I'm trying to optimize a twin ARC and Biggs list and have this so far:

Biggs/R4-D6/IA - A good Biggs loadout to make him stick around a turn and soak damage

Braylen Stramm/R3-A2/Tactician/Title - Seems like a good stressbot. Stress in either arc or double stress in either arc at range 2

Norra Wexley/R7-T1/PTL/Ezra/Title/Adv Proton Torps/Guidance Chimps - I like the first part, where she can get a free boost into range 1 at PS7, then focus and deal plenty of hits/crits with mods from Ezra. The Adv Proton Torps seem good too, but then again I can almost do that with everything up to the title. Unless I roll 5 blanks, the "worst" APT's can do is 5 hits, but most likely there will be at least one crit in there. I don't think I'm going to catch Fel with this, but I could make a bad day for the emperor or a torpedo boat, maybe even put a few damage on Dengar that first turn.

I realize this isn't a phenominal "worlds" list, I'd just like to play it to get a handle on flying an ARC with some competitive success. I really like the first two ships, how would you optimize Norra in this case? I have 45 points left for her!

Norra Wexley (29)

PTL (3)

Plasma Torpedoes (3)

BB-8 (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Kyle Katarn (3)

Alliance Overhaul (0)

40 points

I like this version of the ARC-170. BB-8 allows a barrel roll when you reveal green. PTL off of this for a focus, receive stress, perform green, remove stress, Kyle Katarn for another focus, perform target lock. Good action economy with some potent attack potential, front or rear "ARC".

I would be tempted to swap Tactician for Gunner on Braelen as it is easier for him to get that second stress and you may force some damage through too, especially if the target has blown its tokens defending against Norra.

Norra is pricey, while you have Biggs for protection early on, I would be tempted to add R2-D2 for Regen as she will likely be pulling plenty of greens anyway to clear the stress from PTL. I am not entirely convinced by the Advanced Protorps as they are short ranged, expensive and single use. For 6 points, you get to roll 5 dice instead of 4 at range 1 once.

If you want to use Ordnance, I would go for Plasma torps for an opening salvo as they can at least deny your opponent an extra Green at Range 3 and strip an extra shield. Plus they only cost half the points of APTs. Alternatively, ditch ordnance and use the modification slot for EU or VT depending on the points you have remaining.

Here is how I would run this list:

26 Biggs (25), R4-D6 (1), IA (0)

32 Braelen (25), R3-A2 (2), Gunner (5), Title (0)

41 Norra (29), R2-D2 (4), Ezra (3), PTL (3), Vectored Thrusters (2), Title (0)

99 Points

If you like your Torps, feel free to swap VTs for Plasma and Guidance chips. I would also be tempted to consider a Weapons Engineer in place of Ezra as it means you can get TLs for both attack and defense.

http://geordanr.github.io/xwing/?f=Rebel%20Alliance&d=v4!s!204:18,-1,184,3:41:26:;207:-1,21,69:41:26:;4:-1,77:-1:20:&sn=final%20ARC%20build

do not give norra anything other than Tailgunner unless you're not fond of destroying your opponent's ships

Why tail gunner, when Kyle Katarn is made for her?? Clear stress get Focus :-) What's not to like??

Where as with Tail gunner, you have to wait to get them in rear arc,then hope to keep them there, with less dice, no thx, would rather run with Kyle, but it's good to see people like different ways to run her .

Focus on one agility does very little

Because you spend the TL, you cannot stack norras ability offensive and defensively so the extra focus is utterly redundant (esp with your title rear arc benefit)

Kk does one thing, let you ptl roll and tl while getting a focus

This is not worth an extra point, nor will it alleviate frustration from trying to hit anything that isn't a vcx or vt49

Lastly, I've played these guys for a while. You DO NOT wait for an aux arc; it is about literally all you ever use after the initial joust.

ARCS do not joust nor ever really kturn (kinda hard when ptled stressed), you're going to be using the aux arc far more often than your primary

If you do not like rolling less dice due to aux arc; this isn't the ship for you.

Focus on one agility does very little

Because you spend the TL, you cannot stack norras ability offensive and defensively so the extra focus is utterly redundant (esp with your title rear arc benefit)

Kk does one thing, let you ptl roll and tl while getting a focus

This is not worth an extra point, nor will it alleviate frustration from trying to hit anything that isn't a vcx or vt49

Lastly, I've played these guys for a while. You DO NOT wait for an aux arc; it is about literally all you ever use after the initial joust.

ARCS do not joust nor ever really kturn (kinda hard when ptled stressed), you're going to be using the aux arc far more often than your primary

If you do not like rolling less dice due to aux arc; this isn't the ship for you. It is actually its big defining characteristic, ie the reason it exists and why you'd take it at all (apart from the beautiful model)

So, why do you still think the tail gunner is so good?? And are we talking Nora here, or Braylen?? As the stress bot??

The tail gunner, takes off an agility, but you only have 2 dice anyway, which is not going to get thru Defenders, or Dengaroo or even Palp Aces, well on paper anyway, but as I can see, you have had a good few games with them, so would be nice if you wrote a little about them, like what you have played against, what you like about them, as so on.

If you want to, of course:-)

tailgunner on norra specifially

due to her ability to generate an extra hit

because, without that extra hit, it doesn't get through evade tokens, specifically (absolutely pastes dengaroo, though. His adorable infina-focus + re-roll means very little at 1 agility)

thane/braylen are dedicated to stress (the only other way to make the 2 dice primary do anything) and are better served with gunner/tactician to help continuously stack stress (and get through defensive tokens in gunner's case)

once you get stress shutting people down, you can 2-dice through even soontir (not so much x7s, but that's why you have Norra with tailgunner)

Ficklegreendice said literally everything I was going to, right down to the exact list I was going to share (although I could see scrapping Braylen's VT for initiative bid.)

There are a couple reasons for Kyle.

1. Reveal green, barrel roll, PTL target lock, stress, green maneuver, bump, remove stress, Kyle grants focus. Action economy when the maneuver cannot be completed or you do not wish to be shot at by a particular ship.

2. Range 3 and obstacles. I've succesfully maneuvered her around obstacles to use them for cover while keeping arcs open to other ships. This has a potential for 3 defense dice and that second focus comes in handy.

The BB-8 dance is very similar to how Phantoms flew pre-nerf. If done correctly, front arc is used for several rounds with 3-4 attack dice + Focus result.

Tail gunner has merit. I've flown it both ways. I prefer Kyle.

I do find myself in a mild state of disbelief that anyone flying ARCs has managed to hit literally anything short of a VCX or VT-49 using Norra without tailgunner

what magic probability-conforming dice do you guys use ?

I tore up an OL, Vessery, Inquisitor list with Kyle. The front ARC hits harder. Use it.

right because the ship designed and defined by the auxilary arc has such an easy time using the primary arc, especially when stressing them shuts off some of their most important upgrades (ptl/bb8/r3-a2 etc.) or vice versa

much easier to use tailgunner and just create a rough approximation of the front arc with both arcs, vastly increasing your maneuvering flexibility while still contributing relevant damage

Kyle Katarn grants a free focus when you clear said stress from being stressed

If you want to maximize the end game survival run miranda with c3po, kanan for a sure cleaning of the ARC stress, weapons engineer for the actions economy.

Braylen Stramm (25)
Flechette Torpedoes (2)
Gunner (5)
R3-A2 (2)
Guidance Chips (0)
Alliance Overhaul (0)

Norra Wexley (29)
Push the Limit (3)
Tail Gunner (2)
R2-D2 (4)
Vectored Thrusters (2)
Alliance Overhaul (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)
R4-D6 (1)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Basicaly what Fickle said. Just came out of a crazy game with this where one-hull Biggs was a hero and killed Wes Janson and Airen Cracken. You can go for 3PO on Norra to make her ungodly tanky 1v1, but I got a lot from Tailgunner, pushed crits through very often!

Of course there can be more builds. This one is tried and tested at this point, but you shouldn't let that keep you from running other things. Maybe run this once and use it to rate your differentiations.

although I could see scrapping Braylen's VT for initiative bid.

none of the ships have a PS high enough for it to really matter, whilst Vectored Thrusters are really good at getting thane into position to "see" shots fired and get his free actions. On Stramm, though, I'd bin them - or take something else, anyway. He's going to have a pile of stress tokens tall enough that he'll never use them after maybe the first turn of shooting.

Not necessarily

Vts are mainly for setting up the initial engagement, but sometimes games occur when the two squads break away for an extends period of time allowing stramm to shed stress before reengaging

Vts on him are mainly a clutch upgrade, ie you don't appreciate them until you start using them to set up some incredible positioning plays that wouldn't have been possible otherwise

And, very occasionally, his pilot ability remembers it exists and you can pull his ass out of the fire with it

There are no other two points is rather spend in the Biggs + 2 ARCs list, and a bid v dash is pretty worthless given how torpid the ARC is anyway

Braylen Stramm (25)

Flechette Torpedoes (2)

Gunner (5)

R3-A2 (2)

Guidance Chips (0)

Alliance Overhaul (0)

Norra Wexley (29)

Push the Limit (3)

Tail Gunner (2)

R2-D2 (4)

Vectored Thrusters (2)

Alliance Overhaul (0)

Biggs Darklighter (25)

R4-D6 (1)

Integrated Astromech (0)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Basicaly what Fickle said. Just came out of a crazy game with this where one-hull Biggs was a hero and killed Wes Janson and Airen Cracken. You can go for 3PO on Norra to make her ungodly tanky 1v1, but I got a lot from Tailgunner, pushed crits through very often!

Of course there can be more builds. This one is tried and tested at this point, but you shouldn't let that keep you from running other things. Maybe run this once and use it to rate your differentiations.

Oddly enough this is what I've settled on for this list, played it a few times last week and its kinda nuts. You're better off keeping things in Nora's rear arc. Weird to say, but it works!

I'm currently 0-2 with this list against Dengaroo and a triple Defender (we were doing worlds practice). I think flown correctly this could be a contender for royal PITA to fly against. The arcs just fly so much different than other ships, and small bases with front/rear arcs strangely leave very little blind spots, especially with a barrel roll. Having never flown the list or an ARC before, I was able to get Manaroo dead and dengar to a couple hull left before dying, and knocked out Vessery and Rexler, and Braylen couldn't get the last two hit off the delta x7 before he died.