I had seen some youtube matches where they put them on top of the ships. I sorta figured this would be pretty common since it works so well.

I see no problem with putting dial on the cards, provided you can identify each ship correctly. If you're using lots of one type of ship, that what the small ID tokens are for.

Personally, I've had no problem with leaving the dials by the ships, and as they are revealed I place them face up on the card. Also a quick and easy way to tell what has moved. When resetting the dials at the beginning of the turn, I place them as close to a base as possible, sometimes partially on the base. Never had a problem.

I could see how Rodent would have an issue playing 250pts on a 3x3'. Wondering how many ships he had in total there.

I see no problem with putting dial on the cards, provided you can identify each ship correctly. If you're using lots of one type of ship, that what the small ID tokens are for.

Personally, I've had no problem with leaving the dials by the ships, and as they are revealed I place them face up on the card. Also a quick and easy way to tell what has moved. When resetting the dials at the beginning of the turn, I place them as close to a base as possible, sometimes partially on the base. Never had a problem.

I could see how Rodent would have an issue playing 250pts on a 3x3'. Wondering how many ships he had in total there.

8 ships. But they started in very tight formation.

I also put tokens on the cards whenever possible (the target of target lock is only one I put on board in most cases), for the same reason. Less to move that way

B) I did appreciate you easily telling me who had what when I asked, but it was tougher for me to see what the tactical situation was without the tokens near the ship bases. I know if I had asked, you would have moved them on to the board. But some folks might not know you that well and might not ask when they should have just done so.

I have used to put them next to my ships..

However last night I was playing a 250pt game on a 3x3 boards, with lots of turrets, I looked at my block of ships and went *&^% that..... Arranged all my Ship Cards by PS along my board edge. Put my dials on my cards... It really sped things up.. instead of hunting around for the right dial at the end of the turn game play went like this

This is basically what I would have typed. Thanks for doing my legwork, RM.

woah, those are my initials…. weird.

EDIT:

Oh and yeah I still keep all my tokens on the board. It's easier for me to visualize the things i need to do, and i don't forget about them while defending. My opponent is always irritated that I don't do it his way though, but I don't really care that it irks him. MY PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE IS WORKING.

I also put tokens on the cards whenever possible (the target of target lock is only one I put on board in most cases), for the same reason. Less to move that way

A) If you stopped playing swarms so much you would have more room on the board (ducking).

B) I did appreciate you easily telling me who had what when I asked, but it was tougher for me to see what the tactical situation was without the tokens near the ship bases. I know if I had asked, you would have moved them on to the board. But some folks might not know you that well and might not ask when they should have just done so.

See, herein lies my issue.. I set my actions on the table, I shouldn't have to ask what is where.. or who is doing what.. this is why in the Rules.. they say.. set them by the ship.. no need to ask.. if it isn't there, there is no action... I don't want to try and decipher everyone's action preferences.. I think the rules set it out rather plainly and easily so that there is no confusion..

I know how easy it is to knock things around during a game, sure, accidents happen, but I don't want to have to figure that out during a tournament.. plus, if I have to decipher someones system.. just might take me longer to do things.. and there is that time limit they like to use..

I guess I'm just a fan of following the rules.. then no one has to figure out someones system.. and then the next guy.. who does something different..

fly casual.

I feel that conveinance is not a good enough argument to overcome inadvertent information concealing. Get those tokens on the board! The rules are written that way for a reason.

Same with the maneuver dials. Dials still on the board help show which ships haven't moved yet. There are enough abilities and upgrades in the game that modify the natural order of movement that having this visual cue is necessary.

In general, I wouldn't put tokens and dials in the same category usage-wise.

For dials it's mostly a convenience and trust vs. observability issue, since the opponent doesn't need to know the value of the dial for his own decision process (when the maneuver is played, he sees anything he needs to know).

The tokens on the other hand are part of the current game state, which I prefer to see completely on the board. Just because it's in principle the same game state and resolvable if tokens are placed on the cards, it doesn't mean that you can easily recognize which of the half dozen TIEs belong to which pilot card/token set and asking/obvious staring takes time and tells a bit too much about your thoughts.

Besides I think it's a nice element that you can have most of the needed information directly on the board without referring to too many outside sources.

fly casual.

There's a difference between "fly casual" and "fly sloppy."

I am still pretty new to the game, but I play alot of Axis and Allies and I am used to processing a lot of information in tight spaces, so having all tokens and maneuver dials on the board doesnt clutter it for me mentally. Physically it can be a bit challenging (especially right before lunch time). I think it is necessary to have all tokens on the board but as far as dials go I would prefer them on the board. It helps me to know when someone is done assigning moves. One guy we play with always sets them on his cards while everyone else sets them on the board. So we stand around waiting to start the turn and finally realize he is waiting for us!

Same with the maneuver dials. Dials still on the board help show which ships haven't moved yet. There are enough abilities and upgrades in the game that modify the natural order of movement that having this visual cue is necessary.

I think it is necessary to have all tokens on the board but as far as dials go I would prefer them on the board. It helps me to know when someone is done assigning moves. One guy we play with always sets them on his cards while everyone else sets them on the board. So we stand around waiting to start the turn and finally realize he is waiting for us!

Good points about the dials by both of you. I find it also helps me while setting the dials because I usually fly with 2-3 ships of the same type. Whenever I tried putting the dials on the ship cards, I always worried I was getting the dial on the wrong card. Which meant I was constantly double-checking them and unnecessarily stressing myself out. I find it less promblematic to place the dials by the ship bases. Not to mention the benefits mentioned above.

Out of curiosity, how does everyone assign maneuvers? I used to walk through the PS from low to high figuring out what I wanted to do and where I expected things to be. But recently I've started doing high to low. Seeing as the high PS are the guys that want to have the best shots, and most likely to have a crowded board to move into, I find that visualizing their move first, and then coming up with moves for my lower PS pilots that keep that spot open (or block the opponent so the spot will stay open) has been working better. It's weird flying in reverse order in my head, but I've had better results with it.

fly casual.

There's a difference between "fly casual" and "fly sloppy."

Agree, part of fly casual to me is you give your opponent respect and do what you can to make the game run smoothly. If your opponent is having to ask you 5 time a turn what focus/evades a ship has, then you have to check against the card then against the model... That is not "fly casual", that's "fly with added stress".

I also think it's very important to call out things like "Dials Set", "Finished moving PS 4, your turn to do your PS 4 and 5, my next is at 6". It just speeds things up, makes the game smoother and much more relaxed. For me "Fly Casual" means do what you can to make the game easy and stress free for the opponent.

As I'm calling out when I've finished setting my dials it doesn't matter much if they are on the board or off.. at 200+ I do feel however off the board on the cards and cards in PS order just speeds things up...

But I would never play with focus/TL/Evade/Stress tokens off the board, as they are important information for your opponent to have.

Agree, Rodent: I think a big part of it is showing respect and common courtesy.

And yeah, I definitely think it helps a lot to say you're set, or ask the other guy "ok, you set?" just to make sure everyone's on the same page, regardless of where dials are.

Out of curiosity, how does everyone assign maneuvers? I used to walk through the PS from low to high figuring out what I wanted to do and where I expected things to be. But recently I've started doing high to low. Seeing as the high PS are the guys that want to have the best shots, and most likely to have a crowded board to move into, I find that visualizing their move first, and then coming up with moves for my lower PS pilots that keep that spot open (or block the opponent so the spot will stay open) has been working better. It's weird flying in reverse order in my head, but I've had better results with it.

You know, honestly for me , there is no real set way to do this. I mean sometimes there's a ship where I already know what it's doing next turn - I set up the K-Turn, or I know I need to shed a stress, or dodge an obstacle, and so I know as soon as I finished the previous turn's move what I was going to do this turn, and I'll often set those quick first.

A lot of the time I'll set them in the order I plan to execute them - kind of walk myself through as I'm setting them and rehearse, "ok he goes here. Then he's going to have to go here. I'll need to make sure then that he doesn't go that way, so he's going to land over there..." I find it helps me avoid collisions. So more or less in PS order but not always very strictly so?

I guess usually it's "set the moves I know for a fact I'm going to make first, then go back and do the rest of them in the order I'm going to execute them, so I can play out the sequence in my mind as I go."

Yeah, I do it pretty much as CrookedWookie described. Gotta be careful placing the decided ones too decisively though, don't want it to be obvious to your opponent that you've done the obvious thing!

Yeah, I do it pretty much as CrookedWookie described. Gotta be careful placing the decided ones too decisively though, don't want it to be obvious to your opponent that you've done the obvious thing!

Heh, well if your choice is like "do a 1 turn or fly off the map" there's only so sneaky you can be.

You mean fly off the map, it's the last thing they'll be expecting?

My wife one game got her directions mixed up, flew a B-wing off the map on the first move of the game.

I told her she should start EVERY match that way - it's a baller move.

Yeah fot me, I tend to set the maneuvers that come to me first, so it's helter skelter when I set em up.. lol.. especually if I get a great idea to head someone off, as in such cases when they are coming up on an asteroid or other obsticle.. or moving around a higher PS ship... my WWI dogfigher skills jump to the front.. lol..