I just started playing recently, and of my first four games, three have involved YTs. I haven't minded too much, since my focus has been primarily on learning how to move my ships without crashing into too many asteroids, but it occurs to me that eventually I'm going to have to learn how to deal with these guys.

In the computer games, such craft could be easily decimated with a couple torpedoes, but so far ordnance in the miniatures game doesn't seem too impressive as far as straight damage is concerned. So, how do people here usually deal with them? Do you have heavy-hitters rolling a ton of red dice? Do you just swarm them with so many attacks that eventually they run out of tokens? Do you just try to keep them ion-ed so that they run off the edge? Do you fly a freighter yourself to give them a taste of their own medicine?

I'm interested to hear any suggestions the aces here might have!

Are you running into falcons or dash?

Don't know what all you have, but....

1. Ordnance is pretty good these days. Guidance chips as a mod really helps push through damage. Especially on low agility ships like the YT

2. Swarming YTs works to some degree, though harder to do against Rey.

The biggest thing is to focus fire on them, hard.

Edit: I assumed you were talking about 1300s.

The Dash/2400 model, if run like most, has a range 1 donut hole it can't shoot inside of. Hug the ship tight and work it's health down uncontested

3 minutes ago, hawk32 said:

Are you running into falcons or dash?

I have a poor memory, so I don't remember all the lists, but I think I've encountered both. The last two times were definitely Dash, though.

1 minute ago, ScummyRebel said:

Don't know what all you have, but....

1. Ordnance is pretty good these days. Guidance chips as a mod really helps push through damage. Especially on low agility ships like the YT

2. Swarming YTs works to some degree, though harder to do against Rey.

The biggest thing is to focus fire on them, hard.

What ordnance do you recommend? Most of the ones I have appear to attack at 3, and the lists I played last night seemed to be pretty much guarantee 3 evades every turn (at least once a turn; I'm still working on coordinating flying so that I can get two pilots firing on the same ship!)

1 minute ago, JJ48 said:

I have a poor memory, so I don't remember all the lists, but I think I've encountered both. The last two times were definitely Dash , though.

What ordnance do you recommend? Most of the ones I have appear to attack at 3, and the lists I played last night seemed to be pretty much guarantee 3 evades every turn (at least once a turn; I'm still working on coordinating flying so that I can get two pilots firing on the same ship!)

Against dash you want something that moves after he does that can re-position to get inside his range 1 donut hole (assuming he has heavy laser cannon). Quickdraw, Vader, Fenn Rau, Dengar, Scum Nym with autoblaster turret, intensity poe should all be able to do that.

2 minutes ago, hawk32 said:

Against dash you want something that moves after he does that can re-position to get inside his range 1 donut hole (assuming he has heavy laser cannon). Quickdraw, Vader, Fenn Rau, Dengar, Scum Nym with autoblaster turret, intensity poe should all be able to do that.

Vader, Dengar, and Poe I recognize. What ships are the others on?

Yeah, the best way to hurt Dash is to rush in and stay at range 1.

Ordnance... Proton torpedo is a pretty solid choice. The focus -> crit modifier built in is great and with guidance chips you can get one more die turned to a hit (or crit depending on the launching ship)

2 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Vader , Dengar , and Poe I recognize. What ships are the others on?

Quickdraw is the Tie/SF, Fenn Rau is the Protectorate Starfighter, Nym is the Scurgg

If he has Rey crew on Dash you want to be getting into combat as fast as possible so he can't bank a ton of focus.

1 minute ago, JJ48 said:

Vader, Dengar, and Poe I recognize. What ships are the others on?

Nym is the Scurrg ace, Quickdraw is Tie SF, and Fenn is Protectorate fighter ace

Suggestions:

• Focus Fire - YT1300s have 1 Green Dice
• Against Rey/Fin - Stay out of Arc and always avoid getting into Range 1 in Arc unless you want to die. Rey basically becomes a high HP Fenn Rau with Finn at Range 1.
• Against Expertise Rey - Use a Stress Mechanic
• Most Rey players are super predictable. There comes a point in the game usually after round 2 where they just start 3 Slooping over and over. Makes them predictable.
• Kylo Ren is an appropriate and socially acceptable response in casual or competitive play to any high attack high hp low agility turret ship like Dash, Miranda, Rey, Nym, Dengar, Wulfwaroo, Bossk etc. Its super effective and in the game for a reason. Use Kylo. It levels the playing field against 360/180 arcs and PS advantage.
• Use More than 2-3 ships. The Falcon can only shoot one ship at a time and alot of solid Generics will generally cause them to panic or run away all game.
• Use one of your ships to bump the Falcon to deny it actions and boosting.
• Use Soontir Fel with Stealth Device and Autothrusters. Very difficult to hit.
• Use Ion Bombs, Turrets, and Cannons to keep Rey from using Finn.
• Advanced Sensors on everything. I like to intentionally fly into the Falcon, taking my actions before moving, while trying to line up a shot on the "other" ship in my opponents list. This makes a huge difference if you do it even once in a game.
• Alpha Strikes are real and effective. PS11 Vader, PS11 QD with Targeting Synch, and PS10 Inq all with Cruise + GC will frequently murder a YT thats not PS11 Turtle Han.
• Four TLT Y-Wings or Aggressors will destroy any big ship with low green dice in a matter of a couple of rounds.
• If you like imperials, ALWAYS feel free to proxy Palp if you dont have him and your not in a tournament.
• Bombs of any kind.....that big base is easy to put a bomb underneath.
• Think about target priority....if Poe with Intensity is nearby he wont do much damage but can absolutely ruin you in end game as a point fortress, don't underestimate Norra....she will wreck you with 5 dice while your not paying attention, if a HWK with TLT is nearby.....I usually try to kill that immediately.

I rather like Imperial, so I'll probably give Vader a try (I haven't been able to find a TIE/sf yet).

Thanks to everyone for the good advice!

5 minutes ago, Boom Owl said:

Suggestions:

• Focus Fire - YT1300s have 1 Green Dice
• Against Rey/Fin - Stay out of Arc and always avoid getting into Range 1 in Arc unless you want to die. Rey basically becomes a high HP Fenn Rau with Finn at Range 1.
• Against Expertise Rey - Use a Stress Mechanic
• Most Rey players are super predictable. There comes a point in the game usually after round 2 where they just start 3 Slooping over and over. Makes them predictable.
• Kylo Ren is an appropriate and socially acceptable response in casual or competitive play to any high attack high hp low agility turret ship like Dash, Miranda, Rey, Nym, Dengar, Wulfwaroo, Bossk etc. Its super effective and in the game for a reason. Use him.
• Use More than 2-3 ships. The Falcon can only shoot one ship at a time and alot of solid Generics will generally cause them to panic or run away all game.
• Use one of your ships to bump the Falcon to deny it actions and boosting.
• Use Soontir Fel with Stealth Device and Autothrusters. Very difficult to hit.
• Use Ion Bombs, Turrets, and Cannons to keep Rey from using Finn.
• Advanced Sensors on everything. I like to intentionally fly into the Falcon, taking my actions before moving, while trying to line up a shot on the "other" ship in my opponents list. This makes a huge difference if you do it even once in a game.
• Alpha Strikes are real and effective. PS11 Vader, PS11 QD with Targeting Synch, and PS10 Inq all with Cruise + GC will frequently murder a YT thats not PS11 Turtle Han.
• Four TLT Y-Wings or Aggressors will destroy any big ship with low green dice in a matter of a couple of rounds.
• If you like imperials, ALWAYS feel free to proxy Palp if you dont have him and your not in a tournament.
• Bombs of any kind.....that big base is easy to put a bomb underneath.

This, with the added caveat of: What ships do you own? You probably don't have a preferred style of play just yet, but one of the above probably sounds pretty neat to you! Which one?

My preferred style is aces, so against most YT's anything PS9+ is going to feel a helluva lot better against these guys than other things. Vader in the TIE Advanced is probably the best right now because he can also carry cruise missles.

1 minute ago, JJ48 said:

I rather like Imperial, so I'll probably give Vader a try (I haven't been able to find a TIE/sf yet).

Thanks to everyone for the good advice!

If you don't have it yet make sure to proxy the tie advanced title and advanced targeting computer for him.

You could try something like this...

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (46)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Emperor Palpatine (8)
Kylo Ren (3)
Engine Upgrade (4)
Dauntless (2)

Darth Vader (29)
Adaptability (0)
Advanced Targeting Computer (1)
Engine Upgrade (4)
TIE/x1 (0)

Total: 98

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

You want vader to have the highest PS on the board, so upgrade to veterans instincts if needed, or if ps9 would be enough you can put lone wolf on him. You can always use kylo to drop high PS opponents to PS 0 too.

One thing to watch for is Dash with the HLC without the Outrider title. He still retains the 2 attack turret and has no R1 donut hole.

4 minutes ago, jonnyd said:

This, with the added caveat of: What ships do you own? You probably don't have a preferred style of play just yet, but one of the above probably sounds pretty neat to you! Which one?

My preferred style is aces, so against most YT's anything PS9+ is going to feel a helluva lot better against these guys than other things. Vader in the TIE Advanced is probably the best right now because he can also carry cruise missles.

Swarms, Aces, and Ions all sound fun! (Though I do want to someday have at least one of every ship, and learn to fly all of them at least somewhat competently.)

So far I've just been buying ships that I like or that intrigue me. I thought that I was buying them pretty evenly, but when I looked through my collection I noticed that apparently it's been mostly Imperial. XD

In general, I think I like the small-base ships over the large-base ones. Nothing against the latter; just I've always preferred flying fighters to freighters.

20 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Swarms, Aces, and Ions all sound fun! (Though I do want to someday have at least one of every ship, and learn to fly all of them at least somewhat competently.)

So far I've just been buying ships that I like or that intrigue me. I thought that I was buying them pretty evenly, but when I looked through my collection I noticed that apparently it's been mostly Imperial. XD

In general, I think I like the small-base ships over the large-base ones. Nothing against the latter; just I've always preferred flying fighters to freighters.

Watch out for getting to attached to that mindset though. Using 3 small ships is absolutely viable and I agree super fun!

But putting RAC or a Palp Shuttle in your list will allow you to still use 1 or 2 small ship aces alot more easily and will give you an opportunity to learn the "good stuff" while still having fun.

Running 1 high hp turret ship especially with Palp/Kylo makes it possible for you to enjoy the small base ship you use it with that much more.

And again remember....if you see Nym, Bossk, Rey, Dash, Dengar, Miranda, Wulfwaroo, Kanan, Biggs/Low, etc across from you.....dont hold back, those are some of the best ships in the game and even bad players can destroy you with them.

Put the best Imperial stuff (Kylo/Palp) on the table without hesitation. The Decimator is good and it works best if you fly it as a big base arc dodger with EU, use it and enjoy it.

That said there are a bunch of excellent Imperial lists that can work in most settings....

1. PS11 Vader + PS11 QD + PS10 Inq or Tomax or Kestal all with Cruise Missiles
2. PS11 Vader with Cruise + Whisper with Kylo Crew + Countdown --- Countdown gives no ***** about all that dice Rey has to throw
3. QD + Backdraft + Omega Leader --- OL laughs at the YT
4. Palp Lambda Shuttle + Omega Leader + Whisper or Vader
5. Three Defenders or 2 Defenders and something else
6. RAC/Kylo/Palp + Vader or Whisper or QD
7. Expert Handling Palp Kylo Upsilon Shuttle + Whisper with Reb Captive or Vader with Cruises
8. Whisper with Reb Captive + Kath with Expertise/Kylo/Mangler
9. PS11 Cruise Vader + Boba with Expertise/Kylo/Mangler/Cruise
10. 4x TLT Aggressors
11. PS10 Duchess + PS11 QD + PS11 Rexler Brath
12. Tie Striker Swarms
13. Patrol Leader with General Hux and Tie Strikers
14. The lists go on and on....

If your not flying at worlds or nationals or a regional.......ALOT of stuff works for imperials. Just takes practice and some idea of "workable" lists.

I’ve been playing for a long time, but I usually fly casual, so I can’t usually beat the really powerful meta lists.

This build is very fun against big ships. It can wipe them out in one round if you’re lucky!

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) - TIE Bomber
Deadeye (1), Cruise Missiles (3), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) - TIE Bomber
Deadeye (1), Cruise Missiles (3), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) - TIE Bomber
Deadeye (1), Cruise Missiles (3), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Gamma Squadron Veteran (25) - TIE Bomber
Deadeye (1), Cruise Missiles (3), Extra Munitions (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Just point the swarm at your enemy, do a 1-straight round 1 and a 4-straight round 2. Usually the only action you want is focus. This can be a really fun, thematic, and rewarding match-up for any big ship!

I know your focusing on Imperial, but its worth it for you to pick up a Scurgg expansion pack if you can find one just for the two cruise missiles. They are really effective for the points. Proton Rockets will also do well on high PS Aces like Vader or The Inquisitor.
Also most people don't mind if you proxy missiles on things for casual games. If I run 4 x Deadeye Bombers/A-Wings I usually just get out one missile card and put some Extra Munitions tokens on each.

Also Critical Hits or Tractor Beams can cause serious problems for low agility YT's. For example if you tractor a YT-1300, he doesn't get to use C-3P0 because he won't be rolling defense dice. Try out Rexler Brath with Tie/D, Tractor Beam and Expertise. Even against Chewie he can turn 4 hits into 4 crits and melt a big ship!

7 minutes ago, AngryAlbatross said:

I know your focusing on Imperial, but its worth it for you to pick up a Scurgg expansion pack if you can find one just for the two cruise missiles. They are really effective for the points. Proton Rockets will also do well on high PS Aces like Vader or The Inquisitor.
Also most people don't mind if you proxy missiles on things for casual games. If I run 4 x Deadeye Bombers/A-Wings I usually just get out one missile card and put some Extra Munitions tokens on each.

Also Critical Hits or Tractor Beams can cause serious problems for low agility YT's. For example if you tractor a YT-1300, he doesn't get to use C-3P0 because he won't be rolling defense dice. Try out Rexler Brath with Tie/D, Tractor Beam and Expertise. Even against Chewie he can turn 4 hits into 4 crits and melt a big ship!

Ok, I was wondering where Cruise Missiles were obtained.

Ultimately, I expect to have one of everything anyway, so if Scurggs are in stock next time I make a purchase, that may be a good buy.

Put inquisitor in your list. He is your counter to Dash. Fill rest of your list as you want.

Inquisitor w/ PTL, Title, Autothrusters

Add Proton Rockets if you have the points.

Inquisitor stays in Dash donut hole and even if Dash gets shots, unless Dash gets four hits, probably wont touch him. EDIT: Also, Inquisitor shuts down range 3 bonus, so Dash isnt rolling 3 green die at range 3 against Inquisitor.

I mean, if you’re looking for Cruise Missiles as an Imperial player, just buy a whole bunch of GUNBOATS when they come out!

2 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

I mean, if you’re looking for Cruise Missiles as an Imperial player, just buy a whole bunch of GUNBOATS when they come out!

Gunboats will probably be the first ship I buy multiples of (outside of ships showing up in more than one product, of course).

They'll also probably be the first ship I paint. Normally, I'm fine with FFG's paint jobs, but come on! The thing needs some red on it (blue is also acceptable)!

Just now, JJ48 said:

The thing needs some red on it (blue is also acceptable)!

Red and blue on a white GUNBOAT... I feel like somebody should post a picture of an American Flag painted on a GUNBOAT right about now... maybe with some tiny Second Amendment bumper stickers? It is a GUN BOAT after all...

3 minutes ago, Kieransi said:

Red and blue on a white GUNBOAT... I feel like somebody should post a picture of an American Flag painted on a GUNBOAT right about now... maybe with some tiny Second Amendment bumper stickers? It is a GUN BOAT after all...

I was just thinking last night of how the B-Wing has spots on it that put me in mind of Japanese WW2 aircraft, and how cool it would be to paint up miniatures in various WW2 colors. Maybe the Gunboat could be olive drab with the US Army Air Corps roundel!