Does the Tik need a machinist? Shock Army

I don't see much of a reason not to include one. 15 points is pretty cheap if you want to take the most basic one. 18 for a bs12 mimetism engineer fighter is probably something most other factions would envy to have too. Not sure if you'll take the Bagh haris in the same list as a Tik but he can always be a main member/ spare tire for them aswell.

He can also support the remotes you'll inevitably be taking as well. You'll get some mileage out of the machinist one way or the other – be it repairing 8 point bots for orders on later turns or on the tik itself if something catastrophic happens.

 

E/M, AHD, Jammer are very prevalent. That threat will increase even more if your opponent sees that you don't have any Engineers, because they know the orders and units committed to isolating/immobilizing your TAG will be worth the expenditure. They'll know that if they slap your TAG with one of those effects, it's not coming back into action.

This will be even more true at Rumble, since it's using a dedicated TAG mission, which means that everyone will include more anti-TAG countermeasures in their list than you'd probably encounter in a standard, non-TAG mission lineup. I wouldn't want to run that risk with 85 points.

 

Nice! Posting in the PanO section is usually a safe bet... I do most of my lurking here.

And I'd love to indicate otherwise, but I do think the Machinist is a good idea. I'm starting to use them more and more, even in lists without a TAG. Traditionally, I really dislike paying for booth a Machinist and a Trauma Doc in a list, but I find I'm running into so many mixed threats these days that I can't really afford to leave them at home. They're also a bit of a deterrent, since opponents are a lot less determined to land Isolation if they think you'll just fix it back up next turn.

If it helps, as @MikeTheScrivener mentions, there's other roles the Machinist can do too, so try to look at what positive things it can do for you, rather than how many points it will cost. You can get some added mileage out of the Machinist by throwing in another attack REM... The Peacemaker's a pretty good option here.

I'm trying to get my mind in Rumble space too. Shock's a really nice army choice for Rumble's missions, especially since the Tik is such a phenomenal TAG. I'm thinking about using the Tik in Tag v Tag mission, since it lacks AP and is quite a bit lighter than some of the opponents it's likely to encounter. It's still such a superior TAG that it can probably get away with it, especially since it will primarily be used early in the event when you have a higher chance of an easier matchup, but we'll see. option that I still think it's a very strong choice, but I haven't committed to anything yet.

 

ASA has a great set of anti-TAG tools and an MSR can be extremely solid for mitigating the threat of most TAGs (using Stun).

This would let you play assymetrically: apply TAG to the squishy things, apply info-war/Teucer/Dart to the TAGy things.

It's a build that's less reliant on the TAG not going down early.

 

There are the default challenges of every TAG list to consider.
What's most important to have if the TAG fails? A Machinist won't bring it back from Stunned or Dead and might need some serious Order expenditure to move up to the TAG, more than ever with the Tik thanks to having C+.
You want backup gunners and a midfield presence and that might be more important.

With the Tik being relatively cheap, easy to hide and hard to catch up to, it's probably not worth it to run a Machinist without a Combat REM (Sierra/Bulleteer).
SAA generally has better choices than Combat REMs, personally I'd rather add more Orders, upgrade a Naga to Dart include second Sapper Sniper etc.