I was not playing back in the wave 1 days when Swarms were supreme, and I have not flown them since I started. I am wondering if anyone has any recommendation of a guide, either in writing or video, that details some of the best strategic points to bear in mind while flying a swarm. If you have anything you'd recommend reading or watching, please leave a link.

I'd start here (parts 1 and 5): https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/110115-earning-your-wings-a-guide-for-understanding-movment/

Then check this out: http://teamcovenant.com/general/understanding-the-pinwheel-formation

Then put some ships on the table and start crashing your way around asteroids.

Use the HOTAC AI to fly your list....

:-)

And then finally this: https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/134251-my-evolving-the-shark-series/

(took a while to find my bookmark)

Biggest thing to remember is when you do a bank turn, DO NOT do the same speed for the ships in each column. row.

Primarily speaking the box formation here (2by2). If you wanted to bank left, the front-left ship will do a 2bank and the front-right will do a 3bank while the ships behind them will mimic. If you did a 3bank with both front ships, they'd crash into each other. Flipside, if you are doing a hard turn, you DO want to do the same maneuver (however it will "rotate" the formation, so the PS order might be an issue here)

Not true. If you space them correctly and don't screw up the movement, a normal box is fine

Agreed. A range ruler's width between TIEs should suffice.

Watch the Yavin Open final, and the Worlds 2013 final.

Use the HOTAC AI to fly your list....

:-)

Sorely tempted.

Advanced swarm tips include splitting your swarm into 2 and rejoining them after 1-2 turns.

Advanced swarm tips include splitting your swarm into 2 and rejoining them after 1-2 turns.

Yeah this isn't rocket science but SO many swarm players just don't dare even try it.

You don't need to hold perfect formation most of the time, just form a loose cloud around Howlrunner. I've definitely caused my opponents chaos by lining up two batches of TIEs that I knew I could reform into one group in the middle of the table depending on where the opponent went.

Advanced swarm tips include splitting your swarm into 2 and rejoining them after 1-2 turns.

Yeah this isn't rocket science but SO many swarm players just don't dare even try it.

You don't need to hold perfect formation most of the time, just form a loose cloud around Howlrunner. I've definitely caused my opponents chaos by lining up two batches of TIEs that I knew I could reform into one group in the middle of the table depending on where the opponent went.

while this is true, the advantage of a perfect formation is that you know what maneuvers will work, and which wont, for all your ships. there is no risk of bumping, provided you don't screw something up. breaking up a bit can be useful, particularly if you need to move round an asteroid, but its not advisable until the melee begins.

depending on your exact swarm build, and against certain opponents, breaking up into two groups is almost essential, but often its a bit of a trap and doesn't really gain you anything other than a headache.

Flying ships in formation is (mostly) the easy bit.

I prefer to use an offset formation myself:

Range ruler inbetween the ships to get the right spacing (although you can pretty much do it by eye after a few games), and the back row is centered on the spaces between the ships in the front row.

The advantage of the offset formation is that it handles the 45 degree turns much better than the standard box formation. Try it & see.

However, I find the most important aspect of formation flying (mostly because it takes the longest to learn) is knowing when to stay in formation and when to break formation.

Flying in formation is great for the opening engagement because it allows you to easily focus fire and bring all your guns to bear on a single target. The downside of flying formation is that you need a lot more space to maneuver your ships and quite often restricted in the moves you can make.

Breaking formation at the right time will help you cover much more area with your guns and will make it a lot easier to track down ships that don't want to stay in your firing arc.

Sadly a guide can't really tell you when is the right time to stay in formation and when is the right time to break; it's something has to be learned so that it can be applied on a case by case basis.

Agreed. A range ruler's width between TIEs should suffice.

I thought I was the only person to come up with that trick!