See title.

Also answer the reverse.

Part 1: Non formation flying.

Part 2: Non formation flying with a purpose.

Also - jedi are easy

Not blowing your force charges every round is harder

If watching early rounds on streams is any indication....

Literally nothing is easy in X-Wing.

Emptying your wallet at your FLGS when a new wave drops

Getting bullseye

Not saying it's easy to do, but it happens 3 or 4 times a game even when neither player is trying to get it

2 minutes ago, Roller of blanks said:

Getting bullseye

Not saying it's easy to do, but it happens 3 or 4 times a game even when neither player is trying to get it

23 deg

5 minutes ago, Roller of blanks said:

Getting bullseye

Not saying it's easy to do, but it happens 3 or 4 times a game even when neither player is trying to get it

Build allies with rocks around range 1 wide. Point arc down said alley. Bullseye likely achieved as opponent enters it.

1 hour ago, Racejoe said:

Emptying your wallet at your FLGS when a new wave drops

In a similar vein, collecting all 7 factions.

Flying higher initiative arc dodgers that are actually super efficient (see mostly empire; some rebels qualify)

Because initiative killing is ******* easy

Flying lower initiative against higher initiative is difficult

Range control. Ties into understanding initiative. Ruining an opponent’s alpha attempt by maintaining range 3 vs their low initiative VTG and then wiping it from the board before it ever double taps is not difficult if you’re planning it out from deployment and take advantage of early repositions.

What’s most difficult for me is getting distracted by opponent’s gimmicks and flying myself into a figurative corner instead of maintaining a sound, fundamental strategy. “Oh Strikers with Seismics? I better jerk around the board edge for 3 rounds instead of just wiping it off the board before I even see it’s backside.”

So I meme'd above, but I don't actually think there is anything easy in X-wing. Conversely, I think a ton of things a lot of the seasoned players here take for granted are actually kinda hard:

- Tracking order of activation of both your ships and your opponents, which is crucial to playing anything shy of I6 with a bid.

- Even playing I6 with a bid you have to watch for the easy blocks that set you up to die. Most of my wins against good players are when I'm able to successfully block their biggest threat 3+ times in a game.

- Remembering the entire phase sequence. There are a fair number of system phase, at the start of engagement phase, etc. Heck, the other day I was playing quickbuild and forgot to use Kagi's ability literally the entire game!

- Not just giving up and jousting. Harder than it seems, because if you didn't get yourself the right angle the turn before you are gonna get caught now.

17 minutes ago, Micanthropyre said:

Conversely  , I think a ton of things a lot of the seasoned players here take for granted are actually kinda hard: 

I like this. People always talk about xwing stuff in black and white and its rarely useful. Yes Moving Last is easier. No Moving Last is not always easy. Same is true for low init vs high init. Theres so much variation moment to moment and matchup to matchup.

for the first question, my answer is doing all the stuff that other people do that you think is cool. running tournaments, making alt-arts, having podcasts, writing blogs, creating memes, making videos, filming and streaming games, etc. isn't that hard, the reason we appreciate people who do these things is because of all the time they put in. Seriously, everyone should try running a tournament, making a podcast, drawing funny x-wing cartoons, whatever floats your boat. It's not that hard and I appreciate it greatly when people put time into helping other people enjoy the game.

for the second, reading. reading is hard. I played multiple games with Fenn Rau (the real one) this week and just now realized that he also gets another defense dice at range 1. Not a biggie, but it would have probably changed my "can I joust here" decisions in those games.

List building.

I've seen so many people feel intimidated by building a list, throwing their hands up and declaring it to be too difficult. I suspect this is because some people get stuck in a mental trap of finding what is best with the wealth of choices available.

As for what players think is easy that is actually difficult; flying close to obstacles. I'm especially guilty of this, often flying too close to rocks and debris and paying the price for it. There are times where it has paid off (due to opponents not expecting such a ridiculously silly move, and not landing/overlapping the obstacle), but times where it has cost me a game entirely (Soontir Fel landing on a debris and getting burned down by my opponent's entire list hurts).

TIE Swarm play.

Easy but people may find difficult:

• List Building (people feel pressured to be "competitive", potentially at the expense of flying what they enjoy).
• Flying in formation.
• Flying close to obstacles/other ships (I'm terrible for this!)
• Refraining from giving the player who makes bad decisions then blames dice, the list, or their opponent a well-deserved slap.
• Enjoying the game regardless of result - Nobody likes getting kicked up and down the gaming tables, but if you manage your expectations and take a list that is fun to fly regardless, you'll likely still walk away with a smile on your face.

Believed difficult: Build optimization, namely when to stop putting upgrades on. Like Soontir: Add predator>Stop. It's easy to get carried away I guess, and I see it all where they sleep like Shields and hull upgrades to everyone.

Believed easy: judging bank maneuvers? I guess? Playing since the beginning and I still don't always get them right.

Taking the time to look at the enemy squad before actually placing rocks. Turn zero is important. Now what is the right rock placement? That part is more complex

One other - Knowing your win condition is easy

Not easy - Math is hard. Especially when you are talking a point or two deciding a win vs loss.

8 hours ago, Kieransi said:

for the second, reading. reading is hard. I played multiple games with Fenn Rau (the real one) this week and just now realized that he also gets another defense dice at range 1. Not a biggie, but it would have probably changed my "can I joust here" decisions in those games.

I discovered in the first round in a small tournament last weekend that my Bossk’s ability works only after dice are neutralized. A friend in my playgroup was playing next to me and i told him that i had been accidentally cheating in the games i had played against him!

10 hours ago, Micanthropyre said:

- Even playing I6 with a bid you have to watch for the easy blocks that set you up to die. Most of my wins against good players are when I'm able to successfully block their biggest threat 3+ times in a game.

I went 1-2 with Anakin/Jag/Sinker at a small kit tournament earlier this month. In my two losses, blocks on my Anakin's 5K were key to those losses. First game against Maul+Rogers they weren't disastrous, but at the buzzer, Maul was 1 point above half HP, which would have given me the win. Third game of the day was against 4 Alpha Interceptors and Vermiel with Crack Shot/Vader. The block on the 5k lead to Ani eating 5 damage from Vermiel. Shoutout to my opponents for good flying with those blocks.

//

Easier than Believed: flying aces. Move last, get out of arc, hit hard and kill stuff before it attacks. Unless your opponent blocks the 5K.

Harder than Believed: judging where your firing arc will be after a bank. There always seems to be a bit more twist than I imagine, and the fact that the front arc is a bit less than 90 degrees always seems to matter.

11 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

Flying higher initiative arc dodgers that are actually super efficient (see mostly empire; some rebels qualify)

Because initiative killing is ******* easy

Flying lower initiative against higher initiative is difficult

I'll second this. I never flew aces/arc dodgers in 1.0 because it always seemed so hard and they always seemed so fragile.

Vader might be the easiest ship in the game to fly and is handily one of the best.

1 hour ago, Skitch_ said:

I'll second this. I never flew aces/arc dodgers in 1.0 because it always seemed so hard and they always seemed so fragile.

Vader might be the easiest ship in the game to fly and is handily one of the best.

I'll have you know that Vader is still a difficult ship to fly!

That's my excuse for getting him killed, blocked, and otherwise wasting his potential in most games I fly him!

When you have a few years of experience, flying only high IV aces with a bid is the easiest way to win games and do well in large tournaments. Aces like Anakin and Soontir basically don't have a skill ceiling when moving last so it can legitimately be an unfair game for the other player if they don't know the song and dance for killing aces. Even then, it still only get's them so far.