Hitmaps: One plot to evaluate jousting ability

How dangerous is a given pilot ? Or is this pilot worth it, compared to this other pilot, in terms of offensive power ? Is this pilot worth his points ?
Hitmaps are 2D plots that try to evaluate the offensive power of a unit. It simply combines the positions it can reach in one maneuver and action, with the % to hit an enemy unit.
You can display hitmaps in Squadron benchmark, when building a new squad.

What does hitmap mean ?

Well, that's not a heatmap, but the idea is to show how dangerous a pilot is with a single 2D plot.
Take for instance a Prototype Pilot in his A-Wing. His initial position is indicated in the right plot by the small square. After a 1 straight maneuver, his position is just below the colored orange arc and he can fire on any enemy in his primary firing arc, indicated in orange, yellow and green.
The different colors indicate different % to hit, when the target is an Academy Pilot. Orange: 72.23%, Yellow: 47.6% and Green: 34.9%. The Academy pilot has no focus token, no evade. The Prototype Pilot does a Target Lock. There are different % due to the range bonus.

 Now, assume the Pilot performs a 3 straight. Again, you see the same plot, slightly moved upward.
The colored arc shows positions of the Academy Pilot that can be shot by the Prototype Pilot.

If we consider that the pilot can either perform a 1 straight or a 3 straight, the best shots are shown here, by taking the maximum % of both previous arcs. How is it computed ? Quite simply, all arcs for a given range are computed, sorted according to their % to hit and then displayed in order, starting with the smallest % to hit.

Finally, if you consider in turn each possible move, with each possible action from the action bar, the combined colored arcs give, when taking the max %, the following plot in the left.
Only actions of the action bar are taken into account. Here the 4 actions in green on the card.
We can see there are 4 ranges for a Prototype Pilot. 3 ranges that can be reach, with a focus or target lock. And 1 range, the dark green one, that can only be reach with a boost.
The pilot is the most dangerous when he can shoot in the orange zone. This corresponds to range 1. The pilot can fire at the zone corresponding to the position he has left only if he performs a K maneuver.
The circles around the initial position show the different ranges from this position. Range 1 correspond to the first circle, range 2 to the second, ...So an A-Wing can fire up to range 5 from its initial position.  

Comparing T-70 and T-65 X-Wings with their hitmaps

Let's use the hitmaps to compare now some pilots between the old and new version of the X-Wing.  Let's start with the two cheapest pilots for each. We can immediately see that the Blue Sq. Novice has a wider range of attack, provided by its additional boost action. The Novice can also attack better at the rear, thanks to its two Talon Roll maneuvers.

If you add some  engine upgrade to the Rookie Pilot X-Wing, we have then the following hitmap:

This is very similar to the Blue Squadron Novice hitmap, but it's more expensive, has no TR maneuver and takes one modification upgrade slot. Not convincing, in term of offensive power, the vanilla T-70 is of course better.








Now let's consider some unique T-65 pilots.
Wedge has only an offensive capacity, if we add a Engine Upgrade, the hitmap is very red ! 93% in the center, 46% at the farthest. That's 6.5% better when shooting at range 1, nearly 10% better at range 3, after a boost.
Definitely deadly.


Blue Ace is a T-70 ace that adds maneuverability. Well, that doesn't show much on his hitmap. There are a few better (orange) arcs at the bottom, and obvisouly this pilot can fire at opponent that follow him, but this is not improving the % to hit for straight/bank or turn maneuvers.

 For 'Snap', this is quite different. The zone where he can shoot with 87% chance to hit is much larger than any other X-Wing pilot so far. Even when overextending with a boost, he manages to shoot with a 59% chance to hit. More than 1 chance out of 2 !
Wedge shoots harder when at range 1 (6.5% better) but overall, Snap is able to perform better for all its attack range, and is 5 points cheaper.



Ello Atsy is not bad, firing after a TR and performing a focus or TL makes a round hitmap: It is as if he had a turret, at the cost of maneuvering: he can fire equally in all directions. That's nice, but not really competitive when compared to Snap or Wedge.

 And to finish, the best ace for T-70s, Poe Dameron. He is very similar to Wedge with an engine upgrade. The different colors correspond for Wedge to 93%, 83%, 72%, 46% and to 94%, 82%, 70%, 53% for Poe.
While Wedge is only good at shooting, Poe ability is also nice for defense, as you keep the focus token. And then it's a T-70, so more upgrade slots, native boost, TR.
So, what would be a more dangerous version of Poe, for a single shot ? This snipper version could be equipped with "Crack shot", Weapon Guidance and a Vectored Thruster (for improving a bit the range of its weapon). He is a bit expensive but there's a 99.5% chance that he can hit an Academy Pilot at range 1, after a move, and at its extreme range, there's still a 80% chance to hit. That's essentially the effect of "Crack shot", and  Weapon Guidance only improves the % slightly.

That's all for now ! Feel free to try more comparison with hitmaps.
If you have ideas for displaying in a similar fashion the defensive power + maneuverability of a ship, I'm opened to suggestions ! :-)
Cheers !