I haven't found Dace Bonearm to be as reliably effective as some of the other HWKs

Really?

Because I think 2 damage on a ionized ship at the cost of a stress is pretty good. Plaob on the other hand, I'm a little bit more iffy about.

Yes being able to steal a focus is nice, and he seems like a natural fit for the blaster turret. But the simple answer to that is the other guy just doesn't take focus actions and then he's no better than a generic HWK really.

Now admittedly he does serve as a nice control unit, because it does limit the options of the other player, and not being able to take a focus, means lower damage output.

Don't forget that he can also strip Evade tokens. I'm not sure if that's enough to change your opinion.

Don't forget that he can also strip Evade tokens.

I didn't notice that when I was looking at it. Haven't really tried much S&V yet... I like to wait until I have my toys, but in this case I'm throwing together some lists ahead of time and testing them in Vassal. Hoping that if wave 6 comes out soon enough I might use it for the league game on the 18th. Perhaps wishful thinking on my part, but seeing how few would know much about it, should give me an advantage.

I'm not sure if that's enough to change your opinion.

It does.

I have a Dace, Palob, Warthog Y-Wing list right now I'm tweaking and being able to strip an evade would make him a good bit more useful than I was thinking.

I haven't found Dace Bonearm to be as reliably effective as some of the other HWKs

Really?Because I think 2 damage on a ionized ship at the cost of a stress is pretty good. Plaob on the other hand, I'm a little bit more iffy about.Yes being able to steal a focus is nice, and he seems like a natural fit for the blaster turret. But the simple answer to that is the other guy just doesn't take focus actions and then he's no better than a generic HWK really.Now admittedly he does serve as a nice control unit, because it does limit the options of the other player, and not being able to take a focus, means lower damage output.

I haven't found Dace Bonearm to be as reliably effective as some of the other HWKs

Really?

Because I think 2 damage on a ionized ship at the cost of a stress is pretty good. Plaob on the other hand, I'm a little bit more iffy about.

Yes being able to steal a focus is nice, and he seems like a natural fit for the blaster turret. But the simple answer to that is the other guy just doesn't take focus actions and then he's no better than a generic HWK really.

Now admittedly he does serve as a nice control unit, because it does limit the options of the other player, and not being able to take a focus, means lower damage output.

I think he'd be good even if he could only steal focus tokens: it makes things like Opportunist and Sensor Jammer much more reliable, and it also means they either have to stop modifying their attack dice (which is a win for me) or switch to target locks (which is a more nuanced choice, but forces them to telegraph their attacks and maintain attention on a single target).

But...

Don't forget that he can also strip Evade tokens. I'm not sure if that's enough to change your opinion.

...he can strip evades, too, and it makes him even better.

If you outfit Palob with some upgrade, like moldy crow and recon specialist

Right now Palob has Modly Crow, Recon Spec, and Hot Shot Blaster. I figure then he should pretty much never be without a shot, even if he's blocked and out of focus, and has none to steal he has the hotshot blaster to use.

I think he'd be good even if he could only steal focus tokens:

Not that I don't appreciate your feedback on Palob, but I was wondering why you thought Dace wasn't very good. Being able to do a damage to something that gets a Ion token and doing it at range 1-3 with the only cost being a stress token. That seems pretty good to me.

I noticed an interesting synergy with the R4 Agromech and Kavil's EPT slot -- he's the only Y-Wing that can naturally take Deadeye. Spending a focus token to attack with torpedoes triggers the R4's ability, which lets Kavil pick up a target lock to use on his torpedo attack.

Kavil - 24

Deadeye - 1

Fletchette Torpedoes 2

Fletchette Torpedoes 2

Blaster Turret 4

R4 Agromech 2

Munitions Failsafe 1

I think this makes for a pretty dangerous Y-Wing. In arc, you're looking at a target-locked torpedo to the face, which Kavil will keep until he gets a hit. Out of arc, 4 dice from a target-locked blaster turret. The only place you're really safe is out of arc at range 3. With the free target lock from the R4, proton torpedoes might even be worth the extra points.

Piggy backing some of the earlier discussion, what about Palob with this build?

Kavil: opportunist, autoblaster, unhinged, engine

Fast. Four dice autoblaster. Good stress mitigation & maneuverability. Palob is good in general.

You have 55 points to equip Palob and add ships.

...I was wondering why you thought Dace wasn't very good. Being able to do a damage to something that gets a Ion token and doing it at range 1-3 with the only cost being a stress token. That seems pretty good to me.

I don't like the comparison to Jan Ors, mostly. Jan is less effective on a per-use basis, since she typically adds 0.5 or 0.75 damage instead of 1 from Dace Bonearm, but her boost is available to any friendly ship. Dace locks you into two upgrades divided across two slots--and not only that, they're upgrades for which the damage cap is already a significant downside.

Dace has a narrow application and helps improve a weakness for lists where his ability applies, but Jan has a broad application and helps improve the strengths of a list.

He's not bad by any means; I've played with him, and the damage boost for ion shots is definitely nice to have. But given his cost, I'd rather downgrade to one of the other Scum HWKs.

I'm not sure dace is locking you in to too much, he could just boost his own attack, and you're probably already giving him an ion cannon. But in a control list that's going to have ion to spare I think he probably brings a bit more than palob. but in most lists I think palob is probably better. I've got him in my most wanted squad

I'm not sure dace is locking you in to too much, he could just boost his own attack, and you're probably already giving him an ion cannon. But in a control list that's going to have ion to spare I think he probably brings a bit more than palob. but in most lists I think palob is probably better. I've got him in my most wanted squad

A lot of the time Palob may work out to be more added damage than Dace. Dace only triggers if you land an ion shot, Palob is going to make it more likely that an attack gets through. Ever since they've been spoiled I've felt like Palob is going to end up being the go to Scum HWK.

I think all the scum named HWK pilots are equally good. Torkhil really makes his value as a perfect accompaniment for lower PS ships and pilots, he is my personal preference in a list. Palob is great at denying or limiting the action options of your opponent, doesn't even need to be built around, could work with anyone. Dace is awesome in a control type list sporting ion negating somewhat the damage sacrifice from using the option. Even if he is the only one running the ion its still a great support to any list.

The only one which i'm not really sure about it the generic, same problem with the rebel one. I guess it'll be cheap so it might be a decent option just to get an ion turret in a list and a good crew like tactician or something.