Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II
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Battlefleet Gothic: Armada II is the sequel to Battlefleet Gothic Armada and is the first 40k game to be set during the Gathering Storm, an event in which Geedubs finally decided to advance the storyline of 40k in a mostly positive way (to the shock of everyone).
The game will again be developed by Tindalos Studios and published by Focus Home Interactive, and will be released in early 2019. It looks like a decent game compared to Dawn of War of the Third.
Setting
As mentioned above, the game is set during the Gathering Storm event. To summarize: The armless crybaby known as Abaddon the Despoiler launched his 13th Black Crusade which ended with him rage quitting and dropping a Blackstone Fortress upon the planet of Cadia, destroying the planet (though it broke before the guard did) and it's pylons resulting in a chain reaction of warp-storms that created the Great Rift and divided the galaxy in half. It was also on a Monday which makes it double Heresy.
During this time, Ynnead awakened (thanks to the machinations of a certain Dick) and chose the craftworlder-turned-corsair-turned-wych Yvraine as its emissary. Yvraine saved the survivors from Cadia's destruction and traveled to the Ultramarine's homeworld of Macragge where they woke up Roboute Guilliman from his ten millennia long coma.
With more factions likely being made available after release, existing factions are having their ship rosters expanded tremendously, including the addition of various super-ships like the Phalanx, Macragge's Honour, Vengeful Spirit, and the like. Which is nice since it's easy to see what all these damn vessels and weapons look like in motion instead of using our imaginations or viewing smudged over concept art.
Plot
The game has three campaigns at launch: the Imperium, the Tyranids and the Necrons. The voice acting and plot actually look like more than five minutes were spent on them (sorry glares at Dawn of War III). Which is nice since Nids and Neckrons usually get the short end of the stick when it comes to being shown in space battles. Said battles also look really, really good.
Prologue/Tutorial
It has been confirmed that the Fall of Cadia will be the games Prologue/Tutorial. You get to command the Phalanx, so that's awesome. Also a Navy Captain gets blammed so Naval Commissars may not be as incompetent as we previously thought as evidence shows. You get to see CREED, which is great.
Imperial Campaign
Players will again take control of Admiral Spire from the first game. Spire returns from warp travel, but due to the timey-wimy effects of the Warp, he discovers he has been transported several centuries after the Gothic War. He's now tasked with retaking the ruins of Cadia and safeguarding Imperial worlds from the Forces of Chaos and marauding Xenos. Many "special guest appearances" by current characters such as Rowboat and CREED are expected. Other character include:
Admiral Catallia- Leader of Battlegroup Silver Dawn. She is also one of the dumbest motherfuckers in any sci-fi, giving Admiral Holdo a run for her money. Holdo jeopardized the survival of the entire resistance fleet by keeping them in the dark, but made up for this stupidity by committing a grand act of lore-breaking mary sue-dom. Catallia decided to use her flagship (a Battlecruiser at best) and a bunch of escorts to take on the VENGEFUL FUCKING SPIRIT, insta-killing tens of thousands. At least she recognizes the stupidity of her previous actions unlike Holdo, which means Catallia can be redeemable.
Inquisitor Darkhammer- A living caricature of the Imperial Inquisition. A massive asshole to boot, and can be quite retarded in certain instances too.
Necron Campaign
Players will take control of of a Necron character named "Amarkun the Gatherer", who awakens after several millennia of slumber and is ordered to reawaken the nearby tomb worlds. Amarkun will come into conflict with several factions and eventually come across Trazyn the Infinite.
Tyranid Campaign
Just eat the whole galaxy. By this point you should know the drill.
Gameplay
Aside from some balance changes, gameplay will feel extremely similar to BFGA 1. The new factions will of course be a new experience, as with some new additions gameplay wise. Titan-class ships are playable in campaign and will be available in multiplayer sometime.
Factions and Tactics
So far, the developers have confirmed all the factions from the original are making a comeback, but also Tyranid hive fleets, Necron fleets, dark Eldar, Mechanicum forge fleets and others are coming too. The following subfactions are based on the most famous and powerful elements of the main factions. For example, the AdMech subfactions are based on forge worlds while the Space Marine subfactions are based on the 1st Founding Legions. Gameplay is still a mix of direct and indirect attacks and abilities from your various warships, with proper positioning, upgrading, resource management being key to victory.
The well rounded jack-of-all-trades fleet. They have a nice selection of cruisers and battle cruisers which allow for tons different combos, although they are usually better in brawls, with the Overlord Battle Cruiser and the Tyrant Cruiser having the benefit of the plasma macro-cannon batteries. On the other hand, if you feel like you want a challenge or are finding Ork and SM and Tyranid ships hard to deal with you can go for Gothic and Dictator cruisers and Mars Battlecruisers, as their respective lances and ordinance bays allow you to stay relatively out of danger.
Gothic: Known from the first game for kicking Chaos ass in space and stopping the armless failure we all know and love.
Solar: A proud and storied fleet that is also Terra’s last line of defense.
Armageddon: A fleet in the Armageddon system that’s rather good at Ork killing.
Bakka: A fleet known for the first Tyrannic War and the Battle for Macragge. Admiral Rath of the Dominus Astra is a fine addition to this fleet’s badass history.
Bastion: The biggest permanently stationed fleet after Battlefleet Solar, thanks to their recruitment from multiple sectors. Will definitely need those numbers since they’re tasked with patrolling the newly expanded Eye of Terror.
Koronus: Busy keeping out the worst the Halo Stars have to offer. Operates between Port Wander and Drusus Marches.
Fleets of Chaos
Your typical spiky Space Marines. Ships aren't as tough as their Imperial counterparts but are faster, have longer range, and more powerful lances. Standard tactics basically involve playing keep-away with every single faction. Bombers/carrier spam in general are great for dealing extensive damage, and against dedicated close combat factions such as the Orks and the Eldar refractor fields are life-savers. Ideally you want to hit enemy ships from outside their sensor range, this can be tricky as you will need to get the enemy ships revealed, a work your escorts can do decently.
They also still have their marks from the first game. Nurgle is still a powerful one although not quite as amazing as BGA1's Nurgle mark. Khorne too gives some big buffs to your boarding defenses and a bonus action when using lightning strikes and assaults, also horns, like a lot of them, your ships become quite spiky, as a simple advice it may be a good idea to take some Carnage cruisers as they are the main brawlers of the chaos fleets and upgrade them with Khorne's mark. Slaanesh's mark is very useful now as it increases your speed (6x Slaanesh Slaughter cruisers = Eldar tears) and is powerful against slower fleets like Orks. Tzeentch mark is good for being sneaky with long ranged attacks and for getting spiffy castles on your ships.
Alpha Legion
Lost and the Damned
World Eaters
Emperor’s Children
Thousand Sons - did nothing wrong.
Iron Warriors
Death Guard
Red Corsairs
Night Lords
Word Bearers
Black Legion - do you like killing whole squadrons with one broadside? Love cutscene power to the max? Well,you've got the Vengeful Spirit on your side and she's ready to strut.
Space Marines
Get up close and tear your enemy a new one with massed boarding actions and lightning strikes. SM ships have very strong armor and can take the punishment. Use this technique against the biggest enemy ships first, making the enemy flagships into drifting hulks. Your battle barge and 3 strike cruisers (or fleet made up of strike cruisers only) should be able to deal with whatever is left of the enemy fleet. Beware of scuttling actions by the enemy, as this can fuck up your fleet. Also, make sure your enemy doesn't retake their ships. Your goal as a space marine fleet is to turn the enemy fleet into a bunch of drifting hulks, because that is what your fleet is best at. They also dont need to worry about mutinies.
Also, remember every single one of your ships has Honor the Chapter, which gives you a free short-ranged boarding action that ignores Shields and has a high critical rate. That includes Escorts. Use them. You also have torpedoes with zero spread, which means that at long range they'll do more damage than other torpedo-equipped ships. Their HP is low but their armor makes up for it.
Salamanders: Burner bois and absolute bros.
Ultramarines - you know them, you love to...Well, up to you. Either way, you get a Gloriana class Battleship ready to broadside the shit out of anything nearby. Have fun.
White Scars- Speedy bois
Iron Hands- The flesh is WEAK!
Dark Angels- Definitely not traitors.
Imperial Fists - good news, you get the Phalanx and by Jesus does it wreck shit for Chaos. You can tank ramming a Blackstone Fortress to death and look cooler on the other side. Bad news ; you don't get to use it after. Boo
Blood Angels- Fabulous and furious.
Space Wolves- FURRIES!
Raven Guard- Sneaky bois
Craftworld Aeldari
In campaign, they will have a damaged craftworld whose gimmick is pre-sighted bombardments that enemy ships DO NOT want to be in. Like the first game, they can be your friends or enemies.
Ynnari: Lots of Eldar seem to love this guy. Can't imagine why... (hint: life is a lot more interesting under his lead) This movement however is currently underground thanks to distrust and fear by more traditional Eldar.
Alaitoc: Is always fighting the Necrons. They were the only ones among the Eldar who knew they'd come back (every faction's gotta have ignorance in some fashion it seems).
Biel-Tan: Militaristic and as Xenophobic and arrogant as the Imperium, despite being almost as badly fucked up as Iyanden due to recent events. Highly territorial of Maiden Worlds, willing to RIP AND TEAR any invaders of such worlds. One could wonder how they and the Imperium have so much in common
Lyanden: Used to be populous, but is now full of dead Eldar in Wraithbone constructs. The dead souls have extra huge balls (a trait unusual amongst the rest of their kin) by risking the damnation of their souls to defend their Craftworld.
Saim-Hann: Is willing to follow the Eldar path with "flexibility", and is considered the more wild and dangerous of their fellow Craftworlds. They're very forthright and borderline reckless in war.
Ulthwé: Famous for its Seers and endless war against whatever the Eye of Terror feels like shitting out. Formerly led by one of the biggest dicks of them all: Eldrad Ulthran. Currently looking for the best timeline to strive towards.
Os'Tara: Home! I'll go home. And I'll think of some way to get Ynnead back. After all, tomorrow is another day. Big worshippers of Ynnead. Has strong ties with the Ynnari and Yvraine.
Aeldari Corsairs
Pirates from the first game lead by Eldrathan. They can be your friends or enemies too, although their aid is relatively minimal compared to the effort you as a player have to put in.
Sky Raiders: Notoriously vicious attackers mistaken for Dark Eldar. Are Bro-Tier enough to assist Eldar Craftworlds.
Eldritch Raiders: They follow Prince Yriel. Abandoned Craftworld Iyanden and harassed Imperial shipping for decades, but shrugged off this streak of dickishness to save their former Craftworld from being nommed by Tyranids.
Steeleye Reavers: Originated from Craftworld Ulthwe. Nothing else is known about them.
Sun Blitz: Believed to be aligned with Craftworld Alaitoc by the Ordo Xenos, but are also bitter rivals with other corsair fleets. The cause of such a rivalry is unknown.
Twilight Sword: Love being pirates, and are supposedly honorable in battle (if this doesn’t put them at a disadvantage).
Void Dragon: A big and aggressive pirate fleet that operates across the galaxy. Infamous for being unpredictable and having enough balls to engage significantly stronger foes (unlike their other knife-eared pansy brothers and sisters)
Ynnari: Worshippers of Ynnead because it will supposedly free them from the strict lifestyle the Eldar force themselves to follow after the Fall of the Eldar. Can’t blame them for it either, not many people want to be celibate and boring for the rest of their lives (and Eldar have VERY VERY long lifespans...)
Drukhari Pirate Fleets
Everyone's favorite emo-elves are back as one of the new factions for BGA2. Essentially their fleet can be described as the most glass-cannoney of the glass cannons. They share the same speed and powerful weaponry as their Craftworld cousins, but they have WAAAY better boarding/crew abilities and stealth at the expense of even worse armour and defenses (they don't have holofields or shields). Overall the Elder from BGAI with a dose of even moar micro.
Also, dark matter cannons with no wind-up, huge AOE, slows 50%, and eats through shields. Use it whenever possible to kite. Be extremely cautious around Tau; they can easily ping you, have lots of fighters to deploy, and then spam guided torps on the fighter-marked target. If your stealth gets knocked out you're essentially boned as DElder ships melt under coordinated fire. Don't let yourself get caught or you are done.
Black Heart: Biggest and strongest Cabal in Commoragh. Encourages strife between the smaller Cabals.
Broken Sigil: Loves confusion and anarchy. Terrorizes countless worlds because they can. Seen as predictable by their peers, and hated for it.
Dying Sun: Hates anything non-traditional or steeped in it. Can destroy stars. Its leader is obsessed with the metaphor of despair that destroying light can bring.
Flayed Skull: Closest to rivaling the Black Heart. Its Archon Lord Vraesque attracts the most ambitious pilots and therefore makes their fleet quite skilled.
Iron Thorn: A force to be reckoned with even after Vect's rise to power. Pride themselves on being "True Blood".
Last Hatred: Want to transcend death itself. To do this, they need many experimental subjects, who they get from undefended areas.
The Severed: Completely space-bound after a failed coup. Collect severed hands to pledge allegiance to their Archon, who's also missing a hand.
Ork Clanz
Basically like the orks from the first game. Ram everything, lots of dakka, no accuracy, and shit morale. In campaign, they are obsessed with space whales and you have 2 space hulks to fight against!
Goffs - Do you like hitting things with a massive rubbish pile and walking away just fine? go for these guys. Also... RIP AND TEAR!
Evil Suns - RED MAKES IT GO FASTA
Bad Moons - the 1% of ork kultur. Their teef grow da fastist, and thus have the most teef to spend. This means they have da best dakka and equipmint!
Freebootas (Ork Pirate) - YAR HAR FIDDLE DE DE Being a pirate is alright to be do what you want cause a pirate is free you are a pirate! It's a wonder why more orks don't join these guys.
Blood Axes - Seen as un-orky even by other orks for their long-running history with mankind. This history involves being mercenaries for humanity in exchange for human guns and equipment, which always ends up being turned against the blood axe employers anyway.
Deathskulls - if the ultramarine's were orks (and massive looters)
Necron Fleets
In one of the most particularly hilarious/infuriating twists from Tindalos, the Necrons are NO LONGER SUPER OVERPOWERED NOW! Also, they're the slowest ships in the game by a huge margin and have some of the weakest, slow-firing weapons too. They also don't have shields, which leaves them really open to ordinance skills and critical hits more than any other fleet, with intense fighter management needed to prevent boarding spam. Overall one of the more underpowered factions.
THAT SAID... there are ways to make them work to a degree.
Most Necron abilities are better defensively. Starpulse can knock out fighters, torpedoes, bombers, assault boats, anything small. Stagger it out so that between your ships you always have at least one Starpulse available to wreck their fighters. The dispersed lightning arc has great utility. You need hit only three ships with it for it to be more effective than reload stance. But your ships default to 13500 range, not the 9000 needed to make use of it. Always set your engagement distance. When your lightning arcs are upgraded to drop armor by 25, set your engagement range to the required 4500. Also, the pull ability for lightning arcs can keep opposing ships in range for the armor pen effect. Don't forget Transdimensional Bolt. It has unlimited uses, it has an extremely fast Cooldown, you can aim it to hit the enemies whole fleet if lined up properly, and it does as much damage as a starpulse wave while ignoring armor and shields. Scarab Swarm nets you the largest overall benefit to any of the Necron abilities, with the catch being that it's pretty easy to see coming. The game hands you Mass Recall+Scarab Swarm at the beginning though, so that ones easy. You really want to put out hurt though, warp into the center of an enemy fleet, mass recall, and then scarab swarm.
Don't forget that Necrons actually do not suck at boarding. Even before upgrading it they have pretty decent troop efficiency. They also have two leader upgrades that make it stronger and cause fires, and four upgrades to make it stronger in your tech. Also, avoid asteroid fields like the plague unless you have a leader cutting out their damage.
Necron Dynasties:
Mephrit- A dynasty that woke up to the galactic shitstorm we all know and love. It's phaeron was lost during the great sleep. Because it has access to the best Necron equipment, unity of this dynasty would mean the galaxy has to bite the pillow.
Nepheru- Just like other dynasties, they found primitives living in what was once their turf. This has led to predictable rage and a desire to rip and tear the inhabitants.
Nephrekh- This dynasty has an expansive territory near the galactic core, centered around the ancient crownworld of Aryand. Their worlds are rich in resources and make this dynasty fleet especially dangerous.
Nihilakh- A bunch of isolationists who want to maintain their holdings rather than expand. This is good for the galaxy at large. Their military might isn't weakened by petty wars, but would-be invaders would be all the more unwise to face them.
Novokh- Aggressive and expansionist. Other necrons think this dynasty's actions are unfocused and lack restraint, but this dynasty's blood-red ships don't give a fuck.
Sautekh- This dynasty survived the great sleep the most intact out of all its rivals. This dynasty took advantage of that and expanded its borders while taking over lesser dynasties.
Temeryn- This dynasty woke up to find its domains mostly destroyed by the eye of terror. With much rage, they now have to be the Nepheru's bitch.
Thokt- The vessels of this dynasty are very radioactive since their coreworlds are in the Hyrakii Deeps. This means that this dynasty is seen as the bringers of plagues and sicknesses (though these sicknesses are radioactive).
T'au Protector Fleets
The space communists are back! The protector fleets have extremely long range and the deadly seeker missiles, but are fragile and weak in CQC engagements, like the rest of their race. They are also fucking slow.
Protector Septs:
Sa’cea- A harsh world that produces a predictably determined people. They contributed more colonization fleets to the 2nd sphere expansion than any other Sept World, and became a big contributor in the eyes of the Tau.
Dal'yth- Heavily buttfucked in the Damocles Crusade, whose people have PTSD from the massive buttfucking despite the planet being rebuilt. To the Dal'yth citizens, serving in the protector fleets is a huge duty.
D'yanoi- Its isolation from the Tau Empire set this place back technologically, but its protector fleet was still technologically on par. Knowing their isolation, the Sept fleet spared no expensive in defensive abilities.
Farsight Enclaves- Led by the most popular weeabo space communist who realized the Greater Good was bullshit. As such, they don't have as many resources as the rest of the Tau septs but still have a mighty fleet to protect against humans, orks, tyranids, and other shit.
T'au- The capital of the Tau empire made of harsh deserts and huge spire cities. As such it has the largest fleet for its defense. No human has ever set foot on the planet, and the fleet wants to keep it that way (though this will actually depend on whether Shadowsun and the 5th sphere expansion can do their job, given the Death Guard's current incursions).
T'aun- The Tau's first off-world colony that remains a haven for space-farers even today. This Sept never lacks enthusiastic recruits, and lends vessels to other Septs found lacking in protection.
T'au Merchant Fleets
A sorta new addition, this fleet is more carrier based than anything. Otherwise, it shares the same strengths and weaknesses as the rest of the Tau. Also, this fleet is the definition of spam.
Merchant Septs:
Sa'cea- A merchant fleet less numerous than other Sept worlds but no less active. Their world apparently has hardships so deadly that traveling in the unknown reaches of the void matters little in comparison.
Dal'yth- Is one of the 19 wonders of the Tau Empire, and is a steady trade hub for the Empire (with an equally steady flow of ships to defend it). Is a beacon of Tau superiority since its has the largest amount of aliens trading in its starports than anywhere else.
D'yanoi- Upon renewing contact with the Tau Empire, numerous trade opportunities opened up which lead to this Sept's merchant fleets expanding greatly. Which of course, was for the Greater Good.
Farsight Enclaves- The value of trade for this breakaway Sept cannot be understated given its current circumstances, so its merchant fleets have fearsome weaponry and engage in many one-sided trade deals.
T'au- Is the Tau capital, and is at the heart of Tau trading and commerce. As always, that means its merchant fleets are the strongest.
T'aun- Another hub of trade with a powerful merchant fleet, whose fleet is said to travel further beyond the Tau reaches than any other. If you see a Tau merchant fleet trying to spread the Greater Good, there's a good chance it's them.
Adeptus Mechanicus Fleets
Nova Cannons, Nova Cannons everywhere! New fleet introduced for the sequel. Largely similar to the Imperial Navy except with fewer ship. Use the slowly charging Nova Cannon and win at long range. Not advisable against the Eldar for obvious reasons.
Agripinaa: A world near the Cadian Gate that suffered many raids. Luckily for them, they give as good as they get.
Graia: A mobile forge world capable of warp travel. Its Battlefleet was made to escort this FUCKHUEG spaceship/forge world.
Lucius: Your run of the mill forge world known for supplying shit to many other battle groups. Has an artificial sun in its planetary core, which is why it’s so powerful.
Mars: The home of the AdMech and the forge world we all know and love. As such it’s the greatest and most advanced of all the forge worlds. Has a rich history and dark secrets under the surface.
Metalica: Not so subtly named after the famous metal band, this forge world has no life at all but a shitload of natural resources. Has been able to produce shit for many campaigns, including the one on Armageddon.
Ryza: Many Ork WAAAGHS! seem to have a fetish for this forge world. Is known for its great plasma weaponry and the genesis of the Stormblade tank. The dark days of the 41st Milennium will make this forge world and its stores and abilities especially valuable.
Stygies VIII: A forge world that would’ve fell to Horus if not for the Eldar. The High Lords are worried this new bond will lead to Xeno corruption and HERESY, even though this is a stupid line of logic since that would make the Tallarn Desert Raiders regiment questionable as well.
Tyranid Hive Fleets
Kraken: As typical of any Tyranid Fleet lucky enough to get away, they adapted and learned from their mistakes. This trait (along with many others) almost led them to omnom Craftworld Iyanden.
Leviathan: Out of all the fuckhueg Tyranid Fleets, this one is the most ECKSBAWKS HUEG of them all. Currently one of the galaxy’s biggest threats.
Ouroboris: Origins unknown, and Imperial records suggest sightings of this fleet alongside Chaos incursions (although unconfirmed). Is also rumored to have arrived at the Cadian Gate as early (or earlier) than M36.
Tiamet: One of the earliest “Forgotten Fleets” (fleets suppressed or misanalyzed thanks to the Imperial bureaucracy we all know and love). Is harder to kill than a roach infestation, and survived their original worlds being fusion-bombed.
Hydra: Awakened thanks to the pointy-eared emo faggots. More Om-Nom-Nommy than your average Tyranid Fleet, because they breed like rabbits (relatively speaking in Tyranid terms, anyway.) For some reason, they team-kill and om-nom older Tyranid fleets.
Gorgon: A Hive Fleet so adaptive it made the Tau and Imperium do a temporary alliance (which lasted a predictably short time, I might add).