So I've been toying with and seeing others discuss synergies with Airen Cracken a lot lately, namely:

- Airen and Cluster Missiles

- ... and Blue Ace

Well how about the Cracken and Snap Shot? Add Vectored Thrusters and Clusters to combine with an idea from above.

What else? Will this Z see a revival?

Cracken is useful.

Pretty sure Airen only grants one action with Cluster Missiles after the last FAQ.

Yeah he got hit with the last faq so its once per any "perform this attack twice" now.

I used to use him alot but i noticed he draws a LOT of attention, and the way his ability works puts him in some dangerous spots. He has to get a shot off, which means he needs to be facing the opponent at least at range3. On top of that, an ally needs to be range1 of him. Its really hard to get that and not put him in multiple arcs or range1 of a nasty guy. Being a Z, he folds quickly.

I still hope they rerelease the Z's at some point. The ship isnt bad, it just has no friggen pilots that work with its small squishy frame. It needs more pilots, and none of them should be higher than PS8 and only said PS8 guy would break 20pts base cost.

If he was a bit more defensive, like 3agi (which i dont get why they dont have that), i'd still bring him alot for a psuedo biggs effect. Hes going to die first, but before he dies hes going to make me hit harder. Think i had him survive at most 2 volleys before dying though so not a good Biggs effect lol

so it would seem snapshot does indeed double up on his actions, as it is unaffected by timing like "perform this attack twice" weapons were

he is, sadly, just kind of stupid expensive for his utter tripe of a stat-line. So, as usual, bring Biggs

other synergies at a glance (on other ships, obviously, but they benefit from Cracken's ability)

m9-g8's case is you have the TL on a friendly before combat starts and then you use Cracken to sling the TL onto an enemy before they get to fire

I immediately paired him with Biggs, Blount with Tracers, and as many ordinance-carrying Z-95's as possible.

Does M9-G8 fit on Biggs?

Pretty sure Airen only grants one action with Cluster Missiles after the last FAQ.

This is true so no need to load a missile on him anymore.

As for Cracken if you look at him as being Biggs like you could give him a hull upgrade and now you've got 22 points in the ship and it's just a tough as your stock Biggs which had been the way to run it even if you'd now add IA and some droid but that also pushes up the cost.

Don't forget about Roark in the HWK. Makes anyone a PS 12. Cracken ALWAYS shoots first.

I kind of like Cracken with squad leader, flanked by two HLC FCS Blues. Use the Blues action for focus, then squad leader and/or Cracken's ability to make late repositionning via B-wings barrel roll, or add/change TL if enemy already in sight.

Snap Shot is a nice call.

I've been trying to keep a list of people to try it with, and Cracken is definitely going on it.

Does M9-G8 fit on Biggs?

Whether you will get enough use out of him before Biggs goes down is a different question.

I immediately paired him with Biggs, Blount with Tracers, and as many ordinance-carrying Z-95's as possible.

Give Biggs R2-F2 for the bonus Agility. He takes a Focus for his action. Craken fires and gives Biggs the action to activate R2-F2. Or...you can load Biggs with R5-D8 (Porkin's repair bot). Cracken can give Biggs the ability to repair damage he takes.

Pretty sure Airen only grants one action with Cluster Missiles after the last FAQ.

This is true so no need to load a missile on him anymore.

Except for the fact that Missiles are really effective and he has a higher PS than others. Oh, sure, he doesn't get 2 when he fires Cluster Missiles, but that doesn't make Homing Missiles a bad weapon to take on him. You still get to keep the TL and they can't use an Evade token. Oh.....and he can then give a lower Z-95 next to him the ability to take a TL (after they had done a Focus) to fire their Concussion Missile w/ GC and a Focus.

Or an Ion Pulse Missile if control is more your thing. You still get to keep the TL. It's only 3 pts.

One of the strengths of Cracken, beyond his great ability, is that he's an extremely cheap way of getting someone at PS 10 into your list, and you can put a missile on him to make that PS 10 shot worth something. I've put a dozen games into this list:

Airen Cracken

Veteran Instincts, Concussion Missiles, Engine Upgrade

Luke Skywalker

Veteran Instincts, Plasma Torpedoes, R2-D2, Integrated Astromech

Wes Janson

Veteran Instincts, Proton Torpedoes, BB-8, Guidance Chips

Three PS10 rebel aces with a killer alpha strike, and then high PS repositioning after they've shot their ordnance. Now that the ARC is out, I'm going to swap out EU for Vectored Thrusters, and use the spare points to upgrade Luke to Protons and Cracken to Homing missiles.

Cracken is really useful in this list. During the Alpha strike, he and Luke both take TLs on the same target, while Wes focusses. Luke shoots first, followed by Cracken, who passes the TL action to Wes. That means Wes doesn't have to pick his target until the last second. If Luke and Cracken have rolled well and killed something, he TLs something else and shoots with his focus. If not, he delivers the almost always very painful, multi-critting final blow. Once the Alpha is over, he helps keep his fellows alive and aggressive, using his reposition to make sure he has a shot. The list suffers a bit from lack of defensiveness beyond some arc dodging, and an extreme reliance on getting the initial joust right, and killing something on that first pass, but if you do that, the game is often pretty much sorted. It's handily dealt with Dengaroo (though this Dengaroo lacked countermeasures, which would have hurt badly), named TIE swarms and a few other archetypes in the past, and it murders Whisper (who's very common in the local meta).

If I were to change anything, it'd be Luke, but Cracken is fantastic in this lost. If you do want to use him, consider that VI, homing, VT build. He's a 27 point counter to a 35 point Soontir, and scares the crap out of a 40+ point Whisper - pretty good value in my book.

I have been running him with Wingman next to Biggs. Gives a free action and dumps a stress. Cheaper support than a Hawk at 21 points.