He's a whopping 3 points more than arguably the best HWK pilot in the game, Palob. He's only PS 7 and has a very mediocre ability, mainly because its once per round. Right now the only way I can think of his pilot ability going off twice is if a lower PS enemy ship runs over a Conner Net in the activation phase, then you move with a programed green maneuver (clear the stress) and an enemy ship gets ioned in the combat phase.

A simple errata to make him a bit more viable is:

When an enemy ship at Range 1-3 receives at least 1 ion token, if you are not stressed, you may receive 1 stress token to cause that ship to suffer 1 damage.

This way he can stack stress and damage as long as you are throwing Ions around. He'd go from never taken to at least a consideration.

Also, I want the Dace + EMP device combo to work. Throw EMP on a Binary Pirate/Blocker, and throw him into an enemy formation. Ions and Damage for everyone.

I think I would actually remove the stressing portion.

When an enemy ship at Range 1-3 receives at least 1 ion token, if you are not stressed, you may receive 1 stress token to cause that ship to suffer 1 damage.

I think this would really put Dace where he needs to be for his heavy cost. And for anyone who thinks this might be too powerful, don't forget that, like Palob and Torkil, the incredibly powerful support abilities are nullified largely by the fragility of the HWK. You may build your entire squad around ions, but once Dace is gone, your list would lose a lot of value. Powerful? Maybe. Too powerful? With the likes of x7, TLT, Palpatine, Manaroo in the game, nah, I don't think so.

Here would be a fun list if you did what the OP said:

Dace Bonearm, k4 droid, Ion Cannon Turret

3x Y-Wing, Ion Cannon Turret

I would so play that! It'd be brutal. Maybe I still will...

I'd love that idea. Yeah, the stress part is actually probably not needed at all.

Gods, it would ion a huge thing. And great vs large ships. And a renaissance for scum bombing.

I kinda see where they were going for with him. Every other HWK pilot is the inverse of their Rebel counterpart. Roark boosts allies to the highest possible PS, and Mux neuters it. Kyle hands out Focus tokens, Palob steals them. Jan Ors gives allies an extra green, and Dace deals extra damage with Ions.

Unfortunately, the problem with Dace is that he completely restricts your listbuilding. You have to build around Ion control, which isn't very strong currently. That means Dace is locked into an Ion Cannon Turret (which is both 5 points and has almost no chance of hitting Autothrusters targets), and probably needs some Ion Cannon Y-Wings or Scyks in support.

That said, it does make him that much more glorious when you actually win matches with him.

I think I would actually remove the stressing portion.

When an enemy ship at Range 1-3 receives at least 1 ion token, if you are not stressed, you may receive 1 stress token to cause that ship to suffer 1 damage.

I think this would really put Dace where he needs to be for his heavy cost. And for anyone who thinks this might be too powerful, don't forget that, like Palob and Torkil, the incredibly powerful support abilities are nullified largely by the fragility of the HWK. You may build your entire squad around ions, but once Dace is gone, your list would lose a lot of value. Powerful? Maybe. Too powerful? With the likes of x7, TLT, Palpatine, Manaroo in the game, nah, I don't think so.

Actually I like your idea better. Remove the taking stress part out of it completely. Still have to be stress free, which will restrict him to almost never taking a red maneuver.

I love the Scum, and have since they first entered the game. I love flying HWKs and have used them as well since they entered the game.

I can say, with 100% certainty, that I have never ever used Dace in any list I've ever built. He's just too limited, and a change like this would be a welcome improvement. Ion seems to be under-used in the game, at least in the communities I play in, so it'd be fun to see more ion control out there.

I think I would actually remove the stressing portion.

When an enemy ship at Range 1-3 receives at least 1 ion token, if you are not stressed, you may receive 1 stress token to cause that ship to suffer 1 damage.

I think this would really put Dace where he needs to be for his heavy cost. And for anyone who thinks this might be too powerful, don't forget that, like Palob and Torkil, the incredibly powerful support abilities are nullified largely by the fragility of the HWK. You may build your entire squad around ions, but once Dace is gone, your list would lose a lot of value. Powerful? Maybe. Too powerful? With the likes of x7, TLT, Palpatine, Manaroo in the game, nah, I don't think so.

Without the stress limiter, I'd say only Range 1-2 (or even just R1) to prevent it from being too insane an ability. Dace with ion bombs Y-Wings flying into a swarm would be amusing if it was still at R1-2

No stress limit?

Dace: Ion Cannon Turret, Wired, Zuckuss

He is still to expensive, but he would be a lot more fun.

He is not really worthless, he just has very strong (and cheaper) competitors (Palob, Torkil)

Nevertheless, I do like your idea to improve him

Yeah, just remove the whole stress limiter completely.

While we're at it, errata Fel's Wrath.

He is not really worthless, he just has very strong (and cheaper) competitors (Palob, Torkil)

Sorry but this is horrifyingly poor logic. Strawman? anyone familiar with the terms?

I kinda see where they were going for with him. Every other HWK pilot is the inverse of their Rebel counterpart. Roark boosts allies to the highest possible PS, and Mux neuters it. Kyle hands out Focus tokens, Palob steals them. Jan Ors gives allies an extra green, and Dace deals extra damage with Ions.

Unfortunately, the problem with Dace is that he completely restricts your listbuilding. You have to build around Ion control, which isn't very strong currently. That means Dace is locked into an Ion Cannon Turret (which is both 5 points and has almost no chance of hitting Autothrusters targets), and probably needs some Ion Cannon Y-Wings or Scyks in support.

That said, it does make him that much more glorious when you actually win matches with him.

Nice catch, interesting, haven't thought about it (but Jan Ors doesn't give extra green, he gives extra red)

He is not really worthless, he just has very strong (and cheaper) competitors (Palob, Torkil)

Sorry but this is horrifyingly poor logic. Strawman? anyone familiar with the terms?

Enlighten me please

Remove the stress, make it once per round. Dace gets good.

Remove the stress, don't make it once per round and Dace gets awesome in a squad where someone has an EMP.

Remove the stress, make it once per round. Dace gets good.

Remove the stress, don't make it once per round and Dace gets awesome in a squad where someone has an EMP.

That's fair. Might be overkill to have someone just have a squad of Zs + Dace to do a Super Feedback, auto 4, 5 damage. Maybe to prevent this, have Dace's ability be a must and not a may, and have it effect friendlies as well.

When a friendly or enemy ship at Range 1-3 receives at least 1 ion token, if you are not stressed, you cause that ship to suffer 1 damage.

Edit: Turns out EMP is unique anyways! Woo hoo! Original change works without any issues!

oh my god what the (heck)

Yes, you have to build the list around his ability. That's okay. Slap Ion turrets on him and Palob, give em K4 and Dengar respectively, plus Mindlink. Can fit 2 Ion Scyks for 99.

That'll chew an /x7 list like it's Hannibal Lecter.

Dace to the face doesn't really need errata.

If we're removing the stress penalty from Dace, can we remove it from Lt. Lorrir, too?

Remove the stress, make it once per round. Dace gets good.

Remove the stress, don't make it once per round and Dace gets awesome in a squad where someone has an EMP.

That's fair. Might be overkill to have someone just have a squad of Zs + Dace to do a Super Feedback, auto 4, 5 damage. Maybe to prevent this, have Dace's ability be a must and not a may, and have it effect friendlies as well.

When a friendly or enemy ship at Range 1-3 receives at least 1 ion token, if you are not stressed, you receive 1 stress token to cause that ship to suffer 1 damage.

EMP is unique. So you are only doing the Dace + EMP bomb combo once. I don't think that combo would be OP at all.

oh my god what the (heck)

Yes, you have to build the list around his ability. That's okay. Slap Ion turrets on him and Palob, give em K4 and Dengar respectively, plus Mindlink. Can fit 2 Ion Scyks for 99.

That'll chew an /x7 list like it's Hannibal Lecter.

Dace to the face doesn't really need errata.

x7s will reliably remove a HWK a turn. Easily. Have you ever seen Mr. Bonearm grace a tournament report? I'd like to know.

If we're removing the stress penalty from Dace, can we remove it from Lt. Lorrir, too?

This almost needs to happen before we do anything with Dace. Lorrir, with some of the best art in the game, has one of the most disappointing abilities in the game. SO cool, but immediately **** on by receiving stress. SUCH a poor design decision to force that stress. Unless an ability is God tier level (Zuckuss crew), I don't understand why any ability should tack on stress anyways. Even Jan Ors doesn't really need to be grabbing stress. Just say "once per round" instead.

He is not really worthless, he just has very strong (and cheaper) competitors (Palob, Torkil)

Sorry but this is horrifyingly poor logic. Strawman? anyone familiar with the terms?

Enlighten me please

Interesting thought...instead of just trying to do more damage based on the Ion tokens, what about this:

When an enemy ship at Range 1-3 would remove at least 1 Ion token, if you are not stressed, you may receive a stress token for each Ion token they have. That ship must retain it's Ion tokens this round.

Broken??? Range 1-2 instead??? Worth it???

oh my god what the (heck)

Yes, you have to build the list around his ability. That's okay. Slap Ion turrets on him and Palob, give em K4 and Dengar respectively, plus Mindlink. Can fit 2 Ion Scyks for 99.

That'll chew an /x7 list like it's Hannibal Lecter.

Dace to the face doesn't really need errata.

Ya because God forbid we have something that is "good" against the most seen ship/upgrade in the game right now.

He is not really worthless, he just has very strong (and cheaper) competitors (Palob, Torkil)

Sorry but this is horrifyingly poor logic. Strawman? anyone familiar with the terms?

Yes, it's when you appear to refute someone's argument by tearing down an absurd point they never actually said.

It's also a completely inappropriate term to use here. I see no strawman in what he's saying at all.

All IG88E said is that Dace Bonearm isn't a bad pilot in of himself and I agree with that. He provides ion control without sacrificing damage: even if he only uses his ability on his own attacks he has a higher chance for two damage than a Twin Laser Turret and also provides ion tokens. However, in a constructed format he has superior alternatives much as Turr Phennir does.

You may believe that having a superior alternative makes a pilot worthless (I do not) but even then IG88E would be contradicting himself rather than strawmanning.

Remove the stress, make it once per round. Dace gets good.

Remove the stress, don't make it once per round and Dace gets awesome in a squad where someone has an EMP.

That's fair. Might be overkill to have someone just have a squad of Zs + Dace to do a Super Feedback, auto 4, 5 damage. Maybe to prevent this, have Dace's ability be a must and not a may, and have it effect friendlies as well.

When a friendly or enemy ship at Range 1-3 receives at least 1 ion token, if you are not stressed, you receive 1 stress token to cause that ship to suffer 1 damage.

EMP is unique. So you are only doing the Dace + EMP bomb combo once. I don't think that combo would be OP at all.

2 unavoidable damage to all enemies in range one of the EMP carrier? It may not be OP but it's pretty **** powerful.

Ion bombs would be a little harder to deploy but just as damaging. EMP the first round, then drop a couple of Ion bombs the next and you've dealt 6 points of damage to anything that got hit by all 3.