4 Petranaki Ace + Treacherous? I assume Treacherous is better than Predator here?

Or should we try Chertek and 4 crackshots and 3 point bid?

Is this seriously worth spending another $40 on?

Go and try it out on Vassal, see how it flies for you. Best option to see it for yourself and decide, as some lists can be good or bad, but is it good or bad for you, or do YOU enjoy flying it?

To answer your other question, Predator is only way you can have soft double mods here and you will spread out with your Nantex, so Treacherous will not see a lot of procs. Treacherous will be more reliable in a list where the Nantex hides behind say Vultures initially, so at R3 potshot is really not a fun option to shoot at with normal weapons, still even, Treacherous seems a bit treacherous as been stated earlier to take, not finding a really reliable option for it. It was definitely a talent that sounded better than it turned out to be.

I will make space for Chertek regardless, as you can just take Crackshot instead of Predator on him, then he is the same cost, but he gets his rerolls already. For the bid and cracks, that is what you need to test what works for you. The i4 range is a bit weird for bids. (Another reason why we should say f**k the bid and play balls out for fun)

Squadmate of mine played Tom Forstner, (he's no slouch), running 4x Ensnare Nantex at the wknd, he used Boba and Emon. His takeaway, (maybe banterous), was that when one went down, the rest were 'easy'.

So, my hot take, 4x Nantex will likely melt some minds and be an utter ****, but it will meet some very hard counters, if the meta demands it. It could be a short lived thing, possibly not worth the investment.

It will likely cause some extreme howling at store level though and possibly result in some seriously broken friendships.

An ace or 2 with Ensnare and a bunch of heavy/disposable buddies could be in for the long haul, it seems to cover all the bases. Unless they emergency nerf this nonsense because everyone hates it and can't stop it happening.

Bit of a necro, but eh.

I've found that flying four i4 generics with snap and grav are pretty good. Snap functioning as an extra arc during the shoot step is real nice, and the freebies help offset the bad damage output of effectively being a 2 die turret ship. Flown in pairs, grav can make good shots suck, such as if your damaged dude is tokened up and getting rerolls from his mate who's tractored in arc at r3.

Super grindy, surprisingly resilient. Just don't get caught tractored up at r1.

I don't think ensnare is the take on these dudes as a swarm, because it forces you to fly more aggressive than I think I'd be comfortable with at i4. You can make it happen, but then usually you die, is what I've found.

Ensnare/Predator Arena Aces feels pretty solid. When my friend was trying them out, Treacherous never triggered, but there were sufficient bullseye attacks to make Predator feel worthwhile.

Worth spending $40 on? I don't know. Nerfs are likely (nearly every new-to-2e ship has received nerfs or buffs, and Nantex probably isn't getting buffs). Meanwhile, a one ship-type list has weaknesses as a monoculture. If you're not the kind of player who buys a full squad's worth of everything, stopping at 2 is probably fine.

Quad Auzitucks were an anomaly of first edition, and sent quickly to time out in 2e.

The current "full squad" abuser is the U-Wing, but that's because they were so bad in 1e that they've had costs whittled down to bones and config ability buffed hardcore.

I'm expecting generic Us to go up a point or two in Jan to offset that trend of quads.

In other words, quad Bugs are probably fine for casual, but I wouldn't buy more than 3.

Yeah it seems like people are opting for a bit more mixed setups

9 hours ago, Bucknife said:

Quad Auzitucks were an anomaly of first edition, and sent quickly to time out in 2e.

The current "full squad" abuser is the U-Wing, but that's because they were so bad in 1e that they've had costs whittled down to bones and config ability buffed hardcore.

I'm expecting generic Us to go up a point or two in Jan to offset that trend of quads.

In other words, quad Bugs are probably fine for casual, but I wouldn't buy more than 3.

gods i want quad U-Wings

6 minutes ago, Captain Lackwit said:

gods i want quad U-Wings

why go for four when you could have FIVE.

(Oh my gods)

--

Wait why can't u have 4 Uwings? They fit... 172/200

a matter of wallet?

Steal some coaxium.

8 minutes ago, Blail Blerg said:

why go for four when you could have FIVE.

(Oh my gods)

--

Wait why can't u have 4 Uwings? They fit... 172/200

a matter of wallet?

Steal some coaxium.

But I'm a resistance flygirl.

All my coaxium is coming with the Fireball, remember?

21 hours ago, ThatStarwarsGuy said:

I've found that flying four i4 generics with snap and grav are pretty good. Snap functioning as an extra arc during the shoot step is real nice, and the freebies help offset the bad damage output of effectively being a 2 die turret ship. Flown in pairs, grav can make good shots suck, such as if your damaged dude is tokened up and getting rerolls from his mate who's tractored in arc at r3.

That's definitely one I want to try. Glad to see it works. 5 Hive Guard with Gravetic Deflection certainly works, and going up to I4 feels like it'd matter often enough to be worth considering - and snap fire is annoying as heck if you're not prepared to deal with it.

On ‎9‎/‎25‎/‎2019 at 1:28 PM, Cuz05 said:

Squadmate of mine played Tom Forstner, (he's no slouch), running 4x Ensnare Nantex at the wknd, he used Boba and Emon. His takeaway, (maybe banterous), was that when one went down, the rest were 'easy'.

Yeah - Boba and Emon need two tractor tokens to be 'hit' - and Boba has a higher initiative, a rear arc, and a white boost. You'd need 2 nantex catching him at range 1 to ensnare the ship, and once you've lost one ship (not hard) that's a big ask, especially if moving first - and especially especially if he's got the Slave One title and can reverse a turn 'on spec'.

And if you only catch it with one ship, not only does the tractor token do nothing, but you're then trying to 'plink' through agility 2 with a reroll (for Boba) with a primary 2 popgun, that even at range 1 will struggle to hit.

21 hours ago, ThatStarwarsGuy said:

I don't think ensnare is the take on these dudes as a swarm, because it forces you to fly more aggressive than I think I'd be comfortable with at i4. You can make it happen, but then usually you die, is what I've found.

Agreed. I think Gravetic Deflection is a great buy for a swarm, as it takes away most of the negatives of Pinpoint Tractor Array without meaning you have to try for range 1 on higher initiative opponents all the time.

19 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

When my friend was trying them out, Treacherous never triggered, but there were sufficient bullseye attacks to make Predator feel worthwhile.

you know, looked at with a severe squint, the Nantex's mobile primary-2 and bullseye primary-3 looks a lot like a non-limited version of "Scourge" Skutu with a Hull Upgrade and a slightly lower Initiative.

I wonder how a mob of 5 Petranaki Arena Aces with just Predator would do? Obviously you'd only be using Pinpoint Tractor Array reluctantly, and instead using banks, turns, and even (quell horror!) red moves to line up that centreline big stick instead of circle-strafing with the turret, but you don't have to get many bullseye shots to equal the damage output of an extended turret volley.