An undertaking, regarding Math Wing

By DraconPyrothayan, in X-Wing

Are you sick and tired of not being able to factor Mobility into your calculations?

Do you wish the ability to include Tactical Fluidity into your core strategy?

Are you fascinated by properly collated data?

Well, this is an announcement, just for you!

I have taken it upon myself to perform a survey of the maneuvers each ship can do, weighed against how available that option is.
I will then immediately use that data on our newly spoiled Z-95 and Defender dials, and see where they stack up in the meat of things.

I don't know about y'all, but I'm surely looking forward to having a full ranking of Ships by Mobility :D

If you're having issues with collation, I'd recommend some more fiber in your diet.

If you're having issues with collation, I'd recommend some more fiber in your diet.

If you're rife with devastation, there's a simple explanation.

You're a toymaker's creation trapped inside a crystal ball.

I think you've arrived at panic station.

I think you've arrived at panic station.

Or just procrastination.

But seriously folks, I'm working on it!

Alrighty, folks, First off I'm gonna throw the ideals and numbers that I'll be using to justify my weighting processes in this post.

For accuracy's sake, I'll re-run the calculations several times with different weight systems, so long as they follow the guidelines I throw down here.

For the purposes of all weights, I'll ignore distinctions of Left/Right, and will only add them in when an asymetrical dial is introduced.

All data is pulled from dials of Wave 3 and prior.

First: Individual maneuver veracity.

The most important distinction in a maneuver is whether it is possible to execute it.
Therefore, the difference between not having the maneuver in question at all, and having the maneuver simply being Red, shall be a larger gulf than any distance between colors. Similarly, as you cannont perform a red maneuver while stressed, the gulf between a Red and a White maneuver shall be larger than between a White and a Green.

An example of one of these color-based weights is awarding 0 points for not having a specific maneuver, 4 points if its Red, 6 points if its White, and 7 if its Green. This would be modified by the weights of bearing.

Second: The Rarity of the Bearing.

Being unable to perform a maneuver of a specific distance is a far cry less damaging than being unable to perform a maneuver of that Bearing (i.e. Stop, Turn, Bank, Forward, or Koiogran). As such, the more rarely a bearing appears overall, the more I ought to weigh it.

The Bearings, in order of the rarity you find them when counting all of the dials, are Stops[1], Koiograns[15], Turns[24], Banks[33], and Forwards[46]. Recall that I do not count directions separately: a 2 Left Turn IS a 2 Right Turn for my purposes.
Of these bearings, the color ratios are (r/w/g) 1/0/0, 15/0/0, 4/18/2, 3/19/11, and 3/15/28, respectively.

I am currently figuring out how to weight this data.

Third: The Average ship composition.

I have constructed a "Theoretical Mean" ship that most closely approximates the Bearing ratios and R/W/G ratios of the averages of the dials for use as a Control.

The average ship's dial has no Stops, 1-2 Koiograns (a Tie, though average Rebels have 1 and average Imperials have 2), 2 turns, 3 banks, and 4 forwards. Moreover, the 1 forward is twice as common as the 5 forward, and the 3 turn is twice as common as the 1 turn. Of the Koiograns, the 4 is most common (with 6 ships having one), followed by the 3 (with 5, which is still more than the 2 and the 5 combined).

In keeping with the average coloration of these maneuvers, we have a dial with
4 Red Koiogran and 4 White Forward, a 3 White Turn, 3 White Bank, 3 Green Forward, 2 White Turn, 2 White Bank, 2 Green Forward, 1 Green Bank, 1 Green Forward dial is the mean, possibly adding a 3 Red Koiogran if its Imperial.

The savvy amongst you may note that is an X-Wing dial on the nose. The imperial variant is that of a Firespray-31.

Fourth: The Better/Worse individual comparisons

As a check to make sure that my weights are correctly aligned, I will be taking the individual maneuvers of the individual dials, and comparing them, one maneuver at a time. Don't worry, this will be a single table. This data is what the weights will be attached to.

Edited by DraconPyrothayan

Forth: The Better/Worse individual comparisons

I sense a disturbance in the math-to-grammer skills. ;)

Forth: The Better/Worse individual comparisons

I sense a disturbance in the math-to-grammer skills. ;)

Fixed.

Also, I can only believe I did that because it's 2 in the morning from where I'm posting this. Math while awake, and Type while I sleep, y'know?

Forth: The Better/Worse individual comparisons

I sense a disturbance in the math-to-grammer skills. ;)

Fixed.

Also, I can only believe I did that because it's 2 in the morning from where I'm posting this. Math while awake, and Type while I sleep, y'know?

:D

I wonder what your results will say about the z-95 dial, as it's got the the 3k turn and the 2 banks are green - nearly an x wing dial. Will it come out as "better" or "worse". I know where I stand and why, but I'll omit hat for now as to not introduce any bias. =)

Edited by Ravncat

I wonder what your results will say about the z-95 dial, as it's got the the 3k turn and the 2 banks are green - nearly an x wing dial. Will it come out as "better" or "worse". I know where I stand and why, but I'll omit hat for now as to not introduce any bias. =)

I cannot yet speak for whether a 3 Koiogran is better or worse than a 4, even though it's slightly more rare (as in, there are 6 pilots with a 4 Koiogran, and 5 with a 3, though all of those 5 have 2nd koiogran options. However, I think we can all agree that having green banks instead of white banks is a (slight) upgrade.

Edited by DraconPyrothayan

Well, the on sped banks go from green to white, so you have also a (slight) downgrade too, other than the turn, it's got all the same maneuvers as the xwing... Are you looking at mean color per maneuver sod? Your breakdown shows number of banks that are green white and red, but, are you looking at each speed?

That's why I'm curious about the z-95

Well, the on sped banks go from green to white, so you have also a (slight) downgrade too, other than the turn, it's got all the same maneuvers as the xwing... Are you looking at mean color per maneuver sod? Your breakdown shows number of banks that are green white and red, but, are you looking at each speed?

That's why I'm curious about the z-95

Yes, I am looking at each speed.

The Z-95's 1 White Banks are a rather severe rarity: only 2 ships in waves 1-3 have 1 White Banks (Y-Wing and Tie Bomber).

The Z-95's 3 Koiogran is thus far unique: Each of the 5 ships with one have a 2nd Koiogran option (a 4 in the case of the YT-1300, the Tie Fighter, and the Firespray, and a 5 in the case of the A-Wing and the Interceptor).

Any thoughts on the white K-turn?

He's not doing wave 4 dials. But it's probably double the cost of any other K-turn. Maybe more.

I like what you're doing. I question if you should cost the green 2 straight as every ship in the game has it. It seems a given. Same goes for White 2 Banks, only costing them when green. And a white 3 forward. They seem to be what dials center on, and everything else is added.

Any thoughts on the white K-turn?

The 4 Koiogran is the most common in the game: a full half of the ships in the game have one.

However, being the only ship in the game with a non-stressful version of an entire Bearing is a fairly huge thing, and will certainly be more valuable than having a unique distance in that category (I'm lookin' at you, B-Wing!).

Another unique feature to the Defender is that it will be the first ship in the game with all 6 Turns and Banks on its dial.

As far as the Turn half of things, its 2 stressful 1 white is strictly better than the B-Wing, Y-Wing, HWK, Bomber, and Lambda; and directly worse than the A-Wing, Tie Fighter, and Tie Interceptor. Against the ships with 2 non-red turns, I'll need to check my calibrations, but for now I'll call it too-close-to-call, as arguments can be made either way.

So, Better than 5, ??? with 4, and Worse than 3: Slightly better than average.

As far as the Banks half of things, its 3 Whites are strictly better than the A-Wing, B-Wing, HWK, Tie Fighter, Tie Interceptor, and Shuttle; while being strictly worse than the X-Wing, YT-1300, Tie Advanced, Tie Bomber, and Firespray-31. So, Better than 6, Worse than 5, and Tied with the Y-Wing. Slightly better than average again. However, it is important to note that the ships it is worse than all merit their superiority by 1 or 2 white-to-green shifts, which will not be weighted highly.

And of course, its Forwards are superb, being matched only by an A-Wing or a ship with Nien Nunb on board.

All in all, the Tie Defender has an astonishing dial, whose only failure is the lack of bearing-variety among its green maneuvers. Whether the stressless nature of its Koiogran outweighs this, we'll have to wait and see.

I don't really like your Second item. Rarity does not necessarily correlate to value.

I"m curious about something here. I don't think the B-Wings dial is that great, but with Advanced sensors it changes things completely. It has 6 red moves, but with advance sensors you still get your actions after. Another weight I might look at would be action loss due to stress. You can do a red move but your losing effectiveness (the ability to do an action) because of it.

I think you could consider a different approach entirely.

I think it could be interesting to take into account the 2 following facts which influence us when deciding on a maneuver:

  • What will be my ship's position?
  • What will be in my ship's firing arc?

Which could be translated this into quantifiable values:

  • How much surface area does my opponent need to cover with his ships' arcs if he wants to get a shot on me?
    • Having many different positions is good and having them be far apart is better, as it maximizes the area your opponent has to cover if he wants to have a shot on you.
  • Total surface are covered by my ship's firing arc with all it's positions combined.
    • If, considering your multiple move options, you have a large possible area where you could get a range 1 attack on your opponent, that's good.
    • This also means a 2-turn and 2-bank have some overlap in the area their corresponding firing arcs cover.

These criteria also explain why a B-Wing with Advanced Sensors or an Interceptor with PTL is so good. The pre- or post-Barrel Rolling of the B-Wing and Boost + Barrel Roll combo of the Interceptor multiply these 2 criteria!

Not sure how to go about weighing all this, but it's food for thought!

Edited by Klutz

I"m curious about something here. I don't think the B-Wings dial is that great, but with Advanced sensors it changes things completely. It has 6 red moves, but with advance sensors you still get your actions after. Another weight I might look at would be action loss due to stress. You can do a red move but your losing effectiveness (the ability to do an action) because of it.

I'm not really focusing on the action-economy aspect of Red Maneuvers on this run-through, and that's where an Advanced Sensor discussion lies.

I LOVE the Hypermobile B-Wing, but this is a huge pile of math when restricting it to just the Dials.

However, when looking solely at Dials, we will be able to better quantify Nien Nunb, R2 Astromechs, and Adrenaline Rushes.

I think you could consider a different approach entirely.

I think it could be interesting to take into account the 2 following facts which influence us when deciding on a maneuver:

  • What will be my ship's position?
  • What will be in my ship's firing arc?

Which could be translated this into quantifiable values:

  • How much surface area does my opponent need to cover with his ships' arcs if he wants to get a shot on me?
    • Having many different positions is good and having them be far apart is better, as it maximizes the area your opponent has to cover if he wants to have a shot on you.
  • Total surface are covered by my ship's firing arc with all it's positions combined.
    • If, considering your multiple move options, you have a large possible area where you could get a range 1 attack on your opponent, that's good.
    • This also means a 2-turn and 2-bank have some overlap in the area their corresponding firing arcs cover.

These criteria also explain why a B-Wing with Advanced Sensors or an Interceptor with PTL is so good. The pre- or post-Barrel Rolling of the B-Wing and Boost + Barrel Roll combo of the Interceptor multiply these 2 criteria!

Not sure how to go about weighing all this, but it's food for thought!

Definitely food for thought.

I will be examining such things when comparing/contrasting against my Mean Dial, but your method could feasibly solve my Weighting issues.

I challenge you to create a competing quantization using your method. The more angles from which we approach a problem, the more complete our coverage of that problem will be, after all.

However, I stand by the importance of Rarity as a weighting variable, particularly when referenced to the Mean Dial. Having more than the average lengths of a bearing is good, but it is less good than having fewer lengths of a bearing is bad. (E.G., If I can only have 4 Koiograns across my fleet, I want each ship to have 1, rather than having 2 ships with 2, or one ship with 4. As such, having 2 ships that each have only 1 Koiogran is more valuable than having 2 ships, one of whom has 2 Koiograns and the other of whom has 0.).

If your theorycrafting can identify the reason why my friend's Mauler Mithel dial is almost magnetically attracted to landing on asteroids (it's possible his dial turns itself the bearing closest to the nearest rock), I will be intrigued to read it.

Regarding Rarity, how do you account for few people taking TIE Advanced? Does that make them better? If there is a supply shortage and they're not available to purchase, does that make them good? If they added a special "double red" K-Turn that gives you 2 stress and is equal to the length of the range template, but it's only available on the Advanced with a title, does that mean it's inherently more valuable?

If your theorycrafting can identify the reason why my friend's Mauler Mithel dial is almost magnetically attracted to landing on asteroids (it's possible his dial turns itself the bearing closest to the nearest rock), I will be intrigued to read it.

I'm going to say something that rhymes with Ilot Perror here, though the Tie Fighter's lack of 1 speed Forward or Banks, dearth of Green Maneuvers, and the aggression that Mauler Mithel wants to exhibit are probably the strongest factors to that Dilot Nerror.

Regarding Rarity, how do you account for few people taking TIE Advanced? Does that make them better? If there is a supply shortage and they're not available to purchase, does that make them good? If they added a special "double red" K-Turn that gives you 2 stress and is equal to the length of the range template, but it's only available on the Advanced with a title, does that mean it's inherently more valuable?

Rarity of a Bearing is meritorious, assuming that the bearings are anywhere close to being balanced to one another. The two ships without Kioigrans (and with 1 turn each, at that) are considered to have terrible dials for exactly this reason. The more common a bearing, the less good having a plurality in it is. The A-Wing's green-maneuver strengths comes mainly from it's green 2 Turns and Banks, rather than it's green Forwards, simply because those Turns and Banks matter more.

Rarity of Ship is another matter entirely.

Using a ship that your opponents have not practiced against does give you the element of surprise, giving you slight moments of advantage when you are able to perform the unexpected. In the case of the Tie Advanced, this is likely in its nigh unkillableness.

However, since I am speaking of the Maneuver Dials, and not of the ships themselves, let's target that Tie Advanced for a demonstration of my Better/Worse application.

In comparison to the Mean Ships, the Tie Advanced is Par for the Turns, Par for the Banks, Par for the Forwards (Long Range Variant), and slightly below Imperial Par for Koiograns (only 1, which is Rebel Par).

The coloration of those maneuvers matches what is to be expected as well.

Conclusion: the Tie Advanced's dial is of Average strength, before I can apply proper weightings. Folks just prefer High Damage to High Survivability for the cost.

What about the lack of one forwards and the effect it has on ships. The 1 Forward seems to be the most important move in the game. And have you factored in that large base ships basically move 1 further than the manuever suggests. Sort of.

What about the lack of one forwards and the effect it has on ships. The 1 Forward seems to be the most important move in the game.

I am interested as to why you think this. Please explain further :)