Hello again all!!

After some further consideration, I actually decided to turn this into a four-part series. In my first entry, we talked about real-world problems relating to X-Wing. Today, we’re going to talk about some “Rookie” mistakes made on the game board, and how to avoid them. The next two entries will be about List Building, and how best to further improve your gameplay. For now, let’s talk about gameplay mistakes!

Common Gameplay Errors

Moving too quickly

Everyone is guilty of this at some point in their X-Wing career. I’m not talking about dialing in fast maneuvers that get you into trouble, I’m talking about not fully thinking everything through and paying the price for it. The most common instance of this problem is completing a ship’s maneuver, and then moving on to the next, while forgetting to take that ship’s action. The other mistakes made here are making decisions on movement or actions too quickly, without thinking through what the rest of your ships are doing (or where your opponent might go), and putting yourself in a horrible position. There are two steps to fixing this issue:

Keep track of EVERY step. This might feel a little tedious at first, but it’s a great way to train yourself not to forget actions. If it helps, make yourself a little checklist, mental or physical, for a few games, and run through it every turn to make sure you don’t forget anything. Take time to consider each decision. I’m not saying take a minute on each movement dial, just think before you put the dial back down, or decide what action you’re taking. If you need to, take a breath in and out, and then look at your choice again. Does it still make sense? If not, you probably made a hasty decision. Always remember that each ship isn’t just functioning on it’s own too; an easy mistake is to forget what maneuvers your other ships are making and end up playing bumper cars with your own squadron.

Running away isn’t always a bad choice

Often we tend to think of running away as giving up, but “advancing to the rear”, as some might call it, can be a much better move than trying to hang in a firefight that isn’t looking well. Position is incredibly key in X-Wing, and getting the heck out of dodge gives you a chance to re-enter the fight in a better position. Don’t be afraid to get your guys out if things get hairy. If you’ve got a ship on it’s last legs, get it out while your other guys stay in the fight. Your opponent will either chase the guy (opening up an opportunity for you to go after him with your other ships), or ignore him (allowing him to swing back in to contribute attack dice once again). There’s no reason to stick in a fight you’re not winning – Get out and come back!

Splitting Fire

Splitting fire is almost never a good idea. Why, you ask? Actions. A ship with an evade or focus token can only use that token once. Further attacks against it will have much higher chances of doing damage, whereas if you split fire among several ships that have tokens available, each one gets that nice extra defense boost. Furthermore, getting rid of attack dice that could be thrown at you is always better than hoping to kill multiple ships a few turns down the road. Why keep taking 10 attack dice rolled against you for a few turns when you could take 8 next turn, 6 the next, etc etc…

There are two subissues here. The first is positioning. VERY RARELY will all your ships have a shot on the one you want to take out, and you’re forced to split fire. Always be sure to focus as much fire as you can on any targets you shoot at, even if you have to split your squad’s fire up due to placement. The second issue is a little trickier, and that’s choosing the right target to focus down. This is an incredibly easy mistake to make (I still wrestle with this one), and even after you’ve made the choice and dice were rolled, there’s always room for debate on all sides of these choices. So to help out, here’s a short threat priority list of my own. You shouldn’t use this as a bible for how to pick targets (it’s not meant to be), but you can use it as a set of guidelines to help you make your target selection decisions!

Ships with One or Two Hits Left. Quickly eliminating an almost-dead target can ease the number of attacks you’re receiving. Non-Tanky Buffing Ships. Examples could include a vanilla Howlrunner or Etahn A’Baht, or any HWK pilot. Ships With no Defense Tokens on them/Ships at Range 1. These can also take first priority depending on the situation, and where things get a little fuzzy. Be careful about not putting these first, but be aware that Buffing ships can make your day miserable if left alive. Powerful Named Pilots. Think big threats like Corran Horn, Keyan Farlander, Whisper, Echo, Soontir Fel. Grunts. Run-of-the-mill pilots, like Rookie Pilot, Academy Pilot, Bandit Squadron Pilot, etc., are problematic when left alone. This is also a great catch-all category for anything not otherwise mentioned here. Tanky Buffing Ships. Think Howlrunner with Stealth Device, or Etahn A’Baht with Sensor Jammer. As much as these guys will make everything more difficult, it’ll be easier to kill their minions than it will be to kill them, and without minions these kinds of ships lose their teeth. Tanky Ships. There are, of course, exceptions, but be careful of taking on Tanky ships without enough firepower. If you think you can destroy or severely damage them, these suddenly go up massively in priority. Tanky ships are also excellent candidates for your ships that can’t contribute to the main focus, if they tank via health and shields. The best ways to go after these targets are to either whittle them down until they’re manageable as a focus fire target, or bring everything you have to bear on them and hope for the best.

Keep in mind, these are just guidelines based on my own personal opinion, and what matters the most is your own assessment of the situation!

Bumping and Crashing

When you’re still new to the game, flying several ships around other ships and a bunch of asteroids takes a lot of blind guessing. It’s easy to guess wrong and lose actions via bumping into other ships (yes, especially your own!), or flying over or on top of asteroids. The best ways to improve your flying are to educate yourself as to the shape of each move, and to then Practice, Practice, PRACTICE.

This Forum post on the FFG website helped me learn the shape of each maneuver and how to fly better. It’s an excellent guide and I highly recommend it to any new players, especially anyone looking to improve their flight skills!

Next Time…

One of the most intimidating parts of X-Wing can be building your squadron list. Next time around, I’ll talk about things to avoid when making your squadrons, and how to get the most out of your ships. I’ll see you all in the next post!