I have had incredible fun with Fenn Rau and desperately want to make two Protectorate Starfighters work, they are just so much fun to fly. I have these two lists:

Protectorate Star.: •Fenn Rau (35)
Autothrusters (2)
Concord Dawn Protector (1)
Expertise (4)

M12-L Kimogila Fighter: •Dalan Oberos (34)
Long-Range Scanners (0)
•Enforcer (1)
Veteran Instincts (1)
Harpoon Missiles (4)
Unhinged Astromech (1)
Glitterstim (2)

Protectorate Star.: •Old Teroch (30)
Autothrusters (2)
Concord Dawn Protector (1)
Veteran Instincts (1)

Total: 99/100

I have gone 5-0 with this list so far, though not against top Tier lists. What I dislike about it is the harpoons somehow contradicts Fenn and Teroch wanting to be at range 1.

So I came up with this:

Kihraxz Fighter: •Talonbane Cobra (35)
Engine Upgrade (3)
Autothrusters (1)
Vectored Thrusters (1)
Vaksai (0)
Push the Limit (2)
Contraband Cybernetics (0)

Total: 100/100

So far I could only try it for one game (which I won) and I am happy, that the Cobra and Fenn can launch a devastating 10 dice attack. But the Khiraxz is far from the maneuverability of the Starfighters and much less beefy than the Kimoglia.

Alright, what are your thoughts? I love having them all at pilot skill 9 and Expertise on Fenn also worked really well since he is rarely stressed.

You might enjoy Thweek as a third ship. Can be made to any cost and leave a bid. He’s great end game, and survivable enough to get there.

Bonus of taking PS with a bid so that he moves last ... even if not at PS9.

I've flown against Fenn and Old T a couple of times now and I think I'd be far more concerned about that Cobra than the other two. I've learned to manage against the others, but Talonbane should be near impossible to hit at Range 3. I'd recommend trailing him behind the Fangs and have him come in either on a flank or skirt around the edges. Or swap for Fearlessness and burn him right in after the Fangs to likely destroy most other small ships. The target priority with all three of them present and at PS 9 is difficult and squads with 2 or 3 ships are going to have a fairly hard time.

Just watch out for heavy swarms. 5 X, 5 UR LWF Bombers, and 5 Strikers can put the hurt on those guys if you try to joust.

Can try the party bus

Trandoshan Slaver (29)
Dengar (3)
Zuckuss (1)
Inspiring Recruit (1)

Inspiring can help your aces versus snapshot ezra lists. If teroch does his thing, zuckuss will pay off big time.

15 hours ago, c3lb said:

Kihraxz Fighter: •Talonbane Cobra (35)
Engine Upgrade (3)
Autothrusters (1)
Vectored Thrusters (1)
Vaksai (0)
Push the Limit (2)
Contraband Cybernetics (0)

Main concerns:

• The Khiraxz doesn't have an especially awesome green dial, which means Push The Limit isn't so great.
• If you're likely to be stressing your face off turn after turn, Contraband Cybernetics is a nice thing to have in your back pocket, but makes you explode with stress even more.

I've seen Cobra in a Scum Aces squad before, used very effectively. The build he had was:

• Talonbane Cobra
  • Vaksai
  • Predator
  • XX-23 S-Thread Tracers
  • Cloaking Device
  • Engine Upgrade
  • Vectored Thrusters
  • Autothrusters

It's a point more, but predator gives you rerolls turn after turn, stressed or not, and the cloaking device gives you - if handled correctly - even more manoeuvrability than the Fangs. Being able to decloak sideways and barrel roll lets Cobra pull a speed 4 'sideslip', whilst a decloak forwards and a speed 5 Koiogran is great for appearing unexpectedly on someone's tail.

Thread Tracers aren't something you'd use that often, and a long range shot with tracers is more likely to hit than a range 3 primary shot; and trading the damage from the shot for a target lock on Fenn and Teroch might be worth it in specific circumstances. More importantly, they're free; why the heck not?

Thanks for the Thweek and Partybus suggestions I will try them both out.

12 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Main concerns:

• The Khiraxz doesn't have an especially awesome green dial, which means Push The Limit isn't so great.
• If you're likely to be stressing your face off turn after turn, Contraband Cybernetics is a nice thing to have in your back pocket, but makes you explode with stress even more.

Exactly the issues I had when playing. I used Cybers to get out of trouble once and destroy a ship doing so, but after that I basically ended up with 3 stress until the game was done.

I love the predator idea, but I have no idea where to cut the point. Maybe change Vectored Thrusters to Guidance Chips? The Fangs are set in stone, I cannot think of a way to save a point there other than Changing Expertise to PTL on Fenn but I am not sure if that is a good idea...

2 hours ago, c3lb said:

Thanks for the Thweek and Partybus suggestions I will try them both out.

Exactly the issues I had when playing. I used Cybers to get out of trouble once and destroy a ship doing so, but after that I basically ended up with 3 stress until the game was done.

I love the predator idea, but I have no idea where to cut the point. Maybe change Vectored Thrusters to Guidance Chips? The Fangs are set in stone, I cannot think of a way to save a point there other than Changing Expertise to PTL on Fenn but I am not sure if that is a good idea...

You can probably manage without Vectored Thrusters, so it's not a bad idea. Engine upgrade is better because being able to boost into range 1 is so critical, and because it's a prerequisite for autothrusters, and you can sideslip with a decloak move (admittedly not reactively).

Alternatively, if you plan to boost or barrel roll a lot with Talonbane, Intensity works too - but it won't give you mods when using a k-turn, so personally I think it's not a great buy for him.

Push The Limit on Fenn is a good idea, though. Yes, stress. Yes, limited to green dial. But unlike Talonbane, he can pull a hard turn or a fast straight and still shed stress.

More importantly, expertise lets you do any action and still have offensive focus, but Push The Limit lets you have any two actions - boosting to range 3 and still getting a focus you can spend defensively, for example, or getting boost and barrel roll (at a cost of no tokens), or focus/lock (making it functionally identical to expertise but better since you can spend the focus defensively if you don't need it on your own shot).

It's really crucial for Fenn Rau because he needs, more than anything else, to be able to control the range to the target:

• At range 3, he's got 4 green dice and autothrusters and is functionally untouchable with a 'normal' attack.
• At range 1, he's got 4 green dice and concord dawn protector, and is near enough untouchable, too.
• At range 2.......he's almost exactly the same durability as a 15 point Hull Upgrade Academy Pilot. Without the option of the evade action.

If you end up at range 2 after moving, you need to be able to close or extend the range with boost & barrel roll, even at the cost of not getting tokens. And that goes double because Fenn also gets his 5th attack die at range 1, so an unmodified attack at range 1 does significantly more damage than a focused attack at longer ranges. Plus, barrel roll and boost often lets you dodge an attacker's shot entirely.

Thweek would almost certainly be tougher, but I, for one, would like to see Talon out there. 3 PS 9 scum aces would be fun. I would have him with the title, Expertise, VT, Multi-Spec Camo, PRS, and Ion Dischargers. Hella hard to take down, and still can hit.

So, I tried out the Predator build on Cobra and PTL on Fenn.

Flew against a PS10 Han and Poe, I had no chance. The Falcon is just too quick with an Engine Update and not moving last with Aces is impossible.