Just wanted to pop in and share the list I ran at KC this weekend that took second place. This is the third generation of this list and I feel like I have it worked out for the most part. The biggest question is if I keep 4 LOM on Palob or put him on Zuckuss. The biggest deterrent to moving him is that Palob can coast forward and still get his shots. Zuckuss has a harder time keeping guns on target when ionized.

Zuckuss — G-1A Starfighter

28

Veteran Instincts

1

Fire-Control System

2

Tractor Beam

1

Mist Hunter

0

Ship Total: 32

Palob Godalhi — HWK-290

20

Crackshot (Swapped to Veteran Instincts)

1

Twin Laser Turret

6

4-LOM

1

Ship Total: 28

Tel Trevura — JumpMaster 5000

30

Deadeye

1

Proton Torpedoes

4

Extra Munitions

2

Boba Fett

1

R4 Agromech

2

Guidance Chips

0

Ship Total: 40

After the change to VI I am now able to more reliably get the proton torpedo to crit and trigger Boba rather than having to fire it against shields during some engagements. I have thought of dropping Tel to Manaroo and adding Moldy Crow to Palob to stack focus for defense but Im not convinced going down to simultaneous fire with Blacks and Green squadron A’s is a good choice. That and I really do enjoy the one more shot to kill mechanic.

This list is doing well in the current environment because it can steal focus from boats preventing torp shots, steal from aces to make them hittable (if barely) and zuckuss is a canon that rolls around and blasts everything to little bitty space junk.

If you have any thoughts on how to make it more ace killy without losing fight against big ships let me know, they are still the toughest match up.

cool list. congrats on ur top2 finish. i watched a few of ur games on twitch. i like ur loadout on Palob, makes the TLT a real certainty vs high agility targets.

im running something similar but i am using feedback arrays to help vs imp-aces lists. i dont run zuckuss, but use a 2nd scout (one with proton torp/fett/EM/guidance chips/R4/feedback array, the other with plasma torp/EM/guidance chips/overcockedR4/feedback array). i was previously running 2x binayre pirate/feedback array but was finding them of limited use after the first exchange of fire due to their slow repositioning. So i have recently replaced them with Palob. As uv stated he is a nice counter for other U-Boat lists. my loadout on palob is the same as urs except with adaptability as EPT.

have u flown vs many swarms? 5-6 ship imperial swarms seem to be on the rise and of course crackshot swarm is a scary squad.

as a question why use TLT on palob? I would of thought a turret with a range bracket of 1-2 was better?

Brown Bomber - I haven't had to face many swarms yet. I played against a 5 ship rebel and a 4 ship rebel. No a wing or tie crack swarms yet though. It will be a tough match up when it happens, just have to hope I can get 1-2 off the table before they start shooting. Also, I went through the adaptability phase on him. After I downgraded Dengar to Tel it gave me the points to get him up to PS7 so he can strip shields for the torp shot.

Starrius - Ive thought of downgrading the TLT several times. The big upside of doing it is you gain an Ion effect, mesh with your range 1-2 ability and get extra points to use. The big downside though is that I have to stay close and cant return fire at ships plinking away at me at R3. I ran into several Dash builds and being able to TLT back at them to soften them up before the HWK died was crucial.

yep, the PS bid is crucial right now. PS4 black squadron pilots and name ties with crackshot could rip a scout apart alarmingly fast.

im on the fence about dropping the two headhunters i was running previously, theyre blockers and if left alone can cause problems at close range chipping in damage and of course using feedback array to get rid of damaged small ships at close range is just gravy. However the addition of Palob adds a more consistent offensive threat at med-long range and he has the ability to threaten high agility ships which just laugh at 2 attack dice ships. He is also a counter to enemy scouts

@OP: Awesome list! Very similar to mine. I probably should try Zuckuss with less stuff on him. Mine always has 4-LOM and Electronic Baffle, which is a real double-edged sword. Last game it got Zuckuss killed. I have Predator for rerolls, so Zuckuss is sitting at PS 7, which has some drawbacks, too.

I've played a similar list, Jumpmaster downgraded to simple u-boat with deadeye, proton torp and R4 agromech (34), Zuckuss with VI, fcs, gunner & title (37), and palob with TLT & Dengar (29). Tractor beam + gunner run better than I had imagined Normaly your opponent wastes his tokens to avoid the beam and second attack wastes his life.

I have a somewhat different take on Palob.

Cloaking Device, Dorsal Turret, Intelligence Agent - fly close, get cloaked, steal Evades if you can or Focus if you need to disrupt torp shots, and it's really cheap at 26 points - but such an enemy disruptor that they HAVE to shoot at it! The Dorsal Turret is basically so he isn't completely useless when the Cloak konks out.

The list I WANT to try is:

Palob Godalhi (27)

HWK-290 (20), Attanni Mindlink (1), Dorsal Turret (3), Intelligence Agent (1), Cloaking Device (2)

Manaroo (40)

Jumpmaster 5k (27), Attanni Mindlink (1), Extra Munitions (2), Proton Torpedoes (4), K4 Sec Droid (3), Unhinged Astromech (1), Feedback Array (2), Guidance Chips (0)

Talonbane Cobra (33)

Kihrahz (28), Attanni Mindlink (1), Engine Upgrade (4)

Basic idea is that Manaroo acts as a U-Boat while also giving Focus/TLs to Talonbane, leaving him free to use Boost to reposition himself, while Palob moves forward under his cloak to disrupt the enemy game.

Lately, however, there's been a dearth of X-Wing at my FLGS.

I like the idea, but the problem with mindlink is a stress-list against yours... tacticians, stressbots, rebel captive.... there are too many

See, I thought that way for a bit, then I realized that Attanni Mindlink actually wins AGAINST stress lists.

How?

Well, only the first stress/focus token is passed along, so even if multiple tokens get piled onto one ship, another Mindlinked ship only needs to do a single green to clear the stress and restore the Focus action not only to itself, but to the ship with stacks of stress.

Focus may not always be the BEST action for a ship to take, but it's a good, solid action in general, and letting a hugely stressed ship have a Focus token in defiance of the stressbot/Tactician stacks is a good thing.

This list is also really resilient against stress. Unless Manaroo herself is the target of the Stressbot/Tactician, she can do a green/give a focus to her squadmates, gain a target lock regardless of her stress status, and then pass that TL/Focus to another squadmate through her ability. If she was the stress target, she still gets her TL, and the Focus passed to her via Mindlink is then able to be passed again. Palob's ability is stress-independent; he just steals the token, thereby defying Stress even more. Talonbane's the most likely victim of Rebel Captive, but with this basic idea he doesn't even need to take Greens to clear stress, just pull hard-1s for dogfighting and rely on his teammates for dice mods.

I'd like to test this list further, but X-Wing is dying on the vine up here. Very annoying.

So after a less successful weekend at the Minnesota regionals we had a long ride back to talk lists. This is the result of that talk..

Zuckuss — G-1A Starfighter 28 Veteran Instincts 1 Fire-Control System 2 Inertial Dampeners 1 Tractor Beam 1 Mist Hunter 0 Ship Total: 33
Manaroo — JumpMaster 5000 27 Deadeye 1 Proton Torpedoes 4 Extra Munitions 2 Boba Fett 1 R4 Agromech 2 Feedback Array 2 Guidance Chips 0 Ship Total: 39
Palob Godalhi — HWK-290 20 Adaptability 0 Twin Laser Turret 6 Tactician 2 Ship Total: 28

Heres the thoughts behind it.
- Zuckuss - Pretty standard, hes solid not a lot of need for modification. Options include loosing the EM on Manaroo and adding Outlaw tech to zuckuss, Great for those K turns and 1 hards.

- Manaroo - This was the hardest choice, do we move the list from PS7 to PS4. Obviously this will hurt you against things like Super Dash, and puts you at the same PS as Crackswarms which is not ideal. But if you drop your PS you gain 4 points overall. So Manaroo, same loadout as Tel but weve added a feedback array for those pesky aces.

-Palob - Adaptability Down to 4 or up to 6 if you feel the need. Tactician added to help you get some TLT stress goodness on hard to pin down targets or just to make sure that a boat wont shoot a torpedo at your list for another 2-3 rounds.

Overall thoughts on this are that PS 4 hurts but at least youre still above boats, PS7 was a really good spot to be in the current Meta but it didn't get you equal to or above the PS8 aces that are popular. Adding the tactician should be very helpful, I know what your thinking, its a HWK its never going to point at anyone. I honestly find myself pointing it in more often than you would think, and if I can deny a large area to aces with stress threat that is also huge. The feedback should be good to try and play the bump and damage game with aces as well. It takes away my health but at a fraction of the rate of the ships you use it against. Ill probably hold off until after Denver this weekend but I do intend to try this variant out and see if it can help fill in against aces.

P.S. bet you cant figure out what I had a hard time against this weekend : )

I just think that TLT and Palob work against each other - Palob wants to be in R1-2 to steal tokens and mess up an enemy's day, TLT wants to be in R2-3 and works well en masse.

That's why I decided on the Cloaking Device and Dorsal Turret with Intelligence Agent - you're in close, you can decide whether to decloak or cloak without worry about needing a defensive token, and whether or not you're under a cloak you can active Palob's ability and meddle with an enemy's game plan or hoarded defenses. Or if you're forcibly decloaked you move behind your enemy and try to stay there.

But that's why the teammates are important, too - they have to be able to dish out a lot of damage to make up for the fact that Palob may not always be shooting.

I really like your concept. I have been looking at Bossk to play a similar role ina scum build that has similar strategy... Best the scouts at PS and wreck an ace without loosing the game

My thought was a cheap 23/25 point homing missile Nduru achieves similar things as Zuckus at a discount.

The scout I have so far included in my Bossk build is a little different.

Scout adaptability K4 plasma torp chimps

Alongside Bossk the scout has an easier time meating out torp for the first exchange. Ps 4 beats "scouts" and it seems to work(at least on vassal) so far.

Cool concept! I'm finally appreciating Zuckus!

Was the tractor beam a significant factor in your games?

I've been running Palob with Blaster turret and Attanni Mindlink with the title.

Now I know Blaster turret isn't that great needing a focus to activate, but with attanni mindlink guaranteeing a focus every turn and the ability to steal 1 or bank them up I've found it to work well.

3 dice at range 1-2 which is the optimal range for Palob imo.

I've also been adding gonk with Shield grades and this has actualy lead to Palob surviving a lot of concentrated fire and meaning my other squad members can get in and kill those pesky ships.

also against u boats stealing the focus really hampers one and allows me to concentrate fire on a different one. with blaster turrets increased damage and 1 or 2 ships using photon/plasma torps I have been killing 1 u boat before it's shot stopping 1 from using it's missiles and then having the third one take a huge bite out of Palob as he becomes a big target vs this list.

I just think that TLT and Palob work against each other - Palob wants to be in R1-2 to steal tokens and mess up an enemy's day, TLT wants to be in R2-3 and works well en masse.

That's what I used to think, too. But then I tried TLT on Palob and it is AMAZING! I run him with Dengar so the TLT is exceptionally accurate against aces, and I gave him Expert Handling so he can barrel roll to his optimal range 2 where both his turret and his ability trigger. It's really nice!

Deroche just ran this list to win the Murray, KY Regional.

So glad he pulled it off. I got another second place finish with the list in Colorado this weekend. I should have had it but I was mentally gassed and played worse than my opponent. One more shot to get it done but proud to hear the list did well.

I stumbled on this thread while modifying my own Zuckuss + Scout + Palob build as follows:

Zuckuss (28)

+ Veteran Instincts (1)

+ Fire-Control System (2)

+ Mist Hunter (0)

+ Tractor Beam (1)

+ 4-LOM (1)

Contracted Scout (25)

+ Deadeye (1)

+ R4 Agromech (2)

+ Proton Torpedoes (4)

+ Extra Munitions (2)

+ Boba Fett (1)

+ Guidance Chips (0)

Palob Godalhi (20)

+ Expert Handling (2)

+ Twin Laser Turret (6)

+ Dengar (3)

Total: 98 points

I tested it a couple of times and found it lacked in a couple of ways, mostly against IG-88s. I reckon I'll change to your version with Tel. Losing the initiative bid might hurt against aces like Soontir, but Tel can act as a large blocker and hopefully there won't be too much trouble. Having Tel's extra survivability and VI on Palob to shoot before the torpedoes sounds like a great idea. I might have to steal it for regionals.