While browsing through various x-wing related groups Starwolf came across an outcry of frustration from one of the local players: "after a devastating experience in my local gaming store tournament, I've decided to sell my collection. I simply do not possess the understanding of this game's strategy." Despite the obvious frustration (we shall discuss how to deal with frustration later on this blog), player have pinpointed his problem very well. But any strategy begins with its cornerstone: Target Priority.
Target Priority is briefly described in of Starwolves principles, and although it seems simple, prioritising targets have several important layers. First of all choose what would be your goal during the game, apart from winning, of coarse. Have a look at opponents list and choose your main target. This could be one of those listed below:
1.The Biggest Threat:
Ship(s) that have a biggest damage potential against your list. You should understand, that those ships may cause havoc if not destroyed quickly or denied their biggest advantage.
2. The Juicy Target:
Look at the point cost and ask yourself is that ship worth more than half of the points of opponents list? If answer is "yes", then you are looking at Juicy Target. Good new is, that after Juicy Target is destroyed you are automatically in the lead, all you have to do now is lose less points that opponent. Victory and advancement in tournament ladder is defined by this. The bad news is that Juicy Target in most cases is the Biggest Threat and has most number of upgrades and hull.
3. The Synergy Centre
To understand where lies opponents Synergy centre is to find a key to his defeat. Synergies and Tactical advantages they give have been explored earlier. Here we shall concentrate on how to find that centre.
Elite list, consisting of 2-3 ship with high Pilot Skill and lots of upgrades provide synergy by using their unique abilities and crew members. For example, Llando in YT-1300 provides a free action to a friendly ships in Range 1, or Dutch Vander giving a free Target Lock to any friendly ship in Range 1-2. Most Elite list have an expendable escort designed to either distract or deny opponents actions and abilities. However, once the support ship has gone, or its ability neutralised by critical hit, the rest of the battle changes significantly in your favour. As one brave pilot have put it: "help yourselves everybody, there is no fighter escort."
Specialist list, consisting of 3-5 ships, with several key upgrades and one or two elite pilot skills are most vulnerable and easiest to determine their synergy centre. First of all, Specialist rely on being in specific range of synergy provider. For example Howlrunner's ability and Swarm Tactics working in Range 1. Then there is maximum two Synergy providers due to points limitation. Determine which one is most important and eliminate them. For example HWK-290 is one of the best support ships for both Rebels and Scum, allows its owner to modify attackers Pilot Skill, provide extra focus and evade tokens, re-rolls, extra actions, and yet it is rarely defined as a significant threat, due to its low attack and agility. Imperials must rely on cards with special actions, since they have slightly less supporting abilities than other factions.
Swarm list, consisting of 5-8 ships are surprisingly resilient to the loss of special abilities or upgrade cards, since there is so few of them. However, swarm lives and dies by its ability to concentrate fire of 4 or more ships on one target and grind it down with its weight of fire. The obvious response to that is flanking, in order to avoid at least some of the incoming fire. But the biggest game changer against the swarm is breaking its formation! This could be achieved by several tactics:
Other important factor when fighting swarm is attacker's damage output per turn. On average, attacker must be able to destroy at least 1,5 TIE Fighter per round of shooting, in order to even the numbers by turn 4 and be able to either outlast or wipe out the majority of swarm.
4. The Weak Spot
We all make mistakes or less than calculated decisions. However in tournaments this should cost your opponent a game, at least. When you looking for a weak spot, try to find
So to summarise the layout of your Target Priorities: determine the Biggest Threat and Juicy Target, deny the Synergy centre and hit in Weak Spot.
Starwolf, out.
Target Priority is briefly described in of Starwolves principles, and although it seems simple, prioritising targets have several important layers. First of all choose what would be your goal during the game, apart from winning, of coarse. Have a look at opponents list and choose your main target. This could be one of those listed below:
1.The Biggest Threat:
Ship(s) that have a biggest damage potential against your list. You should understand, that those ships may cause havoc if not destroyed quickly or denied their biggest advantage.
Usual suspects: TIE-Phantom, TIE-Interceptor, E-wing, Falcon, Doom shuttle and any ship with Gunner on board.
2. The Juicy Target:
Look at the point cost and ask yourself is that ship worth more than half of the points of opponents list? If answer is "yes", then you are looking at Juicy Target. Good new is, that after Juicy Target is destroyed you are automatically in the lead, all you have to do now is lose less points that opponent. Victory and advancement in tournament ladder is defined by this. The bad news is that Juicy Target in most cases is the Biggest Threat and has most number of upgrades and hull.
Usual suspects: Falcon, Decimator, IG-88, Firespray.
3. The Synergy Centre
To understand where lies opponents Synergy centre is to find a key to his defeat. Synergies and Tactical advantages they give have been explored earlier. Here we shall concentrate on how to find that centre.
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| what do you mean I'm not a Wookie?! |
Usual suspects: HWK-290 with Recon Specialist, Lambda with Intelligence agent or Fleet Officer, and or ST-321 title, any escort ship for Fat Han.
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| look! there is Vader behind you! |
Usual suspects: HWK-290, Howlrunner with swarm tactics, Darth Vader with Squad Leader, IG-88 with gunner or boost ability.
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| here they come!! |
- controlled bump to deny actions and bonuses: Captain Oicunn, Intimidation, Rebel captive, anti-pursuit lasers.
- use of weapons with splash damage: bombs, assault missiles, Mara Jade
- area denial: proximity mines, blocking positions by your ships.
- upgrades allowing to increase the damage per turn: Darth Vader (crew) and Ruthlessness
Other important factor when fighting swarm is attacker's damage output per turn. On average, attacker must be able to destroy at least 1,5 TIE Fighter per round of shooting, in order to even the numbers by turn 4 and be able to either outlast or wipe out the majority of swarm.
Usual suspects: Howlrunner, Airen Craken, Prince Xizor. Any ship providing extra shots, re-rolls or higher PS.
4. The Weak Spot
We all make mistakes or less than calculated decisions. However in tournaments this should cost your opponent a game, at least. When you looking for a weak spot, try to find
- combinations which are counter productive for your opponent. For example, Push the limit with Ysanne Isard on one ship is not a great combo as it denies one advantage while giving another. It could also be easily denied if target receives stress.
- crippled ships: if opponent has got a ship with 1 hull left, it must become a Primary Target. While its on the board it is either denying you a victory points, or could be used as an expendable blocker.
- tactical weaknesses and ways to exploit them. Blocking Phantoms decloaking lane is one of such examples.
- easy targets: any ship which is an easy kill must be yours, however do not get greedy and lose your primary target.
So to summarise the layout of your Target Priorities: determine the Biggest Threat and Juicy Target, deny the Synergy centre and hit in Weak Spot.
Starwolf, out.
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