I'm going to lay out various opening plays, when you would use them and why...

Because the more I play this game, the more I am convinced that the outcome of the game depends most heavily on initial position and approach, (Initial position includes obstacle placement) and not so much on the list you bring. Ranking something like the following...

Initial position > approach > targeting choice > RNG (dice & modifications).

I'm convinced that you can win with any reasonable list, regardless of the list matchup. (Although, what is reasonable, may be cause for debate, so as an example I'd consider 6 naked HWK-290's to be an unreasonable list) List matchup itself doesn't appear in the list above, because it adjusts the importance of those key things above.

So - starting from this premise - What openings can you perform? (initial move from initial position)

It's going to be highly dependent upon your initial position, which will depend somewhat upon your pilot skill in relation to you opponents, as higher pilot skill will place with more information, but, no matter the actual initial position there are actually only a few options for your opening moves. This is because we have a limited number of starting positions and a limited number of maneuver templates. Of course, some openings will be stronger / weaker depending on that initial position.

Opening Moves
0. The Neutral Approach
- Moving your squad forward at a median speed.

When to do it: This will often give the advantage to the opponent's opening but is safe against another neutral approach. It's also useful when you want to rush / delay, but are afraid of overcommiting. If your opponent also rushes, the neutral approach can help control range of engagement. It's also flexible enough to commit to an opening on your second move.

1. The Rush
- Moving your squad forward at full speed. The goal is to close your ships range with the enemies as quickly as possible. often involves using a 4-5 speed straight or 3 bank.

When to do it: You judge your squadron to be likely to win in a straight up joust. You think the opponent will attempt a bait and switch or flank, and can catch an element of their squadron before they are actually ready to engage. It's also used when you need to race for a good position amongst obstacles.

More difficult to accomplish, but if you believe you can judge the opponents opening, you can also use the rush to skip combat at range 2-3 and open with combat at range 1. (some of your elements may end up at range 2) This can also be used to block an opponents formation and deny actions.

2. The Delay
- Moving your squad very slowly or not at all. The goal is to watch the opponents squadron, and discern what their opening plans are. accomplished by using self bumping, stop maneuvers, k-turns, sideways facing etc...

When to do it: You're facing a new opponent or squadron, and you want to develop a better approach. You want to pull the location of the engagement towards your current position - this could be for many reasons, for example, pulling a swarm through a group of obstacles. It's also useful for keeping a battle in front of a lumbering ship (yv-666 or shuttle)

3. The Strafe
- Turning your squadron slightly, to set up an encircling battle. The goal is to be able to circle about the opponent, very good for avoiding fire while concentrating turret fire. Often requires 45-90 degree angle of approach to your opponents ships, that you'll have to turn into.

When to do it: You've got turrets that don't need / want / can't k-turn. Your opponent wants to joust you, and don't want to joust them. Occasionally you can use a non turret ship to do this (Lt. Lorrir / Echo).


4. The Flank
- Splitting your squad / breaking formation. The goal is to force the opponents to choose a squadron element to engage, and to bring all of your squadron together on the same turn. Accomplished by moving your ships in different directions (or starting ships in different positions Your opponent will choose which part of your force is on the flank, as the group they do not target

When to do it: When your opponent is not going to joust - a jousting opponent will be able to joust against a portion of your list, and likely kill it quickly. When you want to know your opponents targeting priority or force your opponent to commit to a target. Or when you want to try to split your opponents forces. Be careful of letting a jousting element get rushed.

(you can further use this to feint into a bait and switch, in order to pull a jousting list, additionally a variant of this can be achieved by delaying a specific ship, and moving it behind your leading formation)

5. The Formation
- moving into a formation. The goal is to create a larger formation than you can build within the space given in your starting area. Accomplished by turning ships in/ self bumping, and practice - you will need to know your starting positions fairly precisely.

When to do it: When your opponent cannot out joust you. When your opponent does not have anti formation weapons (e.g. assault missiles) When you have tight range force multipliers (e.g. howl runner).

Can be used to feint into a bait and switch or a delay. There are many types of formations (Block, staggered, finger four, pinwheel, column, conga, ranks)

6. The Bait and Switch
- Dangling a high value target. The goal is to influence the opponents targeting priority and or draw / split the opponents force out as you bring your force together. often accomplished by turning a lone / pair of fighters to move across your deployment zone, while delaying the other fighters.

When to do it: When you set up without full knowledge of the opponents position, or have units you need to bring together from a split deployment. When you can entice your opponent to rush through obstacles to get to you. When you know your opponents targeting priority. When you think your opponent may attempt to flank, and you can then outflank them.

Can be used to feint for a rush / delay or flank.

7. The Feint
- Pretending to do one of the above. The goal is to cause your opponent to react to an opening you are not performing. Accomplished by positioning - or performing one opening on turn 1, and moving into an opposite opening on turn 2 (Delay followed by Rush, Rush followed by delay. Neutral followed by split, formation followed by delay....)

When to do it: When you think your opponent will react to your opening, or predict your opening.

8. The False Feint*
- Pretending to Pretend to do one of the above. The goal is to cause your opponent to react to your feint. Accomplished by your opponent reading too much into your opening.

When to do it: when your opponent believes you are going to feint. - This is layer 2 thinking - You're deep in the poker game here. You must be aware that your opponent believes you are going to feint - otherwise your opponent is properly reading your intent, and can counter.

There are probably a few other openings - but I feel most will fit fairly closely in line with these.

(Let's also include some quick nomenclature for describing games and further discussion, if we can standardize some of this, it may make discussions without images easier...)

Obstacles

A - Open/Sparse B - Mixed / Mini cluster + sparse C - Closed/Dense
1 lanes (i. horizontal ii. diagonal iii. vertical)
2 Corners (i. box edges ii. center pair iii. corner pair)
3 Tri-force (triangle in triangle)
4 Circle (i. center filled ii. center open)
5 Cross
6 Chevron
(Most fields can be described fairly well with the above, at some rotation. Debris will often make the field feel more open.)

Initial Placement
Facing - Forward, Neutral Edge (Left / Right), Diagonal (Left/Right), Mixed
Formation - Tight (box, finger 4, fortress), Wingmen (Pairs of ships), Loose (individual ships)
Location - Left, Center Left, Middle, Center right, Right, Spread / Mixed


Now you have plenty of language to talk about your openings - Next time you lose a game, step back and think about your opponents initial position and yours, was your opening correct?

Having trouble with triple jumpmasters? That's a game that relies heavily on either out jousting (p.s. 4 and lots of health and attacks to drop a jumpmaster before it fires) or on blocking / ranging the ships - if they have range 2/3 torps and you can jump from just outside of range 3 into range 1 - you'll have some advantage. Likewise if you can force them across obstacles to lose focus, or force them after a target that can run away while you flank, such alpha strike lists absolutely need to start with a strong opening.

I normally find the Corellian Gambit to be particularly effective, but lately I've been dancing my opponents to death with the Headhunter Minuet.

Great post. I've lost more than one game where I was sure that I lost during deployment.

However, i think this is the kind of subject that could be better addressed in a blog. There's a lot of depth to explore here.

8. The False Feint*

- Pretending to Pretend to do one of the above.

When I read this all I keep hearing in my mind is Henry Winkler in "Waterboy"

"He fakes. No, he thinks about faking. He pretends to fake."

But seriously, very nice write up.

Yeah, that initial setup for combat can be life or death.

And I've definitely used a few of these concepts - set up a fighter on the edge of an obstacle field, and instead of going forward, doing a hard-turn...enemy swerves to intercept. Next turn he k-turns to face back the way he came, and the enemy is now in the middle of the obstacle field for my approach to battle. Beautiful when it works!

...but then I love, love fighting in a dense asteroid field.

Which is really part of the question, too. Wasn't it Heaver that coined the phrase 'turn 0' as being a major decider of the match? IE., the obstacle setup? Whenever I play an enemy who starts his rock placement by just tossing it onto the mat, I'm like...oh, I've got this game...

Thank you for writing this all down!
I often struggle with which opening to follow. Usually I only rush if I can catch part of my opponents fleet and defeat it in detail before he can support it. Otherwise I like to strafe and flank. #AWingsForever

great post. yes i agree the approach is key in most games. range control too. i try to visualise where i want the first exchange to take place during set-up of obstacles/placement of ships. im experimenting now with a closing-herding sort of tactic vs high agility ships that try an flank you.

There's some other engagement openings.

Ex. I've noticed in palp aces vs jump masters you have to set the shuttle to run away along your board edge sideways. The little bit of extra jousting it provides is not enough to overcome the death of the shuttle if the uboats turn on the shuttle. Then Soontir and Vader have to do their elaborate dance for ages.

There's some other engagement openings.

Ex. I've noticed in palp aces vs jump masters you have to set the shuttle to run away along your board edge sideways. The little bit of extra jousting it provides is not enough to overcome the death of the shuttle if the uboats turn on the shuttle. Then Soontir and Vader have to do their elaborate dance for ages.

I figured that one would fall into "the delay" opening - there are definitely times when you have a particular unit you plan to utilize the most in the 'late game', after breaking up the enemy formation or taking the initial joust, that you don't suspect would survive that joust...so having it 'run along the back wall' a bit can help keep it around.

Yeah, you can abstract the categories to include the soontir dance being a kind of combination of strafe/delay, but there are more other openings that are a bit less useful / more advanced / more specific.

Such as the retreat (running units away) but that's usually a delay tactic, as otherwise it can signal you had a poor setup, and you may not be able to recover. It's also similar to a bait and switch.

There's also the net - 4-8 ships at range 1-2 ish of each other, going straight forward, often increasing speed on the units far from battle and decreasing those where the opponent vectors, so that you can encircle / engage on all sides. Works better with more ships. It could fall under formation.

One thing, is that your opening move has a lot to do with either reading the opponent, or setting up an approach. The idea being to execute a strategy. It requires a more in depth discussion of positioning - which can be very case by case.

Whenever I play an enemy who starts his rock placement by just tossing it onto the mat, I'm like...oh, I've got this game...

Sometimes he's just that good, though. I personally smile when I see people sticking their asteroids as close to the corners as possible, as that's a surefire sign they're terrified of them. Put one in the middle and one between that and a corner one, and there's your angle of approach.

Nice overview of setups.

But as a beginner I'd love a more detailed guide (with pictures) about asteroid deployment and these different positions and opening moves.

I've often read how important setup is, but there seems to be so little to find about this and x-wing tactics overall.

I know I can choose to place my asteroids in the corners if I don't want them to be in the way, or put them spread in the middle if I do want them in the way, but I only control 3 of the 6 so the placement always ends up feeling like a random field to me.

but I only control 3 of the 6 so the placement always ends up feeling like a random field to me.

That's sort of the point from a game design perspective. As for only controlling half you can adapt certain strategies as the placement happens. If you start by putting a rock in the corner if your opponent responds in the middle you should still be able to push the cluster towards the initial corner or towards one side. The end goal of corner rocks is room to fly so likely you want to make a gap and set up opposite it so you can engage within the bubble by angling that way on approach.

The general idea is 'do I want to fly in the rocks or in open space' and tighten, push, or spread the cluster according to those simple mindsets.

...but I only control 3 of the 6 so the placement always ends up feeling like a random field to me.

At least one part of that key ties to initiative. Unless your list lives or dies by shooting first, you USUALLY want the enemy to have initiative (IE., place first rock, move first, shoot first).

Because the rock placement goes back and forth - if they are placing the first rock, it means you are placing the last. And placing that last rock can be CRITICAL to the game.

And that's really what 'turn 0' is all about - you are right, you only place 3 of the 6 obstacles. But that is absolutely enough (especially now that you can even CHOOSE what 3 of the 6 obstacles are...that's a recent thing!) to have a big impact on the resulting battle space.

Even with just 3 rocks, you can help decide the question...do you want the field to be tight? If so, your enemy placing first is great - place your next near that, and nearer the center of the field (or edge of choice if he went for the center). You can decide which part of the map to make 'really dense' as you go...ships set up AFTER the rocks, after all, so you plan accordingly. Do you want the field wide open? Then place your rocks as close to the far corner of the map as you can. etc.

Seriously, learn the impact of that 'turn 0' setup...it is a huge deal for determining how the battle goes. And then learn (per this thread) how your 'opening moves' interact with that.

The game isn't quite chess, but it's got a rather surprising number of parallels!

It's impossible to win a game in turn 0. Losing it however is definately something to be wary of.

Especially in an otherwise even match. I've had multiple games where the lists matched up well for both of us to have a good chance, we've both flown well but one of us handed positional advantage to the other guy before the first dial was even set.

As for rock placement. I always "just throw" mine. You can be sure I know pretty much where it's going though. Opponents are welcome to get over confident.. Same as when I "accidentally" put a Howlrunner in front of my acadamies.. Easily fixed in flight but has been known to give my opponent a deadly 'rush of blood' trying to capitalise on my 'mistake'.

I do love the mind games of Xwing and they certainly start turn 0.

Indeed. This is very good theory work!

Essentially, my thought process on deployment starts with comparing the two squads. There are a default set of questions to ask:

1) which squad sets up the bulk of its ships second?

2) which squad should win in an unsophisticated head-on joust?

3) does the enemy squad include a ship which I categorically cannot allow to reach a one-on-one end game, such as Vader or Poe?

4) which squad is benefitted most by the initial shots being at range 3 (autothruster squints, torpedo boats)?

5) which squad is benefitted most by the initial shots being at range 1 (2 dice attack ships, autoblasters)?

6) do I have the speed to force an engagement on my terms?

7) which squad us most inconvenienced by tightly packed obstacles (large ships, swarms)

This isn't a simple yes/no/do this then, but it makes you address the things you need to think about. If you set up second, have the speed advantage, want to be at close range, and can win a joust (lets say twin laser turret thugs versus R2 blue novices), then tactics pretty much go out the window for the first turn or so.

Seriously, learn the impact of that 'turn 0' setup...it is a huge deal for determining how the battle goes. And then learn (per this thread) how your 'opening moves' interact with that.

The game isn't quite chess, but it's got a rather surprising number of parallels!

(edit:something went wrong with the multiquote)

Thanks that should help me feel less random about placements!

I don't remember chess allowing quite as much flexibility in where the playing pieces begin the game.

I always put my debris clouds in front of the rooks, a stressed rook is a dead rook.

Seriously, learn the impact of that 'turn 0' setup...it is a huge deal for determining how the battle goes. And then learn (per this thread) how your 'opening moves' interact with that. The game isn't quite chess, but it's got a rather surprising number of parallels!

I don't remember chess allowing quite as much flexibility in where the playing pieces begin the game.

True, but ultimately there are relatively few options - any ship can set up opposite the enemy squad or on the other flank (or centre or flank if the key bit of their squad hasnt deployed yet), and facing them or along their board edge.