I've been playing since Wave 3, so I consider myself an incompetent veteran--but a veteran nonetheless!

I'm looking to start a conversation about tactical target prioritization. How do you know what ships to shoot down first? For example, against RAC/Soontir, who should be shot down first? Do I waste a bunch of dice on dodgy Soontir to try to bring that dangerous late-game nightmare off the table, or do I try to bring the 60+ point RAC off the table, with his 360-attack-all-the-things danger cannon? Who should I remove first in a Carnor/Soontir/Vader list? Is it more important to bring down Palob, or do I settle for Target Locks and focus down Guri? And when is a good time to shoot at the Hound's Tooth? In every game that I've seen the YV-666, I've always seen players shoot at it last. Is this tactically sound?

Help me help you remove your ships off the table.

Depends on what your list is build for. RAC and soontiir for example, if you don't have a way to auto damage or get through all of Fel's tokens to deal damage you might need to focus him first. If you think RAC will win a war of attrition against you, you might need all your guns to take him out then hope Fel screws up. If you have Autothruster ships against RAC you might be able to leave him last. Like most things about this game..... It depends

Whether or not the game is timed matters slightly in the discussion here, but generally I find that because games of x wing are so dynamic it's hard to stick to a plan. Which is something I love about this game.

Generally in an untimed game, if I'm playing fighters with arcs I do try to pin down most evasive ship first. I flip that in timed games though, against soontir/decimator I go for the deci first.

As far as ships like Palob are concerned, the rest of your opponents list will dictate priority, as well as positioning. Firepower is still firepower so don't rush into range one of a pair of btl y wings just to take shots at palob.

I realized I used a bunch of words to say "it really depends" but I hope it was somewhat useful

There is no one easy answer. That's what makes this a strategy game as opposed to an action game. That being said, I advise you to consider a number of things.

1) Which enemy ship will be the most difficult for you to deal with in the endgame?

2) Which enemy ship can you most easily eliminate, so as to reduce your enemies offensive potential?

3) Which enemy ship will be most disruptive to your battle plan?

4) What ship can you least afford to lose? What enemy ship poses the most danger to it?

And then, of course, as Catachanninja said, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy (Or with one's allies. Or with dice. Or the weather, for that matter, but you get the idea). Your opponent may use a high value target to bait you. You may have to make the difficult choice between shooting at a ship that's out of range of Biggs, or trying to eliminate Biggs altogether to avoid splitting firepower. Savvy opponents will use asteroids to force you into unfavorable engagements (Something I'm finally getting the hang of).

When I'm setting up I go through a few questions with myself to dictate my (general) priority during the match. By the way I've been flying Vess/Doomshuttle/dark curse/academy pilot for most of this years tourney seen so for examples I'll be assuming that's the list I'm flying.

1) is there a ship I can't beat in the endgame? My highest PS is 8 (VI Vess) so here I'm looking at ps9 arc Dodgers or ships with high damage mitigation because even if my strongest ship gets to 1-on-1 end game with these guys in not going to be able to beat them. My only chance of winning is therefore to remove this ship from the table whilst I have my whole fleet available. Whisper is an example here, as she can have a good go at soloing my list. It's happened before! Thus I see whisper I know I have to get her dealt with before j even consider his ther ships or it's good night sweetheart in the endgame.

2) damage output vs durability. Now durability is relevant to your list. A 3PO falcon is much more durable vs a 2 HLC list than it is vs a 8 tie swarm, so you really need to be familiar with your own lists capabilities to work this out. A good example here is a list I flew against in regionals. It was an X, a B, a E, an A and a Z. Now the B, E and X all had the same damage output but my list new it could kill the X easier than the B or the E so that's who I went for. Then the E, then the B, then the Z and finally the A. This game went to plan and I lost only the shuttle.

3) targets of opportunity. You can really only decide this after deployment but i may see that his palp shuttle has deployed exposed on its own. I know my fast fighters can capatalise on that given the shuttles lack of speed and destroy him in a turn or two.

4) Heat of the moment. Finally, don't get fixated on target priority. Sometimes something may pop up that is an iopportunity that has to be taken. Fel on a rock? Ion shot at someone pointing at th board edge? Recon spec/jam ors falcon just bump? Don't be so fixated on your preset priority that you blindly miss these golden opportunities.

That's about it really

Primary targets first. Your Palob's, your Carnors, your loaded for bear bombers, your fat hans. Stuff that needs to die before you become unable to kill it.

incidental targets that happen to be in arc when your primaries are not when possible, secondary aces like Leatin and Serissu that are less important.

Then everyone else.

I take a look at my squad and his, and figure out what the worst end game scenario is, and I try to avoid that. Often times that's not too helpful. For example, if I'm going against a Han/Corran list, I don't want to be in a 1 on 1 situation with either of those ships. Same thing with Whisper/Fel.

That said, most competent players know what end game scenario favors them, and will protect their end game piece in the early game. So more often than not, I go for what my opponent has given me. Which leads to the fact that I've developed a very fluid target prioritization, and actually will change my target round to round.

Let me explain that a bit more. As we shake hands and determine initiative, I evaluate what the ideal scenario would be. For example, if he is running a Palpmobile, Fel and Vader, the ideal scenario would be that I pop Fel in the opening engagement prior to the Palpmobile engaging, and then quickly get behind the palpmobile, prevent it from getting off more than one or two shots, and forcing Vader to change directions to continue the engagement. Finally, it's just a matter of time before Vader falls.

But once the pieces are placed, I'll notice that he has Fel and Vader on one side, and the Palpmobile on the other. This means that if I go for Palpy, Vader will be getting free shots the entire time, so that will dictate my speed - I will want to quickly close on Fel/Vader to keep the distance from the Shuttle. And then all of a sudden, he turns Fel away from the fight, so instead of taking the R3 shots on Fel, or the R2 that I won't be able to follow up with any damage the next turn, I'll end up shooting Vader at R1, even though he's not as big of a threat.

But now Vader is limping with 1 hull and disengaging. If I continue the chase on him, I'll expose myself to Fel and the Shuttle, so instead I allow Vader to escape will keeping the pressure of Fel. Typically if someone turns Fel away, it's difficult to re-engage with him if you keep the pressure on chasing him. But then in two turns, I may have done 1 damage to him, and have him sitting at R3 with 3 tokens... Or a Shuttle at R1 naked. I'm going to take the shots at the Shuttle - he's in my way, I can do some serious damage (what's the probability that I do damage to Fel with all that stuff... practically none).

And then the shuttle is temporarily useless. But all of a sudden Vader is re-engaging, so while I continue to chase Fel, I'll shoot at Vader to get him off the board. Eventually Fel's dice will seriously fail him, and then it's easy to mop up the Palpmobile with whatever I have left.

So, as you can see from this example, I will change my target priority based on threat and opportunity. If I have taken a R1 shot on Fel, and stripped the evade token, but he still has a focus token, is it worth it to follow it up with a R3 shot? More than likely that shot will do no damage. I'd prefer to split fire and shoot at a shuttle where I can do 1-2 damage. Sure, being at 3 shields 5 hull isn't that big of a deal... but it's preferable to 5 shields 5 hull and still a full health Fel, which is the most likely outcome from the "focus fire" option.

Mostly I prioritize my targets based on probable damage to my own forces.
For example: The B wing has to die before the Awing simply because the probable damage output is significantly higher.

Turret Ships -P1
Bomber- P1

Arc Dodgers -P2 (except for Phantoms)
Bread and butter ships (K fighters/Xwings/Head hunters)- P3

Basic Priority ratings.

Mostly I prioritize my targets based on probable damage to my own forces.

For example: The B wing has to die before the Awing simply because the probable damage output is significantly higher.

Turret Ships -P1

Bomber- P1

Arc Dodgers -P2 (except for Phantoms)

Bread and butter ships (K fighters/Xwings/Head hunters)- P3

Basic Priority ratings.

Except you contradict yourself right there. The Khiraxz and X wings are 3 dice fighters just like the B wing, and the A wing clearly falls under Arc Dodgers.

If Corran is on the table and you start shooting him no matter what DO NOT switch targets.

No matter what my plan starts off as, if I can focus fire and burn something down instead of spreading fire and taking a couple of low probability shots at a high priority target, I'll do it every time.

I don't have the greatest win record (usually win 50-75% of my swiss rounds and don't make the cut but I'm frequently the one loss that someone that made the cut had) so take that with a grain of salt.

He'd be a high cost lynchpin unit, so unless he is next to someone fatter yeah, i'd do him over first.

in general I'd go for the biggest threat - but if I feel that I've got a good opportunity to take a ship off the board that hasn't fired yet I'll take it.

As a small rule of thumb, i'd definitly go for the ships that can regenerate first (Miranda, ship with r2d2). Its much easier to take them with a lot of firepower when all your ships all still on the table than in an endgame where it's 1vs1. But as is said: it all depends on your own list (and your opponents offcourse )

I think it is best to use an importance hierarchy, just look through the list from top to bottom and shoot the highest ordered target that you have good shots on.

1) ships that hard counter you (ps 10 ten numb with mangler vs. an interceptor list)

2) ships you can remove from the board that haven't shot yet

3) ships the you can remove from the board that have shot already

4) lynchpin enemy ships (Howlrunner)

5) whatever's closest

I put lynchpin ships far down on the list because far too often I see people waste an entire round of shooting on trying to snipe a full health Howlrunner that is like range 3 with a focus when they could pretty handily remove several tie fighters that haven't shot yet. It's really tempting to remove the so called key to success, but it's very dangerous to become fixated on that ship and miss better targets, as removing ships is always the best shot.

Depends a lot on what my list is good at and what their list is meant to do. Sometimes the choice is easy, like flying a swarm and seeing a Decimator. Any time the decision is too difficult I base it on what presents a target first. For example, I'm not really sure if I should kill Dash or Corran first but if Corran gets ahead of himself I'll pounce on him with every gun I have. If Dash gets close I'll start hammering him instead. Either way I'll try to block Dash, but the actual target of my attacks will change from game to game.

Most of the time I focus fire, but if I have an Interceptor or Phantom it's pretty common for them to hunt down the biggest threat (Soontir, Corran, Vader, etc) and try to 1v1 them while everyone else chases easier targets. But even that can change a lot depending on who I'm playing and what they're running.

My general rule of thumb is figure out, worst case: what do I least want to get stuck with 1 on 1 in a potential end game?
Kill that first.

For me, at least, I've noticed that deployment has a big impact on who I will target down first.

But if several targets are equally easy to get in range of and begin firing at, the choice then becomes dependent on what each of us are flying.

Typically, what I've found though, is that I always go for easiest to kill and highest damage output ships first, then I turn my guns to the harder to kill high dice ships.

Soontir is a good example to work with. If there's a Soontir on the board and also, say an Advanced, I'll clear the Advanced first, then attack Soontir. You have to attack a target like Soontir early enough that you have enough dice throws to make his luck run out, but you also want to take out other high damaging ships first so they aren't having a hayday firing at a target that's not dealing damage back to their list.

Essentially, my game plan always revolves around first target the ships in my opponents list that will quickly drop his damage output, then attack his target that I don't want to be stuck with after my list has begun to get crippled.

1) Shoot Corran Horn first.

2) Keep shooting until he's dead.

3) Turn your attention to the strongest offensive threat remaining in your opponent's list.

4) Think better of that, go back and shoot Corran Horn a bit more.

5) Best not to take any chances, know what I mean?

6) Right, back to bloody Dash.

7) Did you see something move over there?

8) I'm pretty sure I saw something move over there.

9) Sod it, let's shoot Corran Horn again.

10) OK, it must have just been someone nudging an asteroid.

11) But while we're here we might as well shoot Corran Horn a while longer.

12) Right. I think we've seen the last of the sneaky regenerating ****.

13) No seriously, you can probably stop shooting Corran Horn now.

14) Oh alright, just a few more rounds.

15) Now gather up the dust that we've reduced Corran Horn to.

16) Carry them back to the rebel fleet.

17) Hold a full military funeral on the fighter deck of the carrier.

18) Rows upon rows of Rebel pilots solemnly bow their heads as a 21-gun salute is carried out.

19) A lone piper plays a mournful dirge as the capsule containing the final remains of one of the Rebellion's greatest heroes rises gently from the deck and drifts into the silent void of space, returning Corran Horn to the stars that birthed us all.

20) Shoot the ****ing coffin.

A general rule,

It is all in the manoeuvring, and provided you have moved so that you have good options in the next 1-2 rounds, then,

in any given round - go for the easiest way (target) to reduce your opponent's number of red dice.

I think there are 3 variables

• Which is the biggest threat tright now
• What will be the biggest threat in the end game (or impossible/hard to kill)
• Points

I usually prioritize targets by thinking about which one I would want to last until end game. Look at your list from their point of view, whichever ship stands out becomes priority No. 1.

You also have to be flexible. If Soontir runs and hides at Range 3 but Cherri is sitting on a rock at Range 1 in front of your formation, best believe Cherri is going to come out of it with some blast marks on his hull.

1) Shoot Corran Horn first.

2) Keep shooting until he's dead.

3) Turn your attention to the strongest offensive threat remaining in your opponent's list.

4) Think better of that, go back and shoot Corran Horn a bit more.

5) Best not to take any chances, know what I mean?

6) Right, back to bloody Dash.

7) Did you see something move over there?

8) I'm pretty sure I saw something move over there.

9) Sod it, let's shoot Corran Horn again.

10) OK, it must have just been someone nudging an asteroid.

11) But while we're here we might as well shoot Corran Horn a while longer.

12) Right. I think we've seen the last of the sneaky regenerating ****.

13) No seriously, you can probably stop shooting Corran Horn now.

14) Oh alright, just a few more rounds.

15) Now gather up the dust that we've reduced Corran Horn to.

16) Carry them back to the rebel fleet.

17) Hold a full military funeral on the fighter deck of the carrier.

18) Rows upon rows of Rebel pilots solemnly bow their heads as a 21-gun salute is carried out.

19) A lone piper plays a mournful dirge as the capsule containing the final remains of one of the Rebellion's greatest heroes rises gently from the deck and drifts into the silent void of space, returning Corran Horn to the stars that birthed us all.

20) Shoot the ****ing coffin.

Loved this post. Can't hit "like" enough!