Sell me on attani mindlink. I just don't get it. I understand action economy and whatnot, but it just does not seem to be worth it to me in many cases.

I've seen it in a two ship build, which seems meh considering other options for the slot,yet when you spread it around amongst 3-4 ships, the thought of stressing them all really hinders actions and dials, unless you have a great plan to deal with that. And with all the new stress tools out there in the latest waves, it makes it even worse. What am I missing here?

Play manaroo (+ unhinged), Fenn Rau & Old Teroch all with attanni mindlink vs a stress list and see how bad it performs. It may seem counterintuitive but it's not at all weak to stress. Or being blocked, which is significant for protectorates who want to be at range one.

So even though mindlink lists get shared stress (though only one. If they already have one, they don't receive a second via mindlink), they're actually really good because you only need to do a green maneuver with ONE ship to get a focus for all of your ships. Mindlink squads are probably in the best position in this stress filled meta.

YOU get a focus, YOU get a focus, YOU get a focus, EVERYONE gets a focus

Sometimes even a double focus. Or focus and evade. Or focus and target lock. Or focus and boost or barrel roll.

Think of it as giving everyone in your fleet a pseudo Push the Limit. For one point each.

Actually, it's better than Push the Limit, because even if you're stressed, you can still get a focus.

Play manaroo (+ unhinged), Fenn Rau & Old Teroch all with attanni mindlink vs a stress list and see how bad it performs. It may seem counterintuitive but it's not at all weak to stress. Or being blocked, which is significant for protectorates who want to be at range one.

Manaroo

Attanni Mindlink

K4 Security Droid

Unhinged Astromech

Anti Pursuit Laser

EMP Emitter (once released)

Old Teroch

Attanni Mindlink

Autothrusters

Title

Fenn Rau

Attanni Mindlink

Autothrusters

Title

Or

Manaroo

Attanni Mindlink

EM

Plasma Torps

K4 Droid

Unhinged Astromech

Chimps

Fenn Rau

Attanni Mindlink

Autothrusters

Title

Old Teroch

Attanni Mindlink

Autothrusters

Title

On a normal turn you dial a green for manny and whatever you want for the fangs. Manny gets a TL from K4 and focuses for her action (triggering Mindlink). Fenn and Terry perform their move and can TL, Boost, or BRoll for thier action (or focus again if needed). Manny passes TL h focus to someone and triggers Mindlink on herself. So every ship ends with a focus and one ends up with 2 focus and a TL.

On a turn you are stressed and have a double stressed Manny you still dial a green for her and dial a grenn for one or both of the fangs. Manny moves and gets TL and clears 1 stress. One of the Fangs moves, clears stress, and focuses (trigger Mindlink). Other Fang moves and if he did not dial a green he has no action. Manny passes tokens to one of the fangs. So again each ship ends up with a focus and one gets 2 focus and a TL.

Sorry if this was difficult to follow but the gist of it is this. Manny will always have tokens to pass and all ships will have a focus no matter what. And it leaves all your ships with PTL action efficiency without always being stressed thus keeping your dial way open.

The big trick is just learning how to fly it. You have to get used to the fact that you can't kturn multiple ships at the same time, and therefore it really isn't good on formation fliers. Once you get the hang of it though... it really is good.

Old Man Fenn mindlink is what's up. With K4/unhinged and the Protectorates hard 2 greens everyone can clear stress easy. One of the two fighters will get focus and repositioning/focus/target lock and the second will get focus, focus, target lock and focus/repositioning while manaroo will get a focus.

Mindlink is the cheapest way to get action economy.

The next round, if just one of your four stressed ships gets a focus, all the stressed ships gets a focus. Its great.

It's like children of the corn, in space!

Two things win this game: Modifying dice and positioning.

These are often exclusive to each other: either a ship's best maneuvers are locked behind reds, or they have to do some post-movement positioning in the form of BR/Boost to get the most advantageous position - which means they now cannot modify dice.

There exist corner cases where some ships can both position and modify - Darth Vader, PTL, x7 Defenders (Vessery), and so on, but for the most part it's a choice: Position, or modify? You should note that those are also very popular components in most lists BECAUSE they don't have to make the choice, or can double down on one choice if need be.

Attanni Mindlink, at the cost of 3+ points, removes that choice. Your entire list can get modification from just one ship while still positioning for the best shot - or doubling down on modification if unable to position.

Because only one negative/positive token spreads throughout the whole list, that allows canny list builders to choose one low-PS skill as their primary Focuser and make sure that it always performs greens and will thus spread modification to the entire list, regardless of stress. As mentioned, Manaroo is an especially good component because of her ability to pass even more tokens around combined with low-average PS.

It's also one of the rare few cards that gains in value the MORE ships you have. At two, it's not worth it. At three, it's good. At four, it's potentially broken. In Epic? ****, son, I wouldn't WANT to see an Epic list with 8-10 Mindlinked ships! On second thought, I kinda would. A wing of HLC Heavy Scyks with Mindlink bearing down on a Raider, all stacking Focus/Evade, would ruin it.

It may seem counterintuitive but it's not at all weak to stress.

Mindlink squads are probably in the best position in this stress filled meta.

I wouldn't go quite as far as these statements, but it's not as weak to stress as it might seem.

The next round, if just one of your four stressed ships gets a focus, all the stressed ships gets a focus. Its great.

And this is why right here. Once you pull something like this (only one ship getting an action, but everyone has tokens), you just kind of have to sit in awe of it for a moment. No other list can do that, at least nowhere near as cheaply or easily. In fact, I had a couple games recently where a near-death Talonbane just kind of flew around the board doing nothing else but tossing Foci to his squadmates. And it was glorious .

At four, it's potentially broken.

There was a 150-point tournament recently and the winner flew six Mindlinked Scum ships and brutally murdered everyone.

Try flying mindlinked Manaroo, Guri and Palop, so many fun ways to get mindlink to work.

I finished 2nd in a regional with mindlinked Scyks and a Z-95, BEFORE the FAQ nerf. Did well in a 2nd, larger one, but missed the cut.

Stress can be a concern, but you can mitigate for it by adjusting target priorities. More over, one green move will provide focus tokens to all of the other stressed ships. Turning around can be a pain, but manageable once you have broken formation. In fact, I would NOT recommend formation flying of ML Scyks.

Sell me on attani mindlink. I just don't get it. I understand action economy and whatnot, but it just does not seem to be worth it to me in many cases.

I've seen it in a two ship build, which seems meh considering other options for the slot,yet when you spread it around amongst 3-4 ships, the thought of stressing them all really hinders actions and dials, unless you have a great plan to deal with that. And with all the new stress tools out there in the latest waves, it makes it even worse. What am I missing here?

01 Does it need action economy? yes? go to 02 | no go to end

02 Has it a dial that can take PTL? yes? Take PTL | no? take mindlink

end

It is quite simple, if you need to boost your actions economy you take always mindlink when you can not take PTL. And one of the most wonderful things about mindlink is that you can fly reds and still get focus, you just have to mindful about the sequence in which you activate your ships. Does not even matter if the ship which cases the stress flies first as you can always clear it with green moves afterwards on your other ships. Going a sloop on guri and ending up with 4 focus and a TL, right in the middle of the fray feels awesome. Mindlink feels like it was build around M3As and can make perfect use of single post maneuver options as well. On top of all that is it cheap as well

There is only one issue with mindlink, zuckuss and other piles of stress causing tools are anti-synergetic and mass k-turns in the same round are not an option.

I like Mindlink, but I would never put it on an Interceptor. They need Push the limit for most efficient arc-dodgeing. Even when Protectorates love eye contact at range 1, it is still better not to get shot at all.

Try flying mindlinked Manaroo, Guri and Palop, so many fun ways to get mindlink to work.

3rd place with that on the last tournament, it so much fun to be unchained of stress addicted imperial aces who are so predictable with their green 2-turns. And btw, if you have your whole dial readily avaible often a single barrel roll or boost is enough for your repositioning, simply because you need less repositioning in a lot of cases. Still, usually you take PTL when the ship has the dial to support PTL.

Okay. I'll buy in.

Side note: reading the card helps. "...if it doesn't already have one"

That certainly puts my stress stress to bed.

I am slow to the mindlink table, it allows efficiency without going the PTL route. With Manaroo, she gives you a focus for mindlink. Then can Passover another TL if you have K4. So you have all your mods which leaves you free to arc dodge or reposition.

Also if Manaroo has mindlink, she gets a focus back as soon as she passes her initial focus on.

Also if Manaroo has mindlink, she gets a focus back as soon as she passes her initial focus on.

y'know, that... makes sense... and makes Manaroo that much better .

Now I almost want to try a bare-bones Manaroo (Mindlink, K4 Sec droid) paired up with three Tansarii Point Vets - two with Manglers, one with a Tractor Beam. The Tractor should shoot first with the TL+Focus to reduce agility for the Manglers. Try to set Manaroo up as bait (not having Unhinged sucks, but points are tight for a 4-ship Mindlink list!), because even if she goes down to concentrated attacks the Scyks can team up, and it means they're not concentrating on your damage dealers.

From my experience Mindlink lists are typically more resistant to stress, not less. It's enough for just one ship to destress and all of them get focus. That means it is virtually impossible to shut down a single ship with stress and nuke it down. Restrictions on the number of red maneuvers each turn do need to be considered however, which is why I prefer to take no more than a single ship that relies on red turnarounds in those lists. On the positive side, that ship does get his focus even when he k-turns.

Try it. You might like it.

Another thing to think about is the dial on the ship. Sometimes a K-turn is required to get you over someone, but sometimes it's used for just general repositioning. Many Scum ships have a 1 hard turn. The Scyk has a great dial for this as it has the 1 bank and the 1 hard turn. Fang Fighter does, too. So, many of these ships might not need a K-turn as often as other ships would. They can 1 hard turn and maybe even Barrel Roll instead.

When moving those of the same PS and A. Mindlink, you move:

1. All ships with white moves
2. Ship with red move
3. All ships with green moves

This helps ensure you get your actions.

Personally, I think Scyks are really good due to being able to get a Focus and then either an Evade or a TL, depending on if they are being shot at. I know that even ships like Academy Pilots can be pretty resilient with 3 Green Dice, an Evade, and a Focus.

I've never heard of anyone using Mindlink with the Kihraxz Fighter. Is it due to the lower Agility not being as worth it? Or do the ships cost too much themselves? No, they cost the same. Maybe people haven't tried it? Or maybe it is the 2 Agility vs 3?