After match practice: Chalk Talks

By Gersun, in X-Wing

We all lose games. I'm curious what other players do after a tournament/game night/practice game. I've been flying an 8 TIE swarm (Wampa, Chaser, 6x Academy Pilot) off and on for over a year now, and when I lose games with it I will reflect on the game and try to see where things went wrong. I try to focus on my choices and decision making in the game, rather than list building choices and options first. I've been putting my ideas and conclusions into a document, and now I have a 2 page resource for asteroid placement, favorable/unfavorable matchups, deployment formations, and engagement tactics. While I was working on it last night I thought to myself "Man, it would be so awesome to have this for other lists too!" I would be happy to share my thoughts, but I feel the squad building section is ignored, but the main section will get buried under the plethora of "Here is my X Wing Fix, This Meta Sucks, and Jumpmaster salt thread". So if you wanted to have a discussion about a list or archetype, where would you want to see it? Main? List building? Battle Report? Off Topic?

I also want to gather some data about the players on here, so, X-Wing community, what do you do after your matches?

  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?
3 minutes ago, Gersun said:

  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

1. I think practising helps a lot get the small nuances down pat, when you should do what action etc. Dengar +1 is great, but can be out flown if the player doesn't know what he is doing. I would love to practice more, and play more, sometimes work/family/life gets in the way.

2. I don't know, I will tell you when it happens :) , joking aside, I think why I lost, sometimes it's poor flying, sometimes it's the opponent out flew you. I never blame the dice, if you rely on a RNG device to constantly show the results you need, you are going to have a bad time. I love flying arc dodgers, my problem was/is that I try to fly all ships as arc dodgers. A lot of the time I should have just flown into their face and out PS shoot something so it wouldnt get a return shot. But that's a lead on from no.1

3. It depends what archetype i am flying against. Most lists have a way they fly so i try to deploy accordingly. Sometimes messing with your deployment to much can be bad for your game IMO.

4. No.... I have been playing for a year to 18 months roughly, but I can go weeks and weeks between games. I come here to learn a lot lol.

17 minutes ago, Gersun said:

We all lose games. I'm curious what other players do after a tournament/game night/practice game. I've been flying an 8 TIE swarm (Wampa, Chaser, 6x Academy Pilot) off and on for over a year now, and when I lose games with it I will reflect on the game and try to see where things went wrong. I try to focus on my choices and decision making in the game, rather than list building choices and options first. I've been putting my ideas and conclusions into a document, and now I have a 2 page resource for asteroid placement, favorable/unfavorable matchups, deployment formations, and engagement tactics. While I was working on it last night I thought to myself "Man, it would be so awesome to have this for other lists too!" I would be happy to share my thoughts, but I feel the squad building section is ignored, but the main section will get buried under the plethora of "Here is my X Wing Fix, This Meta Sucks, and Jumpmaster salt thread". So if you wanted to have a discussion about a list or archetype, where would you want to see it? Main? List building? Battle Report? Off Topic?

I also want to gather some data about the players on here, so, X-Wing community, what do you do after your matches?

  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

Good thread.

1: Usually. I typically have 3 or 4 competitive lists I'm practicing with at any one time, often involving the same ship(s) in different combinations/with different wingmates, plus a few silly lists I'm trying out or having fun with, and will rotate them on Vassal, and typically I'll play the same list all night at club night just because changing lists IRL is a hassle especially given how little space we have in our club.

2: I try to work out why, and if the answer that comes to mind is 'dice', I try to work out what other than dice I could have done differently in order to do better, even if it might not have made me win. Blaming the dice is a TERRIBLE way to improve your play.

3: I generally try to, but most of my lists have relatively fixed engagement tactics and deployment formations. Once I figure out the best ones, I normally don't feel much need to change them.

4: Don't. Blame. The. Dice. Even if they were dreadful, don't blame the dice, they probably weren't as bad as you think, and they probably weren't the only reason you lost.

or alternatively:

Work out what you did wrong when you won, as well. Winning isn't a reason or excuse to sit back on your laurels and congratulate yourself, and you can usually learn lessons from it just as much as you can from losing.

38 minutes ago, Gersun said:
  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

1. I tend to fly a different list every week. It gives me a good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of all the different ships and pilots and may stumble onto a killer combo of pilots and upgrades. Play uncommon ships such as the Tie Punisher or the Kihraxz can also give you an advantage because your opponent is unsure what the ship is capable of or are unsure on how to counter it. But when it does get closer to a tournament, i tend to practice the list i plan on taking.

2. Hindsight is always 20/20 and you can generally see why you lost. It could be the initial approach was wrong or maybe they flew better then you and predicted a bump that left your arc dodger token less to be shot by the rest of you opponents list. The most important thing to do is to look back and see what went wrong and improve for later games. Its been said before but don't blame dice, some times they are working for you, sometimes they work against you, it's the nature of dice rolling.

3. I've already answered this in point 1 but i'm generally always experimenting. Sometimes it is absolute rubbish (double Tie Punisher with minefield mapper was a fun concept but in practice was really boring to fly), sometimes you find little gems that aren't half bad (Hortan Salm with expertise and TLT and Jake Farrell with intensity and and V.I. have been my latest discovery's). It's a game so as long as i have fun it is, i don't mind flying something odd and losing because it wasn't a top tier list.

4. Be unpredictable. You playing against other humans and you can psych them out or confuse them which you can use to your advantage later in the match. It can make a lot of difference if your in a different position to what they were expecting and you can capitalize on that. Also fly casual. If it is not a tournament, give your opponent the benefit of the doubt, you don't want to known as the strict guy that no-one whats to fly against, and just have fun with this game.

1. Yes, much to my friends chagrine I refuse to place a ship on the table until Iv had an hour to practise its maneuvers around an obstacle course of my own design (coins thrown across my bench :P ). Not only that but I often run the same list over and over until they can all get through the course without stepping on each other's toes but also in practise matches I arrange with whatever meta list I can come up with.

2. I head back and think about what caused my defeat, most of the time I will blame my own piloting (easier to blame myself as I can improve that) and as such head back to my bench for some maneuver and combat training. Especially in matches where I have less points than the opponent.

3. Yes, definitely. Knowing your own ships is one of the most important aspects of X-Wing, knowing your opponents ships closely follows. I experiment with my own openings and also the meta lists I may face, researching their openings and tactics, looking at what maneuver the formations have in common and how best to approach my attack.

4. I have a few "X-Wing Golden Rules" that I adhere to in training and in combat, I've gained these from my years of experience at X-Wing and other games.

here are a few:

- If you can't beat the meta on list building, beat it in piloting

- The opponent will always roll Natties, you will always Whiff. Never rely on luck.

- Never overload a ship on points, unless it can earn it back without relying on luck or a chance matchup

- Fly Whily and Fly wirey, there is a best maneuver, you just have to find it.

- Focus Fire

- Better to not be shot and not shoot than to exchange fire.

- The easiest manuever will get you killed

- Play one turn ahead, never fly at them, fly where they will be.

- Fly the ships you love, with enough time and enough polish, even against the meta, they will love you back and reward your efforts. Put effort in to get effort out.

3 hours ago, Gersun said:
  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?
  1. Yes.
  2. Try to figure out what I could have done differently. This consists of different:
    • Tactics (I should have pulled a '2' not a '3', then I wouldn't have bumped)
    • Strategy (I should have gone for Nym first)
    • Setup (I should have set up in a spread out 'dragnet' not a tight wedge, and tried to keep the obstacles as far apart as possible)
    • Also, talk to my opponent both about how they won, and what both of us should/could have done differently.
  3. Yes. The same squad MUST behave in different way to engage different archetypes. Killing a ghost requires a lot of guns focused as fast as possible on a fairly predicable space, with range largely irrelevant. Killing dash rendar requires you to consistently keep him under fire despite his manoeuvrability, which means splitting up and running a net - some ships chasing him, some heading to where he will be in a few turns and coming at him from in front.
  4. Learn quick rules to eyeball the shape of maneuver templates . Record the lessons and conclusions from (2) and review them occasionally . KILL MIRANDA DONI FIRST .

.

Edited by baranidlo

My biggest step these days is to identify my biggest mistake of the match. I don't always see it but I always assume I have done something. I will try to discuss with my opponent but not all are interested or sometimes they scratch their head uncertaintly as well.

6 hours ago, Gersun said:

  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

1) Yes, but not the exact same list. I will bring Han + friend. Or Vessery + friends, etc. I usually will never bring to casual night what I intend to run at tourney time. I will bring Nym and then Wedge and Cracken for instance. Nym is who I am practicing with, Wedge and Cracken are mostly for funsy. Then next match I will play a game with Han but with something like two Awings. Again I practice with Han techniques and fun with two awings. Also keeps casual night from not turning into meta night. Then my real list might be Han/Nym which I work out tactics etc with my brother or more competitive local players but I have practice with each ship.

2) I write battle reports for most tournaments I play in (check the battle report section). I do this because while i am writing the match details, I remember instances where I screwed up. Writing battle reports helps a lot in diagnosing my play. Usually after most games, I ask my opponent what his thoughts were on why he went after a particular ship first, or if he felt threatened by an upgrade (like ion projector) even if it never proc'd during the game. This is important because you might have ion projector on a ship that never procs in three games, but drastically affects your opponent's decisions. You will never know unless you ask, or else you will think it's useless and want it removed.

3) Oh yes! This is very important. If Ketsu/Bossk is deployed opposite of you, I hope to gawd your engagement tactics are different then if Dash/Miranda is deployed across. You have to know how to engage different archetypes.

4) Fly casual. We are 'pew pew-ing' with plastic ships to win cardboard and acrylic.

7 hours ago, Gersun said:
  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

First, great topic!

1.) Absolutely. When I'm working on a competitive list, I expect that it will take at least three games just to see if the idea for the list has legs. One or two games is never enough in my experience, there is too much room for error on my part.

2.) A lot of reflection. Did I hit any obstacles or my own ships? Did I get a favorable opening exchange? Was I too aggressive at any point or should I have pushed an advantage more? Were my targeting priorities optimal?

3.) Once I get through the initial half dozen matches with a list I like for competitive play then I start looking at other ways to set up and fly it. It is helpful to have a second set up and approach that is different enough from the first. This way if the obstacles or my opponents ships are set up in a way to cause my primary set up some headaches I have something else to fall back on.

4.) Self critique is the key to getting better. A couple of years ago when I would lose, I would get irritated with what ever strong list or ship that I felt had beaten me. It is easy to jump on the band wagon of hating a strong list or ship. Over time I realized that I could attribute most of my losses to mistakes made as early as turn 0. Luck happens, but the large majority of my matches are decided by skill not luck.

Like Chippy, usually something different every week. I have all the ships but last night I flew ARCs for the first time using FGDs squad. First game was a charlie foxtrot! You would've sworn it was the first I played.

There's always a post mortem of the game. Some boo-boos are obvious like bumps, lost actions and rocks. Or forgetting upgrades. Some less so like charging in a round too early or too late and leaving yourself open to flanking attacks.

I find the hardest part of the game is determining movement, yours and your opponent's, at that critical distance just inside R3. Block, k turn, charge in or something else.

There's two pages in the bible of X-wing. Page one: PRACTICE! Page two: KNOW WHAT YOU BROUGHT TO THE TABLE!

9 hours ago, Gersun said:
  1. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

Yeah, I've got a few links to articles, and a document of notes when I was working on my game this year. I've since internalized it and am looking to the next evolution. Maximizing MOV.

I'll post my stuff when I get home tonight.

4. Holy Grails:

  • Repetition with the same squad gains you familiarity with their strengths & weakness' which the opposition doesn't know as well as you do ='s an edge over them.
  • Setting up with your ships pointed toward a neutral edge so you can fly along your deployment zone OR make a hard turn toward the opponent's edge. This isn't a typical deployment for most, so they really don't have any idea if you're going to come at them, or stay along your edge.
  • Talk your way out loud through your actions: "Start of combat, Rey adds one of her banked Focus," "My bomber has Lightweight Frame, so that's your 3 attack die to my two green **roll dice** plus LWF **roll last green**" "You're at range 1, so that's my three red plus one for range, and I'm outside your arc, so with Outmaneuver you have one less green.."--this helps avoid confusion about what is happening or who is doing what, everything is above board AND it helps train you to check for card effect/interactions etc.

If I know the opponent well, if confused about something I'll ask during a match why they did a particular move or action (after they've done it of course). Even though we're opponents, we do try and keep learning and improving.

Edited by Force Majeure

1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?

No, I'd get bored. I ran Paratanni at a 4 games tournament to prep for regionals, it was fun. Tried one game on Vassal, still fun. Played 9 games at said regional, almost all fun. Played 1 game against a local prepping for Naboo, seriously "meh." Put it on the table round 1 at Naboo and thought "oh, this again... I really should have brought something else." So even for a list I really enjoyed flying, once I hit 10-15 games, I got bored.

Since then, at most, I'll try it a game or two against my son before flying at a tournament and shelve the list once the tournament is done. Besides, my son learns better if I fly more types of stuff against him, so it works out better for both of us. He's working on aces and range control, so I get to fly lots of different stuff to get him to internalize all of it.

2. What do you do after you lose a game?

Think whether the other player won, I lost, or variance just sucked (in part due to lack of actions) and consider what I could do better next time. The essential part is to not obsess over it, losing happens, just move on.

3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?

Yes, but in my head, while walking the dogs every morning. I used to do mockup matches in Vassal to prep openings, but I can mostly do it in my head now.

4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

Play against smart kids, they'll figure out a lot of stuff us grownups won't think of on our own cause it'd seem crazy. It has the added bonus that someone else's crazy becomes predictable. Eat that Poe that thought going through an asteroid would suprise me, Kath went throught it first and blocked you on the rock!

Taking an hour each day to walk the dogs and having nothing to think about but podcasts and X-wing doesn't hurt either, same with watching Youtube clips of matches while the kids are falling asleep. Turning "dead" time into useful time is a good plan. It beats thinking about work projects all the time!

11 hours ago, wurms said:

2) I write battle reports for most tournaments I play in (check the battle report section). I do this because while i am writing the match details, I remember instances where I screwed up. Writing battle reports helps a lot in diagnosing my play. Usually after most games, I ask my opponent what his thoughts were on why he went after a particular ship first, or if he felt threatened by an upgrade (like ion projector) even if it never proc'd during the game. This is important because you might have ion projector on a ship that never procs in three games, but drastically affects your opponent's decisions. You will never know unless you ask, or else you will think it's useless and want it removed .

This is such an interesting thought! I almost always try to chat with my opponents after the game. Whether it is about upgrades, positional play, or action choices, I think that is the best time to improve as a player. However, I don't think I've ever asked "what did you feel most threatened by in my list?" That is a super cool question and as you said, it can make you see something in your list with new eyes. Good stuff!

4 hours ago, Force Majeure said:

4. Holy Grails:

  • Repetition with the same squad gains you familiarity with their strengths & weakness' which the opposition doesn't know as well as you do ='s an edge over them.
  • Setting up with your ships pointed toward a neutral edge so you can fly along your deployment zone OR make a hard turn toward the opponent's edge. This isn't a typical deployment for most, so they really don't have any idea if you're going to come at them, or stay along your edge.

I do both of these things almost always. I've flown probably 20 matches with my 8 TIE swarm, and I can see instantly if I should joust, swarm, or spread out. When playing ships with a fast dial it is great to have a 1 hard turn to the middle, a 3 bank to the center, or a 5 straight down the edge on turn 1.

I remember seeing an article on here about deploying your ships at an off angle, especially if you have access to barrel roll as you are more likely to dodge an arc while still getting a shot. Also, it can make it much harder for opponents to predict your movement. Does anyone deploy at off-angles? I am almost always pointed straight out to joust, or along my board edge.

4 hours ago, Gersun said:

I remember seeing an article on here about deploying your ships at an off angle, especially if you have access to barrel roll as you are more likely to dodge an arc while still getting a shot. Also, it can make it much harder for opponents to predict your movement. Does anyone deploy at off-angles? I am almost always pointed straight out to joust, or along my board edge.

I should probably try this myself; TIE strikers cause enough headaches to predict anyway....making it worse can only be good for people's blood pressure.

On ‎9‎/‎21‎/‎2017 at 2:10 AM, Gersun said:

I also want to gather some data about the players on here, so, X-Wing community, what do you do after your matches?

  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

Great thread! Lots of great answers!

1. Absolutely. Lots of lists nowadays fall into the "toolbox" category, so its good to figure out what works against other toolboxes. Very rare to see someone min/maxing on a list like bombs or arcdodgers given the rock/paper/scissors/lizard/spock nature of the meta. I could play vs 1 tie swarm list and get a good idea of how my lists plays out vs that, but would have to play a few games vs something like Nym/Miranda because there's a few things different those players can do with that list. If I expected to do well at something regional or higher I wouldn't take a list with less than 20 plays. You can even do this on casual nights. Take a main piece of your list and pair it with different ships you haven't flown before, or an off-interaction. After half the ships are off the board, your main piece functions the exact same way it would if you lost half of your regular tournament list.

2. Congratulate the opponent. Then ask for advice, or what they say that you did that was the moment they saw blood in the waters. Like one game I played vs Miranda/Esege/Bombs when I had Palp/Aces. His reponse was "the moment you dove into the rocks you were toast, you had no lanes of escape". Advice like that REALLY helps when you can understand it from your opponent's perspective.

3. Absolutely. Almost every list can be flown 2 ways: when you have initiative and when you don't. Arc Dodgers become blockers. Bait becomes Predator. Something as simple as initiative can dictate how you approach your enemy. Practice with as much as you can! I almost always deploy at off angles. ESPECIALLY with arc dodgers. Most of the time I deploy with a "drunken master" style with ships in seemingly (they aren't) random spots and orientations, knowing that usually within 2 turns I can have my ships in the formation I like in the location I like.

4. Be unpredictable. There's no reason you can't decloak a turn later. Or any reason you can't take the outside of that rock to help yourself 2 turns later. Look down the road. Don't rely on your dice doing amazing things. Play the long game. Most importantly, its a game. Have fun with it.

13 hours ago, Gersun said:

I remember seeing an article on here about deploying your ships at an off angle, especially if you have access to barrel roll as you are more likely to dodge an arc while still getting a shot. Also, it can make it much harder for opponents to predict your movement. Does anyone deploy at off-angles? I am almost always pointed straight out to joust, or along my board edge.

9 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I should probably try this myself; TIE strikers cause enough headaches to predict anyway....making it worse can only be good for people's blood pressure.

TIE Strikers can also be bad for YOUR blood pressure at off angles, just like Echo is bad for mine at off angles. 22.5 degrees was the deployment, and you can do it easily by setting a bank maneuver flat against the board edge (bank maneuver should move you perfectly forward or sideways compared to your opponent). Its sets you on an off axis from your opponent's movements, but does the same for your opponent to you so be mindful of it. Helps most when you setup the rocks on your ships general axis so your opponent has harder maneuvers.

Edited by jonnyd

This is an awesome thread.

I have been practicing with this list for weeks now, to try to get some practice for when wave XII hits and I fly 4 GUNBOATS for the rest of my life!

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) - TIE Bomber
Deadeye (1), Cruise Missiles (3), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) - TIE Bomber
Deadeye (1), Cruise Missiles (3), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) - TIE Bomber
Deadeye (1), Cruise Missiles (3), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) - TIE Bomber
Deadeye (1), Cruise Missiles (3), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

I’ve learned a few things about these, like how fast you need to go round 1 to get set up for that 20-dice alpha strike round 2, what you do against large ships, what not to do against large ships, how to set up asteroids to force them into a corridor so I can alpha strike them, etc...

At my FLGS, we always talk about games afterwards. It’s really nice, because we offer each other help and advice, simultaneously. Often times, the loser still has good advice for the winner. We point out cards that were never used in the match and should be traded out for something else, different flying strategies, etc.

It’s always nice when I lose all my games, but I notice that the lists I lose to were all ones that I had a hand in building!

47 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

It’s always nice when I lose all my games, but I notice that the lists I lose to were all ones that I had a hand in building!

No good deed goes unpunished.... i remember pointing out that palpatines ability to generate a crit on spec made wampa sound really good

On 9/21/2017 at 4:10 AM, Gersun said:

  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

1. Almost never but then my "competitive" level play is only a small amount of how I play. I want to fly every ship all the time. I want to fly against every ship all time. Variety is the spice of life. I love epic and other alternate formats.

2. If there is time between the next match I will try to chat with my opponent if they are willing. Ask what they think I did right or wrong and ask what they think they did right or wrong and share my thoughts on those topics with them.

3. Oh goodness no. I have no plan for asteroid placement or deployment until about 30 seconds before we start to set up. Totally serious. Its pretty common for me to never deploy the same way in any game of a tournamnet or league nightn

4. No unless you count re-reading the rules and FAQ before a big tournament. Some people have clearly been taught how to play by friends and have never actually read the rules. I played a guy who had Han with predator and weapons engineer and some other similarly set up ship. On the first turn I had to explain the reroll a die only once rule. About 15 points of his squad was basically useless.

I rage on the forums of course. =)

I have some for some older builds, but I've been thoroughly creatively bested by this meta, and don't have any interest in playing... burgh.

1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?

Yes... and no. Maybe should have said "No and Yes"... but that sounds weird. Anyways, In general, I usually get bored with flying the same list over and over and over and over again. But that is the way to get better with it, to increase your familiarity with your list, its capabilities and limitations and to increase your chances of winning in tournaments. Which is EXACTLY WHY I don't like to do that. I play in tournaments but that is not really what I enjoy about X-Wing. I like X-wing because it is a way ti immerse myself in a familiar story, as one of the characters, etc... To me, tournaments are just not Star Wars, because SW is all about story, and (100/6) tournaments lack that... there is no imagination and thus, no Star Wars... for me. Star Wars is Epic... (insert plug about Epic play format) . That said, I do have some "fun" or "thematic" lists that are very "Star Wars" and thus very enjoyable... to me. Some do well in tournaments... most, well... not so much.

2. What do you do after you lose a game?

I conduct an After Action Review of what I wanted to happen, what actually happened, what I want to keep doing and what I want to change. I'm an old wargamer, and BS-ing after the game with your friends/opponents is half of the enjoyment. Preferably, this also involves the consumption of an Adult Beverage or two.

3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?

Yes, I love to experiment. Is my list improved by formation flying? What formation works best? Or, should I disperse my forces? How do I leverage the symmetry? Can my list be simplified? *This one especially, since I always fail to maximize my list's potential because I cannot remember all the tricks the list is based on. ; the more gimmicks... the more I forget... the more I defeat myself.

4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

I do, and I am looking for those worthy of the grail. Sadly, not so many of them post here*

*That I am aware of... IMO...

I can reveal this one thing, though...

Above all else...

Have FUN!

...And your opponent should have fun, too!

Ok, that was TWO things... so sue me.

On 9/21/2017 at 10:10 AM, Gersun said:
  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

1. I tend to switch lists a lot, simply because I grow tired of flying the same thing too many games in a row. Occasionally, I find a squad I really really like and I stick to it for several months (for tournaments, I still mix it up on game nights). I don't adhere to the belief that you need to practise the same thing over and over. I believe in flying a wide variety of lists to gain experience in the game as a whole.

2. Ask myself why I lost it. Was it dice, match-up, tactics or strategy? (Yes, tactics and strategy are two different things.) Rarely it is dice, but that does happen. Match-up is becoming more and more common, since the game in its design is being pushed more towards "auto"-wins and "auto"-losses. Was it my setup and overall plan (that would be strategy)? Was it my decisions during the game (tactics)?

3. Yes

4. No. To me, the game is about looking at the board and taking decisions depending on what I see. I understand that some players (probably including most of the top players) approach the game much more methodically.

  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over? Yes

  1. What do you do after you lose a game? Learn

  1. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations? Yes

  1. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community? Play on Vassal and get familiar with ship movement on Squadron Benchmark.
Edited by Boom Owl
On 9/21/2017 at 1:10 AM, Gersun said:

<snip>

I also want to gather some data about the players on here, so, X-Wing community, what do you do after your matches?

  1. Do you practice with the same list/archetype over and over and over?
  2. What do you do after you lose a game?
  3. Do you experiment with different engagement tactics and deployment formations?
  4. Do you have a holy grail of X-Wing information that you can share with the community?

1. No, I don't fly tourneys, just a Casual day every other week... I like to try new ships as well as tapping older lists that I've had fun with. I repaint/mod so sometimes I play a ship for the sole purpose of getting it on the table.

2. Laugh, sigh, get another beer. I like to talk about my opponent's list; whether it's admiration or a critique. Talk about how things would have gone differently if something had varied slightly.

3. I want to; too often I set up facing my opponent out of pressure for expediency, but some of my (Moldy Crow) lists demand a few turns of building up. I want to start setting up more varied starting positions/facings.

4. No, I just like to have fun with fun people and push tiny plastic ships from a multimedia franchise I adore around a table and roll dice while momentarily forgetting that life is pain and also fragile but death comes at any moment.