Playing a game tonight and had a pretty bad streak recently. Can anyone improve this build for me and advise me on tactics please!

Many thanks,

Villan

Rear Admiral Chiraneau(63) [Rear Admiral Chiraneau(46), Veteran Instincts(1), Engine Upgrade(4), Gunner(5), Darth Vader(3), Hotshot Copilot(4)]

Maarek Stele(36) [Maarek Stele(35), Twin Ion Engine Mk. II(1), Juke(2), TIE/x7(-2)]

A good beginner squad that can get the wins:

Vader on a decimator is a bit questionable here. He's good against triple aces or a list full of high agility ships, so if that is what you're running into then I'd say keep him. Otherwise, he is more likely doing more harm than good. Kylo or mercenary copilot can make your attacks a bit more meaningful, and every one of them needs to count when you're flying 2 ships. Dauntless would also be a good addition if you can find the room for it, and is basically required if you decide to use Kylo. RAC will want to bump often to reduce the number of shots coming his way, and the greens moves on a decimator actually are pretty good to work with.

If you like the x7 defender, I would maybe consider dropping down to Ryad for the improved mobility. She's tough to keep out of a fight for long, and it's pretty easy to keep her with full mods every shot with PTL instead of Juke.

I would probably pair RAC with a TIE/D Vessery with an ion cannon if you're looking for pure throughput. RAC can be a decent blocker to reduce the shots he's taking himself, and can provide the target lock for Vess to have free mods on his shots. Having the ion cannon and a primary from Vess makes a lot of headway in getting efficient actions from your ships. 2 primary attacks plus an ion cannon, a potential blinded pilot from RAC and hopefully another who can't shoot because they're touching you or were ionized and are stuck facing the wrong way.

To fit in those extra points, you're likely going to have to swap out either EU or a crew member with something lighter. Tell us what you're having trouble with and we'll see what we can add to it.

I'm happy to change it up a little. I just haven't had much chance to think about it. Not got the tie advanced yet. Have a Phantom, Striker, SF, 2 Bombers, 2 Defenders, 3 x Interceptors, 4 x TIE and 3 x TIE F/O.

7 minutes ago, Villan said:

I'm happy to change it up a little. I just haven't had much chance to think about it. Not got the tie advanced yet. Have a Phantom, Striker, SF, 2 Bombers, 2 Defenders, 3 x Interceptors, 4 x TIE and 3 x TIE F/O.

You could replace Zetrik with two TIEs or a Striker and something else cheap.

I'm definitely a fan of Hotshot Copilot/Gunner on a Decimator. Kylo is definately the New Hotness for decimators, but if you don't have it and don't want to proxy, that's fine. A defender isn't always the best RAC/Kylo partner, either, since they don't have tricks to generate their own crits. Another good alternative to Darth Vader (he's great against Soontir, Whisper, and Fenn Rau, and weak against most other ships) on a decimator is Rebel Captive . Putting some stress control out there can be handy. If you can find a point, Yssane Isard is also reasonable. Between stripping focus with HSCP, Yssane's evade, and either range 3 or strategic bumps, RAC can be surprisingly hard to kill. Mara Jade probably works, too, but I like the others more. Skipping crew entirely isn't horrible, and you'd get points to add Dauntless. I don't think it's as important without Kylo Ren, but it's still a solid upgrade. A Boost can often make it past a small-base ship if you bump, if there's nothing else in the way.

Juke works pretty well here. Your opponent usually won't have a focus token, so Juke just deletes an evade result. In general, I don't like Juke on low/medium PS ships like defenders, unless there's another ship which stops the use of focus tokens (Carnor Jax, Hotshot Copilot). Then, I think it gets good. Countess Ryad is probably a hair stronger than Maarek Stele, though. The green K-Turns are very nice, and you can do 3s or 5s to avoid blocks. I'd probably stick with Juke over PTL, however. If you didn't have Hotshot, I'd go PTL or Intensity, but the list does have Hotshot. Countess' lower PS is sometimes a blessing. It'll be easier to plot moves which won't be blocked, which is better for /x7.

Colonel Vessery is another option for a defender pilot in general, and of mixed benefit here. My issue with Vessery is that he only gets his TL if RAC has a TL on the target and doesn't use it. That is, it trades an action on RAC for an action on Vessery. If you just lock someone one and spend the rest of the match boosting, OK, I guess. But when I played Rac/Vess some not long after Heroes of the Resistance came out, I often really wanted my TL to boost RAC's damage.

As to strategy, RAC often has the hammer and moves last. Use that boost to get out of arc. If you plan a move where you think you could boost out of arc, try to figure out moves to bump. If RAC bumps, he can shoot someone else, and he'll deprive one opponent's ship of an attack. If you find yourself landing on rocks too much, I'd fly with Debris. RAC is two-thirds of your list, and you can't really afford to give up shots.

I like the combo of a Deci and Defender, both strong, independent ships who don't need no wingman.

I would agree that going to a RACLO kinda build would be potent: Keep VI, Gunner, HSCP, ditch Vader in exchange for his grandson, thats a minimum build of that nature.

Then Ryad makes for an ideal defender. X7/Juke is brilliant on her; tough, hard to kill, fun to fly.