Pretty sexy... too bad I ain't worth the upgraded points :-(
Flotillas have been with us since wave 3, which means just after the Summer of 2016. I've no idea if the read was with us back then. I was. Flotilla (not alone tho, but some key upgrades in w3 too) transformed the game rather quickly, making SQUADRON, non-rogue squadrons, eminently viable again. Fleets could no take a couple fo combat ships, 3 flotillas, and a bunch of squads, and do REALLY well. And it was HUGE improvement for the game.
No, however, thins are not so great anymore. Flotillas, and w5 Relay, mostly when used in combination, are out of control. Rather than go on about it at length, I instead direct you to the Cannot Get Your Ship Out blog, which recently posted a very interesting article about the subject. I cannot praise this article enough.
Our first catch of the day!
Btw I'm quoted in that article as hating relay and flotillas. That's not entirely accurate. I LOVE what flotillas have done for the game, but now they are out of control. I also immensely enjoy squadron play, and before flotillas squadrons were rubbish.
But the combination of high gain/low risk nature of flotillas AND the unlimited nature of relay (unlimited range, unlimited uses) is broken as fuck. Sure there are some counters, but you gotta work REALLY hard to compensate.
That in itself is ok, I guess, but what isn't ok is it means there are only a few OTHER archetype that can compete in the top with flotilla + relay spam. There is a disconnect between risk/gain, and it's hurting the game ATM.
FFG --> get the NERF BAT!
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ReplyDeleteI was thinking recently how I just no longer feel like I understand how to play aggressively in Armada. I've always gravitated toward defensive play in my games, so in some ways it's a fit for my playstyle. But when I'm faced with an even more defensive fleet across the table, it feels like a trap. I can get on the gas and rush in there, but the advantages of a player who gets to leapfrog me in activations and who can risk nothing by playing flotillas from unlimited range seem too strong to overcome. On the other hand, I can also wait it out, and the game comes down to objective points.
ReplyDeleteIt seems like no coincidence that in many metas the dominant fleet archetype is a tanky/defensive MC80 with flotilla spam and objective points farming.
Thrawn may be a strong continuation of the status quo, but Raddus and MC75 Sato might offer the ability to inject damage into an enemy's defensive formation without marching into certain death. That's where I'm placing my hopes.
There are some stuff in w7 that changes things up. Raddus. Bail. Pryce. We'll see how it works out. If things remain the same I see the nerf-bat coming out.
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