So, Y-Wings seem to be one of the strongest ships right out of the gate for rebels due to their cost, tankiness, improved munitions, and improved dial. From my experience alone, I'd say Dutch Vander with Proton Torpedoes is easily in the top 5 for rebel ships at the moment with generic Ys not very far behind.

However, I am just not sold on taking turrets yet. They feel almost like they are a trap; especially on a ship that can take torpedoes and bombs. Ion cannon turret is the exact same price as Ion torpedoes and when compared, it just feels like you get much more with the torpedo. Dorsal just feels too weak to really accomplish anything outside of super contrived, stacked range one shots, but even then, I feel like slow rolling with a torpedo and a lock is a better combo if you must set up an attack with a few different variables.

Am I missing something? It feels like people are gluing turrets to their y wings, but I just am not seeing the value with our current options. I especially don't like how they take away an action in order to rotate.

Turrets aren't all that great right now, however they can be worth it or even required on some pilots, like Lt. Kestal, Kavil, or Drea Renthal. Basically whenever larger arc coverage is required (Kestal, Drea) or turrets themselves are encouraged (Kavli). The pilots that want to do damage take ion, because it is a three dice attack (so that is Kavil and Kestal), taking the control effect as a nice to have side effect, Drea typically wants to be cheaper to allow bids in the swarm lists you find her in.

For Rebels, the primary reason to take a turret on a forward arc primary ship is double tapping gunners. However, at least one of those attacks is likely to be unmodified, which means you’re putting in a ton of points for very little gain. May be worth it on Horton? Also don’t forget that the current turrets benefit from range bonuses!

Oh what a topsy turvy world 2.0 is, where torpedoes are worth more on a Y-wing than a turret.

I ❤️ turrets in second edition, having Nym & Palob covering huge amounts of table with their Shadowcaster-style arcs is fundamental to my success.

Turrets without a locked front arc? Yeah, not keen on those.

4 minutes ago, WAC47 said:

For Rebels, the primary reason to take a turret on a forward arc primary ship is double tapping gunners. However, at least one of those attacks is likely to be unmodified, which means you’re putting in a ton of points for very little gain. May be worth it on Horton? Also don’t forget that the current turrets benefit from range bonuses!

Oh what a topsy turvy world 2.0 is, where torpedoes are worth more on a Y-wing than a turret.

That was sort of my logic when building. I can pay 12 or 14 for the possibilty of 6/7 dice a turn with mods on only half of them, or I can pay 9 for 4 dice with built in mods on all of them with a free crit. Ultimately the torps feel like a better value for a similar (if not better) result.

Ion cannon turrets do get a range 1 bonus and they do not require a target lock. Most of the gunner upgrades work with turrets. That said it depends on how you plan to engage. Ion missiles ignore range modifiers and have longer range.

I use turrets on my aggressors more for practice than efficiency.

Turret + vet gunner also circumvents the rather marked irritation of trying to get low I Target-locks

But generally, as already been stated, I just use it to increase arc coverage for Kestal (anti-ace) or Drea (ability + dengar gunner)

As stated, Vet Gunner works great with turrets to take 2 shots.

Dorsal Turret does have 3 red dice at R1.

Ion Turret also gets the bonus to R1 and can Ionize.

Played with Ion turret on y-wings yesterday at it was amazing especially with the range 1 bonus.... you are going to ion any small ship you want.

Playing with turrets allows the player to fly much different and less predictable while keeping arc on the opponent. It's just a different method of flying now, but not as automatic targeting as it was in 1.0. So it requires different strategies. But that sort strategy may catch people off guard, or it may not. Either way, I like that it requires an emphasis on planning your flight patterns more than just card and token stacking like 1.0

My first squad is 4 Ys, 2 with dorsal and bombs, 2 with ion turret.

For the bombers, the dorsal turret just means even when they’re facing away to bomb they’re chipping in with some fire. Not a lot, but it adds up.

I don’t like jousting too much so I tend to turn side-on to the enemy and move away.

The ion turret is pretty difficult to get to work, 2 hits needed from the 3 dice just on a small ship. But again, the volume of fire adds up.

No idea how competitive it will be but I’ve enjoyed it.

Also think the new mobile arcs are a really good mechanic and adds another fun thing to plan. Same reason I’m trying bombs for the first time ever.

1 hour ago, Icelom said:

Played with Ion turret on y-wings yesterday at it was amazing especially with the range 1 bonus.... you are going to ion any small ship you want.

The range bonus makes a massive difference.

Thing I've noticed playing ion (cannon on Seri, turrets on Sol and kestal) is that it's basically "just" a 3 die primary most the time.

Ie, it does one damage and nothing else generally (yeah, my luck ain't great)

Ive found Kestal to be the only reliable exception because of her ability

Not to disparge ion, since it makes Seri not worthless (better do one damage with 3 dice than none with 2), but I've found myself never relying on it beyond the fact that it throws 3/4 dice

You might want to bring a ship with a co-ordinate action and keep that ship within 2 of your turret ships. This way you can supply the extra action to rotate the turret. If you fly around the edge of the board and keep the turret pointing toward the center of the board it makes life difficult for Arc Dodgers.

6 hours ago, SOTL said:

Turrets without a locked front arc? Yeah, not keen on those.

Lucky me the only Scum ship like that is the JumpMaster 5000, and I won't be flying it anytime soon

Ah, there's also the MF... but it has double arcs and I'm thinking on giving it the VtuG so I can use both