How many times have you seen any of the following?

"That list is good, if you can fly it well."
"A is ok, if you can fly him well."
"If you don't know how to fly it, you'll lose."
"You're flying badly if X happens."

I often see this written in posts discussing a list, a pilot, or a certain build for a pilot. Sometimes I see this written in response to a newer player or beginner - but I rarely if ever see any comments as to what flying well is or what it means. so, What does flying well or flying poorly actually mean? A lot of people say, I'll know it when I see it.

When I first heard "flying well" I assumed this meant - with no mistakes, but is that the end of it? And what are mistakes in flying? Is not flying well, the same as flying badly? I hope my thoughts on the subject can generate discussion as well as be useful to newer players to the game.

Mistakes in flying

• Unintentionally Landing on Obstacles
  - one of the more basic and obvious aspects of flying well, landing on obstacles means the loss of your actions - the more familiar with the game you are, the more you realize the importance of actions and action denial. Additionally, the threat of being unable to shoot or taking damage can be far worse than the action loss. There can be times to purposely land on obstacles, as the opponents won't expect you there (Dash Rendar / Feedback Array / Corran on a no shooting turn)
  
• Accidental bumping
  - another way to lose your actions, and if you bump the enemy you may lose a critical shot. You'll hear new and veteran players alike mourn an unintended bump. Purposely bumping on the other hand can protect your ships from incoming shots, set up future positioning or prevent your falcon from hitting an asteroid.
  
• Placing the wrong direction on the dial
  While it won't lose you an action - it can put you in a place to be shot, and lose a shot you might have had.
  
• Planning a Red maneuver while stressed
  Worse than the above, it gives control of your movement to your enemy, leaving you open to getting shot, losing your action, or taking damage from an obstacle or despairingly lose your ship to the following
  
• Flying off of the board
  The worst mistake that you can make, losing a full health ship in a single turn to a misjudgement.

We can see that the most basic mistakes all involve losing shots or actions. - Is that the core of flying poorly? or is there more? I think there is...

Beyond Beginner Mistakes

• Being predictable
  A large part of the game lies in the poker game of maneuvering - and when your opponent can read you, the game can go against you pretty hard, even with some luck of the dice on your side. If I know where you will be, I can shoot you, and I can steer clear of being shot by you.
  
  Some examples...
  Stressed Soontir Fel really likes the 2 hard green turns and the 4 straight.
  Whisper likes the Left/Right Decloak + 1 turn.
  Super Dash really likes to clear stress every turn (1/2 forward or 1 bank)
  Many players will avoid obstacles, possible bombs, or bumping your ships like the plague
  Many players will pick a green maneuver while they are stressed - double if the ship has an ability that causes it to become stressed often.
  Attack 2 ships really like to get into range 1.
  
  Playing against these patterns can get you into trouble against players who break these patterns - breaking them yourself will give many players quite a bit of trouble.
  
  
• Sacrificing future position for current position
  Much of the time, games are determined by attack line - the path your ships take - through the course of a game. When you make a sudden move to get out of arc, only to force yourself into arc for the following turns - or place yourself onto an asteroid or off the board a couple turns down the road - your following maneuvers can become predictable. At the end of a game (say when time is called) it can be worth planting yourself right in front of the board edge. You really need to keep in mind potential maneuver options for the following turn (or more if you can)
  
• Assigning Initiative poorly.
  The choice of initiative is tied directly to your and your opponents list - when you take initiative you give enemy pilots of equal skill the positioning advantage. When you give initiative to an enemy of equal skill, you let them fire first.
  
• Placing Obstacles Poorly.
  Obstacle placement has a large impact on many games - wide open areas being good for swarms and large ships - Dense fields being difficult to navigate. Articles can be written on asteroid placement and how it affects the game, If you've been placing them randomly - I recommend you do some research into that aspect of the game. At worst you place obstacles that are worse against your list than the opponents - things to keep in mind - type of obstacle and obstacle size.
  
• Having poor initial position.
  Poor placement of your initial ships can lead to all kinds of problems - from having predictable first moves, to bumping your own ships while flying in swarms (especially with mixed pilot skills) As well as give away your entire game plan. If you broadcast that you want to joust me, and I correctly understand your list is a jousting list, and mine isn't I can avoid jousting you. It also is incredibly important in determining your attack line
  
• Leaving ordnance in the tubes
  Some would say Ordnance is a mistake in general - but when we take them - we're taking a gamble that they will pay out in damage. If you take a Missile / Torp / Bomb and the ship carrying that upgrade is destroyed before it was used - you lost those points with NO gain. (There's a counterpoint here in that the threat of ordnance can affect how the enemy plays, and the best opportunity to fire (with stacked actions) doesn't come up, it can also be a mistake to fire ordnance at the earliest opportunity)
  
• Targeting priority
  Choosing who to attack is an important decision - as is when to switch targets, and if you should switch targets. Attacking the wrong target can cost you time and ships. Switching targets while firing at a regenerating target is almost always the wrong choice. There are also articles and posts about this - which I recommend googling if you wish to learn more.
  
• Choosing the wrong action
  This is one of the more difficult aspects of the game - When to Focus, Evade, Boost or Roll, When to Lock, Slam or Cloak. Some math can help you figure out the best average course of action - but there's something to be said for absolutes. This is something we often need to look at a game in hindsight to analyse. In general, Playing more conservatively when you are ahead is the right thing to do. This one just takes practice usually.
  
• Misusing Actions
  This is more a thing when you have synergies built in your list - and is really an addon to the above - this could be sending focus to the wrong ship with Kyle or Squad Leader. Or performing an action that's entirely useless, or forgetting to even perform an action. This ties in with the next post about forgetting about your cards and abilities.
  
• Stressing yourself needlessly
  This plays into losing actions, sacrificing position, and being predictable. Just because Soontir has PTL doesn't mean you must trigger it every turn. When you see an opponent with a stress tool (R3-A2, Rebel Captive) and your ship will be in trouble with out actions (Soontir / IG-88) it can be a bad idea to leave yourself open to being double stressed.

avoid any of the above, and you ought to be a lot closer to "flying well". There's obviously a lot more to this flying well thing than I thought - and it's a fairly deep topic. At the least, I think the following traits can help you to identify flying well when you see it.

Hallmarks of flying well.

- Never losing actions needlessly.

- Positioning with future purpose (not merely reacting to the current board state)

- Missing as few opportunities to attack as possible.

- Knowing when to play aggressively and when to play conservatively.

I can really only tell you what it means to me. If you have anything to add on the subject, please do! We can only really fly better than we were - and hope to make fewer play errors.

+ Forgetting about upgrade cards in general.

+ Forgetting about when to do what, like calling swarm tactics at the beginning of the combat round, decloaking, Horns second attack BEFORE your opponent removes all unused tokens ...

Flying well: knowing when and why you should execute a certain maneuver, action or ability, knowing your strengths and weaknesses and knowing who to target first with your list.

Pretty sure that what a lot of people mean by "if you can fly it well" is "don't roll blanks." There are certainly lists out there that have a higher skill floor required to be effective, but too often that kind of phrasing is used as a crutch to justify why some demonstrably underpowered ship or list is okay. "Just fly it better!" etc.

One of the things that I think actually constitutes flying well is being able to force your opponent to split fire between multiple targets more than they force you to do the same, or to take shots that aren't really in their best interest (trying to punch through a tanked up Soontir doesn't make sense if there's only one ship shooting at him this turn, etc.).

I think this is a good idea for new players. Combining some of the wisdom of more experienced players.

As a pilot who specializes in the flying circus, knowing when to go for the kill and when to break off. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor, even if the other guy only has Z-95's, a blocked Soontir is a dead Soontir.

Excellent idea for a thread - I know I fall prey to some of these, particularly not planning more than one turn ahead.

There are some lists that just require a greater degree of skill and familiarity with the game than others. Triple Interceptors, while without doubt a solid list, is not a forgiving thing to fly in any way, so player manoeuvring skill becomes notably more important than it would with more durable ships. If you fail to dodge an arc with an Interceptor, it's not going to go well for you...

Flying poorly: maneuvering to get to where your opponent _is_ rather than where they _will_ be.

Flying well is the opposite of that.

When I'm flying well, I see the board from my opponent's perspective first, see the range of options available to them, and then plan my moves to take advantage of those options. When I lose it's because I never thought about my opponent and just flew my own ships.

Knowing your strengths and weaknesses is really important.

Knowing your opponents strengths weaknesses and dials doubly so.

I liken flying well to what is meant by "shape" in pool/billiards. In pool, you strike the cue ball to make a shot - if you're mindful of "shape" - you think about your next shot before you take the shot at hand; reasoning where you would like the cue ball to end up afte the shot is taken (so that it is hopefully lined up for the follow-up shot).

IN order to develop good shape in pool, you have to have a good understanding of where the cue ball needs to go after you've taken your shot, and you need to have the skill to get it there.

Flying well, means (or so I have understood it) that you know where your ship should be after you move (position, heading, distance, etc) and you have the skill to get it there. It also means that you have some facility anticipating where you opponent's ships will be, so that you can line up your shot as effectively (both from an offensive and defensive stand point) as possible.

People who fly well, can do more with less because they are able to manufacture opportunities to strike from safer vantages - compensating for lower stats with better "shape".

If that makes any sense.

Only thing I can add to this excellent post: Know when to fly through an asteroid. I've always said the mark of a good player is knowing when to do this, its almost always unexpected when it does happen!

I liken flying well to what is meant by "shape" in pool/billiards. In pool, you strike the cue ball to make a shot - if you're mindful of "shape" - you think about your next shot before you take the shot at hand; reasoning where you would like the cue ball to end up afte the shot is taken (so that it is hopefully lined up for the follow-up shot).

IN order to develop good shape in pool, you have to have a good understanding of where the cue ball needs to go after you've taken your shot, and you need to have the skill to get it there.

Flying well, means (or so I have understood it) that you know where your ship should be after you move (position, heading, distance, etc) and you have the skill to get it there. It also means that you have some facility anticipating where you opponent's ships will be, so that you can line up your shot as effectively (both from an offensive and defensive stand point) as possible.

People who fly well, can do more with less because they are able to manufacture opportunities to strike from safer vantages - compensating for lower stats with better "shape".

If that makes any sense.

Hmm that's a really good analogy. I'm actually a really good pool player, too. Always want to think at least one shot ahead.

excellent post

I've always thought that "Flying well" is a very vague advice and sometimes also misused

Not that I completely disagree with all the comments above, but "Flying well" for me is a more basic term which refers to know your own ships maneuverability, if we set up a board with obstacles, most likely the path used by two different ships to go from point A to point B, should be also different in a way that is efficient for each one; then above that is Synergy handling, which means you use the pilot/ships abilities and upgrades on the right moment and then on top of those two you'll get the skill to predict your opponents maneuvers.

This is the beauty of X-Wing, it is simple but has deep game mechanics that goes above winning with list building or just plain dice luck (sssshhh, don't tell my dice I said that or they might get angry )

You must learn to use the skill like your farther before you, only then will you be a gamer knight.

If someone says, 'It's good, you just have to fly it well", they mean one of two things:

1.) It's a bad list. In other words, it's not a dumb fat turret or Soontir.

2.) They're a new player that thinks that things like a Super Phantom take skill because they constantly fly them onto asteroids. Same can be said for other easymode ships.

Lists that /actually/ 'Are good, you just need to fly well' lists are like 5x Autothruster Alpha. They benefit from specific flying skills that one can point to. The definition of, 'You just need to fly 5x Autothruster Alpha well' is making sure the initial engagement is range 3 so you take no damage with AT, and then closing to range 1 to kill things with 4 attack dice.

Flying a Biggs based list well means that he's always at range 3 and isn't always targetable so that way he's not just focused down immediately anyways.

If your opponent can't define exactly what they mean by, "It's good, you just have to fly it well" they have a suboptimal list. If they say, "It's good, you just have to fly it well" and their definition of flying well is simply not landing your Phantom on an asteroid, they're playing an easymode list that doesn't need to be flown well.

Flying poorly: maneuvering to get to where your opponent _is_ rather than where they _will_ be.

Flying well is the opposite of that.

When I'm flying well, I see the board from my opponent's perspective first, see the range of options available to them, and then plan my moves to take advantage of those options. When I lose it's because I never thought about my opponent and just flew my own ships.

^^ This.

For me, flying well is about predicting your opponents moves and counter moves, and also predicting when they will do something unexpected to try to not be predictable and then counter that too.

"Flying it well" is the standard code for "bad" but blames the player rather than the ship itself.
See: TIE Defenders.

flying well is also a lot about transcending dice

awesome jousting value don't mean **** if you got 3 A-wings on his one tie fighter and the rest are farting around without arcs on you

"Flying it well" is the standard code for "bad" but blames the player rather than the ship itself.

See: TIE Defenders.

A poor workman blames his tools.

"Flying it well" is the standard code for "bad" but blames the player rather than the ship itself.

See: TIE Defenders.

A poor workman blames his tools.

A good workman can tell when his tools are poor.

"Flying it well" is the standard code for "bad" but blames the player rather than the ship itself.

See: TIE Defenders.

A poor workman blames his tools.

A good workman can tell when his tools are poor.

a good workman would probably be working instead of playing x-wing

A lot of times "you just need to fly it well" is someone trying to brag (without realizing it) that they're so much better than their opponents that they can fly 6 Rebel Operatives and still win.

Pretty sure that what a lot of people mean by "if you can fly it well" is "don't roll blanks." There are certainly lists out there that have a higher skill floor required to be effective, but too often that kind of phrasing is used as a crutch to justify why some demonstrably underpowered ship or list is okay. "Just fly it better!" etc.

One of the things that I think actually constitutes flying well is being able to force your opponent to split fire between multiple targets more than they force you to do the same, or to take shots that aren't really in their best interest (trying to punch through a tanked up Soontir doesn't make sense if there's only one ship shooting at him this turn, etc.).

I don't think that people mean "Don't roll blanks" when they say something needs to be flown well, but that does remind me of something else that I see, especially with newer players.

Simply put, don't get too frustrated by singular variances in the dice. You're going to have games where either your dice fail to meet their expected results, or your opponent exceeds them.

Also, pay close attention to dice modifiers. Before complaining about how your dice were good or terrible, did you have focus tokens or target locks to aid you on those attacks? Were you spending most of the match stressed, and thus unable to take actions that would let you modify dice? I've had so many games where my opponents have complained that they had terrible dice, when what really happened was that they couldn't do anything with the eyeballs they kept rolling because they were stressed, or spent their action on a boost or barrel roll instead of focusing.

"Flying it well" is the standard code for "bad" but blames the player rather than the ship itself.

See: TIE Defenders.

A poor workman blames his tools.

A good workman can tell when his tools are poor.

Poor tool's could never win a tournament.

Does the defender have issues yes the T-70 clearly shows how they messed up the cost but it's far from unusable.

It's not the prefix tie advanced or the generic e-wing.