So I was re-reading the rulebook for peculiar rules and brush up before regionals and noticed this:

4. Place Obstacles: Starting with the player with initiative, each player chooses one obstacle token from the obstacles available and places it in the play area. The players place a total of six obstacle tokens. Obstacles cannot be placed at Range 1 of each other, or at Range 1–2 of an edge of the play area. After the sixth obstacle is placed, the player who does not have initiative chooses an edge of the play area to be his own; his opponent’s edge is the opposite side of the play area.

Link: https://images-cdn.fantasyflightgames.com/filer_public/40/b4/40b44d5f-7a06-406c-ae6e-183c5297e796/swx36_rulesreference.pdf

Does anyone know if there's something that overrules this? Has anyone ever seen someone choose a side other than what's in front of them?

Seems to me it'd be a sneaky strategy to place asteroids in a different manner knowing that you'll choose a different side as your own (if you don't have initiative). Thoughts?

The tournament rules don't include this element, and most people just play by those.

yeah in my experience at tournaments, sides seem to be in place before anything happens.

yeah in my experience at tournaments, sides seem to be in place before anything happens.

This isn't just your experience, it's the rules. Tournament rules go 'pick a side, place asteroids, place ships', whereas core rules go 'place asteroids, pick a side, place ships'.

The former is preferable partly because people don't need to move around the table and/or sit down in the wrong place, as well as because asteroid placement is a valuable part of the strategy of the game, it's important to allow people to control where their asteroids are relative to their start position.

Being fairly new to the game, can someone point me in the direction of a discussion on obstacle placement strategy? Thanks!

More a treatise than a discussion, but: Paul Heaver wrote about this for FFG a while back.

Being fairly new to the game, can someone point me in the direction of a discussion on obstacle placement strategy? Thanks!

This is an article from Paul Heaver on obstacle strategy:

https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/news/2014/3/20/turn-zero/

Edit:

Being fairly new to the game, can someone point me in the direction of a discussion on obstacle placement strategy? Thanks!

I thought this one was good.

Logistically it would be a nightmare, but if the tourney rules did follow the Core regarding choosing sides it would add a whole other dimension to obstacle placement. Similar to the old conflict resolution strategy of having party A divide the pie, but party B decides which piece to take first.

On a similar note: Is it legal and/or has anyone ever seen someone use a huge ship in lieu of his/her obstacles at a tourney? Pretty sure the answer is No but.............

Logistically it would be a nightmare, but if the tourney rules did follow the Core regarding choosing sides it would add a whole other dimension to obstacle placement. Similar to the old conflict resolution strategy of having party A divide the pie, but party B decides which piece to take first.

On a similar note: Is it legal and/or has anyone ever seen someone use a huge ship in lieu of his/her obstacles at a tourney? Pretty sure the answer is No but.............

Not legal per the tourney rules, which only permit the asteroids from the core sets and the debris fields from the Decimator and YT2400.

Can't u place asteroids at range 1 of the edges, because at range 1-2 they almost always end up being all centered in the middle in some random way.

Thanks

Always range two of the edges ... six obstacles work out ok with that measurement.

And no closer than range one of each other.

12 hours ago, "Quickdraw" said:

Can't u place asteroids at range 1 of the edges, because at range 1-2 they almost always end up being all centered in the middle in some random way.

Thanks

Step 4 of the Setup. Rules Reference, page 18

Quote

Place Obstacles: In player order, players take turns choosing an obstacle and placing it into the play area until all six obstacles have been placed. Obstacles must be placed beyond range 1 of each other and beyond range 2 of each edge of the play area.

@JediRush24 Beyond those ranges.

Same thing different words lol all good

3 hours ago, JediRush24 said:

Same thing different words lol all good

Its not, actually. The way you stated it, is 'within' range one or two, meaning anywhere within that range. It cant even be *at* those ranges. It has to be entirely beyond those ranges.

Quote

◊ At: An object is at a specified range if the closest point of it is inside that range.
◊ Within: An object is within a specified range if the entirety of it is inside that range.
◊ Beyond : An object is beyond a specified range if no part of it is between the specified range and the object range is being measured

Not saying beyond isnt what you meant, but correct phrasing its kind of important in this game when referring to the rules, especially talking to less experienced players.