David Yun: (contact-deleteme[at]-deleteme-direman [dot] com) 2017-06-03 04:36:59

T-65 X-Wing

The X-Wing is the most iconic starfighter of all time, and the eponymous ship of the game. It's a forgiving jousting ship featuring solid offense, shielding, and repositioning options.

Cavern Angels Zealot
Blue Squadron Escort
...more to come

Servomotor S-foils is a free "auto-include" upgrade for the T-65. The boost action on the Closed side is an invaluable maneuvering tool, but it comes at the cost of reducing your primary attack by one. You may find yourself frequently forgetting to reopen the S-foils. You must do so before you activate your X-Wing.

If you reveal your dial, you've activated. Many opponents will still allow you to flip your S-foils at this point, but if you advance to placing a template, you've now acquired additional information and should not be permitted to retroactively flip S-foils.

If this missed trigger is a frequent frustration, a good practice is to acquire and employ specific S-foil tokens. This more clearly communicates the game state, reducing the odds of miscommunication and confusion. Flipping a token is substantially simpler than fiddling around with the card. Furthermore, during the Planning Phase, I place my S-foil token on top of the X-Wing dial, as a reminder to adjust them as desired:

Note: Closed S-foils only impact primary weapons. Torpedoes are unaffected.

Focus and Lock both increase your offensive output by the same exact amount, to a total of 2.25 expected hits on 3 dice. Sure, you'll sometimes take a focus and roll blanks, or take a lock and roll eyeballs, but that's just unfortunate variance.

Focus is more flexible as it can be used defensively, but locks persist through the End Phase. If you're positive you won't be shot at and don't need to reposition, take the lock and try to save it for a range 1 double-modified (locked and focused) shot (3.75 expected hits).

It must also be noted that locks incrementally increase the odds of rolling a critical hit result (33% to 46% on 3 dice). This should not sway your decision, except for those desperation moments where you absolutely need a crit to steal a win. The basic rule: lock if you're way ahead or if you know you won't be shot at. When in doubt, focus.