I like running Mangler Cannons on them. If you get in close and do a lot of 1 turns and barrel rolls, you can outmaneuver a lot of ships. I've gotten into some pretty good knife fights with them and come out victorious.

The trick is keeping them an intermediate level threat...I don't remember the exact list, but Palob w/ Opportunist & Blaster Turret and some Scyks buzzing around can really mess with your opponent's target priorities.

I like running Mangler Cannons on them. If you get in close and do a lot of 1 turns and barrel rolls, you can outmaneuver a lot of ships. I've gotten into some pretty good knife fights with them and come out victorious.

The trick is keeping them an intermediate level threat...I don't remember the exact list, but Palob w/ Opportunist & Blaster Turret and some Scyks buzzing around can really mess with your opponent's target priorities.

I agree that they have a great dial, but if you're doing a lot of close-range knife-fighting, is the cannon even worth it? You could save 6 points and just rely on 3 dice at range 1 with primaries.

I will say that without any cannon, they are fine. They are very similar to Tie Fighters, except they can TL and have a shield instead of a hull point. Oh, and they have more PS.

If you upgrade, I'd go with the Mangler Cannon or Ion Cannon. HLC is just too many points on something that dies with one bad die roll.

Having said that, I've faced vanilla ones that just wouldn't die. You get hot with your dice and those things can be reliable. Of course, as soon as you consider them reliable, they die in one shot (just like Tie Fighters).

A cartel spacer with an Ion cannon has worked well for me in lists with jucier targets.

I like running Mangler Cannons on them. If you get in close and do a lot of 1 turns and barrel rolls, you can outmaneuver a lot of ships. I've gotten into some pretty good knife fights with them and come out victorious.

The trick is keeping them an intermediate level threat...I don't remember the exact list, but Palob w/ Opportunist & Blaster Turret and some Scyks buzzing around can really mess with your opponent's target priorities.

I agree that they have a great dial, but if you're doing a lot of close-range knife-fighting, is the cannon even worth it? You could save 6 points and just rely on 3 dice at range 1 with primaries.

It's worth it on the initial approach. Plus, 1 turning and barrel rolling doesn't necessarily mean you're at R1. If your opponent attempt to disengage or makes a poor (in hindsight) choice, you could very easily be in R2 after a close range arc dodge. Also, if you do happen to trade shots @ R3, you have an advantage over most ships. I think all the little benefits compounded make the Mangler Cannon a good investment.

I wish when taking a Torp or Missile that it didn't cost you an additional 2 points. They would be great cheap Torp carriers, which this game doesn't have. At 17 points, they would be great Procket platforms.

As others have already said--I've had it in play several times, and it's too squishy.

The best way to use it would be taking one as an HLC carrier and keeping it as a sniper in a list that had other early target priorities, since its lack of defense doesn't matter in a match where your opponent can't afford to shoot at it. But I can't come up with anything in Scum that people are more afraid of than that cheap HLC.

Even then, a competent player is not going to let you flank him with a single glass cannon. Your opponent will divert his attention to that one ship and summarily execute it. Against a higher PS high firepower list (i.e. most of the meta lists right now), it'll explode before even firing once.

I think maybe, maybe you can get by with super-Scyks if you have a juiced up Palob in your list, as in the Opportunist/Blaster Turret, Moldy Crow pile of hate.

TP Vet + Predator + Title + HLC is 29 points. Two of those leaves 42 points to make the dirtiest Palob you can, which, to me, is:

Palob 20, Opportunist 4, Blaster Turret 4, K4 Security Droid 3, Moldy Crow 3, Shield Upgrade 4 = 38

Use your last 4 points to put a Shield Upgrade on one of the Scyks.

The Scyks are still probably the correct primary target for the list, but then they're facing Palob in the end game, and they're losing a Focus while trying to peg Scyks. It's not a remotely durable list, but it does a hell of a lot of damage for the points. If Palob goes down first, you get a couple turns of Focus/re-rolled HLC shots hammering on your best ship. Should make for a quick game, either way.

This is all purely theoretical. I've not run them myself.

I've run 5 Alpha Interceptors w/ Autothrusters and I can tell you that it is too dependant on luck. You get 1 shot way too easily.

At two points less the PS2 Scyk would be comparable to an Academy TIE and with the title and Mangler Cannon would match up well with the Alpha Squad Interceptor. On a more expensive ship those two points wouldn't be as big a deal but the naked M3-A is competing against the Z-95 as filler and against the BTL-A4 (and soon the Kihraxz) when you strap a Mangler to it.

I wanted to try out the following... perhaps soeone already has it as a list, but I was theorycrafting. It would definitely work better as a wing in Epic as it is fragile as all getout:

Hunter Scyker

HWK-290 with Palob Godalhi (20)

Opportunist (4)

Recon Specialist (3)

Moldy Crow (3)

Blaster Turret (4)

Experimental Interface (3)

M3-A Interceptor with Tasarii Point Veteran (17) x2

Wingman (2)

Hull Upgrade (3)

Heavy Scyk Cannon (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

As I would expect Palob to be the primary, the two Wingmen keep stress off of him as long as possible while bringing firepower. In Epic, either they will go down fast or they will cause a lot of damage. Will at least be fun to fly!

I've run a couple of Scyk Lists, and while they're fun, it's imperative for them to have:

A) A Hull Upgrade if they're above 20 points.

B) Some sort of Cannon.

They're really good at keeping other ships at range 3 for Secondary Fire and they have a nice dial. Serissu's overrated, she's just there to remind you how much you hate Green Dice.

It's not cost efficient and it doesnt have autothrusters, autothrusters would make it a little more viable. Right now, M3-A's can easily get killed.

Scyks are unfortunately a bit too expensive for what you get. Naked it should probably be one point cheaper, and the title should probably also be a point less. That said, a cannon Scyk can be quite good if surrounded by higher priority targets and can be tailored for very specific roles.

As others have already said--I've had it in play several times, and it's too squishy.

The best way to use it would be taking one as an HLC carrier and keeping it as a sniper in a list that had other early target priorities, since its lack of defense doesn't matter in a match where your opponent can't afford to shoot at it. But I can't come up with anything in Scum that people are more afraid of than that cheap HLC.

Even then, a competent player is not going to let you flank him with a single glass cannon. Your opponent will divert his attention to that one ship and summarily execute it. Against a higher PS high firepower list (i.e. most of the meta lists right now), it'll explode before even firing once.

We're saying the same thing from two different directions, I think.

If there were some hypothetical ship that offered a bigger bang for your opponent's buck--that allowed him or her to take more offensive potential off the table with less effort expended--then HLC Scyks would work. But I have no idea what that ship would look like, and I'm pretty sure it doesn't exist now. (Biophysical's Palob is a candidate, but I think at least in the tournament game players will still typically recognize the Scyk as the best thing to knock off early.)

You know, in regards to the OP, I do love M3-As. They are squishy, to be sure, but super fun to fly while they're still intact. I've flown them a few times and I actually liked the naked M3-A a lot. I'm still trying to figure out my best list for running them.

So, what i get from this thread is that they are not the best way to spend your points....

Has anyone tried this squad? With stealth devices a re-roll with Serissu and a focus or evade, I think it could hold it's own.

Cartel Spacer [“Heavy Scyk” Interceptor, Stealth Device, “Mangler” Cannon] (23) x 3

Serissu [swarm Tactics, “Heavy Scyk” Interceptor, Stealth Device, “Mangler” Cannon] (31)

I wanted to try out the following... perhaps soeone already has it as a list, but I was theorycrafting. It would definitely work better as a wing in Epic as it is fragile as all getout:

Hunter Scyker

HWK-290 with Palob Godalhi (20)

Opportunist (4)

Recon Specialist (3)

Moldy Crow (3)

Blaster Turret (4)

Experimental Interface (3)

M3-A Interceptor with Tasarii Point Veteran (17) x2

Wingman (2)

Hull Upgrade (3)

Heavy Scyk Cannon (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

As I would expect Palob to be the primary, the two Wingmen keep stress off of him as long as possible while bringing firepower. In Epic, either they will go down fast or they will cause a lot of damage. Will at least be fun to fly!

Experimental Interface isn't doing anything in this list. You'd be better off with a Hull Upgrade on Palob. Or making the two Sycks' Hull Upgrades into Shield Upgrades with a 1 point initiative bid.

I wanted to try out the following... perhaps soeone already has it as a list, but I was theorycrafting. It would definitely work better as a wing in Epic as it is fragile as all getout:

Hunter Scyker

HWK-290 with Palob Godalhi (20)

Opportunist (4)

Recon Specialist (3)

Moldy Crow (3)

Blaster Turret (4)

Experimental Interface (3)

M3-A Interceptor with Tasarii Point Veteran (17) x2

Wingman (2)

Hull Upgrade (3)

Heavy Scyk Cannon (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

As I would expect Palob to be the primary, the two Wingmen keep stress off of him as long as possible while bringing firepower. In Epic, either they will go down fast or they will cause a lot of damage. Will at least be fun to fly!

Experimental Interface isn't doing anything in this list. You'd be better off with a Hull Upgrade on Palob. Or making the two Sycks' Hull Upgrades into Shield Upgrades with a 1 point initiative bid.

You have no actions that EI can trigger. It can only let you take actions that are not on your action bar. Palob only has two actions available in that build, Focus and Target Lock. Both of them are on his action bar.

I tried using manglers on them. They come in at 20 points for the cheapest option. But then I realized it was an Interceptor with a worse dial and no boost for 2 more points. And interceptors are considered too expensive...

I wanted to try out the following... perhaps soeone already has it as a list, but I was theorycrafting. It would definitely work better as a wing in Epic as it is fragile as all getout:

Hunter Scyker

HWK-290 with Palob Godalhi (20)

Opportunist (4)

Recon Specialist (3)

Moldy Crow (3)

Blaster Turret (4)

Experimental Interface (3)

M3-A Interceptor with Tasarii Point Veteran (17) x2

Wingman (2)

Hull Upgrade (3)

Heavy Scyk Cannon (2)

Heavy Laser Cannon (7)

As I would expect Palob to be the primary, the two Wingmen keep stress off of him as long as possible while bringing firepower. In Epic, either they will go down fast or they will cause a lot of damage. Will at least be fun to fly!

Experimental Interface isn't doing anything in this list. You'd be better off with a Hull Upgrade on Palob. Or making the two Sycks' Hull Upgrades into Shield Upgrades with a 1 point initiative bid.

You have no actions that EI can trigger. It can only let you take actions that are not on your action bar. Palob only has two actions available in that build, Focus and Target Lock. Both of them are on his action bar.

Bah! The downside of YASB sometimes. You have a thought and you look at something switch to another faction, save when you come back without remembering changes. Not sure what I was doing there. I want the EI to work, but I think the only thing it would work with is Marksmanship and I don't like that as well as Opportunist. Need to look at this some more apparently. We also need more Elite Upgrades with Action in them for Experimental Interface. Palob needs stress! And once again, I should have made a new squad. Now it's all screwed up...

Can't think of a way to gain the stress I want to give Palob. Will leave it at Opportunist and change EI for a Shield Upgrade, unless I need more initiative and drop it to Hull Upgrade.

Can't think of a way to gain the stress I want to give Palob. Will leave it at Opportunist and change EI for a Shield Upgrade, unless I need more initiative and drop it to Hull Upgrade.

Palob w/Moldy Crow, ICT, K4, Opportunist (34)

2 x TP Vet w/Heavy Title, HLC, Opportunist, Hull Upgrade (33 each)

Against any target that without a green token Palob throws 4 red dice, and the Scyks each throw 5. You'll hit like a truck but have a lot of stress to deal with and have 3 fairly squishy ships. That's 14 red dice, the same number that BBBBZ throws outside of range one.

I actually ran this list the other day with some degree of success:

Dace Bonearm:

Ion Cannon Turret

Engine Upgrade

Veteran Instincts

Kavil:

Ion Cannon Turret

Determination

Unhinged Astromech

Cartel Spacer:

Heavy Scyk

Flechette Cannon

Cartel Spacer:

Heavy Scyk

Flechette Cannon

It's part of my on-going "I'm going to use Dace Bonearm, the rest of the world be damned" initiative. Honestly, I was surprised by its effectiveness, and it's the closest thing to a "Scumtroller" (scum+control+a dash of "troller") list that I've come up with. Two ICTs, and Kavil's ability virtually guarantees a hit that Bonearm can exploit, then the Scyks smack the ioned ships with the Flechettes so they're defenseless against another round of ioning next turn. And the Flechettes aren't terrible for trying to insure a single damage gets through against an enemy that is likely to avoid a two dice attack.

BUT, I have my doubts that it could be truly competitive. I can already imagine RAC shrugging at the trickle of damage and continuing to pound away with the turret. But hey, it seems to give non-turrets all kinds of fits. Might consider switching Determination on Kavil for VI, not sure. I also once had unfortunate luck in a MP game with this squad, as Dace got smacked with an Injured Pilot crit after only four rounds of shooting. Freakin' range three shot from a TIE Fighter, and I triple blanked...

I think the whole squishy thing is utterly false. Not that it isn't squishy but it's less squishy than a TIE or an Interceptor. I don't see any squishy TIE or Interceptor threads. The true deficiency of the M3A is its underwhelming dial. Needs a 1 forward and more greens or a 5 forward or both. The Heavy Syck title being 1 pt would also help it.