"but the rear arc is only 2 dice!"

^probably the main complaint there.

Truth there are builds that make 2die attacks kinda suck balls (c3p0 users, jammers, kanan in the ghost, x7 defenders) but its also getting a free focus to crit mod, so its technically quite a bit more accurate than usual.

Also ive seen my lowly academy pilots take 2 potshots at a range3 Poe behind a rock and somehow land 2 hits lol....crazy things happen

"but the rear arc is only 2 dice!"

^probably the main complaint there.

Truth there are builds that make 2die attacks kinda suck balls (c3p0 users, jammers, kanan in the ghost, x7 defenders) but its also getting a free focus to crit mod, so its technically quite a bit more accurate than usual.

Also ive seen my lowly academy pilots take 2 potshots at a range3 Poe behind a rock and somehow land 2 hits lol....crazy things happen

Tail gunnah!

that and Norra is kinda a 3-dice primary with her ability, which gets auto-proced by Alliance Overhaul

which is why I hold the ARC far above the standard (re: non-Backdraft) SF

im not a fan of norra. Purely because its not adding a Hit or stating "when you spend a TL" to get her ability off.

The way its worded indicates you spend the TL directly to add the focus, akin to han crew where you dont get the usual TL effect (or fire a torp). That means she needs 2 flippin' actions (except out the rear) to ever get any use out of her ability. Bad design, complete crap ability.

"When attacking or defending, you may spend a targetlock you have on the enemy ship...."

Thats a separate use out of a TL, not a stacked effect like the TIE/v1 title or lasting effect like the Advanced Targeting Computer. Its worded like the plenty of focus-related abilities out there, only with a TL instead of a focus

if Norra's ability added a focus when she uses her TL at ALL (directly for the ability or not) it would be amazing.

Or

If it flatout added a hit or evade, but retained its individual use like it currently has, it would be amazing.

im not a fan of norra. Purely because its not adding a Hit or stating "when you spend a TL" to get her ability off.

The way its worded indicates you spend the TL directly to add the focus, akin to han crew where you dont get the usual TL effect (or fire a torp). That means she needs 2 flippin' actions (except out the rear) to ever get any use out of her ability. Bad design, complete crap ability.

"When attacking or defending, you may spend a targetlock you have on the enemy ship...."

Thats a separate use out of a TL, not a stacked effect like the TIE/v1 title or lasting effect like the Advanced Targeting Computer

if Norra's ability added a focus when she uses her TL at ALL (directly for the ability or not) it would be amazing.

Or

If it flatout added a hit or evade, but retained its individual use like it currently has, it would be amazing.

oh no! no green hard turns!

AUX ARC!

I too wish it just flat out added a result or stacked with TL re-roll, but then we might be looking at the next inquisitor possibly

it'd have a similar effect to Inqy just effectively upping his primary to 3, except you wouldn't get the range 3 negation but you would get a range 1 bonus

Yes i know of PTL and i hate it when a ship flatout demands that card to function at all.

Theres a reason i seldom use awings/interceptors. They are locked on a single build and it gets stale quick

I mean, you can take a target lock action and simply not use it.

That's always my go-to action for if I know I'm not being shot, or if I know I'm gonna k-turn next turn.

People forget that you can bank locks.

Yes i know of PTL and i hate it when a ship flatout demands that card to function at all.

Theres a reason i seldom use awings/interceptors. They are locked on a single build and it gets stale quick

You're still stuck to greens BUT the build is radically different and frees up your ept

Predator for rerolls on her ability or VI up to 9 with VTs both sound nice

There also hope that Finn/Rey in Hotr box can help out the arc

If Finn crew is meant to work well with Rey (movie tie in and all), he may provide focus benefits to compliment her rerolls

At which point norra can swoop in and steal him

I mean, you can take a target lock action and simply not use it.

That's always my go-to action for if I know I'm not being shot, or if I know I'm gonna k-turn next turn.

People forget that you can bank locks.

oh believe me i do that all the time. Im usually the one at my flgs thats constantly telling people "hey..theres no shot here...why are you focusing?"

Difference between that for normal attacks and Norra's ability is other pilots still get their ability, the TL just amplifies things. Norra needs it to do anything, and if your initial roll is bad you'll reroll instead of use her ability anyway.

And yeah im hoping the unspoiled stuff in hotr is good. Theres plenty of cards in there we have 0 idea wtf they are yet.

Man you're telling me

The only time I've really been salty at a preview

You have all this amazing crap and you choose to spoil the same **** Poe, a title only he will use unless Nien with vi is amazing, another crappy fat falcon and another crappy fat falcon title

Good thing we could make out burst of speed and pattern analyzer just to have SOMETHING to look forward to

Sidebar: I have found myself agreeing with fickle on more than one occasion over the past week, which is terrifying.

Such is the power of the ARC

Geez, that ARC dial sucks. I was hoping against hope that it would somehow have a hard green turn.

Fang dial is good, and pretty much expected.

Shadowcaster dial is stupid good.

One day the rebels will figure out how to build a space superiority fighter that is at least as nimble as cargo freighters, but that day is not today.

The hell? The ARC has green banks at 2 speeds. That is amazing. You normally would have to pay a point for that. And if you are that freaking desperate for green turns, grab a freaking R2 Astromech. I love the ARC dial. The Shadowcaster is not nearly as good as you think. 3 speed maneuvers on a large base is not necessarily what you want.

Geez, that ARC dial sucks. I was hoping against hope that it would somehow have a hard green turn.

Fang dial is good, and pretty much expected.

Shadowcaster dial is stupid good.

One day the rebels will figure out how to build a space superiority fighter that is at least as nimble as cargo freighters, but that day is not today.

The hell? The ARC has green banks at 2 speeds. That is amazing. You normally would have to pay a point for that. And if you are that freaking desperate for green turns, grab a freaking R2 Astromech. I love the ARC dial. The Shadowcaster is not nearly as good as you think. 3 speed maneuvers on a large base is not necessarily what you want.

The ARC is not a bad ship, it's just a bad fit in the current meta. It doesn't have the dial or mobility to chase aces, neither does it provide a substantially better stress mechanic than the stresshog (and it's more expensive doing so) nor does it last any better than other rebel ships against ordnance. In fact its a very bad choice against ordnance considering most ARC builds will run you into mid 30s or even 40ish points and you have a decent chance to blow this thing up in 1turn.

Thats why i have a hard time believing this will be a popular ship when it releases.

Agree on the shadowcaster though, it has some neat tricks, but only 3 shields makes it vulnerable to crits and no slow greens is kind of a drawback (even though it has 1-2 too many greens for my liking, but hey got to see those boxes amiright...).

The problem with the arc v ordnance is that none of wave 9 is good v ordnance

Only rau has a shot at arc dodging (good luck with 3 scouts) and QuickDraw gives you a crackswarm's chance of killing one before it shoots. Il Terry exist s but Carnor didn't exactly send torp running so eh

But the ARC has potential outside that one horrendous matchup, it's just difficult to put on the forums due to how crucial the small base aux arc is to its performance

I'm confident you can make it perform against anything that isn't torp scouts; even Dengaroo (tailgunner, son)

I am not confident it will see wide competitive use, simply because it's not as easy to win with as your typical meta staple

But if you like the look of the ship, there's more than enough there to kick ass with

If you don't, well why bother in the first place?

The ARC is not a bad ship, it's just a bad fit in the current meta. It doesn't have the dial or mobility to chase aces, neither does it provide a substantially better stress mechanic than the stresshog (and it's more expensive doing so) ...

For 3 points more than a Gold Squad Stresshog you get:

- An extra point of PS

- An extra point of hull

- The ability to stress from range 1-3 out the front or rear arc

- The ability to double stress at range 2 out the front or rear arc

- When you can double stress you only receive a single stress token.

- A dial that is much better at clearing stress

- A pilot ability that has a 50% chance of removing a stress token after a maneuver

You end up with a ship that doesn't get PS killed by Contracted Scouts, is more durable, has a larger area of the board that a single stress can be dealt in, loses some area for double stress but does it with a different foot print, and doesn't cripple its own ability to take actions by dealing stress. I think that Braylen is a better stress generator than the Stresshog and well worth the 3 extra points if you are looking to having a stress dealing ship in your squad.

Oh man

Anyone who's flown a stresshog has to HATE having to 2turn forever to get back into the fight

Braylen? Braylen don't give a crap!

Go slow, let em pass and sling some stress right out your ass!

(Had to, it rhymes)

The ARC is not a bad ship, it's just a bad fit in the current meta.

Yes....but how long will that meta survive the rest of Wave 9? Wave 9 seems to be the anti-PTL Ace wave. There are a number of things that really hit it hard on Soontir Fel and friends. Let's see what the meta is like once they die down. Maybe the ARC-170 will be awesome in the new meta that isn't out yet, but is right around the corner.

Oh the arc is FINE against palp aces

Whether you're r3a2 aces to hell or being nearly invincible 1v1 with c3po r2d2 norra, there's always a chance at victory

It's the scouts you gotta watch out for

The ARC is not a bad ship, it's just a bad fit in the current meta. It doesn't have the dial or mobility to chase aces, neither does it provide a substantially better stress mechanic than the stresshog (and it's more expensive doing so) ...

For 3 points more than a Gold Squad Stresshog you get:

- An extra point of PS

- An extra point of hull

- The ability to stress from range 1-3 out the front or rear arc

- The ability to double stress at range 2 out the front or rear arc

- When you can double stress you only receive a single stress token.

- A dial that is much better at clearing stress

- A pilot ability that has a 50% chance of removing a stress token after a maneuver

You end up with a ship that doesn't get PS killed by Contracted Scouts, is more durable, has a larger area of the board that a single stress can be dealt in, loses some area for double stress but does it with a different foot print, and doesn't cripple its own ability to take actions by dealing stress. I think that Braylen is a better stress generator than the Stresshog and well worth the 3 extra points if you are looking to having a stress dealing ship in your squad.

Not arguing your overall comparison here, but there's a reason the stresshog never saw much play before TLT stretched doublestress to range 2-3. It's just a much bigger area than range 2 or even range 1-2. The difference between single-stressing and double-stressing at range 3 is massive and that's why i fundamentally disagree that this thing is a better stress mechanic than the good old stresshog. Besides, stresshogs dont see much play right now either.

If you want range 3 stress, use gunner

Bigger investment, Better pay off and can actually do damage (works range 1)

To influence gunner triggers, remember alliance overhaul says "MAY" both for the additional die and the back mod

Is Stresshog going to be needed once needed as much once all the PTL Ace counters scare them away?

Is Stresshog going to be needed once needed as much once all the PTL Ace counters scare them away?

They're not going anywhere don't you worry

Besides stress is still useful against anything that isn't dengaroo 's dengar (if you stress manny, you're in a good time)

Even Defenders lose mods to stress, x7 white 4ks or not

The ARC is not a bad ship, it's just a bad fit in the current meta. It doesn't have the dial or mobility to chase aces, neither does it provide a substantially better stress mechanic than the stresshog (and it's more expensive doing so) ...

For 3 points more than a Gold Squad Stresshog you get:

- An extra point of PS

- An extra point of hull

- The ability to stress from range 1-3 out the front or rear arc

- The ability to double stress at range 2 out the front or rear arc

- When you can double stress you only receive a single stress token.

- A dial that is much better at clearing stress

- A pilot ability that has a 50% chance of removing a stress token after a maneuver

You end up with a ship that doesn't get PS killed by Contracted Scouts, is more durable, has a larger area of the board that a single stress can be dealt in, loses some area for double stress but does it with a different foot print, and doesn't cripple its own ability to take actions by dealing stress. I think that Braylen is a better stress generator than the Stresshog and well worth the 3 extra points if you are looking to having a stress dealing ship in your squad.

Not arguing your overall comparison here, but there's a reason the stresshog never saw much play before TLT stretched doublestress to range 2-3. It's just a much bigger area than range 2 or even range 1-2. The difference between single-stressing and double-stressing at range 3 is massive and that's why i fundamentally disagree that this thing is a better stress mechanic than the good old stresshog. Besides, stresshogs dont see much play right now either.

Braylen doubles the area that a single stress can be dealt in. He also has a much easier time continuing to deal stress in subsequent rounds. I'm not sure exactly how the math works out but I don't think that the area of range three in arc is more than twice what range 2 is. The ARC-170 may actually be able to double stress in a larger section of the board than the Stresshog can.

The ARC is not a bad ship, it's just a bad fit in the current meta. It doesn't have the dial or mobility to chase aces, neither does it provide a substantially better stress mechanic than the stresshog (and it's more expensive doing so) nor does it last any better than other rebel ships against ordnance. In fact its a very bad choice against ordnance considering most ARC builds will run you into mid 30s or even 40ish points and you have a decent chance to blow this thing up in 1turn.

Thats why i have a hard time believing this will be a popular ship when it releases.

Agree on the shadowcaster though, it has some neat tricks, but only 3 shields makes it vulnerable to crits and no slow greens is kind of a drawback (even though it has 1-2 too many greens for my liking, but hey got to see those boxes amiright...).

The ARC's place in the meta is a different argument than it having a bad dial. As someone who played Defenders pre-Veterans, I learned the value of the 1 bank. I just really like the ARC's dial.

the arc doesnt have a bad dial. Its got a slew of slow speeds with plenty of greens in there while it has the OPTION for many other moves.

Ive said this numerous times i'll say it again: i'd rather a ship be littered in reds than missing the move entirely. More often than not when i use a Bwing the red moves are what i really need to get the attack through, which is one reason Keyan is so **** good. If they simply didnt have that move at all, bwings would be even worse than they are.