After reading about a Palob/3 Mangler Syck/Mindlink squad that did very well (apologies, I'm unable to remember who to credit with concept), and someone else posted they used Guri, I played around with the PS5 elites and ended up with these. They've gone 3-0 so far, against defender/interceptor aces, shuttle and defenders and a gozanti with 2 ties/2 interceptors (he'd just got it!).

4x Mindlink 4

Guri 30

Autothrusters 2

Palob 20

Blaster turret 4

2x Tansarii Vet 17

Heavy Syck 2

Tractor Beam 1

Total 100

Unfortunately there's not many points to play around with. I'd like to try this:

Palob 20

Ketsu Onyo 1

Dorsal turret 3

I've not got a Dorsal turret, so never used one. I do like the firepower the blaster has, and when half your ships are firing beams, dropping attack dice hmm...

Also not sure how well Palob would keep them in arc anyway (he misses engine upgrade).

Do you think the change would be viable? Love the idea of my sycks 'switching to guns' after a couple of turns and dropping aces!

seems a little toothless in my opinion. I like Palob with the TLT, he flies like a brick and defends like one too. With TLT he acts like a sheepherder. Few want to take him on up close and personal because he steals their fancy stuff and leaves aces with less tokens. If he gets too close, he dies anyway. So keep him outside circling at range 2-3.

Intelligence Agent or Dengar work well, don't waste points on Moldy Crow. 27pts

Guri wants to be in the thick of it. Get in, get close and kill or block title and FCS are kind of necessary though, because actions come at premium. 35pts

I've tried Leechos, Gand Findsmen, etc, but the Tansari Vet is probably the best for the money (Manaroo is actually the best and original Mindlinker) but I'd pack on a HLC and a hull upgrade, I don't think you can get two in there and damage is better than tractor beams alone. That's why I like the TLT, I get more consistent damage than the blaster ever will, you've got to still have modifiers or all your shots get blocked and you die way too fast as scum.

Dorsal is not really that much of a trade down for palob. When you would have a r2 attack with focus(to fire) and focus(to modify), this would get you an expected 2.2 dmg, vs about 1,8 with dorsal and focus + TL. That's the worst condition. If you only have 1 focus expected dmg is the same for both (1.5), If at r1, your expected dmg goes up with dorsal.

The tansaris could also use the tractor to pull things closer to Palob (or into his arc if you wanna trigger ketsu), ofsetting the damage drop somewhat.

All in all I think its pretty much a tossup. Try it out and let us know how you fared!

Also, Guri is fine with just thrusters and attani mindlink!

In the broader scheme of things, I would probably change 1 TPV for leeachos, put a TLT on palob and give the remaining TPV a mango cannon. Like this:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v4!s!113:176,-1,-1:-1:-1:;125:176,135,-1,-1:-1:-1:;106:176:17:-1:U.110;101:176,-1:-1:15:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

Thanks for the comments. I'll try a dorsal and Ketsu as soon as possible. Excellent point about shifting the tractored ships into arc too, that is what they do after all! That's both concerns put away, cheers.

Leechos is my pondered choice for extra points to spend on the aforementioned TLT and possible cloak, but then I should really move away completely from tractor beams. While they're doing well, I'll stick with them and upgrade when we get wave nine. If they start losing lots (I worry when the Decimator match comes), then I can try strapping on some real guns!

JumpMaster 5000: · Manaroo (27)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

K4 Security Droid (3)

Unhinged Astromech (1)

M3-A Interceptor: Tansarii Point Veteran (17)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

M3-A Interceptor: Tansarii Point Veteran (17)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

HWK-290: · Palob Godalhi (20)

Attanni Mindlink (1)

Twin Laser Turret (6)

· Dengar (3)

-- TOTAL ------- 98/100p. --

I've had good success with this list. Palob inevitably goes down first, and is sort of the heavy hitter. That's the weakness of this list. M3As are you expensive to drop 6+ points on them, in my opinion. They are super survivable with attaini mindlinks.

I've toyed with subbing Guri/Talonbane/Frau in for Palob. That way the big gun is a much harder hitter, and in the case of Guri and Frau, more survivable.

Dorsal is not really that much of a trade down for palob. When you would have a r2 attack with focus(to fire) and focus(to modify), this would get you an expected 2.2 dmg, vs about 1,8 with dorsal and focus + TL. That's the worst condition. If you only have 1 focus expected dmg is the same for both (1.5), If at r1, your expected dmg goes up with dorsal.

The tansaris could also use the tractor to pull things closer to Palob (or into his arc if you wanna trigger ketsu), ofsetting the damage drop somewhat.

All in all I think its pretty much a tossup. Try it out and let us know how you fared!

Also, Guri is fine with just thrusters and attani mindlink!

In the broader scheme of things, I would probably change 1 TPV for leeachos, put a TLT on palob and give the remaining TPV a mango cannon. Like this:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v4!s!113:176,-1,-1:-1:-1:;125:176,135,-1,-1:-1:-1:;106:176:17:-1:U.110;101:176,-1:-1:15:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

couldn't disagree more (that's why we have forums) of course this is all just from my personal experience, but running any turret besides TLT is a severe downgrade. Good luck getting a focus without a focus action with Guri and Palob. My opponents just stop taking focus or evade actions, instead they target lock and kill me. Good luck getting the TL and focus, Palob is usually the focus hub, if he is anywhere near the action, he will die, people don't like seeing him, much less playing against him. at PS 5 you've got a ton of shooting happening before you, if you don't use the focus, you die, and Guri will not be in range one half the game, because of PS6+maneuvers and the fact that he only has one way of turning around quickly. Unmodified dice don't kill things, so fcs is needed, otherwise, a predictable starviper will die early ridding you of your only damage. Dorsal turret is not a predictable method of damage even if you had unlimited TL and focus. Its only two dice. Tractorbeams don't auto hit, so I don't care how many you have, you still have to eat through evade and then have your ships pointed at the right target to take advantage of them. You don't have any reliable damage dealers except Guri and you will need TL and focus to get the damage through.

Unless I missed the part where you only play against Y-wing swarms, this list you're touting, does not have enough damage potential. 2 red dice do not kill things in my experience and frankly, even against y-wings, you would struggle to get enough damage through to last the game, I think the Y-wings would get you. Heaven help you if there are B-wings or a party bus across from you .

Dorsal is not really that much of a trade down for palob. When you would have a r2 attack with focus(to fire) and focus(to modify), this would get you an expected 2.2 dmg, vs about 1,8 with dorsal and focus + TL. That's the worst condition. If you only have 1 focus expected dmg is the same for both (1.5), If at r1, your expected dmg goes up with dorsal.

The tansaris could also use the tractor to pull things closer to Palob (or into his arc if you wanna trigger ketsu), ofsetting the damage drop somewhat.

All in all I think its pretty much a tossup. Try it out and let us know how you fared!

Also, Guri is fine with just thrusters and attani mindlink!

In the broader scheme of things, I would probably change 1 TPV for leeachos, put a TLT on palob and give the remaining TPV a mango cannon. Like this:

https://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Scum%20and%20Villainy&d=v4!s!113:176,-1,-1:-1:-1:;125:176,135,-1,-1:-1:-1:;106:176:17:-1:U.110;101:176,-1:-1:15:&sn=Unnamed%20Squadron

couldn't disagree more (that's why we have forums) of course this is all just from my personal experience, but running any turret besides TLT is a severe downgrade. Good luck getting a focus without a focus action with Guri and Palob. My opponents just stop taking focus or evade actions, instead they target lock and kill me. Good luck getting the TL and focus, Palob is usually the focus hub, if he is anywhere near the action, he will die, people don't like seeing him, much less playing against him. at PS 5 you've got a ton of shooting happening before you, if you don't use the focus, you die, and Guri will not be in range one half the game, because of PS6+maneuvers and the fact that he only has one way of turning around quickly. Unmodified dice don't kill things, so fcs is needed, otherwise, a predictable starviper will die early ridding you of your only damage. Dorsal turret is not a predictable method of damage even if you had unlimited TL and focus. Its only two dice. Tractorbeams don't auto hit, so I don't care how many you have, you still have to eat through evade and then have your ships pointed at the right target to take advantage of them. You don't have any reliable damage dealers except Guri and you will need TL and focus to get the damage through.

Unless I missed the part where you only play against Y-wing swarms, this list you're touting, does not have enough damage potential. 2 red dice do not kill things in my experience and frankly, even against y-wings, you would struggle to get enough damage through to last the game, I think the Y-wings would get you. Heaven help you if there are B-wings or a party bus across from you .

OP asked for how the trade from Blaster turret to Dorsal turret would effect his list. So when I said Dorsal is not that much of a trade down, it was in comparison to Blaster turret. If you would have continued to read my post, you would have noticed that I advocated dropping other things to make room for a TLT on Palob, and mango cannon on the TPV.

Attanni works really well with Firesprays (IMO best ship to take it) and a pair of smaller ships:

39pts. Mandalorian Mercenary

• Attanni,
• Dengar.

31pts. Grand Findsman

• Attanni,
• Outlaw Tech/Tactician,
• Mist Hunter.

and second one or

30pts. Kavil

• Attanni,
• Blaster Turret,
• Unhinged Astromech.

The one with Kavil is much less durable (2g1a/f31 can take evade each turn), but it has much more punch with 4dice attack. Whole list cant deal with tlt, it jst destroys yw and g1a so fast.

Thanks for the input all. So... I'm getting the impression that you think it doesn't roll enough red dice (that do damage. And too many that don't!). I really do understand your concerns, but I want to make the beams work. Sure Guri's my only heavy hitter, but the Sycks have guns too, janusgeminus is happily running two naked above. Mine are those too, they don't have to do no damage. It's going to be one of the Sycks team-focusing, so Guri's on 1-2F and TL and Palob's on 2F, that's not poor surely? Ok, that's optimal, but that's what you're aiming for.

Your suggestions are solid. Tried Manaroo in the first build. No reason to pull her other than PS, it's a joy when everyone's the same. Definitely had more punch with mangler Sycks too, but then I squeezed in Guri and refuse to remove her. Urm, Concord Dawn ace... Let's face it, Palob's Attuned will likely soon feature three of them.

So I'll keep this as a 'tractor beams are the way' list (unless Lancer and Quadjumper offer better). I will proxy the change next week and let you know if they get their expected pasting, or go 4-0. Sorry, this week played 2 standard torp-Us and Kavil with, so you know I love it, TLT!

Thanks

janusgeminus is happily running two naked above.

I am, for multiple reasons. I treat Tansarii Point Vets as expensive Black Squadron Ties. No one is throwing 6 points of upgrades on those ties. I don't think we should be throwing 6 points on the overcosted scum tie.

The other thing that makes this work is not Palob. I haven't deployed this list in a while, but I plan to sub Palob out. Manaroo what makes it work. Manaroo gets a free TL with K4 and a focus, which gives it to everyone what. The TPV's each move and evade. The heavy then moves and focuses. At the start of combat, Manaroo ditches her TL and focus to whomever needs it most. Because of the mindlink, she generates another focus. That means someone has a TL and as many as three focus tokens on them. For a TPV, is a TL, two focus and an evade. If you are relying on your Sycks to start the focus domino, they become a lot easier to kill. It's the focus + evade combo that makes them with their points.