I've managed to wrap my head around every other template, and can reliably estimate where each maneuver will bring me, but the 3-bank constantly befuddles me. Everyone I've mentioned this to has the same feeling.

So I'm wondering... is there any handy trick for guessing where a 3-bank will land you? Something like "X number of ship bases in front of you and X number of ship bases to your side with a 45 degree arc change" or whatever.

something like w.wt bases away, IIRC. There was a visual helper thing somewhere...

I might as well mention the event that finally precipitated this question -- tonight I flew a 3 or 4 hull-remaining IG-88C off the board after sensoring, boosting, and segnoring! The corner of my base was about 1 cm outside the play area, so my estimate wasn't terrible... but I never wanna do that again.

I usually visualize the firing arc when I need assistance. The banks will align the edge of the base along the firing arc with a slight offset forward which increases with the length of the maneuver. A one bank with a small ship will be almost spot on, two bank has like 0.5-1cm offset and the three bank about 1.5cm I think. For the sharp turns you can imagine a line between the two opposite corners of the base extending in the direction you want to go, you will end up on that line crossing from corner to corner yet again. Those are the tricks I use when my eyes fail me.

Edit: This only applies to small bases, don't know about large as I haven't flown large ships that much and have yet to experiment with them in this fashion.

I might as well mention the event that finally precipitated this question -- tonight I flew a 3 or 4 hull-remaining IG-88C off the board after sensoring, boosting, and segnoring! The corner of my base was about 1 cm outside the play area, so my estimate wasn't terrible... but I never wanna do that again.

Flying off will always feel terrible, but you should always expect a margin of error (probably not as much as 1 cm, but close to it) when estimating templates, no matter how good you are.

I recommend just practicing this: take your ship to an empty board, look at the 3 bank and predict the outcome of the maneuver (by, say, putting your finger or a token where you think the ship will end up). Rehearse this until your predictions begin to line-up with the actual end spot of the ship. Move the ship around to different spots on the board, and continue trying to guess where the 3 bank will take it.

It will take time, but it's probably the most reliable way to get good at understanding the templates.

I too had a difficult time trying to visualise 3-banks. What helped me was laying a 4-straight and a 3-bank on top of each other and seeing that the 3-bank will put you back and at an angle to the straight, so now I just visualise the straight and where the bank would be in relation to that.