Building a Fleet - Point Values of Ships

Sorry for the delay everyone.  But last week was "Biggs Works a Ton of Hours" Week, and this week is "Biggs Picked up Xenoblade Chronicles X" Week, so articles got delayed.  Guess I shouldn't have pushed out all those articles last week and saved them in reserve, 'eh?  Anyways, on Monday we talked about Archetypes in Armada - how different ships played in different ways.  Today we are going to look at point costs for ships, namely point costs relative to 400 points by percentage.  We are also going to look at how many of each ship - naked - can fit onto a list.

This article was also pretty difficult to organize - there is a lot more happening with the math here than I have the space to conceptualize.

Point Cost - Relatively

Remember first that Commanders already take up between 5% and 9.5% of the total list cost, so bear this in mind - at least 5% of your list is going to be sunk into the cost of a Commander.  With this in mind, lets look at the Rebel ships:

CR90 Corvette - Just under 10% for the CR90B, and 11% for the CR90A.

Nebulon B - Just under 13% for the Support Refit and 14% for the Escort.

MC30c - Just under 16% for the Torpedo Frigate, and just over 17% for the Scout Frigate.

AFII - Right at 18% of your list for the AFIIB and just over 20% of your list for the AFIIA.

MC80 - 26.5% for the MC80 Command, 28.5% for the MC80 Assault.

So, for comparison purposes, 2 Nebulon Bs are roughly equal to an MC80, and 2 CR90s are roughly equal to an AFII, not counting upgrades.

For Imperial ships:

Raider Corvette - 11% for the Raider I, 12% for the Raider 2.

Gladiator - 14% for the GSD1, 15.5% for the GSD2.

Victory - Just over 18% for the VSD1, and just over 21% for the VSD2.

Imperial - 27.5% for the ISD1, and 30% for the ISD2.

Again, for comparison, there are 2 GSDs to make an ISD, or 2 Raiders for a VSD2, again, not counting upgrades.

I'm not really going to go into squadrons at this time - just remember that they can be up to 33% of the list's total cost - and with Wave 2 being as it is, you're very likely to need some sort of squadrons in your list to be competitive.

Upgrades tend to be between 4 and 8 points for most non-title / non-modification (Enhanced Armaments, Expanded Launchers) upgrades, so add 1 or 2% for each upgrade you need onto the list.

Ships to a List:

Assuming the cheapest Commander, here's a list of how many ships can fit onto each list:

Rebels - 9 CR90Bs, 8 CR90As, 7 NebB-S, 6 NebB-E, 6 MC30c-T, 5 MC30c-S, 5 AFII-B, 4 AFII-A, and 3 MC80s of either type.

Imperials - 8 RC1s, 7 RC2s, 6 GSD1s or GSD2s, 5 VSD1s, 4 VSD2s, 3 ISDs of either type.

And, here's the list of ships that can fit with a moderate-high sized fighter escort (25% of total list cost):

Rebels: 7 CR90Bs, 6 CR90As, 5 NebBs of either type, 4 AFII-Bs, 3 AFII-As, 2 MC80s (with enough left over for a CR90).

Imperials:  6 RC1s, 5 RC2s, 5 GSD1s, 4 GSD2s, 3 VSDs of either variant (with a GSD1 to spare for the VSD1), or 2 ISDs of either type (with a GSD1 to spare for the ISD1).

Thoughts on List Building:

Going forward, we are going to be looking at a few key archetypes in general fleet design, not considering specific commanders and upgrades:

2 Large Ships, 1 Corvette / One Large Ship, 1 Medium Ship, 1 Corvette - (Tournament Examples - HERO, Iskander4000) This list type uses the corvette and their fighter cover to stall deployment to get their larger ships in good position to pounce on the opponents.  The Corvette may have their commander, and be ready to maneuver and run right off the bat.  Possible Commanders:  Ackbar / Dodonna / Motti / Ozzel

3 Medium Ships - with or without 1 Corvette - (Examples:  None) Probably more likely to be seen with the Rebels than the Imperials - 3 ships going for broadsides - though I did a bit of an experiment with this and VSDs with Tractor Beams in a line.  Good damage, good hull,  Frequently discussed leading up to Wave 2.  Possible Commanders:  Ackbar / Motti / Vader

1 Large Ship, 2 Small Ships - (Examples: Captain ICT, Truthiness, Ardaedhel)  One large ship with 2 smaller escorts (NebB / MC30c / GSD)  Spreads the damage more equally between the 3 ships compared to the 2 Large / 1 Corvette list.  Possible Commanders:  Garm / Reeikan / Ozzel / Screed

2 Small Ships, 3 Corvettes - (Examples:  JJs Juggernaut)  The two small ships are the heavy hitters, while the Corvettes are more of a semi-swarm.  Possible commanders:  Mon Mothma / Ozzel / Tarkin

We will be looking into how Squadrons work with list building next time.  Until then, have a happy holiday season!