Been playing the following list for some time.

Carnor Jax; Push the limit, Autothrusters (31)

Baron of the empire; Proton rockets, Juke, Title, Guidance chimps (25)

Baron of the empire; Proton rockets, Juke, Title, Guidance chimps (25)

Scimtar Squadron Pilot, Title, Fleet officer (19)

total: 100 pts.

Results have varied. I like the idea of tripple action Barons backed up with juke and prockets. There is obvious synergy between juke and Carnors ability. If done right those prockets actually have decent odds of pushing 10 damage through some targets. It's a fun list to fly and all, but it's a bit too hard to set that alpha (beta?) up. I also often find that juke often makes little difference. Jax is also a bit squishy.

So I want to keep the scimtar as is. Since juke doesn't really deliver imo, I'm thinking I could just go down to test pilots and gain some blocking and points for other things.

Test pilot; Proton rockets, Title, Guidance chimps (20)

Test pilot; Proton rockets, Title, Guidance chimps (20)

Scimtar Squadron Pilot, Title, Fleet officer (19)

That leaves 41 points. Since target locks will be plentiful Vessery looks like a good fit. I like the idea of a tractor beam on him to pull ships into the procket area and reduce agility for that shot.

Col. Vessery; Tie/D, tractor beam (36)

Now what do I do with the last 5 points?

Crack shot for Vess and autothrusters over chimps on the test pilots? Another crew member for the scimtar? (plenty of good options, intel agent, tactitian, mara jade spring to mind) and another ept for Vess, Ruthlessness perhaps?

Any idea is welcome!

Thank you!

If you're really going for an "All Comers" list, either swap out the TB for Ion (TB is 100% useless against Ghosts and Decimators, and only marginally effective against other large base ships), OR give him the x7, which will help keep his lethal primary attack on the board.

If you have room, I'd also consider looking at Jonus, as him backing up missile-caddy TAPs is what ended my Regionals after making the top 16 (so close to those dice :/ ).

Alternatively, if you don't like either suggestion above, use your extra points to give Jax the title and Stealth Device! And fit all of it, if you can!

Reporting back.

I've been going back and forth on the beam vs ion. I still think beam is the better choice in the list for two reasons. In combinatios with crack shot and TL+Focus Vess can pretty reliably drag opponents into the procket area. That means the test pilots can retain the tripple action economy instead of trading in evade/TL for a boost. The second reason is that tractor beam does good things against Dengaroo.

For my first game I ran it like this:

Test pilot; Proton rockets, Title, Guidance chimps (20)

Test pilot; Proton rockets, Title, Guidance chimps (20)

Scimtar Squadron Pilot, Title, Fleet officer, intel agent (20)

Col. Vessery; Tie/D, tractor beam, hull upgrade, crack shot (40)

Played against tripple deltas, all with tie/D and mkII engines, two with ion and one with tractor beam. Win 100-0 (100-20 most likely if opponent wouldn't have conceded). Will keep playing like this for now I think.

Unless anyone has a better idea about what to do with the 3 points now spent on the hull upgrade?

My concern for that list is it may NEED the tractor beam to hit, and it promotes you putting all your eggs in one basket for an Alpha strike... As your opponent, knowing this, I'll definitely spend everything I have defensively to avoid the TB shot. Sure, MAYBE I've lost some defensive ability, but your Alpha Strike has suffered because you weren't able to get the Prockets off, and setting up a second shot isn't going to be any easier.

That being said, Vessery is the obvious target in this list, so he can pull some damage from your other ships... But, on his own, he's also got the best capability for consistent damage, so I'd rather keep him alive...

Yeah, I'd still run x7, and then maybe even a SD if you were so inclined.

But to each their own! I did have a rubbish match against a /D Vessery, but he was being supported by OL and a PTL x7 Ryad -- Vessery was only a pain because the rest of the list could set up blocks and still be deadly (against my RAC & Maarek, which ended up being a rubbish list anyways).

For my first game I ran it like this:

Test pilot; Proton rockets, Title, Guidance chimps (20)

Test pilot; Proton rockets, Title, Guidance chimps (20)

Scimtar Squadron Pilot, Title, Fleet officer, intel agent (20)

Col. Vessery; Tie/D, tractor beam, hull upgrade, crack shot (40)

Played against tripple deltas, all with tie/D and mkII engines, two with ion and one with tractor beam. Win 100-0 (100-20 most likely if opponent wouldn't have conceded). Will keep playing like this for now I think.

Unless anyone has a better idea about what to do with the 3 points now spent on the hull upgrade?

I think this list is fine as is.

There is not a better choice out there than hull upgrade on Vess, imho. You want him to stick around as long as possible in this list, so increasing his durability here makes a lot of sense.

I also think tractor beam is the right call here. Ion cannon is of questionable value in more matchups than tractor beam given the current meta. Therefore, tractor beam will be useful more often than ion cannon.

I also do not recommend X-7 here. The whole point of the list is to deliver crippling early game damage. If you diminish Vessery's damage output, you simply won't have enough firepower to get you into a favourable endgame. The fact is, you do not have a good endgame ship, so you are gambling on getting a substantial damage lead early on. If you do not, your chances of winning go down dramatically, and a more durable Vessery will not help you win the late game, except in maybe a few cases, because X-7 Vessery is not really a good endgame ship.

So yeah, stick with the list as is and really practice different approaches. The approach is key to victory, for this kind of list, so you want to perfect it. Good luck!

My advice in that regard is to split Vessery off from your other 3 ships. You want him to approach on a different angle to keep his 'lanes' open. This does 2 things: 1) it makes it so your own ships won't block his k-turn (always keep a defender's k-turns open, even if you don't plan to use them!); 2) it forces your opponent to choose: he has to turn to face Vessery or turn to face your other ships (giving your opponent a tough choice early on is a great way to force an error).

I used to run that Sienar Procket build and it's really versatile. It's either constantly blocking or making people panic if they end up in R1.

I agree with others that Tractor Beam is the play here. Not only does it clear a path for your other 2-attack-dice ships, but it can also pull them into range of your Prockets.

One upgrade you could consider over Hull Upgrade is Marksmanship since it applies to both of your shots. I imagine Vessery is going to take a lot of heat already though, so I don't know if going all out on offense is the right play...

I honestly don't love TBs in general. I don't like any card that has lists it's 100% wasted on (dual VCX), or mostly wasted (Triple Jumps [Opinion], Decimators).

Dual VCX/VCXs in general are common around here, which is also probably part of my issue.

Yea, you're right that it's a waste on 0-agi ships; but they probably make up only 5-10% of the meta at their peak popularity. Against YT-1300s and Miranda, TB completely negates C3PO and lets those Sienars chip in for significant damage. Against Dengaroo, LW & unlimited Focus becomes much less effective when he's rolling 1 green die.

Normally I would say it comes down to personal preference between Ion and Tractor; but the two Sienar Prockets gives TB a lot more potential IMO.

Yea, you're right that it's a waste on 0-agi ships; but they probably make up only 5-10% of the meta at their peak popularity. Against YT-1300s and Miranda, TB completely negates C3PO and lets those Sienars chip in for significant damage. Against Dengaroo, LW & unlimited Focus becomes much less effective when he's rolling 1 green die.

Normally I would say it comes down to personal preference between Ion and Tractor; but the two Sienar Prockets gives TB a lot more potential IMO.

It's still match-up depending, and the title is searching for a list great against "all comers."

Hell, I keep building lists that I THINK will counter Dengaroo, only to have not seen it played at the two competitive events I've attended recently. In our area, it seems only Major Juggler is actually flying it.

Thanks for the feedback and tips!

Yea, you're right that it's a waste on 0-agi ships; but they probably make up only 5-10% of the meta at their peak popularity. Against YT-1300s and Miranda, TB completely negates C3PO and lets those Sienars chip in for significant damage. Against Dengaroo, LW & unlimited Focus becomes much less effective when he's rolling 1 green die.

Normally I would say it comes down to personal preference between Ion and Tractor; but the two Sienar Prockets gives TB a lot more potential IMO.

It's still match-up depending, and the title is searching for a list great against "all comers."

Hell, I keep building lists that I THINK will counter Dengaroo, only to have not seen it played at the two competitive events I've attended recently. In our area, it seems only Major Juggler is actually flying it.

Yes, and it is an all-comers list. Just because a 1-point upgrade doesn't have an effect against two ships in the game doesn't change that.

I don't see how you could possibly come up with an "all-comers" list below that criteria.