I came up with this strategy near around when team covenant was doing its first x-wing tournament and I wanted to test out the theories behind it. I thought about bumping and losing actions, which is a common Imperial tactic, and I wanted to use a counter tactic of not needing actions. The YT I chose as a base as I found the ship to be good with its firing arc and pilot abilities. I also tried to think of a defensive play that would make it easier for maneuvering and realized that two ships could lock together and thus not have to move.

I played 2 games with Theorist and he ran 4 X's with shields, and 4 X's and one was Biggs. The YT fortress build beat both, with the second game being closer (and it was the squad Theorist brought after having just lost against the YT and he now knew of the strategy being deployed and was asked to try to beat it.)

After seeing the success I really didn't wan't to release this strategy as it wasn't really dogfighting and is more of a game play nullifier because it forces your opponent to come after you as you do nothing but exploit the rules. It isn't in the spirit of the game so I haven't pushed its knowledge until now, as I will explain later.

First let me show you what this build is.

How to build the YT- Fortress build

Han solo with Determination, Gunner

Chewie with DTF, Gunner, (and M.F. or not) for 99 (100pts)

The idea was to fly the two ships and lock them together near the bottom edge of the play area. The ships would take on Han as the high priority target and focus fire. Chewie will pull off crits and effectively share shields/hull with Han and keep him alive longer. Any hit on Han would be discarded (if it was a pilot crit) or pulled over to Chewie to have no effect. Both ships would target one ship and take it out and then work on the next ship.

The advantage of stopping forces your opponent to fly at you for a turn or two and then have to turn away. The YT's proximity to the edge prevents a K-turn and firing arcs are hard to keep on target. They strafe and wound one YT and then have to turn back, and target the other, spreading their fire over both ships and reducing their hull near the same time.

How to Defeat the YT- Fortress Build

If you see your opponent line up 2 YT's facing each other from opposite corners, here is what I suggest you do:

Slow play your first move to see if the YT's will in fact move straight towards one another. If they do they might use this strategy. If you see them moving together and lock you must move to the side that Chewie is on. Fly down the edge and turn from the far edge in as slow as you can go. Target Chewie first. You are trying to keep your arcs on Chewie as much as possible. Fly just above and strafe and then K turn back after you have passed Chewie and continue to attack Chewie only!

Targeting Chewie first will stop the DTF advantage and put hits on one target. Once Chewie is destroyed, Han will have to fly free and then the chasing him down becomes the difficult part.

If Han is swapped for Lando in an alternate build, still target Chewie first.

I firmly believe that this build should not be used in a tournament setting as it kills the enjoyment of the game. A Lambda version and other strategies of stopping ships and forcing a fortress like ship clump that an opponent has to try to solve have appeared so I think it is time to speak out about this way of playing the game. It may be something that starts to appear in actual tournament games so I'm hoping to spoil the strategy before it gets too widespread.

I will finish with saying that using this strategy fails the "fly casual" spirit of the game so be prepared to be called out on that if you use it in a tournament setting.

I know there isn't this rule, but if you move '0' then you should lose agility dice. A sitting duck is easier to hit.

I don't see how this defeats the idea of fly casual? It is far less effective than using the ships with actions. Marksmanship and Gunner on Han is beastly. All this does is change the way they approach, and is exceptionally vulnerable to focus firing Chewie.(Why wouldn't they, he's the more fragile target.) It leaves you without any ability to adapt, crippling yourself.

Also a couple of bwings with HLC would rock this. Even without strafing back and forth... Just get in range and move one then barrel roll back. They will die fast.

It's against the fly casual code because it is trying to "game" the system rather than fly and compete in the spirit of the game. Similar to a 4 Lambda shuttle build I saw that simply parked in a corner. It was stupid and boring, same as this. Only that one was 40 health (this is "only" 26). Why are you taking a list like that to inflict upon a tournament? Not for both players to have fun, that's for sure.

And BTW, no anger to the OP; he flat out acknowledges it is against the spirit. Others do not.

Nice report. I've been debating trying some X-theory on the Fortress as well.

My thoughts have gone as you suggested, though I wondered if it not might be a bad idea to attach yourself to the fortress. Fly along the enemy edge into the backside of Chewie. Then. One of their ships has now targetable, and with only one shot to you four, the fortress shouldn't last long...

Alternatively, if facing this in a tournament, I might be tempted to fly circles on my side. For an hour. We both get nothing, but that should stop him from moving on :-)

I would pray to face this every round at a tournament. Picking off a non action taken YT-1300 seems easy.

I would pray to face this every round at a tournament. Picking off a non action taken YT-1300 seems easy.

Exactly my point. This is more Flying Stupid than Flying competitive. Nothing about stationary builds violates Fly Casual. It isn't the most fun thing, but if it's how a person wants to play it they can lose if they want.

If I saw this I would just fly back and forth on the other side of the board until they broke up their formation or time expired, I'll take the draw before I agree to play that game

I will never begrudge someone for playing whatever squad they want to play however they want to play it within the rules, but dual YT builds already suck half the game out as it is. If you want to try some YT or lambda fortress strategy go ahead, but I'm not coming over there lol

I have a friend who is interested in trying the triple YT + APL build "for the lulz". At least that one requires some flying. My reaction to these builds is always the same: I actually would like to face them at least once just to see what they're like, but after that I agree that it's just trying to suck the fun out of the game.

Alternatively, if facing this in a tournament, I might be tempted to fly circles on my side. For an hour. We both get nothing, but that should stop him from moving on :-)

If I saw this I would just fly back and forth on the other side of the board until they broke up their formation or time expired, I'll take the draw before I agree to play that game

I will never begrudge someone for playing whatever squad they want to play however they want to play it within the rules, but dual YT builds already suck half the game out as it is. If you want to try some YT or lambda fortress strategy go ahead, but I'm not coming over there lol

What these guys said. In a tournament setting, I will hope my opponent packed a lunch, because it appears we are both doing next to nothing for the next hour.

Choice 1 - Tournament setting.

It is a legal squad and a valid tactic that some opponents might try to use. The spirit of the game is irrelevant, it is a tournament - people will be playing to win.

Just remember to smile at your opponent while shaking their hand, after you have defeated them, and be happy that you are moving on to the next round.

Choice 2 - Casual play.

After realising that your opponent is going to castle up for the game, you can politely concede, thank them for the very short game and go play someone else.

Nice report. I've been debating trying some X-theory on the Fortress as well.

My thoughts have gone as you suggested, though I wondered if it not might be a bad idea to attach yourself to the fortress. Fly along the enemy edge into the backside of Chewie. Then. One of their ships has now targetable, and with only one shot to you four, the fortress shouldn't last long...

I had the same thought, but flying into the backside and side of Han. This keeps his ability out of play and lets you focus fire on Chewie so he doesn't pull shots with DTF. Honestly, this seems like an easy build to defeat.

Just stack up against one YT-1300 so it can't shoot you. Then only one can attack. Play at their level.

You may want to check how DtF works. You'll need to decide to take the [crit] before you know what card that [crit] would produce. If you could see the card's face before deciding to take it that would make the future Green Squad A-Wing combined with DtF AND Determination a very potent combo as it would effectively give Determination to every pilot in range.

As for that strategy being "unsportsmanlike" how is it really any different from just slowly flying the pair in circles around the edge of the board? If it moves it may become vulnerable to Bombs but otherwise it plays about the same.

Defeating it ideally means taking out one YT while staying out of range of the other. Your attack window may be small but if only one of the YTs can attack I'd say you're coming out ahead.

Regardless of the viability of the strategy and build, I agree that it violates the spirit of the game and I'm glad people are bringing it up to show its weakness and limit its effecitiveness. What if two players decide to fortress on opposite sides of the map. If they are tied and this is the championship bracket, the one who won the coin toss gets the win after sitting around for 75 minutes. If its in regular rounds and both players are undefeated in the final Swiss round, this will be a Draw game and both solidify placement in the cut to finals.

What's the problem with an intentional draw in the last round of Swiss to guarantee a finals cut? It happens all the time in MTG.

Tournaments are vastly different from casual play. People will game the system as much as they can in a tournament - which is their right to do so, provided they are not cheating.

Competitive players will understand this, casual players may not.

The counter to this list is

4 OGP (88) hull upgrade (12)

At range 1 that's 16 shots and you should see Han go down then next turn don't move and you should see chew-ie bite it.

Once you recognize the strategy being used you can defeat it. The concern I had was people not knowing the strategy and the usual response then is to fly towards the middle and start firing, only to discover that you have to turn away from the centre and turn around and that puts your firing arcs away from your target for a round and leaves you stressed if you K turn, while they continue to fire on you.

The other problem is that you are never truly sure if your opponent isn't simply going to take something other than a 1 forward move and have the fortress fly apart.

Try it against someone who doesn't read the forums and post what their moves and reaction were. Do tell them that it is something you are trying out as an experiment first. Analyze their moves and strategy and you'll see what I am talking about.

If you believe that it is an easy strategy to defeat give it a try. I've never had the opportunity to do a large scale playtest against many different builds.

I would describe this way of playing X-wing as playing the trap game in hockey. It ends up not being any fun to watch or play against.

You may want to check how DtF works. You'll need to decide to take the [crit] before you know what card that [crit] would produce. If you could see the card's face before deciding to take it that would make the future Green Squad A-Wing combined with DtF AND Determination a very potent combo as it would effectively give Determination to every pilot in range.

As for that strategy being "unsportsmanlike" how is it really any different from just slowly flying the pair in circles around the edge of the board? If it moves it may become vulnerable to Bombs but otherwise it plays about the same.

Defeating it ideally means taking out one YT while staying out of range of the other. Your attack window may be small but if only one of the YTs can attack I'd say you're coming out ahead.

The meta at that time was heavily trying to produce crits and determination was added for 2 reasons:

1. If more than one crit went to Han he could look at it and discard it if it was a pilot crit.

2. If Chewie was shot down first it gave Han some survivability on his own.

The game is based on chasing down your opponent's ships, getting them in arc and firing on them. This build forces your opponent to move, and against ships with 2 forward minimum, they can't fly slow enough to keep their arcs on target before having to break off and come back around, unless they decide to overlap and shoot only one ship.

Because they are so close to one another it is very difficult to be in only one ships arc at a time. Staying at range 3 is an option but, as you would be maneuvering, you may have to perform a turn to not land on a rock or adjust your heading that you just put the YT's out of arc.

The true strength of the fortress build was that few people knew how to counter it.

Thankfully this is not the case any more.

Thanks for the writeup.

Yeah in Starcraft 2, this is what they call a cheese build, easy to implement. Hard to counter if you don't know about it. Easy to counter if you do know what to do.

The best thing to do with those is as was said above explain the tactic, and how to counter it.

Or do what I did when I faced this in a tourney. Fly in circles and take a draw.

Or do what I did when I faced this in a tourney. Fly in circles and take a draw.

Where did this take place? Which Tourney?

Just FYI the player cant actually see what the crit effect will be before deciding to assign them to chewie. Either chewie draws all the crits or he draws none.

Its nonsense like this that makes the Tie Bomber spam a legitimate tourney list.

Honestly can't remeber which one, but it was one of them around PGH. And it might have just been a game at the FLGS. They all run together. :-) I'm not very good but I want to have fun, and this is the opposite of everything fun. Same with the "shuttle fortress" build.