Hello

Due to the lack of experience countering several classical and well distributed squads, I am asking how you would usually handle them? I know, sometimes it depends on your own squad, but lets say you have a classical 4-5 ship squad and you have to counter for example the following squads:

A) Fat Falcon + Corran

B) Decimator + Whisper

C) Falcon + Dash

D) Dash + 3-4 Z95 Headhunter

E) Decimator + TIE swarm

Do I usually focus on the large ship or the small one?

For (a) and (b) I would suggest to shoot the small ship first. Is it USUALLY the right way?

For © I would try to kill the falcon first, because I think you need more ships and concentrated fire to remove this tons of evade and focus tokens first. It wouldn't be possible with only one of your ships left. Is this right too? For (e): Is it better to kill the Z95s first and then try to stay at range 1 fo Dash with your leftover ships? Or better kill Dash first and take the risk to have the Z95s in your back?

Some other examples? Thank you for some informations

A) Corran first, unless he doesn't have R2-D2

B) Whisper first

C) Depends greatly on what upgrades each of them has, could be a toss up

D) Dash first

E) Decimator first

In all 5 cases, if your primary target is a much worse shot (long range/turtled up/etc) than the secondary targets, sometimes it's better to whittle down the secondary targets.

A) Fat Falcon + Corran

B) Decimator + Whisper

C) Falcon + Dash

D) Dash + 3-4 Z95 Headhunter

E) Decimator + TIE swarm

Hm, that's the strength of these builds forcing tough choices.

A) I'd say it doesn't really matter so long as you commit, focus down one and don't be tempted as both are late gamers.

B) Depends if you have a dedicated Phantom hunter or not, either way, force this list to come to you, preferably through asteroids.

C) See A

D) Dash, the 95s are there to distract you.

E) Decimator, again, the ties are there to distract you. Harder choice though as you can potentially one shot a tie...

Depends entirely on your squad

For example, I flew my Soontir + double Hunter against Fat Falcon + Corran.

Fat Falcon was targeted with extreme prejudice because if it comes down to the late game, Soontir will devour Corran.

If against Whisper + Decimator, though, I'd throw everything I got at Whisper. Two Bounty Hunters will tear a decimator apart, but a Phantom would pose major problems and the damage that a phantom can throw simply cannot be ignored and it will run circles around Soontir (since she will probably have initiative choice).

Of course, if any opportunity presents itself (such as corran flying into range 1) you always have the option of taking advantage. Generally, though, you want to commit until one of the things is dead.

In short, try to kill the thing you really don't want to fight. In the case where this is no preference, generally you take out what's the easiest to kill balanced by how much damage it spits out (so Fat Han + 3 Talas against a Tie Swarm, I go for Fat Han because 2 dice ships can really struggle to hit 3 agility and above)

Ultimately, no plan really survives contact with the table and maneuvers, more than anything, will dictate what you can and can't shoot. The above is my theory, anyway.

It also depends on the play environment. In casual/untimed there is increased reason to go for the more capable end-game pieces first, because they become more effective over time. If however you are playing in a tournament with 60-minute rounds, you are much less likely to be able to effect a full kill on a fat 1300/2400. In those cases, it may be wiser to eliminate the support and play defensively for a better MoV instead of risking a likely 0-100 loss if you go for broke and fail.

And of course all the general advice might go out the window for a given starting configuration or board configuration, so you need to remain flexible. Maybe you lightly damaged one piece, but your opponent put another in a vulnerable position (say Fat Han trapped in a corner) that would let you pound it with your whole squad for a turn or two.

Depends entirely on how the opponent offers up his goodies. Based on Deployment or Formation, you may really want to shoot Han but Corran could be sitting in view of a ton of fire. It really depends on the mistakes your opponent makes and how you capitalize on them. Playing against a chewie Corran list i would focus Corran because of his damage output over the course of the game compared to chewies. I would deploy and set up flying like i was going towards Chewie to make my opponent think I'm going for the fast Chewie kill and instead turn and trap Corran. Ive gotten very lucky with this strategy in removing corran in one turn of shooting. It is usually better to take out the tankier targets first because you have the firepower to do it efficiently in early game. The thing is some ships excel really well into late game like Corran. In the match up mentioned i went for chewie last because i knew my Pilot would be higher (All of my ships were 6) and had the advantage there. It was no easy feat either he made work for that wookie kill.

Thank you for all the answers! Every single one teached me a lot of new things. Thanks guys for the help!

Hello

Due to the lack of experience countering several classical and well distributed squads, I am asking how you would usually handle them? I know, sometimes it depends on your own squad, but lets say you have a classical 4-5 ship squad and you have to counter for example the following squads:

A) Fat Falcon + Corran

B) Decimator + Whisper

C) Falcon + Dash

D) Dash + 3-4 Z95 Headhunter

E) Decimator + TIE swarm

Do I usually focus on the large ship or the small one?

For (a) and (b) I would suggest to shoot the small ship first. Is it USUALLY the right way?

For © I would try to kill the falcon first, because I think you need more ships and concentrated fire to remove this tons of evade and focus tokens first. It wouldn't be possible with only one of your ships left. Is this right too? For (e): Is it better to kill the Z95s first and then try to stay at range 1 fo Dash with your leftover ships? Or better kill Dash first and take the risk to have the Z95s in your back?

Some other examples? Thank you for some informations

I'm assuming everything here is timed:

A) Corran first, especially with R2D2. Corran can shoot twice in a turn. When he fires that second attack, you will probably not have any tokens on defense and he'll usually have a Target Lock, so his average damage inflicted is going to be far higher. If he has PTL, his effective health can be as high or higher than a Falcon in endgame unless you can land multiple attacks on him.

B) Depends on the builds. If you have a high-PS squad, go for Whisper first. Low-PS with lots of ships, go for the Decimator.

C) Whichever is worth the most points. Tough to say without seeing builds.

D) Probably depends on your build, but generally you probably want Dash dead first. Shoot Z's if Dash isn't available.

E) If you can reliably hit them, TIEs first. 40 points of Decimator is throwing three attack dice, or four at range 1. 40 points of TIE Fighters will be throwing six attack dice, or nine attack dice at range 1. If you can clear some of them out before they get the chance to shoot, it'll greatly boost the survivability of your ships, which means more damage dealt over the long run.

Yeah, I was about to add this but people already covered it

Deployment makes a massive difference in target priority

For example, I had the same Tie Swarm versus Fattie + 3 Talas (it was Dash this time, but w.e). Academies were first on the board, then Talas went right across from them ("weird," I thought), and then stabber, and then Dash all the way in the left field.

Basically, he was removing my priority target by getting him way the **** away from me. With all the obstacles in-between my Ties and him, it would have been incredibly difficult to draw arcs while simultaneously fighting off Talas. So, I decide "**** it" and just plow through the talas instead

I should add that it is a common mistake to go after Fat Han first. IF Han has an engine, he is going to use it by flying away from you in order to draw you out and put you in bad position to hit Han while simultaneously allowing his support to fire. By chasing, you allow him to make full use of his upgrades AND his escort. You are almost always better off to eliminate his escort quickly, putting yourself in the lead points wise. In a timed/tournament environment, the pressure is now on Han to come to you and score kills, so you don't need to chase him and expose yourself to bad exchanges anymore.

In a competitive/tournament environment, it is important to keep track of where you are in the game. Like football, if you are in the lead you can play defensively and force your opponent to take chances and come to you. Don't make the mistake of assuming you must shoot down every ship he has. I see many, many people make the mistake of chasing Han when they already have the lead. If you are up on points and will win on time, don't bother. Make him turn around and come back to you rather than fighting a pursuit game where he excels.

Keep this in mind generally as well. Holding a 12 point lead (or more) allows you much greater flexibility. It is often worth it to drop a cheap escort quickly in order to seize the initiative (in the tactical sense), rather than be forced into exchanging fire on your opponents terms.

Most people have nailed it but generally you want to hit the ship that is better in the late game first, particularly if it has damage mitigation or recovery. If you have a hyper maneuverable ship start with the turrets since they are what can hit you. Unless its dash and support and you're confident enough to stay in dashs bubble

On the flip-side, focusing down Fat Han's escort can leave you in a very awkward position where you just don't have enough ships to kill Han

Why's that? Because turrets are really stupid.

You give me a pair of Talas against Howlrunner and I can pull a win out of my ass. You give me Howlrunner against Han and no amount of flying is going to beat the dice.

Glad we could Edumacate you.

I agree with just about everything mentioned here, which for me comes down to saying: it depends. Obviously some targets are stronger in the endgame and it's better if you take them out early, but if you're in a good position to wipeout the support of a fat-something + cheap-filler list then go for it. Players usually divide their lists into two parts (mini-swarm and flanker, fat Han and support, etc.) to come towards you from different angles and force you to commit to turning one way or another to focus your fire so that the other part of their list can outflank you. However, oftentimes their positioning won't be entirely symmetric, meaning that if you go for part A of the list, part B will be in a good position to flank you but the reverse isn't usually (as) true.

I guess what I want to say is: don't take the juicy bait (if it looks too good to be true it usually is) and don't play on your opponent's terms. Fully-loaded Dash/Whisper/Han are definitely more dangerous in the endgame but if you can whittle down the support without losing much firepower then he'll only have one attack each turn (on average, for the pedants that were about to mention Corran Horn) and getting fewer attack dice thrown at you is always a good thing.

To keep it simple, my general rule of thumb is to take out whatever is throwing the most red dice at me( exposed deci, outrider). My old gaming area, we always did 75 minute rounds, but in my new gaming area, the shops don't necessarily run the true 75 minute rounds. Today for instance we played 45 minute rounds...the judge originally said 30, then changed it to 45 part way through round 1. (which I find extremely frustrating. 100 pt Xwing is generally not a 30-40 minute game). Tournament rounds should be no less than 60.. So in time constrained tournament games I usually go for the most expensive ship.

Shoot the e-wing first. Ugly should be removed from the board as quickly as possible.

I should add that it is a common mistake to go after Fat Han first. IF Han has an engine, he is going to use it by flying away from you in order to draw you out and put you in bad position to hit Han while simultaneously allowing his support to fire. By chasing, you allow him to make full use of his upgrades AND his escort. You are almost always better off to eliminate his escort quickly, putting yourself in the lead points wise. In a timed/tournament environment, the pressure is now on Han to come to you and score kills, so you don't need to chase him and expose yourself to bad exchanges anymore.

In a competitive/tournament environment, it is important to keep track of where you are in the game. Like football, if you are in the lead you can play defensively and force your opponent to take chances and come to you. Don't make the mistake of assuming you must shoot down every ship he has. I see many, many people make the mistake of chasing Han when they already have the lead. If you are up on points and will win on time, don't bother. Make him turn around and come back to you rather than fighting a pursuit game where he excels.

Keep this in mind generally as well. Holding a 12 point lead (or more) allows you much greater flexibility. It is often worth it to drop a cheap escort quickly in order to seize the initiative (in the tactical sense), rather than be forced into exchanging fire on your opponents terms.

This makes a lot of sense and I never really thought about it this way before.

I was thinking about this exact same question the OP asked the other day after a tournament I was in last week. In my first game I did almost kill Dash, he had one hp left but I couldn't finish the job with my defender. In the end it was Corran he won that game for my opponent, his shooting twice crumpled my poor decimator. It was a tough fight from the get go but after replaying the game in my head I wonder if it would have been better to jump Corran with my two ships and then make Dash come to me. I wasn't to disappointed with my results though, I ended up going 3-2 which is one of my better showings (Despite flying off the board in my last game due to nerves/fatigue and general stupidness)

Still helpful tips. Thanks!