Acclamator

The Acclamator or Clam was a staple in the republic fleet and likely will be a staple for most Republic fleets on the table. I think that it has proven itself repeatedly in my and others' hands with its consistency and price.

Alright, let's get down to brass tacks:

The Clam is an extremely versatile ship. It has the capacity to be a carrier, close-range brawler, crit machine, flagship, etc. It can do all of those things proficiently too. This ship has a load of great stats for its price, the least of which is its maneuverability. Like the Victory, it's hard to mention the Clam without somebody mentioning its lackluster nav chart with 1 click at all speeds(in various positions). Not only is it called the clam, but it moves like one too.

Idk how these bad boys turn, but it must be a spectacle.

Okay, so how do we fly around it's terrible nav chart. The first thing is to use a nav command as often as possible, which can get hard, especially if you're a carrier (cough Bail). I also recommend not going speed 3 unless you're actively disengaging as it's your least maneuverable speed. While flying the clam, make sure you keep its poor nav in mind because you can get outflown pretty easily. Personally, I try to engage targets that are bigger or just as sluggish as the clam to try and keep my opponent from flying off. Having a Take Evasive action somewhere in the fleet can also work wonders, even if you can only use it once.

For 66 points, the Clam 1 has a pretty damn good set of dice. It has similar, but slightly worse, dice to an MC30 scout for 3 points cheaper, which I think is extremely good. Luckily, even though the clam likes to feel sluggish, it actually has a pretty decent time double arcing things.
I've seen people use clams in so many different ways I think they could be used as almost anything. I've seen carriers, flagships, slow brawlers, and even seen just an ex-rax clam.

Okay, so now that we've discussed some general ideas, let's get down to some specifics:

66 Points
7 Hull
4/2/2 Shields
3 Command, 3 Squad, 4 Engineering
Brace, Redirect, Salvo

So this was the first dedicated carrier that republic had, until the Ven 2, and it's pretty damn good at that job. The Clam 1 can be an excellent little carrier but also a super strong combat activation. I've seen some people use the Clam 1 as a flagship, but personally, I think I'd prefer the 2 if you have the points.

Slots:

Officer
- Clone Nav Officer for general use
- Flight Commander would be good for a carrier
- Ashoka is also a swell choice for carriers
- Silver for adjusting speed when you may not have a nav
Weapons Team
- Just about any of them are viable here, excluding gunnery teams, Local Fire Control, and Fire Control Team. The rest are all useable; some are better than others, though.
- Flight Controllers for Ashoka carriers
- Ordnance Experts for crit machines
- also consider Boarding Troopers for wiping their defense tokens
Offensive Retrofit x2
- Expanded Hangar Bay + Boosted Comms is always a solid combo
- Reserve Hangar Deck is good with Torrents
- Flak Guns could be good here, but I haven't tested it yet
- Hyperspace Rings are also solid, probably paired with EHB to Boosted Comms
- Advanced Transponder Network can put in some serious work with Y-Wings
Ordnance
- ACM and APT are #money with swivels or without
- Expanded Racks is never a bad choice, but you don't need it
- Ord Pods is also a decent choice, especially for a flagship
Tuborlaser
- DBY's for salvo boats or protecting flagships
- LTT is a no brainer IMO
- Quad Battery Turrets is also not a terrible choice since you'll be running pretty slow, but since no leading shots, it might not be worth it
- Xi7's could work here in conjunction with Xi7 SPHA-T Vens

71 Points (+5 from the Clam 1)
All other stats are the same

+5 points! You trade a black flak dice for a blue (making LTTs seems a little more appealing IMO), gain a blue die in the front arc, trade a black in the rear for a blue (hello salvo, have you met my buddy flak guns?), and you also lose both offensive retros but gain a defensive retro.

The Clam 2 is less of a carrier and more of a gunship/flagship. The def ret adds some more durability, and it has more (by 1) dice to throw.

Officer
- CNO
- Silver can be useful here
- Zak is useful here, especially with crits and swivels
- Intel Officer is a decent, but kinda expensive, choice
Weapons Team
- OE
- Vet Guns
- Ruthless is solid with blue flak and Y-Wings or ARCs to taste
Defensive Retrofit
- Thermals are huge here, especially with Lumi. Being able to knock out some dice that could lead to crits against you is stupid good.
- ECM is standard and decent, but keep in mind the refresh cost
- EWS is also really good here IMO. Keeping bombers off your flag can be game-changing
Ordnance
- ACM
- APT
- Ex Rax
- Ord Pods for a flagship
Tuborlaser
- DBY
- LTT
- Xi7's could work here in conjunction with Xi7 SPHA-T Vens
- The HUGE contender here is swivel-mount batteries. Swivels can be crazy good on pretty much every republic ship, especially anything with a black crit layin' around. The ability to potentially throw black dice and long-range consistently is phenomenal. Consider you have a Clam with swivels, zak, and a CF dial. It would allow you to throw potentially three! Three. Black dice at long range. With the evade changes in 1.5, black crits lost a little bit of traction, I think, but if you're throwing 3, that's an extra 3 damage on avg to your shot and the potential to pull a crit from that far away. Keep in mind swivels takes away a color from a neighboring arc, so salvos do get cut back a little(which is okay).

Wow. What a lot of words there. Stay strapped in were almost done!

Titles:

Nevoota Bee (nev bee, nev) is one of the best carrier titles in the game IMO. Getting that reroll without the distance restriction of BCC is splendid. The wording is a bit confusing, but the way it works is it gives the non-unique squads you activate swarm, and then since they now have swarm, they can benefit from the second part of the card(this goes for squads with printed swarm too.) Another benefit is the reroll against squads that it gives out for Ys and Arcs when normally they'd have nothing.

Implacable is like a bodyguard for your fleet. While maybe the clam doesn't have a ton of shields in the front, being able to even cancel 2 shields twice is super good, or just repair a couple of times and do it some more! This is not a title for your flagship or a clam carrying anything important. This thing's job is to take damage, and it's good at it. Park this near a parts resupply or a projection expert and watch it mitigate unwanted flagship damage. Hehe, front shields go brrrrrt.

Potential Builds:

Snipers Galore

Acclamator I (66)
• Ahsoka Tano (6)
• Flight Controllers (6)
• Expanded Hangar Bay (5)
• Nevoota Bee (5)
= 88 Points

This feels like a pretty standard Clam carrier, but it's also a little expensive for my taste. I think it would also do just fine with Ashoka and Nev Bee.

ARC launcher

Acclamator I (66)
• Flight Commander (3)
• Boosted Comms (4)
• Hyperspace Rings (3)
• Nevoota Bee (5)
= 81 Points

This is for launching your ARCs all the way across town and then swarming your opponent in round 1.

Zak Attack

Acclamator II (71)
• Clone Captain Zak (5)
• Ordnance Experts (4)
• Assault Proton Torpedoes (4)
• Swivel-Mount Batteries (8)
= 92 Points

You're getting 3 black dice at long range and lovin' it, your opponent... not so much.

Flagship

Acclamator II (71)• Admiral (X)• Clone Captain Silver (4)
• Veteran Gunners (5)
• Thermal Shields (5)
• Ordnance Pods (3)
• DBY-827 Heavy Turbolasers (3)
= 115-121 Points

This is pretty expensive, but I think it could be worth it to protect your admiral. It can also still dish out a pretty solid amount of damage if necessary, and it ain't afraid to get its head in the scrum.

All in all, I really do love the Acclamator. It will certainly prove to be one of, if not the best, ships for Republic. I'd like to play around with it some more to get a better feel. I haven't used it as a carrier much, though I know it can do solid work from seeing others try it.