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Now that we have our very own shiney new section, time for this n00b to get some usefull advice from those grizzled old vets.

As the title, how does one use the Y-Wing to it's fullest potential? I like the cost and stats of the ship, the dial not so much , and want to get my hands on a few more. Hero Pilots, I'm struck on both of them, but so far my attempts at using them has ended with the bitter taste of defeat.

As for the turret weapon, is the Ion Cannon worth it? How does one maximize it's potential? How do you see the Y-Wing when the new Blaster Turret comes out? Except Dark Curse's 1+ invul save against it of course.

Help me Obi Dakka Kenobi, your my only hope...

Seeing how the new stuff isn't out yet, I'll answer for current stuff. Use the Ion turret (360 degree firing is your best protection against TIEs with barrel roll). If you don't have 360 firing, a skilled Imp player should be able to potshot you all day while never getting hit. Use Horton Salm, he's one of the better pilots in the game (reroll blank 2-3 ranges? Hello!). Maybe, MAYBE, throw a proton torpedo on him due to his special ability. That's completely up to you though. I usually run him with just the IT and make room for other ships.

I think it was on the FFG forum that I read this but one person suggested having three Y-Wings, all with ion turrets, and one A-Wing. Basically the Y-Wings continuously turn, thus making a circle. This sets it up so that they are all covering each other's backsides. Anything that comes close gets hit with an ion turret. The A-wing's job is to fly around and clean up any vulnerable stragglers.

 Evil_Toast wrote:
Now that we have our very own shiney new section, time for this n00b to get some usefull advice from those grizzled old vets.

As the title, how does one use the Y-Wing to it's fullest potential? I like the cost and stats of the ship, the dial not so much , and want to get my hands on a few more. Hero Pilots, I'm struck on both of them, but so far my attempts at using them has ended with the bitter taste of defeat.

As for the turret weapon, is the Ion Cannon worth it? How does one maximize it's potential? How do you see the Y-Wing when the new Blaster Turret comes out? Except Dark Curse's 1+ invul save against it of course.

Help me Obi Dakka Kenobi, your my only hope...

I see the Y-Wing performing a similar roll with the Blaster Turret as I do with the YT-1300. A ship that can cover itself and others, should it need to. With that being said. I don't like the extra need for the Target Lock.

I love the Lando/Dutch combo. I run the YT-1300 light and spend the points on Dutch. Imps love to shoot at the big ship and the X-Wings and so the Y-Wing can become very dangerous.

They are tricky due to the limited turn dial, but don't underestimate their tankiness, 8 hp and turrets/torpedos can be very annoying to deal with. I have yet to try the 5 y-wing list, 40hp, but it sounds interesting to me.

When using them in mixed lists, I carefully try to keep them out of the most firearcs I can, and usually split it off other ships to force them to choose their targets, splitting or focusing one side or the other. I then use it to snipe a target I feel will either disrupt the following movement phase, or, take out a particular threat like vader, howlrunner, or fel.

 timetowaste85 wrote:
Use Horton Salm, he's one of the better pilots in the game (reroll blank 2-3 ranges? Hello!).

TBH I don't see it. I like the fluff of the Y-wing, but Salm is just underwhelming. Without upgrade weapons he's got half a target lock (no re-roll on eyes even if you aren't focusing) but only two dice to use it on. With an ion cannon you're only getting any benefit from his high price tag at range 2. With torps you're spending more points than Wedge to get less firepower (and you can't realistically put both of them in the same list) that only works at range 2-3. And insult to injury is no elite pilot skills despite being the top Y-wing pilot.

Good thread!

I usually only play against "naked" Y´s - they just suck up so much damage. Add R2 and theyre cruising along for days ...

Im also wondering how people are utilizing the ion cannon. 360 arc is great and all, but apart from that, I havent seen it being used in any meaningful way.

 Manchu wrote:
I love the Lando/Dutch combo. I run the YT-1300 light and spend the points on Dutch. Imps love to shoot at the big ship and the X-Wings and so the Y-Wing can become very dangerous.

Ooh, been toying with trying this out my next game based on models I own. Looks like I may be onto something worthwhile!

Ultimately want to stick 2 Y-Wings with Blaster Turrets in for some all round nastiness.

Total Squad Points: 100

Pilot: "Dutch" Vander
Y-Wing (23)
Upgrades:
Ion Cannon Turret (5)R5-K6 (2)


Pilot: Lando Calrissian
YT-1300 (44)
Upgrades:
Concussion Missiles (4)Nien Nunb (1)


Pilot: Prototype Pilot 1
A-Wing (17)
Upgrades:
Concussion Missiles (4)

So Lando/Dutch swap out T/L and Focus, with the A-Wing getting the secondary T/L from Dutch.

 Flachzange wrote:
Good thread!

I usually only play against "naked" Y´s - they just suck up so much damage. Add R2 and theyre cruising along for days ...

Im also wondering how people are utilizing the ion cannon. 360 arc is great and all, but apart from that, I havent seen it being used in any meaningful way.

A smart Imp player will circle out of your arc, shoot you from behind, and you'll never hit him. An ion turret gives you a fighting chance.

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Flachzange wrote:
Good thread!

I usually only play against "naked" Y´s - they just suck up so much damage. Add R2 and theyre cruising along for days ...

Im also wondering how people are utilizing the ion cannon. 360 arc is great and all, but apart from that, I havent seen it being used in any meaningful way.

A smart Imp player will circle out of your arc, shoot you from behind, and you'll never hit him. An ion turret gives you a fighting chance.

Thanks for the reply
I realized as much ... but all you can do is 1 damage and cause your enemy to float around a turn, which makes his path more predictable.
But is that really worth the points? It never caused huge issues for me when I was on the receiving end. Maybe that just my opponent not exploiting his advantage ...

Yes, yes it is...a TIE's biggest advantage is its maneuverability. Take that away, and it's a limp duck, easy pickings. That should be one free enemy you can get behind and blow the crap out of. It's second advantage is numbers/swarm. Blowing one out means less TIEs, means imps start to sweat. I take Wedge and Tycho both with PTL and torpedo/missile for a usual first turn kill to take away that secondary imp advantage. Once you do that, you should be in great shape. The ion cannon helps with that a lot later in game.

I ran a variant of the "Han Shoots First" list where I swapped out the 2 Rookie X-Wings and the Chewie crew card for a pair of Gold Squad Y-Wings with Ion Turrets...worked like a charm with the Y's ioning targets for Han to kill.

 Evil_Toast wrote:
Ooh, been toying with trying this out my next game based on models I own. Looks like I may be onto something worthwhile!

This classic combo is to use Lando, Dutch, and Garvin to pass free actions up and down. I didn't have the points for Garvin in my doubles match but even hypothetically I'm not sure flying in formation is a good use of an attack fighter in alongside Lando/Dutch. My thought is, Lando and a cheap fighter or two hide the Y-Wing.

 Flachzange wrote:
I realized as much ... but all you can do is 1 damage and cause your enemy to float around a turn, which makes his path more predictable.
But is that really worth the points? It never caused huge issues for me when I was on the receiving end. Maybe that just my opponent not exploiting his advantage ...

Think about it this way: with only two attack dice the Y-wing is rarely going to do more than one uncancelled damage anyway, so the ion cannon gives you an extra attack die to try to get that one damage, a bonus ion effect if you succeed, and a 360* firing arc.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Flachzange wrote:
I realized as much ... but all you can do is 1 damage and cause your enemy to float around a turn, which makes his path more predictable.
But is that really worth the points? It never caused huge issues for me when I was on the receiving end. Maybe that just my opponent not exploiting his advantage ...

Think about it this way: with only two attack dice the Y-wing is rarely going to do more than one uncancelled damage anyway, so the ion cannon gives you an extra attack die to try to get that one damage, a bonus ion effect if you succeed, and a 360* firing arc.

This.

Yep, the Y-Wing puts out threat. It's like a porcupine.

How are people feeling about the blaster turret to come out with the HWK-290?

You'd lose out on the Ion effect, but you'd gain more potential damage.

I'd run maybe one or two of them if I ran multiple Y's Perhaps 1 for every 2 Ion Cannons. The Ion Cannon is so useful for shutting down the maneuverability of the TIEs

I ran them for the first time yesterday, they did pretty good work infuriating my opponent and keeping his interceptors from becoming a threat. The ion cannon is great for denying your opponent speed and maneuverability, unfortunately, I'm not sure its really worth the cost, simply because it allows them to action and shoot normally, which just seems odd to me.

I'd say the Y-Wing is a great support ship. The idea of making up for their cost, as in the ion turret, only strikes me as problematic when you're using them as your main fighter type.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

chaos0xomega wrote:
it allows them to action and shoot normally, which just seems odd to me.

Hmm, because it's "ion"? I mean, it's the fluff that's getting in your way here, right? Because no weapon, barring randomly conferring certain critical results, is going to keep a target from using an action or shooting. This game is first and foremost about movement, so a weapon that affects that -- slowing the target way, way down and making it predictable -- is important, especially against fragile targets. Again, you just have to remember the Y-Wing, at least via its iron turret, is not the fighter you use to make kills. It's a support fighter when kitted with an ion turret. It's a sniper when kitted with proton torpedoes. It's just not going to out X-Wing the X-Wings.

I find it odd that the Ion cannon can actually cause ships to be destroyed (though I'm sure one can assume they really aren't) as the point of the Ion cannon is to subdue, no?

I will say that landing Ion hits onto Interceptors is absolutely gorgeous each time I pull it off.

 Cryonicleech wrote:
How are people feeling about the blaster turret to come out with the HWK-290?

You'd lose out on the Ion effect, but you'd gain more potential damage.

The problem with the Blaster Turret is that it requires you to spend a focus to shoot it. If you have a way to get multiple actions then the Blaster might be viable but without additional actions for a Target Lock I'd go with the Ion Turret on my Ys.