Disclosure: I've finished 1st in Fleet every day for a while (Top 3 for a long time), so this isn't a "it's too hard so change it" kind of post. Also, I have exactly 3 good Rebels ships, so if CG listens to me, I'm screwed lolI'm not a fan of the current Ackbar/Falcon meta. Mace time-out was dumb and annoying, but at least it was a well-developed strategy, and you had to bring a well-developed counter. However, the Ackbar/Falcon teams are waaaay too RNG dependent imo. Doesn't matter how much better your crew members and ships are, if Falcon doesn't assist a whole lot, you lose. If it assists most of the time, you win. I've lost 4v2 battles, and won 2v4 battles simply because RNG decided I should. I'm not a fan of RNG. I know it's how CG makes all their money, but it's lame when you've crafted this great strategy, or worked hard perfecting your toons, then it all goes to pieces because of "chance".

Yeah, Mace timeout was kitten but it required great investment and utilizing all your ships to beef up your defense. Rebel is just RNG fest to a RNG arena and anyone who whaled on a falcon can climb to the top. With Mace, if you weren't laser focused on ships you wouldn't climb at all

Well I've taken first in fleet since almost the day I started through several different metas and I for one love the falcon....sometimes I switch back to thrawn and the bh meta just to change it up but if I leave a fleet on defense it's my go to Home 1 with HT, XB and HMF as my starting 3 and I have not lost a spot on defense since I switched....its not really as rng dependant as you think as even if han fails to assist most of the time it's still simple to roll through a lineup with the buff cleanse from HMF. XB keeps hound taunting and ackbar keeps HT healthy

"JediKnight_MarkRyan;c-1763775" wrote:I finish #1 in fleet arena every day. It’s getting harder. I had a huge advantage with a 7* G12.5 Ackbar. Now I’m either going to have to gear up Bistans ship or use Cassian as a reinforcement.You use Cassian as a reinforcement and you can take out the Falcon easily I’ve Head. I just don’t have that ship developed enough yet. Worst case scenario I settle for second or try a few various ship lineups like using the silencer.All that to say, it’s not an RNG feat if you have the right tools. If you develop the right tools... like Cassian you can win every time. Yeah cassian reinforcement is the go-to tactic. But need to make sure none of your ships have breach first.

"John_Matrix1985;c-1763780" wrote:"JediKnight_MarkRyan;c-1763775" wrote:I finish #1 in fleet arena every day. It’s getting harder. I had a huge advantage with a 7* G12.5 Ackbar. Now I’m either going to have to gear up Bistans ship or use Cassian as a reinforcement.You use Cassian as a reinforcement and you can take out the Falcon easily I’ve Head. I just don’t have that ship developed enough yet. Worst case scenario I settle for second or try a few various ship lineups like using the silencer.All that to say, it’s not an RNG feat if you have the right tools. If you develop the right tools... like Cassian you can win every time. Yeah cassian reinforcement is the go-to tactic. But need to make sure none of your ships have breach first.1- first AA move, cleanse breach. 2- second AA move, cassian reinforcement3- kill HMF4-????5- profit

"gflegui;c-1763894" wrote:Only if your Home one is slower than your enemy... otherwise I think the best starter is to drop the massive attack and with some luck you kill a ship. "Kyno;c-1763880" wrote:"John_Matrix1985;c-1763780" wrote:"JediKnight_MarkRyan;c-1763775" wrote:I finish #1 in fleet arena every day. It’s getting harder. I had a huge advantage with a 7* G12.5 Ackbar. Now I’m either going to have to gear up Bistans ship or use Cassian as a reinforcement.You use Cassian as a reinforcement and you can take out the Falcon easily I’ve Head. I just don’t have that ship developed enough yet. Worst case scenario I settle for second or try a few various ship lineups like using the silencer.All that to say, it’s not an RNG feat if you have the right tools. If you develop the right tools... like Cassian you can win every time. Yeah cassian reinforcement is the go-to tactic. But need to make sure none of your ships have breach first.1- first AA move, cleanse breach. 2- second AA move, cassian reinforcement3- kill HMF4-????5- profitExactly. Cleanse is a terrible idea instead of calling at least 2 assists under ackbar. I agree with op. Ive always been 1st at po, but it indeed is annoying that some days i win 5 out of 5 , then on another days, lose 2 in a row before winning 3 in a row..

State of Ships Arena | EA Forums

NotRealUltra
Seasoned Newcomer
6 years ago
Yeah, Mace timeout was kitten but it required great investment and utilizing all your ships to beef up your defense. Rebel is just RNG fest to a RNG arena and anyone who whaled on a falcon can climb to the top. With Mace, if you weren't laser focused on ships you wouldn't climb at all
wesmay4367
6 years ago
Well I've taken first in fleet since almost the day I started through several different metas and I for one love the falcon....sometimes I switch back to thrawn and the bh meta just to change it up but if I leave a fleet on defense it's my go to Home 1 with HT, XB and HMF as my starting 3 and I have not lost a spot on defense since I switched....its not really as rng dependant as you think as even if han fails to assist most of the time it's still simple to roll through a lineup with the buff cleanse from HMF. XB keeps hound taunting and ackbar keeps HT healthy
Lochaber1984
6 years ago
"JediKnight_MarkRyan;c-1763775" wrote:
I finish #1 in fleet arena every day. It’s getting harder. I had a huge advantage with a 7* G12.5 Ackbar. Now I’m either going to have to gear up Bistans ship or use Cassian as a reinforcement.

You use Cassian as a reinforcement and you can take out the Falcon easily I’ve Head. I just don’t have that ship developed enough yet. Worst case scenario I settle for second or try a few various ship lineups like using the silencer.

All that to say, it’s not an RNG feat if you have the right tools. If you develop the right tools... like Cassian you can win every time.

Yeah cassian reinforcement is the go-to tactic. But need to make sure none of your ships have breach first.
NyKynoe
6 years ago
"John_Matrix1985;c-1763780" wrote:
"JediKnight_MarkRyan;c-1763775" wrote:
I finish #1 in fleet arena every day. It’s getting harder. I had a huge advantage with a 7* G12.5 Ackbar. Now I’m either going to have to gear up Bistans ship or use Cassian as a reinforcement.

You use Cassian as a reinforcement and you can take out the Falcon easily I’ve Head. I just don’t have that ship developed enough yet. Worst case scenario I settle for second or try a few various ship lineups like using the silencer.

All that to say, it’s not an RNG feat if you have the right tools. If you develop the right tools... like Cassian you can win every time.

Yeah cassian reinforcement is the go-to tactic. But need to make sure none of your ships have breach first.

1- first AA move, cleanse breach.
2- second AA move, cassian reinforcement
3- kill HMF
4-????
5- profit
Roopehuntr
6 years ago
"gflegui;c-1763894" wrote:
Only if your Home one is slower than your enemy... otherwise I think the best starter is to drop the massive attack and with some luck you kill a ship.
"Kyno;c-1763880" wrote:
"John_Matrix1985;c-1763780" wrote:
"JediKnight_MarkRyan;c-1763775" wrote:
I finish #1 in fleet arena every day. It’s getting harder. I had a huge advantage with a 7* G12.5 Ackbar. Now I’m either going to have to gear up Bistans ship or use Cassian as a reinforcement.

You use Cassian as a reinforcement and you can take out the Falcon easily I’ve Head. I just don’t have that ship developed enough yet. Worst case scenario I settle for second or try a few various ship lineups like using the silencer.

All that to say, it’s not an RNG feat if you have the right tools. If you develop the right tools... like Cassian you can win every time.

Yeah cassian reinforcement is the go-to tactic. But need to make sure none of your ships have breach first.

1- first AA move, cleanse breach.
2- second AA move, cassian reinforcement
3- kill HMF
4-????
5- profit

Exactly. Cleanse is a terrible idea instead of calling at least 2 assists under ackbar.

I agree with op. Ive always been 1st at po, but it indeed is annoying that some days i win 5 out of 5 , then on another days, lose 2 in a row before winning 3 in a row..
5p0rk3h
6 years ago
There seems to be a common thread here...which is 'I used to finish 1st with ease! Now it's slightly harder but I still finish 1st'.

First world problems guys
braskme
New Spectator
6 years ago
I guess the devs figured we were missing the RNG from the last days of ships 1.0. Why bother with strategy when you can have random outcomes? Will my phantom2 hit for 12k, or set off a triple string of crits totalling 75k? That 50% assist of the falcon brings back that fun factor we all loved from last year. :D
cannonfodder_iv
New Spectator
6 years ago
State of ship arena:

Whoever sent out the memo that the player base loves really long battles needs to head to the re-education center.

And whoever decided that a 2% published dodge rate should be nowhere near 2% (oh you slippery little tanks you) needs to go to Quality Assurance class.

I'm sorry, but ships has been a disaster for awhile now. We got used to it after 2.0. We got used to after HT, but why does it continue to go in the wrong direction (full-on RNG fest)?

Just.not.fun.
Nikoms565
6 years ago
At this point, fleet arena is boring (which it has been for a LONG time). The issue is only made worse by the fact that CG's only response to enhance fleet is to directly manipulate the meta by releasing a small number of new OP ships every few months (First it was Chim, then HT, now HMF).

Honestly, if CG wants to fix what's wrong with fleet, they just need to watch Ahnald's vid on fleet being the worst game mode (which 65% of the people who voted in his poll agree with, BTW). Either fix fleet or jettison it. It's a disaster - and it's too bad, because when they first launched it, I loved fleet.
KneelB4Doom
6 years ago
A lot of this would be solved by doing what many have been asking for a long time before the Falcon came along: Put out some more ships (especially capitals).

Instead of there being one "Have this or you won't be competitive" setup, there could be more of a rock-paper-scissors scenario: Ackbar with Falcon now trumps the Thrawn/HT routine, but wait! A Grievous cap-ship leading seppies turns out to play to the Rebels' weakness. Meanwhile, Hux's cap-ship leading FO has an advantage over Grievous, Holdo's cap-ship and Resistance beats Hux, Thrawn is the antidote to Holdo, etc.