I've decide to fly a 2 scout +1 ship list this weekend and have been pretty lucky playing Palob.

My current list is to fly Palob with Wired and Zuckuss crew. I feel this combo hits hard and gives a little extra endurance. I am fluctuating on the Turret + extra points.

Turret: I like the Ion Turret for PTL ace control and it still does 1 damage. However the TLT would hit twice and have a longer range.

Mods: with the extra points I considered Moldy Crow to bank a few focuses or Cloaking Device to last longer, but both would be hard to use once I start getting multiple stress tokens. I'm currently sitting on a Hull Upgrade as it does not require actions and might give the HWK a extra round.

What does everyone think? Ion Turret and Hull Upgrade? Or something else?

the dial of the hwk 290 is a little bad and being constantly stressed does limit you even more. with a tlt you are managing constant damage. I feel Dace is better if you want ion turret for his stress for an extra damage. Palob needs to get in close for stealing the focus token and I have been running attain mindlink with it. to combine with this I have been using gonk and shield upgrade because of never having to focus action himself.

but your build wants him more for damage. I believe TLT would be better and if you can VI with engine upgrade to keep him at range 2 or 3

I like pairing Moldy Crow with Recon Specialist for focus collection. True you would lose Zuckuss but racking up focus w/ either of the turret options gives you some extra survivability as well. Agree that Dace may be a better option if you want to control w/ ion turret. Also higher PS gets you shooting quicker

I quite like Mouldy Crow for Palob since it allows him to bank any Focus tokens that he steals.

Palob Godalhi (20):

• Wired (1)
• Twin Laser Turret (6)
• Zuckuss (1)
• Cloaking Device (2)

Total: 30 pts

Cloaking Device is for the opening rounds only. Keeps Palob safe and in range. It'll probably break, anyway.

Wired/Zuckuss is amazing on him, keep it that way. You have straights and white 2-turn for quick getaways.

palob with moldy crow and recon spec works very well

range 1-2 turret 3 dice

We don't know your builds for your JM5k's, but here are some other thoughts.

Run opportunist as your EPT. People who know what Palob does don't typically bother focusing or evading. So he forces your opponent to not play their game. Then with the aces that get free evade/focus tokens, which make them so good, suddenly find themselves without their focus or evade tokens. Opportunist allows you to roll four dice if the opponent doesn't have a focus token.

Add far as crew slot, I love Dengar on any version of Palob. Against access you get to reroll two dice. If you pulled their focus, you get the extra dice and then two Rerolls. Typically speaking, between that an focus tokens you well land three hours most rounds. I prefer TLT because it didn't eat up any focus, but a opportunist Blaster Turret with Dengar for Rerolls can put down up to four hits in a round.

That wind run him at 31 points opposed to 27.

I'm not sure I want to run Opportunist/Dengar level of points on him as I've never had him last a match. He's meant to cause trouble and go boom, taking some heat away from the Jumps. I might go with cloaking for the 1st round, just to get in closer where he loves to work.

Depending on how your JM5Ks are set up, you could throw opportunist on them. Then you could get some 5 dice torp shots on your opponents, which with chimps and focus, can net you tons of hits. You would need to have K4 and Unhinged for free TLs and lots of green to shed stress and get TLs. Could be a very powerful setup though. If that were the case, I would go cheap on Palob. Dorsal Turret, Cloaking Device, Crow. Comes in at 28. You could even drop Crow if you wanted as with the mission you said he's on, he doesn't need to store the focus he steals for anything. That would be 25 points, allowing you to kit out the JM5Ks pretty nicely, maybe even throwing in some named pilots.

I'm not sure I want to run Opportunist/Dengar level of points on him as I've never had him last a match. He's meant to cause trouble and go boom, taking some heat away from the Jumps. I might go with cloaking for the 1st round, just to get in closer where he loves to work.

Seriously? I guess it depends on who you fly to support Palob (let's be honest: Palob is not support -- he's the main attack force), but Palob is almost always the last one alive in my squad. I fly him with Zuckuss and a Torpedo Scout. I guess Zuckuss draws a lot of fire, leaving Palob to skirt around with his TLT. Palob is my hero.

Also, Palob usually steals 1, maybe 2 focus tokens all match. I don't think Moldy Crow is worth it for stacking 2 focus tokens (plus any you don't spend when you use the focus action), although if you have TLT, you do churn through focus tokens like crazy. I run him with Dengar, which is nice because Moldy Crow can't do anything for your blanks.

Report:

I flew the Wired/Zuckuss crew/TLT/Hull upgrade combo at the Raleigh regionals and it worked really well.

In the end, it never really stole many tokens, but it certainly worked as a fear tactic against other players. In one match, they had to choose whether to be range 2 of a torp attack, or range 2 of Palob. Having the wired Zuckuss combo was very powerful as it allowed plenty of rerolls on attack and defense. Zuckuss TLT meant that even if they rolled well against a 1-2 dice TLT shot, they more than always re-rolled worse when forced to re-roll evades.

The hull upgrade caught a few people off guard and more than once, the HWK survived to live one more turn.

Overall. A solid ship. Paired well with two U-boats.