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So, I'd like to start a new type of thread in this forum, talking about specific upgrades. First upgrade I'd like to try talking about is the upcoming Twin Laser Turret. For those who haven't seen it yet, this is a turret, RNG 2-3, Attack 3, that lets you attack twice, but caps the damage from each attack at one point.

For most ships, especially A-4 Y-wings, this turret allows ships to rack up chip damage on low agility ships, and ships reliant on tokens for defence, while being less effective against high-agility ships. This is because there is no reliable way for most generic ships to boost more than one attack, so it's kinda luck of a draw if your attack actually hits anyone with a good agility score.

However, I think that when the turret is added to some of the better Y-wing pilots, it actually becomes very useful for picking off high agility ships. For example, Kavil and Horton Salm both get bonuses when using the turret. Kavil makes you have two attacks with 4 dice outside his arc, while Horton allows you to re-roll your blanks. Both these guys are good at breaking through focus/evade rolls to land chip damage on someone like Soontir Fel, breaking Stealth Device, and finishing off wounded ships. Take a look at the following builds:

Horton Salm-35
-Twin Laser Turret
-R2-D6
-Marksmenship
-BTL-A4 (Optional)

R2-D6 is unfortunately necessary to Get Marksmanship. You want Marksmanship, because it turns all focuses from both of your attacks into hits, while Horton re-rolls the blanks. The title is optional, as it increases the numbers of attacks in your blanks, but does remove the ability to make two attacks outside your arc.

Kavil-33/35
-Twin Laser Turret
-R4 Agromech (Optional)
-Predator

Fewer re-rolls, but not reliant on taking an action, and has more dice. The Agromech is only optional, as there are probably other places to spend two points, and you are already re-rolling dice with predator anyways. An alternate build would involve swapping Predator for Marksmanship. However, I'd rather have a focus on one attack and a re-roll on both, rather than focus on both.


To me, the really exciting part of the Twin Laser Turret is when combined with out friend R3-A2. One point more than the reliable Ion Cannon, this turret adds extra chance of damage (not important), longer range and ability to drop an extra stress token, at the cost of not having the chance to ion stuff. I see there being two ways to run this guy, both of which specialize in different opponents, and both of which are useful. The Warthog variant specialized in Large fatties. These guys rely on limited use abilities (C-3P0, Ysardde, Evade Tokens) and sheer bulk to survive. They also need actions for evades, boosts, and other actions. The Red Hog checks these, because having three attacks helps slip past 3P0, chipping away at hull points. The spray and pray nature of the turret is alleviated by the low agility of most of these targets. You then stack three stress tokens on them to stop them from boosting, exposing or evading. However, because you are limited to the firing arc, this build is less effective at locking down enemy aces. Here's where the second build comes in. Simply don't add the A4 title. Now, you drop 2 stress on anyone within range 3. This means that any ace flying within this donut loses their actions for two turns. Because you have a hole in the middle, fly the rest of your fleet to fire at anyone who tries to evade the Red Ring of Death via the donut hole. This guy puts out less damage, and less stress than the Red Hog, but is better at catching the Aces.

Twin Laser Turret will not give you two stress tokens on your target. R3-A2 triggers when you declare an attack, not when you perform an attack.

Really, I think Twin Laser Turret will help out the HWK-290 the most. I'm going to use it with my Dash/Jan build (I have the card in hand and I hope to get a game in some time this week).

I was thinking about Horton Salm myself. Marksmanship, R2-D6 and Marksmanship makes for a serious rate of fire from a warthog.

Y Wing + TLT x4
Because rolling dice is fun

You've still got 4 points - i'd suggest R2 Astromechs or Unhinged Astromechs as appropriate, so you can focus on appropriately ridiculous manouvres to try and avoid enemy arcs...

I wonder if the generic HWK pilots with a TLT is worthwhile as a 22pt ship. Since you don't need tokens to use the TLT, you can get away with doing red maneuvers without significantly affecting your ability to shoot. And the extra defense dice that a HWK would have over a Y-Wing gives it a durability advantage, I believe.

 DanielBeaver wrote:
I wonder if the generic HWK pilots with a TLT is worthwhile as a 22pt ship. Since you don't need tokens to use the TLT, you can get away with doing red maneuvers without significantly affecting your ability to shoot. And the extra defense dice that a HWK would have over a Y-Wing gives it a durability advantage, I believe.

Not really. You need to get shot 6 times on average to break even since you are down a hull and a shield. The Y-wing also has a better Shield:Hull ratio (37.5% vs 20% of total HP). The HWks real advantage is that you have more options for upgrades in a 4-ship list.

HWK + TLT + feedback array or outlaw tech or recon or intelligence agent or greedy, mix and match x4

It's not great but it could be fun. The extra defense die is not better than the extra shields and hull in my opinion. I'd agree with crazy carnifex. But you could also squeeze these in pretty cheaply with other ships. I feel the big advantage is the range on the turret over other turrets. Low agility ships do not want to be at range one.

Probably a good choice for Rebel HWK pilots, since all their abilities work out to range 3. They can try to stay at range 3 of the enemy, get their range 3 shots with the turret, and still be able to reach out and use their pilot abilities on a friendly.


It's less desirable on the Scum HWK pilots. Mux and Palob need to be within range 1-2 of an enemy for their pilot abilities to trigger, and so might get too close to shoot. Dace wants to be using an Ion Turret.

buckero0 wrote:
HWK + TLT + feedback array or outlaw tech or recon or intelligence agent or greedy, mix and match x4

It's not great but it could be fun. The extra defense die is not better than the extra shields and hull in my opinion. I'd agree with crazy carnifex. But you could also squeeze these in pretty cheaply with other ships. I feel the big advantage is the range on the turret over other turrets. Low agility ships do not want to be at range one.

I Like the idea of Combining feedback and the Turret. Makes it a poor mans pancake.