The Y-wing seemed under power with 2 attack and 1 agility is plain awful (it really sucks). The only thing going for it is the high amount of (8 points) hull + shield.

How do you justify adding it to any squad? How do you use this ship? Many people seem to make it a ion turret ship and just zap other ships with it.

It badly in need of an "Ace" pack? I feel FFG missed the boat on rebel aces with A-wing and B-wing. It really should have been A-wing with Y-wing.

I am just venting today.

I really enjoy Dutch in the builds I play, nicely supports x and b wings letting you get focus and lock on

Er...

1: Give it an Ion Turret.

2: ?????

3: PROFIT

A lot of people want to see a crew slot added to the Y-wing, from a title or some other upgrade card like the one coming out for the B-wing. Another complaint is the lack of EPT slots, which is fixed slightly with R2-D6.

You're right that right now it only seems to be used as an Ion Turret platform, and often in a support role with Dutch.

R3-A2 and R7-T1 are particular droids of interest for Y-wings, and they make decent flechette torpedo carriers as well I think.

So there are some options considered viable, but mostly it's an ion carrier at this point. I'd like to see an aces kit for it, or some other release with a Y-wing in it (like how the transport had x-wing pilots), but then again I'd like to see expansions for most of the ships that are out right now.

Well, originally it was just the Rebel's Other Ship.
"Dutch" is still awesome, and the others keep getting better the more Torpedo, Turret, and Astromech combinations come out.

R3-A2 + Ion Cannon Turret is one such awesome combo.
Even if the Y-Wing doesn't have much green, it's victim will still be in range of the ICT the next turn, and would continue to be stressed.

The Y-wing is in a weird place. It currently has at least one glaring issue and could do with a little additional love.

The glaring issue is a lack of EPT. How on earth is it that this is the only ship in the fleet that has no elite pilots despite its prolonged service? It's a serious issue in that it really lowers the customization of the ship and while the Imperial players will scream but you have Astromechs (I ran Imperials at regionals so don't think I'm just being a fan boy here) the rebel side uses highly customized ships to make up for a lack of size and ship count.

Outside of that I think the Y-wing should get an upgrade card not unlike the Chardon refit but one that allows you to adjust your shields. Takes an action and you can go double front or all around. Double front would give you twice your current shield count but it would only block hits that come from within your firing arc. Going back to general would half it rounding down, again costing an action. This I think would keep the ship themed as a tank of a torpedo bomber, see it on the table more and give it some of that movie flair.

Also as FTS GECKO said ION Cannon and profit.

Did FFG come out with an explanation on the choice of B-wing for rebel aces instead off the Y-wing?

I like Horton but he is harder to use, in a Vassal game against a Tie Swarm he was a Beast with proton torpedoes and an Ion turret, same set up against Dual Falcon and XXBB now quite as awesome (rerolling blanks with an Ion turret at R2 is still kinda awesome though)

I actually played a game with Y-Wings tonight. 2 Y-Wings with Ion, Biggs and Wedge vs 2 TIE's, 2 Interceptors, Howlrunner and a Bomber.

The Y-Wings were invaluable. Locked the Bomber out of the game, it never got the chance to fire it's missile. They also had the Interceptors drifting off in the wrong direction at one point, keeping them out of the game for a turn.

The second game, I was facing a Y-Wing myself and learned a valuable lesson: Don't let a stressed Soontir Fel get within Ion Turret range. Mistakes were made. Two turns Fel was out of the game, the third he was dead.

Y-Wings are tough, cheap and are absolute beasts at board control - forcing an enemy ship to make a 1-white forward move is amazing, and an ioned and stressed ship is out of the game at best, dead at worst. Even one Y-Wing can be enough to cause problems. Where most ships need to line up the enemy in their own front arc, the Y-Wing with Ion Turret can concentrate entirely on staying out of their opponent's arc.

Generic R2 units are a big help to Y-Wings - they don't have much green on their dial as standard, and changing all 1 and 2 moves to green is great for 1 point.

Dutch - as others have pointed out - is a great support ship as well, passing out free target locks to friendlies within Range 2.

They do need support from big damage dealers however - the Y-Wings cripple the enemy, the X-Wings or B-Wings finish them off.

Are Y-Wings missing something? The lack of EPT on the named pilots is an anomaly, I'd argue Dutch doesn't need it due to his exceptional support ability, Horton could probably do with one though. Y-Wings are supposed to be ordinance carriers as well, and the price of torpedoes is prohibitive, but Flechette Torpedoes could be interesting combined with Ion Turrets.

My experience with the Y-wing is that people see it as more of a pest, rather than a threat. They tend to fire on other ships other than Y-wing. If the opponent ever focus on it (with 1 agility) it will go down quickly. I see very little redeeming value in a squad of 2-4 Y-wings.

I do affirm some usefulness of the named pilots, but there are better ship options. Even the HWK seem more useful than the Y-wing. It is sad that this famous ship is made to suck so badly.

My experience with the Y-wing is that people see it as more of a pest, rather than a threat. They tend to fire on other ships other than Y-wing. If the opponent ever focus on it (with 1 agility) it will go down quickly. I see very little redeeming value in a squad of 2-4 Y-wings.

I do affirm some usefulness of the named pilots, but there are better ship options. Even the HWK seem more useful than the Y-wing. It is sad that this famous ship is made to suck so badly.

To which I reaffirm: You're not doing it right.

Gecko,

So you don't agree that Y-wing needs a ace pack and that it is under powered? And that the B-wing needed the boost more than the Y-wing?

Horton with a Ion Turret and 2 Flechette Torpedo is nice. Find a way to give him a Focus and you're pretty much garanteed to have 2 3 hit+stress attack.

Dutch with the Ion turret is still a very good support ship. Hands out TLs and control the field with the Ion cannon.

A gold squadron with a ion turret is still just 23 pts and bring some enemy control and resiliance to a team. With the turret and acting at PS2, it can also actually be a good blocker.

So, while the Ion turret is pretty much a must take option to make them viable, I think the Y-Wing is a very good ship. Would more option be nice? Of course, like every other ship, who are we kidding?

The Y-wing works fine as-is. It's not a very good dogfighter, but it's great with an ion cannon turret. Both named pilots have good abilities (Dutch especially is a great supporter). Ion a ship then you know one firing arc to avoid next turn. Ion turrets can shut down highly mobile ships like Interceptors or A-wings, who are usually tough to track down.

Gecko,

So you don't agree that Y-wing needs a ace pack and that it is under powered? And that the B-wing needed the boost more than the Y-wing?

Don't try and put words in my mouth. New cards, new upgrades and new abilities are ALWAYS going to be well received- regardless of the model or faction in question - as I'm currently advocating in a number of thread.

What I disagree with is your ridiculous assertation that the Y-Wing "sucks so badly". It doesn't suck at all. In fact - as pointed out numerous times above - it can be a valuable support ship and cause people playing against it all kinds of problems. Could it benefit from some new pilots and new upgrades? Of course it could, but so could most of the ships in the game.

I agree Rebel Aces missed an opportunity to give more love to the Y-Wing, especially since the B-Wing seems to get so much table play anyway. I think if the Imperials release a huge ship the Y-Wing can reprise its role as a heavy-hitting torpedo bomber with some upgrades. She can really use a couple of the following to bring her back into the forefront of play, particularly in an epic setting I think:

- Add a crew member in exchange for a torpedo slot or, alternatively, add a crew member in exchange for the turret

- An upgrade that allows the Y-Wing to fire two torpedoes in one turn. This would absolutely bring the Y-Wing back as a huge ship killer. This can be in exchange for a droid slot.

- Maybe the rebels can use a Star Wars version of the Navy's old EA-6B Prowler. It would be awesome to have a dedicated electronic warfare ship (albeit a relatively expensive one). Exchange the droid for the jamming action of large ships.

- Following on with the EW platform possibility, consider this: [ACTION] lock onto any enemy ship with a blue target lock within range 3. Assign your lock to any friendly ship within range 3. Basically once an enemy fighter acquires a lock anywhere near an EW Y-Wing, he can expect to get locked on himself by any rebel fighter that's got him in their firing arc.

- Another EW platform possibility could be [ACTION] cancel and remove all enemy locks within range 2

- Yet another EW platform possibility: [ACTION] assign an evade token to any friendly ship within range 2

Make any of this possible, and I'll have a Y on the board every game. But she'd be an expensive Y!

Eh, I used a Gold with Ion Turret and R3-A2 in my local Regionals and ended up winning it, losing 1 game. While not terribly damaging, it was resilient and it stuck around with the main focus being on my Biggs (of course) and my 2 Bs. It managed to fly people's ships out of formation or into asteroids, it was definitely the sleeper of my squadron. As you said, people tend to use it as a Ion Turret and that's exactly what I did and it worked well. I replaced a Rookie and downgraded my Daggers to take it and while initially hind sight is 20/20, I'm glad I did, it gave me numerous numbers advantages against similarly sized squadrons (I flew Howlrunner into an asteroid which blew him up at one point even).

Here is my point -

If you have a Y-wing with ion turret going against 2 academy Tie fighters? What are the chances that the Y-wing survives the battle?

Y-Wings are ordinance builds. With the turret you could give it ion for control or the blaster from the HWK to give it more firepower in 360 degrees.

With 2 torpedo slots you can give it two torpedo slots which can kill a shield less ship in a single hit. (or completely remove the shield less ship.

If you want stress control (which is becoming the popular meta) R3-A2 + Flechete Torpedoes equals double stress hits.

Here is my point -

If you have a Y-wing with ion turret going against 2 academy Tie fighters? What are the chances that the Y-wing survives the battle?

To make it an even 24 points you'd need an astromech on that Gold of yours: R2 units are fine for this example. If the Y-Wing manages to ionize a TIE on their first pass it has two choices at this point: pass by both of them in hopes of firing backwards with the turret, or engage with blasters. Both are equally good choices; if the TIE's will manage to get in an attack anyway it's better to try your luck with blasters, and if they don't, use the ion gun again to cause a break in their formation. Honestly, it's a very fair fight if you ask me.

Actually, the vanilla Y-Wing is a solid performer. Not a high performer, but a solid one. 8 health is important, because you can put Y-Wings at the front of the formation to trade close range fire and have them survive long enough to do so. 18 points is fairly inexpensive, and 2 dice get some damage through (especially if you close to range 1). The much-maligned dial is perfectly serviceable.

Play 2 Y, 2 X, and a B. Put the Ys in front, the Xs in the middle, the B in the back. You will find your Y-Wings putting out a significant portion of the damage, because unlike X-Wings they can handle being at close range (and there are other higher priority targets on the table).

I personally love the Y-wing. I just had a 150pt battle with a Focus Factory Kyle, Horton with a blaster, and Dutch with ion, as well as a Wedge/Biggs element. The Y-wings and HWK both survived and the blaster turrets on Horton and Kyle were deadly to the TIE Fighters in my opponent's squad. In fact, one of my favorite squads is nearly all Y-wings.

The high HP and turret make the Y-wing a serious contender, provided you know how to fly it. I've had plenty of opportunities to learn how to maneuver in one, and so I know how to handle it.

Here is my point -

If you have a Y-wing with ion turret going against 2 academy Tie fighters? What are the chances that the Y-wing survives the battle?

To make it an even 24 points you'd need an astromech on that Gold of yours: R2 units are fine for this example. If the Y-Wing manages to ionize a TIE on their first pass it has two choices at this point: pass by both of them in hopes of firing backwards with the turret, or engage with blasters. Both are equally good choices; if the TIE's will manage to get in an attack anyway it's better to try your luck with blasters, and if they don't, use the ion gun again to cause a break in their formation. Honestly, it's a very fair fight if you ask me.

To add to that:

Even if the fight wasn't fair, the Y-Wing is a support ship, not a fighter. The same argument could be made against the HWK. When building a team, you need to find a balance. If you bring a Y-Wing, you should also bring a fighter support: X-Wing or B-Wing. 4 Tie Fighter Academy Pilot (48pts) vs a Y-Wing with Ion turret, R2 and Flechette Torpedo and a B-Wing (48pts), my guess is it would be a very fair and interesting fight.

Now, it just looks like that you (OP) think that for a ship to be good or viable, you need to be able to make a team consisting only of that ship type and be able to win every fight you go to. Every ship has a speciality, some of them is not to obliterate the opposition but to help your team achieve that goal. The Y-Wing is in that category. It might not fit your style or expectation, but it doesn't make it a bad ship. It is a very good one for its purpose.

Here is my point -

If you have a Y-wing with ion turret going against 2 academy Tie fighters? What are the chances that the Y-wing survives the battle?

If you actually try to get the Tie Fighters in Arc and occasionally use the the primary attack and don't limit yourself to 1 damage per turn? I think I would take the Y-wing

Salm is great with secondarys, as he basically gets a free target lock as long as he watches his range.

I like to put ICT on him, because he has a high chance of hitting with it.

Dutch is great for action economy.

Their missing EPT isn't the worst, as for 1 point, they can get the droid which gives them one

I had a decent tournament list at Imdaar:

Biggs+Shildupg

Dutch+R2D6+Draw their Fire

2x Red Squad.

Had atleast one ship shooting TL+focus every turn.