The Rebels offer a wide gamut of fleet build shapes. The imperials tend to be a little more straight forward….or are they?
Again, I am talking as one who has read a lot, studied the game and embedded as much as I can into my gaming psyche without actually playing much and having never played in a competitive environment against an established player. With that in mind, here is my thinking on my Imperial Armada.
Large Ships
The ISD (3); This is the fleet building go to and all too easy it is to do. I cannot see any fleet not having one, but there are options and I am open to an exciting future. A wall of them? Tempting. I have the luxury of three to field, but realistically one for fighter control and maybe a different one for hammer blows against those tricky Rebel machinations.
Onager; The Onager has a reputation and not always a good one. Competitively, they are powerful, but single faceted, shooting quite unfairly at longer range than anyone else. Mean really. One alone cannot win a fight and I am assuming the best defence against them is a small, numerous and fast offence, so support is likely the most important consideration.
Medium Ships
Interdictor; This one offers a few out of the box tactics. Purchased for completeness and looks, it will be the home of tricky options for a very alternative build. I do not fully understand all of its uses and some depend on the type of game played, but in campaign conditions, I think it will shine, or at worst provide a medium grade SD option with alternate builds. Also a good catalyst for scenario play. This is the web. Just needs a spider.
Victory Class SD (2); The Victory, a left over of a bygone age much like the Rebel Pelta (but lacking that special something), They will act as a reserve or support much like the Gladiator, but in a slower, tougher, but less aggressive fleet. In reality, I would not have one but for its inclusion in the core set, but that did not stop me ordering another recently, when I needed another medium base ship (over the carrier) as it is actually a pretty solid and versatile if uninspired choice (one base was chewed by my pup enough to go into the “emergency” only pile). Maybe a close support blocker for the Onager or a flagship for a small, backwater fleet.
Too slow, a little mediocre overall, but still a capable enough line brawler, mini carrier or fire support.
Solid, boring and unavoidable coming in the base set.
Small Ships
Gladiator (2); The small base Gladiators are good for supporting the front heavy monster triangles. I feel the best Imperial fleet is one that champions their strengths (ISD’s and Fighters), without neglecting their weaknesses (poor rear defence and manoeuvre), so the Gladiator will be part of the balance solution.
Raider (3); The Raider, scarse as until recently, is a tough ship to master, so why not have three? Uses? Maybe the same type of thing as the Gladiator, an anti-fighter escort or nasty in-fighter. Notoriously hard to use well, I will probably not throw these in to a game too lightly, but for scenario play and to turn the tide in fighter heavy games, they will be fun.
Light Cruiser (-); Don’t have, don’t like and with three Raiders and three Gladiators, dont need.
Flotillas
Gozanti (2); The flotillas that add so much for so little. Fighter support, flak, flank prowling, fleet support, or just being a general nuisance. All reasonable options for negligible cost.
Fighters
Fighters (various); Lots and lots of fighters, be they elites, swarms or high tech. They are near mandatory as a screen for the “not as un-killable as they look” ISD’s or even more vulnerable Onager. the right fighters are the underestimated fleet finisher that I will need to get a handle on. After all, I did get into Armada for the fighters.
Small Ships (various); The Shuttle, Devastator, Slave-1 etc are those ships that get little lime light in Armada, but may be tide turning an add much needed variety to an often one dimensional fleet.
I think the thing that stands out for me is that, even though the Imperials have on the surface a very two dimensional looking fleet (Angry triangles and angrier swarms), the reality is, their exceptions are by far the most exceptional. Leveraging the Onager and Interdictor or Rogues and Raiders will always give the Imperials a way of mixing up their otherwise predictable fleets.