- or How I Stopped Worrying About the Dial and Learned to Love the JM5K

Sort of. In a bid to support my FLGS, I picked up a second Jumpmaster. I have visions of torpboats. Two Scouts with Proton Torps and Contraband Cybernetics come out to 56 points. Ion Cannons are a good shout and only bring them up to 62. If my math checks out, two of the buggers come to 112 or 124 points. Leaving 88 points or 76 points for a third ship.

And so. I've toyed with a Firespray. We know Guri is good. Or Fenn. I looked at Zuckuss. Or some variation on the YV-666. Ain't nothin' speaking to me. What you got? Inspire me! Please?

Maybe Ketsu with the title? Could help you toss ships into the arcs of your JM5Ks.

Bring L3-37 for the double mods. Just 26 points.

Maybe toss in Talonbane for 50, or 4-LOM for 61(title, adv sen, crack), or fearless Old T for 59, or Palob with Moldy Crow for 58...

As I noodle around on the squad builder, I kinda sorta keep coming back to Dace in the HWK with Squad Leader, Tactical Officer, and Shield and Hull Upgrades. That later, higher initiative coordinate, paired with PerCops on each Boat might work? And maybe, just maybe he'd get to use his pilot ability? Dunno. Maybe it's a really bad idea to chase a coordinator, and I should just cop out to Fenn Rau. I mean, he's not unfun to fly, and he is obviously solid. I just wanted something with a bit more zazz, you know?

M'kay. I dropped the Fenn version on the table. It's a good baseline; we all know how good Fearless Fenn is. The Boats each had a crew member on board; one had Zuckuss and the other had 4-LOM. I played them against Redline with Plasma/MagPulse/FCS, Fifth Brother with Homing, Zertik with FCS, and a Storm Squad Ace with FCS. The game ended with a one-hull Fenn chasing down a one-hull Storm Ace, after Fenn finally caught and deleted a one-hull Zertik. The Scum boys caught a break when Fenn rolled three hits two crits in the first engagement and Fifth Brother blanked his defense. Otherwise Fenn would have eaten two Range One shots, and the game would likely have gone very differently. The Torpedo Boats managed to get off three of their four Proton Torpedoes, but only one Ion shot (which had zero effect). I used Zukuss once to good effect, and 4-LOM twice, again to good effect. As chunky Torpedo Boats go, they weren't at all bad. But I think that running them with Fenn demonstrates the weakness of any other third (or fourth) ship. Granted that Fenn could have just as easily died in that initial engagement as not, but most any other ship I've looked at either doesn't hit as hard even if it is tankier, or hits like a wet noodle. Contraband Cybernetics allowed one turn of pure brilliance for each Jump, so that remains stapled in place. But I think I begin to lean towards one Boat and Nom Lumb as being more flexible, and therefor more likely to be successful. Still, nice to have some data.