I also have question on how to use fighters in the late game.

So basically all of my games have been the same when it comes to fighters, and I am seeing a pattern emerge. I'll admit, I could be doing it wrong!

Turn 2 the carriers order the fighters to attack and they do their damage, either to a ship or to other squadrons. Turn 3-4 the are engaged with other fighters and have their fun there, but by turn 5-6 they are out of the fight and do not have time to get back into it to make a difference.

So what am I doing wrong? What are some basic fighter tactics? What mistakes am I making?

Unless you tell us what ships you're using it'll be hard to give you advice.

Well I was thinking most about Imperial fighters. I usually use 1 ISD and either two Vics, or 1 Vic and 1 Glad with fighters to help. I like Vader, Howlrunner, Rymer of course. Fel is okay, but generic interceptors work pretty well.

I guess my question is, is there a basic fighter tactic that I am not getting? Is the turn 2 attack, turn 4 engage, turn five-6 be useless the norm for fighters?

Maybe it'll be better if I rephrase it to 'How do I keep my Fighters in the fight?'

Unless you are doing a fighter heavy list, your squadron's only purpose is to tie up enemy fighters for a few turns to keep them off your ships. After that in the late game they become cheap suicide bombers to throw at enemy ships with low to no shields to try to get the last few points of damage on. Tie fights work good for this as they are cheap and the swarm ability is good for taking out enemy squadrons and the one blue die can do some damage to ships. In a mirror match I did a few weeks ago I killed an enemy ISD by getting a lucky shot on an unshielded zone with a basic TIE.

There is no pre determined turn do do anything.

Boosted Comms is how you keep your squadrons in the fight.

When considering squads you have two main choices I) Do I want to attack ships, if so you need more expensive Black Dice/Blue Bombers. II) Do just want Anti Squadron Squadrons, usually any squadron that lacks bomber is your anti squadron. These are generally less effective vs ships.

The first can be more expensive (Advanced, Tie Bomber). The latter is cheaper (Tie Fighter, Interceptor)

Then there are hybrids. They are cost inefficient but make up for this in flexibility, raw power/spike damage/hull. Bossk, Vader, Firesprays.

You just need to consider what you want and stick to that and play it like that. Howl runner + 5 ties is a pretty cheap anti fighter force that will do nothing against ships. 4 Firesprays and Rhymer will punish ships but is not effective against squadrons.

It's about using combos, using Boosted Comms + Flight controllers on the aforementioned Firesprays mitigates squadron inefficiency.

The pitfall of Sontir + Ties Fighters/Inter is ship weakness. Consider running X number of Tie Advanced with Sontir. That way you get his auto damage via Escort and your Advanced can do ship damage.

Well I was thinking most about Imperial fighters. I usually use 1 ISD and either two Vics, or 1 Vic and 1 Glad with fighters to help. I like Vader, Howlrunner, Rymer of course. Fel is okay, but generic interceptors work pretty well.

I guess my question is, is there a basic fighter tactic that I am not getting? Is the turn 2 attack, turn 4 engage, turn five-6 be useless the norm for fighters?

Maybe it'll be better if I rephrase it to 'How do I keep my Fighters in the fight?'

What are you trying to do with your fighters? You mention Vader, Howlrunner and interceptors, but also threw in Rhymer. How many bombers are you running and are you unable to get them to engage enemy ships on turns 5 and 6?

Edit: Are you playing against Corvette spam? A ship moving speed 4 all game would be hard to keep up with without using Squadron commands.

Maybe it'll be better if I rephrase it to 'How do I keep my Fighters in the fight?'

If you expect them to be victorious in the squadron-on-squadron fighting come turn 5 or so, then issue squadron commands around then and have something within range to command them (Boosted Comms helps a lot) if you think getting the survivors in on an enemy ship would be beneficial.

Don't be afraid to activate them early while dogfighting even if they don't get to move. Premature activations help win dogfights quickly by simply getting a mass of activations all in at once, hopefully killing engaged enemy squadrons before they get a chance to fight back. This helps tilt the numbers game in your favor and can be particularly important with TIE Fighters, who do not handle attrition well but punch above their cost.

I really need to do a basic squadron Tactics. . . Hmmmm I need to redo my Soontir Fel and Vader counter Tactics video

So, I have a couple of comments to the OP's points

First, please forgive me if I'm dry, but I'm pretty sick and it might show in my vocabulary

I will address a few points : list building, on table ship command, squadron tactics. Keep in mind that much like you I'm pretty new with the Imperials (coming from a Rebels Wave 1 backgorund), but I think I'm starting to figure out some stuff

1) List building with Imperials : I found that what to build on Imperial ships really really depend on their Admiral. Imperial Ships are generalists but they aren't versatile : they get their peak efficiency from their commands rather than their basic stats, as opposed to Rebel ships where the basic stats pretty much determine the comfort zone of the Rebel ships. As such, Imperial ships need to be geared to do one specific job and one specific job only through comboing cards, commands and admirals. In the case of dedicated carriers, Expanded Hangars, Flight Controllers, Ruthless Strategists are all very solid upgrades to ensure squadron domination.

2) Ship commands on the table : It's very tempting to cycle through different commands because Engineering Commands give 4 points, Squadron commands allow to throw 3 to 5 fighters, so there's an impression of power. Unfortunately, when choosing any command, there is an opportunity cost involved in not choosing any other command. Let me explain : everytime you're not using a squadron command on a dedicated Imperial carrier, you're wasting a huge amount of points and upgrades that won't trigger. On a ship to ship ISD or VSD, every Engineering Command you're not using prevents you from tanking damage which you will take. I feel that each Imperial Admiral favours 1 to 2 specific Commands that you have to build your ships around, with the exception or Tarkin and his Liaisons shenanigans allowing him to command versatile ships by being able to plan for the natural command for the ship but double back on the other interesting command depending on the scenario. In the case of Imperial squadrons, I feel that Motti is the best choice, because he allows to plan 1 less Engineering Command (so planning more squadron commands) for the similar amount of tank.

3) On table tactics : without Boosted Comms, it's better to always send your squadrons in the same general direction as your ships, so they can stick to medium range. don't get baited by a wide flank maneuver, it's something that you will have to tank rather than avoid. Regarding your positioning and your activations, the timing is very important and there is no rule of thumb. It really depends on what you want to achieve within a specific turn or set of turns.

I really need to do a basic squadron Tactics. . . Hmmmm I need to redo my Soontir Fel and Vader counter Tactics video

You have videos???

Please share!

2Cents:

If you can, move your fighters LAST on your FIRST turn via a Command. This will give you the best choice of targets and positioning as well as a possible early barrage on their own squad cover.

You really need to build your squadrons with a purpose. Either you're trying to deliver Bombers, or you're trying to destroy Bombers. Everything should revolve around those two purposes.

Also, you don't sound like you're using Intel. The days of just tying up squadrons have died with wave 2. Intel makes the squadron fight much more dynamic, either allowing your Bombers to slip through, or ensuring your fighters keep on those Bombers.

. Howl runner + 5 ties is a pretty cheap anti fighter force that will do nothing against ships.

....that will do an average of 3 damage per turn against ships.

When it comes to killing capital ships, order all hands on deck! Everyone needs to be involved, and even the humble tie fighter can be a genuine threat.

This is what I sometimes do:

Have Boosted coms, on your carrier

Sometimes I play with two carriers, so that there will be atleast one squadron command per turn.

Turn 1: Command dial is set to a command which you bank as a token. move fighters in squadron phase.

Turn 2: Command dial is set to a squadron command.

Turn 3: Command dial is set to a squadron command.

Turn 4: Command dial is set to a repair/other command. Any fighters that can untangle themselves, re-organize by moving into command distance of the carrier in the squadron phase, this is where Intel might prove very usefull.

Turn 5: Command dial is set to a squadron command.

Turn 6: Command dial is set to a command which you've forseen would be usefull for turn six, in the beginning of turn four.