Amidst all of the exciting new cards spoiled, Attanni Mindlink seems to be getting a strong “meh” from a lot of people. And that’s not too surprising – it’s an interesting card with a pretty significant drawback. It’s certainly not a card that you can just splash into any squad with a couple of points and EPT slots open. But I think with the right pilots, and some careful planning, it can be a really powerful card for its price.

To get everyone up to speed, Attanni Mindlink is a 1-point, Scum only, Elite upgrade that reads, “Each time you are assigned a focus or stress token, each other friendly ship with Attanni Mindlink must also be assigned the same type of token if it does not already have one.” So, it lets you multiply the effect of a focus action by the number of ships you have AM equipped to, but it also spreads stress across your squad like a virus.

Managing the stress will definitely be the trickiest part of using AM in a squad. The single biggest limitation it puts on you is this: you cannot perform a red maneuver with more than one Mindlinked ship per round. As soon as the first K-turn is complete, all of your AM ships have a stress, so you’ll have to hand your dial to your opponent if you plotted a second one.

This leads in to my first suggestion for flying an AM squad: Don’t fly in formation. Bring your ships in on different approach vectors, and try to stagger their ranges to the enemy. This will help you to avoid situations where one ship gets to K-turn, and the rest have to show their backs to the enemy for a turn or three.

But the stress-sharing aspect of AM might not be as debilitating as you think. First, keep in mind that there’s a cap – you only receive the token if you don’t already have one. R3-A2 won’t be double-stressing your entire squad in one fell swoop. Second, the positive effect of AM means that only one of your ships needs to clear stress for the rest to get a focus token. The rest have all of their white maneuvers open to them.

Which brings me to my second suggestion: If possible, try to make all of your Mindlinked ships the same PS. This will help a lot with managing stress, as it lets you optimize the order of activation each round. If you have a red maneuver planned, you’ll want to do white maneuvers first (so they get their actions in before getting stressed), then the red, then finish with greens (so they end the turn unstressed). Scum has a lot of EPT-carrying options at PS5 – both generics and unique pilots with powerful abilities, such as Guri and Palob.

Enough theory, let’s look at a few squads:

Manaroo (27)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Dengar (3)
Punishing One (12)

Kath Scarlet (Scum) (38)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Outlaw Tech (2)
Engine Upgrade (4)

Binayre Pirate (12)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Appropriately enough, AM works very well with Manaroo. Team her up with a heavy hitter like Kath, and she can load her ally up with tokens, without leaving herself vulnerable. Here's how it works:

1. Manaroo activates, takes a focus action

1b. Kath's AM triggers, Kath receives a focus token

2. Kath activates, takes a target lock

3. Start of combat, Manaroo passes her focus to Kath

3b. Manaroo's AM triggers, Manaroo receives a focus token

At the end of that process, Manaroo has a focus, and Kath has two focus tokens and a target lock. Add in Dengar's rerolls and a Pirate blocker, and you've got a pretty threatening offense. For good measure, Kath's Outlaw Tech ensures that even if she has to K-turn, she'll still have her focus, focus, TL stack - just have Manaroo take a TL for her.

Guri (30)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Fire-Control System (2)
Autothrusters (2)
Virago (1)

Palob Godalhi (20)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Blaster Turret (4)
Dengar (3)

Kavil (24)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Unhinged Astromech (1)
Engine Upgrade (4)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

This squad doesn't much care what you try to do to prevent it - stress them out, block them, it doesn't matter - every ship here will be getting a focus token every turn, often two. Even better, their attacks will often be double-modified. If you're down to one ship in the late game, all three are self-sufficient enough to do well without the help of AM.

Tansarii Point Veteran (17)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
"Mangler" Cannon (4)
Hull Upgrade (3)
"Heavy Scyk" Interceptor (Cannon) (2)

Tansarii Point Veteran (17)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
"Mangler" Cannon (4)
Hull Upgrade (3)
"Heavy Scyk" Interceptor (Cannon) (2)

Tansarii Point Veteran (17)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Ion Cannon (3)
"Heavy Scyk" Interceptor (Cannon) (2)

Tansarii Point Veteran (17)
Attanni Mindlink (1)
Ion Cannon (3)
"Heavy Scyk" Interceptor (Cannon) (2)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Okay, look. I know that AM probably isn't going to propel the Scyk into the competitive tier. But it does help in one of the areas that the Scyk lagged - action economy. One Scyk can take a focus, and the rest are free to use their action for anything else in the Scyk's actually-pretty-good action bar. Factor in your opponent's targeting priority when you decide which ship should take a focus for the rest. Managing K-turns is still an issue, but keep in mind that it isn't a bad idea to have a ship disengage for a turn or two and feed their comrades focus tokens, rather than immediately K-turn.

So those are my (wholly untested) thoughts on this quirky little upgrade. I'm looking forward to putting them into practice when the Jumpmaster arrives.

Yeah, I think it is going to be a good card(s), but it will require a fair amount of skill and a lot of practice to get it to really shine.

I'm hesitant to use it, but this is the squad I'm considering it for:

Contracted Scout (25)
Deadeye (1)
Extra Munitions (2)
Plasma Torpedoes (3)
Recon Specialist (3)
R4 Agromech (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Black Sun Ace (23)
Attanni Mindlink (1)

Black Sun Ace (23)
Attanni Mindlink (1)

Kaa'To Leeachos (15)
Attanni Mindlink (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Kaa'to can steal the extra focus from the U-Boat if it doesn't need it (e.g. out of munitions or not getting shot at.) Allows three ships to have fully modified attacks, so long as Kaa'to stays within range 1-2 of the U-Boat.

*Edit: Forgot Guidance Chips

U-Boat.

I think you mean toilet seat.

Good write-up.

It seems absolutely perfect for both Tansarii Veterans and Black Sun Aces. Tga Kihraxz will end up with TL/Focus when they need it, the Scyks will get to Focus/Evade or Focus/Barrel Roll as necessary.

Just need to be careful with that activation order - if you have a ship K-turning, you do it last!

What is a u boat?

I'm hesitant to use it, but this is the squad I'm considering it for:

Contracted Scout (25)

Deadeye (1)

Extra Munitions (2)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

Recon Specialist (3)

R4 Agromech (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Black Sun Ace (23)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Black Sun Ace (23)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Kaa'To Leeachos (15)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Kaa'to can steal the extra focus from the U-Boat if it doesn't need it (e.g. out of munitions or not getting shot at.) Allows three ships to have fully modified attacks, so long as Kaa'to stays within range 1-2 of the U-Boat.

*Edit: Forgot Guidance Chips

If Kaa'to steals a token from one of his AM buddies, they'll get it right back if it's the only focus that they had.

What is a u boat?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-boat

Basically a submarine with a large compliment of torpedoes.

It seems absolutely perfect for both Tansarii Veterans and Black Sun Aces. Tga Kihraxz will end up with TL/Focus when they need it, the Scyks will get to Focus/Evade or Focus/Barrel Roll as necessary.

Just need to be careful with that activation order - if you have a ship K-turning, you do it last!

The jumpmaster, with its generic with EPT and a forgiving dial is a good candidate to run three copies of the mindlink, with a K4 crew and unhingeds.

3 Contractors will have 9 greens each, so free target locks abound. Only one will have to focus to provide for all while the rest can barrel roll or double focus. Still 10 points left over.

It will be useful but you will need to plan your maneuvers/actions carefully.

I envision a scenario like this:

Imagine a GS A Wing Swarm

Ship 1: red maneuver, stress, assign stress to ships with AML

Ship 2: green maneuver, shed stress, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 3: green maneuver, shed stress, evade, assign evade to ships with AML

Now you have 1 ship with stress and a focus and evade token, and 2 ships with no stress and 1 focus token and 1 evade token

or

Ship 1: non-red maneuver, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 2: non-red maneuver, evade, assign evade to ships with AML

Ship 3: red maneuver, stress, assign stress to ships with AML

Now you have 3 ships with 1 focus, 1 evade and 1 stress.

An opposing stresshog would severely handicap this type of list and since it's so prevalent I don't expect to see a lot of AML.

edit: corrected the action sequence/tokens

It will be useful but you will need to plan your maneuvers/actions carefully.

I envision a scenario like this:

Imagine a GS A Wing Swarm

Ship 1: red maneuver, stress, assign stress to ships with AML

Ship 2: green maneuver, shed stress, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 3: green maneuver, shed stress, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Now you have 1 ship with stress and 2 focus tokens, and 2 ships with no stress and 2 focus tokens

or

Ship 1: non-red maneuver, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 2: non-red maneuver, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 3: red maneuver, stress, assign stress to ships with AML

Now you have 3 ships with 2 focus and 1 stress.

An opposing stresshog would severely handicap this type of list and since it's so prevalent I don't expect to see a lot of AML.

No, you have 2 ships with a focus and a stress and one with 2 focuses and a stress. Mindlink doesn't assign a token to someone that already has one.

If you switch out the HLC for a Mangler you can move the Shield over to Serissu and give her a Tractor Beam. A Scyk with Mindlink and Mangler costs the same as a Mindlinked Black Sun Ace if you'd rather run Tractor Serissu with three Khiraxzes.

I was thinking along very similar lines -

Black Sun Ace - Attanni Mindlink (24)

Black Sun Ace - Attanni Mindlink (24)

Tansarii Point Veteran - Heavy Scyk, Heavy Laser Cannon, Attanni Mindlink (27)

Tansarii Point Veteran - Heavy Scyk, Tractor Beam, Attanni Mindlink (21)

Serissu makes a lot of sense as the Tractor Beam carrier you'll want the Beam firing first, however I'm still inclined to lean towards having all the ships the same PS. I can;t overstate how useful it can be to be able to pick and choose your activation order.

4 points left in that build; could upgrade to Serissu, give both the Kihraxz Dead Man's Switches, switch the Tractor Beam out for a Mangler, or switch both Scyks to Manglers and give the Kihrxz switches. All those builds could be a lot of fun.

Yeah so a stresshog would only be able to pile stress on to one ship, ans the rest would take a stress each (if they hadn't already) and it would stop there. So you wouldn't end up with your list all having 3 stress each.

+100000000000000000 for pacific rim reference

It will be useful but you will need to plan your maneuvers/actions carefully.

I envision a scenario like this:

Imagine a GS A Wing Swarm

Ship 1: red maneuver, stress, assign stress to ships with AML

Ship 2: green maneuver, shed stress, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 3: green maneuver, shed stress, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Now you have 1 ship with stress and 2 focus tokens, and 2 ships with no stress and 2 focus tokens

or

Ship 1: non-red maneuver, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 2: non-red maneuver, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 3: red maneuver, stress, assign stress to ships with AML

Now you have 3 ships with 2 focus and 1 stress.

An opposing stresshog would severely handicap this type of list and since it's so prevalent I don't expect to see a lot of AML.

No, you have 2 ships with a focus and a stress and one with 2 focuses and a stress. Mindlink doesn't assign a token to someone that already has one.

This is how it would actually look:

Ship 1: non-red maneuver, focus, assign focus to ships with AML

Ship 2: non-red maneuver, focus, tries to assign focus to ships with AML but everyone already has one.

Ship 3: red maneuver, stress, assign stress to ships with AML

Thanks, my mistake but replace the second focus with an evade and you get 2 actions and no stress for 2 ships, 2 actions 1 stress for the 3rd or 2 and 1 for all three. PTL on all 3 would be 9 points.

I think I corrected my post to reflect the proper sequence/tokens.

Yeah so a stresshog would only be able to pile stress on to one ship, ans the rest would take a stress each (if they hadn't already) and it would stop there. So you wouldn't end up with your list all having 3 stress each.

That's still pretty limiting

Depends. On 3 Scouts with Unhinged Astromechs they would clear it pretty quick.

I don't think that having more than 2 is a good idea, it just puts too many restrictions on the movement of the ships particularly with the prevalent stress meta (that is not going away anytime soon).

The Manaroo/Dengar combo is pretty solid and seems to be the reason the cards were built that way. Definitely an interesting companion to Xizor or other ace pilots and relatively cheap if you don't opt for the title.

Maybe it was a balance thing, or more likely AM was going to not have the scum only restriction, but I feel that it would have got significantly more use an illicit slot (it is tech after all). Though that would have excluded the poor Scyk.

As to your Guri/Kavil/Pablo list I would go in a different direction because I think you have the blaster on the wrong guy (generally this fixes Kavil's issue with getting blocked):

Kavil w/ Atanni Mindlink, Blaster Turret, R4 Agromech

Guri w/ Atanni Mindlink, Virago, Sensor Jammer, AT

Pablo w/ Wired, Zuckuss, TLT, Moldy Crow.

Guri uses her action to reposition to hopefully be at range 1. Pablo does his own thing. Kavil can take a focus if not blocked, giving it to Guri so that she can get 2 total. If Kavil is blocked, Guri can give the focus (assuming she is range 1) to Kavil letting him use the blaster anyway which gets him the TL for modification.

Stress control has a strange interaction with Attanni Mindlink. The Stresshog is already a powerful unit, and it doesn't need your help in putting more stress tokens on the board. But AM also undercuts its ability to lock its target out of taking actions. As long as one of its wingmates can take an action, the ship caught in R3-A2's crosshairs still gets a focus every turn. In other words, while AM makes you deal with more stress, that stress doesn't affect your ships as much. The question is whether that's a good trade to make.

As to your Guri/Kavil/Pablo list I would go in a different direction because I think you have the blaster on the wrong guy (generally this fixes Kavil's issue with getting blocked):

Kavil w/ Atanni Mindlink, Blaster Turret, R4 Agromech
Guri w/ Atanni Mindlink, Virago, Sensor Jammer, AT
Pablo w/ Wired, Zuckuss, TLT, Moldy Crow.

Guri uses her action to reposition to hopefully be at range 1. Pablo does his own thing. Kavil can take a focus if not blocked, giving it to Guri so that she can get 2 total. If Kavil is blocked, Guri can give the focus (assuming she is range 1) to Kavil letting him use the blaster anyway which gets him the TL for modification.

I originally had a Blaster Turret on Kavil, and I still think it's a good option. I ended up making room for the TLT because I wanted to gear everyone for heavily modified attacks, and I managed to forget about R4 Agromech. I like your version of the trio as well.

Stress control has a strange interaction with Attanni Mindlink. The Stresshog is already a powerful unit, and it doesn't need your help in putting more stress tokens on the board. But AM also undercuts its ability to lock its target out of taking actions. As long as one of its wingmates can take an action, the ship caught in R3-A2's crosshairs still gets a focus every turn. In other words, while AM makes you deal with more stress, that stress doesn't affect your ships as much. The question is whether that's a good trade to make.

Good post. Personally, I think it is.

You can look at the upgrade multiple ways. It can be a psuedo-PtL,for a start. Your first Mindlink ship takes the Focus, and all other ships with Mindlink get the focus as well, before they choose their own action (hell, they could even use it to stack focus tokens if they wanted to). It also provides protection from stress as you point out, by allowing stressed ships to receive focus tokens from an unstressed ship's action.

That's an important point as well. Normally a stressed ship will want to clear it with a green move ASAP, but only one Mindlink ship at a time needs to clear stress in order for all Mindlink ships to receive a focus - and it doesn't even need to be the first to activate.

The more I think about this card, the more I like it's potential. I'm really looking forward to giving it a try.

While I do really like Attanni mind link, and I'm excited about its potential, I think people are understating how crippling red maneuvers are. Not only can you perform only one red maneuver per group of linked minds, but unless they are performing a green maneuver and activate after the red maneuver, then they'll end the turn stressed and then and be unable to perform a red maneuver next turn either.

So essentially, if any ship needs to do a red maneuver, every other ship should really, really try to do a green maneuver. Otherwise it's one K-turn every other turn for the whole group.

Which is why I think I'll only run it on a pair of ships, as it'll be easy to plan the moves accordingly.

And I'm pretty much only going to run it on Jumpmasters with Unhinged, so I have 9 green to choose from if one of them got stressed and spread it.

I think you're better off with Agromech, freeing a single ship to take focus gets you F+TL mods across your JaegersJumpMasters.

A thought, though:

Dengar's a veteran, Manaroo's got blue hair. They rescue an AustralianKiwi from a tentacle-hairedtentacled monster, during a plot that results in significant explosive damage to an Imperial monstershipyard dimensionplanet.

I like OP's reference.