With the current tournament meta, what do you guys like better on RAC and why? Either Ysanna for better survivability or Rebel Captive for its stress.

Rebel captive is mostly moot at this point. 1 Stress is too easy to manage for too many ships (in such limited numbers). Of course if there are other stressers in your list, maybe rebel captive would be worth it. Ysanne is guaranteed extra durability, so she would be my pick.

Yeah, pretty much - a lot of lists these days don't care about just one or two stress, and some don't care about it at ALL. Ysanne Isard is a much better choice.

Plus, Ysanne allows start-of-combat push the limit tricks, which is very nice on an engine upgrade equipped large ship - that evade token may block one point of damage, but a boost action after everyone else has moved can often prevent a lot more.

Stressing RAC makeshift incredibly predictable so I'd be more inclined to take VI and Engine Upgrade with no (fun!) PTL shenanigans.

I'm trying to figure out how to crew up a RAC at the moment. I don't own Palp or Hot Shot so so far I've got Gunner/VI/EU. Alongside my Ryad that leaves me with 8 points to spend.

I too am thinking about Rebel Captive as it was passive and would screw up Defenders (I've been on the other end of being a stressed Defender and not being about to PTL).

So then I've got 5 points to either spend on an actionless bomb or another crew member. Isard is looking like that right one at the moment.

Neither. Hotshot Copilot/Gunner. HotCoP/Gunner/Vader is a mean-as-f anti-ace build and makes Poe and R5P9 cry, but it's very much a meta call - if you face a lot of big tough tanky ships, particularly with regen, only the HotCoP is actually helping there, and spending 8 points on vader/gunner is a risky investment when shadowcasters, jumpmasters, arcs, t70s, falcons are in the ascendant.

Personally, I've always found rebel captive to be superior. I just won a small tourney this weekend with Oicunn and he had rebel captive.

People above saying that one stress doesn't do enough, don't seem to understand how it DOES in fact do enough. Of course, it only works as long as you have engine upgrade. Basically, you put your decimator in a position that leaves your opponent with a tough choice when selecting his dial next turn. He's stressed, so he either clears the stress but cannot shoot (because your decimator won't be there) or he can keep the stress and try to get arc on the decimator (but no action). If he does take the 2nd option, then he is most likely going to be double stressed for the next turn...

So, it is in fact a huge benefit. 1 evade token can stop one damage. Dodging arcs can stop a lot more. Rebel captive makes arc-dodging easier. If you don't plan on flying a decimator with engine, however, then rebel captive is not in fact worth it.

Personally, I've always found rebel captive to be superior. I just won a small tourney this weekend with Oicunn and he had rebel captive.

People above saying that one stress doesn't do enough, don't seem to understand how it DOES in fact do enough. Of course, it only works as long as you have engine upgrade. Basically, you put your decimator in a position that leaves your opponent with a tough choice when selecting his dial next turn. He's stressed, so he either clears the stress but cannot shoot (because your decimator won't be there) or he can keep the stress and try to get arc on the decimator (but no action). If he does take the 2nd option, then he is most likely going to be double stressed for the next turn...

So, it is in fact a huge benefit. 1 evade token can stop one damage. Dodging arcs can stop a lot more. Rebel captive makes arc-dodging easier. If you don't plan on flying a decimator with engine, however, then rebel captive is not in fact worth it.

My meta is filled to the brim with defenders and tlt's right now, and neither of those particularly care about a stress token. The defender can still k-turn and evade (plus have a TL cause vessery), and the tlt Y-wing... Well it's a Tlt y-wing. Then there are r2d2 ships that were going to green move regardless, and palp shuttles that just bump their own ships regardless. Don't have to say how little dengaroo cares. I guess it bothers r5p9 poe, a ptl ship, or a mindlink squad.

All those squads actually care, but only if you know how to get the most out of the stress.

Defenders: I actually faced these on Sunday, and the stress from captive contributed to my victory (twice: once by denying Vessery his focus token, such that with only evade, his greens could not stop me from destroying him and then later when I double stressed Ryad such that she was out of the fight for two turns trying to clear it and so allowing my ace to beat on his remaining ship and give me better endgame chances)

TLT y-wings: stress means they either go forward very slowly (allowing you into R1 out of arc very easily, and therefore no shot incoming) or they take a white move, and have no token to modify their shots. 2 unmodified shots, even with 3 red dice are likely to result in one roll being a complete miss some of the time (again saving you damage).

Regen ships limited to greens often cannot keep up with the damage you throw at them. So again, forcing them into a predictable pattern allows you greater odds of throwing more damage (nullifying the benefit of regen) and also increases your ability to outmaneuver and avoid return shots.

Dengaroo: Dengar cares a tiny bit about stress in that once Manaroo is dead, if he has a big pile of stress tokens, he is utterly incapable of winning against an opponent that has fully modified attack/defenses with multiple tokens (as is the case in my list). And there IS one ship in that list that DOES hate stress. Manaroo. Obviously, you want to set up situations where Dengar cannot hit the decimator and therefore either makes the mistake of shooting with Manaroo (and double stressing herself) or shoots at your ace (whom she has no chance of hurting) thus ultimately preserving your decimator a little longer...