Thursday, May 11, 2017

Truth(iness) vs. Logic: 500 point tournaments

One of the beauties of having multiple writers on a blog is being able to present different points of view on the same topic. With that in mind, Steel Squadron brings you our first joint blog post in what we hope will be an ongoing segment: Truth(iness) vs. Logic. Our topic today: 500 point tournaments! Some people (you know, people who like to have fun) would like to see the tournament standard increase to 500 points. Other people (booooooo!) think it's somehow not the greatest idea since the invention of the X-Wing. First up, is the righteous guardian of all things that feels right: your friendly neighborhood Truthiness.




Feels Like Star Wars
In just about tabletop game I've ever played, I always love going big. It's why I play Armada instead of X-Wing. Fleet command is always way cooler than some lame little skirmish. If you don't immediately think of the Battle of Endor when someone says "Star Wars fleet battle," you need to get the hell off this blog right now. The more spaceships on the table, the better. Right now, even if you're not running the "2+3" style builds, you only tend to see 2-3 medium or large ships on the table. That's not an armada. That's barely deserving of the term "fleet". We need MOAR SHIPS!

Activation and Flotilla Scaling

More points means more activations. Real activations that can cause real pain, not pansy flotillas. While the cost of activation padding is likely to scale linearly, it will be harder to maintain. There will be more tools on the table to kill the flotillas. The reward for activation padding also won't be as high because...

Alpha Strikes Won't Matter As Much

Demolisher removing a ship with a brutal triple tap wouldn't be quite as devastating when there are more ships on the table. The same goes for the coming Avenger/Boarding Troopers combo. That also means they'll have more returning fire to worry about if they put themselves in a bad position to get said kill shot. This is the true problem with activation padding. The numbers don't matter so much as the quality activation they're trying to delay. If fleets are able to recover better from losses, you'll have less games that hinge on activations.

Commander Scaling

Vader, Tarkin, Konstantine, Garm, and soon to be Leia (consider this a prediction) are considered either too pricey or hard to maximize at 400 points to be commonly used in tournaments. Many of these commanders are finding new life in Corellian Conflict games. They all get significantly better when their abilities are applied to another 100 points of ships. This would increase list diversity, which can only be considered a positive.

No, Squadrons Won't Be an Issue

One of the most common refrains against raising the tournament standard is that squadrons, which already slow down the game, will be completely unmanageable. First, if squadrons are the reason you're having slow games, it's because of analysis paralysis. Biggs and I played the Martinsburg Regional last year with near max squadrons. We were done with 45 minutes to spare. Second, we're talking about 33 more points of squadrons. That's not exactly a lot. That's two of most squadrons. At most it's four Z-95s or TIE Fighters. That's not going to break the game or slow it down in any significant way.

Taking the opposing viewpoint is our very own data-driven kill buzz: Shmitty!




As the unofficial voice-of-reason for the Armada community and apparently the only sane blogger on this site (at least until Biggs' chemo addled brain gets back to normal) I am happy to storm in and rain logic all over this parade of frivolity.

Unlike Truthiness, I have the benefit of having played in a 500 point tournament.  Local players really enjoyed the 500 point format in the Corellian Conflict and we felt like trying it in a tournament would be more fun than a jar-Jar themed whack-a-mole game.  It was fun, but not it any way that was different from a 400 point tournament.  It was fun for being a day of Armada and the extra points allowed players to sneak a few more fun upgrades into their fleets.  The trouble was:


It's not that different...

Really, a 500 point game just didn't feel all that different from a 400 point game.  Like Truthiness, I tend towards big games.  It's fun to play with all the toys.  I had expected with the Corellian Conflict to have all this extra freedom in fleet building at 500 points....I was mistaken.  Points are just as tight at 500 as they are 400.  I felt like I should be able to do so much more, but that wasn't really the case.  So, while I do want big fleets of multiple Star Destroyers and MC-80s recreating the Battle of Endor, that isn't any more likely at 500 points than it was a 400 points. So, the benefits of moving to 500 points weren't nearly what I expected, but there are significant risks that go along with it.

Max Time Already Happens

We just saw the World Championship final go to time at 400 points.  Do we really need the risk of going to 500.  I play quick and almost never have a game go to time, but it is frustrating for all involved when it does happen.  And I do mean all, not just the players of that game, but the TO and the rest of the participants. 


More Points = MOAR SKEW!

This is the big risk though in increasing to 500 points.  If there was some sort of system that forced people into balanced fleets it might be fine (like an activation cap), but there isn't and any kind of skew fleet that exists at 400 points will be that much more amplified at 500.  Do we really need a fleet with 9 ramming CR-90b's?  The potential for abusive, un-fun lists only grows with the point totals.

The Logical Conclusion

Given that there are minimum benefits in fleet building, I am not sure it worth that risk of raising tournaments to 500.  400 points is a great total for Armada tournaments. However, tournaments are not the end goal of Armada.  Go and play the Corellian Conflict and have some amazing 500 point games.  Especially the 1500 point monstrosity at the end. Then you should realize that 500 isn't enough for a the truly huge game that you desire.  Play some 800 or 1000 point games and re-live your favorite on screen battles. It's not all about tournaments, but those should stay at 400 points.  Keep the big games for less competitive or time-constrained events.   

4 comments:

  1. I'd have to go with Truhtiness. The "fleets" are only Task Forces. The only way to get an Armada is by using 800+ points, and by that time the game is likely to run for several hours.

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  2. When I command a fleet I want it to be either an intense 1v1 or a brutal clusterfuck of epicness

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  3. 500 points will also increase entry point for new players and new playeris is what keep game alive
    not good idea.
    Want epic? you all do CAN play 800pts match if You like; no need to destroy tournaments for all the others ;)

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