With Experimental Interface coming up, do you think you would ever use this combo on a Y-Wing?

Keep in mind that this astromech still exists:

R5-P9 seems to be a clear winner at half the points,no-stress behaviour and 100% effect. The other lets you keep your focus (consider playing against Wes or the new HWK) and brings you up to 5HP max, perhaps there are fringe cases where this might work? Perhaps using both on two different Y-wings?

What do you think?

Debatable--it's expensive, and it might net you zero health along with some stress. Of course, you don't HAVE to trigger EI to use the droid, so you can avoid the stress.

It will never be competitive IMO because of the chance of failure, and the fact you can get a hull upgrade for the same value as the droid. In this game you can't waste actions on defense unless they come as a bonus or without a penalty (see: C3PO, the Evade action, a Focus you gained from RecSpec, etc)

A better combo would be EI and R7-T1. Gain a target lock and possibly boost out of arc to completely avoid damage to begin with. That's just one of the troubles with R5-D8--opportunity cost.

Y-wings are extraordinarily fragile, succumbing quickly to focus fire.

Interface + R5-D8 on a Y-wing is, I think, a lot like paying 6 points, ~2 actions, and taking ~2 stress for a Hull Upgrade. Or whatever.

R5-D8 is just straight up overpriced for what you get. A victim of the earlier days of X-wing where the devs were trying to play it extra safe. Maybe if he cost less than a hull upgrade, OR if he didn't cost an action.

Y-wings are extraordinarily fragile, succumbing quickly to focus fire.

Interface + R5-D8 on a Y-wing is, I think, a lot like paying 6 points, ~2 actions, and taking ~2 stress for a Hull Upgrade. Or whatever.

Y-wings aren't fragile, they contain an auto-Biggs affect.

R5-D8 is just straight up overpriced for what you get. A victim of the earlier days of X-wing where the devs were trying to play it extra safe. Maybe if he cost less than a hull upgrade, OR if he didn't cost an action.

I agree that he's overpriced, but perhaps there would be a place for him? EI makes him a little better, but not enough. EI + R7-T1 is a much better combo of course.

Ah, the good old days of Waves1-2, where the only interesting upgrades were Swarm Tactics, HLC, R2(-D2) and Shield Upgrade.

3 Pts for an extra action is pretty standard. (Ptl, Predator) So really the question is what else can you do with those 3 points when you use R5-P9. That being said, unless a Y-Wing has an R2 unit, they deal with stress very poorly (experimental interface). Part of the deal with the Y-Wing is that with a Turret, it becomes an arc dodger and when you limit the ship to two green maneuvers, you lose that.

Also Y-Wings are not all that fragile.

5 ships have higher durability, 2 are about the same and 5 are less. Its firmly in the middle of durability.

Small Based Ships More Durable than a Y-Wing:

Tie Bomber (debatable due to lack of shields)

TIE Defender

TIE Advanced

E-Wing

TIE Phantom (assuming no cloaking issues, otherwise its less)

Small Based Ships the Same Durability:

A-Wing

B-Wing (debatable due to shield/hull ratio)

small Based Ships Less Durable:

Tie Fighter

Tie Interceptor

Z-95

HWK-290

X-Wing

R5-D8 is just straight up overpriced for what you get. A victim of the earlier days of X-wing where the devs were trying to play it extra safe. Maybe if he cost less than a hull upgrade, OR if he didn't cost an action.

Agreed. Although even at 2 pts, it would be hard to take him. Now if he was end of turn, he would probably be viable, although then he may be to good.

R5-D8 is just straight up overpriced for what you get. A victim of the earlier days of X-wing where the devs were trying to play it extra safe. Maybe if he cost less than a hull upgrade, OR if he didn't cost an action.

I agree that he's overpriced, but perhaps there would be a place for him? EI makes him a little better, but not enough. EI + R7-T1 is a much better combo of course.

Ah, the good old days of Waves1-2, where the only interesting upgrades were Swarm Tactics, HLC, R2(-D2) and Shield Upgrade.

You are forgetting stealth on Howlrunner.

R5-D8 is just straight up overpriced for what you get. A victim of the earlier days of X-wing where the devs were trying to play it extra safe. Maybe if he cost less than a hull upgrade, OR if he didn't cost an action.

I agree that he's overpriced, but perhaps there would be a place for him? EI makes him a little better, but not enough. EI + R7-T1 is a much better combo of course.

Ah, the good old days of Waves1-2, where the only interesting upgrades were Swarm Tactics, HLC, R2(-D2) and Shield Upgrade.

You are forgetting stealth on Howlrunner.

Yes, also known as the fabled 6th upgrade, only used on one ship.

I remember list-building as Imperial back then. Even up to wave 3, my inner thoughts were the following ("Should I put bombers? Neah, i'd need a whole list to make them effective. Lambda? No. Interceptors? But they die so fast... Tie Swarm it is then!"). Granted, I now know how to use Lambdas better, but at some point I was only using TIE Fighters and a Firespray! It's much more diverse nowadays.

Its too much to pay for a combo that has a 37% of not working and still stressing you out.

I could see a combo of EI and Squad leader on another ship that can handle stress better than the Y-wing. It can pass the action of R5-D8 to the Y-wing. However, if I am against that squad, I'll just shoot the ship with squad leader first. Probably not a good combo.

I like R5-P9 in lists with Garven. Once he spends his focus, he passes it to someone else who then has two, and can either use their extra to avoid damage on their defense roll, or heal up.

R5 D8 was Porkins' Astro, and the ability works well with Porkins' stress ditching ability. However with only 3 hull, by the time Porkins needs to use the droid, it will probably be too late. Porkins + R5 D8 + Hull upgrade works well though.

R5-D8

"roll 1 defense die"

...yeah, we're done here

R5 D8 was Porkins' Astro, and the ability works well with Porkins' stress ditching ability. However with only 3 hull, by the time Porkins needs to use the droid, it will probably be too late. Porkins + R5 D8 + Hull upgrade works well though.

Porkins can use r5d8 before he even loses a shield. His ability bypasses shields and hands him damage cards right away if the stress roll succeeds.

R5-P9 is not an action, therefore cannot be used with experimental interface.

As for R5-D8, i've had good luck with him. He's saved Wedge several times. The best wau to use him is to run away as far as you can or put yourself in a situation where you can't be shot to use him. Then get your ship up to full. It's very tricky.