r/StarWarsArmada • u/Maturin- • Jul 22 '26
List Building Objective Changes coming with ARC03
Objective changes are coming with ARC03 the Community Edition launch, which is less than two weeks away! Find out more at: https://www.armadarulesetcollective.com/news/community-edition-objective-changes-FsjFo1
(yes this is an Armada Community Edition announcement - we'll work on getting new release terminology in place in the next few months.)
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u/Comprehensive-Cow69 Jul 23 '26
Hoping we get NEW objectives or reasons to use older ones that never see play.
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u/DigitalMonsoon Triangle Enjoyer Jul 22 '26
How much of a difference did this really make in playtesting?
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u/machiavelliandchill Jul 22 '26
Has more of a list building effect than a gameplay effect, but it was significant
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u/DigitalMonsoon Triangle Enjoyer Jul 23 '26
Meaning people were adding more small ships and dropping flotillas?
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u/Polkadoty03 Legacy and Nexus Lead, Star Forge + T5 Developer Jul 23 '26
No, the bigger change is not just mindlessly picking most wanted in a list if you have a flotilla because you know the stakes will be low for you if itâs destroyed. For some lower activation fleets, like 3-4 activations, throwing it on a small does put that ship at higher risk as the damage thresholds needed to kill it are lower, and you donât have a scatter.
When a single red objective has a 40% pick rate in factions with flotillas out of 12 objectives, limiting the use of it on flotillas is the most unobtrusive change that still keeps the objective strong, but evens out its game impact for both players.
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u/DigitalMonsoon Triangle Enjoyer Jul 23 '26
Yeah, Most Wanted is clearly a very forgiving objective. Armada isn't an objective focused game but Most Wanted can basically win it for you.
This change does drastically reduce the possible point spread. Originally you could expect the players to get about 25 vs 150 points. Now it is probably more like 60 vs 100. Which is better but I am not sure this really addresses the heart of the problem with the Most Wanted objective.
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u/Polkadoty03 Legacy and Nexus Lead, Star Forge + T5 Developer Jul 22 '26
Like Machi said, it is a big âTurn 0 effectâ change, knowing that you canât just slap it on a 20 point flotilla in your list with 0 consequences means you have to apply more thought when picking it.
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u/DigitalMonsoon Triangle Enjoyer Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
So instead they are adding a small ship or just not taking this objective?
The problem with this objective isn't that someone could pick a flotilla. It's that one player got to choose both objective ships and the points gain from killing the ships isn't consistent.
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u/Warhawk-Talon Jul 23 '26
The one player picking both isnât really a problem though, it wouldnât work (as an objective for armada, which are designed to give ways to make up for not having Initiative) if both players got a pick. It would be much harder for the second player to get any advantage if it worked that way.
If it worked the way you propose, it would just be Advanced Gunnery At Home.
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u/DigitalMonsoon Triangle Enjoyer Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 23 '26
Yeah, I get that the objectives are supposed to make up for going second. And going second can be a huge disadvantage, can.
I'm still thinking through this but the way I see it is that Most Wanted gives a huge advantage to the second player. In its original form the point spread on this objective was massive, something like 25 vs 150 points. Simply killing the first players Most Wanted ship would win the game in a system where objectives are rarely the focus on the match this very strong.
The Legacy version address this by shrinking the point spread. It's probably something closer to 60 vs 100. This is great, you probably won't just win by killing the enemy Most Wanted target, though it could actually end up being too small.
All I'm saying is that there are two reasons Most Wanted was such a power objective and they are that the second player gets to pick both ships and that the first player always had less points to claim on the table.
I think if I was addressing this card i would have gone one of two ways. Have the second player pick both ship but make the points gains a flat value, say 50, 75, 100. This would still allow the second player a lot of power but wouldn't create such a strong imbalance.
Or only have 1 Most Wanted target, the first player would pick one of their ships and make it grant an extra 50, 75, 100 points on killing it. I think this would thematicly fit better with an objective called Most Wanted while still giving the second player the boost they need.
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u/transmogrify Jul 22 '26
We will never know, because no First Player has ever been suicidal enough to pick their opponent's Most Wanted objective
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u/machiavelliandchill Jul 23 '26
I often take opponents mw with msu in tournament matches, rebel smalls are survivable and fast enough to flip the objective and it otherwise has minimal game impact compared to yellows and blues
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u/transmogrify Jul 23 '26
Yeah I could see it in a true MSU list. Those used to be big in like waves 2-4 but I hardly ever see a list anymore without any mediums or larges. Are you taking just pure MC30s or what?
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u/machiavelliandchill Jul 23 '26
Just did very well at NorCal regional with Ackbar MSU, 2 30s 1 90 2 flot
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u/DigitalMonsoon Triangle Enjoyer Jul 23 '26
Yeah, and I don't think this changes actually fixes anything
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u/RhysOSD Jul 22 '26
Buff Targeting Beacons. The fact that your opponent places half gives it some serious issues