Does any one else not use debrie and astrodes

i prefer open space to do my battles in

Debris/asteroids add substantial tactical depth to the game. They impose creativity in how you set up your ships and how you move them. They also create important strategic opportunities for forcing opponents to land on them or shoot through them.

Why in the heck would wd be fighting around rocks. you spend more time trying to.not hit a rock then you do trying to fight

Practice.

Eventually, you will embrace the goodness that are rocks.

I do enjoy the occasional open field game. It becomes all about the initial joust. Very Napoleonic. This works best at larger squad point limits, and is most fun when the sides each have various nested or interlocking abilities. Then the tactical challenge is in the formation grouping and target selection. I think all the Epic scale games I've played were done mostly without obstacles (or just a few). This is a good way to learn new ships' interlocking abilities too. If you find it more fun, go for it. Honestly when I was new to the game, my thoughts were mostly on how lines of battle collided and then regrouped after the first pass. So it wasn't until I got into the LGS scene that I started using asteroids regularly, so that I could learn tournament style play.

I love fighting with debris. Nothing like using the asteroids as a buffer between you and the guy that has you in arc to increase your agility rolls.

I have a fun way of determining debris, my friends have played and it changes the game a lot. After our lists are made one of us rolls a six sided dice which determines debris. (Note: This is intended for 1 versus 1, modify for larger groups)

Die Result: Field of Battle:

1 No obstacles

2 Use 4 obstacles

3 Normal

4 Normal

5 Use 6 obstacles. Both players take turns choosing their three pieces. Players then toss all into air at same time.

Obstacles can overlap, be within range 1, be within range 2 of sides/starting edges. Makes for very difficult navigation.

6 Use 9 pieces of obstacles

I rarely use obstacles in casual games. I know its a fantasy game based on a fantasy movie, but asteroids in space are infinitesimal. If you want to simulate our own solar system's asteroid belt, take about two dozen golf balls and a hand full of sand and spread all of it evenly across a football field. Then start at one end zone and walk to the other. Your odds of stepping on one of the golf balls is ridiculously low and you wouldn't even notice if you stepped on the sand.

Its just my opinion, but I feel the game better simulates an accurate dogfight when there is no where to hide and its just your piloting skill and ships' maneuverability against your opponent's.

I do think that an occasional game where the asteroids drift -- for example, roll for direction then move the rock a "1 straight" in that direction -- would increase the challenge and be fun.

We have tried it and it is fun, it does slow the game a little though. A variant that I would like to try would be fighting in ice fields, where if you overlap or land on the obstacle it shatters and the next turn the smaller pieces randomly move about. Something like this https://vimeo.com/36503695 starting at 1:08 from the great movie Titan AE.

Or another variation ... probably best in Epic. When an Epic or Large ship is destroyed, replace it on the board with a Derbis token -- 3 for the Epic ship, 1 for a Large ship.

For me I find it kind of boring

Jousters usually just fly at one another and flankers are easier to catch with their hand in the cookie jar

I have a fun way of determining debris, my friends have played and it changes the game a lot. After our lists are made one of us rolls a six sided dice which determines debris. (Note: This is intended for 1 versus 1, modify for larger groups)

Die Result: Field of Battle:

1 No obstacles

2 Use 4 obstacles

3 Normal

4 Normal

5 Use 6 obstacles. Both players take turns choosing their three pieces. Players then toss all into air at same time.

Obstacles can overlap, be within range 1, be within range 2 of sides/starting edges. Makes for very difficult navigation.

6 Use 9 pieces of obstacles

I would just use an attack die It is so much easier and has a greater variety of statistical match ups while keeping the standard the most common set up.

Blank (open space)

Focus 4 obstacles (2 per person)

Hit 6 Obstacles (3 per person)

Critical Hit 8 Obstacles (4 per person).

Most commanders and pilots would usually not choose a battle field where pilot error has as much a chance of killing you as the enemy, but if you felt it gave you an edge over your opponent, you might try to draw them into the field. On the other hand, smugglers and other villains have been known to set up bases on asteroids quite frequently so they would probably feel right at home in the thickest field.

So with this in mind, what if each player was able to choose between 0-3 obstacles at the start of each match with Scum faction players allowed to place up to 4?

I wonder how much this would change the game if you never really knew how many obstacles were going to be on the board until it was time to start setting up our ships.

I've actually been dying to play a game inside a cityscape (using Battletech buildings, or the like) where you've got a good chance of splattering yourself and your ship against the side of a skyscraper. I'm also dying to play a game using the moving asteroid rules from the Raider expansion. Not all the time, mind you, but occasionally. Just to spice things up.

Unfortunately, I just started working nights and all my gaming buddies are on opposite schedules.

For me I find it kind of boring

Jousters usually just fly at one another and flankers are easier to catch with their hand in the cookie jar

basically this

obstacle-less games are a dice-fest. It's not as much a dice-fest as PWTs, because how the two forces collide is very important, but without obstacles there are basically no viable builds apart from jouster spam

obstacles make the game what it is, and lend it much of its strategic element by forcing both players to plan around them (and ahead)

It's funny. The troll has been starting a lot of discussion as of late. Not sure how i feel about it.

It's funny. The troll has been starting a lot of discussion as of late. Not sure how i feel about it.

means the troll isn't doing his job

The better at the game you get, the more important debris is.

If you can't see the benefits of debris you need a bit more practice.

This isn't a knock btw, it's just that this is the kind of thing you appreciate hell of a lot more when you are better at the game.

It adds an entire new dimension to the game in terms of strategy. Tbh, I'm not sure the game would be as great without it.

Does any one else not use debrie and astrodes

i prefer open space to do my battles in

I use neither debrie nor astrodes.

I am, however, a fan of debris and asteroids.

Why in the heck would wd be fighting around rocks. you spend more time trying to.not hit a rock then you do trying to fight

You've correctly identified proper Imperial doctrine, congratulations!

Yes, it should be painfully clear, fighting in an asteroid field is a fool's errand - clearly, the proper thing to do is bait the enemy out into open space, and then crush them with a swarm of loyal Imperial pilots in our excellent TIE Fighters!

Of course, well...unfortunately, the traitorous scum are not generally so accommodating, and may sometimes require we follow them into their nests in order to root out their treason and purge it from the galaxy. Definitely makes it harder on our forces, it's true, and easier on theirs, but...well, we can hardly allow open rebellion to fester just because they are making it somewhat more challenging to get at them, now can we?

OF COURSE NOT! Now to your fighter, pilot!

Sometimes you just want to use a shuttle and not waste every turn.

For someone who talks about it so much, this guy sure seems to dislike the game as written.

Fighting EVERY game in an asteroid field is lame. And worst of all, boring. I dont understand how anyone can have allthe sscope that this game provides, and still be happy replaying the same mission, at the same points size, over and over on and endless loop.

I guess its one of those wargame vs board game things.

Fighting EVERY game in an asteroid field is lame. And worst of all, boring. I dont understand how anyone can have allthe sscope that this game provides, and still be happy replaying the same mission, at the same points size, over and over on and endless loop.

I guess its one of those wargame vs board game things.

I guess you've never played chess? Or is this sarcasm?