I'm reeeaaally excited for Guns for Hire! The starviper is probably my favorite ship and I'm stoked to try out some of the new options. My opponents at game night were nice enough to let me proxy the new stuff so here's what I took:

Thweek (28)
Fire-Control System (2)
Autothrusters (2)
StarViper Mk. II (-3)
Virago (1)

Serissu (20)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Tractor Beam (1)
"Heavy Scyk" Interceptor (Cannon) (2)

Black Sun Ace (23)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)
Inertial Dampeners (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
Vaksai (0)

Black Sun Ace (23)
XX-23 S-Thread Tracers (1)
Inertial Dampeners (1)
Guidance Chips (0)
Vaksai (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

You'll have to imagine that the two Blacksun Aces have munitions failsafes too, but YASB has this sweet new "you're not allowed to select munitions failsafes" feature. It probably forgot they exist...

Anyway, Serissu and the 2 aces form a mean little jousting unit. The PS 10 tractor beam chucks ships onto rocks, or into fearlessness range, or both. The aces aim to wreck face with 5 dice range 1 attacks at a target at -1 agi. Ahh, the dream.

Thweek does whatever you like. FCS makes good use of abilities like Omega Leader, Nora, or Corran and autothrusters are just good. The new title is awesome for the sheer squirreliness of it the 1 turn, followed by the barrel roll back towards the starting point is just awesome. I call it the "pythagorean turn"

I got to play 3 games tonight.

Game 1 was vs a TIE swarm. Howlrunner with swarm tactics; 2 FOs; backstabber; 2 academies.

Thweek borrowed Howlrunner's ability and deployed in formation, ready to joust. I raced ahead full with everything and my opponent didn't expect it, as he banked away to get around and asteroid. The next turn he had to turn some ships across it as my squadron would be right on top of his the next turn.

Serissu+Howlrunner in the same squad makes things really efficient. The tractor beam threw a few on rocks, or pulled into fearlessness range. It was pretty brutal.

Game 2 was vs a 4 Scyk swarm+contracted scout. He had all the new named scyks except Inauldra, most Mindlinked (not the PS 1), and mostly Light (not the regen torpedoes dude). He and the scout had chipped plasmas and the scout had Boba.

Thweek took Genesis Red's ability, figuring the FCS would allow me to prey on mindlink, but the PS 4 left me firing after almost everything had shot so the fcs wouldn't have meaningful tokens to steal.

He deployed the scyk swarm in the middle with the scout on a flank, and I lined up to joust the scout and hammer it down quick and raced ahead full. I screwed up the approach and accidentally bumped Thweek with an ace so he was barely out of range 1. The tractor beam missed and I only had one fearlessness and 7 unmodified dice from the other 2 ships and bit into its hull. Thweek died in the 3rd turn but I took the remaining 4 HP from the scout with another range 1 ace shot in exchange.

From there, there was a lot of K-turning but attanni makes that hard. Eventually he was out if position (tractor beam helps) and the swarm got eaten up, piece by piece. It was Serissu and one Ace still flying at the end.

Game 3 was against Miranda/Dash. Miranda had TLT, missiles, C-3PO, and bomblets; Dash had mangler, Rey, Lone Wolf, counter measures, scavenger crane.

Thweek took Miranda's ability because regen is good.

I deployed in the middle to pinch Miranda against an edge. Again I raced ahead full and then banked the formation towards Miranda before she could slam past. The tractor beam pulled her into range 2, but the Homing missiles and mangler killed an Ace before he could shoot. Still, I took down her shields and put a damage on her too. I managed to finish off Miranda and lost Serissu in the process when we ran out of time as the store was closing.

Had the game gone on, Dash would likely have killed the other Ace in a few turns because without Serissu, he just doesn't have the defense to withstand s heavily modded mangler. However, Dash had just 1 shield left so in a tournament, all I'd need to do is plink the last shield off and win on points with Thweek.

I'm glad the store closed, because neither of us wanted to play that endgame out. My starviper with autothrusters and regen chasing Dash around the table. Long game.

Final Thoughts:

I really liked all of the new and improved titles for these 3 ships. Serissu's extra hull point for the cheap cost of the tractor beam is great. The PS 10 tractor beam is a great way to alter the course of the combat phase turn after turn, and the primary attack of 2 isn't that big of a deal to waste.

I never used any of the upgrades on the blacksun aces except fearlessness. I'm not sure how often I'll use the tracers but the inertial dampeners are a neat trick--I just never felt like I saw a good opportunity.

Thweek is really cool and will keep the squad new and interesting each time I fly it. I look forward trying this list some more!

I'm looking forward to trying this vs both FSR and Nym, but both seem like good matchups on paper.

Vs. FSR, I'd mimic Biggs and joust. 3 agi+Serissu+Autothrusters makes Thweek a much better Biggs. Especially because this list doesn't spend nearly as many points or upgrade slots to keep my "Biggs" alive as FSR does. Serissu can chuck Biggs out of formation and drop his agility too.

Vs. Nym I'd likely take his PS 10 (though scum Nym's ability is tempting) to have 2 PS 10s. Initiative doesn't matter much, because Nym would be inclined to give it to me, to see where my PS 10s land before he decides what to do with bomblets. If he does, then I can fire the tractor beam before Nym shoots to hopefully throw him on a rock, but at least make sure he doesn't try to self-bump out of getting shot. Nym's best defense is the bump, and tossing him off a bump and blasting him at range 1 can end Nym quickly.

Thoughts?

I like this. I've been mostly using Thweek with just Autos, running beside a kitted-out Guri, but this does look very effective.

I reckon vs Nym, PS is more useful than ability, yeah. Although standard arc-dodging and long ranged attacks would be more to my taste than bumping

I do want to come up with a double starviper list because I do love them so. If only Virago weren't unique...

You're right on fighting Nym, PS is the way to go. I forgot that scum Nym may just ignore friendly bombs. It would be as useless as rebel Nym's ability.

Any thoughts on BMST versus dampeners? Stuff that stresses itself isn't super common right now but it might be worth considering.

I have thought about that, but yeah, stress is at a low point. I figure there's a chance to pop IDs to leave a blocker in fearlessness range, so the potential of it seems higher. But I never used them once in 3 games, so maybe it would be worth a swap just to see.