Oh, What a Lovely War(ship)!: Ranking the Star Wars Armada Ships by Personal Enjoyment

Well we've got another cleverly titled post on this totally not forgotten blog (and if you don't get the reference, culture yourself). With user @bigspender42002 on Crabbok's Discord server asking if there is a "ship ranking system" about what is and isn't good, I was inspired to make this list. But because of the fact that almost every single ship and ship variant has some competitive viability, I decided it would be more fun to rank the ships by chassis (not variant, as that would more than double my number of things to rank, which, ugh) based on how much fun that I personally have flying them in this game. I should also note that even if I love using a ship in my lists does not necessarily mean that I think it's a "fun" ship per se. (Bonus points if you can tell what my favorite faction is). 

Also, this was started before the Rapid Reinforcements I came out, and I'm not gonna stop to add a review for ships but in a different faction. Maybe one day, but it is not this day. 

DISCLAIMER

This is all my personal opinion on what is the most fun to fly, not what is most effective. Also, the tiers are not ordered by favorite to least favorite, it's just alphabetical. You can disagree with me, and feel free to! I love hearing other people's opinions about this game. 

S Tier:

Imperial Star Destroyer: The iconic angry space triangle, the ISD has four different variants (two of which are great, and two of which are currently in less-than-stellar positions). It was, until the Starhawk showed up, the beefiest large ship in the game, with great hull, shields, defense tokens, and a powerful front arc that can wipe small ships and beat down larger ones. It's the lynchpin of the Imperial Navy and is an absolute blast to fly. ISD-2s hammering out fire as medium range artillery pieces and Kuat Refits charging into the fray to, as GiledPallaeon has so eloquently said, "roll up and tell you to stop breathing" never gets old.

MC30 Frigate: In a different vein from the ISD, the MC30 is a mean lean killing machine that can either hunt ships of its own size or help the rest of the fleet punching upwards. It's fast, it's pretty tough thanks to the redundant defense tokens and excellent titles, and throws pretty dang good dice for its points, especially when you add in things like External Racks or Ackbar. And because it's (relatively) cheap, you can easily run 2-3 of them in a list. 

Recusant Destroyer: (insert "Best of Both Worlds" by Hannah Montana) Really, this ship takes good parts of both the ISD and MC30 chassis and blends them together in an excellent, weird package. Same shields as an MC30, eight hull, wild arcs (and I do mean wild) with good dice, better than an ISD-2 at long range. It's fast and has insane maneuverability, letting it get pretty much everywhere it wants to go, and one of the best titles in the game lets it pummel at long range, where it's most effective. Defense tokens are alright, evade is a little weird and the salvo is kinda weak, but this glass cannon is just an absolute blast to fly. Just don't let it get shot too much. 

A Tier:

Acclamator Assault Ship: The Acclamator dares to ask the question, "What if we took the Victory-class Star Destroyer and made it good?". And it answers that question with a great medium base ship. Solid hull and shields with a present salvo, the Acclamator can fill the role of mediumweight battleship or combat carrier, and it does so excellently. Sure it steers like a fat cow, but it can get to speed 3 to escape or force engagement, which is a big point over the older VSD. 

Arquitens Light Cruiser: Arqs are nice little broadsiders that skirt the edge of a battlefield, throwing red dice for cheap. Sure, they don't have the best maneuverability in the game, but their nav chart helps them do their job. Double redirects and an evade, plus decent shields for a small ship, help it stick around more than a corvette might.

Consular Cruiser: The new kid on the corvette block, the Consular is like a CR90 or Raider but to the side. I'm especially partial to the red dice Charger, as the double red double arc at long range is so much fun. Republic commanders like Kenobi or Luminara add a great level of survivability to these ships, and they can fill quite a few roles, especially with the Radiant VII title. It's just such a solid little ship to flesh out the ranks of  GAR fleet, even if it loses an evade for a contain when compared to its cousin, the CR90. 

CR90 Corvette: This little menace has been terrorizing the Imperial Navy since the game first released, and for good reason. You can take this corvette, slap a single upgrade on it (TRCs for the A, a blue crit or SW7s for the B) and go to town. Solid title choices, incredible maneuverability and speed, and overall being cheap means that you can find the room for one of these in almost every Rebel list you'll see. It's just a fun little ship that can help trade upwards for its points, and just watching it zip around the battlefield is something that never gets old. 

Interdictor Cruiser: Interdictors are interesting ships. The ship's stats are pretty good, being the tankiest medium ship in the game thanks to 9 hull, good shields, and a whopping 5 engineering, but the offensive power leaves something to be desired if you're not double-arcing your opponent. But that's not why this ship is interesting to me. The double experimental retrofits on the Interdictor Support Refit (we don't talk about the Combat Refit, that ship is... bad) allow for manipulation of the state of the game and the game board itself like no other ship in the game, which makes it excellent for objective play (which I really enjoy). 

Munificent Frigate: Do you like red dice? Do you like double arcing? If so, then ask your doctor local game store about the Munificent-class Frigate. Seriously, this is the easiest ship in the game to double arc with, it has good, long range dice pools that you can easily put on target, and it's pretty dang cheap for what it brings to the table. You can kit it out as a support ship, artillery piece, carrier, flagship, or some combination thereof, and best of all you don't need to put many upgrades on it for it to do its job. 

Providence Dreadnought: The nastiest close range, double arc monstrosity the Separatists have, and one of the best overall in the game for that role, the Providence is a great flagship that can brawl for a round or two before dipping out and running (usually after it kills its target). Better shields than an ISD, though lower hull and swapping a redirect for a salvo, the Providence is the premier flagship for the CIS faction. Sure, the maneuverability at speed 3 isn't great, but it's an option which is enough to either quickly engage or flee. 

Venator Star Destroyer: The centerpiece of a Republic fleet, the Venator is not like an Imperial Star Destroyer. The stats may seem superficially similar, but overall the Venator is not as survivable or powerful as an ISD, though it can synergize with your other Republic ships and command your squadrons incredibly well. I have a ton of fun using a Venator-II as a combat carrier, pushing 5-6 squads a round without issue and emphasizing the typical Republic playstyle. 

B Tier:

Assault Frigate Mark II: The Assault Frigate has been in the game since Wave 1, and ever since it has remained a jack-of-all-trades for the Rebels, and still is one of the most dependable platforms for the faction. Whether you run it under Ackbar, Agate, or some other Rebel commander (I'm sure they exist), this ship will consistently be able to serve as a lynchpin for a variety of Rebel fleets in a variety of roles. 

Gladiator Star Destroyer: Let's be real, this isn't a Gladiator-class Star Destroyer, when you bring this you're stapling the Demolisher card to it and making it one of the most fearsome close range ships in the game. Even though black dice took a hit with 1.5, Demo is still a threat to be reckoned with and can still punch well above its weight class in conjunction with other ships. 

Hardcell Transports: Nothing flashy to see here, just the lowly Hardcell. The Transport version is a "combat flotilla", with a Fleet Support slot, decent dice, and powerful defense tokens, and the Battle Refit answers the question of "what if the Nebulon got a buff?" Overall a very fun ship, even if it isn't very cheap in a faction where price matters.

MC80 Cruiser (Home One): The biggest ship that I would ever run in an Ackbar list, the HMC80 is a massively tanky broadsider that can command squads, tango with Star Destroyers at range, and pick off smaller ships. I haven't really been enjoying this since the release of Wave 8 and the strengthening of the Assault Frigate with the Evade buff, but it's still a pretty good ship for the most part. 

Nebulon-B Frigate: Nebulons can be fun, but they aren't in a super great spot at the moment. The only builds for them I really see are Salvation/Intel Officer or a Yavaris, but with the nerfs to the latter and the relative difficulty of using the other for its cost, it still remains something that I don't typically use, even if I have good fun with them.  

Pelta Frigate (Republic): The Republic Pelta is, to me, the perfect encapsulation of the faction. It doesn't do anything flashy or engage in anything that seems as powerful as the traditional factions, but it's incredibly efficient for its points. You can run it with minimal upgrades for a number of jobs in your fleet, and it does that job well, as well as being harder than you'd think to put down. This is a ship that may not excite those who haven't tried them, but I think they are an important part of many Republic lists, even if they may not be particularly "fun" to fly for some people. 

Quasar-Fire Cruiser-Carrier: The Quasar is, point-for-point, the most efficient carrier in the Empire, and one of the best carriers in the game overall. It's very fragile though, with the shields and dice of a corvette, and only two defense tokens. It's not unfun, but it only really does the one thing, so for that reason it's in B tier for my personal enjoyment. 

Raider Corvette: The smaller, faster, more fragile cousin of the Gladiator, the Raider has been described as a ballerina with a shotgun. It can dance in and out of combat, dealing close ranged strikes, but if it gets caught it pops like few other things. The 1.5 Evade buff helped them out a lot, and they still fill a good function as flankers and finishers, but I don't have as much fun with them as other ships. 

C Tier:

Gozanti Cruisers: I mean, it's a flotilla. It sits there, passes tokens, activates squads, and generally just does minor suuport work. It's okay. 

GR75 Transports: Same deal with the Gozers, but you lose dice. Gains a little extra value because Rebels have Toryn Farr or Ahsoka Tano for a great little flotilla officer.

Hammerhead Corvette: A fun little ship to run either as a one-off Garel's Honor or a trio of Task Force ships, Hammerheads are okay, but don't really play in a style I enjoy. 

Modified Pelta (Rebel): Decent command ship with support and carrier capabilities, the Rebel Pelta is good at what it does and not much else. It's a good ship, don't get me wrong, but doesn't excite me in any particular way. 

Starhawk Battleship: It's big, it's tanky, it's slow, and it takes up a lot of your list. I don't find the Starhawk to be a particularly fun ship. With Agate as your commander it's very tanky (even moreso with a title), without her it's a lot of hull and shields but not great. It's just a very boring ship to engage with, as most times you fight one you just try to take the 6-5 and not skew it any harder. Just kinda boring. 

Super Star Destroyer: Similar to the Starhawk, the SSD is a big meaty mass of dice, shields, and hull, except that it's easier to shoot and kill than the Hawk. For almost two-thirds the cost you can field an ISD which will do most of the same things while costing less. Yeah it's fun to plop this monster of a model on the table, but it's kinda middling as far as my personal enjoyment goes, even when I table it. 

D Tier:

MC75 Cruiser: Again I will restate that I am not calling any of these ships bad, this is just based on how much I enjoy them. While the MC75 is a nice close range brawler, the only time I've actually enjoyed using it is in a Raddus bomb, which is pretty low on my personal enjoyment. It feels similar to a Providence, which is weird because I love the Prov, but for some reason the MC75 just doesn't click for me. 

MC80 Cruiser (Liberty): Oh Liberty, how you haunt me. When flown well the Liberty is an excellent hunter of smaller ships, when flown poorly it gets murdered. And for a ship that easily hits the 110s in cost, that level of swing isn't something I'm comfortable with. But hey, maybe I just need more practice. 

Victory Star Destroyer: You know how I said that just because I rank something low doesn't mean it's a bad ship? The Victory is a bad ship. It's too slow, too expensive, to fragile if your opponent lands even a single accuracy, and the dice aren't worth it unless you can get into close range (which is hard to do if you're slow). Sure the ship can take Tua/ECM to improve durability, and Harrow/Engine Techs to speed up, but at that point just take an ISD. It's just rough to fly, and I say this as someone who proudly flew a VSD in a Rebellion in the Rim campaign. It's a rough time, and I wish it wasn't so (points adjustment when AMG?). 

F Tier:

Onager: If I was ranking ships by how effective/powerful they are in the game, the Onager (specifically the Testbed) would easily be in S tier, and for the same reasons it's currently rotting down here in F tier. Slapping an enemy with a ridiculous amount of damage at the top of turn one, or whenever you place your ignition token (which, if you're bringing Cataclysm Testbed with red beam then it's turn one). Don't get me wrong, I think the Blue Beam OSD is fun (probably B tier), but the entire chassis is just tainted by the existence of the Red Beam Testbed sniping ships on turn one, and for that reason I have to put the ship down here.