So, ever since Integrated Astromech was announced, I've heard it said over and over that all the X-Wing needs now is a couple good astromechs for it to be competitive. However, it doesn't seem like anyone is actually throwing out their ideas of what a good astromech would be. I've had a couple thoughts that I'll share below, but I'm really curious to see what the rest of the community thinks would be a suitable astromech to bring the X-Wing (and maybe generic E-Wings) up to where they should be.

My half-baked ideas:

Guidance Astromech

When performing a primary weapon attack, you may spend a Target Lock to change 1 die result into a hit result.

1 point.

The idea behind this one is basically Weapons Guidance, but with Target Locks instead, and able to affect eyeball results as well as blank results. Useful in those situations where you have a target lock and roll two hits and a blank/eye. Gives the X-Wing and E-Wing an ever-so-slight jousting boost, without overpowering some of the unique pilots who prefer other astromechs. Also, when paired with Weapons Guidance and PTL on a Red Squadron Veteran or other T-70 with an EPT, it makes the T-70 extremely reliable on offense.

CP Astromech

When performing a (Right bank) or (Left bank) maneuver, you may receive 1 stress token to rotate your ship 90 degrees.

3 points.

Not actually sure about the point cost on this one. The idea is basically to be able to do a Tallon Roll-like maneuver off of banks, but be able to wind up facing in either direction. This would give X-Wings and E-Wings a solid chance against Arc Dodgers, without giving them the same old post-activation maneuvering abilities of Boost or Barrel Roll. It would be something interesting and new, and when compared to PWTs, doesn't seem to be overpowered in my opinion. Of course, I'd have to test it out on the table a few times, but I feel like it could be a lot of fun.

R3 Astromech: 2 points. After spending a target lock, you may gain a focus token- Alternate version of the Agromech, helps with Ordinance action economy so you are less locked to GChips as a mod

R6 Astromech: 2 points. If you would gain a focus token, you may gain an evade token instead- Individual version of Jan Ors. can help with survivability, esp for lower pilot skill generics

BB unit: 1 point. Your action bar gains [barrel roll]. - Adds mobility options, similar in theme as BB8 but weaker and cheaper.

R2-R Astromech

1 point

Enemy ships at range 2 and beyond cannot target lock you

StealthX Astromech

Unique

3 points

Your action bar gains the (Cloak) action. If you are hit by an attack while cloaking, discard this card, then decloak or discard the cloak token.

Which astromechs are you referring to? The regular Rebel Astromechs or the S&V Salvaged Astromechs.

It does make a big difference as astromechs are faction specific which means they only go on certain ships and pair with certian abilities. (A syndicate Thug with unhinged and TLT does perform diffrently than a gold squadron with R2 and TLT).

Too bad there are no imperial astromechs. Hey does anyone know if there is room on that assault gunboat or missile boat for an imperial astromech? What about the TIE scout?

Which astromechs are you referring to? The regular Rebel Astromechs or the S&V Salvaged Astromechs.

It does make a big difference as astromechs are faction specific which means they only go on certain ships and pair with certian abilities. (A syndicate Thug with unhinged and TLT does perform diffrently than a gold squadron with R2 and TLT).

Too bad there are no imperial astromechs. Hey does anyone know if there is room on that assault gunboat or missile boat for an imperial astromech? What about the TIE scout?

I was refering to Rebel astromechs, as I hoped my mention of the X-Wing, Integrated Astromech, and E-Wing in my post would point to.

As far as I can tell, the Salvaged Astromechs are in a pretty nice spot, and S&V isn't really needing any new ones. Rebels, however, could really use some more generic ones that boost the jousting value of the X and E-wings.

The RecSpecMech from a while ago that allowed X-wings to get double focus was a good one. It was also a nice Garven boost and had some Y-wing synergy with BTL-A4 too.

"Hello World" Astromech

0 points

Too bad there are no imperial astromechs. Hey does anyone know if there is room on that assault gunboat or missile boat for an imperial astromech? What about the TIE scout?

The empire was never big on on-board astromechs.

Firstly, their ships tended to be short-range and simple so didn't need the astromech to help manage hyperdrives or shields, whilst the few that did were 'no expense spared' designs like the Defender which had custom-designed computers to do the job.

Secondly, they didn't want their fighters having autonomous maintenance and repair capability - it helps keep everyone under control if your fighter pilots are dependent on their base ships for repair.

Thirdly, they just didn't like them very much. Most Imperial Admirals during the Galactic Civil War won their spurs during the Clone Wars - and therefore didn't like seeing droids on the front line; the average senior Imperial officer would react to the word 'battle droid' in much the same way a certain segment of the contemporary US military hierarchy would react to the word 'commie'.

A generic R3, R6 and BB unit would be nice. We know naff all about their capabilities, but adding barrel roll as an action might be nice - it's not free, but it can be done after hard turns.

A big issue is that most people really want a 1-point astromech for rebels. That gives you something you can slap on a Blue Squadron Novice and still get integrated astromech. The problem is that for only a point you can't exactly get an especially good ability.

For T-65s, the Targeting Astromech works okay for Red Squadron pilots - nicely making them 25 points each, and allowing them to target lock on a K-turn.

For Rookies, a chaardan-equivalent might be nice; maybe an R1 Astromech? It only needs to have a cost of -1 and that lets you field five T-65 fighters. At the same time..... might be too good if you let them take integrated astromech too - giving them a shield advantage over the equivalent Khiraxz. I'd include either a prohibition on modifications, or else some other downside like a PS penalty.

Gunnery Astromech: 2-3 points

"Once per round, you may change one die result to a [hit] result if attacking at range 3 or a [crit] result if attacking at range 2."

Ideally this would be most useful for munitions carrying Y-wings (stacks with Guidance Chips) and give a bit of extra punch to E-wings and X-wings.

Gunnery Astromech: 3 points

"Once per round, you may change one die result to a [hit] result if attacking at range 3 or a [crit] result if attacking at range 2."

I like that for 2 points. 3 is a little pricey for a once per round modification.

Thirdly, they just didn't like them very much. Most Imperial Admirals during the Galactic Civil War won their spurs during the Clone Wars - and therefore didn't like seeing droids on the front line; the average senior Imperial officer would react to the word 'battle droid' in much the same way a certain segment of the contemporary US military hierarchy would react to the word 'commie'.

Some Imperial Generals, on the other hand, didn't have any problem with them - Mohc from Dark Forces springs to mind.

Gunnery Astromech: 3 points

"Once per round, you may change one die result to a [hit] result if attacking at range 3 or a [crit] result if attacking at range 2."

I like that for 2 points. 3 is a little pricey for a once per round modification.

I guess it might have been a bit overly cautious with the pricing, though the effect has to be once per round to avoid undue synergy with TLTs and Corran.

Adjusted the cost down to 2 points. Other than that does it look reasonably balanced?

Not exactly what OP was proposing but:

Networked Astromech 1 point: discard this card to use the ability of any other Astromech within range 1-3

Gunnery Astromech: 3 points

"Once per round, you may change one die result to a [hit] result if attacking at range 3 or a [crit] result if attacking at range 2."

I like that for 2 points. 3 is a little pricey for a once per round modification.

I guess it might have been a bit overly cautious with the pricing, though the effect has to be once per round to avoid undue synergy with TLTs and Corran.

Adjusted the cost down to 2 points. Other than that does it look reasonably balanced?

This would more likely be 3-4 points due to it being persistent through the entire match. Reason guidance chips is 0 is due to munitions needing the push and you most likely only are going to use it 2-3 times per ship on average.

Something like:

When you overlap a ship, you can perform a free action

R3 Astromech: 2 points. After spending a target lock, you may gain a focus token- Alternate version of the Agromech, helps with Ordinance action economy so you are less locked to GChips as a mod

R6 Astromech: 2 points. If you would gain a focus token, you may gain an evade token instead- Individual version of Jan Ors. can help with survivability, esp for lower pilot skill generics

BB unit: 1 point. Your action bar gains [barrel roll]. - Adds mobility options, similar in theme as BB8 but weaker and cheaper.

R77 - Target Martix

Action - when performing a target lock action you may place the red token on an enemy within range 1 -3 of a friendly ship with another R77 astormech

OR place the blue token on a friendly ship with an R77 if they are within range 1 -3 of you

point - 3

its 3 points because you need at least 2 of them

I proposed this one before:

Hyperdrive Astromech

During the setup phase, your pilot skill is 12.

0 points.

Thirdly, they just didn't like them very much. Most Imperial Admirals during the Galactic Civil War won their spurs during the Clone Wars - and therefore didn't like seeing droids on the front line; the average senior Imperial officer would react to the word 'battle droid' in much the same way a certain segment of the contemporary US military hierarchy would react to the word 'commie'.

Some Imperial Generals, on the other hand, didn't have any problem with them - Mohc from Dark Forces springs to mind.

Mohc's attitude was more "anything is better than the Death Star."

0 point

This ship gains 1 [Tech] or 1 [system] upgrade slot. If this card is discarded, discard its [Tech] or [upgrade] card as well.

Not exactly what OP was proposing but:

Networked Astromech 1 point: discard this card to use the ability of any other Astromech within range 1-3

I like this, but how about 2 points, shorten the range to 1-2, and don't discard? That way it's in effect the whole game, pinballing back and forth between R2-D2 and R7-T1 (just to pick two).

Being an old school X-Wing PC & TIE player from the mid 1990's, I'd love to see a proper power management astromech that can divert shields to lasers, or speed, or whatever.

Basically an astromech that allows you to spend shield tokens to do things like increase your number of dice for a round (or give you a boost/barrel roll).

OR

you can lower your attack value (I'm thinking by 2) for a round to recover a shield or give you an evade token.

All this on one card might be a tight fit, but it would give you the feel of constantly diverting power different ways.

R3 Astromech: 2 points. After spending a target lock, you may gain a focus token- Alternate version of the Agromech, helps with Ordinance action economy so you are less locked to GChips as a mod

R6 Astromech: 2 points. If you would gain a focus token, you may gain an evade token instead- Individual version of Jan Ors. can help with survivability, esp for lower pilot skill generics

BB unit: 1 point. Your action bar gains [barrel roll]. - Adds mobility options, similar in theme as BB8 but weaker and cheaper.

I like your other astromechs, but BB unit no. In TFA Poe says he's a one of a kind. Unique.

He actually refers to his paint job as unique. http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/BB_unit

If he was unique, the rest of the galaxy wouldn't keep referring to him as "that BB unit."

I proposed this one before:

Hyperdrive Astromech

During the setup phase, your pilot skill is 12.

0 points.

I really like this one, but I'd make it 1 point as deployment can really affect the game.

I'd also like to see a cheapo astromech:

R1 Astromech

All 1-speed maneuvers are Green

0 points

This serves as either cannon fodder for integrated astromech, or a very slight boost for Y-Wings.

Lastly, this is an astromech I've been advocating for

R6 Charger Mech

Side A

Action: You may receive a weapons disabled token to flip this card

Side B

Increase your primary weapon value by 1. After making a primary weapon attack, flip this card.

2 points

This adds a bit of finesse to jousting, but is very much so a boost to the X-Wing and E-Wing's jousting capabilities.

Not exactly what OP was proposing but:

Networked Astromech 1 point: discard this card to use the ability of any other Astromech within range 1-3

I like this, but how about 2 points, shorten the range to 1-2, and don't discard? That way it's in effect the whole game, pinballing back and forth between R2-D2 and R7-T1 (just to pick two).

I think it would be too good at 2 points. It would give you a second R2D2 for the whole game.