Abstract:
Scyks are really fun and I love trying to put them in new squads. Last night, I had a chance to take Scyk-Scyk-Y-Y-Z against squint-squint-squint-eyeball. I won and the Scyks took no damage while plinking life off here and there with Ion Cannons. It was a fun squad and one I'll definitely fly again.
Introduction:
I'm a huge Scyk fan now. I've been trying to see how they do in various squads. Last night, missed game night due to some scheduling conflicts with my wife, but I was able to play my twin brother over Vassal. In trying to decide which squad to bring, I knew I wanted my 2 Scyks in there. I wanted to stick with little ships since I'm burned out on large ships after flying dual Aggressors all SC/Regionals season. That led me to taking 2 Ys. From there it was a matter of arranging my upgrades until I could fit a Z in there. I wanted Feedback Array on the Z, but alas, it wouldn't fit.
My brother (Parakitor on the forums) is a huge TIE Interceptor fan. I should have guessed he'd bring those, but I wasn't focused on the metagame here; I just wanted to make a quick squad that would work.
Materials and Methods:
My squad list:
Scum and Villainy
22 - Cartel Spacer (14), Heavy "Scyk" Interceptor (2), Ion Cannon (3), Stealth Device (3)
22 - Cartel Spacer (14), Heavy "Scyk" Interceptor (2), Ion Cannon (3), Stealth Device (3)
22 - Syndicate Thug (18), BTL-A4 (0), Autoblaster (2), R4 AGromech (2)
22 - Syndicate Thug (18), BTL-A4 (0), Autoblaster (2), R4 AGromech (2)
12 - Binayre Pirate (12)
TOTAL: 100
My brohter's squad list:
Imperial Navy
16 - "Backstabber" (16)
25 - Saber Squadron Pilot (21), Oppportunist (4)
25 - Lt. Lorrir (23), Autothrusters (2)
34 - Soontir Fel (27), Royal Guard TIE (0), Push The Limit (3), Autothrusters (2), Targeting Computer (2)
TOTAL: 100
The overarching strategy here is to use the Scyks to ionize craft and set them up for a range-1 Autoblaster shot from the Y-wings. The Z-95 helps out by blocking things to deny actions and also to set things up for the Y-wings. This was the first time I've run R4 Agromech, usually favoring the Unhinged Astromech, but with my range-1 restriction, I figured I would have little need to go speed 3.
Game Synopisis
The asteroids were placed in my lower right corner, angling from my lower left to the upper right. The top-most asteroid was furthest from the others, along my brother's asteroid edge. It created a bit of a gap between it and the rest of the asteroid field.
I started my squad in the lower left. Parakitor started directly opposite of me. I began by sending my Scyks up fast and going speed 2 with everything else. Parakitor surprised me by doing a hard left turn. I thought he might be slow-rolling. In the next round I did a lot of bank-rights, but the TIEs went super fast along the opposing edge. In the next round, I inched forward while Lorrir and Saber moved around that top asteroid and "Backstabber" and Fel performed Koiogran turns. Next, I decided to move my forces toward Fel and Backstaber. The Saber turned in toward my ships and Lorrir went further toward my edge, hoping to flank us as he barrel rolled back with the 1-bank. Fel banked around the asteriod right into arc of many of my ships, but he had just a milimeter clearance to barrel roll in front of the arc and save himself. It was amazing! I ended up having only a single shot on Fel with my Z-95 and a single shot on "Backstabber" with a Scyk. Fortunately, that Scyk ionized the TIE. My Y-s took some damage from Saber and Lorrir, but not much. I did get a TL on Saber with one of my Y-s via R4 Agromech.
Unfortunately, I was too far away with my Y-wings to close the gap on "backstabber, but I tried. My Scyks did 5-Koiograns, but because one had collided earlier, it was not straight with the other, so it overlapped and was stressed, facing the wrong way. My Y with the TL on Saber decided to try to catch that ship. I decided that his best move was to Koiogran in hopes of catching my ships as they close in on the ionized "Backstabber." So this Y banked left, away from the battle and had a perfect range-1 shot after the activation phase was concluded! I moved my Z forward 1, hoping to block Fel from any 1- or 2-speed maneuvers. The Y behind the Z did a 3-left bank that cleared the Z, but I forgot Fell was there and overlapped. Backing up along the template caused the Y to hit the Z as well, so the Y ended up pretty far back. That mistake actually saved me because Fel did a 4-straight to clear stress and didn't clear the Y in the back, so he was actionless, touching the Z, in range-1 of the Y. "Backstabber" moved 1 forward with the ion, then Barrel Rolled back to get behind the Scyks. He had a range-1, out-of-arc shot on the Scyk that successfully Koigran turned, but my stealth device held and evaded his attack. What a heartbreak! My Y-s destroyed Saber and Fel this turn. Shortly after that, Lorrir was destroyed and Parakitor conceded.
Results:
I destroyed 3/4 ships and lost none of mine. It was quite surprising to me. The best part of all was that my Scyks weathered several attacks and maintained their Stealth Devices through the whole game.
I only ever made 1 attack with Autoblaster Turret and it dealt a single damage to Saber. Against Lorrir and Fel, I actually lucked out and destroyed them with the primary attack and didn't get to activate BTL-A4. Oh well. I can't complain.
Discussion:
I think I sent my Scyks too far forward. The Y-wings weren't able to capitalize on the ions because they were too far back.
Autoblaster Turret + BTL-A4 is an interesting choice. My brother was very doubtful about it. After all, Autothrusters aren't going to help mitigate the dice, even if the target is out-of-arc. I think it's worth a try. I could drop R4 Agromech in favor of Unhinged Astromech. That frees up 2 points to put a Feedback Array on the Binayre Pirate. However, I really like the damage output from BTL-A4. If the Z can block a big ship and your Ys get in range, you have a higher damage output than if you rely on Autoblaster alone.
I love Stealth Device on Scyks. Is it the best option? Probably not, but I felt like those were solid additions in this last match.
In an alternate squad, the Scyks have Manglers and the Ys have Unhinged Astromech. That tips the point cost to where the Scyks have more points invested and are considered more immediately dangerous. The squad I flew last night makes Scyks an nuisance but they aren't quite as deadly. This allows them to survive longer as the opponent focuses on threats like the BTL-A4 Y-wings. It also means that point-wise, my opponent can go for any target he or she wishes and it will be the same points to me.
Is this squad really that great? I'm not sure. I've been complemented on it at game nights and my brother seemed to think it was worth developing, but it definitely needs more testing. Last night, for example, my brother commented after round 1 that his setup was off. He set up his squad as if it were a different squad that he'd been flying lately. Had he set up differently, how could my squad have handled it? Only time will tell.