FFG changes the game: The new Armada FAQ is released

At Adepticon, several folks had to talked to some of the Armada's current design team, and it had gotten out that an FAQ was forthcoming.  With less than a month until Worlds, it was starting to look like we either would get a very minor clarification document or nothing at all.  Instead, in a move that was fairly surprising, they hit several troublesome game elements with a severe Nerf Bat with this latest release.

Flotillas: Two per fleet for Tournament play, and they don't count as ships for being considered"tabled"

Flotillas have basically been an issue since it was announced they were being released.  The game designer's originally saw them as a way to add some utility to fleets and help bring large ships back into the conversation.  But the nature of activation order and deployments they began to become the centerpiece of fleets.  The fact that they added the most point efficient squadron activations didnt hurt either.  A variety of archetypes evolved to become mostly flotillas, like Fish Farm, 1+X, GHY+3. It didnt look good in battle reports or to people who would stop by a game to see half the ships just trailing away from the battle to activate a couple of squadrons. The hard cap I think might have been a little heavy handed, but the game needed to change something about the creeping activation problem and flotillas spam.

It should be noted this change is only for tournaments, so any future campaigns and around the table sort of games can still employ them to the max.  That is a very smart move by FFG.

Relay: The Shuttle must be within activation range to pass along its orders

Relay had always rubbed me the wrong way thematically.  A ship across the board somehow getting to activate squads didn't fit.  It also has lead to a lot of strategies attempting to stay out of engagement.  Changing it so the carrier has to be in range will likely help bring back Boosted Comms as an option, and might help bring a boost to the Centicore title. 

Three widely used Titles get changes

Avenger, Gallant Haven and Yavaris all got changed to limit how effective they are.  Avenger becoming exhaust is a great change, so that no one ship can simply evaporate another on a single activation.  The changes to Gallant Haven and Yavaris effectively end the Rieekan Aces/ GHY+3 archetype that has really been the only one ti survive multiple seasons in this game.  Gallant Haven becomes a minimum of one damage, helping to make sure squads cannot just weather any storm thrown at them before bombing an enemy ship.  It is an interesting affect that we might see more single die flak ships firing, since they'll still be able to ping for damage.  Yavaris with FCT had basically been far too overpowered, and this drops it back into line I think with its intended power level.

Biggs Darklighter cannot pass damage to a Rieekan Zombie Escort

A minor but welcome change.  This tactic basically forced you to just not shoot at any Jan/Biggs ball because the payoff was zero.

Non Nerf Clarifications:

This FAQ was rich with some necessary updates to the game as well.  The Chimera title allows you to recycle a command you had previously discarded, which makes it much more valuable to be able to start the game with maybe Shields to the Max and then come back to it late in the game.  Lots of interactions with how Raddus and ships off the board during the game not being able to receive tokens or other conditions until they enter the game.  It also was clarified that if a Raddus ship that normally cannot activate first is the only ship someone can activate (by some other card effect like Governor Pryce) it can be the first to activate.  Luke Skywalker doesn't proc with Nora, so he cant bypass sheilds then sunder them, and Aspiration can get shields back via outside means (like Projection Experts) even if the zones it beefed up are still full.  Thrawn gets a slight bump in that his dial can now create tokens, instead of just being used to generate a command.

Overall thoughts:

This is quite possibly the biggest game change FAQ we've seen.  Capping flotillas means a whole section of fleets arent possible to run any longer.  A lot of people have felt that the hard cap could mean we are going to get more Flotilla options very soon, because they will be more combat oriented ones.  I dont think I agree.  I think the hard cap would typically mean that any combat capable flotilla now (especially in conjuction wth the Relay nerf) completely replaces the ships we currently have.  FFG is unlikely to do that I think, since there is already a bit of salt over folks having 5 or more of them that they cannot use competitively now.  The loss of the Flotillas though is the gain of the Hammerheads, which were just a tinch to expensive to justify inclusion.  Look for packs of them to potentially go with a Raddus fleet, or possibly to pair with MC30s in a Mon Mothma storm.  

With the titles changes there should be an opening in the meta for the Pelta to at least have a shot at returning now for the rebels.  Cheaper than the AF, and allowing B Wings now to get a speedier activation (via All Fighters Follow Me!) might mean the difference between them getting an attack or not. 

I do think these changes will see a bit more return of Rogue fighters, since both sides lose several carriers and the range to activate fighters becomes a bit limited.  Limiting flotillas to the tournament restriction does hint at least that we may be getting a new campaign this year.