Can someone please explain when a secondary weapon can be used? Are they used instead of a primary weapon? or can both be used? How does this apply to the slave 1 and millenium falcon?

murse636 said:

Secondary weapons are used instead of primary weapons (effectively just giving yourself an extra option). Unless specifically mentioned by the secondary weapon, they use only the primary (forward facing) firing arc.

Also of note is that an attack with a secondary weapon does not grant an extra attack dice at range 1, nor does the defender gain the extra defence dice at range 3.

Core Rules; p. 11

The primary weapon for each ship is its laser
cannons. The player rolls a number of attack dice
equal to the ship’s primary weapon value (the red
number shown on its Ship card and ship token).

Instead of attacking with its primary weapon, the
attacker may choose to use a secondary weapon
Upgrade card that his ship has equipped (see
“Upgrade Cards” on page 19).

Core Rules; p. 19

Ships may perform only one attack during the
Combat phase. Secondary weapon cards show the
header “Attack:” as a reminder that a ship attacks
with either its primary weapon or one of its
secondary weapons.

In addition to being inside the attacker’s firing arc,
the closest point of the target ship’s base must fall
within the weapon range shown on the card (see
“Upgrade Card Anatomy” below). If both of these
conditions are met, then the player rolls the number
of attack dice equal to this card’s attack value
(instead of the ship’s primary weapon value).

Englishpete said:

Yeah this a rule I missed early on in my X-wing days. Made me think Cluster Missiles were awesome at Range 1. Once I learned I was doing this wrong I never used Cluster Missiles again, lol.