Can someone math this out for me?

Chewbacca - 4 points, effectively adds 2 "health".

C-3PO - 3 points, Guarantees 1 evade every round, but only once per round.

YT-1300 has 13 "health".

Chances for a natural evade are 3/8, C-3PO ups this to always one, on one roll only, and the trick only really works range 1-2.

In an average game, how much "health" is C-3PO actually saving you? Hopefully someone with a better mind for this stuff can ELI5.

as many rounds as the falcon lives. Not trying to be smart but it's one every time it gets shot at in a round, which usually means 3-6ish. Depending on arc dodging, and if there's only 1 ship that can shoot at it its almost invulnerable to the fire. Plus if you're at one hull and he has 3 hits, you can still call one to maybe dodge everything

Chewbacca is a guarantee of 2. C3PO is a guarantee of 1 every turn that his ship is on the table. Each of these is in addition to the number of evades you happen to roll each turn. Threepio makes the Falcon much more resilient against its greatest weakness: swarms. If you have to focus your fire on the Falcon for three or more turns, which is likely, then Threepio has returned more hit points than Chewbacca crew for less point cost.

With 3PO its more about overcoming a damage threshold. At the beginning of the game 3PO is at his weakest when you have five ships shooting at you. There should be some not that he is still good as anytime you can take dice out of the game it's usually a good thing. As the game progresses and there are fewer and fewer ships shooting at you 3PO has a larger and larger effect. It is not uncommon to have a falcon fly around 12+rounds which is long after 3PO would have surpassed Chewie crew in efficiency. That and if you can arc dodge well with your moves when your opponent is down to two ships it almost becomes impossible for him to damage you if you have 3PO.

Add that to 3PO costing 1 less squad point and also using him allows you to run the Chewie pilot card (probably the best YT pilot) and I think you can see how terrifying 3PO is.

furball or goldboy ... why don't take them BOTH?

So you said by your own accord that C3PO is 5/8 health every turn for 3 points. Chewy is 2 health for 4 points, an average of 2pts/health. So, lets make a small chart

Turns shot at -> Pts/health

1 -> 4.8

2 -> 2.4

3 -> 1.6

4 -> 1.2

5 -> .96

So, as you can see, if you plan to get shot at for at least 3 turns, C3PO ends up being better than Chewy point for point. Furthermore, if you just want to look at overall extra hull, Chewy is again 2 health... C3PO depends on turns

Turns shot at -> total health mitigated

1 -> .625

2 -> 1.25

3 -> 1.875

4 -> 2.5

So, after 4 rounds of being shot at, C3PO actually mitigates more damage... and he still costs a point less.

Note that this is ignoring the special abilities each one has and only looking at damage saved. C3PO has the benefit of possibly protecting 3 damage, and also making it immune to a 2 attack ship at the end game (where turns being shot at greatly increase). Chewy has the benefit of ignoring a crippling crit (such as PS0 on Han when you're going Phantom hunting).

Chewbacca is a guarantee of 2. C3PO is a guarantee of 1 every turn that his ship is on the table. Each of these is in addition to the number of evades you happen to roll each turn. Threepio makes the Falcon much more resilient against its greatest weakness: swarms.

Unless I misunderstand how this card works, I don't think this is correct.

C3PO is not in addition to the number of evades you happen to roll each turn, the trick only works if you happen to roll a blank and call a blank. If you roll an evade you still just get one.

Also C3PO only works once per round, so vs swarms it only works against the first ship that is attacking you.

Am I wrong?

@Khyros

That reply makes sense, thanks.

So vs smaller lists C3PO is likely better, but if you are vs larger swarms that could take you down quickly Chewy might be better.

C3PO is near useless against a swarm, he's more valuable against lower count lists. You get down to a 1v1 against a YT-1300 with a C3PO and it gets really annoying.

Wow, multiply ninja'ed. I'll let it stand as a testament to how slow I am off the mark...

Chewbacca is a guarantee of 2. C3PO is a guarantee of 1 every turn that his ship is on the table...

Not quite, because sometimes Threepio will "fail" (because you guessed 0 and rolled 1). Threepio has a 5/8 chance to generate an extra evade, while Chewie does definitely give you 2.

So it's down to probability and lifespan, really. If someone focuses fire on the Falcon for three rounds, Threepio is likely to generate at least 2 extra evade results--a 68% chance--but he has a 32% chance of generating 0 or 1 extra results, which would mean he turned out to be worse than Chewie. The average number of extra evades is 1.9, which means Chewie is both more reliable and more effective on average.

If someone focuses fire on the Falcon for four rounds, though, the chances of Threepio being worse than Chewie drop to about 15%, and the chances of him being at least as good go up to about 85% (and the average increases to 2.5 extra evade results). So I'd set my breakpoint there: if you think your Falcon is likely to be shot at for at least four rounds in a row, Threepio is the better choice. If you're worried about dropping in just 1-3 rounds, though, Chewie is probably the Wookiee for you.

Chewbacca is a guarantee of 2. C3PO is a guarantee of 1 every turn that his ship is on the table. Each of these is in addition to the number of evades you happen to roll each turn. Threepio makes the Falcon much more resilient against its greatest weakness: swarms.

Unless I misunderstand how this card works, I don't think this is correct.

C3PO is not in addition to the number of evades you happen to roll each turn, the trick only works if you happen to roll a blank and call a blank. If you roll an evade you still just get one.

Also C3PO only works once per round, so vs swarms it only works against the first ship that is attacking you.

Am I wrong?

In short yes. You call aloud the number of Evade results. If you don't roll an evade then you get the bonus. Thus if you say push the limit and take a focus and an evade. Then when you're shot say no evades and roll a focus. It's not an evade so you get the bonus, then turn the focus to an evade and can use your evade to dodge three shots total.

Chances for a natural evade are 3/8, C-3PO ups this to always one, on one roll only, and the trick only really works range 1-2.

It works fine for range 3, just guess 1 and roll statistically average with those 2 green dice.

I usually use Chewbacca as a pilot, so I couldn't take both C-3PO and Chewie crew... but C-3PO guarantees 1 evade each turn and, when using Chewie pilot, I pretty much always use the Evade action (with MF title of course), so that's 2 evades per turn. It makes the Falcon survive much longer.

Maybe with Han or Lando as pilots, Chewie could be crucial, to cancel a nasty critical hit card. Then you could pair him with C-3PO even!

Everybody else said it better

Chewbacca defends against two damage for 4 points, OP30 makes his points back just once.

C-3P0 has zero randomness. That matters in a tournament setting where consistency is extremely valuable.

Chewbacca defends against two damage for 4 points, OP30 makes his points back just once.

Uh... what? As illustrated above, Threepio will typically have to be activated four times to reliably overshadow Chewie.

Hull Upgrade is 3 Points. C3P0 is 3 points.

Hull Upgrade is 3 Points. C3P0 is 3 points.

True, but Hull Upgrade is rarely worth 3 points. The only notable exception that is on the edge of breaking even at 3 points are TIE Interceptors, which are low-HP glass cannons.

I think bottom line, 3P0 paired with the Falcon upgrade will guarantee 2 hull/shield per turn, every turn until the death of the Falcon.

Chewie (crew) card is a one time use and done for 4 points. So, pair that with the Falcon upgrade and you have a total of three possible hull bought with this card.

Lets say the Falcon lives a short life that day (which is rare) and only lasts two turns.

Two Turns
3P0 + Falcon = 4 health for 4 Points
Chewie + Falcon = 4 Health for 5 points.

So, if it only lives two turns, C3P0 is clearly the better buy, netting you the same result for one point less. Now lets say that this has turned to 3 or 4 turns:

3Turns
3P0 + Falcon = 6 Health for 4 Points

Chewie + Falcon = 4 Health for 5 Points

4 Turns
3PO + Falcon = 8 Health for 4 Points
Chewie + Falcon = 4 Health for 5 Points

I think the math favors 3P0 easily.

Now, pair 3P0 + Lando (Crew) + Falcon on Chewie, and we are talking just gross numbers!

Lets say the Falcon lives a short life that day (which is rare) and only lasts two turns.

Two Turns

3P0 + Falcon = 4 health for 4 Points

Chewie + Falcon = 4 Health for 5 points.

So, if it only lives two turns, C3P0 is clearly the better buy, netting you the same result for one point less. Now lets say that this has turned to 3 or 4 turns:

3Turns

3P0 + Falcon = 6 Health for 4 Points

Chewie + Falcon = 4 Health for 5 Points

4 Turns

3PO + Falcon = 8 Health for 4 Points

Chewie + Falcon = 4 Health for 5 Points

I think there are some errors in your logic here.

3po doesn't just give you extra health, he gives you extra health at the cost of your potential evade rolls. With Chewy you get his bonus plus you still get potentially more. You can't compare them as you did above.

Hull Upgrade is 3 Points. C3P0 is 3 points.

True, but Hull Upgrade is rarely worth 3 points. The only notable exception that is on the edge of breaking even at 3 points are TIE Interceptors, which are low-HP glass cannons.

Well what it's worth is a matter of debate, what it costs is 3 points. You're making your points back every time the first time you evade with C3P0.

There's a reason no one takes Chewbacca any more: C3P0 is just better in every way.

3P0 when you guess 0 evades ensures that you will ALWAYS have at least one on the dice roll. So he gives you an evade where you would have rolled none. So I can see the comparison issue there but point being C3P0 = 1 hull/shield saved every turn. So add that to the Falcon and that is two per turn, every turn the Falcon is alive.

it's also possibly 2 evade from one die. Yes its only one extra but with only a hull or two left having it up your sleeve can really help late game

3P0 when you guess 0 evades ensures that you will ALWAYS have at least one on the dice roll. So he gives you an evade where you would have rolled none. So I can see the comparison issue there but point being C3P0 = 1 hull/shield saved every turn. So add that to the Falcon and that is two per turn, every turn the Falcon is alive.

But you're ignoring the fact that Threepio has a "failure" rate, because he doesn't help when you actually do roll an evade. That's why it takes more than 2 rounds for Threepio to eclipse Chewie.

Hull Upgrade is 3 Points. C3P0 is 3 points.

True, but Hull Upgrade is rarely worth 3 points. The only notable exception that is on the edge of breaking even at 3 points are TIE Interceptors, which are low-HP glass cannons.

Well what it's worth is a matter of debate, what it costs is 3 points. You're making your points back every time the first time you evade with C3P0.

I don't think anyone's arguing that Hull Upgrade is better than Threepio. The thread is about Threepio versus Chewie, who's much more effective than a Hull Upgrade.