  We study the effects of different "fat link" actions for Kogut-Susskind
quarks on flavor symmetry breaking. Our method is mostly empirical - we compute
the pion spectrum with different valence quark actions on common sets of sample
lattices. Different actions are compared, as best we can, at equivalent
physical points. We find significant reductions in flavor symmetry breaking
relative to the conventional or to the "link plus staple" actions, with a
reasonable cost in computer time. We also develop and test a scheme for
approximate unitarization of the fat links. While our tests have concentrated
on the valence quark action, our results will be useful in designing
simulations with dynamical quarks.
