I‘m really looking forward trying this out:

Chertek (39)
Crack Shot (1)
Ensnare (10)

Petranaki Arena Ace (38)
Predator (2)
Ensnare (10)

Petranaki Arena Ace (38)
Predator (2)
Ensnare (10)

Petranaki Arena Ace (38)
Predator (2)
Ensnare (10)
Total: 200

View in Yet Another Squad Builder 2.0

I like Crack Shot more than Predator because it’ll give me a bid.

It’s hard to say if it is any good. What do you think?

A bid only really matters against other I4, though, rather than most 'aces'.

I would suggest either dropping the second elite upgrade entirely or going for predator - partly because "crack shot" shouldn't matter - if you're getting a bullseye shot that generally means you've outguessed your opponent.....which means they should be tractored....which means cancelling evades is less valuable than getting more hits in the first place.

I've flown against it with stuff moving before it, and it kicked my rear. These suckers can ace like mad, control quite well, and tend to chuck more 4-dice attacks than you'd expect. Once into a scrum, they're beasts.

I tend to think the 2nd talent is probably worth: bullseyes seemed pretty common. I'm mixed on predator vs crack + bid, though. I bet both have advantages. I mean, a Focused 2-agility ship, reduced to 1 agility with a tractor, will wind up with an Evade 5/8ths of the time. Against a natively-3 agility ship, Crack Shot would have around a 61% chance of being useful against an unfocused target, or 86% against a focused one. Seems like decent enough odds for Crack Shot to be worth, and being 193 or 194 vs 197 doesn't seem like too huge a difference in an Init 4 list. Also, since with the change to Tractors on Large and Medium ships, there's a decent amount of stuff out there which won't have lost all it's agility.

As to overall performance, like a lot of Init 4 generic versions of ace-ships, you can completely own stuff which is lower than you, but might run into problems against higher Init stuff, and probably the right sorts of lower Init lists (I keep meaning to dig out my quad ARC-170 Republic list). Like many lists of all-one-ship, a monoculture can lead to weaknesses.

I feel like it'd appeal in a similar way to quad Phantoms. Not quite as stall-capable, but they can hit hard and get into awkward places and still have shots.

I've actually flown that list [Predator is way better than crack shot] quite a few times and even on a tournament (actually yesterday, finished 3rd out of 8, got diced one game).

It is a lot of fun to fly but as mentioned above it has some problems against high PS Aces which move after you. All that flies before you is not really a big problem. Your ships are so manoeuvrable due to the tractor and you are hard to pin down.
Normally you’ll lose at least half a Nantex in the first engagement just due to dice variance, but once you are at Range one the fun begins. It kina feels like flying four CLT Jedi but at the same time is so very different due to the tractor tokens and the turret.

I can only recommend to try it. Your brain will start to melt after game four but it is good fun.

I've actually flown that list quite a few times and even on a tournament (actually yesterday, finished 3rd out of 8, got diced one game).

It is a lot of fun to fly but as mentioned above it has some problems against high PS Aces which move after you. All that flies before you is not really a big problem. Your ships are so manoeuvrable due to the tractor and you are hard to pin down.
Normally you’ll lose at least half a Nantex in the first engagement just due to dice variance, but once you are at Range one the fun begins. It kina feels like flying four CLT Jedi but at the same time is so very different due to the tractor tokens and the turret.

I can only recommend to try it. Your brain will start to melt after game four but it is good fun.

4 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

Also, since with the change to Tractors on Large and Medium ships, there's a decent amount of stuff out there which won't have lost all it's agility.

Agreed - but then the moment you throw medium and large based ships into the equation, repeated bullseye shots at medium or long range become more credible, meaning predator becomes more valuable

1 hour ago, Gamma3101 said:

I can only recommend to try it. Your brain will start to melt after game four but it is good fun.

Having flown massed afterburner-equipped TIE strikers (and with a regular opponent who was using massed starvipers at the time), that's something I can learn to live with.

11 minutes ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Having flown massed afterburner-equipped TIE strikers (and with a regular opponent who was using massed starvipers at the time), that's something I can learn to live with.

I gotta say it is my go to list at the moment. Just because I like the options you have all the time. Got to improve my flying skills to get better with it.

I have not tried that list yet but did use Chertek and 3 Aces with Ensnare and Sun naked to good effect.

The list I have like yours has Treacherous on Chertek and two aces instead of crack shot. I’m not sure how often it will trigger but with all that repositioning you might be able to get an opponent down two green dice every so often.

Thanks everyone for your replies!

You convinced me that predator is the way to go.

One more question: How do you engage your opponent: Flying in formation or spread these guys out on the battlefield?

8 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

Agreed - but then the moment you throw medium and large based ships into the equation, repeated bullseye shots at medium or long range become more credible, meaning predator becomes more valuable

To be sure, Predator is great, but I also bet that at least sometimes, the 3 point bid could be useful, too. I don't know which is better, and just running through options.

18 hours ago, Ryuneke said:

Thanks everyone for your replies!

You convinced me that predator is the way to go.

One more question: How do you engage your opponent: Flying in formation or spread these guys out on the battlefield?

It depends a lot on the match up.

Against jousty lists I like to split up and spread into a screen. Then jump right into their midst and start tractoring.

Against Aces I keep them close and fly them as a swarm. Sometimes I detach Chertek and use him as a flanker. But staying close makes it possible to tractor yourself and another untractored Nantex if it is necessary.

What about swapping Chertek for Grievous? All the Nantex will lose their 2nd talent but grievous get outmaneuver + title.

33 minutes ago, Ryuneke said:

What about swapping Chertek for Grievous? All the Nantex will lose their 2nd talent but grievous get outmaneuver + title.

Seems like a decent bit of an improvement by diversifying the threats without significantly weakening the critical mass of the main list.

I'd probably keep Chertek, though, and go Crack Shot over Outmaneuver. That'd also buy me either Crack Shots for everyone, or Impervium on Grievous, and that's usually felt good to me when I've already included the title. That'd be essentially a 9 HP Grievous with rerolls when running away. Dying slow could really buy tome for the Nantex to do work.

Played the first few games with the list. Here you can read through the Batreps if you like.

First of all: Flying 4 Nantex is awesome. Even against large bases I never felt weak or chanceless. Though I think the Nantex is one of the most matchup dependent ships in the meta. But practice is everything. I will definitely put more table time in it since Kylo and QD are on vacation.

On 10/15/2019 at 5:01 PM, theBitterFig said:

Seems like a decent bit of an improvement by diversifying the threats without significantly weakening the critical mass of the main list.

I'd probably keep Chertek, though, and go Crack Shot over Outmaneuver. That'd also buy me either Crack Shots for everyone, or Impervium on Grievous, and that's usually felt good to me when I've already included the title. That'd be essentially a 9 HP Grievous with rerolls when running away. Dying slow could really buy tome for the Nantex to do work.

Saw Grievous + 3 Nantex at worlds . It even made the cut. Maybe its the better list but flying 4 of those needles looks so good.

What do you think which list is better?

With or without Grievous?

https://strawpoll.de/2e592wb

I can’t decide and I actually don’t have the time to put both on the table often.

21 hours ago, Ryuneke said:

What do you think which list is better?

With or without Grievous?

https://strawpoll.de/2e592wb

I can’t decide and I actually don’t have the time to put both on the table often.

I'm struggling to decide as well if I want to include old Skullface into my squad. Might test it tomorrow. Have a tournament on Sunday and I still don't know what I want to fly.

12 minutes ago, Gamma3101 said:

I'm struggling to decide as well if I want to include old Skullface into my squad. Might test it tomorrow. Have a tournament on Sunday and I still don't know what I want to fly.

Got a tournament on the weekend as well and I am still not sure, either.

I have to make a list of pros and cons...

Good luck to both of you!

On 10/23/2019 at 1:32 PM, Gamma3101 said:

I'm struggling to decide as well if I want to include old Skullface into my squad. Might test it tomorrow. Have a tournament on Sunday and I still don't know what I want to fly.

Have you already tested Skullface?

1 hour ago, Ryuneke said:

Have you already tested Skullface?

I did indeed. I gotta say he brings something onto the table which the four Nantex do lack... Staying power. Normally the opponent will try to kill Chertek first but with Old MC Skully they start to try to kill him because they do not want to get to close to the Nantex and he is the "easy" target...
And if the do ignore him he can hit very hard if you catch them in the back.

I suppose it is the stronger list but I'm not sure if pure Nantex is more fun to fly....

On 10/25/2019 at 2:01 PM, Gamma3101 said:

I did indeed. I gotta say he brings something onto the table which the four Nantex do lack... Staying power. Normally the opponent will try to kill Chertek first but with Old MC Skully they start to try to kill him because they do not want to get to close to the Nantex and he is the "easy" target...
And if the do ignore him he can hit very hard if you catch them in the back.

I suppose it is the stronger list but I'm not sure if pure Nantex is more fun to fly....

I wrote a battle report about the tournament I played.

I played . . .

General Grievous (Soulless Title + Impervium Plating)
Chertek (Ensnare)
2 x Petranaki Aces (Ensnare)
199pts.

It's the better list imo.

6 hours ago, Ryuneke said:

I wrote a battle report about the tournament I played.

I played . . .

General Grievous (Soulless Title + Impervium Plating)
Chertek (Ensnare)
2 x Petranaki Aces (Ensnare)
199pts.

It's the better list imo.

Nice. How was Impervium doing for you, and how do you think it'd stack up against 4x Crack Shot?

1 hour ago, theBitterFig said:

Nice. How was Impervium doing for you, and how do you think it'd stack up against 4x Crack Shot?

Impervium did awesome work. It kept Grievous alive against Han/Wedge. In another game it kept Grievous alive for one more round where he was able to shoot. I prefer Impervium because its really hard get bullseye when flying against ini 5 and 6 pilots.

1 hour ago, Ryuneke said:

[...] I prefer Impervium because its really hard get bullseye when flying against ini 5 and 6 pilots.

That's a great point. Crack Shot is going to be amazing and really help Nantex and Grievous murder lower-init stuff, but the list probably already beats stuff it moves after.

1 minute ago, theBitterFig said:

That's a great point. Crack Shot is going to be amazing and really help Nantex and Grievous murder lower-init stuff, but the list probably already beats stuff it moves after.

True. I had no problem against lower ini stuff whatsoever. It was creepy.

3 minutes ago, Ryuneke said:

True. I had no problem against lower ini stuff whatsoever. It was creepy.

As much as Sun Fac gets posited as a problem, mass Init 4s are wicked nasty.