3 minutes ago, Djaskim609 said:

This. We tend to remember our really good and really bad rolls, but only the good rolls of our opponents. Dice usually even out (except when you roll 5 greens because your Fenn is range 3 and the attack is obstructed and get only blanks and focus and you don't have a token #stillbitter [and I should have had a focus token is the real lesson])

This is another one of those note taking things. If you do think its dice then take notes on them. I realize its not statistically "accurate", but it did help ease my mind about dice when I thought about it. On the back of my squad sheets I put a tick mark down each time I rolled a die. Crit/hit/focus/blank and evade/focus/blank. But you have to be vigilant on it. After two tournaments I had enough data to look objectively at my rolling, if you're rolling 3x the number of evade dice as you are red dice... time to fly better! I also confirmed what most others have: as a set of dice, mine overall were pretty average.

What it did for me? Changed how I flew a squad and then I was rolling more red dice than green dice. Also verified my dice were average and it wasn't them.

54 minutes ago, Stoneface said:

Five things that I think are the key to improving your game.

1) Play against players that are better than you are. That forces you to learn.

2) know your build. Maybe this should be #1.

3) PRACTICE

4) PRACTICE

5) PRACTICE

And this I why I will never GIT GUD. The idea of flying the same list ad nauseam bores the fudge out of me, so I will never have enough practice with one list to be "competitive."

You have to find something you enjoy flying enough to be able to stand playing it 50 times. I could have played any number of games with Slaughterhouse last year and (aside from the ones against Dash) I would have enjoyed them all.

4 hours ago, Stay On The Leader said:

You have to find something you enjoy flying enough to be able to stand playing it 50 times.

Never gonna happen; too many ships, too many permutations to try. It's not my style.

36 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

I'm not sure who is the arbiter of such things. I'm pretty good when I care to be, I guess.

At the moment my play time is very limited so mostly my play experience since November is: Make new list, get battered by Paratanni, scrap list after a game or two, make new list, get battered by Paratanni, scrap list after a game or two... I'm not sure that makes me particularly well qualified!

I'm probably the #1 expert on losing at X-Wing, though, and reading this probably does a lot to help you to git gud - http://stayontheleader.blogspot.com/2016/06/strike-me-down-how-to-lose-at-x-wing.html

Excellent article. Covers it all.

The section on being out flown, particularly hit home. I have one opponent who out flies me. Some of the games were so one sided it was like he was setting my dials. Very troublesome. Maybe I have a tell that he's picked up on.

14 minutes ago, Darth Meanie said:

And this I why I will never GIT GUD. The idea of flying the same list ad nauseam bores the fudge out of me, so I will never have enough practice with one list to be "competitive."

Doesn't need to be one list. You need to know what you are flying but you don't need to only fly that one. As mentioned above, you need to know how the other ships maneuver and where you or they will end up when a particular maneuver is executed.

Once you know why you're losing you can eradicate them. I wrote that article, learnt from my mistakes, and did much better next time out.

Learning how to lose is how you lose less often.

19 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

Ignoring Dice Modification

You've pulled off a great move and outflanked your opponent so you've got an easy shot. The only thing that could have gone better is that you're just outside Range 1 for that fourth dice to throw. But your T-70 X-Wing has a Boost action, and you put the hammer down to close to point blank range and give him all four red dice!

Congratulations, by boosting instead of focusing you just made your attack worse.

This is spot on. There is a guy in my area that just doesn't get it. He keeps ignoring dice mods then whines when he rolls hit,focus,focus,focus. He then rage quits after the first round of combat because he "can't win with these dice"

14 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

I'll throw in a part of a blog post I've been sitting on for a while, because I think it's a common issue:

Ignoring Dice Modification

(Snip to avoid too long of a text)

Yep, that's part of the basics. It gets more complex down the road when you factor in upgrade and defensive capabilities of the opponent.

One example: Soontir (autothrusters) with focus + evade is following Chewy at range 2. Chewy has a target lock on Soontir, rolls his dice and gets all blanks. Is it a good idea to spend the target lock? Surely rerolling more dice means the target locks is being used "more fully" and therefore better? No. I'll spare the maths, but the odds of hitting if the target lock is spent are close to 0,6%; it's a waste of a target lock.

Ignoring C3PO levels of math might work for Han in the movies, but in game, you can't win a tournament based on it

Biggest thing i keep telling people is range1 is a trap. Never shoot for it, but if you get it sweet, if you dont, big deal. Its also why i tend to not have that much issue with Fenn since he HATES range2 and i am used to getting range2 against soontir/jax/vader anyway so hes no different.

Dodging arcs and going modless or being out of range1 but having mods is always better than the inverse.

This is why i love sabaac so much. His ability and the way that thing flies basically removes range1 requirement, so hes a LOT harder to pin down than usual.

In general, if you arent range1 is easier to get multiple attacks on the same target. MOST ships cant keep a ship in arc if they were at range1 unless they pull a kturn.

42 minutes ago, Ailowynn said:

Don't blame the dice.

The number one thing that stands in the way of new players gitting gud is the tendency to blame the dice. Don't do that. Everyone has to deal with dice, and we still have a select group of consistently strong players who always place high. Chalking your losses up to RNG is the best way to learn nothing from them.

Ignoring dice results is rather foolish since, at the end of the day, this is a dice game.

I rolled exactly 2 evades last night with IG88B over the span of 2 games. That is well below average. I won 1 game and lost the other. When the dice are cold, there is nothing you can do no matter who you are. I win a lot more than I lose, even with garbage lists, but that doesn't change the fact that dice play a role in losses.

I placed top 8 at Canadian Nationals and top 16 at the regionals before that(Lothal, Biggs Wes). My dice at the most recent regionals(Chewie Lothal) were atrocious and I only went 3-3. I couldn't kill a 1 hull Norra at range 2 with Chewie(predator and gunner).

I do agree that skill and tactics make up for quite a bit but to completely discount dice like your statement claims is quite false.

If skill were the only thing, new players would never return as they'd never be able to defeat someone with experience. Dice give them the chance even with poor flying or strategy. It is this randomness that keeps us all coming back.

If you roll less hits than they roll evades and less evades than they roll hits, you will lose no matter who you are or what you are running.

1 hour ago, Ynot said:

Ignoring dice results is rather foolish since, at the end of the day, this is a dice game.

I rolled exactly 2 evades last night with IG88B over the span of 2 games. That is well below average. I won 1 game and lost the other. When the dice are cold, there is nothing you can do no matter who you are. I win a lot more than I lose, even with garbage lists, but that doesn't change the fact that dice play a role in losses.

I placed top 8 at Canadian Nationals and top 16 at the regionals before that(Lothal, Biggs Wes). My dice at the most recent regionals(Chewie Lothal) were atrocious and I only went 3-3. I couldn't kill a 1 hull Norra at range 2 with Chewie(predator and gunner).

I do agree that skill and tactics make up for quite a bit but to completely discount dice like your statement claims is quite false.

If skill were the only thing, new players would never return as they'd never be able to defeat someone with experience. Dice give them the chance even with poor flying or strategy. It is this randomness that keeps us all coming back.

If you roll less hits than they roll evades and less evades than they roll hits, you will lose no matter who you are or what you are running.

Sorry if I was unclear. I agree that dice are a big part of the game, and oftentimes, the best players lose games thanks to dice. When Paul Heaver complains about bad dice, he's justified in doing so.

The point I'm trying to make is that, if you want to improve, you shouldn't blame the dice for your losses, even if it appears that they were the cause. I often see newer players do this, even when the real reason they lost had more to do with strategy and piloting error. However, being ignorant to the more complex, strategic side of the game, they simply blame the dice, which keeps them from learning anything. Once you ARE good, and have a firm grasp on the deeper, strategic levels of the game, you can determine when the dice are to blame and when they're not. But if you want to GET good, you should assume that there's something you could've done better, and figure it out.

I have a list of all the webpages and videos that I thought have helped improve my game over the past year. I'll post them when I get home tonight.

Until then, #1 piece of advice is, Play More Games. I attended all the Q1 Tournaments and store events that I could manage, and just the raw playtime was well worth it in improving my game.

55 minutes ago, Ailowynn said:

Sorry if I was unclear. I agree that dice are a big part of the game, and oftentimes, the best players lose games thanks to dice. When Paul Heaver complains about bad dice, he's justified in doing so.

The point I'm trying to make is that, if you want to improve, you shouldn't blame the dice for your losses, even if it appears that they were the cause. I often see newer players do this, even when the real reason they lost had more to do with strategy and piloting error. However, being ignorant to the more complex, strategic side of the game, they simply blame the dice, which keeps them from learning anything. Once you ARE good, and have a firm grasp on the deeper, strategic levels of the game, you can determine when the dice are to blame and when they're not. But if you want to GET good, you should assume that there's something you could've done better, and figure it out.

I agree. I see the same thing all the time.

The main thing I see where people fail has nothing to do with list building, etc, but rather the fact that they have no clue about strategy. If you have no plan other than "to beat my opponent" you are going to fail.

You have to have a clear strategy:

1 - what are my target priorities?

2 - how do I setup the obstacles to give me a better chance to successfully get my priority targets?

3 - where do I setup my ships to allow me to go after my targets?

4 - plan my flight and fly my plan.

5 - hope my dice are better than my opponents dice.

How do you git gud? Oh boy, do I have a community for you!

Lots of good stuff here. Had several points to add in, but most of them were already taken.

The only one I can think of that I didn't notice being touched on is if you are having a problem with a list in particular, try it out yourself. There is nothing like personally flying a list to see its weaknesses. And even if you can't get it working as well as others, you still have a better idea at what makes the list sweat.

What about any 'golden rules' of x-wing?

When do you reach for the big rocks not the small ones? When is it debris? When do you line up to joust and when do you go to the opposite corner?

I typically use big rocks when I am flying aces or 3 ships or less. I don't have any debris so I can't speak to that. I seem to gravitate towards the big rocks just to give my ships more cover and to fill the field. I line up to joust if the opponent places one of their ships far away from their others. Although now I like to set up in corners and play the positioning game for the first couple of rounds to see if I can get my opponent to make a maneuvering error and isolate one of their ships.

I'll let you know when I get there.

Big rocks are good for when your opponent has big ships. At least that's what I tend to do.

I'm still not good at lining up, but I've gotten gud at fleeing the fight for a round to get better positioning and not fall into my opponent's traps.

50 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

What about any 'golden rules' of x-wing?

When do you reach for the big rocks not the small ones? When is it debris? When do you line up to joust and when do you go to the opposite corner?

Flying around the bigger obstacles requires more skill. So basically if you feel like you're generally a better pilot than the players you'll be facing then bigger rocks are in your favor. Conversely if you're starting out then smaller rocks allow for less chance of mistakes you're likely going to be the one making. If you have tractor beams then always rocks and always big ones, you want to maximize your ability to force them to skip shots, miss actions, and free damage from landing on then running over a rock. If you're playing Dash then always debris since you can completely ignore it whereas rocks will still prevent you from shooting and so constrain your movement options.

Jousting depends on the lists but rule of thumb it's a similar situation to rock size. If you feel like the better pilot then don't put the fate of the game in the hands of dice by jousting unless you have a huge mathematical advantage, pull them through the obstacles and setup flanks.

But for practice games, excluding scripted setups and openings, always use big rocks as it's that much harder and lets you learn so much more. I'll also backup some earlier posters and echo practice as being the most important thing. Playing the same list a bunch can help and I would certainly say at least 10 reps with list is key to being consistent across a lot of swiss rounds. But really flying anything helps just get a feel for where things will land, where arcs will be, and roughly what things will look at a couple turns from now. Plus flying things you know you'll be up against really allows you to understand how they flow.

'Git Gud' requires more games. Just grab a list, toss it on the table and play. You will learn maneuvering around obstacles, not bumping, and when to take TL or focus. When to get range 1, how to make all your arcs point at one target. The list you choose doesn't matter. I played a newb with three x7 defenders with crackshot and tabled him 100-0. He constantly bumped into me or himself, and forced range 1, making my ships easily barrel roll out of his arc. He just had no experience playing against arc dodgers. Meanwhile, put the same list in the hands of a top player, and I am probably the one that gets tabled.

So just play a lot of games.

What rocks to bring all depends on your list.

Squirrely arc dodgers = huge rocks

Large ships that cant maneuver = debris

etc.

In regionals I took Manaroo, Ketsu, Old Teroch. I wanted rocks for the opportunity to tractor beam ships onto them, but didnt want to fly on them myself with my two large ships. So, I took the three smallest rocks. Worked out just as planned. This is how you have to decide on obstacles.

Placement of obstacles is also all dependent on lists. My list above, I wanted the center wide open as possible cause I bumrush the opponent and take over the center of the map is crucial, and I want the corners on my opponent's side clear as well so Ketsu can turn around easier. This meant placing the rocks in the middle towards the board edges.

Each list has to think about engagement opportunities for rock placement and how that list flies. If you are a fast list, and dont want rocks, place them on your side and speed passed them. If you slow roll with 1 straights to build up focuses with Rey crew or whatever, and want to engage in the rocks, then center map placement may be best.

Obstacle placement is an entire article in itself

Something I didn't notice discussed her, is tournament fatigue.

Surviving a 6-10 game day with full control of your abilities is a huge part of winning one.

An annoying habit I sometimes have, is to predict my opponents move (mainly in casual games) as they reveal it, then sometimes discussing why they did or didn't do it.

Why, Netlisting and posting on the forum to Nerf the Netlists of course.

Fly a Buzzsaw Lambda. After that everything seems like easy mode