I've been thinking about how best to use obstacles for the upcoming Massing at Sullust.

So far I've tried to stick them close to my starting zone so I can deliberately position my ships to move past them and then hope that enemy ships get caught on them as they try to turn back around.

Does anyone have best practices for obstacles? How do you make them work for your fleet?

I've been thinking about how best to use obstacles for the upcoming Massing at Sullust.

So far I've tried to stick them close to my starting zone so I can deliberately position my ships to move past them and then hope that enemy ships get caught on them as they try to turn back around.

Does anyone have best practices for obstacles? How do you make them work for your fleet?

Depends on who I'm facing and what I'm playing with, but generally I'll use obstacles to try and dictate the flow of battle by closing off one flank, or at least making it unattractive due to potential damage and obstruction.

Obstacle placement also depends greatly on where your opponent places his. If my opponent favors one side of the board, I'll work with that to try and make his placement work into my strategy.

Offset obstacles are a greater deterrent than just a line of them, also. Two obstacles in a line can be used to create a "door" that you know ships will try to fly through. Two obstacles in a line with a third offset to create a triangle creates a much less welcoming zone where a ship has to fly between them then make a sharp turn to avoid damage. This tends to drive ships around the flanks more than just two in a row.

If your opponent seems to favor the station, I like to place obstacles in such a way as to control the directions he can leave the station from, since he probably won't want to leave the station and immediately take a faceup damage card either.

Yeah, I like to channel movement with the station too. That is something you have to know your opponent likes though. I have a feeling I'm going to be playing a lot of new people at Sullust and I don't know their style. On the plus side they don't know mine.

Depends very much on the objective and respective fleets. There's no single way to use them IMO.

Yeah, I like to channel movement with the station too. That is something you have to know your opponent likes though. I have a feeling I'm going to be playing a lot of new people at Sullust and I don't know their style. On the plus side they don't know mine.

Presenting your opponent with tempting targets can help a lot when it comes time to get the most bang for your obstacle buck.

I tend to make them come to me, planting my ships near edges to discourage over-enthusiastic flankers.

Maybe run your ship in such a way that it looks like they'll be able to hit the station and get shots on you, then quickly move away to obstruct those shots and pick off his flankers.

Oldest trick in the book: Tell your enemy where you'll be, then don't be there. Of course making this work is a matter of practice and finesse.

A few tidbits that I do on obstacle placement.

If my opponent places the station, especially if its the first placement, I'll usually place a largish obstacle at distance one between his edge, and the station. If he wants to use the station, he's gotta work for it, and perhaps have a non-optimal path to or from it. I might even do a second one just to be difficult.

I might add an obstacle close to one my opponent placed on his side, in a / sort of shape, pointing toward the center of the board. It tends to funnel ships toward the middle, and many ships won't even try to go over there for deployment to begin with.

Clustering as many obstacles together can create a dead zone. Bonus points if you get it in the middle of the board. One time I had all 6 obstacles in an elongated angled blob in the middle. I was able to use the obstacles as if it was a board edge as my opponent came around a single side in force.