Just throwing this one out there as an alternative way to use squadrons.

The two main ways I've seen so far that squadrons are used is either:

1. Uncontrolled: often completely left to operate on their own. Has the advantage of not tying squadrons to ships, but loses a lot of synergies and attacking opportunities as you really need to have them in the right place at the right time.
2. Controlled: where they are directly controlled by a carrier through squadron orders. This can be very effective in enhancing a given ship's damage potential, but can be limited by the number of squadrons you can activate. Also runs the risk of the carrier being taken out and your fleet suffering disproportionately as a result.

So, would it work if you were to launch a "cloud" of squadrons that are intended to cover a broader area, and then control them as/when needed by ships to augment their own attacks?

For example, you could have up to 10 x-wing squadrons in 400 points. These could cover a large area, but it's unlikely that you'll have the squadron activations for all of them at the same time. But this isn't critical as you only activate the squadrons that are in the right position at that time and that are advantageous to that ship. The rest remain as a "pool" to be either used by other ships, or to be re-positioned/attack in the squadron phase. Boosted Comms and Wing Commanders will increase your flexibility in using your squadron could.

This tactic works quite well for imperials with Rhymer too: you launch a cloud of TIEs/Bombers and then only move Rhymer to the part of the cloud that you need at a given time. Since the rest of the could has been static, they get the shooting benefit in the squadron phase.

The deployment of this would also depend on what your opponent is fielding. If they are also squadron heavy, then you can concentrate your forces and engage in a dog fight, of they are ship heavy then you can spread out so he can't avoid them.

The issue with this idea is any portions of the cloud that are not doing anything for your win, are essentially wasted points. If 4 bombers are waiting to pick up rhymer, then that's 36 points you could've been acms or xi7 turbolasers. With only 6 turns to use what you bought you want to maximize your usage of points, bombers can be used as area denial to Shepard ships into victory's, but that's assuming no fighters.

With the advent of rogue, this type of fighter deployment will be more feasible, mixing a couple firesprays with bombers/tie fighters

I haven't gotten in enough games to give my opinion of the results, but it's certainly worth a try. Admittedly, I've also been looking at it from an Imperial-centric position with Victory-carriers or the ISD carrier in particular and Rhymer, which increases the whole tactic's potential by giving it legs mid-game. I'm not sure how well non-Rogue rebel squadrons will do with the same notion. Of course, if you have stationary objectives then the point becomes more moot as you have your focal point where the deterrent may be pretty good.

I've been mulling over something very similar with a 'hand off' deployment: an initial high capacity carrier launches a group of attack craft in one activation to work as area denial, then have one or two low-command ships pick up the slack late game (ideally something like the Raider pocket carrier, though even a rearguard Nebulon may work). That should –in theory– provide enough of a set up for those critical last turn strikes when ships are typically weaker instead of just chasing them. It's less of a fox-chase that way. Besides, you may have lost a considerable amount of squadrons, or just need a few strike elements so a more modest ship can get the job done.

That said, I do like the Boosted Comms and Wing Commander on a heavier ship; I'm just not sure I can afford it if I think it's going to be taking the quickest path to the mutual meat grinder. It'll take some playing to see how these work with various play styles. Naturally, I'm interested to see where this goes.

The later game activations are the ones that are of interest to me.

I ran an assault frigate with 4 B-Wings for Sullust and did quite well with it. However, in some games the b-wings got held up by other squadrons and the carrier ended up being out of range a turn or two later.

This is where I'm wondering if having more squadrons scattered about could be an advantage and where boosted comms and Wing Commander gives you the tactical flexibility - I think I'd nearly run maneuver/engineering orders all the time and swap them for Squadron Orders when needed. Even if this ended up being every turn.

@TrueGeek: Yep, I think Rogue will help a lot with this, but you are paying more points for that. This approach (in theory) gives you more potential dice to work with. I get what you're saying about wasted points, but the flip side is that you have more options available. I think it's like a lot of things in this game; there aren't too many options that are way better than others, it depends on how they are used.

This is theory though - will be trying it out this week. Hope to have at least 10 squadrons: A, Y and X wings

cloud formations are essentially moving minefields. its not awful but you are still better off supporting them. rogue helps this a big. also if you cloud out, you may lose squadrons to enemy squadrons super fast. Its great for try to steer your opponents ship of course. It can really mess with people and lead to them running off the board if they cave to the pressure.

Gee wiz, that's what my flight controllers say when I'm giving squadron orders.

I have been thinking of a rebel build that utilizes an mc80 along with a guppy to go all in on the fighters, I'd then have four b-wings and 3-4 a-wings with luke. One of the big reasons I want to try this is the Independence title for the mc80. A turn one squadron activation to get the b-wings into strike range seems like a good way to go. Garm bel ibis seems like an ideal comander for this build.