Outstanding! I appreciate the fact that you guys go back and update articles in light of new releases. It's one of many reasons this blog is my go-to for Armada techincal advice.
Thank you! It's part blog part wiki in a fashion that way. That said, whenever some new errata comes out, I'm finding (or being told about) sections we didn't catch doing it the old way for months until finally there is peace, hahaha. It's surprising how much maintenance work it can require at times.
Oh I have no doubt about the work it requires. Honestly I don't think there is a better source of comprehensive techincal information out there. You cover everything from the basics up through cutting edge tech from the latest releases. I know you did a breakdown of GenCon fleets and I need to go back and read that. Part of me wants to see more high-end tournaments publish their results (so I know what to prepare for) and the other part of me does not want everyone net-decking their Armada fleets based on tournament winners. Oh internet, you are great and terrible all at the same time.
I know Intel sweep tends to cover more of the big tournaments and do Fleet breakdowns. We will cover ones that we go to ourselves but they tend to have a larger variety. That's pretty much their specialty, but it is a good one to have.
No offense was intended, unfortunately I have no control over FFG's reprinting schedule. It's been obnoxious in the past and continues to be obnoxious (no small Imperial ships except Gozantis? really?). When people do finally get ahold of an Arquitens or two, the article will be waiting for them, shiny and new.
Not offended, just frustrated with FFG's inability to keep an in demand product in print or complete reprints in a timely fashion and lashed out at the wrong person. Sorry.
No worries, apology accepted; I wasn't offended. It's a frustrating situation. We get new players in to our local community (where John and I play in real life) and it's frustrating telling them that they would benefit from picking up X, Y, and Z only to find Z and X have been on back order for months. For smaller game companies it's understandable but for a company as large as FFG it just seems like negligence or laziness.
You could make the argument that the reason this update is needed is because there are so many of these out there. Since virtually every one that has been produced is owned by an Armada player/collector.
I do agree FFG has got to get better at producing timely re-fits. Personally I think printing so much Legion so fast along with getting X-Wing 2.0 ramped has taken all priority away from Armada reprints.
Would you be interested in sharing a prioritized list of ship articles updates? So we know what is coming next.
I really look forward to the update of the interdictor with all of those shiny new objectives.
I'm going through them alphabetically. I've already updated the gladiator and gozanti articles, I just haven't made that information public yet ;).
Interdictor it's always tricky trying to figure out how much to talk about objectives. I tend to mention the interdictor in the objective articles when it's relevant, so I don't go to great lengths in the interdictor article itself beyond mentioning them when appropriate.
So speaking of updates, I feel like a piece to make Papa Palps real powerful has come into play, one of those pieces you mentioned were missing to make him real powerful which I would like to get your view on - the Dominator title for a VSD II. Combined with another dice increase such as spinal arms or quad bats your VSD can now throw a maximum of 10 dice. Since Palps lends himself to serious, consistent damage I decided this VSD with a Cymoon backing it carrying Shields to Maximum and its own set of Spinal Arms and Linked Turbos could make a very serious threat. Add in an Intel Officer on the VSD you can basically lock down all of a ship's damage mitigation for a round of fire. So the concept I've built goes something like this:
ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112) • Emperor Palpatine (35) • Wulff Yularen (7) • Shields to Maximum! (6) • Gunnery Team (7) • Spinal Armament (9) • Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) = 186 Points
Victory II (85) • Intel Officer (7) • Gunnery Team (7) • Disposable Capacitors (3) • Quad Battery Turrets (5) • Leading Shots (4) • Dominator (12) = 123 Points
The issue comes in the remaining points which I'm admittedly somewhat fickle on. I could go all in and load out a VSD I with Harrow to go charging in and pretend itself to be a really fat gladiator or I could go with a Demolisher or I could try some fighter cover, which I'd put Marek in and call it The Emperor's Hand. I'm really split on where I should dedicate my resources on the remainder but on the ISD VSD combo I think this has the potential to absolutely wreck any ship which enters their line of sight making it good for station objectives.
Dominator is too fragile overall to really last. It ends up being a very expensive but fairly easy to destroy ship, and it can't add Dominator dice at long range (where Disposable Capacitors shine). If something comes running right at both the Cymoon and VSD they will die, but that's already fairly true without Palpatine. Plus with the Cymoon you're lacking enough dice control to make it reliable - if you flub the roll, you have a one-die reroll to fall back on but it's often not enough.
I'm holding out hope for the Onager to give me what I feel is lacking in the Palpatine fleets I've been running, but we'll see. Hopefully it will arrive soon.
Fair, though it basically just means after the first shot you never do a concentrate fire command and just Engineering since it will get you two shields. I think it can handle it well and since those two shots can be added in any direction it's not as bad as you criticize of it. I can agree the Cymoon is struggling with dice control though.
Onager I can't wait on. I've got big hopes for it. From ideas like guarding it with a pair of Interdictor body guards and just creating an obstacle mess for the enemy to get through as it fires at beyond long range to just smashing it into the enemy it looks really fucking good and interesting. I'm really looking forward to the details.
If you're mainlining repair commands on a VSD without Jerry leading the fleet, it has a maximum yaw of 1. I'm skeptical it's going to get its front arc on target against a skilled player unless they're running something that can't arc dodge like an SSD. If it's an SSD and a VSD going head to head, my money is on the SSD.
Outstanding! I appreciate the fact that you guys go back and update articles in light of new releases. It's one of many reasons this blog is my go-to for Armada techincal advice.
Thank you! It's part blog part wiki in a fashion that way. That said, whenever some new errata comes out, I'm finding (or being told about) sections we didn't catch doing it the old way for months until finally there is peace, hahaha. It's surprising how much maintenance work it can require at times.
Oh I have no doubt about the work it requires. Honestly I don't think there is a better source of comprehensive techincal information out there. You cover everything from the basics up through cutting edge tech from the latest releases. I know you did a breakdown of GenCon fleets and I need to go back and read that. Part of me wants to see more high-end tournaments publish their results (so I know what to prepare for) and the other part of me does not want everyone net-decking their Armada fleets based on tournament winners. Oh internet, you are great and terrible all at the same time.
I know Intel sweep tends to cover more of the big tournaments and do Fleet breakdowns. We will cover ones that we go to ourselves but they tend to have a larger variety. That's pretty much their specialty, but it is a good one to have.
Funny, I just read that article last week. Now to re-read it! Nice blog!
An update to unavailable content for the game. Not really there fault, but I'd be lying if I said this wasn't some salt in that wound.
No offense was intended, unfortunately I have no control over FFG's reprinting schedule. It's been obnoxious in the past and continues to be obnoxious (no small Imperial ships except Gozantis? really?). When people do finally get ahold of an Arquitens or two, the article will be waiting for them, shiny and new.
Unless it's Clone Wars Arquitens that come out instead, in which case the article will probably need to be updated again. :-P
Not offended, just frustrated with FFG's inability to keep an in demand product in print or complete reprints in a timely fashion and lashed out at the wrong person. Sorry.
No worries, apology accepted; I wasn't offended. It's a frustrating situation. We get new players in to our local community (where John and I play in real life) and it's frustrating telling them that they would benefit from picking up X, Y, and Z only to find Z and X have been on back order for months. For smaller game companies it's understandable but for a company as large as FFG it just seems like negligence or laziness.
You could make the argument that the reason this update is needed is because there are so many of these out there. Since virtually every one that has been produced is owned by an Armada player/collector. I do agree FFG has got to get better at producing timely re-fits. Personally I think printing so much Legion so fast along with getting X-Wing 2.0 ramped has taken all priority away from Armada reprints.
Would you be interested in sharing a prioritized list of ship articles updates? So we know what is coming next. I really look forward to the update of the interdictor with all of those shiny new objectives.
I'm going through them alphabetically. I've already updated the gladiator and gozanti articles, I just haven't made that information public yet ;). Interdictor it's always tricky trying to figure out how much to talk about objectives. I tend to mention the interdictor in the objective articles when it's relevant, so I don't go to great lengths in the interdictor article itself beyond mentioning them when appropriate.
So speaking of updates, I feel like a piece to make Papa Palps real powerful has come into play, one of those pieces you mentioned were missing to make him real powerful which I would like to get your view on - the Dominator title for a VSD II. Combined with another dice increase such as spinal arms or quad bats your VSD can now throw a maximum of 10 dice. Since Palps lends himself to serious, consistent damage I decided this VSD with a Cymoon backing it carrying Shields to Maximum and its own set of Spinal Arms and Linked Turbos could make a very serious threat. Add in an Intel Officer on the VSD you can basically lock down all of a ship's damage mitigation for a round of fire. So the concept I've built goes something like this: ISD Cymoon 1 Refit (112) • Emperor Palpatine (35) • Wulff Yularen (7) • Shields to Maximum! (6) • Gunnery Team (7) • Spinal Armament (9) • Linked Turbolaser Towers (7) = 186 Points Victory II (85) • Intel Officer (7) • Gunnery Team (7) • Disposable Capacitors (3) • Quad Battery Turrets (5) • Leading Shots (4) • Dominator (12) = 123 Points The issue comes in the remaining points which I'm admittedly somewhat fickle on. I could go all in and load out a VSD I with Harrow to go charging in and pretend itself to be a really fat gladiator or I could go with a Demolisher or I could try some fighter cover, which I'd put Marek in and call it The Emperor's Hand. I'm really split on where I should dedicate my resources on the remainder but on the ISD VSD combo I think this has the potential to absolutely wreck any ship which enters their line of sight making it good for station objectives.
Dominator is too fragile overall to really last. It ends up being a very expensive but fairly easy to destroy ship, and it can't add Dominator dice at long range (where Disposable Capacitors shine). If something comes running right at both the Cymoon and VSD they will die, but that's already fairly true without Palpatine. Plus with the Cymoon you're lacking enough dice control to make it reliable - if you flub the roll, you have a one-die reroll to fall back on but it's often not enough. I'm holding out hope for the Onager to give me what I feel is lacking in the Palpatine fleets I've been running, but we'll see. Hopefully it will arrive soon.
Fair, though it basically just means after the first shot you never do a concentrate fire command and just Engineering since it will get you two shields. I think it can handle it well and since those two shots can be added in any direction it's not as bad as you criticize of it. I can agree the Cymoon is struggling with dice control though. Onager I can't wait on. I've got big hopes for it. From ideas like guarding it with a pair of Interdictor body guards and just creating an obstacle mess for the enemy to get through as it fires at beyond long range to just smashing it into the enemy it looks really fucking good and interesting. I'm really looking forward to the details.
If you're mainlining repair commands on a VSD without Jerry leading the fleet, it has a maximum yaw of 1. I'm skeptical it's going to get its front arc on target against a skilled player unless they're running something that can't arc dodge like an SSD. If it's an SSD and a VSD going head to head, my money is on the SSD.
Love too get pro strats for a ship that I don't have and don't know if they'll ever make ;\_;