No offense to anyone, but since Scrub is a light Mech, couldn't it be killed by the Thor if the Thor comes out of hiding?

Heh, If you can hit it. You'd need a 13 with the thor. Plus your opponent would protect it if it was nerfing Jack.

Since both the Thor and the Jack have relatively bad attacks, are there any ways to boost their attack stats (other than using pilots)?

Jack's forward observer ability and IT are probably the best ways. You might also consider Beagle Active Probe on Jack or dropping infantry from a transport for a formation fire. Thats pretty difficult to pull off though.

Thanks for the comments so far.

Regarding the pilot, does Deacon Caesar take away speed from the Thor? Also, is there any point in using a faster pilot such as Valerius?

against the thor Scrub is next to useless, the 3 damage pulse would get 2 clicks of damage through. assuming though that Scrub, being a meager 153 points in a 600 point build, is able to target Julz though, with some degree of success

that leaves me with the rest of the 600 points that could easily become ball busters for the thor. if I wanted to REALLY cheese out, SAD would be my choice. Overlord, Mist Wraith, Harliquen, LolCat, or Revenge would also be top candidates for a second mech.

You get what you pay for though. a completly repairable light mech with decent built in strike capabilities and an excellent defense, whos pilot is capable of enforceing the terrain rules of the game, that make 1 particular meta combo so fearsome, and neutralize many other not so fearsome but no less dangerous meta combos (broadsides, Yami, and Cynosusre come to mind off hand)

Which asset would you give up to cheapen it?

Its not that you don't get what you pay for, but rather that you spent 173 points (before recruit) that you could have been using for whatever else the army was trying to do. Thats almost 1/3 of your points in a 600 point game.

so you are saying it is that you get what you pay for.

that is assuming your going to wuss out and keep Scrub in the corner the whole game, even the man himself said the ability was secondary to the offenesive capabilities of the machine, and it is quite worthwhile either

A) as a follow up piece from a previous attack

or

B) a suppourt hunter.

given the built in evade and high speed you can also use it as a VC3 Runner or a Charge Boat (making it deadly effective against the above named WH Thor)

You unfortunately see scrub only as a venue for the pilot ability, and you only need that ability for about the first 15 minutes of play. a third of your points for under a third of the play time is a worthy investment, especially if you decide to play aggressivly.

if it is going to be there just for the ability then Scrub should not have a 24 defense, Evade should be replaced with recon, the attack value should be much lower (like an 8), and pulse should be removed

You know, come to think of it, Scrub is like a hyped up BR solitaire. Which makes sense considering who's mind it came out of...

There ya go, now you are starting to not think like a metagamer

Consider what a Piece IS capable of, not what it is not capable of.

But do most people use Scrubs? And if they do, are they used for the sole purpose of cancelling Jack?

On the same train of thought, do most people use True Grit nowadays?

People tend to use things like true grit and Scrub to counter other people who consistently use the same strategies. Therefore it depends entirely on what venue you are at whether or not they are used.

Also, people use Scrub to nerf Streak missiles, SA-01, Jack's ability, Onslaught madcat's ability, Homing beacon swarm and Queen bee ammo (not that it really needs to be canceled)

Did I miss any?

Is there any advantage to using Jack and the WH Thor versus using the Slayer Warwolf, which has streaks w/o the -1 damage penalty?

Well, Slayer has less damage, no armor piercing, costs more, doesn't have hardened armor, and has to streak something to get to "usable" stats. It does have the advantage of being a complete package though. You don't need a second mech to shoot over stuff.