I've been thinking about the new system upgrade that arrived today...

...and despite really kicking it around, I'm fairly convinced this just has no place.

As a reminder, given its restrictions, it can (so far) only be used by:

• Aggressors (IG-88 and friends)
• the Ghost
• Imperial Shuttle

Others have certainly made the point that it makes NO sense at all on the Aggressor, since the high agility and low (-ish) hitpoints on that craft means it has far better choices. IMHO, even the shuttle is a weak fit due to the other upgrades it benefits from. Which leaves the Ghost, and conventional wisdom has (so far, it's only one day in) been okay with letting it sit there, but...

I dunno, I'm still not seeing it. In order for this to trigger at all, you need to take 3 damage in one attack. That's just...I mean....how many people actually run HLCs anymore? That'd be the 'best' enemy to face, for the VCX so equipped, but I haven't seen them in a *while*. And what the meta is currently dominated by? Accuracy Correctors (max 2 damage) and Twin Laser Turrets (max 2 damage)? Neither of those will ever trigger this.

I dunno, leaves me scratching my head. Is this a bad guess on FFG's part, and they didn't expect ACs and TLTs to take off as much as they have? Or have we got some kind of heavy-hitting secondary coming that will reliably trigger this thing?

"All other things being equal", it's possible to score 3 damage from an A-Wing or TIE Fighter. Not disputing your point (haven't put enough thought into it) but while I don't see it exactly often, I do see 3 damage often enough to make this upgrade somewhat interesting (depending on the rest of the build, etc).

Adds a bit more resilience against the popular imperial arc dodgers. Atc vader can deal 3 damage pretty consistently, as one example.

Keep in mind that ships like the VCX-100 have no agility therefore must rely on upgrades that would give them extra defense dice, evade and focus tokens to block damage.

Also, as Bojanglez pointed out, there are enough ships out there (if you include pilot abilities and EPTs) with enough combat dice to possibly generate 3 hits in one attack. On top of that there are epic ships that can hit for 3 damage in one attack.

There is also the possibility of a future EPT, modification or title card that could allow a craft to gain a systems upgrade ability. (i.e. the TIE Advanced X1 title card, only for "large" ships)

So I think having this upgrade has a place here.

In my (admittedly limited) experience I've never seen three damage from a single attack. I took down a Firespray once, but it took two turns and six Tie Fighters (two got destroyed).

So I can see why there are doubts.

Personally, I'd go for upgrades to increase survivability. Perhaps Stealth Device upgrade and Lando crew. Or C3PO crew.

3 damage attacks happen all the time. A single 2 attack ship at range 1 with a focus has a very high chance of doing 3 damage against a 0 agility ship.

Keep in mind that a face-up Direct Hit is 2 damage.

Also, Dash with HLC made the top 8 at Worlds. Vader with ATC along with Palp also made top 8. Both of these builds will doing quite a lot of 3 damage hits on a ship with 0 or 1 agility.

There is an awful lot of ships that can deal 3 hits, and with no agility on the Ghost, 3 hits = 3 damage. Anything with 3 attack dice and a focus has a decent chance of 3 hits, which is almost everything once ships get into range 1 so the only things it doesn't work against are accuracy correcters (not that common) and TLTs. Common things in the meta like Corran, Poe, Dash, Soontir, Vader, IGs will be able to easily get 3 hits with most, if not all of their attacks.

3po is wasted on a ship with 0 evade dice.

Tbh I feel that this upgrade is non optimal. It takes up a really good upgrade slot and 3 points on an ability that only works when your opponent is scoring big hits on you. Meanwhile you could have been using it for damage mitigation (sensor jammer), attack modifiers (fire control system), movement shenanigans (enhanced scopes), damage consistency (accuracy corrector), stuff that could be helping you every round.

3 damage attacks happen all the time. A single 2 attack ship at range 1 with a focus has a very high chance of doing 3 damage against a 0 agility ship.

Eh - not so good at the maths? 75% odds, per dice, for 3 dice = odds of getting a hit/crit on all three is barely over 40%.

That's not what I'd call "very high odds". And consider that the ship likely still has an evade token - it does have that action, after all.

@OP

Remember that guidance chip thingie, and the soft "promise" of fixing munitions?

I think thats why, because a 0 AGI ship will tumble against that (as the Decimator currently does).

It'll be good on the Whatever the **** square pancake. You can easily get 3 damage from tons of different things. Aces, Palpatine Aces, a lucky Tie. etc.

On the shuttle... I could see it too.

I think a Decimator gets hit with 3+ damage fairly regularly, right? It might be worth it, but advanced sensors just seems better.

On the shuttle it's basically competing with Sensor Jammer.

Sensor Jammer is probably better vs ATK2, because the attacker may not have a focus, and it prevents rerolls. It drops ATK2 shots down into a 1v1 red v green for the most part.

Vs. ATK3 it gets trickier. ATK3 is going to overmatch the shuttle's AGI most of the time even with Sensor Jammer, but you're more likely to take 1 damage with SJ. If you take 2 damage, Deflectors miiiight be better at the price point.

Consider that the card lets you run a Palpmobile list with a full LW+Engine+ATC Vader AND a slightly tankier shuttle, where SJ would probably force him to drop EU (or switch to VI and lose out on some dice mods), and it still fills the role of making the shuttle a less tempting target. Keep in mind that if you're going to be taking big hits, getting a shield regen is good for the next hit.

Take this example:

HHC v B (RD, shuttle has 2s, recovers 1 for 3)

H(F)C v B (SJ, shuttle has 3s, UNLESS attacker has focus, in which case 2s)

2nd attack:

HHB v E (RD, shuttle has 2s)

H(F)B v E (SJ, shuttle has 3s unless previous attack w/focus, in which case 2s, if this attack w/focus, down to 1s)

3rd attack:

HHC v B (RD, shuttle has 0s~4h, recovers 1s for 1s~4h)

H(F)C v B (SJ, if prev at 2s has 0s5h, if prev at 1s has 0s~4h)

now, these are exaggerated rolls, but it's not even slightly hard to have f+tl and get 3h on a shuttle, even if you've got ATK2 and have to have r1 to do it. Keep in mind that even a 1h1c roll that flips direct hit onto the hull is a 3h hit and causes a shield regen.

@OP

Remember that guidance chip thingie, and the soft "promise" of fixing munitions?

I think thats why, because a 0 AGI ship will tumble against that (as the Decimator currently does).

Yes, this.

With Guidance Ch-whatever, Targeting Astromech and S-Thread Tracers coming, the designers must believe there will be a big increase in the usage of 4 dice ordnance like Plasma and Proton torpedoes and Concussion missiles, where not only 3 but 4 hit attacks will be far more common.

Also, the darn Ghost itself has a 4 dice primary so maybe they were just putting a Ghost counter in the Ghost pack itself so that it didn't insta-kill the Palpmobile.

I've seen 5 damage dealt consistently from Procket-wielding A-Wings/TIE Advanced against low to mid agility ships. Hell, I've seen an IG2000 take 5 in a row from a Juno Eclipse procket as well. While alphastrikes of that magnitude are situational and don't happen often, they can happen.

Heavy Laser Cannons are also still a thing.

It's an insurance policy against alphastrikes, like R4-D6. Albeit a more expensive and less crippling version.

I don't think the OP is wrong, but there are some additional wrinkles. Looking just at Hera, her pilot ability is extremely effective against lower PS ships. You know, like the type of ships in beefy or swarmy builds. It's of almost no use against an aces list. Those aces, though, they have great action economy, they get highly modified attacks, they carry HLCs, etc. They get 3 hits a lot. Reinforced Deflectors are a pretty sizable durability boost against that kind of list. Even against an ace + swarm list, the card will give extra flexibility about who to go after first. The ace immediately becomes a lower priority, because its damage is mitigated.

On the shuttle it's basically competing with Sensor Jammer.

My first though as well. I've gotten very happy about Sensor Jammer on my shuttle recently and to be honest I'm not sure the Deflector will unlodge the Jammer from my shuttle, even if it is a point cheaper.

For three reasons:

A) The Sensor Jammer not only potentially reduces damage on the Shuttle, it also leeches focus from enemy ships attacking it, leaving them more vulnerable to my counter attacks on those ships.

B) The Shuttle is notoriously slow at turning and it has low agility, which usually makes it a sound strategy for an opponent to use K-Turns, Talon-rolls, and actions such as barrel roll and boost as a viable way to get in place behind it and still hurt it with unmodified attacks for that one round (as it has a low agility), while also setting themselves up for future rounds in the slipstream of the Shuttle. With the Sensor Jammer, however, a lot of damage will be avoided on the turn an enemy fighter is k-turning or similar behind you, as it'll be short a focus.

C) Is about my list and not a quality of the Sensor Jammer itself. I fly Carnor Jax alongside, which either makes him able to actually block your use of Focus or you will be less likely to pick focus as your action fearing that Carnor will be close enough block it once the combat starts.

It'll be no use against my AC advanced who will kill it in three turns, maybe two if the ace with them does well.

What does it do exactly? Just not allow you to take more than 2 damage in one attack? Does it have any cost like r4-d6, which requires acquiring stress tokens to reduce damage?

Seems alright, if it was anymore powerful it'd be annoying. Not everything needs to be some dumb super ship. This upgrade actually seems balanced.

My A-Wings with Prockets and Predator would like a word with you OP...

hmm.. I don't know. we don't know the ghost's dial, do we? that too plays into what goes on it.. so no opinion there from me.

on the IG, sensor jammers are still the way to go over this, IMO. you get something out of EVERY shot against you, even if it's -just- eating up a focus token.

times when you get 3 damage are preeetty rare.

on the "REAL shutttle", I can see it both ways. the SJ again work on ANY attack, but you do recieve way more 3dmg attacks than the IG, so it might work here, too.

1:1 I would still prefer the SJ I think, but the "RD" is a point cheaper.. so.. guess it at least deserves to be tried.

You have to see it as basically Autothrusters for the Ghost, just with different mechanics and activation conditions. So it's about the right price, and you just have to decide if you're willing to trade out other System options.

It might arguably be even better than AT (in relative terms considering the vastly different ship types each card would be most commonly used with) in that it regenerates a shield, providing a slim improvement in your ability to shrug off a crit in the next attack.

As soon as I saw the card, I thought it would finally make me want to play a Decimator again...until I realized it requires a System slot.

But unless I've got an excellent reason to use a different System upgrade on my 0 agility ship, it seems auto-include.

What does it do exactly? Just not allow you to take more than 2 damage in one attack? Does it have any cost like r4-d6, which requires acquiring stress tokens to reduce damage?

Seems alright, if it was anymore powerful it'd be annoying. Not everything needs to be some dumb super ship. This upgrade actually seems balanced.

It's not at all that powerful. First you have to suffer three damage, then you gain one shield. It's a speed bump, but far from even close to being annoyingly powerful.

In my (admittedly limited) experience I've never seen three damage from a single attack. I took down a Firespray once, but it took two turns and six Tie Fighters (two got destroyed).

So I can see why there are doubts.

Personally, I'd go for upgrades to increase survivability. Perhaps Stealth Device upgrade and Lando crew. Or C3PO crew.