So, with the ARC being out for a good time now, can we just take a break for a second and appreciate just how awesome of a ship the ARC is? It looks great. More importantly, every single pilot has seen competetive play at some point with reasonable success, but without creating massively bad gameplay experiences.

Norra has always been well appreciated and has two good builds as BB-8-ballerina or R2-D2 regenerator. She has seen the most consistent amount of play.

Braylen was destined to become a great stressbot-carrier and is arguably stronger than the Stresshog in that regard. It took a while for him to become popular, but he is undenieably powerfull. However, his pricetag prevented him from pushing out the traditional Stresshog, which is great for diversity.

Thane was popular for his great action economy in the early days of the ARC, but then was overshadowed by stress-Braylen. However recently he found his way into 4 ship rebels as relatively inexpensive damagedealer again.

And finally Shara, the bad egg of the bunch. At least that was the initial consensus - however she actually was part of one of the best finishes the ARC ever had!

The only other ship that sees this many pilots being played is the Jumpmaster, which is a lot more popular on a whole and therefor pretty problematic. The ARC is not dominating top tables, but it has realistic chances at getting there with the right builds. You can never be 100% sure what exactly the ARCs someone is playing are. It really is among the best designed ships in the game.

Already done...

http://stayontheleader.blogspot.com/2017/04/auxiliary-arcs-rebellions-most.html

4 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

Already done...

http://stayontheleader.blogspot.com/2017/04/auxiliary-arcs-rebellions-most.html

There can never be enough! No Tail Gunner makes me sad, though

I'm afraid Tail Gunner is usually a trap.

I've been flying 2 ARCs plus Biggs ever since they came out. The only problems with them are:

1) needing Biggs or being destroyed far too easily. An extra green along with a small price increase would solve that; and

2) no generic pilot. I'd like to fly 3...

12 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

I'm afraid Tail Gunner is usually a trap.

Whether or not Tail Gunner is a trap depends on what your list is. If you mean to fire mostly from the main arc and ignore the rear arc - there are probably better crewmen. There are valid reasons why you might want to do so - if you're not flying along other ARCs or ships that can fire at 360 degrees, chances are you're gonna slowly fly away from combat leaving your allies behind. It then takes too long to get back into combat.

However, if you ARE flying along ships that can fight effectively without turning around, you just move them together, force the opponent to chase you and get shot. That makes Tail Gunner absolutely essential. Without him you just won't have the firepower to hurt enemies.

Last season I managed to get to top 8 of two regional championships (including one with 100+ people) with ARC lists and I'm absolutely certain I wouldn't have managed it without Tail Gunner on Norra. He turns her rear arc from "okayish" to "actually better than front arc". I cannot stress how devastating a R1 rear shot can be on TG Norra. You can deliberately overshoot with your maneuvers to avoid bumps (and enemy fire arcs) and STILL kill stuff quickly.

I like Tail Gunner a lot, but it does force you to use Biggs and even with him isn't always right. Definitly my go to on Biggs-assisted Norra, though.

I've been going back and forth on Kyle Katarn and Tail Gunner for my Heff/Norra/Biggs list. They both have their merits.

I've found that Kyle works very well when using BB8 and Engine Upgrade along with PTL. But that doesn't work alongside Biggs.

Otherwise, Kyle is a very good way to still get full mods and use VT or Engine. I'd like to have 2 crew slots so Tailgunner could be paired with C3PO or Kyle.

My current build for Norra is Veteran Instincts, R2D2, Rey, and Engine - mainly because she's too slow to catch large ships without the boost and being able to move after Fenn Rau (depending on initiative) helps immensely. This then means using Rey to bank focus tokens.

1 hour ago, Gilarius said:

I'd like to have 2 crew slots so Tailgunner could be paired with C3PO or Kyle.

Heychadwick, that would be crazy! You are getting into Jumpmaster OP territory there. Braylen with Tactician/Gunner/Stressbot!

I love the ARC-170 expansion.

I've gotten a ton of use out of Vectored Thrusters!

10 hours ago, Admiral Deathrain said:

So, with the ARC being out for a good time now, can we just take a break for a second and appreciate just how awesome of a ship the ARC is? It looks great. More importantly, every single pilot has seen competetive play at some point with reasonable success, but without creating massively bad gameplay experiences.

Norra has always been well appreciated and has two good builds as BB-8-ballerina or R2-D2 regenerator. She has seen the most consistent amount of play.

Braylen was destined to become a great stressbot-carrier and is arguably stronger than the Stresshog in that regard. It took a while for him to become popular, but he is undenieably powerfull. However, his pricetag prevented him from pushing out the traditional Stresshog, which is great for diversity.

Thane was popular for his great action economy in the early days of the ARC, but then was overshadowed by stress-Braylen. However recently he found his way into 4 ship rebels as relatively inexpensive damagedealer again.

And finally Shara, the bad egg of the bunch. At least that was the initial consensus - however she actually was part of one of the best finishes the ARC ever had!

The only other ship that sees this many pilots being played is the Jumpmaster, which is a lot more popular on a whole and therefor pretty problematic. The ARC is not dominating top tables, but it has realistic chances at getting there with the right builds. You can never be 100% sure what exactly the ARCs someone is playing are. It really is among the best designed ships in the game.

Only if it was "medium" base... :/

(along with some other ships too big for the small base and too small for the large base)

25 minutes ago, wurms said:

Heychadwick, that would be crazy! You are getting into Jumpmaster OP territory there. Braylen with Tactician/Gunner/Stressbot!

May as well throw on Munitions Failsafe and Flechette Torpedoes! Like stress? Here's 5!

Confusing avatars for the win! I'm not heychadwick...

I haven't had the chance to try out all the ARC pilots yet, but it's definitely great to see every pilot has a distinct use and desirable reason to pick them. I've even played more Shara Bey than any of the other pilots recently because of a list I've had success with giving her M9-G8 and Weapon Engineer for 2 other solid pilots from the Rebels that wouldn't mind a reroll. Also locking opposing ships and making them reroll dice is no joke too PLUS with Shara's ability to allow her wingmates to use her TL in full for offense. It can be nasty.

10 hours ago, Stay On The Leader said:

I'm afraid Tail Gunner is usually a trap.

Not on TIE/SF ?

....oh wait, that was a design flaw.

...but the ARC is lots of fun sans Jedi Biggs.