https://strawpoll.com/xksrcz2y

My opponents will confirm for you that I am, in fact, the HOTAC AI.

Master Qui Gon said it best..

Maybe one. I fly more instinctual than intellectual, so while I attempt to plan ahead I'm not always able to. It does mean that if I fly against an opponent who is a planner, I can wind up falling into a 3-turn ahead trap, but it also has the advantage of making me slightly unpredictable (I don't use standard approaches often).

Quote

No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.

- paraphrasing Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

I typically plan 1 turn out, because I'm going to have to adjust everything once I see what the enemy did anyways. No real point in wasting time and mental stamina on something that will not be used.

One turn, but not uncommon for me to forget what move I selected on the dial I just placed down. ??

14 minutes ago, kris40k said:

I typically plan 1 turn out, because I'm going to have to adjust everything once I see what the enemy did anyways. No real point in wasting time and mental stamina on something that will not be used.

This is pretty much what i try to do but really generally often even less thought goes into it. Alot of turns I find that if I do something more complicated than that I end up making a mistake anyway.

2 turns out, because I usually try tricky things involving stress, then relieving said stress. And I then forget what I put on my dial. Constantly.

1 minute ago, Jyico said:

2 turns out, because I usually try tricky things involving stress, then relieving said stress. And I then forget what I put on my dial. Constantly.

Thinking about your dial options 2 turns out sounds hard. How do you approach that?

Usually a turn ahead. Plan out what I'm going to do and the direct follow up or disengagement as needed. But that can all go awry depending on what my opponent has done.

Usually next turn, in specifics. Positioning, arcs, actions, etc.

More than next turn, I think forward generally, like, "Where is his squad going to go after the joust?" or "Which lane is he going to pick?"

Just now, Boom Owl said:

Thinking about your dial options 2 turns out sounds hard. How do you approach that?

Once you're in the thick of things its almost pointless, but when you're on engagement mode I like to try and plan a couple turns based on average moves a player might do. Basically, a couple 2 banks. I like to engage on angles so I estimate they will turn in so they don't get flanked too hard. Run an ace behind them with the rest of your squad out front. I normally run 1 or 2 aces, and either a support ship or miniswarm. They all act kinda like 2 ships anyway. Depending on which of the "2" targets they go for, there's really only a couple moves left anyway on the 2nd turn. Then you gotta plan for the K turn and green after, if you're going that route. Whisper is a rekindled old favorite because I used to do the 3 and 4 k's all the time when people never thought you should do those. Now, you can have cloaks almost all the time! So a 4-k and 2-bank after is pretty easy to envision.

Its not like it works all that well, but its fun to think of a couple possibilities of a future turn based on the turn I'm currently dialing in.

One to three turns. Usually 3 turns on approach and it goes down from there based on when and how many ships engage. Two turns to three turns when I'm thinking about disengaging and re-engaging. One turn in combat, as the situation changes so rapidly.

I think at least twenty turns in advance, not even kidding

But they're not exactly thoughts of Xwing; moreso about how my life is coming apart before my eyes

I almost always plan with at least an idea or 2 of my next move(occasionally 3 moves out) depending what happens in the upcoming round.

It's not too hard, but it doesn't always work out if my opponent does something totally unexpected or we bump with only a single ship. I find planning 2 turns out is really important during the first engagement so I have the option to either disengage or continue the engagement the next turn. Initiative(pilot skill) will also matter, I find it way easier to plan ahead if my ships move first, as I don't have to worry about unexpected maneuvers. In 1.0 I ran a lot of rebel R2-D2 regen, so it was important to plan ahead to make sure I can execute a green maneuver after engagement.

One last thought. My game improved greatly when I started asking myself what happens next turn if I do the maneuver I've chosen? At the very minimum you should ask yourself this every time you set dials.

Think 2 ahead with the intention of adjusting as needed/desired.

59 minutes ago, Ikka said:

Maybe one. I fly more instinctual than intellectual, so while I attempt to plan ahead I'm not always able to. It does mean that if I fly against an opponent who is a planner, I can wind up falling into a 3-turn ahead trap, but it also has the advantage of making me slightly unpredictable (I don't use standard approaches often).

Mood. I won my first ever tournament game because I moved white instead of destressing. It was with my last ship, a Wookie, vs Rey. He bumped. I did it again, same effect.

And then he sloop’d right off the map. Neither of us had realized he was too close to the edge.

I set dials for one, very occasionally two turns ahead. I plan for longer than that, though. I have goals and advantageous positions that I work toward, but there's not much point in planning in detail when so much can change in a turn.

Yeah, just try to plan to be in a postion that gives you the most options for next turn. I don't think any farther than that and it works fine.

3 hours ago, BVRCH said:

Master Qui Gon said it best..

Always like Qui. Pity he had to die in the first of the prequels.

2 hours ago, Ikka said:

Maybe one. I fly more instinctual than intellectual, so while I attempt to plan ahead I'm not always able to. It does mean that if I fly against an opponent who is a planner, I can wind up falling into a 3-turn ahead trap, but it also has the advantage of making me slightly unpredictable (I don't use standard approaches often).

I'm in the same boat. I often TRY to plan my move to take into account what i am going to do next round, but some times things happen that bork over that plan.

Uh, depends on the ship.

Whisper? As many turns as I can possibly consider, at least so that I have multiple decloak options around the rocks.

Advanced sensors anything? Or strikers/reapers? Or supernatural reflexes? Sometimes I don't really think that much and dial something that looks fun.

Ordinance carriers I usually have the flowchart for the first few moves worked out after forces have been placed, follow that for three turns and then improvise.

I try not to think too far past 1 round ahead. I tend to find if I plan too far in advance, it's harder for me to adapt to something I didn't anticipate (getting ionized, misjudging a turn and ending on a rock, opponent disengaging instead of pressing an attack, getting hit with a crit that COMPLETELY screws up my ship's abilities or movement options).

That's a great quote. Though, not sure I've ever heard him say that.

definitely only 1 turn, cuz I'm not capable of more than that. And it works very well for me. So, I'd say that if you want to be better than like 90% of players, aim for two turns ahead. But fully be able to deduce all the possibilities.

I'm capable of seeing pretty much all the possibilities out one future turn, but past that and my lizard brain doesn't keep up.

For now, just the current planning phase, and just my own ships. Once I get to the point where I can reliably remember what order my ships are moving in so that they don't mess each other up, then I'll start worrying about what the opponent's doing.

...though that would also be much easier if I had any clue what maneuvers the opponent's ships had. Or my ships, come to think of it.