I'm a big fan of E-Wings, largely for fluff/lore reasons from reading too many Expanded Universe books (I know many of you don't like the E-Wing for many reasons, and that's fine; but I ask that we don't rehash that on this thread). I also love running mono-squads (squads with only one ship type), again for fluff/lore reasons.

So when I saw the announcement for Wave IV all those months ago, I immediately knew I was going to run a pure E-Wing squad when I got my paws on them.

I also like winning, so I've been trying to make the best EEE squads possible, and I went through a few ideas:

Three Knaves:

Knave w/ AdvS + Hull x3

99pts

The idea here is to take advantage of the powerful advanced sensors upgrade to make the Knaves powerful dogfighters, while increasing their durability with extra hull; a good upgrade on a 3 evade ship. It suffers badly from low PS however.

Black Boat

Blackmoon w/ AdvS x2

Etahn A'Baht w/ AdvS + VI

100pts

This list has more punch from EAB's crit ability, and has mid-low PS overall, while maintaining AdvS for better dogfighting.

Corran Chain / "E Train":

Corran Horn w/ Swarm tactics + FCS

EAB w/ swarm tactics

Knave

A swarm tactics chain coming from Corran. This list shoots early and hits about as hard as a EEE list can. It's main weaknesses are that it needs to fly in formation, and Corran is the key to the list; he is an obvious target and once he's gone the list is crippled.

Yesterday I ran this list to pretty good effect at my local club:

Corran Horn w/ FCS

EAB w/ PTL + R2 astromech

Knave

This list suffers a little bit from lower PS, but not excessively. EAB gets PTL for increased survivability and the R2 for good green options coming out of stress. Corran and EAB are both big threats and compete for the enemy's attention.

I won both my games, but that may have been more due to Phantoms in both games that sucked up a lot of my opponent's points but didn't perform well.

Is anyone else out there flying EEE? What do you fly and how does it perform?

I like running a version of your "Black Boat" with FCS and R2 Astromech in place of Advanced Sensors. Whether it's better or not I couldn't say, but gosh I like free target locks, a lot.

Edit: It's fun but not the most reliable since all of my defense hinges on how my green dice are rolling.

I like the Corran Chain, but can we rename it the "E Train?"

I like running a version of your "Black Boat" with FCS and R2 Astromech in place of Advanced Sensors. Whether it's better or not I couldn't say, but gosh I like free target locks, a lot.

Edit: It's fun but not the most reliable since all of my defense hinges on how my green dice are rolling.

I personally prefer AdvS to FCS+R2 because AdvS gives you good maneuverability, and also allows actions in some cases where you wouldn't get them otherwise, such as before a red maneuver, or before bumping. The extra action from FCS is awesome, but sometimes it gets wasted in some cases, for example if you destroy the enemy ship or you take a shot at a different target the next turn.

And yeah; I also don't trust my green dice. And to be clear, I'm not sure any of the above lists are strictly speaking highly competitive. EEE lists aren't likely to ever dominate the metagame; I just have a personal interest in optimizing them.

I like the Corran Chain, but can we rename it the "E Train?"

I like where your head is at.

I think Advanced Sensors work best on ships with lots of red on the dial, which isn't the E-Wing. Advanced Senors is always useful, of course, but not sure they're the best fit with a ship with a dial as good as the E's. I love Fire Control on Corran; it's pretty much a must-have to make use of his ability. My favorite upgrade on Es is Predator; it frees up the actions, allowing a focus or barrel roll instead of using the action on a target lock.

I might try something like this:

• Corran Horn (35) + Predator (3)
• Etahn A'Baht (32) + Predator (3)
• Knave Squadron Pilot (27)

Predator seems like a good choice for the E-wing since it doesn't require an action - you want to be able to make the most of the action bar, as KeithWard said. I think Corran and/or Etahn is a must if you're running all E-wings because they're the only way to increase your effective firepower. With Corran you get 12 dice in the Alpha Strike instead of 9, if you use his ability, and you get to use Predator both times.

Ok, so I read the thread title and thought you were screaming while running "EEE!"

My only concern would be hp. I havnt run this particular list so you can disregard my opinion but the way I see it is you better be dang sure your ships end up exactly where you want them. Doesn't leave much room for error flying as well as if you get the green dice plague you could be in real trouble. Lastly I guarantee you the first guy to go will be Etahn. I think a better idea would be to stick to your lower ps builds and upgrade them as best as possible. The named pilots are expensive and Etahns ability seems to work better when your supporting more than just 2 other ships. Your lists would def be fun to fly but if your looking at them from a competetive standpoint then i would be a little scared about running it. Just my thoughts tho.

I agree; it took me a while to figure out that sure, you have a lot of green dice, but you still need to fly these guys conservatively because like you said, you don't have a lot of HP to work with and losing one ship hurts a lot (even more if it's Etahn).

My only concern would be hp. I havnt run this particular list so you can disregard my opinion but the way I see it is you better be dang sure your ships end up exactly where you want them. Doesn't leave much room for error flying as well as if you get the green dice plague you could be in real trouble. Lastly I guarantee you the first guy to go will be Etahn. I think a better idea would be to stick to your lower ps builds and upgrade them as best as possible. The named pilots are expensive and Etahns ability seems to work better when your supporting more than just 2 other ships. Your lists would def be fun to fly but if your looking at them from a competetive standpoint then i would be a little scared about running it. Just my thoughts tho.

Generally speaking I agree that one of the big problems with EEE is low HP; it's unavoidable, really. Even Hull Upgrades only mitigate the problem a little.

In my last list, Etahn is a popular target, but that is why he has PTL. He can Focus+Evade for a very strong defensive stance if I need to. He can absorb a decent amount of firepower with those actions and 3 evade dice.

I think Etahn is a deal at 32 points, and since his ability also affects himself it is useful even at three ships in my limited experience, especially with Corran.

I'm interested in low PS ships with upgrades, but i worry about high PS phantoms.

*Edit:

One resilient low PS build i'm thinking about is three knaves with R7 and sensor jammer. R7 isn't great on low PS pilots, but theoretically between R7 and jammer you could really mess with enemy attack dice.

Had a reasonably fun/successful list (other than of course phantoms being a problem) for casual play with:

2x knave + FCS

etahn + ptl + adv sensor + r2-d2.