So just wondering when your assessing your opponents list on a scale from 1-10 how do rate priorities such as agility, pilot ability, red dice, pilot skill, hp. Also ships with somewhat even stay lines or equal or no abilities how do you prioritize those? I know everyone is different but just curious what everyone's checklist looks like. For instance if I see r2d2 or ships with regen capability I'll save those for last to reduce the annoyance of having them regain health thereby taking away their ability and making it a waste of points. This changes tho depending on if I deem them a bigger threat. Say there's s bunch of z95s or awings and then r2d2 on an Ewing I would prolly B-line for the Ewing.

Some go for the weakest first to thin numbers but I've always felt that this is a mistake, you identify the thing you don't want to face endgame and kill it while you have weight of fire to do it.

Corran with r2d2 could seriously pose an issue in a 1v1 situation so you kill him fast.

Look at their list and your lost and figure out which ship would be hardest to kill with only part of your list. Kill that first.

To echo what hobo said: If you save a loaded Corran Horn with r2d2 for last you will lose every time.

it's a sliding scale balanced thusly:

Opportunity (how easy is thing A to kill?)

Positioning (if I can kill this thing, how will that open my maneuvers/protect my pilots next turn?)

---against---

Danger (how hard is this thing going to screw me? Especially in the late game...)

Irrational, raw, seething hatred for the target in question

This mostly echoes the above:

In an equal numbers fight against an opponent of equal skill, you can assume that you'll trade ships at a near 1-1 rate. This means in endgame you will usually see 1v2 and have a good chance at a 1v1 battle.

As ship number and enemy skill changed, so does that ratio through the battle - and the heavier the tilt the more likely you are to see 1v3 or 1v4.

While this gets complicated fast, looking back at that oversimplification guides us a bit.

1 you're both going to lose ships

2 you choose which ships the opponent loses

3 as you lose ships, you lose attack power

4 as your ship count goes down, enemies can more easily arc dodge you.

You have more firepower in the beginning, where it's easier to take out harder to kill ships. This includes evasive as well as tanks ships. So the r2d2 engine corran horn becomes very hard to kill in endgame.

Additionally, dropping enemy ships makes it harder for them to do the same to you, so as we get into uneven battles, it's important to consider what hurts your ships more, high firepower or numbers. (Stealth auto-thruster Soontir Fel fears HLC more than 3 z95 bandits, while Decimator fears those multiple z-95s more than an HLC)

We get target priority guidelines from all this

A prioritize hard to kill things

B prioritize things that kill the ship you want In that endgame 1v1 fight.

C anything that fits in A & B must be destroyed first!

Target the closest thing that is most likely to die. If there are any serious threats that you have the opportunity to attack, take that into consideration. Even if you are facing down an end-game juggernaut, don't take a disadvantageous position just for the chance to take him down earlier. If his ships are together and diverse, aim for the glassiest cannon of the bunch.

More times than one have I seen someone put corran horn a distance from his teammates to make shooting him the worse choice. This is not a terrible choice for corran, but if he gets too far from his friends, though, the rest of your list can take a local superiority over the 50-60pts he left hanging. Also more than once I have had most or all of my ships left chasing corran horn and taking forever to knock him out if hes playing evasively, but he is nowhere near as big a threat if you just slow down and get your ships back together.

I try to look at my opponent's list and identify what roles the ships are fulfilling in terms of offense versus support/defense, and focus on whichever one they don't want me focusing on. If Biggs is screening a couple of Y-wings, focus on Biggs. If a Lambda shuttle with a sensor jammer is cruising towards the middle of the board while some TIEs are placed near the edges, Ignore the shuttle. If that shuttle instead has a laser cannon, engine upgrade, and a gunner, then go for the shuttle. A smart player will use upgrades to compensate weaknesses or simply obscure them, but if the ships are being given different roles that are significant there'll be ways to spot them.

Often times you gotta weigh in how much it costs and how many shots will be needed to take it down versus how many times it will shoot until then, but ultimately it's a question of how important is the ship in what role in that squadron. Once you're done hitting the squadron where it's weak you can gang up and hit it where it's strong.

Another thing to add.

There are plenty of times where targeting a low ps pilot is advantageous. Killing it before it attacks can be huge sometimes. So you might ignore their big threat to thin their herd.

Usually my target priority is the following:

-Does my opponent have Darth Vader on a boosting Lambda or on a decimator? --> Yes --> First target

-Can I destroy an enemy at-least-3-red-dice-ship before it has the chance to shoot back? --> Yes --> First Target (unless vader is out there)

If both of those questions are answered by a no, just shoot the most expansive enemy ship: it's usually the one firing the most and at the same time it's the target that scores you the most

The most important thing however is that you have to keep focus firing, no matter what. Once you picked up a target, that's the thing that must go down faster (unless ofc you the occasion to kill a ship before it shoots while its shooting could have meant the end of one of yours)

Step one: Commit to trying to take out Corran based on the fallacy that 2 attack dice ships can out-damage a single shield regen per turn.

Step two: Corran rolls well and does shenanigans, gets away with one health left.

Step three: Come to the realization that going after Corran is a mistake, out of position to pursue Corran further so I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Step four: Corran does nothing but 2 green banks or 3 green forwards and Focus + Evade or Boost + Barrel Roll over the next few turns and is up to full shields again.

Step five: Switch to firing at the fattie, but it's too late.

Step six: Time gets called, I've lost.

Step seven: Wish the meta was less irritating and that we could go back to XXBB vs. TIE Swarm.

Step one: Commit to trying to take out Corran based on the fallacy that 2 attack dice ships can out-damage a single shield regen per turn.

Step two: Corran rolls well and does shenanigans, gets away with one health left.

Step three: Come to the realization that going after Corran is a mistake, out of position to pursue Corran further so I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Step four: Corran does nothing but 2 green banks or 3 green forwards and Focus + Evade or Boost + Barrel Roll over the next few turns and is up to full shields again.

Step five: Switch to firing at the fattie, but it's too late.

Step six: Time gets called, I've lost.

Step seven: Wish the meta was less irritating and that we could go back to XXBB vs. TIE Swarm.

Attack dice-1

Good pilot ability or card-1,2

High agility (3 or more)- 3

High hp-5,6

Ordinance-4

Turret-4

Adv cloak-1,2

Dual actions or free actions-5

Sort of a rough list of things I'm most concerned with. And yes I know there are no 10's in there haha

Step one: Commit to trying to take out Corran based on the fallacy that 2 attack dice ships can out-damage a single shield regen per turn.

Step two: Corran rolls well and does shenanigans, gets away with one health left.

Step three: Come to the realization that going after Corran is a mistake, out of position to pursue Corran further so I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Step four: Corran does nothing but 2 green banks or 3 green forwards and Focus + Evade or Boost + Barrel Roll over the next few turns and is up to full shields again.

Step five: Switch to firing at the fattie, but it's too late.

Step six: Time gets called, I've lost.

Step seven: Wish the meta was less irritating and that we could go back to XXBB vs. TIE Swarm.

This reminds me of Sunday. Facing Corran/Han. I cornered Horn and had IG-88b with Mangler get a range one shot with focus and Horn had nothing. Whiffed with four red dice. Missed with three dice. Horn got away and recharged. So aggravating.

I think one thing someone hasn't said yet is...

Kill it dead first.

Sometimes I've seen a ship with just one health left try to bug out, and gets to range 3. Meanwhile, a new juicy target gets into Range 1. It's nice to throw more dice at a close ship, but usually the best tactic is to finish a ship off before moving on. Sometimes it's too hard, and admittedly it might seem like that 1 hull Academy Pilot is no threat, but sometimes that 1 hull academy pilot will get behind your e-wing and do 2 or 3 damage while you can't shoot anything back.

Jacob

Step one: Commit to trying to take out Corran based on the fallacy that 2 attack dice ships can out-damage a single shield regen per turn.

Step two: Corran rolls well and does shenanigans, gets away with one health left.

Step three: Come to the realization that going after Corran is a mistake, out of position to pursue Corran further so I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Step four: Corran does nothing but 2 green banks or 3 green forwards and Focus + Evade or Boost + Barrel Roll over the next few turns and is up to full shields again.

Step five: Switch to firing at the fattie, but it's too late.

Step six: Time gets called, I've lost.

Step seven: Wish the meta was less irritating and that we could go back to XXBB vs. TIE Swarm.

This reminds me of Sunday. Facing Corran/Han. I cornered Horn and had IG-88b with Mangler get a range one shot with focus and Horn had nothing. Whiffed with four red dice. Missed with three dice. Horn got away and recharged. So aggravating.

maybe Corran's just charmed?

Had it happen to me a few times too, twice in the exact same way

1. Dash + Corran versus my rebel nonsense

2. Manage to force Dash away with positioning (he doesn't want to get close due to doughnut hole) isolating corran.

3. Corran gets transfered into **** creek without a paddle. Scenario 1: got blocked and has a target-locked Biggs and a focused head hunter in range one. Scenario 2: a range 1 focused B-wing, a range 2 focused + TLed B-wing, and a range 2 focused Cracken.

4. Corran takes exactly 0 damage over the next 3 turns

if my ties had that consistent luck, I could run a list with 7-8 invincible ships

Any phantom, at any time, ever

I tend to play more towards opportunity than threat. Obviously I have my priorities, but I'm not going to take a R3 obstructed shot on a turtled up fel over a juicy R1 shot on Carnor, even though I'd prefer to kill Carnor. Sure, dice whiff, but if I'm LUCKY, i could maybe get 1 damage in on Fel, whereas if those same dice whiffed on Jax, he'd be dead.

There are also moments of "do or die" scenarios that force the shot. For example, I was playing against an autoblaster Kavil, who managed to secure his first shot of the day... on a 1 shield Corran. Tycho had a R3 shot on Kavil, who had 2 hull left. I felt like I had to take that shot over the Procket shot on the guy sitting at R1 because I couldn't afford Kavil getting off 4 dice autoblaster (he had opportunist) on Corran. So I gambled on the weaker shot, but it paid off and I got 2 damage through killing him. But normally I would never take that shot.

Step one: Commit to trying to take out Corran based on the fallacy that 2 attack dice ships can out-damage a single shield regen per turn.

Step two: Corran rolls well and does shenanigans, gets away with one health left.

Step three: Come to the realization that going after Corran is a mistake, out of position to pursue Corran further so I couldn't even if I wanted to.

Step four: Corran does nothing but 2 green banks or 3 green forwards and Focus + Evade or Boost + Barrel Roll over the next few turns and is up to full shields again.

Step five: Switch to firing at the fattie, but it's too late.

Step six: Time gets called, I've lost.

Step seven: Wish the meta was less irritating and that we could go back to XXBB vs. TIE Swarm.

Haha that's pretty much the experience I have had with him. Take his shields out then he just bugs out and regens. Feels like I just wasted shots that could have done more against other targets. I've had it the other way too tho where he's late game and a pain in the butt to deal with. For me I think I rate things this way..1-10

Attack dice-1

Good pilot ability or card-1,2

High agility (3 or more)- 3

High hp-5,6

Ordinance-4

Turret-4

Adv cloak-1,2

Dual actions or free actions-5

Sort of a rough list of things I'm most concerned with. And yes I know there are no 10's in there haha

Which is why I've taken to running Patrol Leader with Vader, just so that I can get Coran off the board early. Same tactic with Sontir and Whisper. Let Vader crit them, and hopefully slow them down, let your support ships come in an mop up. I do think in a timed event, that you have to take points into consideration. Timed and untimed events will make a difference in what priorities that a potential target gets.

I aim for a Phantom first.

If I am playing a casual list with fun low PS ships, none of which can boost or barrel roll, then I aim for the edge of the map.

It offers peaceful oblivion and release from seeing my entire list killed by the phantom.

Some go for the weakest first to thin numbers but I've always felt that this is a mistake, you identify the thing you don't want to face endgame and kill it while you have weight of fire to do it.

Corran with r2d2 could seriously pose an issue in a 1v1 situation so you kill him fast.

Basically, this.

If the ship poses a bigger threat in the early game, kill it. For instance, Kavil with Autoblaster Turret and Unhinged Astromech.

If the ship poses a bigger threat in the late game, kill it. For instance, Luke/Corran with R2-D2 and Lone Wolf.

If the ship is key to the synergy of their squad, kill it. Palob, Kyle, Dutch, etc.

In a tournament, it is easy. Time will be called, so go for the easy kills. As dead men don't shoot back, it is not bad tactics for casual games either.

Your main goal is to eliminate the opponents "attack dice" the fastest, while still keeping yours.

The priority will often change from round to round, due to the factors mentioned above.

I like to ID the biggest threat to my list and try to eliminate that but make sure I see opportunity an opponent might give me.

For example I was flying a very arc dodging list last night and I wanted to kill the Mangler Fringer.

However the first round of combat one of my ships only had one shot but pulled off 3 hits severely damaging his stress hog. I decided to take out the stress hog at that point and just suck up the turret damage I couldn't dodge. My other ship also rolled well and the Y was down to 1 hull. I finished that ship off and then began on the Mangler Fringer and it took an extra 2-3 shields off my ships if I would have killed it first but once it was dead his other ships only ever got like 2-3 shots total off me the entire game.

I have various 'priorities'

Number one is always:

Any ship which is the lynch pin of my opponents entire strategy

For example a mate regularly fields howlrunner with swarm tactics and a squad of BSP with swarm tactics and a lone academy

Its lethal until you break that PS8 chain then its dogmeat.

Likewise i go for anything that looks like its got too many points soaked into it like ordnance loaded bwing e2s with crew.

Essentially as others have said negate incoming damage potential, if i can take out that b wing *before* it fires off any ordnance then it really is wasted points on ordance (many will argue any points on ordnance is wasted anyway).

If not presented with either of the two i pick on one ship at a time and hit it til its dead. A tie on one hull point is as deadly as a tie on 3 hull points etc. Anyone who can 'heal' damage like r2d2 or the like i try and knock out as quick as possible too.

But as a mainly interceptor player its 'targets of opportunity' most the time. My main concern is being where you CANT shoot me, if i can shoot one of yours its a bonus, i dont mind who it is as long as nothing is comeing back my way

I like to figure out which ship my opponent expects me to choose, and then murder the things they aren't protecting as hard unless a really obvious opportunity exists.

In a howl swarm list people usually keep howlrunner hard to kill, so unless she gets in a bad position and is the super obvious target I work on murdering ties as fast as possible, as they're the true threats that will punish my face.

In a phantom + decimator list people usually play fast and loose with the decimator and hide the phantom, so I burn down the fat guy then turn all remaining guns to the phantom and it goes pretty well since nothing can punish me hunting anymore.