I would apologized for the terrible puns, but that would give you the unrealistic expectation that this won't happen again.

But on to my questions. Say you wanted to fly a pair of Y wings, and you didn't want to wait for whatever Most Wanted will bring. This is probably due to some childhood trauma, but for now let's pretend it is an awesome idea. Sure, B-Wings are probably a little better right now, but fly casual right?

So what do you fly with a pair of Y wings?

My first attempt will be something like this:

“Dutch” Vander [R2 Astromech, Blaster Turret] (28)

Gold Squadron Pilot [R2 Astromech, Blaster Turret] (23)

Airen Cracken [Veteran Instincts] (20)

Kyle Katarn [ion Cannon Turret, Moldy Crow] (29)

But I already see flaws. The station wagon of the sky, and a pair of Y- bricks will be easily out maneuvered.I thought about ditching the Kyle for a pair of cheap As, and giving Cracken squad leader. Between Cracken and Dutch the Ys should usually have target lock and focus, and the As can run as wranglers.

I really have no clues, but the Y wing hits the nostalgia button hard so I want to get 2 in the air. So any thoughts?

Dutch and a gold squadron with ion cannons

garven and a rookie as escort.

synchronises well with focus and target locks.

You can use spare points to put r2s on the Y wings to make them easier to clear stress.

When Scum and Villainy get released you could be having a lot of fun with these:

Gold Squadron Pilot (18) (24)
Ion Cannon Turret (5)
R2 Astromech (1)
BTL-A4 Y-Wing (0)

Don't go with the Blaster turret, it's a trap! 3 dice sounds nice but really isn't when you cant modify the results (via Focus or TL). Not being able to shoot when you dont have an action is even worse and investing in 2 more ships just to hold the Ywing's hand is just terrible. (The Blaster could be OK on a Hwk with Recon specialist. Although at 23 points I'd rather get something esle)
That said, there is nothing wrong with the Ion Turret.

Basically what Joostuh said (especially about blaster being a trap...unmodified shots you can't take after bumping suck, so basically they're HWK only)

The BTL-A4 Ion Y is a very interesting ship that competes in the realm of Rookie w/Stress bot and FCS Blues, and I think it packs a decent enough punch and plenty of control to compete

first of all, you NEED an extra focus generator for each blaster turret. Typically at a cost of 3 points each for recon spec. Paying 20 points for a focus (Kyle, and Airen) is NOT a good idea.

One of my favourite builds is based around 2 goldies with Ion turrets and 2 blues with advanced sensors - leaving a couple of points spare for extras.

To be fair my win-loss ratio with it is only slighty better than 50% but it's a super fun build so who cares.

A list I have been playing with is

Wedge with stress droid and vi 32

Gold with itc x 2 46

Blue squad 22

It works well, but been looking to make it more effective with dropping the blue and taking either Dutch and a z95 and a couple of 1 pt droids on the ys or green with ptl and a couple of 1 pt droids on the ys. Both the one point droids do a lot for the ys as you can either do with more greens or flipping those ship crits to keep the ict firing is also good.

The list works by wedge stressing and the ys ioning any heavy target first

Pretty much anytime someone says "Y-Wing", I suggest the following:

Grey Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Grey Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

100 points even. Good control, good durability, decent mobility.

An all Y-wing list? Makes sense, seeing as according to wookieepedia "(The Rebellion) flew more Y-wings than any other fighter."

Flavor-wise, I love seeing the classics take the field.

Pretty much anytime someone says "Y-Wing", I suggest the following:

Grey Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Grey Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

100 points even. Good control, good durability, decent mobility.

I believe that list is 104 points. Golds would work though, or drop the R2s.

I think two of them should be btl y wings. More damage output while having some turret against Dodgers.

Pretty much anytime someone says "Y-Wing", I suggest the following: Grey Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon TurretGrey Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon TurretGold Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon TurretGold Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret 100 points even. Good control, good durability, decent mobility.

I believe that list is 104 points. Golds would work though, or drop the R2s.

Nope, that list is 100 points. Two golds, two greys. 24/24/26/26.

Ok.. Riddle me this.. I'm an imp player through and through, so it puzzles me that you would want to only cause 1 point of damage, vs 2 to 3 with other options.. I get you can control the enemy, to some extent, but I'd rather blow them off the map..

because most the time vs ag 3 ships like ties and ints you're only getting one hit in anyway.

So you're better off having a good chance of one hit and denying movement than the *potential* of three (which in reality never happens)

The irony of the ion weapon is it works a lot better against rebels.

hahaha.. awesome.. so my 3 Peek-a-boo Ionic Stress Bisons should tear them up eh?? lol..

Cool thanks for the explanation. We imps see things black and white sometimes.. lol

Indeed.

Only A wings have 3 AG and an evade option. On average thats what, 1.5 evade results, almost 2 a turn, ... two evades at range 3 but then you're out of IT range anyway.

Most ships are 1 or 2 evade so suffer if targeted by an IT. Cant speak for cannons and missile dont use em.

Conversely as a rebel you're either like i say firing at a high AG small ship (but if yo get that hit in on an int or named pilot its a killer as you can line yourself up for a range one shot in the rear next turn) or a low AG large ship which you've got to hit twice.

So not great against imperials. Its why i like to fly at least two gold squadrons with ICT as you tend to 'disable' one ship a turn then. Annoyingly because its a secondary weapon you dont get a range bonus. If you did ICTs would be terryfying (and quite likely OP).

Pretty much anytime someone says "Y-Wing", I suggest the following:

Grey Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Grey Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

Gold Squadron Pilot + R2 Astromech + Ion Cannon Turret

100 points even. Good control, good durability, decent mobility.

I have a squad similar to this. 3 Greys identical to yours, and a Green Squadron A-wing with Outmaneuver and Adrenaline Rush. Its a lot of fun.

Dutch and a gold squadron with ion cannons

garven and a rookie as escort.

synchronises well with focus and target locks.

You can use spare points to put r2s on the Y wings to make them easier to clear stress.

That's the one i played as soon as blaster turret came out. But often i played 2 Gold squadron with Blaster, Dutch with ion and Garven. This allows at least 2 Y-Wings to have double actions!

As said, i've found with blaster cannons I rarely get more than one hit in.

Even if i roll three hits... one is usually sucked up by the green dice, one is usually negated by the 'stock evade' most ties and ints fly with so only one gets through,... hence ICT is my weapon of choice.

I cant recall a time where i've ever used an ICT and got more than one hit in anyway

I think two of them should be btl y wings. More damage output while having some turret against Dodgers.

I actually added it to one of my Greys last time I ran the list, and it worked pretty well against some Squints. I'm currently debating between one or two; needs testing!

So I tried it out both ways against a pretty anti turret trio of character interceptors. He was using autothrusters, stealth devices and had jax in the mix. Once Jax close in, the list was effectively ended, tragically, since the blaster turrets were shut down, lack of range 3 did not help. Still, I love the interaction between Cracken, Dutch and Gold. Everyone was target locked and focused without any real help from Kyle. So with some quick changes I went with the more advised Ion turrets and Biggs. The difference was amazing. Locked, focused ion canons are pretty solid even against agi 4 autothrusted ships. Still a little tricky nailing down the squirrely ships, and a loss, but a much closer game.

I will keep integrating the advice from this thread and trying out ideas, but things are gonna get really interesting when scum hits.

As said, i've found with blaster cannons I rarely get more than one hit in.

Even if i roll three hits... one is usually sucked up by the green dice, one is usually negated by the 'stock evade' most ties and ints fly with so only one gets through,... hence ICT is my weapon of choice.

I cant recall a time where i've ever used an ICT and got more than one hit in anyway

really?

I always seem to roll three uncancelled crits with the ion turret - and blanks with my Xs and Bs

When choosing between ICT and primary weapon, I go with the greater number of red dice. Maybe it's not mathematically optimal, I really don't know.

So for shots in-arc, on my ICT equipped Y-wing, the following:

Range 1: primary weapon

Range 2: Ion Cannon Turret

Range 3: primary weapon