Still relatively new to the game, so I was not around when the Hwk was released. Probably there where discussions round the topic then, but i couldn't find any recent. And we got a lot new crew cards, and still get more with the coming waves.

So what to put on the Hwks, both older rebels and the new strong scum ones?

And before any one jumps on that train, I am NOT interested to hear "do not waste any more points on crappy ships then the absolute limit, you cannot improve from "ineffecient", its not worth it, blabla...."

Of course some crew are most probably totally wasted, like e.g. 5pt Gunner, when you only have 1 primary.

But there are good combos, like the old classic of course, Moldy Crow + Rec Spec. More strong builds?

Thematic builds?

Pure fun builds?

Whould it be of use to put e.g. Bossk on Dace Bonarm, as you probably already have stress form Dace's ion mechanism so that you do not care about Bossk' stress. etc.

Shoot

K4 security is a more reliable way of getting locks than bossk for a hwk.

Nien numb is pretty good option for Jan Ors as she'll be stressed like every round. Jan Ors can boost away with 4 straight green

As for Kyle, Recon specialist is good so you don't run out of focuses. Or if you want some evades, put in Jan Ors crew to turn donated focus into evade token

Greedo is cool, cheap upgrade for Scum hwks, or K4 security droid if you want more action economy.

Recon specialist works for any of them.

Crew slot isn't that needed though (Roark, Torkil and Dace) as it adds more points into your HWK, which will be the first target in most cases due to their disrupting pilot abilities and weak durability

K4 Security Droid works well with any of the Scum HWK pilots, but really fits thematically with Dace Bonearm, as in the extended universe stories Dace sometimes worked with IG-72, an assassin droid similar to the IG-88 series. The K4 droid would be a good stand-in for 72.

Jan Ors crew is good thematically for Rebels as she was an intelligence / undercover agent and the HWK was often used for missions like that. Plus her ability to get an Evade token on the HWK or another ship that couldn't normally is always useful.

Jan Ors works well with Kyle, you are guaranteed to have at least one focus token. Together with the title and TLT that can make for a scary ship that flies with Dash Rendar for example.

Chewbacca is nice for Kyle or Jan, since they both want tankiness in their point ranges.

Tactician with TLT sounds evil. Once a ship is stressed even the HWKs should be able to keep it in arc. Lando is the whacky fun version of Recon Specialist with the added benefit of providing more durability sometimes.

For Scum people already mentioned the godly K4. Another nice one is Outlaw Tech that provides you with Focus even while running away, helps you not to feel so bad about that straight 4. Greedo is an option, providing you with the rare ability to crit with ICTs/TLTs, but I personally dislike it because you only have one shield.

My brother runs Lando on his HWK and it works extremely well for him.

Thematically, putting Jan in the copilot seat with Kyle allows them to hand off a focus or evade at the start of combat.

Putting Kyle in the copilot seat with Jan allows Jan to gain a focus token almost every turn, as you will be trying to remove the stress from her ability every turn any way.

So many options here!

1) Stress Hawk: put a tactician on there, wreck those elite pilots

2) Focus Hawk: recon spec. Add Moldy Crow for bank.

3) K3 Hawk: K3 Security droid, simply awesome.

4) Dashing Tilt Hawk: TLT on and through asteroids

5) Crewbacca Hawk: survive a little longer. I got a ton of mileage off of Roark + Crewbacca a few waves ago.

6) Scoundrel Hawk: feeling lucky? LANDO!

7) Jan Hawk: see above

8) Gunner Hawk: haven't tried this, but Hawk+TLT+Gunner looks annoying

9) Princess Hawk: add Leia for ... uhm ... #$%^ it, just can't make this copilot work for anything :-)

Thematically, putting Jan in the copilot seat with Kyle allows them to hand off a focus or evade at the start of combat.

Putting Kyle in the copilot seat with Jan allows Jan to gain a focus token almost every turn, as you will be trying to remove the stress from her ability every turn any way.

I love how well they work together, it's easily one of the most practically thematic set of combos in the game.

Thematically, putting Jan in the copilot seat with Kyle allows them to hand off a focus or evade at the start of combat.

Putting Kyle in the copilot seat with Jan allows Jan to gain a focus token almost every turn, as you will be trying to remove the stress from her ability every turn any way.

I love how well they work together, it's easily one of the most practically thematic set of combos in the game.

Great characters, great combo, great ship. Does it really get any better?

Dammmit! Now you guys have me rethinking my decision not to bother with the HWK.

So many options here!

8) Gunner Hawk: haven't tried this, but Hawk+TLT+Gunner looks annoying

Just to be clear, gunner only works with primary weapons? So if you missed with a TLT shot you would get a new primary attack (1 dice) and cannot perform any further attacks in the same round. That sounds awful.

I love the Dace + Ion Cannon Turret + Greedo, Palob + Opportunist + Blaster Turret + K4, and Spice Runner/Mux + TLT + Greedo.

Spice Runner + TLT + Greedo almost acts like a Scum Biggs but can shoot last to get some crits towards the end of your team's firing. He just draws so much fire and if left unchecked can cause some havoc.

How bout a theme of "skipping green dice, because they just get in the way"? Something like Dace Bonearm with an Ion Turret and K4, Syn Thug with Ion Turret, Connor Net, extra munitions, and like 2 cartel marauders. If you can ion them into an asteroid for more possible damage without rolling green dice, all the better! Or swap out the marauders for something with proton bombs or more Conner Nets

4 x generic HWK + TLT + Recon Spec

4 x generic HWK + TLT + Recon Spec

Lawnmowers! Note that you can seap out one of the generics with Roark + Crewbacca + Blaster to help protect the range 1 bubble.