Hey Fickle, what do ARCs do better as Biggs companions than an R2D2 Corran and an R2A3 Wes aren't already doing? I mean other than beings awesome looking miniatures

idk

I like em better for sure

r3-a2 braylen has far more coverage and is far easier to bring to bear, he just doens't have anti-torp scout abilities

Corran at 42 points is imo a hollow shadow and I'd take Norra or miranda over him any day

lower ps seems like an issue until you start experiencing the joy of aux arc coverage

Higher ps is nice for killing something before it shoots back much more than for moving after your opponent.

The double firing arc is tasty thought.

I'm deeply in love with corran, but I agree on the difficulty of facing a bmst meta. The issue of shifting to an arc from corran is losing the double tap, which makes a 3 ships list looking like a 4 ones.

I can't see me leaving home without Wes till torp scouts are in the meta thought

Imagine what the Firespray would be like on a small base instead of the oversized monstrosity we have now.

Do you have certain builds you're gravitating towards already?

You mentioned PTL Norra w/tail gunner

What about

These?

Norra predator, r5k6 Recon Spec (it seems you would need extra foci, but maybe Biggs prevents that from being useful) overhaul

Thane seismic torp, Jan Ors, R2 overhaul, to hel keep Biggs alive

Braylen R3A2 tail gunner, overhaul

Vectored thrusters seem worthwhile, seismic torps seem worthwhile

Shara seems worthless

Imagine what the Firespray would be like on a small base instead of the oversized monstrosity we have now.

Do you have certain builds you're gravitating towards already?

You mentioned PTL Norra w/tail gunner

What about

These?

Norra predator, r5k6 Recon Spec (it seems you would need extra foci, but maybe Biggs prevents that from being useful) overhaul

Thane seismic torp, Jan Ors, R2 overhaul, to hel keep Biggs alive

Braylen R3A2 tail gunner, overhaul

Vectored thrusters seem worthwhile, seismic torps seem worthwhile

Shara seems worthless

I....can't say that all that much of this is a good idea.

Norra needs a focus and a target lock to WORK. You're not actually helping her do that. You're giving her two focus tokens one turn(which you immediately lose the next turn), and a 3/8ths chance to not lose a target lock you just got. That build is kind of enormous ass and doesn't make sense.

StressBray works because he has gunner. Tail gunner is kind of worthless to him since his job isn't to do damage, it's to double stress, which he cant do without gunner.

why would you put r2 astro on an ARC-170? you're literally only turning 2 white maneuvers green. Jan Ors doesnt make sense on Thane for multiple reasons. Thane needs stuff that gives actions, Jan Ors isn't an action. Thane is supposed to punish your enemy for shooting at someone else, Jan Ors doesn't help him do that. Neither does Seismic because those have a low damage output and isn't particularly scary. You shouldnt be worried about keeping Biggs alive. Biggs will stay alive as long as he is meant to. When you dedicate part of your list to keeping a ship alive when that ship's entire purpose is to die, when it does die you've wasted points on stuff that isn't seeing use.

I'm still debating if tactitian is better than Gunner on the stressMule... Auto-double stress without double stressing yourself, but only at R2 and less damage overall... but a little cheaper, which allows to equip Flechette torps for R3 initial double stressing for example

I'm wondering how well Thane would work with R2-D6, Expose and Tail Gunner. It only comes in at 33 points, Biggs negates the threat of 0 agility, and the risk of a 4-5 dice retaliatory shot with a focus (and possible focus/TL) could be a deterrent against people shooting at Biggs.

Unfortunately, in not so many words, the competitive and even anticompetitive metas only allow for very specific builds

The ARCs biggest weaknesses are low speed on their dial and 1 agi which allows most anything in the game to win dice trades against them (this is why Biggs is mandatory)

Second, while the aux arc is great, 2 dice primaries are pretty worthless without some serious numbers (crackswarm) or exceptional abilities (omega L)

Tail gunner is mandatory (outside r3a2 gunner braylen) because you simply don't accomplish anything without it. Even WITH it, a single evade token or guaranteed evade result like palp will ruin your chances

This makes norra basically the only ARC that can push damage through (thane makes a fan good torp boat but only has 1 shot )

R3a2 gunner braylens stress and gunner are your only other means of mitigating this severe weakness and getting good use out of your auxiliary

But back to the problem of dice trading, norra still suffers from it. This makes r2d2 mandatory. The little guy is, as always, worth five times his weight in gold

Shara seems worthless

Also she tandems with Dutch very well, and in that case just take Weapons Engineer and come up with a different droid and ept for her.

Dutch's ability giving Shara 2 freelocks a turn and him using a TLT or Ion Cannon is really nice.

The pain is becoming overwhelming. I've had a pair of ARCs for over a week and have yet to use them. Life can be cruel.

I shamelessly stole fickles archetype and played a game with biggs (std 26); Norra, ptl, vectored Ts, r2d2, tail gunner; Thane with plasma, r3a2, Guidance Cs, tail gunner.

Awesome fun. Felt like x-wing at its very best. (narrow win for me, mostly thanks to my opponent reminding me of various pilot abilities and upgrades). But two things sorta bugged me.

Norras ability felt somewhat situational. Most times, spending that TL + Focus would just net the same result anyway (likely). What are your opinions on her abilty?

R3a2 does nothing special for thane. Sure it stops an opponent from K-turning while Thane can continue onwards and fire out his rear. Its also good ace insurance. But what are some other options for him?

I shamelessly stole fickles archetype and played a game with biggs (std 26); Norra, ptl, vectored Ts, r2d2, tail gunner; Thane with plasma, r3a2, Guidance Cs, tail gunner.

Awesome fun. Felt like x-wing at its very best. (narrow win for me, mostly thanks to my opponent reminding me of various pilot abilities and upgrades). But two things sorta bugged me.

Norras ability felt somewhat situational. Most times, spending that TL + Focus would just net the same result anyway (likely). What are your opinions on her abilty?

I've played Norra a few times with that build.

It's situational in that sense that you are constantly trying to get her into a situation where she has TL+Focus and arc on the target ship. A pre-existing target locks allows you to use Vectored Thrusters to reposition. I think the ideal situation is:

I. Biggs blocking shots

II. Norra has opponent

--a. Target Locked

--b. In rear-arc

--c. At range 1

III. Rolls lots of paint

This will result in:

I. 3-dice attack with Focus to modify, and

II. 1 garunateed Critical

-- Target Lock adds a Focus

-- Alliance Overhaul turns Focus to Crit

For you mathwings out there, that's 2.2-2.5 damage against 2-3 agility with no evade. If you add one evade... Forget about it.

Why?

FFG hates Rebels.

Norra's ability is best when you roll natural hits + focus so you can feel like a phantom for a few glorious instances

when you roll 1 blank, it's a guarantee for max damage. Re-roll + focus will not always land you 3/4 hits

the defensive portion of it is actually surprisingly clutch, especially if you're facing an enemy you simply know you can't hurt without rolling max hits + 1 (i.e, basically anything the empire flies these days)

1v1 against a late game ace or x7 defender, Norra's defensive ability + r2-d2 will just let you stall the clock for a full win (because mod wins don't exist anymore)

it's an okay ability

Thane, sadly, just can't do enough atm. His ability allows for fully modified shots (including imitation torp scout, where his ability providing a target-lock is basically deadeye because it doesn't care about normal TL restrictions and it hits during the combat phase so you can't countermeasure/ black one /manaroo it etc.), but that's just not enough to get through evade tokens nowadays

you get one good shot (either with a Plasma torp or r2d6 + crackshot) and then you're just kinda not doing much, not even with tailgunner. One evade halves your maximum damage at range 2-3; just one naked evade will neuter it completely (assuming you roll perfect hits, of course)

gotta hope for useful ACTION: crew/mechs to come out in the future, or for some means of generating a sustained increase in his dice output (note, not expose; expose is crap)

honestly, kinda wishing the ARC had a 3 die primary before the title (big ass guns and all)

freaking PS 3 phantoms have a 4 die primary (and they get to evade/roll/cloak); why can't braylen ?

considering the crap they have to go through (not to mention the general superiority of TLT over a standard 3-die primary), it seems warranted

1v1 against a late game ace or x7 defender, Norra's defensive ability + r2-d2 will just let you stall the clock for a full win (because mod wins don't exist anymore)

This.

R2-D2 is an auto-include, as Fickle has said time and time again. I only wish there was a way to have Shield Upgrade and Vectored Thrusters. Norra refuses to die if you allow her to disengage after convincing the enemies they don't want to be in your rear-arc...

Just ran them tonight. I gave Thane some flechette torpedoes along with R3-A2, which was beautiful. Ryad couldn't do a **** thing to him.

And PTL Norra is just amazing. I'm going to need to up my pre-order at the FLGS.

I played Norra, Braylen and Biggs last night on Vassal against Inquisitor, Omega Leader, Wampa e PalpMobile, resulting in a full win (4-0 so far on vassal).

I must agree that Gunner on Braylen is much useful than tactitian+Flechette torps, as I managed to activate Gunner at least 4 times on Inquisitor first and on Omega later, ensuring their premature death. The extra stress is not much of a problem, as it has 50% of probability to disappear by himself and if you choose a green move will leave you unstressed.

I never used Norra's ability while rolling greens, as i always spent my focus or TL during the attack and thought that r2-d2 was enough to mitigate some damage (never been under focused fire, anyway). Tail gunner is autoinclude, because a die that your opp won't roll won't surely turn into an evade

I'm absolutely not sold on Thane, I'd run Braylen over him every single time.

I'm still debating if tactitian is better than Gunner on the stressMule... Auto-double stress without double stressing yourself, but only at R2 and less damage overall... but a little cheaper, which allows to equip Flechette torps for R3 initial double stressing for example

How do you guarantee double stress with tactician?

I'm wondering how well Thane would work with R2-D6, Expose and Tail Gunner. It only comes in at 33 points, Biggs negates the threat of 0 agility, and the risk of a 4-5 dice retaliatory shot with a focus (and possible focus/TL) could be a deterrent against people shooting at Biggs.

Yes, I'm wondering about expose too. 4pts though...

Edit: 5pts and loss of your astromech slot in fact. Alas, I fear Expose is still ****.

I'm still debating if tactitian is better than Gunner on the stressMule... Auto-double stress without double stressing yourself, but only at R2 and less damage overall... but a little cheaper, which allows to equip Flechette torps for R3 initial double stressing for example

How do you guarantee double stress with tactician?

I'm still debating if tactitian is better than Gunner on the stressMule... Auto-double stress without double stressing yourself, but only at R2 and less damage overall... but a little cheaper, which allows to equip Flechette torps for R3 initial double stressing for example

How do you guarantee double stress with tactician?

Stressbot + Tactician

Ah. In that case I think I prefer gunner. Dedicating both slots to stressing at the expense of damage output seems a bit all-eggs-in-one-baskety.

There's always Flechettes. Heck, you could get triple Stress with R3, Flechettes and Tactician.

I'm wondering how well Thane would work with R2-D6, Expose and Tail Gunner. It only comes in at 33 points, Biggs negates the threat of 0 agility, and the risk of a 4-5 dice retaliatory shot with a focus (and possible focus/TL) could be a deterrent against people shooting at Biggs.

Yes, I'm wondering about expose too. 4pts though...

Edit: 5pts and loss of your astromech slot in fact. Alas, I fear Expose is still ****.

5 points and the loss of your astromech slot, but you would gain an extra attack die and the attack would be modified.

Thane shooting three dice with a focus and TL averages out to 2.625 hit results per attack.

Thane shooting four dice with a focus and Expose averages to 3.00 hit results per attack. If he can get another action to add a TL as well, then that bumps up to 3.50 hit results per attack.

Expose would also bump his aft shot from an attack value of 2 to an attack value of 3, which is huge when combined with things like a Tail Gunner and the title.

problem with Thane is you only want to rely on his ability triggering once (per round)

it's very VERY rare that it ever triggers more than that

so the expose stuff would only really work on the aux arc (TL + Alliance Overhaul mods); once Biggs is gone Thane's going to disappear even more quickly;

one of the nice things Thane did was he became the secondary Biggs after Biggs was gone, but expose's price at further neutering of the ARC's already horrible defensive profile runs sorta contrary to that

besides, I've noticed Braylen's just far and away more reliable

just having gunner already helps the ARC tremendously, as it's far more capable of sticking damage through evade tokens than tailgunner

adding r3-a2 just skyrockets your squad's survivability (remove offense action-based modifiers, shuts of red manuevers that allow most enemy ships to continue firing on your squad while you leisurely bring aux arcs to bear etc.) AND damage output (remove action-based defensive modifiers; generally reduce enemy speed by forcing greens etc)

and this utility remains whether he's shot at or not

note, haven't tried stress Thane (imo, he's a superior platform for r3-a2 + tactician as you're only getting one stress from r3-a2 anyway, and only after you shoot so the ability is relevant v PS > 4 which is a lot ). Tactician does make his rear arc pretty crap, though (no tailgunner), but you could do something like fit a plasma torpedo (Thane is torp scout levels good with ordnance; too bad he only gets one shot )

So this begs the question: Points aside, who would you rather fly, Wexley or Braylen?

I assume Biggs has to be in that list, so you have 25-30 points to play with after you choose one - not a great point area for Rebels.

I ran Norra with Miranda this weekend - I think with some practice, that list could give a lot (besides Torp Scouts) a run for their money. Bombs and Homing Missiles keep everyone tense and Norra just skirts and tries to not get focus-fired. Kiting is the way to go.

problem with Thane is you only want to rely on his ability triggering once (per round)

it's very VERY rare that it ever triggers more than that

so the expose stuff would only really work on the aux arc (TL + Alliance Overhaul mods); once Biggs is gone Thane's going to disappear even more quickly;

one of the nice things Thane did was he became the secondary Biggs after Biggs was gone, but expose's price at further neutering of the ARC's already horrible defensive profile runs sorta contrary to that

besides, I've noticed Braylen's just far and away more reliable

just having gunner already helps the ARC tremendously, as it's far more capable of sticking damage through evade tokens than tailgunner

adding r3-a2 just skyrockets your squad's survivability (remove offense action-based modifiers, shuts of red manuevers that allow most enemy ships to continue firing on your squad while you leisurely bring aux arcs to bear etc.) AND damage output (remove action-based defensive modifiers; generally reduce enemy speed by forcing greens etc)

and this utility remains whether he's shot at or not

note, haven't tried stress Thane (imo, he's a superior platform for r3-a2 + tactician as you're only getting one stress from r3-a2 anyway). Tactician does make his rear arc pretty crap, though (no tailgunner), but you could do something like fit a plasma torpedo (Thane is torp scout levels good with ordnance; too bad he only gets one shot )

Thane with Flechettes was pretty solid in the one game I played with it. Doesn't do anything to ships with more than 4 hull, but just that single turn of double-stress was usually a huge threat to aces, and he was usually able to keep them in arc to keep the pain flowing from R3-A2.

Braylen sounds hilarious, though. I'll have to give that one a spin next time I fly them. I'm solidly hooked on these ships, and the only thing I dislike is that I may end up using them more than Double Lothals.

Also, Vectored Thrusters are the the real deal. Finally, Engine Upgrade has some competition for the mod slot on small ships.

VTs are so **** good it makes me wish they didn't exist (so the ARC could just have native b-roll instead)

or boost (**** thing has a punisher's profile, but not the action bar )

any aux arc ship would love b-roll, even dabbling with the SF (heresy!) with PS 9 "Backdraft" makes that abundantly clear

How on earth did Backdraft survive long enough to be able to use his aux arc?