Not sure if this is the best place or not for these questions but if not, if you let me know where i should be posting them that would be appreciated. Had my first game of vassal which brought up a few questions.

- Navigating the map seems very clunky so not sure if im just missing some shortcuts or something. I've found i can kind of pan to the extents of the map using right click but not outside the map where the templates etc are. Is there no easy way to pan/zoom

- If i draw a selection box in the map i cant actually see it though it does exist. Is this a graphical issue on my end?

- Cards etc. Am i meant to somehow be putting in the details of the ships or is that just on the ships themselves?

- When taking damage/loss of shields i assume you actually lower the settings on the ship itself?

- Is it just personal preference whether you use the markers such as focus etc or whether you use the selection where you get the little box next to the ship counter?

- I noticed that you can actually change movement dials even while the turn is ongoing. Is this just down to a trust thing that the other guy wont cheat since they dont seem to lock? Wasnt any problem for us, knowing each other but just wondering about playing random people.

- In terms of getting games, is it just a case of hanging out in the main lobby and asking around i assume?

Thanks for your time.

Navigating: The best is to use 'right click' to center the map on the area of interest. I usually select 'fit height' under the zoom settings. Then, if I need to zoom in, I right-click on the part I want to see and click the zoom in button. There is also a little button at the top with a yellow box that will pull up a mini window in the upper left hand corner of the map that shows the battlefield at a glance. It's sometimes helpful. Try it out.

Seclection box: nope, it's not a problem with your machine. That's just the way it is. You can't tell which pieces are highlighted very easily, if at all.

Cards/ships: You don't have to do anything with the ship cards. They are blanked out for licensing. You just put all the stats on the ship itself. I like to keep track of damage (and changes in agility via Stealth, etc.) on the ship itself, but I also deal the damage cards into my hand, so it's kept track of in both places.

Tokens or tabs: Yes, it's personal preference. I have never seen anybody use the tokens since the original release except for Tycho's stress tokens and Kyle's Focus tokens.

Changing dials: You should put your dial on the playing field when you are set for the Activation Phase. If you try to change your dial while it's in play, there will be a warning that "so-and-so has performed an illegal action!" or something to that effect in the text box. You'll know if your opponent is cheating.

Getting games: you could hang out in the lobby, yes. Sometimes I've scheduled games here on the forums. You could try to PM people that you know are on Vassal and schedule a game a couple of days in advance. Team Covenant has a great X-wing community that is well-versed in Vassal (once you're on the page click the header that says "X-wing" and it will filter all blog posts for just X-wing).

Hope that helps!

Thanks for the answers. Someone else had actually suggested team covenant as the place to go so ended up posting there as well.