Back in the old days, when the game was new, people still flew large lists of generic ships, and often they set up across from each other and flew in straight lines. Not only that, some players kept stubbornly beating their heads against the problem of ordnance.

In fact, here's the first tournament list I ever flew:

I won't insult your intelligence by explaining why, in a metagame environment dominated by TIE swarms and where the threshold for a modified win was 33 points, that list did not catch on with my friends or opponents.

Nevertheless, it means I've spent a lot of time thinking about how to close range, and I've been doing it for longer than most of you whippersnappers. In fact, I've been doing it so long that some of the old conventional wisdom has fallen away from the set of things new players learn about tactics--even though some of it is really useful.

In that vein, here's the Rule of 11.

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If you lay three range rulers from end to end, you'll find they cover the width of the standard X-wing play area from one edge to the other. (Actually, you probably won't find that: the range ruler is 300 millimeters long, and if you're playing on an official FFG mat, the play area is 36 inches or 914 millimeters long. But set aside those extra 14mm for the moment.)

So we know the mat is 9 range increments from edge to opposite edge. Each player's deployment zone is 1 increment deep, which means there are 7 range increments between the front of my deployment zone and the front of your deployment zone. Each range increment is 100mm long, or 2.5 times the length of a small ship base. 7 x 2.5 = 17.5, so there are 17.5 base lengths between my deployment zone and yours.

Suppose I have a single Rookie Pilot with R2 Astromech and Integrated Astromech and you have a single Scimitar Squadron Pilot with Proton Torpedoes, Extra Munitions, and Guidance Chips. Each of us places our ship at the front of the deployment zone, which means there are 17.5 base lengths between the front of my ship and the front of your ship.

The Rule of 11 is simple: when our ships have closed a total of 11 base lengths, we'll be at the outer edge of Range 3.

(Alert readers may realize at this point that 11 is the wrong number. The range ruler is 3 range increments long, or 7.5 bases, and 17.5-7.5 = 10, not 11. Remember those extra 14mm, though? They mean that if your ships cover exactly 10 base lengths and no more, you'll be 14mm or about a third of a ship base outside Range 3. That's why it's the Rule of 11 and not the Rule of 10.)

So I plan a fast 4-straight maneuver with my X-wing. That means I use a maneuver template that's 4 ship bases long, and I cover the distance of the maneuver template plus the size of my own base. 4+1 = 5, so I just covered 5 base lengths. That TIE Bomber is being a little more coy about its approach, and plots a 2-straight: 2+1 = 3, so it covered 3 base lengths. Together, we covered 5+3 = 8 base lengths.

Now the Rule of 11 comes into play: without looking at the board at all, I know for sure that we can't exchange fire this round. We'd have to cover 11 base lengths to get to Range 3, and we've only covered 8, so I know we're still beyond Range 3. (Remember, we started out 17.5 base lengths from one another, meaning we're 17.5 - 8 = 9.5 base lengths apart. 9.5 base lengths translates to the outer edge of Range 4.)

I still want to close as quickly as possible, so I plan and execute another 4-straight, while my opponent plans another 2-straight. I cover 4+1 = 5 base lengths this turn, and my opponent covers 2+1 = 3 base lengths. We covered 8 in the first round and 8 in the second round, and 8+8 = 15. We're definitely in range to attack each other, because 16 is more than 11.

(In fact, I can tell you exactly how far apart we are: we started with 17.5 base lengths between us, and we've covered 16. That leaves 1.5 base lengths: we're at Range 1, and my X-wing is not only safe from the torpedo but has a chance to make the TIE Bomber pay for its middle-of-the-road approach speed.)

***

Of course, it's not always that easy. If the TIE Bomber in my example had slow-rolled the first round and moved 1-straight on the second, he'd have caught me at Range 3. Jousting duels between experienced players tend to be complicated for exactly that reason, and of course very few matches play out with a straight joust. There's a flanker, or a Thach Weave, or an opening fortress, or deployment parallel to the edge rather than straight-on.

(In fact, jousts between experienced players often result in complicated logic trees. If I take a fast approach with my ships, and so does my opponent, we hit Range 3 immediately, and he wins the exchange. If I take a fast approach and he takes a slow one, we'll hit the Range 1 engagement I want next turn, and I win the exchange. Meanwhile, my opponent is tackling the same tangled problem from the other side. It turns into a sort of Prisoner's Dilemma.)

Nevertheless, the Rule of 11 is a powerful tool. It can help you plan your movement to achieve the result you want, as well as helping you plan actions, repositioning, etc. to maximize your own advantages and minimize your opponent's.

[reserved for pretty pictures]

I love the writeup. You also made a minor typo as 4+3 = 7 while what you meant was 5+3 = 8 (you wrote 4+3 = 8)

I love the writeup. You also made a minor typo as 4+3 = 7 while what you meant was 5+3 = 8 (you wrote 4+3 = 8)

Thanks for the heads-up. I fixed it.

Ah, the good old days where no one knew how to fly other than jousting, and as a result games were pretty much decided by the dice alone. Good times.

Whelp, there goes that advantage. I guess I couldn't keep relying on the fact that not everyone goes trolling through old guides.

So far I have only played with my son, and we don't have much in the way of ships, but I do like the mental exercise of x-wing theory as I hope to play more competitively. My question is what happens if one or the other player tries to bank and turn for a diagonal flank approach? Is jousting considered the best opening play in the overall game meta?

Yes, I realize that as a rookie pilot, banking and juking to out flank is pretty advanced flying. That's a lot of the fun to me though. Recreating the classic shot from RoTJ of the Falcon racing through the tie swarm is a big part of the draw. Related topic, is there a flight school or 'top gun' thread with tips on using the banks and turns and how they affect your arcs as well as formation flying?

Is jousting considered the best opening play in the overall game meta?

No it's actually typically seen as an awful idea for several lists. Usually only the person with superior raw stats will want to actually straight joust while the other player will attempt to dodge or disrupt formation and flow in some way (flanking, arc dodging, turrets, etc).

In actuality I can only think of 1 game I've played ever where it was a legitimate joust the whole time. Unsurprisingly the jonus bros list I was playing (2x hlc deltas and captain jonus) enjoyed killing the random assortment of tie ships they were shooting. That was an odd game since we just flew at each other, kturned, rinse and repeat.

Whelp, there goes that advantage. I guess I couldn't keep relying on the fact that not everyone goes trolling through old guides.

#sorrynotsorry

Look at it this way: it's a thread that's not about how awesome and/or overpowered and/or game-wrecking Defenders are going to be...

Is jousting considered the best opening play in the overall game meta?

It depends heavily on your list and your playstyle. Typically, one list in a match will have an advantage over the other when it comes to jousting; if one player offers a joust and the other accepts, one of them has made a mistake.

Related topic, is there a flight school or 'top gun' thread with tips on using the banks and turns and how they affect your arcs as well as formation flying?

You might try this thread. I still go through it every once in a while as a refresher.

Ha! I like your old list. I used one very similar that had Backstabber instead of the other X1 and Dark Curse instead of your Black Squad. It was my Hammer and Anvil approach. Look at Dark Curse and Academies while the other named guys sneak up your flanks.

Rule of 11 is now also powerful to figure out ordnance alpha strikes. I've used it extensively with my low PS Bombers to try to get people in range. You can now use it to stay OUT of range, too.

That was an odd game since we just flew at each other, kturned, rinse and repeat.

I had that happen too.

I was playing X-Wings and Y-Wings maybe with TLT's, was a while ago and I can't remember for sure... He was playing an advanced before the fix and a few other ships. It was pure joust with my ships set up in a pin wheel, flew straight at him k-turned and more straights.

Found the original guide and read up right before my first tournament, let me pull out a few surprising wins by barreling my head-on Tactician Boba/Bossk from long range to cutthroat on formations using the 'modern' sideways or Palp fortress deployment.

Immensely useful piece of intel.

I remember reading about this way back during wave 3-4. Good to see it resurface

It's also good to note that a large base is 2, a large base ship going 4 = 6. If the large bad boosts? = 9 in total! That means if you do 1 in your small base, you will then be at a combined 11, in turn one. Large bases with boost are far reaching fiends.

If you play in France (and probably other localised countries with the metric system) the recommended field size is 90cm not 3 feet.

This means that you loose those 14mm and the rule of 11 becomes the rule of 10. Small bases are strictly bigger than a 1 template (about 40.2mm and 80.5mm for a large) which means that if you both deploy on the edge and together advance 10 forward you will be at extreme range 3 by a very small margin.

One of the recent podcasts had some great comments about rule of 11 shenanigans in a large-base vs torpedo boat situation. It would be worth the visual. I think it was Back to Dials.