Hello everyone,

I'm pretty terrible at maneuvering and I'm trying to learn some new lower PS builds.

How do you make effective blocks?

Whenever I "block" (especially vs higher PS ships) I end up just making a nice attack on one of my other ships while most of my own ships pass by and are unable to really do damage on the blocked ship.

In practice, I am trying to get more instances where a block will mean that no ship will be within the blocked ship's firing arc, but its kind of situational.

Keeping the squad back, action-ed, but in direct confrontation with a low PS squad tends to mean a loss of a ship before I can attack.

Perhaps, a good pre-basic would also be: How does one predict well?

I'm not qualified to answer your exact question so I'll leave that to the more experienced.

What I will say is, I have used blocks in order to keep targets at a specific attack range. More specifically, HLC Krassis.

Other then that, I too can use some tips on blocking more effectively.

I've managed to use blocking as a superb late-game strategy, but haven't managed it in the early game.

I like to use an A wing for primary blocking, but I'll use anything that's in a good position. What I like to do is look at the board and say where's the one spot that he can go that would be a "good" spot for him to go... and then block that spot, preferably flanking with my other ships to get several R1 shots the action denied. That way, if he doesn't go there, he doesn't end up with a good shot on anything, and if he does, he gets dead.

Be wary, when you block a ship in the front of two deep formation, all the other ships behind it will get R1 shots off on your blocker. I have found blocking to be most successful when you can use a ship to stop your opponent from getting into firing arc from your main force while keeping your force focused on a ship that now is action-less. Also, blocking is a good way to fragment a formation by causing forces it move differently than their friendliest to stay out of your way. Ions work for that as we'll.

Try this, 3 blue squadron pilots and 2 prototype pilots. Use the A's to block while flanking and hang the B's back a little to focus fire. Many opponents will ignore the A's at first and concentrate on your heavy hitters, but 24 HPs on your B's ensure they'll last rounds enough to fragment or weaken your opponent until you put them on the run.

Blocking can be difficult to pull off without your opponent expecting it. More often than not, when I successfully block someone without them suspecting it, it catches me by surprise too.

Other times if you have enough low skill pilots, you can cause a traffic jam, keeping enemy ships from being able to easily maneuver through them, but set ups for this are easy to spot, and skilled players can sometimes alleviate some of the action loss by careful maneuvering.

My most successful blocking happened in my last game, in which I attempted to have my B-Wing pull up nice and tight behind an asteroid, ready to open fire on ships that I expected to zip past me, while having some protection from ships that may hold back. My move took me further forward than I thought it would, and my opponent didn't expect that placement either, which caused all of his ships to fail pulling off their K-turns in a big stressful pileup with Luke sitting just barely on an asteroid. I ended up accidentally keeping a stressed Luke with his base on an asteroid for two turns, robbing him of his attack, and all because of a move I hadn't intended to use to block.

Large base ships are a good choice. Especially a firespray. It can shoot rearward if the block fails, oh, and drop a proxy mine next turn

Here's how. When you're at the bar with your buddies, as soon as your bro starts talking to a girl you silently. Then you sits that your bro did it. Don't give up, insist. Doesn't matter if they believe you or not, moment is ruined.... THATS how you block.

Orrrrr - only talk in a yoda voice all night and make reference that your buddy had a movie quality chewbacca costume he likes to use for lay down kissy time.

Okay...

Definitely still don't know how to do this. Lol.

The first thing you need to pay attention to with blocking is PS. Any ship can be used as a blocker against any ship with higher PS (or equal if the opponent has initiative). PS 1 ships are obviously the best blockers for that reason, but blocking can be a great way to spare a valuable ship too.

Second, you need to know the maneuvers the enemy ships are capable of. If you don't know what they can do, you won't know what they're likely to do.

The easiest thing to block is a stressed ship. Stressed ships like to use green maneuvers to shed their stress. This limits the number of options available to them. Figure out which green maneuver would put them in the best position, and get in the way. They'll still shed their stress, but they still don't get an action, and your blocker is safe (at least from that ship).

The best thing to block is usually a turn. A turn alters a ship's facing by 90 degrees. If you block them, they're facing doesn't change as much as they intended and their firing arc may be way off target.

If you are having trouble blocking because your other ships are not in a position to take advantage, you need more practice. That's not a criticism, the coordination of this game just takes practice. When you are assigning maneuver dials, imagine where your blocker will be, then assign your other dials as if you're going to shoot your blocker. If you've blocked correctly, the enemy ship will be touching your blocker and your other ships can focus fire.

Hope this helps!

I mainly block to get that action denial. If it prevents an attack and allows me to focus fire, I just see that as a bonus.

How does one predict well?

First you need to learn the dials of the ships. The reference cards are great for this.

Secondly, look at the placement of the asteroids, nobody wants to hit asteroids so you can be almost sure that he wont fly into

those, thus making it easier for you to predict where he'll go.

Third, only use a single ship to block; to begin with, so once you get good at it you will give your opponent nightmares by blocking and causing pile ups (on his end) with multiple of your ships within range 1 - WITH actions.

Fourth, it almost always has to be a low PS ship (a given, but it needs to be said, so PS 0-2 is good)

I block whenever I can, as it allows me to win versus those pesky - high PS mobile ships and/or PTL Interceptors - if they get too close.

If you're looking to block multiple turns in a row (as I do in the end-game), make sure to come into the blocking scenario in approximately the same angle that the ship you're messing with is currently traveling. You can then do short turns to zig-zag back and forth in their path, forcing them to either show you their six, or collide turn after turn after turn.

Blocking can be incredibly powerful if played well.

One of the best uses for blocking is when you know your opponent will execute a K-Turn on his maneuver.

Adding a stress token to someone who doesn't get to turn around and can't shoot the ship you block with is awesome. Also, generally speaking, someone flying in formation who hits a block will pile up their ships, setting themselves up for focus fire.

Imo it depends on what you want to block and know the dials. I am a fan of the ~2 range block of b-wings when I k-5 to get behind. Also asteroids play a big part of the process, getting your ship into the gap first is a big deal.

Action denial is a key thing in this game. When all of your ships have tokens and mine don't, I will inflict little damage where as your shots will hit into me hard. A great way to learn how and practice blocking is play rebel convoy. Two ORS's and two golds with ion. You want to park your ships in front and force them to jump past you completely. The squad is all about board control. Practice that and you can figure out blocking

If you try and do a blocked k turn so you get a stress?

If you try and do a blocked k turn so you get a stress?

Whether or not you complete the K-Turn due to a blocker, you executed a red maneuver.

Oh that's news to me. Good to know