I'm interested in using RAC w/kylo and Whisper but I'm not sure how to optimize it. My best guess at running it would be;

RAC: VI, Kylo Ren, Darth Vader, Tactician, APL's

Whisper: VI, FCS, Rebel Captive, ACD

I know the Whisper build that I have is solid and I have quite a bit of experience with using it, I'm just not sure about the Decimator build. Is there something I should switch to make it run any better? Thanks for any help.

Tactician is not great on RAC because they have to be in arc at range 2. APL is a little strange as well considering you'll be moving last.

Rear Whisper (100)

"Whisper" (41) - TIE Phantom
Veteran Instincts (1), Fire Control System (2), Agent Kallus (2), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Rear Admiral Chiraneau (59) - VT-49 Decimator
Veteran Instincts (1), Gunner (5), Kylo Ren (3), Engine Upgrade (4)

if if you lack Agent Kallus swap Chiraneau's VI for adaptability and upgrade Kallus to Rebel Captive.

Ditch Tactician and APL, and pick up Gunner. Several reasons for this:

Tactician only works in arc, and the Decimator isn't exactly legendarily quick to turn, so it's going to be of limited use.
APL just doesn't work as well on a ship like RAC, versus a ship like Oicunn. The high pilot skill means it's actually pretty easy to avoid.

Gunner is going to work a treat here for several reasons:
1) If you're spending your action on Kylo, you have no modifiers, so Gunner will give you that second chance off a bad roll, or off an attack your opponent evades.
2) Gunner/Vader is a death sentence against ships like Fenn: best case scenario, they suffer a crit from the primary shot at R2, and a crit from Vader, worst case scenario, they suffer two crits from Vader. If you've already dropped Kylo on him, that's probably a dead Fenn (at worst, he's cruising on one hull and he's dead next turn).
3) Gunner forces the target to either accept damage, or spend a chunk of tokens/abilities to evade both shots. This leaves Whisper with a juicy, tokenless target.

If you're worried about initiative bids, you could drop VI to Adaptability and still find yourself in good condition. You could also take Hotshot Copilot instead of Gunner if you really wanted that bid and VI. This wouldn't make RAC any more effective than he was in the original configuration, but it will strip tokens for Whisper at least.

Thanks for the responses guys! That helps a lot.

Here is my thoughts on this. Engine upgrade and Kylo do not work together as both are an action so if you are going to not use engine and instead use Kylo then drop engine completely. Also you want to get the crit so you can pilot skill 0 someone.

So i go with the deci that does not care about engine.

if you must have the engine then i suggest this build. It also has Inspiring recruit to help with stress hog

Is there any value in combining Hotshot Copilot on RAC with Sensor Jammer on Whisper for extra defense? I realise it is a slightly expensive combo but it can really help prevent opponents squeezing through a lucky hit on your fragile target.

my experience with sensor jammer on whisper is underwhelming. personally I have found that I want the target lock for rerolls more than i want to turn a hit to a focus that they are just going to turn back to a hit. Yeah HotCop will help with that and i have not tried it but it is only going to help on one target. and if you fly against an attani list (especially with manaroo even after the range restriction) you may end up facing a ship with multiple foci (soontir can do this as well to the tune of 4 if you are willing to put rage on him and fly him with general hux) so i still think i would prefer to push through as much damage as i can instead of prevent damage.

just my two cents.

RAC: VI, Hotshot CoPilot, Gunner, Kylo

Whisper: VI, ACD, Tactician, FCS

RAC's action will be to Kylo someone, or TL if they're already marked. Hotshot strips 2 focus from them with Gunner. Or theres likely a crit in there for blinded pilot. Tactician on whisper to stress paratinni.

Yeah I highly suggest engine on rac, you can still have kylo,but kylo has many counters and people will bring them if they feel vulnerable to kylo, I ran this at the fresno regional

Ryad, juke, x7 mrk 2

Rac, engine, vi, gunner, hotshot, kylo, dauntless title

Although it was awesome, I ran into one list built with Kylo counters, then one really good 4 tlt list (which is one hell of a tough match) now I have learned from that experience and think I have an even better list that uses whisper

Rac, engine, adaptability, palp, kylo

Whisper, vi, fcs, acd

One thing, you really don't want to have bad luck with my previous list, palp makes sure Kylo crit happens, whether you use whisper or rac to deal it. And if you need to boost, you save palp to help whispers defense. You just can't rely on kylo as a crutch, I learned the hard way that you can roll all hits and blanks twice on gunner shots. Don't get me wrong, kylo ruins some lists, but there are plenty of matches to where it not working out right really sucks, so you still want eu to boost out of arc.

Anyway have fun with rac, if you don't like kylo, darth vader and rebel captive crews are awesome, and hotshot copilot plus gunner is super awesome as well. Predator ept is also amazing on him

Just a suggestion too, I have flown decimator with Whisper plenty of times and one thing I notice is that people just gun down the Deci and whisper is left to clean up the rest of the squad.

This list is all about making the most tank decimator you can. This means it's gonna take quite a few rounds to bring it down, giving Whisper time to chuck plenty of red paint.

Give it a try.

Screaming Banshees II (98)

"Whisper" (41) - TIE Phantom
Veteran Instincts (1), Fire Control System (2), Agent Kallus (2), Advanced Cloaking Device (4)

Commander Kenkirk (57) - VT-49 Decimator
Determination (1), Rebel Captive (3), Ysanne Isard (4), Kylo Ren (3), Anti-Pursuit Lasers (2)

Kenkirk : Ysanne Isard,
Emperor Palpatine
Whisper : Agent Kallus, Veteran instincts, Advanced Cloaking Device, Sensor Jammer

...or, put Rebel Captive and Lone Wolf on the RAC; a Decimator with one agility, a free evade, and one that is giving you stress is a pain to kill.