What are peoples thoughts on using autoblasters on Phantoms?

I would think that this would be the ideal way to deal with a Phantom. The range limitation is the problem. But what about five Y-wings Yellow Squadron pilots with Autoblaster turrets? Or four with Engine upgrades? I would think you could spread them out a bit and head straight in for the phantom and at least get in a few good hits?

Has anyone had any success with using autoblasters at all?

Good luck getting into range 1.

The problem is that Autoblasters are only useful at Range 1, which Decloaking can easily dodge, unless you have the Pilot Skill advantage anyway.

Problem is the range on autoblaster

A Phantom will keep its distance and pick apart a ywing before it gets in range one.

An experienced phantom player would very likely win.

Echo especially excels at staying away

Fair enough, but what about 4to5 Y-Wings in a fairly loose formation; making a large bubble of Range 1 fire arc?

With five Y-Wings though, suitably spread out, you can cover a lot of the field. It's sort of a minesweeper strategy, trying to keep all of the holes filled up. I'm at work, but I bet someone could put together a really illuminating map of this on Vassal.

I'm not really persuaded that five Y-Wings is a good list in general (what do you do against the rest of the list?), but this might still be possible strictly for phantom hunting.

With five Y-Wings though, suitably spread out, you can cover a lot of the field. It's sort of a minesweeper strategy, trying to keep all of the holes filled up. I'm at work, but I bet someone could put together a really illuminating map of this on Vassal.

I'm not really persuaded that five Y-Wings is a good list in general (what do you do against the rest of the list?), but this might still be possible strictly for phantom hunting.

Let's not forget it's not 4-5 ywing vs just a phanto. He will have friends

If you spread them out to cover more ground, your still very limited to range one shots.

A Phantom and his buddies can pick apart a ywing before it gets to shoot.

Secondly. If the ywing are spread out too much then they won't be able to focus fire.

Once one is dead it just gets easier for the phantom

What are peoples thoughts on using autoblasters on Phantoms?... The range limitation is the problem.

Yes, it is.

I like the idea of running a couple of Y-wings with Autoblaster Turrets (and possibly Flechette Torpedoes) as area denial pieces. That leaves you with plenty of room to bring a more conventional threat. Running one or two Scyks with Autoblasters might be effective, too; it's the same sort of tactical fork, and they're similarly inexpensive.

The real problem for me is that in either case you're talking about spending 40% or so of a list on a ship that doesn't contribute much to your offense if you're not fighting something highly agile and maneuverable. Fel really doesn't want to end his Activation phase in range of an Autoblaster Turret, but Keyan thinks your little tiny guns are adorable--and, more to the point in the current metagame, so do Falcons and Decimators.

I think that if you took 3 or 4 scum ys with blaster and ion mix and the r4 agro, you could fly a pretty good "firebox" and cramp a phantom's style pretty well. I think kavil with blaster and an agro with PTL and EU can make life rough for phantoms.

One thing to consider here is that you are putting 100 points of effort and design into dealing with just a single small base ship. that speaks to the power of the phantom i suppose.

vorpal sortal Ninja'ed me on my last point.

Ran Dash with VI and Autoblaster plus some more goodies. First shot fired was Dash blowing Echo's shields away. Echo was also the first ship to go down that game.

Boba Fett, VI, Navigator, Autoblaster, Engine Upgrade

Super expensive, but should kill Phantoms dead.

What about a fringer with outrider and autoblasters?

What about a finger with outrider and autoblasters?

Fingers are not usually considered tournament-legal ships.

What about a finger with outrider and autoblasters?

Your problem here, is that the Fringer moves very early. This means all the Phantom has to do is decloak away from you and suddenly you're no longer within Range 1.

Autoblasters can work, but require a) lots of manoeuvrability and b) high or equal pilot skill to the Phantom. Both require an investment of points; more you spend the proportionally less worth it that becomes.

Fair enough, but what about 4to5 Y-Wings in a fairly loose formation; making a large bubble of Range 1 fire arc?

Then all your opponent has to do is pick off the edge ship(s) and work his way inwards. He takes fire from one ship at a time while concentrating most of his fire on one or two of yours.

Running one or two Scyks with Autoblasters might be effective, too; it's the same sort of tactical fork, and they're similarly inexpensive.

I'm not sure I'd call spending 21 points on a slightly-improved Academy Pilot "inexpensive".

Boba Fett, VI, Navigator, Autoblaster, Engine Upgrade

Super expensive, but should kill Phantoms dead.

Yeah but having Boba with VI means you will shoot before the Phantom cloaks which at that point raises the question of whether you are better off with a Range 1 Autoblaster (3) versus zero dice or with a Range 1 Primary (4) versus 2 dice.

Its a tricky choice as the Autoblaster gives you a 3 die advantage while primary only gives you 2, but the 5 point surcharge is nasty. (oh yeah and they can still dodge your crits).

It almost seems that the Autoblasters would be better on lower Pilot skill pilots. Even then because the Phantom moves after them, it may be more effective at setting up kill zones that the Phantom avoids rather than actually get the kill shot.

Boba Fett, VI, Navigator, Autoblaster, Engine Upgrade

Super expensive, but should kill Phantoms dead.

Yeah but having Boba with VI means you will shoot before the Phantom cloaks which at that point raises the question of whether you are better off with a Range 1 Autoblaster (3) versus zero dice or with a Range 1 Primary (4) versus 2 dice.

Its a tricky choice as the Autoblaster gives you a 3 die advantage while primary only gives you 2, but the 5 point surcharge is nasty. (oh yeah and they can still dodge your crits).

It almost seems that the Autoblasters would be better on lower Pilot skill pilots. Even then because the Phantom moves after them, it may be more effective at setting up kill zones that the Phantom avoids rather than actually get the kill shot.

You make a good point about VI Fett. The Autoblasters just aren't worth it.

You also bring up a conundrum. You need the higher PS to make certain you get close, but the higher PS prevents the Phantom from cloaking. What you'd really need to make the Autoblasters worth taking would be a high PS ship with post-maneuver positioning actions and a minimal base attack value.

Boba Fett, VI, Navigator, Autoblaster, Engine Upgrade

Super expensive, but should kill Phantoms dead.

Yeah but having Boba with VI means you will shoot before the Phantom cloaks which at that point raises the question of whether you are better off with a Range 1 Autoblaster (3) versus zero dice or with a Range 1 Primary (4) versus 2 dice.

Its a tricky choice as the Autoblaster gives you a 3 die advantage while primary only gives you 2, but the 5 point surcharge is nasty. (oh yeah and they can still dodge your crits).

It almost seems that the Autoblasters would be better on lower Pilot skill pilots. Even then because the Phantom moves after them, it may be more effective at setting up kill zones that the Phantom avoids rather than actually get the kill shot.

You make a good point about VI Fett. The Autoblasters just aren't worth it.

You also bring up a conundrum. You need the higher PS to make certain you get close, but the higher PS prevents the Phantom from cloaking. What you'd really need to make the Autoblasters worth taking would be a high PS ship with post-maneuver positioning actions and a minimal base attack value.

Serissu w/VI+Heavy Scyk+Autoblaster sounds like what you are looking for but comes in at 28 points. 32 if you want Engine Upgrade to give you the option to either boost or barrel-roll.

Sounds like a very rough proposition. The range 1 limitation makes it incredibly difficult to justify, even back when phantoms didn't even exist!

You could try getting away with an auto-blaster bearing YT-2400 (title?) and intelligence agent, but it is expensive (especially with the title)

Boba Fett, VI, Navigator, Autoblaster, Engine Upgrade

Super expensive, but should kill Phantoms dead.

Fettigator? In this metagame? It's likelier than you'd think!

Alternatively, any ship of sufficient Pilot Skill, EPT, and Crew slot could also pull the trick off with Stay On Target, if you've got a good way to reduce stress.

Also, you shouldn't use Autoblaster there. Your primary weapon will be good enough, as you fire at PS 10, early enough that they won't have re-cloaked yet.

If I'm running a Y-Wing as a phantom hunter, I want bombs. An Ion Warthog Y-Wing with a bomb should be enough to make a phantom pause.

Or Fel, for that matter.

I killed a Phantom with Autoblaster on a PS 10 Ten in a Vassal game.

Store championship a couple of weeks ago, I blocked Whisper from decloaking and got an Autoblaster shot from a Wild Space Fringer in for the kill also.

Probably about the only Autoblaster shots I've ever had on a Phantom, but also haven't played against many in a tournament game.

A few take aways here are:

Range 1 is easily avoided by phantom

Autoblaster cannons are too expensive.

Autoblasters are more worthwhile on lower PS pilots since if you go before the phantom you are going before he cloaks and therefore your primary weapon is sufficient.

But what this is telling me is that the 18 pt Y-Wing with a 2 pt Autoblaster Turret may still be worth a try.

It’s range 1 is increased due to 360 degrees

It is cheap

It is low PS

If anything, I would think that the phantom would be sort of herded away from the Y-wing since if it does get within Range 1 it is getting nailed. You could herd the phantom even more if you can do a bomb load out and drop a bomb.

Autoblasters are tempting vs. Fat Falcons especially, I suppose Phantoms as well, and surely Auto Thrusting ships.

The trouble with Autoblaster is the cost and the trouble with the turret is the range and only 2 dice.

I'm anxious to see how this plays out.

Kind of wish we could somehow stack Y-wing's with both the ion and autoblaster turrets (you'd have to pick which to use each turn, ofc)

Best we can do is find some Y-wing looney to run them half and half in a four ship squad