Initiative

Will someone please walk me through all the steps of what having initiative means?

Some of my questions are: if you have fewer squad points do you have to have it or do you get choice?

Once a player has initiative (and the opponent has ships of matching pilot skill) do they move first or second… because I’m not quite sure which is better….

Can this flip-flop each turn based on the whims of the person with initiative or is the decision made at the beginning of the game and lasts the whole game?

Can the player with initiative opt to move first AND shoot first?

Thank you,

Cliff

Initiative is set at the start of the game and does not change.

In the current tournament rules the player with fewer squad points (or who wins the toss if equal) may CHOOSE whether to have initiative or not. Most players adopt this for all games, even if they aren't otherwise playing tourney rules.

Essentially, when there is a tie between the players for who gets to do something next, the player with initiative does it first.

When both sides have ships at the same pilot skill whoever has initiative

Deploys those ships first

Moves those ships first

Shoots those ships first

all at the appropriate place in the PS skill order.

Initiative is not a clear cut good/bad thing. A ship that moves after an enemy has greater knowledge of the board layout when choosing his actions and can use repositioning actions like Boost and Barrel Roll to move out of enemy arcs of fire, a good and very powerful thing. A ship that moves before its enemy can move into a position to block the enemy ship, getting in its way and denying actions while still getting its own action. Conversely, a ship that moves first is more likely to be in the enemy's arc of fire while a ship that moves last may find its movement blocked and loosing its action.

Whether or not you want initiative depends a lot on the list and ships in your build. An Omicron Group pilot with Anti-Pursuit lasers very much wants to move first, so that there is as great a chance of people running into him as possible. A TIE Interceptor on the other hand may want to move last so that he can use his actions to arc dodge and simply not be shot at.

1. Person with fewer squad points (or randomly selected player if points are equal) gets to choose who HAS initiative. This is from the tournament rules and a change from the initial rules which said lowest points get initiative, no choice, and that Empire gets it over Rebels.

2. The player who ends up with initiative does EVERYTHING first when looking at ships with the same PS.

3. Once decided the player with Initiative has to keep it the entire game.

4. The player with Initiative can not "Opt" to move and shoot first but rather MUST move and shoot first.

Sometime you want initiative so you can move and shoot first but other times you do not want initiative so you can react to things the other player has already done. There isn't always a right or wrong answer and the only time initiative matters is when PS is the same; if a swarm of eight TIE Fighters goes up against three PS 9 Fighters who actually HAS initiative almost never matters.