I've posted several renditions of this fleet, and here is my final draft.

It has very fast reaction time since the CR90s can switch from CF or Maneuver to a Squad command to move the A-Wings. Salvation is free to do that as well since it gets the bonus from Raymus so it can stockpile tokens to change speed or paint a target with a Squad command. I've found the VCX to be pivotal to the fleet working, and works well with the single squad command from a token or the CR90.

The flotillas have to bounce squad commands off of both, so I can run 2 separate groups that force my opponent to split their squads, or I can stay outside of range of Intel. The flotillas are deployed to run away from the fight and only run squad commands.

The AF is the anchor to this fleet, and I like to run it next to Salvation. Paragon doesn't get triggered often, but it does change how my opponent moves their ships which is a great 5 point deterrence.

The nice thing about this fleet is it does not care if it goes first or second. Second means my opponent has a hard choice with my objectives since all three have objective tokens on the field getting moved by the VCX. Targeting Beacons is my favorite since it pairs nicely with the VCX getting moving the token and getting close to a ship, which triggers Sato. Being able to reroll 8 black dice (4 from OE, 2 from the objective twice) is a delight. It can happen more often than you think, since moving a token is a little longer than range 3, and the beacon has range 2. So a VCX token has a range longer than 5.

This fleet has 2 flaws I've noticed. The obvious one is the VCX can die, which means I have unsupported squads and Sato will likely never go off. Second issue is the lack of Escort. Losing A-Wings early really hurts this list, but luckily Tycho and Shara are tough to kill. And no Escort means the VCXs can be attacked.

Let me know what you think and any questions/suggestions you have.

Sato MSU

Faction: Rebel Alliance
Points: 398/400

Commander: Commander Sato

Assault Objective: Targeting Beacons
Defense Objective: Fire Lanes
Navigation Objective: Sensor Net

Assault Frigate Mark II B (72 points)
- Paragon ( 5 points)
- Skilled First Officer ( 1 points)
- Ordnance Experts ( 4 points)
- H9 Turbolasers ( 8 points)
= 90 total ship cost

Nebulon-B Support Refit (51 points)
- Salvation ( 7 points)
- Raymus Antilles ( 7 points)
= 65 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
= 44 total ship cost

CR90 Corvette A (44 points)
- Jainas Light ( 2 points)
= 46 total ship cost

GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
= 18 total ship cost

[ flagship ] GR-75 Medium Transports (18 points)
- Commander Sato ( 32 points)
= 50 total ship cost

1 Shara Bey ( 17 points)
1 Tycho Celchu ( 16 points)
2 A-Wing Squadrons ( 22 points)
2 VCX-100 Freighters ( 30 points)

I really like it. Your opponent has several really hard choices to make, as to which ships to target. And none of them are obvious targets, except for the flagship. The only other weakness i see is that Sato is on a very fragile ship. I think it would be well worth it to trade Jainas Light for the Bright Hope title. Because once Sato goes down, you're stuck with 4 red dice ships, and almost no dice manipulation.

I played a Sato list last night, Scout Frigate, Pelta, and Salvation with Entrapment Formation. Being able to dish out black dice and APTs at long range, I went with a slow roll approach. Forcing my opponent to come to me. But then with a Nav command, banked Nav tokens, and/or fleet entrapment, I was able to jump from 0 or 1 to 3 or 4 in a single turn and completely catch my opponent off guard, getting back out to long range when he got too close. I say that to say that Sato loves slow rolling, and he loves speed boosts to keep that range long. So banked Nav tokens with a surprise Nav command would be a pretty solid approach with your list as well, I believe.

Also, something I just thought, which you may find interesting to look into, is CR90 Bs with Leading shots. The difference between those and the As is of course the Range, but they will also deal more consistent damage. It would also require a bid for initiative so that you can get them into and out of position without dying. So it would be a different playstyle, but it's just a thought

I position Sato so he runs towards the left or right side of the board going speed 2 and bank a Nav turn 1 since there is no point in activating squads 1st round. He is never in any danger of being attacked since he is running away, and BH doesn't work on the rear of the ship which is the likely hull zone to be attacked.

My opponent would have to run to get Sato, and I can always throw Navs to get him out of danger. Also, I try to deploy to Sato runs behind Salvation and Paragon, forcing my opponent to run head long into both of them.

Alright, fair enough, as long as you can protect it. However, my previous regionals list was specifically designed to chase down Admiral Lifeboats. Or rather, I had an engine tech corvette whose primary job it was to intercept and ram flotillas. Only faced 1 lifeboat, and it died. As did a lot of other flotillas. And fast bombers under a skilled player can still reach for those lifeboats. Which I suppose you have the squadron cover necessary to cover that.

I like the list.

I ran Targeting Beacons this past weekend with a VCX and it worked beautifully. Yesterday, I tried a Paragon build that worked out beautifully. There's a lot of potential with him, and the local consensus seems to be, "He's a good commander."

The big worry I'd have is in someone tying up your squads or playing clearly to win the squadron game and just overpowering your squads, which is really the lynchpin to getting a Sato list to work. I think the compensate, a Sato list probably has to go with more squads and probably has to run/build those squads to win the squadron game itself. I'm not sure what that looks like in the long run, but I think that will ultimately be the right track to getting Sato to be competitive across a wide variety of match-ups.

I like the list.

I ran Targeting Beacons this past weekend with a VCX and it worked beautifully. Yesterday, I tried a Paragon build that worked out beautifully. There's a lot of potential with him, and the local consensus seems to be, "He's a good commander."

The big worry I'd have is in someone tying up your squads or playing clearly to win the squadron game and just overpowering your squads, which is really the lynchpin to getting a Sato list to work. I think the compensate, a Sato list probably has to go with more squads and probably has to run/build those squads to win the squadron game itself. I'm not sure what that looks like in the long run, but I think that will ultimately be the right track to getting Sato to be competitive across a wide variety of match-ups.

I think Sato works best in an MSU list like this. The struggle is fitting enough squads into the list as well. Tycho and a VCX is the best combo for Sato and can be triggered with a squad token to paint your target. With activation advantage, dropping Tycho on a ship after your opponents last activation means you get 2-3 free shots against that ship with no squadron interference.

I definitely think this is a strong build since the meta still has to work itself out. Down the line, I see this being beaten by Flechette Raiders and E-Wing swarms.