For obstacle placement, if you are player 2, do you always place the space station first? If you do, do you place it on your side of the board to ensure an obstacle-free approach, do you place it on a side, or do you place it on your opoonent's side hoping to reach it when you need it in turn 4+?
Or do you take the advantage of placing three obstacles where you want them?
I find that the space station can occasionally be helpful but planning around it is usually foolish. So with that in mind, I do my best to throw terrain in inconvenient places for my opponent. If he wants to waste an obstacle placement on putting a space station somewhere, that's fine by me; I'm focusing on causing problems for him with debris and asteroids.
Great topic! I have a few things to say and not enough time now unfortunately but I will be back to post more thoughts here
I find that the space station can occasionally be helpful but planning around it is usually foolish. So with that in mind, I do my best to throw terrain in inconvenient places for my opponent. If he wants to waste an obstacle placement on putting a space station somewhere, that's fine by me; I'm focusing on causing problems for him with debris and asteroids.
Good thoughts.
In one of my first games I was P2 and didn't place the space station first. My opponent immediately grabbed it and placed it. I felt like I had made a stupid mistake and since then have played it first (on the rare occasion I don't play Contested Outpost). Now that I think about it is rather place the obstacles instead of something that may--or may not--even come into play.
I find that the space station can occasionally be helpful but planning around it is usually foolish. So with that in mind, I do my best to throw terrain in inconvenient places for my opponent. If he wants to waste an obstacle placement on putting a space station somewhere, that's fine by me; I'm focusing on causing problems for him with debris and asteroids.
I have to respectfully disagree with snipafist here.
I think the Station is the ONLY obstacle that really matters. now let me explain, as the largest obstacle it is the most likely to cause obstructions and as it can heal you it can potentially greatly increase the survivabilty of a ship. I also run engine techs alot which doubles the effect of the station and if an opponent lands on/near the station the ability to ram while healing yourself is invaluable (especially twice).
I also think generally the other obstacles can only be minor announces and are easily avoided except for special circumstances.
now of course i have been running MSU and DeMSU recently which may play a big part in my opinion as a VSD for example can often find obstacles impossible to avoid.
I would suggest this:
There is no generalized obstacle placement strategy, because how you want to place it greatly depends on the objectives. For instance, where I would place the station if I was playing Fire Lanes might be very different than if I was playing Hyperspace Assault as the 2nd player.
So I think we need to talk about what fleets are composed of, and what objectives we are dealing with, and what you are playing against.
According to the new tournament regulations the player with initiative (first player) places the first obstacle in the play area.
I like to place as many of the obstacle towards my side to force bad manuevering by my opponent after turn 2-3. I find most people will try to avoid landing on an obstacle rather than avoid a ship's main arc.
According to the new tournament regulations the player with initiative (first player) places the first obstacle in the play area.
I like to place as many of the obstacle towards my side to force bad manuevering by my opponent after turn 2-3. I find most people will try to avoid landing on an obstacle rather than avoid a ship's main arc.
That was a typo that is now rectified. Second player places the first objective.
Biggs wrote a series of articles on this that are pretty solid. The first one is here;
http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com/2015/11/obstacle-placement.htmland then there's two more if you just go to the next couple posts.
Even when I place the station, the game never goes the way I want it to and we never even get close to using the station in a way that matters.
I think unless you have like Engine Techs or you have an overwhelming squadron force that ould be healed later in the game, you might want to try going for rocks first.
btw what is MSU and DeMSU?
When running my slow mc80 build, I place the station where my mc80 will be turns 2 and 3. (And likely 4, 5 and 6 ramming).
When I am running small rebel ships I generally go for asteroids to disrupt my opponents movement, as I dont want to target landing on the space station.
Everything else varies. Depends if they have slow ships that want the station.
When running my slow mc80 build, I place the station where my mc80 will be turns 2 and 3. (And likely 4, 5 and 6 ramming).
When I am running small rebel ships I generally go for asteroids to disrupt my opponents movement, as I dont want to target landing on the space station.
Everything else varies. Depends if they have slow ships that want the station.
Even then, I've never really gotten on the station on turns it mattered.
Even then, I've never really gotten on the station on turns it mattered.When running my slow mc80 build, I place the station where my mc80 will be turns 2 and 3. (And likely 4, 5 and 6 ramming).
When I am running small rebel ships I generally go for asteroids to disrupt my opponents movement, as I dont want to target landing on the space station.
Everything else varies. Depends if they have slow ships that want the station.
I am talking about a speed 1, no engine tech, MC80. Here.
Its an extreme to be sure
btw what is MSU and DeMSU?
If I don't care about terrain to much, the station goes first... In a corner where no one can use it... I dislike it.
Generrally I try to use obstacles to protect a flank if I can pull it off.
I find that the space station can occasionally be helpful but planning around it is usually foolish. So with that in mind, I do my best to throw terrain in inconvenient places for my opponent. If he wants to waste an obstacle placement on putting a space station somewhere, that's fine by me; I'm focusing on causing problems for him with debris and asteroids.
I have to respectfully disagree with snipafist here.
I think the Station is the ONLY obstacle that really matters. now let me explain, as the largest obstacle it is the most likely to cause obstructions and as it can heal you it can potentially greatly increase the survivabilty of a ship. I also run engine techs alot which doubles the effect of the station and if an opponent lands on/near the station the ability to ram while healing yourself is invaluable (especially twice).
I also think generally the other obstacles can only be minor announces and are easily avoided except for special circumstances.
now of course i have been running MSU and DeMSU recently which may play a big part in my opinion as a VSD for example can often find obstacles impossible to avoid.
I have sometimes been able to take advantage of the station as you discuss, but generally it depends strongly on opponent positioning and my positioning which involves so many variables that it's difficult to rely on. Space rocks help to create a "soft funnel" discouraging the enemy from deploying in certain places, so I generally prefer those but that is not to say your idea does not have merit.
In particular, I find that deploying space rocks vertically across the desired flight path of a conga line helps cause problems for Ackbar flush fleets. To a lesser extent, deploying them horizontally close-ish to one another can help cause problems for a tightly-packed Nebulon-B or VSD/ISD fleet that wants to approach in a line as well.
There's an awesome and pretty comprehensive series of posts on this on the Steel Squadron blog. I'll put it here, as I've found it extremely useful.
My bad habit is to get distracted by the other player's obstacle placement and end up wasting my own in trying to correct it. I often find that first player will place the station, and then I try to block it off, and end up handing him the advantage. When I keep my thinking head on, I try to play a bit smarter and use some of the suggestions made on the blog. Wedges work well in terms of forcing a fleet to split, and flank denial lines can also be pretty effective, particularly as an Imp, as it can help protect that vulnerable rear.
I would suggest this:
There is no generalized obstacle placement strategy, because how you want to place it greatly depends on the objectives. For instance, where I would place the station if I was playing Fire Lanes might be very different than if I was playing Hyperspace Assault as the 2nd player.
So I think we need to talk about what fleets are composed of, and what objectives we are dealing with, and what you are playing against.
I don't disagree, but I think people can still discuss their principles and thoughts that go into obstacle placement.
Obstacle placement is my weakest part of X-Wing--so I'm trying to not ignore that as I develop my Armada game.
I would suggest this:
There is no generalized obstacle placement strategy, because how you want to place it greatly depends on the objectives. For instance, where I would place the station if I was playing Fire Lanes might be very different than if I was playing Hyperspace Assault as the 2nd player.
So I think we need to talk about what fleets are composed of, and what objectives we are dealing with, and what you are playing against.
I don't disagree, but I think people can still discuss their principles and thoughts that go into obstacle placement.
Obstacle placement is my weakest part of X-Wing--so I'm trying to not ignore that as I develop my Armada game.
If nothing else, obstacle placement is an early aspect of the mental game. An assertive and effective obstacle placement puts you on the front foot. Likewise, feeling like you've opened up your desired space for manoeuvring, or simply blocked off a flank, you start confidently. It's worth thinking through.
One potential mistake I see people commit with obstacles is not thinking in terms of "what turn do I want this to be a potential PITA?"
If you are a speed 3-4 fleet, obstacles placed near to your line won't have much effect because you can easily get through them on turn 1, while obstacles places further out can hamper your flying or cause you navigate in such a way that your ships might need an extra turn to get into position to be effective.
This can be big. That one turn delay matters, especially in a 6 turn game.
If you are a 1-2 speed fleet, obstacles can really help to be a useful shield, allowing you to concentrate on incoming threats. Likewise that shield that influences a fast ship to navigate around the obstacle can help keep something at range or help you plan where something will be so you can engage it with more dice as it swings by. Paying attention to what your opponent has and what it can do really helps here. This is thinking ahead a move or two in the chess match.
Edited by tgallIn a few of my games the station was placed last. I never pick it i like to place the rocks where i want them as the give crits and i dont want to land on one and depending on the objective if i can place them where my opponent has a good chance of landing on them it can give me a big advantage. Especially if i am running Dodonna
I prefer to go second and i ALWAYS place the station first.
Not because I plan on using it, as It often is nowhere near the battle once I deploy, the reason i place it first is because I want the opponent to think I think its important. This usually results in the opponent "helping" me build an obstacle course on the part of the board I specifically want it by blocking my side of the station with the next obstacle 
I have managed to get ackbar players to "accidentally" create a perfect obstruction block on the board that completely does not suit their play AT ALL all the while thinking they are agressively blocking the station away from me.
Biggs wrote a series of articles on this that are pretty solid. The first one is here;
http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com/2015/11/obstacle-placement.htmland then there's two more if you just go to the next couple posts.
Here's the other two, for those of you who don't want to search for them:
http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com/2015/11/obstacle-placement-objectives.html
http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com/2015/11/obstacle3.html
Edit: Wow, I did those a while ago...
Edited by BiggsIRL
Biggs wrote a series of articles on this that are pretty solid. The first one is here;
http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com/2015/11/obstacle-placement.htmland then there's two more if you just go to the next couple posts.
Here's the other two, for those of you who don't want to search for them:
http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com/2015/11/obstacle-placement-objectives.html
http://xwingtactics.blogspot.com/2015/11/obstacle3.html
Edit: Wow, I did those a while ago...
these helped me out a LOT when first trying to understand objectives and how to get value out of them other than just throwing them out randomly and hoping for the best
Edit: Meant obstacles. duh
Edited by Hastatior