Obligation to engage?

By Calibri Garamond, in X-Wing

Played a game a few nights ago and a sitatuation of sorts occured.

I was flying Vessery, Omega Leader and Redline and my opponent was flying 3 Contracted Scouts with torpedoes and some other stuff. Rocks were placed in a pretty close formation on one half of the board. My opponent set up in his right corner and I set up in the opposite one with the rocks between us, closer to my starting position. 5-6 rounds in it was becomming very clear that netiher of us would engage on the other players terms. I was hanging out in the asteriodfield and hoping to draw him in whilst my opponent was doing short turns and barrel rolling back to his starting position in the open portion of the map. We both clearly recogniced the fact that my ships were stronger in the asteroids and his better off in the clear.

At around that point my opponent called me out and told me I was booring. According to his reasoning I should have been the one to engage on his term because I had higher pilot skill and more manouevrable ships. Eventually we sort of moved slowly towards eachother and engaged at the edge of the rock-field. He had a fun list and was playing it well but at this time we had played for about 90 mins and I really needed to get some sleep. The game was far from over when I had to leave and it ended up beeing a massive waste of both our times...

Now, I guess I have two questions.

1) How to avoid this situation without playing like and idiot?

2) Would you say someone of us had more of and obligation than the other to engage? If so, why?

1. Play with the 75 minute timelimit. You will both be forced to score points in the match in order to win.
2. No. If neither of you wants to try and take the win, you can "play" for a draw in that manner.

And here we go, again. Again.

Neither of you has an obligation to be the one to make the first move. Your opponent was absolutely being as boring as you were.

Played a game a few nights ago and a sitatuation of sorts occured.

I was flying Vessery, Omega Leader and Redline and my opponent was flying 3 Contracted Scouts with torpedoes and some other stuff. Rocks were placed in a pretty close formation on one half of the board. My opponent set up in his right corner and I set up in the opposite one with the rocks between us, closer to my starting position. 5-6 rounds in it was becomming very clear that netiher of us would engage on the other players terms. I was hanging out in the asteriodfield and hoping to draw him in whilst my opponent was doing short turns and barrel rolling back to his starting position in the open portion of the map. We both clearly recogniced the fact that my ships were stronger in the asteroids and his better off in the clear.

At around that point my opponent called me out and told me I was booring. According to his reasoning I should have been the one to engage on his term because I had higher pilot skill and more manouevrable ships. Eventually we sort of moved slowly towards eachother and engaged at the edge of the rock-field. He had a fun list and was playing it well but at this time we had played for about 90 mins and I really needed to get some sleep. The game was far from over when I had to leave and it ended up beeing a massive waste of both our times...

Now, I guess I have two questions.

1) How to avoid this situation without playing like and idiot?

2) Would you say someone of us had more of and obligation than the other to engage? If so, why?

In a casual game, whatever you guys want.

In a tournament game, if you guys do this for the entire length of the game you both just get a draw. Don't see the problem with that, you may have to do some tournament scoring math to see if that would be more beneficial than risking a straight loss.

1. Play with the 75 minute timelimit. You will both be forced to score points in the match in order to win.

2. No. If neither of you wants to try and take the win, you can "play" for a draw in that manner.

Agreed.

I have learned to avoid engaging on my opponent's terms but having a time limit forces action.

my opponent was doing short turns and barrel rolling back to his starting position...

my opponent called me out and told me I was booring.

lolol.

he was doing the same thing you were doing, but he wanted to goad you into doing something that was to his advantage. That's literally all there was to it.

According to his reasoning I should have been the one to engage on his term because I had higher pilot skill and more manouevrable ships.

"reasoning" implies some sort of reason, whereas he was straight making stuff up on the spot to his benefit.

Played a game a few nights ago and a sitatuation of sorts occured.

I was flying Vessery, Omega Leader and Redline and my opponent was flying 3 Contracted Scouts with torpedoes and some other stuff....

[insert Cool Story]

... At around that point my opponent called me out and told me I was booring. According to his reasoning I should have been the one to engage on his term because I had higher pilot skill and more manouevrable ships.

More maneuverable? That seems arguable. Contracted Scouts have a great dial (certainly better than a Punisher) and as many post maneuver repositioning options as your ships did.

2) Would you say someone of us had more of and obligation than the other to engage? If so, why?

No, neither side is obligated to make mistakes or play to the other guys strength especially if doing so lets him play to your weakness.

It does sound like a bit of a boring game but that was as much his fault as yours. He refused to engage you for the same reasons you refused to engage him.

At that point I'd likely call it a draw and go from there, assuming it was a casual game.

And here we go, again. Again.

It's a tricky proposition - you're effectively playing chicken with each other and the clock. As you get better it's going to come up less, because you'll get eg better at recognising the other list wants clear space, and scatter rocks accordingly. Likewise, some parings of lists really do end up playing for time - but the question on either players mind is how many rounds (and thus how long) they need to rush forward and take the kill it two to win.

Not my favorite games, but legitimate - and once you both know the score, pretty Dang tense. ;)

1) Try to time your approach when his ships will be facing the wrong way? Should be possible.

For a casual game? Honestly? Run your butt in there and see what you can do. You learn something even by losing.

I would have logged out a lot sooner than you did. Refusing to play is the same as sitting in a room staring at each other. If you can't beat a list unless that list makes a mistake then maybe your list needs work. If you just want to fly around and practice maneuvering then don't open a game and play on your own.

I would have asked if my opponent wants to restart and then do a wholly different set up or just leave the game.

I saw that game. You were both equally disinterested in engaging, so I'm not going to call either of you out on it. For some constructive criticism I'd say you could've set up to get out of the asteroids and get a jump on him, dealing some heavy damage and possibly taking one out when he was unable to shoot torpedoes back at you. He could've split his ships up and wrapped around the asteroids to chase you out, but he was just as adamant about keeping his ships in a line facing the same way as you were to hugging the asteroids. You both had options, perhaps not optimal, but if all one does is seek the optimal play, shoot without getting shot, there won't be a game.

You could've just called it a day and moved on or reset the asteroids and restarted. Or this

Run your butt in there and see what you can do. You learn something even by losing.

You both had options, perhaps not optimal, but if all one does is seek the optimal play, shoot without getting shot, there won't be a game.

But when both sides have sub-optional options, who should be the one to take them and maybe give the other guy an advantage?

You could say both sides are equally responsible, so who should take the first move? I'd honestly be inclined to say that the first one to complain should be the one who makes the first move.

Edited by VanorDM

It's never your obligation to fly into your opponent's trap.

Any spectators should just declare you equal losers! You aren't really selling new players on the game.

Any spectators should just declare you equal losers! You aren't really selling new players on the game.

Given the 3 scouts, I'm assuming it was a vassal match, which means there probably weren't a whole lot of new players spectating.

Ha anyone remember playing the game the Army made? America's Army? It was similar to counterstrike but they put in a text parser that would immediately change the word 'camping' to 'using tactics'. So whenever someone got said something like 'stop camping', it would instead print 'stop using tactics'.

That being said, waiting for your opponent to make the first move is perfectly valid. But if there isn't anything like a time limit or a default winner (some sort of objective), then it will just go on forever.

Perhaps take the opportunity to consider your rock placement a bit more if you only felt you had the advantage on half the board. A bit more spread out would have made your opponent not have a clear lane to wait in.

Ha anyone remember playing the game the Army made? America's Army? It was similar to counterstrike but they put in a text parser that would immediately change the word 'camping' to 'using tactics'. So whenever someone got said something like 'stop camping', it would instead print 'stop using tactics'.

That being said, waiting for your opponent to make the first move is perfectly valid. But if there isn't anything like a time limit or a default winner (some sort of objective), then it will just go on forever.

Once while playing a total war game I got besieged and knew I could win hands down with an auto resolve. I accidentally clicked the direct control option and the bot never even tried to attack me. I could have won if they had but I couldn't win if I attacked. The worst part was that I hadn't enabled time limits so no chance of me winning on the clock, I was stuck in a losing game. Time limits are necessary is all I'm saying.

Edited by McFoy

I should probably say that I'm not new to the game at all. Neither was my opponent as far as I could tell.

Some time-limit and a looser rock placement seems like good suggestions. And yes it was a Vassal match.

Weirdly we actually had a few spectators. hah.

You both had options, perhaps not optimal, but if all one does is seek the optimal play, shoot without getting shot, there won't be a game.

But when both sides have sub-optional options, who should be the one to take them and maybe give the other guy an advantage?You could say both sides are equally responsible, so who should take the first move? I'd honestly be inclined to say that the first one to complain should be the one who makes the first move.

Sub-optimal does not imply bad. If both you and your opponent ends up following your plans, but neither of you are making any contact, then you have to change approach. You don't have to give up and follow your opponent's plans, instead you can disrupt them. Make an unexpected move, attack from a different angle, set up a bait, there are plenty of tools available that can affect yours or your opponent's plans. Don't be afraid to try. It was a casual game, that's what it's for.

If your not gonna engage why even set up?

In war having the initiative is a massive advantage by taking charge and putting the other guy on the back foot you dictate the flow of battle.

No one's ever won a war by being timid.

Hit first hit hard and don't let up till the other guys dead at your feet.

Played a game a few nights ago and a sitatuation of sorts occured.

I was flying Vessery, Omega Leader and Redline and my opponent was flying 3 Contracted Scouts with torpedoes and some other stuff. Rocks were placed in a pretty close formation on one half of the board. My opponent set up in his right corner and I set up in the opposite one with the rocks between us, closer to my starting position. 5-6 rounds in it was becomming very clear that netiher of us would engage on the other players terms. I was hanging out in the asteriodfield and hoping to draw him in whilst my opponent was doing short turns and barrel rolling back to his starting position in the open portion of the map. We both clearly recogniced the fact that my ships were stronger in the asteroids and his better off in the clear.

At around that point my opponent called me out and told me I was booring. According to his reasoning I should have been the one to engage on his term because I had higher pilot skill and more manouevrable ships. Eventually we sort of moved slowly towards eachother and engaged at the edge of the rock-field. He had a fun list and was playing it well but at this time we had played for about 90 mins and I really needed to get some sleep. The game was far from over when I had to leave and it ended up beeing a massive waste of both our times...

Now, I guess I have two questions.

1) How to avoid this situation without playing like and idiot?

2) Would you say someone of us had more of and obligation than the other to engage? If so, why?

What the vassal league has been using is a round limit of 19. 0-0 points destroyed would be a tie, which is unsatisfying for this case. I think that in elimination matches the winner is the player with initiative, so I'd go with that.

Now, whomever doesn't have init has an incentive to break the stalemate.