“The odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field is 3,720 to 1!”

– C-3PO

With the introduction of the new FAQ. A small, but important, change has happened to how obstacle placement works in X-Wing:

Each player chooses three obstacles to use for the entire tournament.

This means you are no longer playing with the six different asteroids, rather, you and your opponent will make a pool of six obstacles from the 12 available.

Classified here into Large, Medium, and Small obstacles.

Since each player brings three obstacles independently, this means there is a chance there will be duplicate obstacles. It also means that there are now a mind blowing 440 different obstacle combinations as opposed to the original 1.

Ultimately though, you can really break it down into a few main archetypes of Big Asteroids, Small Asteroids, Big Debris, Small Debris, Big Mixed, Small Mixed.

If you want obstacles to have the most impact in your game, you’ll look at bringing a Big Asteroids package, bringing the large asteroid and your favorite two mediums.

If you want obstacles to have the least impact in your game, the Small Debris package of the smallest debris and a pair of mediums.

With this new aspect of choice, you can dictate the type of battlefield you want to fight on even more.

Asteroid versus Debris

Most ships don’t have a preference for obstacles, however, certain ships and pilots would rather see one type over the other.

Ships that prefer Debris

Dash Rendar

Dash would rather have debris tokens on the field when facing non-turret enemies. He ignores them while moving and can shoot while still on top of them. You can still get obstructed by them though. Against, turreted enemies, Dash may prefer asteroids as he can protect his donut hole blind spot with asteroids.

Keyan Farlander

With advanced sensors, Keyan can actually pick up an offensive focus token by flying over debris. His large shield count means that the rare crit won’t hurt as much.

Eaden Vrill

Eaden would love the opportunity to trigger his ability more (or force opponents to fly in certain locations).

Control lists

Debris tokens can increase the chance that you can tag a ship with a devastating ion+stress or crippling double stress (or both!)

Ships that prefer Asteroids

Shuttles

Because of the dial, the shuttle needs to make sure it isn’t stressed unexpectedly. Their high health and relative low cost means they can afford the blasting through asteroids and taking the damage rather than flying through debris and taking stress.

Dash Rendar (crew)

A ship carrying Dash in the back seat may take damage, but can still shoot while on asteroids and will never have an obstructed shot. Dash crew allows your ship to fly in unexpected ways.

Obstacle Placement Strategies

As two time champion Paul Heaver has wrote about, obstacle placement is a very important part of X-Wing. It dictates the shape of the battlefield and can actually be used to force your opponents into certain movements.

Obstacle placement falls into 3 archetypes: Loose, Line, and Tight.

Loose Obstacle Placement

By placing your asteroids in the farthest corners of the map, you want asteroids to not be as much of a factor in your game.

This was the preferred formation of full TIE swarms. It allows for maximum freedom of movement for the 7 ship box and allows you to control the center without fear of losing shots or breaking formation. Arc dodgers also like the freedom of movement a loose asteroid placement provides.

Line Obstacle Placement

The horizontal and vertical line makes lanes on the field. A horizontal line makes four lanes to joust in. Usually you set up in different lanes. This means you will have to time when to turn towards your opponent. Turn to early, and you’ll have an asteroid in your path. Turn too late, and your opponent will have free shots on your flank.

A vertical line can force your opponent to take an unusual or undesired path if he sets up on the opposite side but too close to the line.

As you can see above, it is impossible for a formation to perform gentle banks into the line without going over obstacles. Instead, the formation has to pilot either through the horizontal lanes or come all the way around. Hard turns are rougher on formations as the transposing of the squad can result in mismatched pilot activation orders.

The clear lanes also act as bait for you to set your traps around. Your opponent only has so many clear places to fly out of and you can have your force block the lane and/or point all your ships at the exit.

This formation is a way to get obstacles largely out of the game but can punish an opponent if he is disadvantaged in a joust and tries to set up as far from you as possible.

The vertical line is most useful when you can out joust your opponent.

Tight Obstacle Formation

I call it the “death triangle” formation. The tight asteroid formation in the middle practically ensures that obstacles will make a huge impact on your game.

This formation is favorable to big turrets because it is fairly difficult to navigate a death triangle, let alone get a firing arc on a target. Turrets should try to fight in and around death triangles to kite other ships through.

There are no clear lanes through a triangle of asteroids so flying through it takes a bit of planning.

If you don’t have post maneuver movement options, navigating a death triangle requires you to land just short of the middle. Too far, and you won’t have a lot of options to get out without hitting an obstacle. If you overshoot, it might be best to just power through the asteroid with a K-Turn as you won’t have an action anyway.

Even if you have post maneuver movement, you still have to be careful not to land to far from the middle. As shown above, both of your barrel rolls are blocked and you will have to hard turn out of there the next turn.

Soontir Fel (or ships with boost and barrel roll) can have an easier time navigating a death triangle. Land too far back, and you can boost to a cleaner position. Land too far in, and you can barrel roll.

Obstacle Tips and Tricks

Using them as a measurement tool

Never fear the K-Turn towards the edge again! Knowing that the closest an asteroid can be is range 2 and knowing that a range band is 2.5 base lengths long, you can always compare your k-turn distance against an asteroid. Except for the 5 K-Turn, you will be able to make your turn safely if you are on the inside of an asteroid line.

Intentional Crashes

While avoiding obstacles is preferred, sometimes flying through them is the better option. If it provides an advantageous position, blocks the opponent onto an obstacle, or other dramatic effect, it may be worth the loss of an action and the potential damage. This can surprise your opponent enough to turn the tide. Performing red maneuvers through asteroids are sometimes a great option. Never perform a red maneuver through debris as you will end up with a crippling double stress.

As confirmed by the FAQ, the illicit upgrade feedback array can be used while on an asteroid. This means you get to keep the danger of the feedback array active while flying where other ships can’t attack.

If you have a ship with 1 hull left and dead man’s switch, you may fly your ship through an asteroid intentionally. He was going to be destroyed anyway, might as well do it on your terms.

Hopefully this article will give you some insight on how important obstacle placement is and a starting point for deciding which three obstacles you are going to bring with your builds.

What obstacle strategies have you come up with or discovered?