GA Fleet Imbalance

When your opponent has a significant advantage in squad GP and the only fleet zone is protected by a squad zone, the fact that you have a strong fleet does not compensate for your relative weakness in squads.

Your opponent has the option of setting a strong front line and still attacking with good squads.

"Waqui;c-1775585" wrote:

"Rath_Tarr;c-1775511" wrote:
When your opponent has a significant advantage in squad GP and the only fleet zone is protected by a squad zone, the fact that you have a strong fleet does not compensate for your relative weakness in squads.

Your opponent has the option of setting a strong front line and still attacking with good squads.

And this is why you save more of your strong characters for offense, when you believe your defensive fleet will hold the zone.

These are basically troll comments with no real insight into the problem. I suffer the same issue the OP does. I tried the weak D strategy but I still ran out of good teams so I lost but a few points. My opponent trampled my defenses getting a near perfect score. For people that have refined squad rosters, it’s virtually impossible to win when you’re 200k-300k behind them in squad power. Strategy should never be “hope I get matched up with 7 idiots that think g12 ugnaught and 60 other g8 toons constitutes a good roster.”

Since Han’s falcon came out, the problem has only amplified. Now you only need 2 fleets (rebels for O and BH for D). Rebels nearly always win if you have good rebel ships and know how to use them. And BH on D is just a good fleet that allows you to get defense points. Having good geonosians or empire ships does nothing but hurt me in matchmaking because they will never be used.

Being better than them, i.e. choosing better teams for defense and better managing attacks, is what grand arena is all about.

I have faced and defeated players with more character GP than I have and several more zetas and gear 12 characters. The ones that give me trouble are almost invariably the ones with higher arena ranks and ones with better mods.

“Believe it or not: My alt successfully applied this strategy in 3 battles now against opponents with much weaker ships.”


Give us some details on your alt. Total GP and ship GP?

How your alt only been successful 3 times out of all the GA battles? That’s not very successful.

I say this is trolling because you’re quick to jump on any post like this and tell people that they suffer from bad strategy without ever getting into details. I’m telling you it’s not bad strategy...it’s unfair matches.


“Well, it's a requirement, that you can clear his board, for that strategy to work.”


I did...so now what is the problem with my strategy?



“I don't believe, you understood the strategy, I described, because this isn't it.”


I don’t believe you understand the problem that me and the OP are facing which is why your so quick to say it’s bad strategy.

My opponent split his teams to leave strong D and have some strong teams on O. I put all midrange teams on D leaving only my best teams and trash toons (about 5 g8 guys) for O. I beat each of his teams except one on the first try and with a near perfect score. That last team I beat on the second try. I had to whittle his team down because I ran out of good players to crush him.

I lost by 25 points.

Losing by 25 under those conditions means that I needed to win that last battle on the first try, not lose anyone in the fight, and/or have a couple more toons end battles with 100% health and protection.

If I literally ran out of competitive toons by this last fight then how exactly is this system fair and my strategy lacking? If 45% of my GP can translate into 25% of my total score but 30% of my opponent’s GP can translate into 25% of his score, how is this system fair?

"Stokerini;c-1775673" wrote:

"Scuttlebutt;c-1775661" wrote:

"Waqui;c-1775585" wrote:

"Rath_Tarr;c-1775511" wrote:
When your opponent has a significant advantage in squad GP and the only fleet zone is protected by a squad zone, the fact that you have a strong fleet does not compensate for your relative weakness in squads.

Your opponent has the option of setting a strong front line and still attacking with good squads.

And this is why you save more of your strong characters for offense, when you believe your defensive fleet will hold the zone.

These are basically troll comments with no real insight into the problem. I suffer the same issue the OP does. I tried the weak D strategy but I still ran out of good teams so I lost but a few points. My opponent trampled my defenses getting a near perfect score. For people that have refined squad rosters, it’s virtually impossible to win when you’re 200k-300k behind them in squad power. Strategy should never be “hope I get matched up with 7 **** that think g12 ugnaught and 60 other g8 toons constitutes a good roster.”

Since Han’s falcon came out, the problem has only amplified. Now you only need 2 fleets (rebels for O and BH for D). Rebels nearly always win if you have good rebel ships and know how to use them. And BH on D is just a good fleet that allows you to get defense points. Having good geonosians or empire ships does nothing but hurt me in matchmaking because they will never be used.

Glad you can clearly see the problem. Most of the other replies have valid points with the emphasis on strategy, but it still comes down to being disadvantaged. Any opponent worth their salt can still win. Especially if the other team protects their fleet zone behind their top defense teams.

I have found that a sound strategy on my part will help me win 2 out of three and I always place in the #2-4 range.

I have both the current meta and the prior meta and am ended everyday at #1 in fleets. Why am I penalized in GA for this?

If I have 1.1mil fleet GP and 1.6m squad GP and there is one space battle and 5 squad battles. How will I have a fair chance when almost everyone else I go against may have a 2m squad GP and 700k fleet GP? Even if I win on fleet defense and fleet offense, that is 2 out of 10 battles. Now I have 8 battles and my remaining GP is 400k less than my opponent. This can cover up to 4 g12 teams with multiple zetas on each. How is that fair?

Yea I get 2 wins in every GA as well. Usually it’s the last guy with a refined roster that just stomps me. The only thing people like you and I can do (right now) is focus our fleet development to just the current meta and ignore all other ships (I’m stuck but you have a lower GP so you can get out). At the same time, just refine your squad roster for a few months until eventually your ratio of ship GP to squad GP gets closer to the competition.

"Altazarus;c-1775908" wrote:
It is difficult to say what is your best option, since we have no idea about your GP. If you are well above 4 million in GP your problem is that both you and the opponent have several strong teams and by using natural counters you both can and will clear ground forces with 100% certainty. So then ship come into play and someone who has the new falcon plus the phoenix ships maxed out, and the 4 bounty hunter ships maxed out with virtually no other ship aside from Biggs at all activated, will likely have some 0.5 million less GP from ships which has gone into gear 12+ for toons. If that is the case your opponent will clear your fleet in a single battle but managing to clear your ground teams with max scores, so he will win by anything between 5 and 40 points.

If you are below 2 million, what they said above is very much true, since you can and will also clear his ground teams at max score with ease, and then it comes down to ships, where you likely will have the advantage since his fleet will likely not be at par with yours.

But if you are asking who is better off in GA, someone with a roster of 40-42 toons with gear 12+, 6E mods maxed for speed, and maxed out bounty ships, phoenix ships and the new falcon plus only 2 capital ships maxed out, or someone with a diverse base, the answer is, a focused roster will win with ease, since he will have about 20% higher power where it matters, whereas you will have dozens of toons and ship that are useless to you. However, it was you who actually selected to develop those extra toons for whatever reason, nobody has actually forced you to do so. When you have done that, you have selected a long-term strategy and GA will always stay tougher for you.

In fact I know that for a fact, since with a focused roster I cannot do some events (no ewoks so no C3PO, no NS so I miss some zetas, etc.), but I usually end up either 1st or 2nd if I face someone who has about 30% higher GP total than me. Because I have chosen to invest in zetas rather than activating all ships, and have discraded virtually every mod that does not add at least +10 speed, I can actually win even against people who are close to 40% higher GP in me both in Arena, GA, territory, etc. And yes, I understand I miss on some things to benefit from other things, so there is no *pure* benefit of playing my way.

How are you getting matched against people in GA with 40% higher GP??? I’m hoping that was just an error in statement.

What I have been arguing for for a while (and what I think the OP is arguing) is for a system that is balanced in matchmaking using ship GP and points obtained from ships. Depth of ship rosters isn’t really a thing any more, so why am I penalized for it?

Perhaps we can go down to 1 squad territory with 1 to 2 teams on defense. Would that be a fair system?

I’m not asking to win every GA. My squad arena is full of about 200-300 whales so I learned early on that I won’t win much and I’m ok with it. What I’m tired of in GA is that I have to spend hours planning the perfect strategy and then execute it flawlessly and hope for good RNG on some battles. And after all that, my opponent with 200k more squad power can afford to mess up a few times and still beat me.

I’ve made this proposal once before and I’ll make it again: adjust matchmaking to weight ship GP with the % of total points that can be obtained from ships.

"Waqui;c-1775964" wrote:


If you cleared his board with only 1 second attempt, and you lost still, then I assume your fleet was defeated. Without having strong ships (which is what the OP is discussing) then my suggested strategy is not for you. It also indicates further, that you didn't understand my sugested strategy.

Have a nice one.

Yes, I cleared the board and so did my opponent. If you read my previous posts, you’ll see that I mention the new falcon means you only need 2 fleets. My opponent had the falcon, rebels, and bounty hunters. I have geo trio, BH, rebels, and empire...there’s no way to use geo trio and empire under this new system. It’s not the same as squad where you benefit from having the current meta team plus most of the previous teams (resistance, NS, Sith, etc.).

And your alt is not in the same situation as me. I’m at 3.4 million total GP with 1.6 on ships. 1.15 million GP is basically two good fleets (which is exactly what I said before). I doubt many of your brackets have the new falcon so all you need to defend is HT.

"Waqui;c-1775684" wrote:

"Rath_Tarr;c-1775611" wrote:

"Waqui;c-1775585" wrote:

"Rath_Tarr;c-1775511" wrote:
When your opponent has a significant advantage in squad GP and the only fleet zone is protected by a squad zone, the fact that you have a strong fleet does not compensate for your relative weakness in squads.

Your opponent has the option of setting a strong front line and still attacking with good squads.

And this is why you save more of your strong characters for offense, when you believe your defensive fleet will hold the zone.

Depending on the difference in squad power, that can be anything from a big strategic gamble to a hopeless kamikaze attack.

If you defend with only B- and C-teams against an opponent with more squad GP, rhe odds are good that they will break all of your ground zones, leaving you needing to break both of your opponent's frontal ground zones plus either their fleet or rear ground zone just to have a chance of winning on points. Not good odds when they have more & stronger squads than you do.

Key words:"...when you believe, your defensive fleet will hold the zone."

Who cares if the opponent clears all your ground troops in first attempt?

1) It doesn't matter whether your fleet holds or not if you do not have the resources to break both of their front zones which are defended by at least 2 squads each, an area where they have the GP advantage

2) If your opponent can hold the squad zone in front of their fleet zone, they can set a trash fleet on defense and use their arena fleet on offense, giving them a good chance to beat whatever fleet you set

"Scuttlebutt;c-1775991" wrote:

And your alt is not in the same situation as me. I’m at 3.4 million total GP with 1.6 on ships. 1.15 million GP is basically two good fleets (which is exactly what I said before). I doubt many of your brackets have the new falcon so all you need to defend is HT.

Your roster GP is irrelevant. The only relevant thing in our discussion is wether your defensive fleet is strong enough to survive.

The original post discusses strong ships - not fluff GP from ships - and the fact that there's only one fleet zone, but 3 character zones.

"Waqui;c-1776075" wrote:

"Scuttlebutt;c-1775991" wrote:

And your alt is not in the same situation as me. I’m at 3.4 million total GP with 1.6 on ships. 1.15 million GP is basically two good fleets (which is exactly what I said before). I doubt many of your brackets have the new falcon so all you need to defend is HT.

Your roster GP is irrelevant. The only relevant thing in our discussion is wether your defensive fleet is strong enough to survive.

The original post discusses strong ships - not fluff GP from ships - and the fact that there's only one fleet zone, but 3 character zones.

You must not have the new falcon or you would understand my point. If you can give me the lineup of ships that survives consistently on D against the new rebel fleet, I’ll back down from this argument...