So for those of you who have put in the time with the Star Wing. Looking at Cannon ships as a personal preference. Yes I know how well the missle carries are looking and cheap ect ect. My preference is cannons please. Question is, better options? Really bouncing between manglers and HLC. Manglers a bit more consistent at all ranges, HLC overall more damage potential.

Also for the secondary cannons, Flechette or TB? How scary is the stress? Is it enough to to make a significant impact? I know low or no damage outputs but some different control options as well.

I really like HLC and linked battery.

Wasn't there a thread that was basically you guys are all morans and doing gunboats wrong playing with missiles and not cannons. This was prior to the release and since release its been alllll harpoons and nooo cannons.

I personally like a bit of HLC and linked battery.

I currently prefer the cannon versions of the Gunboat. What I really like about the ship is how flexible it is. The choice of cannon comes down to HLC or Mangler for me, with both having good and bad points, but the great thing is you can vary the loadout to fit into the rest of your list. I always go with Linked Battery for some actionless re-rolls. HLC is pretty valuable in the current meta where high damage potential is preferable to more lower damage weapons to get through tough defences but I find Mangler is great paired with Kylo to activate Kylo's ability more easily.

With the Gunboat I think it's difficult to go wrong with either cannons or missiles, but I tend to steer clear of Tractor Beams as the low PS pilots make it difficult to take advantage of them.

Currently I fly:

- XG-1 Assault Configuration

- Linked Battery

- Flechette Cannon

- Harpoon missiles

When you have fired harpoon missiles, you reload and get a Weapons Disabled-token --> you can then fire with flechette cuz its 2 points. so you can still do 1 damage and next round you can fire the missiles again.

Makes sense, no?

Every cannon who can attack at range 1 - 3 with Linked Battery

4 minutes ago, Arkanta974 said:

Every cannon who can attack at range 1 - 3 with Linked Battery

but special cannons like ion too? forgive me, but i have never seen the use of the ion cannon...

Try this sometime, it's a bit pricey but really fun to fly.

Lieutenant Karsabi - Wired, XG-1 Assault Configuration, Heavy Laser Cannon, Linked Battery, (LRS)

LRS is a matter of taste but can confuse the opponent about target selection as you don't need the targetlock for rerolls.

13 minutes ago, Wookiee_Slayer said:

but special cannons like ion too? forgive me, but i have never seen the use of the ion cannon...

Ion cannon is really useful against low agility ship, with 3 dices you always hit a ship and give 1 damage and 1 ion token. Since ionized you know where the enemy ship going and keep doing damage and ion.

I know people favor HLC for pure damage, I even try 2 gunboat HLC with a defender a did a good result against K-Wing too but I'm a traditional folk to keep this cannon and with tie/D Ion wingmen I enjoy keep the control

5 minutes ago, Arkanta974 said:

Ion cannon is really useful against low agility ship, with 3 dices you always hit a ship and give 1 damage and 1 ion token. Since ionized you know where the enemy ship going and keep doing damage and ion.

I know people favor HLC for pure damage, I even try 2 gunboat HLC with a defender a did a good result against K-Wing too but I'm a traditional folk to keep this cannon and with tie/D Ion wingmen I enjoy keep the control

Fair points but im not using it until i get this:

Just now, Wookiee_Slayer said:

Fair points but im not using it until i get this:

If you wan Ion and damage try Ion torpedoes

14 minutes ago, Wookiee_Slayer said:

but special cannons like ion too? forgive me, but i have never seen the use of the ion cannon...

ion cannon is the best cannon in the game besides maybe HLC.

X-wing is a game about movement and location. Ion cannon lets you control both.

once you fly someones RAC off the board or keep arc dodgers from shooting for 3 turns, you'll get it

I will try it next time i use my Gunboat

(unrelated and i'm sure i could find it somewhere else: why do people call the Starwing a ''Gunboat'')

14 minutes ago, Wookiee_Slayer said:

I will try it next time i use my Gunboat

(unrelated and i'm sure i could find it somewhere else: why do people call the Starwing a ''Gunboat'')

While XG-1 Alpha-class Starwing is the official name given to the ship by the manufacturer, in all the space sim games this ship was introduced, officers casually called this ship "the assault gunboat". (or the "missile boat", for the case of the OS-1 model).

Same case as everybody calling Koensayr BTL-S3 Bombers "Y-Wings".

10 minutes ago, Azrapse said:

While XG-1 Alpha-class Starwing is the official name given to the ship by the manufacturer, in all the space sim games this ship was introduced, officers casually called this ship "the assault gunboat". (or the "missile boat", for the case of the OS-1 model).

Same case as everybody calling Koensayr BTL-S3 Bombers "Y-Wings".

For visual reference:

Glory be to 90's PC games.

Legends can(n)on!

4 hours ago, Wookiee_Slayer said:

but special cannons like ion too? forgive me, but i have never seen the use of the ion cannon...

Ions are fantastic against low agility ships. Think Wookies, or ARCs, or K-Wings especially. If you hit them with an ion token, you know in advance what move they will be making the next turn, so you can plan accordingly - either to block and deny actions, or set up crossfires and kill boxes. It's also possible to "walk" low agility ships onto obstacles or even off the board with repated ion hits.

Then there's mobile ships - Miranda Doni, for example. She's hard to pin down with SLAM. But hit her with an ion token, and she won't be going anywhere near as far, and you've got a good idea where she'll be dropping her next bomb as well.

If your opponent is stressed when you hit them with an ion token, that's even better.

Basically, you sacrifice pure damage for movement control and knowledge. If you've got enough extra shots on the table to make the most of it (or can combine both, like with a TIE/D), then it's a decent trade.