I don't have any yet, but I certainly plan to use them. One thing I like about the Bare Naked Scyk is that it can barrel roll and has an evade. This can make it a really good blocker along with the dial. Yes, you are trading life for a chance at green dice, and you don't have a 1 straight, but I like that aspect of them for a cheap blocker. And they have a close and a long range k-turn if you need it. Mostly, they have the evade for two points over the Z95 coupled with 3 green dice.

Blail Blerg- Props man this is an excellent contribution. Lots of insight here.

I noticed you focused mostly on the mangler but I've heard others say the mangler is a trap and its HLC or bust. Does the HLC just make it too much of a top priority in your opinion?

Anyway its an intriguing ship for sure. Great dial (I love scum dials), solid actions and with a hull upgrade and 3 greens + evade its in the ballpark of a hwk in terms of durability from my perspective. The model is downright horrid though, IMO of course, which is really the only reason I don't own any.

But I wouldn't run more than one, and I'd always keep the alternatives in mind. Because that's the biggest problem the Scyk has: in so many of the roles it could fill, there's something that's already very good at the same job.

What fits the role of sniper in Scum? The TLT kind of, but they tend to be targeted out pretty heavily or taken in numbers. They aren't as....invisible?....not seen as a threat?

It is too bad that Laetin can't take an EPT. Him with Lone Wolf, Mangler....and even Stealth Device would be very fun.

I don't have any yet, but I certainly plan to use them. One thing I like about the Bare Naked Scyk is that it can barrel roll and has an evade. This can make it a really good blocker along with the dial. Yes, you are trading life for a chance at green dice, and you don't have a 1 straight, but I like that aspect of them for a cheap blocker. And they have a close and a long range k-turn if you need it. Mostly, they have the evade for two points over the Z95 coupled with 3 green dice.

They turn around a lot better than Headhunters. I've tried to kill them before with concentrated fire and had opponents roll evade after evade after evade. I've used them and had them roll all blanks.

I noticed you focused mostly on the mangler but I've heard others say the mangler is a trap and its HLC or bust. Does the HLC just make it too much of a top priority in your opinion?

I rate the HLC a trap. It's too expensive on the ship and marks it out to be shot ASAP. I think Mangler or Ion is the way to go.

Oh....no one mentioned Ion Cannon Scyk. Even just as a PS 2 guy, it's good. Shoots last and at whatever is stripped of tokens. I've seen 3 Kihraxz Fighters w/ 2 Scyks used. Sometimes with Manglers and sometimes Ion Cannon. Tractor Beam will be a good one soon.

But I wouldn't run more than one, and I'd always keep the alternatives in mind. Because that's the biggest problem the Scyk has: in so many of the roles it could fill, there's something that's already very good at the same job.

What fits the role of sniper in Scum? The TLT kind of, but they tend to be targeted out pretty heavily or taken in numbers. They aren't as....invisible?....not seen as a threat?

Yeah, TLT is what I had in mind. From a strictly mathwing standpoint, a TLT Y-wing is probably a better sniper than an HLC Scyk: not only does it have a much more consistent damage curve, but for the price it can take a lot more punishment.

As far as the mind-game aspect goes... you might have a point, but that advantage is going to drop off as you climb through a tournament. Everyone hates TLTs, and few players leave them for last. But a savvy, experienced opponent will still pick off the Scyk early in the match because it's a glass cannon--not only do you score a sizeable package of points, but you take out a substantial chunk of your opponent's offense, and relative to those advantages it's easy to kill.

I think they're supposed to be, but they don't work.

Definitely not. Definitely not. The fact that they were released alongside the Scum Z95 would seem to indicate they weren't intended for that role. It's seems much more likely it was intended for a flanker/harrasser role.

I would still group the Scyk alongside the TIE Interceptor and, more specifically the A-Wing.

TIE Interceptor: Royal Guards/top Aces aside, the Interceptor is a very inflexible and rigid ship in terms of loadout - even the EPT and Modification slots usually fill themselves at this point. It does however have both Boost AND Barrel Roll.

A-Wing: It only has Boost. We have Chaardan Refit starting at 15 points, non-Chaardan at 17. Non-Chaardan makes it more dangerous, but at a premium.

Scyk: It only has Barrel Roll. We have non-Heavy starting at 14 points, Heavy starting at 16. Heavy makes it more dangerous, but again there's a premium.

The A-Wing has the straight line speed, the Scyk has the advantage in lateral movement. The Interceptor has both, but at the expense of customisation options and payload flexibility.

Now, interesting to note that the Interceptor has the ability to double up on Modfications (Royal Guard title) and the A-Wing has the ability to double up on Elite Talents (A-Wing Test Pilot). I wonder if we'll eventually see something similar for the Scyk?

Sounds like a good theory. A 'pure cartel force' of Scyks and Khiraxz sounds like it should work together well - the Khiraxz is a fighter that wants to go in head-on and mix it up at close range, whilst the Scyk hangs back as a secondary firing line.

Black Sun Aces and Tansarii veterans should work well together at PS5, or Cartel Marauders and Cartel Spacers at PS2. With the latter, you can afford to take three Khiraxz (a very respectable 'firing line') and still have two heavy scyks behind them to provide stress, ion or tractor support - which helps make up for the Khiraxz lack of boost and barrel roll shenanigans.

By comparison, if you wanted to use BTL-A4 Y-wings for fire support, you'd either need to give up a heavy fighter, or only get one Y-wing, and if you wanted ion weapons they'd be limited to range 2.

Though the Sycks do not seem to be good swarmers in their own right, using the Syck to set up a swarm with tractor beam shots could be very effective.

2X Tansarii with Juke, Title, TB, Hull upgrade

2X Black Sun Soldier

2X Binayre Pirate

Binayre's for blocking. Its predator resistant and most of the list shoots before most spam ships. 1-2 Agility ships will melt fast against this. Against High agility arc dodgers, use the Tansariis' Juke to make the TB shot stick, pull it into range 1 and then blast away with the suddenly potent 2 (or 3) red dice.

Also could drop the hull upgrades and throw feedbacks or dead mans on the Z's. Combined with the repositioning ability of the TB and those could all be good for extra damage even if you can't get things in arc all the time.

I recently used a Tensarii Point Veteran equipped with VI, Heavy Scyk, and Tractor Beam to harrowing effect. It was against a list with low-mid PS K-Wings & B-Wings and an X-Wing in it and he really messed the game up in the most gleefully reckless way imaginable.

First round of engagement he pulled the only enemy in firing range onto a rock which he then had to fly off of next turn. He also managed to pull ships into the range 1 sweet spot on more than one occasion [with reduced agility to boot]. I kited him through the asteroid field as much as possible to maximize the tractor beams potential.

He was a little dismayed at how commanding the tractor beam was on the table and I think this nimble and relatively cheap platform helped to only exacerbate that. He knew I was taking it beforehand but having now flown against it, I'm not so sure he's going to give me nearly as many free opportunities to use it next time.

One things for sure though - the Scyk "fix" can't get here soon enough. This little guys hopefully going to get really mean.

For that matter, with Guidance Chips coming out, is it worth considering Scyks with Torpedoes? I think Missiles are certainly not worth it, because as a cheap ship with a missile tube you're not gaining that much over the Z-95 Headhunter, and you're paying a lot for it, but the idea of a cheap-ish ship with Proton Torpedoes might work.

Tansarii Veterans have the nice option (soon coming to Imperials with the Gamma Squadron Veteran) of either Deadeye or Crack Shot - I think the latter is probably better. You're only carrying one torpedo; you might as well make it **** hurt.

Crack shot/Dead eye is nice and all but you're paying quite a bit for it. Looking at heavy Torp builds I think I'd rather have:

[24] Captain Jonus (22)

-Crack Shot (1)

-XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)

-Guidance Chips (0)

2x [19] Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

-Flechette Torpedoes (2)

-XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)

-Guidance Chips (0)

2x [19] Scimitar Squadron Pilot (16)

-Plasma Torpedoes (3)

-Guidance Chips (0)

Than something like:

3x [23] Tansarii Point Veteran (17)

-Crack Shot 1

-Plasma Torpedoes 3

-Guidance Chips 0

-"Heavy Scyk" Interceptor (Torpedo) 2

[17] Kaa'To Leeachos 15

-Crack Shot 1

-XX-23 S-Thread Tracers 1

-Guidance Chips

[14] Black Sun Soldier (13)

-XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)

-Guidance Chips (0)

They're 17 point Black Squadron pilots that you can make 19 point Black Squadron pilots for the privilege of paying more points to bolt cannons onto them. There's no secret recipe here.

I mean, it's the cheapest Crackshot delivery vehicle available to Scum, I'll grant that, but there's really no saving them at that price point.

Sounds like a good theory. A 'pure cartel force' of Scyks and Khiraxz sounds like it should work together well - the Khiraxz is a fighter that wants to go in head-on and mix it up at close range, whilst the Scyk hangs back as a secondary firing line.

Yeah, they absolutely do work well together - the Kihraxz are a very competent main line fighter, and the Scyk's can pick at the wounded from distance or the sidelines. Both ships also have the outstanding 1-turn and 5K, allowing them to stay in close or get the hell out of dodge as appropriate.

Having all the ships running at the same PS also means you can pick and choose your activation and firing sequence, which is in general a very useful to remember!

As far as the mind-game aspect goes... you might have a point, but that advantage is going to drop off as you climb through a tournament. Everyone hates TLTs, and few players leave them for last. But a savvy, experienced opponent will still pick off the Scyk early in the match because it's a glass cannon--not only do you score a sizeable package of points, but you take out a substantial chunk of your opponent's offense, and relative to those advantages it's easy to kill.

I agree that someone could go pick off the Scyk, but if it's got Lone Wolf or Juke and the Evade, it might take some concentrated fire to actually kill it. If you fly them from the rest of your list, it usually means your opponent isn't firing at the rest of your list and is sending something off against it. That can work in your favor, as well.

Though the Sycks do not seem to be good swarmers in their own right, using the Syck to set up a swarm with tractor beam shots could be very effective.

2X Tansarii with Juke, Title, TB, Hull upgrade

2X Black Sun Soldier

2X Binayre Pirate

Binayre's for blocking. Its predator resistant and most of the list shoots before most spam ships. 1-2 Agility ships will melt fast against this. Against High agility arc dodgers, use the Tansariis' Juke to make the TB shot stick, pull it into range 1 and then blast away with the suddenly potent 2 (or 3) red dice.

The Binayre Pirates will be more effective if/when the Tractor Beam hits. Two dice with a Focus vs. -1 green die can be deadly. Or....have them boosted into R1 along with that -1 green die.

I recently used a Tensarii Point Veteran equipped with VI, Heavy Scyk, and Tractor Beam to harrowing effect.

21 pts with VI is pretty good. That sounds like an awesome game. Yes, I can see the Tractor Beam Scyk become a thing.

I think they're supposed to be, but they don't work.

Definitely not. Definitely not. The fact that they were released alongside the Scum Z95 would seem to indicate they weren't intended for that role. It's seems much more likely it was intended for a flanker/harrasser role.

I would still group the Scyk alongside the TIE Interceptor and, more specifically the A-Wing.

TIE Interceptor: Royal Guards/top Aces aside, the Interceptor is a very inflexible and rigid ship in terms of loadout - even the EPT and Modification slots usually fill themselves at this point. It does however have both Boost AND Barrel Roll.

A-Wing: It only has Boost. We have Chaardan Refit starting at 15 points, non-Chaardan at 17. Non-Chaardan makes it more dangerous, but at a premium.

Scyk: It only has Barrel Roll. We have non-Heavy starting at 14 points, Heavy starting at 16. Heavy makes it more dangerous, but again there's a premium.

The A-Wing has the straight line speed, the Scyk has the advantage in lateral movement. The Interceptor has both, but at the expense of customisation options and payload flexibility.

Now, interesting to note that the Interceptor has the ability to double up on Modfications (Royal Guard title) and the A-Wing has the ability to double up on Elite Talents (A-Wing Test Pilot). I wonder if we'll eventually see something similar for the Scyk?

I've got a couple of issues with your comparisons there.

Interceptors: It's not that the build is inflexible, it's just that there are options that are significantly stronger (or more flexible) than the others. You could throw Lone Wolf or Juke on an Saber or RGP and flank with it just like you could with your Mangler Vet for a similar number of points.

A-Wings: You completely gloss over that the A-Wing is also more durable than the Scyk because of the extra point of shield. The pricing for the Scyk gets worse when you compare the Vet to the Green Squad pilot as well.

The Vets are now a great option for Mindlink. They can use their action to Evade, while still getting a Focus from a linked ally.

Best thing about the M3A is that EVERY PILOT is totally viable.

Lowest is the cheap pilot, great for HLC swarms. A true glass cannon.

Tansari is awesome. Good Pilot Skill for a generic, PLUS the EPT! Love throwing crackshot on these guys. They become a REAL threat. Plenty of other options.

Leatin - No EPT, so not perfect, but a cool enough ability to warrant some use.

Sesrisu - The Scum version of Howlrunner and also has EPT. Some would say the best pilot for the M3A, but I use this one the least.

I think it has really well designed pilots.

Sounds like a good theory. A 'pure cartel force' of Scyks and Khiraxz sounds like it should work together well - the Khiraxz is a fighter that wants to go in head-on and mix it up at close range, whilst the Scyk hangs back as a secondary firing line.

Yeah, they absolutely do work well together - the Kihraxz are a very competent main line fighter, and the Scyk's can pick at the wounded from distance or the sidelines. Both ships also have the outstanding 1-turn and 5K, allowing them to stay in close or get the hell out of dodge as appropriate.

Having all the ships running at the same PS also means you can pick and choose your activation and firing sequence, which is in general a very useful to remember!

Ignores the crap-tasctic-SCUM-haters.

I think you've got it wrong Carnor Rex: The HLC is known to be the trap, cuz people respect HLC's power, but not Mangler. (insert Anakin here).

Mangler has basically the same firepower as HLC when you're not dealing with a ship that can easily evade 3 hits with ease (Soontir, F Evade Palp Auto), or has really high shields. Even with the high shields, once those are gone, the crits will still then go through.

Predator Focus, Mangler no R3 is extremely nasty. You've got to evade it all, and if you have TLTs also flying around, taht will leave you naked to TLTs, or vice versa.

The great thing is that TLTs will help when you have a high shields ship like Han. Bust them down with the TLT and then crits galore. (except for Chewie).

Lone Wolf is also a really good idea, but I really think Predator is good here too, its really knocks low PS ships out, letting you focus TLT fire on aces.

As people have said, the idea is to consider what the Syck can do as a role.

I've shown you that first it can be used to deal with chumps and even get long range hits on aces. So, kills low PS, and helps via high PS, while TLT fire in the rest of your list draws the aggro and kills aces for you.

It also has the benefit of being a relatively mobile platform that can shoot at R1, letting you get into R1 of enemy TLTs and then pick them off with ease. Meaning if you take 2TLT vs 4TLT, you won't lose automatically.

(Though, your first turn entry is very difficult: This is where range control mastery is important. I'd do first turn R4, meaning barely out of combat. Then rush into R1 if you can. Save F for defense, should stop 1 TLT shot from landing, and you'll be sure to live that turn. Also predator rerolling 2 dice off a PS2 TLT will give you plenty of offense without spending a F.

I've got a couple of issues with your comparisons there.

Interceptors: It's not that the build is inflexible, it's just that there are options that are significantly stronger (or more flexible) than the others. You could throw Lone Wolf or Juke on an Saber or RGP and flank with it just like you could with your Mangler Vet for a similar number of points.

A-Wings: You completely gloss over that the A-Wing is also more durable than the Scyk because of the extra point of shield. The pricing for the Scyk gets worse when you compare the Vet to the Green Squad pilot as well.

You'll note I said "rigid and inflexible in terms of loadout - even the EPT and Modificaiton slots usually fill themselves". You can certainly take any mod or EPT at your leisure. Autothrusters and Push the Limit are the Interceptor pilots go-to options, but I've seen VI on Turr, Opportunist on Sabre Squadrons, Hull Upgrade etc, so yes, they do have useful alternative builds. The key part of that sentence was the part in italics, though. Interceptors have their 3 attack dice primary, and that's it. Both the A-Wings and Scyks have other offensive options, should you choose to use them.

Yes, I did gloss over the extra shield on the A-Wing - just like I glossed over the fact that a naked Scyk is marginally tougher than a naked Interceptor - because I was drawing comparisons between the three ship's roles and capabilities, not their relative efficency. The prices I posted for the A-Wing and Scyk were simply to illustrate the versatility they have in common (you can run them naked, or pay a 2 point premium to equip a secondary weapon).

29 points?
I'm not putting a third of my list into a goon that dies to a breeze and can't do his sniper-work because of no 1-forward.

the best use so far is epic and PS7 spam with manglers.

rather cheap, pretty survivable thanks to Serissu, and shoot before most in Epic, allowing for massive first impact

Everything goes according to the plan

Best thing about the M3A is that EVERY PILOT is totally viable.

Lowest is the cheap pilot, great for HLC swarms. A true glass cannon.

Tansari is awesome. Good Pilot Skill for a generic, PLUS the EPT! Love throwing crackshot on these guys. They become a REAL threat. Plenty of other options.

Leatin - No EPT, so not perfect, but a cool enough ability to warrant some use.

Sesrisu - The Scum version of Howlrunner and also has EPT. Some would say the best pilot for the M3A, but I use this one the least.

I think it has really well designed pilots.

Totally disagree about the well designed pilots. Laetin could have been decent with an EPT, instead he's a ship that is either really easy to destroy or annoying to kill with out a lot of middle ground. If you don't roll well on the first attack you defend against it's all downhill from there.

Serissu doesn't really compare to Howlrunner, she's much closer to a Biggs. Serissu's ability doesn't scale with her squad as well as Howlrunner does. It really should have effected her to make her a little tougher to take off the table.

Here's a possible Wave 8 build:

What if instead of Glitterstim, Manaroo had Tactical Jammers? She could run interference for the Scyks to help keep them a live longer.

Rage Scyks with Crit-able HLCs! Oh wait... double stress is bad with that sad "interceptor dial".

How about a little of both!

TPV + HLC + title + Rage + stealth device

TPV + mangler + mindlink x2

TPV + Tractor beam + mindlink

It will be harder to kill than you think but could hit like a truck one time if it lives long enough. Fun enough to try.

-------------------------------------------

The Scyk will eventually get it's own "Scyk only" cannon and it will be fine then since it should only cost 1pt. I would be very happy to get a Scyk only cannon that can stack stress or other detrimental effect to couple with a TB Scyk or Ion Scyk. I keep trying them but they just keep disappointing. Sadly, the BEST two times I've ran them were naked or TPV + crackshot only.

The mind-link might be good for Scyks. Mind link and EU then you can get all the doubile action without killing your dail due to the lack of green.

I've been having some good success with:

Predatory Scykos

Palob w/ predator, TLT, moldy crow & engine = 36

2 TPVs w/ predator, title, HLC & hull = 32 x 2

100

I always get value out of the HLCs. Since the odds of each one dealing 4 damage per shot is so high, it doesn't take many shots to kill stuff. Its not perfect, but its **** fun (IG88s are problematic, for example).

Bonus perk: games are always super fast! Win or lose, games never go to time...