a whole new dimension of tactics to the game, with drastically different ways for ships to take on squadrons.

[300 points, 2 guppies, one corvette for Sullust.]

I am very appreciative of the feedback.

Jainas light and leia had occurred to me, and I frequently use them on a corvette A. My worry here is a) the corvette B lacks the range to take advantage of hiding behind guppies, b) as its role is to strip tokens, and any more points spent doing anything but that puts it at cross purposes. Finally, Jainas light is a bit of a waste if we play dangerous territory. I had considered Engine Techs. I am so tempted, but 8 points is a lot on that. It would help gather tokens and guarantee a hit and run on a star destroyer. Any thoughts on this?

I concede Dodonna does very little here. He is simply to save the points. I am drawn to the other two, but Mothma is a bit dear, and the guppies really want to stay at long range and Garm does not work well with hyperspace assault. That said, even just getting the second lot of tokens can be invaluable, so I will consider shuffling him in.

X7s and Intel officers are great, but kind of clash with the role I have given to the OL pulse corvette. If my plan comes together I will use him to strip the tokens before attacking with the guppies.

I also am really tempted to throw in 3 y wings. 30 points to have a real crack at a fighterless fleet, and make the most out of my high squadron value. Would anyone recommend that here?

[300 points, 2 guppies, one corvette for Sullust.]

Planning for Sullust! Would love to hear your thoughts on the following:

Assault Frigate B. General Dod, gunnery team, enhanced armament, ECM

Assault Frigate B. Paragon, sensor team, enhanced armament, ECM

Corvette B. OL pulse,

3 A wings

Advanced Gunnery, Hyperspace Assault, Dangerous Territory

295

I have gone for a fairly big initiative bid. Paragon really wants to either nuke them with advanced gunnery, or get the drop with hyperspace assault.

[The simplest fleet]

I think the real value of activations is having 1 more than your opponent. Thats what lets you dictate the game. Something I often see, for an example: 2 ships are just out of long range of one another, both will definitely get hit by the other if they move first. The player with the most ships can leave that ship til last, even if they have the initiative that turn.

With this in mind, most 300 point lists have 2-4 ships. As such 4-5 ships is probably going to net you the activation advantage most often, and 6 is most definitely overkill! It may be worth dropping one to make those corvettes As, as green suggests.

That being said, this doesn't mean it is a bad list. 6 ships definitely milks the opening salvo objective!

[Potential Sullust Lists - feedback and discussion much appreciated!]

My first forum post!

Armada has gotten me more excited than any previous game. I played 40k for years and never did a tournament (hated the idea of an imaginative game being so competitive), but Armada's dynamic and balanced fleet building system, with the anticipation of wave 2, has made me more than willing to take my first baby steps into competitive playing.

I love the rebels, and they seem to be the underdog. So I figured I would take them to Sullust. Here are some ideas I had:

Assault Frigate (B), Mon Mothma

Assault Frigate (B)

Corvette (A) Leia, Jaina's Light

Corvette (A)

3 A wings.

300

Being bang on 300, i havn't given objectives much thought when putting this list together. It crams in two assault frigates, with corvettes that can circle at similar ranges and speeds, and are mainly there to keep my ship count up. It's big, but not clever. Leia can sort out any bad command choices I put on the frigates, whilst the light lets her corvette hide behind one of the whales. I might even consider putting Mon Mothma on there with her. 3 A wings are just to disrupt squadrons.

My next idea:

Asault Frigate (B), Mon Mothma, Expanded Hangar Bay, Flight Controllers

Corvette A

Corvette A

Corvette B, OL Pulse

5 Y Wings

298

Here I put my money behind my mouth with my great love of the humble Y wing. Flight controllers and EHB lets 4 of them charge in to deal with squadrons with 3 dice each. That should let them compete against all but the heaviest squadron list, and nuke squadron light lists before going on to bomb ships. Again, corvettes keep the ship count up. Not much of a bid, but my objectives would likely be fleet ambush to pull out a target from the rest of the fleet, opening salvo to milk my high ship count, and Intel sweep to make the most of its speed.

List 3:

Corvette A, Dodonna, Jaina's Light

Nebulon B (support refit), Salvation,vXX-9s

Nebulon B (support refit), XX-9s

Nebulon B (Support refit), XX-9s

Corvette B, engine techs, OL pulse

296

Opening Salvo, Dangerous Territory, Hyperspace assault

This fleet really wants opening salvo. Plan is to crawl along at speed one, try and alpha strike, and cripple their fleet with critical hits, then disperse and flee. Perilously light on anti squadron.

I would love to hear your thoughts on these fleets, how you might tweak them, which you prefer, and how you would use them to win certain objectives.

Thanks!

[Anti-Rhymer ball]

It depends what you want to do to it really.

 

If you really want to kill it, use dutch and wedge, some Xs and make sure you have either AF MKA, or escort frigates for supporting anti squadron fire. I personally find dutch and wedge OP and inefficient against any imperials but the Advanced which you will see in a decent Rhymer Ball. As such this approach will suffer against no fighter/light fighter builds. 

 

If you want to neutralise it, just feed it A wings. Forgot Tycho. People rave about him but a rhymer ball will eat him up, and there likely won't be many other threats for him to jump out of engagement and intercept, so it's just wasted points.

 

I really rate 4 A wings. If the enemy takes a lot of fighters, throw them in all together and they will take a few out before they die, and your opponent won't have much net gain. If they take a rhymer ball you can pin it down each turn for the 4 most critical turns (usually turns 2-5). If the enemy takes a small screen of fighters you can chase them down and pick them off. If the enemy takes no fighters, then that is a mere 44 points. Any pot shots you can take at their shields earns you those points back.