I was looking for someone to point me to, or explain the exact mechanics of what happens when I collide. I know I have to move backwards along the flight path, but then there is something about lining up the front or the back, etc. What are the exact rules on how to correctly retract movement after a collision? It's going to be important for my vassal play.

Thanks again. I'm sure this question has been asked to death.

Sunny

You follow the path of the maneuver template backward until you're no longer overlapping, but are still in contact with the other ships base.

Normally when you make a maneuver you just pick up the ship and put it down on the other end. In this case you move the ship backwards with the maneuver template between the nubs, and turn the ship to keep it centered.

I remember being at a tournament and hearing them say something like "first you line up the front, and then the backs" or something along those lines. Is that a thing?

Just this bit afaik:

From the opposite end of the template, move the active ship backward along the top of the template until it no longer overlaps another ship.

While moving the ship, adjust it so that the template remains centered between both sets of guides on the ship’s base. Place the ship so that

the bases of both ships are touching.

It is a very common error though for people to not get the rear nubs correctly lined up. They are doing it wrong, but it is quite common so that may be where what you heard us coming from, people trying to fix such mistakes.

Of course the issue here, is on Vassal there are no nubs to start with.

The whole point is you're trying to keep the ship centered as much as possible on the template, that way when you slide it backwards it end up at the correct spot and pointing in the correct direction for when it would of 'run into' that ship.

You may also be hampered by the size of the template. For example, when backing up from a collision during a 1-turn, it's often difficult to line up even the front nubs, and almost impossible to correctly line up the rear nubs. This can happen with almost all the bank and turn maneuvers. In a physical game you do the best you can and if both players agree then move on. In vassal (unless it has changed since I last played) you are further hampered by only being able to rotate a certain increment, 15 degrees if I recall. Again, do the best you can, agree, and move on.