Hello,

I was reading the Regulation and I don't understand 2 points in it:

Custom “setup” templates designed to aid players in ship deployment are not allowed. Players can only use their range rulers and maneuver templates to help them set up formations during deployment.

and

Players place their ships in ascending order of pilot skill as per standard X-Wing rules. Players cannot use maneuver templates for anything other than measuring distance and spacing within Range 1 of that player’s edge.

How do I measure Range 1 with a maneuver template? What does "spacing" mean? That I can roll it across the edge measuring Range 1 and determining the distance between 2 ships? Does that also mean I can use 1-forward to place my ships from the edge, because we all know 1-forward is shorter than Range 1. If this is correct, could I use Hard 1, for example?

Also, if two of my ships are of the same pilot skill, can I place them "simultaneously" -I place one, then I place second and adjust the first one I placed? Probably not, but I want to be sure.

I am not trying to cheat in any way and I have always only used the range ruler, but the wording confused me.

Thanks.

You could potentially do all these things, yes, but the most common use of manoeuvre templates during setup is to get the spacing right for a swarm. IIRC, in theory, and if you avoid knocking them by accident, setting up your swarm the width of a straight template apart from one another should allow them to manoeuvre without bumping, but to keep them as tight together as possible for easier flying through the asteroids.

If you're placing two of the same PS it shouldn't be problematic to place one then the other than readjust the first a bit - but you can't change any ships you already placed before that PS.

Some players have very precise starting formations, either because they have a particular opening strategy or because they want to be sure they have access to particular maneuvers.

As one example, say you want to put a TIE swarm down, and you want to make sure they can bank without colliding. You need about half the width of a ship base between them, so you could use the width of one of your maneuver templates to space them out correctly.

As another example, you want your Lambda-class shuttle to advanced slowly, but you also want as much coverage as you can with your firing arc (that is, you don't want to make it easy to sneak past your arc on the left or the right). If you place it just a bit further than the 2-straight template from the edge of the map, you can start out with a 1-bank toward that edge and then use your 2-turn on the following round. You end up with your shuttle still on the map, approaching the center of the play area at a 45-degree angle. It's a useful "starting" position if you want to maximize the number of attacks you can get.

The second sentence means that you are not allowed to put a ship and then check where it would go with bank-3 maneuvers (because you thought it would be a good start but you are not sure which way you would prefer to go..). Though you are still allowed to use them within range 1 to measure distance and/or spacing - nothing more (so you are not allowed to "try" a hard 1 turn as per above).

This might make more sense:

Ages ago, we had a thing called generic-wing. Pilot abilities and what not were vastly underpowered and overcosted compared to lots of generic ships..... such as 7 AP + howlrunner or BBBBZ. Formations were extremely important. Something like the pinwheel lets you perform banks together, but if you mess up your spacing, they end up crashing into each other.