It will include, at launch, all 12 factions from the original tabletop game and its expansion Armada it is based on: the Imperial Navy, Space Marines, Adeptus Mechanicus, Necrons, Chaos, Aeldari Corsairs, Aeldari Craftworld, Drukhari, the T’au Merchant and Protector Fleets, Orks, and finally, the Tyranids.

The latest dramatic story development in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, the Gathering Storm and the 13th Black Crusade, will serve as the canvas for several, extensive and dynamic campaigns.

With bigger battles, refined gameplay, improved multiplayer modes and features for a better and more balanced online experience, improvements across the board and even more customisation options for fleets and ships, Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 promises to be the ultimate Warhammer 40,000 space battle experience.

Over the past week, the first major update for the game was announced and released. This includes the usual balance and bug fixes alongside a brand new gamemode - Battlegroups. These battles allow for larger fleets in 2v2, making it a chaotic and powerful game mode of titanic proportions.

This is on top of longer-term plans announced that include the creation of an entire new grand campaign for the game, to be revealed at a later date. There will also be another new game mode that allows for humongous battles with incredible, legendary ships. In addition, competitive seasons, tournaments, and a new boarding system are on the way.

As we mentioned earlier, we are always listening to your feedback, and one thing we noticed was that not everyone are entirely happy with the current state of boarding. As a result, we are hard at work on a new and improved boarding system. While we can’t go into every detail, the new system will have a stacking mechanic whereby troop damage is dealt gradually over time depending on the number of “boarding stacks”. This will allow players a chance to hold back the invaders using a reimagined Call to Arms ability. We look forward to revealing more details about this in the near future.

We’ll also continue to polish the co-op mode in order to release it fully as soon as possible. This major update will be followed by the development of new ships and continuous work on balancing.

Then the focus will be on major new features. This includes a massive new game mode giving you access to skirmishes with truly humongous fleets and legendary ships (the Phalanx, Macragge's Honour, and other ships you see during the campaign). Thanks to the incredible support the game has received so far, Focus Home Interactive and Tindalos Interactive have also begun work on a new, full grand campaign. That’s all we can say for now, but we will announce specifics closer to release later this year.

“Battlegroup 2v2” Beta mode

We’ve heard players express that the scale of 2v2 battles doesn’t feel epic enough, and we agree. Therefore, we are introducing the new Battlegroup 2v2 mode which allows each player to use 1000 fleet points when preparing their fleets, resulting in bigger, even more frenetic battles! Please keep in mind that this will be in a Beta state and will not be available for ranked play. As always, we appreciate any feedback you can give us on this mode!

Campaign End Game and Massive Engagements

A similar request we heard was for bigger battles in the campaign, particularly towards the end game. As you can see below, we have increased the fleet points for the higher renown ranks significantly (1650 fleet points max now, instead of 1350). May your fleets blot out the sun!

Player Renown Rank
11 - 1350 -> 1350
12 - 1350 -> 1425
13 - 1350 -> 1500
14 - 1350 -> 1575
15 - 1350 -> 1650
16 - 1350 -> 1650

Balancing

We have plans to introduce competitive seasons and rewards in Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2. As we’re working on that and hope for a big reveal soon, we’re perfectly aware of how crucial the balancing is in a multiplayer game with competitive seasons. We’ve always planned to closely monitor the balancing of Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 and to regularly update the game depending on community feedback and data.

As you can see, we’re making good progress. And we’re pretty confident this patch will balance things even more. Main issue right now is that Aeldari factions, especially Drukhari and Asuryani, seem to overperform in higher rank. We therefore want to reduce the tools at their disposal to boost their range in order to give the opponent more opportunity to catch them.

Tyranids have received a slight buff in this update but they will have our full attention with the next patch to make them more competitive in higher ranks.

Imperial Navy and Adeptus Mechanicus fleets have pretty good results in almost every league but seem to suffer a bit in the last two. We’re currently working on some ideas to help them there. Necrons have very good results but still get a nice buff regarding their special maneuver because their performance drops significantly in legend rank.

Orks perform very well currently but we prefer to wait before making any changes because their win rate appears to slowly drop as the meta goes on. Current meta seems to focus on bringing a lot of light cruisers in battles and bigger ships are mostly left behind. Now, crit resistance increases as tonnage grows. We aren’t entirely sure it will be enough but it’s a clear first step in favor of bigger ships.

Keep in mind that we monitor more than the win rates with data about match-ups, as well as split by leagues. We'll make good use of them to do regular balance tweaks until we're happy on that front.

Battlefleet Gothic: Armada 2 is currently available on PC (Steam).