Why does this little guy get no love?

Find yourself in your enemy's arc at 1-2, you get a Target Lock, and a free Boost. Super sweet. Even sweeter on Dutch with a turret. I used him last night to great effect and no one had ever played against him before. It was a blast.

Why does this little guy get no love?

Beats me; I think it's the bee's knees. Mobility and action economy, for 3 points?

Tested him on "Dutch" yesterday, works wonders, the sight of arcdodging Y-wing is golden, and you get 2 target locks and boost out of 1 action. Of course needs turret weapon to max out usefullness, so lets wait for Scum releases and profit.

I stay away from it because in order for it to work for arc-dodging, I need to be sideways in my opponents arc. I try not to be sideways in my opponents arc. More seriously, it has some use, but I don't like the restrictions. I want to boost in a lot more situations than the listed one. So it isn't replacing engine for me. And there are a lot of great droids, so picking any one is hard.

I'm sure it is good on a Y-Wing with a turret, but I don't fly Y wings much.

I use him a lot. Mainly on Corran so far but will be trying him on Dutch soon (not a big Y-Wing fan but worth a try with this little fella).

Tested him on "Dutch" yesterday, works wonders, the sight of arcdodging Y-wing is golden, and you get 2 target locks and boost out of 1 action. Of course needs turret weapon to max out usefullness, so lets wait for Scum releases and profit.

I have gotten back into the game lately and am very happy to find Y-wings much more effective these days. I have been running Dutch with this droid. It's great! That combo (with Ion Turret) is really good.

To be honest, I've been finding I want to put this guy on many different ships. For one, any ship that isn't as manueverable as the nimble Tie Fighters could use it. I'm getting back into Rebels from Imps and I really miss the manueverability. Getting a boost on a ship that doesn't normally get one for less than the price of an Engine Upgrade is terrific. Y-wings and X-wings are better at moving around with this.

I've been thinking of putting him on Wedge. Not only would it help him move around and stay in the fight without having to K-turn, but I've also been thinking about him using it to boost into Range 1 when needed. I mean, you boost into Range 1 and get a Target Lock. So, you are firing one more die at someone and you get the chance to re-roll it. You go first and take the guy out instead of being defensive.

I will admit that I don't think there has been a time with my Y-wing when I wanted to use him that I wasn't in someone's arc at Range 1-2.

Other use I can see exept tureted Y-wing, is getting your heavy attack ship (like Wedge) into range 1 for maximum damage, or to get max use of Hobbie's abbility

Tested him on "Dutch" yesterday, works wonders, the sight of arcdodging Y-wing is golden, and you get 2 target locks and boost out of 1 action. Of course needs turret weapon to max out usefullness, so lets wait for Scum releases and profit.

I have gotten back into the game lately and am very happy to find Y-wings much more effective these days. I have been running Dutch with this droid. It's great! That combo (with Ion Turret) is really good.

To be honest, I've been finding I want to put this guy on many different ships. For one, any ship that isn't as manueverable as the nimble Tie Fighters could use it. I'm getting back into Rebels from Imps and I really miss the manueverability. Getting a boost on a ship that doesn't normally get one for less than the price of an Engine Upgrade is terrific. Y-wings and X-wings are better at moving around with this.

I've been thinking of putting him on Wedge. Not only would it help him move around and stay in the fight without having to K-turn, but I've also been thinking about him using it to boost into Range 1 when needed. I mean, you boost into Range 1 and get a Target Lock. So, you are firing one more die at someone and you get the chance to re-roll it. You go first and take the guy out instead of being defensive.

I will admit that I don't think there has been a time with my Y-wing when I wanted to use him that I wasn't in someone's arc at Range 1-2.

I like this idea on Wedge. I almost always run Antilles with Opportunist which makes an R2 essential, but Wedge + R7-T1 seems like it does almost as much damage at half the cost (in upgrades).

I also think that last line is really pretty important. Once I have R7-T1, I sometimes feel like I need to fly into my opponents arcs to get the most use out of it, but flying into opponenets arcs intentionally is obviously a terrible idea. The droid is cheap enough that he can serve as insurance for when you do get targetted (often in these clunky rebel ships), but it's also ok to just not be in the arc to begin with. He's not a point sink; if he's never used you should be winning handily.

I'm also thinking about him on Corran. End a shooting turn in an arc, I can boost in for the kill. End a non-shooting turn in arc, I can boost away. Include PtL and then I can take a Focus on offensive turns, or Barrel Roll on defensive turns, etc. Comes in at 41pts which isn't great, but is very doable.

I know it's tempting to think "Oh, I can boost out of the way and not get shot at". The reality is that it doesn't happen often. The real use that I use it for is for better mobility. Often, you can use the Boost to just set yourself up better next time. Yeah, you might not need a TL on that one ship that you just got, but you got a Boost on a ship that doesn't have the action on the bar for less than Engine Upgrade. You might be in a better position to one bank and then boost bank than you would if you K-turn. You also get a TL on some ship that you MIGHT be able to use, too.

You also don't have to be the main target to use it. Maybe the enemy is planning on firing at someone else, but you can still get a boost if you are within their firing arc.

I find it just makes a lot of these ships more manueverable... AND gives a Target Lock.

What if you added in an Experimental Interface?

I have a list I like to call "Dutch's Candy Store"

Dutch Vander + R7-T1

Horton Salm + R2-D6 + Squad Leader

Jek Porkins + R5-D8 + PTL + Engine Upgrade

+10 points for a mix of other upgrades. Dutch TLs, and passes one to Jek. Jek then goes off and does his thing, keeping close-ish. Then Horton goes, uses Squad Leader to have Dutch activate R7-T1, if available. Beat an Interceptor list with it before.

What if you added in an Experimental Interface?

I think you would have to find a list that makes it work. E.I. is 3 pts, which is kind of expensive. I can't think of too many uses where you can get another action to make that much of a difference. The double action, to me, seems best when used with things that have manueverable options: Barrel Roll + Boost; Barrel Roll + Target Lock/Focus. It's when you get into position to then really nail someone. Also, usually done with a 1 sharp turn.

For me, I see most ships that use an Astromech as not very manueverable, so I don't see much of a use for another action, especially if you get a Target Lock in the mix already. What's left to do? Focus? For the Y-wing with Ion Turrent, is it really worth it? For 3 pts and then getting stressed?

I can see if you do use it for Wedge on that first turn, you can zip up and get a Focus. That would give you 4 dice, 1 Focus, and -1 green die. That's pretty cool, but how often will you get to do that? First pass, sure. After that, you don't always get a chance to boost and keep someone in your sights to use the Focus. It's not bad.....but not great (in my humble opinion). I will say that the X-wing can then still do a 1 green bank w/ a chance to use R7-T1 to boost again and remove that stress. That's pretty good.

It's not a bad use, but not fantastic. Maybe I'm wrong, though. I'm not perfect.

The only downside of r7-t1 is I often want r2d2 in that slot. On Dutch he's amazing.

I'm a fan of R7T1 and another of the ones who'll use him on Dutch. I do like R2D6 on the Y-Wings too though, to give them a bit more variety.

I'm sure it is good on a Y-Wing with a turret, but I don't fly Y wings much.

Biggest mistake you'll ever make.

1-word people: Dutch

/thread

Tested him on "Dutch" yesterday, works wonders, the sight of arcdodging Y-wing is golden, and you get 2 target locks and boost out of 1 action. Of course needs turret weapon to max out usefullness, so lets wait for Scum releases and profit.

So far it looks like Scum are getting only Salvaged Astromechs, which are not compatible upgrades.

Scum is releasing 3 normal Astros.

Well, what do people think about the following list?

Wedge Antilles

R7-T1

Expose

Experimental Interface

39 points

Lieutenant Blount

Wingman

Ion Pulse Missiles

22 points

Biggs Darklighter

25 points

Tala Squadron Pilot

13 points

Total:

99 points

On the alpha plus as much as possible thereafter, use Wedge + R7 + EI + Expose. In the ideal case, Wedge's boost gets him to R1 with a target lock, then EI gives him Expose access for a 5 dice attack and the defender at -1 agility; Blount's Wingman clears the stress at the start of the combat phase so that Wedge can do actions again next turn without being stuck on green moves. Wedge's -1 agility shouldn't hurt too much with Biggs in the picture, although this isn't always true. Blount uses ion pulse missiles to give Wedge a chance at that second-turn R1 shot on the same target, this time with the action being Focus/TL + EI + Expose (in the super ideal case, you didn't have to spend your TL on the first turn). [Can't use R7-T1 after a ship at Range 1 has resolved its ionization, because you won't be in its arc anymore]

Tala Squadron is just a general filler ship; block or take potshots, whatever, it's there for 4 more HP and an extra target in the list and little else. Biggs wants to stay back, as usual.

This can 2.5-shot a Lambda pretty easily. (I include the 0.5 of a shot from Blount's auto-1 damage, but in principle Wedge could do it all by himself)

Other consideration could be Airen instead of Blount, dropping the Ion Pulse Missile. Airen's ability won't affect Wedge until after both Wedge and Airen will have shot, but Airen can have Wedge trigger R7-T1 if he hasn't already used it; this could help Wedge post-attack arc dodge, not quite as nicely as Turr Phennir does, but at PS 8 all the same.

And as usual with 4-Rebel builds, there's some Phantom bait involved. R7 helps Wedge out against Phantoms, but he's still at a PS tie with Whisper + VI. But, if he manages to get a shot at a decloaked Phantom, he'll eat it alive.

Not bad, but I think Wedge is a little bit overloaded. I'd drop Expose and EI for Predator, which helps you not rely as much on Biggs. Wedge will be boosting a lot, ideally, and Biggs may have trouble keeping up.

That could be brutal, but it might be a little tricky to ensure you get the R1 shot each time. Still, can be brutal.

Biggs will keep Wedge alive, which is good.

Being 99 pts will help win initiative, too.

R7-T1 doesn't work well with Biggs, you can boost out of range too easy

Recipe: AN EXPENSIVE BUT DEADLY SURPRISE

• Astromech & Torpedo equippable ship (even a "Lowly" Rookie)
• R7T1
• Experimental Interface
• APT

Instructions

• Focus to trigger EI
• Use R7T1 to target lock and boost into range 1
• Fire off APT

Recipe: AN EXPENSIVE BUT DEADLY SURPRISE

• Astromech & Torpedo equippable ship (even a "Lowly" Rookie)
• R7T1
• Experimental Interface
• APT

Instructions

• Focus to trigger EI
• Use R7T1 to target lock and boost into range 1
• Fire off APT

On a low PS ship, you have to pray your target doesn't move out of range. Id rather have him on someone like Dutch, and have Dutch hand a TL to the guy about to fire the APTs, as opposed to on the APT pilot themselves.