I've been playing since the start of the year, I've loved Star Wars since 96 (age3
Can't keep inviting friends and meeting up every other day, I'd LOVE a game type where I can set up a squad or a configuration similar to match play where I could practice my piloting while being partially unaware of my "opponents" manuevers... Help pleeeez
And may the 4th be with you...tomorrow
Vassal, though if you're less than fluent with computers it's a pain to deal with.
Hey George,
I set up a simple flying formation in mission control a few months back. The asteroids and extra ships are all optional, but in theory if you include them they shouldn't crash.
http://tools.fantasyflightgames.com/xwing/newpdf/863
It's better previewed than downloaded. As far as how useful you'll find it, I'm not sure about that.
Edited by EastCoastThe way I playtest is that for the side I playtest, I play it as normal, placing dials, etc. For the opposing side, you do not place dials. When their turn comes up to move, always have them do the best maneuver for the given situation. Basically, you'll be playing against an opponent that always guesses your maneuvers correctly. It helps with flying a lot; especially when it comes to a point that there is no best maneuver for the opposing ship.
The way I playtest is that for the side I playtest, I play it as normal, placing dials, etc. For the opposing side, you do not place dials. When their turn comes up to move, always have them do the best maneuver for the given situation. Basically, you'll be playing against an opponent that always guesses your maneuvers correctly. It helps with flying a lot; especially when it comes to a point that there is no best maneuver for the opposing ship.
Hmmmmmnnnnn... Interesting idea... I may have to borrow that.
What I usually do is play normally, selecting logical maneuvers for each side and just playing it out. To keep things balanced, I alternate which side's dials I set first.
Edited by Chris MaesI'm surprised more people don't know about the AI tool:
It's a little bit outdated, so if you want to fly against some of the newer ships you can find ships with similar dials and use those. For example, the Decimator's dial is nearly identical to the TIE Bomber dial aside from the colors.
I've compiled a list of single player training missions in my guide to mission control, linked in my signature
Thanks gentlemen, I heard about the AI tool I'll have to download it.. Thanks!!
Mega, I've done that in the past but I've never been honest with myself as I'll always subconsciously win with whichvever list I'm playtesting..
And thanks east coast I'm doing that now..
Personally, I like setting up a dense asteroid formation (More than 6 in the alloted area) and my current squad of preference.
I then take a Mission token, and throw it in the air, so that it lands somewhere on the board at random.
Then, I take my formation and maneuver so that my entire fleet has a range 1 shot on the token. If any do not, it's not a successful strike.
Once the first token is cleared, I'll re-throw the mission token, though I leave my ships where they are.
Improvement vectors in this are: Avoiding Collisions, Mapping multiple moves ahead, and ensuring a cohesive strike from theoretically varied vectors.
Sadly, it doesn't help master prediction of my opponents' fleets, but it sure as heck makes me better with mine.
Personally I do something similar to Megasilver but I set my dials and then I set the dials of the opposing ships so it works as though I'm playing someone who can read me perfectly.
Meh,
I saw the title of this thread and thought "you dirty bugger".
Sorry.
Baaa
FFG Mission control - Han vs Soontir
I use the X-wing Maneuvers Testbench, google it.
Set up the board and game as normal, and play to normal rules of who flies first etc etc. For the opposing side I throw a 6 sided die for their maneuver. 1 to 4 and pick the best bearing that suits. 5 and 6 means they guessed my maneuver and I move them to the best position possible.
I use the X-wing Maneuvers Testbench, google it.
Set up the board and game as normal, and play to normal rules of who flies first etc etc. For the opposing side I throw a 6 sided die for their maneuver. 1 to 4 and pick the best bearing that suits. 5 and 6 means they guessed my maneuver and I move them to the best position possible.
No mac version
The way I playtest is that for the side I playtest, I play it as normal, placing dials, etc. For the opposing side, you do not place dials. When their turn comes up to move, always have them do the best maneuver for the given situation. Basically, you'll be playing against an opponent that always guesses your maneuvers correctly. It helps with flying a lot; especially when it comes to a point that there is no best maneuver for the opposing ship.
Hmmmmmnnnnn... Interesting idea... I may have to borrow that.
What I usually do is play normally, selecting logical maneuvers for each side and just playing it out. To keep things balanced, I alternate which side's dials I set first.
That's what I do when I play two squads single player. I also came up with a "Capture the Flag" scenario about a year ago:
Free-For-All Version
Set Up
1. Each player selects one ship of any type, and takes the lowest Pilot Skill card for that ship. Assemble the ship models as normal.
2. Deploy six asteroid tokens in a 3 x 3 play area as normal.
3. Spread Focus Tokens around the play area equal to 1.5x number of players. Tokens may be at any range of the board edge or asteroids, but should be at least Range 1 from each other.
4. Deploy ships within Range 1 of board edge. No more than two ships should be along any given edge.
Play
1. Assign maneuver dials to ships as normal.
2. Ships activate as normal starting with lowest Pilot Skill. If two or more ships are tied for Pilot Skill, the lowest points cost ship goes first. If there is still a tie, the higher Agility goes first. If there is still a tie, roll off.
3. Ships may perform any action as normal.
4. If a ship ends its movement with its base overlapping a Focus Token, place that Focus Token on that ships Ship Card.
4a. If a ship bumps another ship or asteroid, follow the normal rules for overlapping, but the ship does not suffer damage. Instead, assign it one Stress Token. Only assign one Stress Token, regardless of how many times the ship bumped.
5. Skip the Combat Phase.
6. Perform the End Phase as normal, except do not remove Focus Tokens collected from the play area.
7. If there are no Focus Tokens remaining in the play area, the match ends, and the player with the most Focus Tokens collected is the winner. Otherwise, continue from step 1.
Team Version
Set Up
1. Each Player builds a squad using 100 points as normal.
2. Deploy six asteroid tokens in a 3 x 3 play area as normal.
3. Spread 12 Focus Tokens around the play area. Tokens may be at any range of the board edge or asteroids, but should be at least Range 1 from each other.
4. Each player selects a board edge and deploys their ships within Range 1 of that board edge.
Play
1. Assign maneuver dials to ships as normal.
2. Ships activate as normal starting with lowest Pilot Skill. If two or more ships are tied for Pilot Skill, the lowest points cost ship goes first. If there is still a tie, the higher Agility goes first. If there is still a tie, roll off.
3. Ships may perform any action as normal.
4. If a ship ends its movement with its base overlapping a Focus Token, place that Focus Token on that ships Ship Card.
4a. If a ship bumps another ship or asteroid, follow the normal rules for overlapping, but the ship does not suffer damage. Instead, assign it one Stress Token. Only assign one Stress Token, regardless of how many times the ship bumped.
5. Skip the Combat Phase.
6. Perform the End Phase as normal, except do not remove Focus Tokens collected from the play area.
7. If there are no Focus Tokens remaining in the play area, the match ends, and the player with the most Focus Tokens collected is the winner. Otherwise, continue from step 1.
Optional Rule: Instead of skipping the combat phase, ships may attack as normal. If a ship would suffer at least one damage or critical damage, do not remove shield tokens or deal damage cards. Instead, place one Critical Hit Token on that ship. Ships can not pick up another Focus Token from the board as long as they have Critical Hit Tokens on them. If a ship moves within Range 1 of its starting table edge, remove all Critical Hit Tokens from it.
Vassal, though if you're less than fluent with computers it's a pain to deal with.
Although there is certainly a steep learning curve with VASSAL... once you've watched a couple youtube videos on the setup and squad building for VASSAL play... and then logged on to VASSAL and watch a couple matches... and then played a couple matches yourself... from there on you are golden. I've played two matches on VASSAL in the past three days and by the middle of match two I felt pretty confortable.
The most difficult part of VASSAL is screen/window management. I run dual display with two 24" screens and use pretty much all of it to play on VASSAL... but that allows me to have every window open and viewable at the same time without anything every being covered by another window AND to have the play mat zoomed in to as big as I can get it on one of the displays.
Edited by Sephlar