I've been doing some testing playing both sides of the board.alternating between lists.

Sure you know what the "other guy" is doing..but it seems sort of at least...kind of helpful ..to still try and pick the best moves based on what's on the board in the moment.

Does anyone think this is wasted practice?

Also....nachos.

Playing with toy spaceships is usually a solitary affair until it becomes a ‘game’ with ‘rules’.

45 minutes ago, Velvetelvis said:

I've been doing some testing playing both sides of the board.alternating between lists.

Sure you know what the "other guy" is doing..but it seems sort of at least...kind of helpful ..to still try and pick the best moves based on what's on the board in the moment.

Does anyone think this is wasted practice?

Also....nachos.

I use the HotAC AI to play against most of the time. As long as I'm honest with all the rolls, I get to see some interesting things happen.

It's a fun way to play around and experiment with the ships/builds you feel like trying.

(Last run was an SF/Silencer list against a metric gundark-load of regular TIEs. It was interesting. SFs & Silencer make a mean combo.)

And with apps like this out there, you can even play against them pesky Rebel Jawa-juicers.

Nope, I do it all the time. Is it the same as playing another person? Of course not. But it has, for me anyway, helped me get much better at eyeballing maneuvers to get around rocks, set up blocks, avoid blocks and see just how much a boost or barrel roll will change range or arcs.

Plus when you attack, you get to say, "Fire! FIRE!" Huh huh, yeah.

I find that its very useful for two specific purposes:

• Joust Testing:
  • You always want to make sure you know the answer to the eternal question "If Both of Us Are Jousting, One of Us Is Wrong"
  • Self-tests are pretty easy ways to figure that out and understand triggers
• Opening Strategy
  • I like to cycle through tons and tons of possible starting formations
  • Its a good way to learn what combination of speeds are necessary in the first 3 turns to converge on a spot based on various starting positions
  • Self-practice is pretty useful for cycling through all that

I (sadly) wind up playing by myself the vast majority of the time. I tried to get my wife to play, but some ridiculously hot green dice left her bored to tears after half an hour. Now I just push my ships around the table on my own, unless I can talk my brother into a game.

That said, it's quite good for developing your pilot skills. Practice flying around rocks, work on predicting precisely where your ship will end up after manuever and reposition. Also, I rather enjoy a lot of the missions included in the bigger packs. I really oughta print out the HotAC material and play that.

2 hours ago, Lego Leonidas said:

I (sadly) wind up playing by myself the vast majority of the time. I tried to get my wife to play, but some ridiculously hot green dice left her bored to tears after half an hour. Now I just push my ships around the table on my own, unless I can talk my brother into a game.

That said, it's quite good for developing your pilot skills. Practice flying around rocks, work on predicting precisely where your ship will end up after manuever and reposition. Also, I rather enjoy a lot of the missions included in the bigger packs. I really oughta print out the HotAC material and play that.

(sigh) Wives usually do just leave us playing with ourselves.

It's useful in terms of dice math and combat, but obviously can't recreate your ability to outwit/outplay the opponent.

I've only done it a couple of times but felt like I got a decent rough steer on whether my squad was worth proceeding with or not (it wasn't).

I think it gives you a decent idea of what a list is capable of and lets you practice maneuvering and placement as others have said. I've been trying out some Striker builds recently and it definitely helps to get a sense of how the Adaptive Ailerons work.

One tip - to make things more interesting, I usually switch which dials I set first each round. No matter how much you try to block out the dials you just set, you're still conscious of the strategy in your own brain. Switching which sides' dials you set kind of balances between the rounds how much you're (over)reacting to your own moves.

I do this a lot...actually I did it almost exclusively for around 2 years before I ever went to a game store to find people to play. I wasn't too far behind the curve when I finally showed up.

I enjoy it for the fun of seeing the ships fly around and imagining a little narrative to it sometimes...but as others have said, it can be useful for a few things practice-wise.

It's nice to be able to test strategies and be able to back up a maneuver or two sometime, just to see how something might work. Like joust testing but for other scenarios you might find out in the wild. It may not help with outwitting your opponent, but you can test out how a few different movements from a given position might work out, which can help with knowing what an opponent might consider.

I agree with dadcollin about switching dials setting and I try to do that method often...but if I'm practicing a certain list I'll also set those dials first and set the other dials knowing my strategy and essentially hard countering myself. Many times in setting my "opponent's" dial I'll notice options that I didn't when considering my own options, so it helps develop two sided thinking to engagements.

I'm a huge believer in solitaire games. One of the best things it shows you is all the ways an opposing squad can screw your squad, and it trains you to look for those circumstances. There's pretty valuable skill to hone.

As long as you're able to objectively apply what you believe is the "best move" for each given side without favoring one or the other it should be fine.

I've done it a few times and it's helpful.

4 hours ago, dadocollin said:

One tip - to make things more interesting, I usually switch which dials I set first each round.

Same.

1 hour ago, RebelRogue said:

I do this a lot...actually I did it almost exclusively for around 2 years before I ever went to a game store to find people to play. I wasn't too far behind the curve when I finally showed up.

Same.

I play a lot of solitaire. Sometimes I set up stationary targets that shoot back..with Stress..Ions or just a ton of damage. Mostly just to get used to how ships handle and how effects work.

17 hours ago, Velvetelvis said:

I've been doing some testing playing both sides of the board.alternating between lists.

Sure you know what the "other guy" is doing..but it seems sort of at least...kind of helpful ..to still try and pick the best moves based on what's on the board in the moment.

Does anyone think this is wasted practice?

Also....nachos.

I do this all the time, haven’t lost a game yet

21 hours ago, Velvetelvis said:

I've been doing some testing playing both sides of the board.alternating between lists.

Sure you know what the "other guy" is doing..but it seems sort of at least...kind of helpful ..to still try and pick the best moves based on what's on the board in the moment.

Does anyone think this is wasted practice?

Also....nachos.

Wait...nachos?

Don't lie to me.

It helps me practice a new list when I'm trying to remember all the triggers and practicing out different scenarios.

Like I tested Asajj against an Ezra/Maul Lothal Rebel yesterday. I had the Phantom in the mobile arc of Asajj, but the Ghost was out of it. As an action, I could have moved the mobile arc to face the Ghost or keep it on the Phantom II and take an evade. I played both scenarios and was able to see the full ramifications of both decisions.

The main problem with this is your opponent will never do something unexpected or that you didn't realize was possible, but you do also learn to think about your opponent's possible moves from their point of view. But it also means that you're not getting the benefit of practicing against players that are stronger than you, and it's not very useful if you don't know how to fly the opposing list correctly. But it's still better than nothing, but then again nothing probably shouldn't be your only option if you have a PC and an internet connection since Vassal and Tabletop Simulator and Fly Casual are things.

22 hours ago, Velvetelvis said:

I've been doing some testing playing both sides of the board.alternating between lists.

Sure you know what the "other guy" is doing..but it seems sort of at least...kind of helpful ..to still try and pick the best moves based on what's on the board in the moment.

Does anyone think this is wasted practice?

Also....nachos.

It's great to learn how to avoid obstacles and judge distances.

It's ok when evaluating the effectiveness of list versus list.

It's no good when trying to learn rules (if you forget, there's no opponent to correct you) or practice tactics (you can predict your own manuvers).

It has it's place.

On 20.2.2018 at 2:31 AM, Deathseed said:

And with apps like this out there, you can even play against them pesky Rebel Jawa-juicers.

OT: When I checked a few waves ago, I found HotAC AI cards for every ship. I think it was on reddit. Don't have a link though, so you need to search yourself if you feel like the paper is easier to use than the app.

BTT: I also used to fly solo, but only against HotAC AI. Now I seldom do it, seem to find enough humans to play against or am too lazy to set it up just for myself. I miss the interaction when I play alone...

On 20/02/2018 at 11:02 AM, Velvetelvis said:

I've been doing some testing playing both sides of the board.alternating between lists.

Sure you know what the "other guy" is doing..but it seems sort of at least...kind of helpful ..to still try and pick the best moves based on what's on the board in the moment.

Does anyone think this is wasted practice?

The best thing I ever did for my endgame play was flying, say, 50 points against a 100 point list flown by the Squadron Benchmark AI (normally with turrets). You're not playing yourself - you're instead playing a semi-competent AI, forcing you to anticipate moves.