hey all,

I don't get to play anywhere near as much as I want due to both time and a lack of opponents/LGS - maybe 1 game a week, best case is 2 - and I don't feel like I'm really getting any better. With so few opportunities to try out lists and variations and so few times to play, I can never be sure if a loss was due to a bad list or bad flying (or both) and it's frustrating me to the point of, once again, shaving my roommates eyebrows while he's asleep and I'd really appreciate some input on how to get better without having the opportunity to play much. Steps I have taken:

• I watch videos on Youtube..
• I try out builds on "Squad Benchmark"
• I have tried Vassal and TTS but can't really get the hang of either of them (I'm pretty non-technical)
• I play against myself

What else would you guys suggest to hone my skills in the absence of true playmates?

thanks in advance,

Frustrated Monkey

You've pretty much nailed it. It's not possible to get better at something without putting the time in actually doing the thing, whether it's a musical instrument, technical skill, or miniatures game. You have to play a variety of different people to really "git gud" at this game (or any game, really), and have experience flying and flying against a lot of different types of lists.

That said, your listed practice methods are really solid. All I would recommend is keep trying to find people to play with if possible. You never know who's hiding in your social groups that may have an interest in playing the game.

I know this isn't very helpful, but.... that's just kind of the way it is.

There are parts of the game that are tricky to pick up in a vacuum (learning how to fly against certain lists) but there are at least a few things you can do solo that will make you a better player.

1) pratice maneuvers - set up rocks and practice navigating through them. Read through the excellent flight achool resources out there (see the stickied community resources thread). Learning to judge exactly where each maneuver will put your ship is something that you have to practice and it pays off in a big way.

2) memorize dials - there are a ton of ships out there now and if you don't know which of your opponent's moves are green or what k-turn options they have, you're going to struggle to anticipate moves.

I would also recommend that you pick a list and stick with it - if you're only getting a few games in, spreading your practice amongst a bunch of different lists will prevent you from getting past the initial acclimation stage with any list. Learning how to work with a list, even a sub optimal one is a valuable skill. Better to have a tier 2 list that you are well versed in than a tier 1 list that you forget triggers for etc.

Besides youtube videos and podcasts, the most useful one i found was setting up rocks and practicing manuevering around them. You don't even need to setup another force, i also practice openings to see where my ships end up in 3 or 4 turns.

I would also recommend that you pick a list and stick with it - if you're only getting a few games in, spreading your practice amongst a bunch of different lists will prevent you from getting past the initial acclimation stage with any list. Learning how to work with a list, even a sub optimal one is a valuable skill. Better to have a tier 2 list that you are well versed in than a tier 1 list that you forget triggers for etc.

This is a key point. I would add to it that if you are worried about whether or not you've picked a good list, go to sites like miniranker and listjuggler, listen to current podcasts, and lurk around the forums until you find a list that is doing well in the meta and copy it. This is NOT the way to eventually become a master player, but it can at least be a shortcut to being a *decent* player.

Also, you mentioned VASSAL being tricky to understand - I agree that the interface is off-putting, but Mu0n has put together this really nice FAQ ( http://s93768914.onlinehome.us/xwing/ )

that is very helpful for getting yourself past that initial hurdle. Even if you don't have the time to get a full game in, VASSAL can be useful in offline mode for practicing openings and testing out formation flying. You can also spectate games, which is a great way to expose yourself to new list ideas and watch some very talented players.

try using the AI rules from aturi cluster. While it isnt a human opponent it does give you something to have to dogfight against that you cannot predict If you do I woudl advise handicapping yourself (possibly at a 1.25 to 1.3 to 1 ratio) to make up for the "dumbness" of the imperial ships.

A few people have mentioned setting up rocks and flying around them. I'm going to add my voice to that chorus. It's both a great idea, and a lot of fun.

I wouldn't get so hung up on the actual quality of your lists if you're just flying casually. I mean. Do the benchmarking and such when you have an idea, but trust the benchmarking to tell you if you're idea is quality, then fly it, fly it, fly it until you can predict if you're going to hit a rock in 2 turns.

Bribe your opponents to take a dive.

Seriously, though, the best recommendations I can give, if you want to improve, are:

(1) Learn to absolutely predict the end points of maneuvers. You do this by studying the templates, placing bases at both ends, and learning how to estimate positions. Then test yourself over and over. Once you're fairly proficient, then spend a lot f time flying through rocks for maneuver after maneuver. The repeat with formations.

(2) Pick an effective list and stick to it until you master it. It doesn't really matter what if it is something moderately competitive, but if you switch lists frequently and don't play much it will take a long time to develop the mastery of a particular ship or list. The flip side of that is you won't be as familiar with your opponent's lists. So if you're going to spar against yourself at hime, pick a primary list -- the one you use for live games -- and only make changes in the lists you spar against.

(3) Figure out what head space you want to play in. Are you playing to win, or to enjoy yourself? Is winning at the core of having fun for you? If you're only having fun when winning, it will be a lot harder to improve. If you can get your head right competitively it can make a huge difference.

(4) Fly better. Then, fly even better.

Give Vassal another shot. I needed a bit of time to get really warm with it, but now I am having a lot of fun in the Vassal-league, which is the next thing I'd recommend to you after you have come around to be a bit better at Vassal. It offers you around one competetive game a week over a season, which really helped my skills. So far, with the exception of one player who conceded and dropped upon seeing my "antifun ubercompetetive" list (double ARCs with Biggs, well, I mean we have seen worse, right?) everyone has been amazing and in my division the first place is still contested heavily (although I seem to be looking relatively strong for now, so yay I guess). The season running right now about halfway through, so there is roughly a month time for you to make up your mind. Time commitment is 8 games in 10 weeks (although in the first tier, unknown reaches, thats often less games, since many people drop after the league started there).

I am located in CET timezone, but I can make room all around the day if you want some help getting familiar with Vassal. Also don't hesitate to ask me anything about the league. While I am just a participant that means I have gone through registration and all that. It can be a bit difficult and overwhelming to retrieve all the information you'd want, so I'd be happy to help.

I can not recommend to play against yourself.

I can recommend to practise maneuvering in rapid fashion, Pick a maneuver, mark with your finger were on the map you would land, put your guess to that test with the maneuver template, repeat. Once you have a good accuracy with one move, you can start doing this two or three moves ahead, which is the very foundation to plan several turns ahead as you know at least start to get a real concept how those turns can play out and where everyone can end up within the next turns.

This should help you as well with your turn zero as asteroid placement should become better by this too.

For practice matches I can recommend starting a club with regular schedules meetings. Does not really matter if the club invest in their own rooms or if you just play at home or in a FLGS, what matter is the regular meetings each week, which makes sure that you get more than enough practise matches. Vassal can naturally act as a substitute for some of the practising, but the real thing is naturally better.

Sadly, the only real answer to this is, in one way or another, play more. Either on Vassal or TTS, or in person, or both.

There's no shortcut to skill. It takes practice.

If you want to get good playing against yourself -

Plan the dials for the list you are practicing first. Then leave them face up. Plan the opposing list that you are playing against, knowing full well what you are planning. It's not a substitute for a real opponent, but playing vs an opponent who mostly guesses what you are going to do means you have to have good reason to make the moves you are making.

I know Biophysical practiced a lot with his Defenders before he was able to go anywhere to play with them. He went to major tournaments and did great as he practiced with the best lists against his. One thing about that is you learn how the other "meta" lists play when you play both sides of them.

One thing about that is you learn how the other "meta" lists play when you play both sides of them.

Yeah, this is the other half of Gittin Gud. You can be as Gud as you like at flying your list and judging the lengths of its manoeuvres and knowing its modification options and dice probabilities and all its worky bits, but until you can understand how it fits into the wider metagame, it's not likely that you'll see a lot of success, even playing high-end netlists. It's SO easy to get left behind by the meta by playing a counter to something no-one's playing any more.

The real trick, in addition to the player-skill bits upthread, is in predicting the meta and counterplaying it without being killed by it. Expecting lots of /x7s - might be worth considering Homing Missiles or Ion Bombs/Conners.

These guys know best; they're the experts; great points.

But, one thing to remember, this game is, at its core, addicting. So, if there are not enough addicts around, and you can find a good sale on core sets, give your friends one. It worked wonders for me as I reduced two friends and my oldest nephew to addicts at about $12 bucks each (FA Core sets from Target). Fun thing is, you not only get players into the game, but one of them gifted me back some crack on my birthday.

You're welcome FFG,

The pusher.

Aside from all the excellent advice already given here, I'll echo the idea of simply getting out a ship, asteroids and your dial and plot moves. If you do this often, you will have a much better idea of where your ship will be after your move and you won't be surprised by the result after you execute your maneuver.

Instead of watching TV after dinner or whatnot, just get out your little plastic spaceship toys and play with them.

Go to small store kit tournaments. It's a block of time, but you'll get several games in at once, and will be playing against other people trying to git gudder too. You'll learn quickly what mistakes you're making. Let people know you're a beginner. They won't go easy on you, but they'll probably throw you some tips and tricks.

The only way to get better is to fly against better. If you fly against mediocre, then you won't improve your own skills beyond mediocre.

Fly more better! Embiggen your skills!

What you could do if you wanted to 'play against yourself' is to use the Heroes of the Aturi Cluster to run Imperial ships using an AI against you. It's reasonably clever for a simple d6 system.

Build an Imperial force and use the AI stack for each ship to control what it does when its turns come up.

It will get you used to sizing templates for proper movement and dodging arcs while not letting you control both sides absolutely.

I mean, there are definitely things you can do outside of playing to "get better".

It's just that there's a difference between "getting better" and " git[ting] gud ". If you wanna be "gud", you gotta play.