No, vassal doesn't make you a better player. Kinda like starting on a Stradivarius won't make you a violin prodigy.

Playing a bunch against varied opponents will, though.

I play Tabletop Simulator. Light years better than Vassal. It's not free though. Now on Steam Sale for 10Eur

Depends on the player.

I'm not a computer person, but after couple of games it got a lot easier.

Is there anywhere, where you can learn how to set it up?? And how to start ??

Sometimes it is your dice I'm sure we've all seen games where the dice defy the odds, I've had opponents say I should of won given the way I flew but my dice were cold.

Range one behind another ship with TL and a focus then rolling six blanks isn't me, that's the dice.

There's an old saying:

Nothing you do matters until you roll the dice. I have found that to be true so many times over the last 20 years no matter what game we were playing.

I play Tabletop Simulator. Light years better than Vassal. It's not free though. Now on Steam Sale for 10Eur

What is this, have not heard of it, is it a Star wars sim??

Also. have downloaded Vassal, but it looks pretty involved to get started. How long does it take to get used to it??

Paul

Vassal guide I wrote:

http://s93768914.onlinehome.us/xwing/

Daily, I see people asking for this on various x-wing discussion platforms. It's linked to in the same page where you download the module itself. Google has no choice but to lead you there (the download page). Important info is found at the bottom of that page. :-)

I've been playing X-Wing on VASSAL pretty much since the module was released, and I noticed an interesting thing immediately:

The spatial recognition issues I had on VASSAL were exactly the same as the spatial recognition issues I had on the table-top ... but learning the spatial relationships on one did not translate to the other.

For instance, when I first started I had the most problems with 3-banks and 3-turns. This was true on the table-top, and it was true in VASSAL. On the table-top, I trained myself -- by setting up and running obstacle courses -- to get better, and I did. But, weirdly, I didn't get better at them on VASSAL! (I eventually learned in the same way on VASSAL, but it took longer, because I didn't find the solo practice to be as much fun.)

So it's the same game, the same skills, but offset just enough that the spatial stuff had to be learned separately.

As an unrelated aside, one of the effects of VASSAL that I don't like much was that it trained players to strive for too much precision on the table-top. Because VASSAL is pixel-precise, 999 out of every 1000 situations can be settled in VASSAL by max zoom. These are situations that, on the table-top, are so close (given margin of error) that they should be settled with a die-roll.

There's nothing wrong with precision: I am very annoyed by sloppy template placement and ship movement. What VASSAL trained table-top players to do is to demand and attempt precision that produces diminishing returns and prevents players from using the "roll a die on close calls" mechanic that is baked into the game. Basically, in any situation in which a measurement is so close that the players can't agree, the right thing to do is "roll a die." VASSAL has trained people, instead, to expect an unambiguous resolution, which usually means stopping the game to call a TO. And it's not like TOs have magical measuring abilities that players don't.

I've been playing X-Wing on VASSAL pretty much since the module was released, and I noticed an interesting thing immediately:

The spatial recognition issues I had on VASSAL were exactly the same as the spatial recognition issues I had on the table-top ... but learning the spatial relationships on one did not translate to the other.

For instance, when I first started I had the most problems with 3-banks and 3-turns. This was true on the table-top, and it was true in VASSAL. On the table-top, I trained myself -- by setting up and running obstacle courses -- to get better, and I did. But, weirdly, I didn't get better at them on VASSAL! (I eventually learned in the same way on VASSAL, but it took longer, because I didn't find the solo practice to be as much fun.)

So it's the same game, the same skills, but offset just enough that the spatial stuff had to be learned separately.

As an unrelated aside, one of the effects of VASSAL that I don't like much was that it trained players to strive for too much precision on the table-top. Because VASSAL is pixel-precise, 999 out of every 1000 situations can be settled in VASSAL by max zoom. These are situations that, on the table-top, are so close (given margin of error) that they should be settled with a die-roll.

There's nothing wrong with precision: I am very annoyed by sloppy template placement and ship movement. What VASSAL trained table-top players to do is to demand and attempt precision that produces diminishing returns and prevents players from using the "roll a die on close calls" mechanic that is baked into the game. Basically, in any situation in which a measurement is so close that the players can't agree, the right thing to do is "roll a die." VASSAL has trained people, instead, to expect an unambiguous resolution, which usually means stopping the game to call a TO. And it's not like TOs have magical measuring abilities that players don't.

Well when it comes to things like collisions I tend to not be overly picky. I always tell people,

"you'll never get it that accurate on a table anyway so just do the best you can "

"that look good? "

"great, next.... "

I have had some people take my pieces and start lining it up, without asking, or me asking. Did kind of urk me a bit. At least ask.

I do like the zoom option as it settles disputes without the need of rolling dice. I've had games where I've been pretty certain I had my opponent in arc, but they then say "let the dice decide" which is leaving it up to chance. Which I don't like in some cases because I was 99.9% sure it was in arc

I play Tabletop Simulator. Light years better than Vassal. It's not free though. Now on Steam Sale for 10Eur

What is this, have not heard of it, is it a Star wars sim??

Also. have downloaded Vassal, but it looks pretty involved to get started. How long does it take to get used to it??

Paul

Table top simulator is a kind of sandbox environment with gravity, In its native form you can play chess etc but ( and it's Beyonce's size ) it support modding.

What people did was introduce every game that uses table.

Starcraft, Rebellion, Warcraft, Warhammer armies, Wh40k armies, Imperial Assault, Settlers of Catan, Magic, Cards against Humanity, X-wing, Armada and many many more. Link http://store.steampowered.com/app/286160/?snr=1_7_15__13

Vassal is good. But i am a much better player on table. Mainly cause i have a hard time judging distance on a computer screen. But it is quite fun to play against different people.

I've found that vassal has made me a better judge of distance in real life precisely because the screen is hard and I have lots of little tricks to try and judge distance based entirely on the ships alone.

Ditto, lots of classes of tricks

I find myself kind of disliking Tabletop Simulator on principle, because it feels like giving someone else money for a game that Fantasy Flight put the work into.

I find myself kind of disliking Tabletop Simulator on principle, because it feels like giving someone else money for a game that Fantasy Flight put the work into.

They don't sell the x-wing mod though just the game it's compatible with.

Fans made it same as with vassal, if there were an official version they'd play that but there isnt.

You couldn't trust EA to make x-wing online without microtransactions up the butt.

For me it made me a better player, but moreso for the fact that if I didn't play a ton of games on vassal, I would hardly get any games in otherwise.

Player skill level is about as varied as you'd have at many stores. You have some of the best players in the world, and also brand new players, with everything else in between.

You will probably face a lot more high end lists on vassal as many people use it to test out their best lists for competitions, whereas as your local stores you'd find more casual lists.

I personally fly a bit better on vassal then in real life. The fact that everything is parallel and you're straight above helps a lot.