I was reading the Tie Defender Lovers thread ( https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/190556-defender-lovers-unite/ ) and it had a lot of really interesting talk in it. One of them was about the Flechette Cannon for the Tie Defender. Yes, you only give out stress if you hit. The counter argument was that it was also a way to get rid of R3 bonus for only 2 pts! This took a while to sink in and is really a neat idea. I immediately thought of one of the other ships I like to think about: The Scyk.

The Scyk is considered overcosted and the Heavy Scyk title costs 2 pts. Mangler Cannon is the budget way to go (if not Ion) for 4 pts. OK....so if it's expensive, why not the Flechette Cannon?

It's only 2 pts, which means it's 14 for Cartel, 2 pts for Hvy Scyk title, and 2 with Cannon for a total of 18 pts. This bumps it's attack value to 3! Yes, there is the whole stress mechanism, but....who cares? Just consider it a weapons upgrade that lets you gain a red die! Oh, and they don't get range bonus at R3. With the Jumpmaster, you pay how many points to get the primary weapon up by one? Think of this as a 4 pt upgrade that ups your attack by 1. Oh, as an added bonus, you get to cause a stress if you hit and they aren't already stressed.

It's really not a bad idea when you think of it that way.

I know people will counter that Scyks will just die when you fire at them anyways. Well....Scyks don't do well when they are the main threat. I don't think 5 of them is the way to go. I do think one or two in a list with bigger threats is not a bad idea. You put in some Kihraxz Fighters and some aces and people will probably ignore the Scyk as they consider it not a threat. That's when you can start using that TL to dish out some damage with 3 attack dice. Oh, and cause stress sometimes. Scyks do well when people don't focus on them and are too interested in other ships.

18 for Flechette, 20 for Mangler.

You know the flechette can only do one damage when it hits though. The other benefits are still really good for the cost. It can also only stress if the enemy ship is not stressed already

Unfortunately, like the Ion Cannon, the Flechette Cannon is capped at one damage, as you cancel dice results and deal 1 damage and 1 stress (if they aren't already), so it's not as amazing as you might have thought.

That said, I used an 18pt Flechette Cannon M3-A alongside Kath and some Z's in a tournament list that did quite well - the M-3A gets largely ignored since it isn't much of a threat, so it flies around pinging the odd point of damage off and spreading stress, as well as being a very capable blocker.

Well problem with that is that you limit your damage to 1. That could be OK against high agility ships, but the AGI 1 (or 0) will like that change a lot.

But if you have other source of reliable damage in list, then why not. Both Ion and Flechette are usable options.

I even considered using them on brobots, to stun opponents.

I think the bigger point here isn't so much that Ion / Flechette cannons only do 1 point of damage -- many of us understand that. Rather, with only 2 attack dice against many ships that have 2 or more agility, you're probably not going to get more than 1 damage through, if any at all. So why not spend an extra few points to increase your chance of dealing that one damage and throwing in an element of control.

While it's true that a Mangler Scyk is only 2 more points for an increased chance of damage / criticals, those 4 points can be crucial in Scum lists considering they receive the Illicit Upgrade slot. Dropping 2 20-point Mangler Scyks to 2 18-point Mangler Scyks suddenly allows you to throw in 2 Glitterstims somewhere, which are absolute game-changing upgrades. Plus point cost of a ship also increases target size, so the cheaper the better.

Scyks are equal parts fragile and over-looked, but adding 1 or 2 to Flechette Scyks to a Scum list could prove fruitful.

I actually quite like the Flechette Cannon, and have used it both on B-Wings and Scyks to great effect. My favourite use at the moment is actually one Flechette Scyk and one Ion Scyk that both come in from opposite flanks. On the first round you can tell who needs to be where, and have one speed towards the other. The Scyk can slow-roll with the best of them, and eventually you can get that magnificent Ion/Stress combo, and you've spent all of 35 points for the privilege. You have a lot of room left for virtually any list type you want (named HWKS? A Spray and Bandit(s)? Bossssssssk? Sure!) and the Scyk is something that shouldn't be counted out.

Even at a max of one damage a turn. Anyone who's run control lists will tell you that one damage per shot adds up pretty quick, a la TLT damage. And when you're controlling movement, you win. Simple.

The B-Wing of all places is where I learned how effective the Flechette Cannon is. I didn't think much of it at first, and I was only running Flechettes in a 2xDagger + Eaden Vrill list (which was pretty solid and I might have to bust that back out to deal with 4YTLT), but those Flechette Cannons do work. Lots of work. Range 3 obstructed shot at an enemy VIP? One damage is better than nothing, so I'll take the shot that drops them down a green die. For a 2-point Cannon I don't need to be able to double-stress, one at a time is enough.

One of our players runs a 4 Scyk build with Serissu and 3 Cartel Spacers. Serrissu runs with the Flechette Cannon and the Spacers with Mangler Cannons. All have a Stealth Device. Running them in a tight formation, Serrissu's defensive reroll ability makes them very hard to kill.

Crap! I forgot that it only gives 1 damage. Curses, foiled again!

The Flechette Cannon is so underpowered, especially compared to the other cannons, that I think it wouldn't even see widespread use if it was a 0 point upgrade.

The Flechette Cannon is so underpowered, especially compared to the other cannons, that I think it wouldn't even see widespread use if it was a 0 point upgrade.

Respectfully I disagree. Try it on a pair of B-Wings sometime, especially if you can fit in FCS on them. A Range 3 potshot to set up your TL+F next turn now has a better chance to hit and might help the B-Wing catch up if you manage to stress them.

Also, with the way things are changing for the metagame, I'm anticipating a lot of Aggressors taking a Flechette Cannon as a second Cannon moving forward. Maybe not in dual Aggressor lists as much since HLC is still king, but IG-88B with both Flechette and HLC, as well as FCS, has a particularly nasty Range 3 game. New target? Flechette shot. If it hits, great, they're stressed and the Aggressor has the manoeuvring advantage available. Miss? FCS -> TL + HLC shot.

On topic though I think a related list I'm going to have to try out very soon is

The last time I saw someone play a Scyk with a Flechette Cannon, it followed Luke with R2-D2 for four turns. Since Luke kept getting a shield from R2-D2 which healed the one damage the Scyk could do, he just ignored the Scyk while using his actions to attack another ship (clearing the stress and healing by doing greens), until Tycho swooped in and killed the Scyk with a Procket in one turn.

While this was a unique case of the 1 damage being the limiting factor, I think the fact that it can only add a stress if the defender has no stress is what keeps me personally from using it more. While being able to pile a massive amount of stress from multiple Scyks on one target in one turn might be a bit too powerful, being able to put stress on someone like Soontir or Jake at a key moment after they got a stress from PtL would be a solid reason to take a Flechette Cannon.

I think you need a plan for the Scyk. You take whatever cannons does whatever your squadron needs. What do you need a Flechette Cannon for? A Cartel Spacer generally shoots last, so you won't double stress anything out of its actions. So, do you need a cheap, reliable way to lock a ship out of reds and nudge it towards greens? Why? How will you take advantage of this?

In a meta full of jousters I think the Flechette Scyk could be pretty good. In meta full of turrets? Not so much. Your ideal target is a turretless ship with agility 2 or less, a fair amount of health limited greens.

With the one damage, I just think Ion Cannons might be better.

With the one damage, I just think Ion Cannons might be better.

Depends on the target, which is why I said you need to have a plan for it. Ion cannons aren't all that great against large ships, so if you need to limit the movement of one of those, Flechette is better. The question is, when would you need to limit a large ship to green maneuvers? In general I'd say it works best when you have blockers to take advantage of it. Aggressors, Lambdas and dogteeth also occasionally need to turn around, and none of their turns are green, so a well placed Flechette shot could severely limit them.

MANGLER SCYKS ALL THE WAY, BABY! HIT-A-HIT-A-CRIT! WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I've got a soft spot for these zippy, punchy, little blighters.