I apologize if this should go in another sub forum, but none seemed quite right. My last couple tournaments I took soontir fel and the real admiral with VI. My favorite thing about this list is the vast majority of the time I get to place both my ships after all of my opponents, my question to the community: what are some good first round pieces of advice?

1) if my opponent spreads there forces along the whole edge I rush out top speed in one corner to try to take out a ship or two before they get involved. Is this the best course?

2) if my opponent groups there ships all together I tend to joust head on with my decimator, and try to flank with fel, but this too I tend to rush in quickly.

In what situation would these not be the best courses? Is there a time in which I should start in the opposite corner and slow play? Are there good articles about this topic out there? Thanks in advance!

That's a tough call as it's very situational.

For starters, have you seen the video for "Rule of 11"? It's helped me in figuring out when and where ships will meet on the approach.

Chirpy with Engine Upgrade can go really far on the first turn. He can get within shooting range, unless the other player went slow. That's great if you can catch your opponent split up. If you are able to do so, you can probably have your Interceptor zipping around your table side to then swoop in when they rush after your Decimator. It can help give Soontir the chance to avoid the front arc. You will have to watch out for your opponent's ability to swing towards the Decimator. If your opponent has a few ships that are spread out, that might be the best bet. If he has a line of really cheap ships that aren't spread out that much, you can bet that they will all turn towards the Decimator and you might be in a tough spot to evade those arcs. The question to ask yourself when blasting forward to try to smash one portion of his list alone is to ask if you can cause enough damage while avoiding similar damage? If so, then it's worth it. If not, then you are allowing yourself to be singled out.

Might I recommend Navigator on your VI Chirpy? When you have PS 10, you can then choose a different speed for your maneuver after everyone else has moved. It's quite handy. You can avoid arcs and avoid bumping.

This is a super general advice and shouldn't be taken as anything more than this, but I like to creep my first round, move all my ships 1 unless I have a big based ship, then I move it forward 1 and my other ships forward 2, just to keep everyone together.

I find that if I go slow at first I can either 1- get a sense of what my opponent is trying to do and e in a better position to counter it. 2- be in better pouncing range on round 2 for all my ships to shoot forward a full speed and almost guaranteed firing range. 3- really punish people who try their pounce first round. If by some odd chance some of their ships do get into firing range, it is usually just 1 of them and I can blow that guy away as he isn't supported by his buds.

You have to look at what your opponents squad is and what it is built to do (other than fight you). If they have biggs you can expect huddled focused fire where if they have bbbz, you can expect a killbox of where you don't want your ships to be. Some builds do better when they don't have to stay together, typically interceptors like to have room to maneuver again and again after a PTL using green 2's.

The best advice I can give you is this, practice multiple start types against multiple opponents and get a feel for what works best in each situation. I have know and played against people who use the same start again and again, and I punish them for it. It is very much a fool me once type of deal and if I see them setup in the same way they become limited on their future options and much more easily out-flown.

If I am facing a list that likes to joust, and I have a large turret that can boost, I will try to trick my opponent into thinking I'm going to joust with them along whatever side edge they deployed on.

I will put my turret right across from their ships, on the first turn I will do a 1-forward, or whatever straight maneuver I need to do to be able to clear the nearest asteroid. They will assume I am going to joust my turret against them and charge forward on turn 2, which is when I do a big turn towards the middle of the board and boost towards their deployment edge to get out of their arc, putting my turret on their flank and giving me a couple of turns of free attacks against them.

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If I am facing a list that likes to joust, and I have a large turret that can boost, I will try to trick my opponent into thinking I'm going to joust with them along whatever side edge they deployed on.

I will put my turret right across from their ships, on the first turn I will do a 1-forward, or whatever straight maneuver I need to do to be able to clear the nearest asteroid. They will assume I am going to joust my turret against them and charge forward on turn 2, which is when I do a big turn towards the middle of the board and boost towards their deployment edge to get out of their arc, putting my turret on their flank and giving me a couple of turns of free attacks against them.

Very much this, you rarely ever want to actually joust with a large turret. They'll get torn apart by most things of the same points cost. You need to use their ability to fire from all sides and dodge arcs (when Engine Upgrade is in place). Both Han and Chiraneau can be built to do a lot of damage with no actions, meaning you can use Boost to avoid some, if not all shots.

As a World Champion once said, the skill required to fly a turret ship successfully is not keeping the opponent's ships in arc, but keeping your turret out of their arcs. Which is why you hear competitive players saying that Engine Upgrade is an auto-include for any large ship with a turret.

These are some great pieces of advice, I love hearing strategy talk, I'll try putting these ideas into practice, thanks a bunch!