Etahn A'baht (32)Juke (2)Accuracy Corrector (3)R3 Astromech (2)Total: 39View in Yet Another Squad Builder

Roll 3 attack dice. You have an 87.5% chance of getting at least 1 eyeball. Cancel it. Get an evade token. Turn your other 2 results into hits. Defender rolls dice. Turn one of the evades into an eyeball. Let the defender be annoyed at you.

Congratulations! You just got 2 hit results _and an extra evade token_ without spending a single token. How often does a pilot end firing with more tokens than they started with?

Only downside: Etahn can only be PS 4-7 (and gives up Juke to do so), and this combo works best at PS8-9.

I'm not sure how well this combo will work in practice, but I want very much for it to work well.

Whenever they have included multiple copies of a card in one expansion pack it has usually been so because the designers believed it was a card that would be important to make available to benefit the game.

What other cards have come in multiples?

I can think on

- Stealth Device (2 in Slave I and U-Wing).

- Engine Upgrade (2 in Millenium Falcon)

- Shiled Upgrade (2 in Millenium Falcon)

- Twin Laser Turret (2 in K-Wing)

- Autothrusters (2 in Starviper)

- Twin Ion Engine Mk2 (2 in Punisher)

- Integrated Astromech (2 in HotR)

- Guidance Chips (2 in Punishing one)

- Electronic Baffle (2 in Mist Hunter) A card that I believe the designers thought it would have more impact than it has actually had.

- Enhanced Scopes (2 in Rebel Aces)... Well, not that this card is putting the meta upside down.

- Antipursuit Lasers (2 in Lambda shuttle) Not this one either.

- Ion Projector (2 in Hound's Tooth and Upsilon shuttle) Neither this one.

and more...

Most of the time, the designers have correctly predicted these "double cards" to be successful and get a lot of use, but other times they haven't.

What all the "hits" have in common is that the benefit of equipping those cards are immediately apparent. They work almost all the time, and the cost is balanced to the benefit.

The "misses" have in common that the effects are too tame for the cost, or it has negative consequences, or it has a random unreliable component to it.

Will R3 Astromech, as a double card it is, join the "hits" or the "misses"?

Well, it does have a positive effect that is quite tame for the requirements it has and the slot the card occupies, it has the negative consequence of cancelling a focus result, it depends on the random dice to produce that result, and on top of this, it is limited by PS, attack, primary weapon, and (in practically all cases), arc.

I bet it joins the "misses" party.

I'll be honest, I had a nice analytical reply typed out but I totally countered my own thoughts by the end of it. Oh well.

Short version is, I saw the R3 as a good encouragement to fly Y-Wing squadrons again, remembered the limit at low PS and that Y's can't take EPTs or Tech and deleted my ramblings. Y-Wings can remain turret hogs for now.

The other one was Red Squadron veterans, but again, PS4 potentially being 6 doesn't hold well against aces, considering you'd probably want Comms Relay on them for the next turn. A bit more encouraging but requires finesse.

So, I set out to defend these little droids but at the moment I can't seem to muster the energy.

Revised R3: "Add the Evade Icon to your action bar."

And even that should probably only be one point.

It just needs a caveat: no Biggses.

Revised R3: "Add the Evade Icon to your action bar."

And even that should probably only be one point.

It just needs a caveat: no Biggses.

Dozens of ways to fix it if they'd wanted to actually fix it.

My favourite is Fickle's "When declared as the target of an attack, you may spend a Focus token to discard a Focus token from your attacker's ship" - it's a sudden, hard U-boat and Dengaroo counter, and a solid defensive buff to low-AGI ships (because when your agility is low enough, penalising your attackers dice gives more benefit than boosting your own) that may also have hilarious Biggs-ish synergies if you can be bothered.

Alternatives include allowing you to simply take the Evade action, or (what I'd hoped before it was spoiled) some degree of repositioning - my favourite had been a slightly more useful version of the YV-666 Manouvering Fins: When revealing a bank, you may treat it as a straight of the same speed - which is pretty much tailor-made to help budget X-wing aces help get arc on their slippery foes without buying EU outright.

Or simply another halfway decent 1pt option for the 22pt Rookie builds. Take your pick what it'd do, there's plenty out there.

So yeah, there's a whole ton of design space left available for a cheap, reliable, spammable astromech... and instead they gave us, well, that. There's a reason people are so down on it, folks.

The best use for this card I've seen is putting it on 3 PS 10 X Wings, which at least mostly solves the PS issue.

That was definitely a cool list, because being three PS10s means it has legs against a number of lists.

Hey thats my List!!

Wedge, Wes, Luke. Its not bad. Remember that this list only works because of vectored thrusters. R3 works in this list strictly because if you use your action to re position, then you can do something with your offensive focus. Does it work all the time? no.

The thing I like most about this droid is that 2 points isn't always an imposition in a rebel list. It also has zero negative effects. I want to use my focus on defense this turn, I guess I'll take an evade if I roll an eyeball.

With high PS pilots, if you aren't going regen, this little droid isnt too bad. The negativity in this thread is groupthink at its finest. Sorry that you all don't like it.

Gosh, I hate to agree with Luke C, but the negativity here is overwhelming. I'm sorry ya'll are just 100% writing off the card without even giving it a chance. I hope some of you stand by your comments about R3 + Trash Can. Otherwise you're just spewing hyperbole for the sake of attention.

The biggest thing that people seem to be missing is that this is a way to modify your defense without taking an action. I think it'll actually be quite good on T-70s, since they like to abuse that Troll and K turn, leaving them modless (so the lack of F->H doesn't matter, and the Evade can be quite useful), plus the cheap ones will want IA instead of AT, so it'll really be only 1 point over the standard R2.

For the haters: Let those of us who want to chat about it to do so. Let us tinker with it and have fun. If you want to hate, we got you. Now, let the rest of us who want to chat about it go on with it.

I'm surprised it's taken this long to mention Luke (thanks Luke C). He's great with R3. He will always take the TL because you get the free Focus result for defense. So....you take the TL and re-roll what you can. If it comes up eyeball, you take an Evade. Doesn't happen all the time, but I have used it on Luke and it's saved his bacon a few times. I've even preferred to take the Evade instead of doing damage at certain points when I know the damage he would do isn't worth it compared to the free Evade when I know I'm going to get shot at.

The PS is the worst part of it, to be honest. You have to be firing before your opponent for it to be worth it. The problem is that most people would rather go with the sure thing in a shield regen guy instead. I think R3 can be more useful than R2-D2, but it does depend on dice rolls....and that is something tournament players don't like to do.

I think as long as you take the TL and then after the re-roll, you can use any left over eyeballs for the free Evade, you are good.

I don't understand why it is so difficult to understand that chatting about how Crap the card is IS chatting about the card


If you want to disregard the logical premise that, relative to most every other upgrade option in the game, r3 is garbage then it has to be specified in the op

Then there's the fallacy of believing that writing it off without trying it somehow makes these points less relevant. Guys, it isn't going to do anything that isn't written on the card text. Ffg literally wrote it off when they designed it in this manner long before any of us got to see it. There is no secret combo and nothing someone overlooked to make this hideously situational card worth taking over any other option (including not spending any points at all). Looking for a use was the FIRST thing anyone did when it was spoiled, problem is there's nothing there

Note there's nothing there VERY SPECIFICALLY because you have to clear FIVE goddamn conditions, one of which is utterly random, to get a single evade token

If you like to just play regardless, then fine no one will personally judge you

But if you seriously believe there's any merit to this poorly designed card, beyond the balls of steel you get for running it despite knowing this fact, you really are just deluding yourself

For the haters: Let those of us who want to chat about it to do so. Let us tinker with it and have fun. If you want to hate, we got you. Now, let the rest of us who want to chat about it go on with it.

I'm surprised it's taken this long to mention Luke (thanks Luke C). He's great with R3. He will always take the TL because you get the free Focus result for defense. So....you take the TL and re-roll what you can. If it comes up eyeball, you take an Evade. Doesn't happen all the time, but I have used it on Luke and it's saved his bacon a few times. I've even preferred to take the Evade instead of doing damage at certain points when I know the damage he would do isn't worth it compared to the free Evade when I know I'm going to get shot at.

The PS is the worst part of it, to be honest. You have to be firing before your opponent for it to be worth it. The problem is that most people would rather go with the sure thing in a shield regen guy instead. I think R3 can be more useful than R2-D2, but it does depend on dice rolls....and that is something tournament players don't like to do.

I think as long as you take the TL and then after the re-roll, you can use any left over eyeballs for the free Evade, you are good.

Interesting. Luke at 31 points might be the cheapest good use of R3. (28 + 2 + 1 for VI). Now obviously you can make the argument that 1-2 extra points would mean that he can take R5-P9, but perhaps you don't have the points to spare, or they're being used elsewhere.

Heck, perhaps the following build might not be a terrible place for him.

Poe w/ R5-P9, VI, IA

Wedge w/ R2-D2, Adaptability, IA

Luke w/ VI, R3, IA

Total: 99 pts

You could even potentially drop VI from Poe to free up the last point for AT on Poe. Now your opponent is left with a difficult choice - does he go for the PS10 Luke that will be getting an evade most turns, plus his F->E, and still has his full dial, including the K turn, not a combination you want to see in the end game... Or does he go for Wedge, who admittedly would be the best end game matchup, but also the most deadly in the mean time, or does he go for Poe, which is the hardest to kill at any point in time. I kinda like this build. I know it's kinda derivative of Luke C's.... And uses two T-65s, and probably crumbles under Uboats, but it doesn't seem totally useless. It's essentially 2.5 regenerating ships.

The biggest thing that people seem to be missing is that this is a way to modify your defense without taking an action.

I think as long as you take the TL and then after the re-roll, you can use any left over eyeballs for the free Evade, you are good.

I think these are R3's two greatest strengths. Rolls willing, he grants an evade without any other input from the player. He requires no actions and at the same time gives you access to defensive capabilities you didn't have before. Additionally, I think Focus being the 'default' action (since it's offensively roughly equivalent to a TL but more versatile) is throwing people off. With R3 you can take TL's all day and still (occasionally) enjoy the versatility of a defensive bonus (remember, if you spent your Focus on offense, it did you nothing on defense anyway).

I actually really like the idea of R3 on Luke. For fun I'd probably go with Lone Wolf and Vectored Thrusters. Barrel Roll to your heart's content while still enjoying offensive re-rolls and decent odds at 3 Evades!

If you want to disregard the logical premise that, relative to most every other upgrade option in the game, r3 is garbage then it has to be specified in the op

You mean kinda like what I said to begin with in the OP?

o the R3 astromech has been a disappointment since it was revealed. To be fair, there were some high hopes for it to fix the X wing, and it really doesn't do much for that. But hold on, there are a few uses for it. Or at least combos that might be useful. So let's take a look at them before we write the card off as 100% useless.

I don't understand why it is so difficult to understand that chatting about how Crap the card is IS chatting about the card

If you want to disregard the logical premise that, relative to most every other upgrade option in the game, r3 is garbage then it has to be specified in the op

But if you seriously believe there's any merit to this poorly designed card, beyond the balls of steel you get for running it despite knowing this fact, you really are just deluding yourself

What you aren't understanding is that r3 is situational. You wont put r2d2 on a gold squadron pilot, or a rookie. You dont put r3 on every pilot. R3 is good on high ps pilots that are using actions for other things (such as repositioning). It is especially good if you dont want a regen droid on there for whatever reason. No its probably not good on Poe, but its reasonable on other things.

For the haters: Let those of us who want to chat about it to do so. Let us tinker with it and have fun. If you want to hate, we got you. Now, let the rest of us who want to chat about it go on with it.

I'm surprised it's taken this long to mention Luke (thanks Luke C). He's great with R3. He will always take the TL because you get the free Focus result for defense. So....you take the TL and re-roll what you can. If it comes up eyeball, you take an Evade. Doesn't happen all the time, but I have used it on Luke and it's saved his bacon a few times. I've even preferred to take the Evade instead of doing damage at certain points when I know the damage he would do isn't worth it compared to the free Evade when I know I'm going to get shot at.

The PS is the worst part of it, to be honest. You have to be firing before your opponent for it to be worth it. The problem is that most people would rather go with the sure thing in a shield regen guy instead. I think R3 can be more useful than R2-D2, but it does depend on dice rolls....and that is something tournament players don't like to do.

I think as long as you take the TL and then after the re-roll, you can use any left over eyeballs for the free Evade, you are good.

Interesting. Luke at 31 points might be the cheapest good use of R3. (28 + 2 + 1 for VI). Now obviously you can make the argument that 1-2 extra points would mean that he can take R5-P9, but perhaps you don't have the points to spare, or they're being used elsewhere.

Heck, perhaps the following build might not be a terrible place for him.

Poe w/ R5-P9, VI, IA

Wedge w/ R2-D2, Adaptability, IA

Luke w/ VI, R3, IA

Total: 99 pts

You could even potentially drop VI from Poe to free up the last point for AT on Poe. Now your opponent is left with a difficult choice - does he go for the PS10 Luke that will be getting an evade most turns, plus his F->E, and still has his full dial, including the K turn, not a combination you want to see in the end game... Or does he go for Wedge, who admittedly would be the best end game matchup, but also the most deadly in the mean time, or does he go for Poe, which is the hardest to kill at any point in time. I kinda like this build. I know it's kinda derivative of Luke C's.... And uses two T-65s, and probably crumbles under Uboats, but it doesn't seem totally useless. It's essentially 2.5 regenerating ships.

I like this, I am going to try it out. I really think with uboat meta wes might be just better than wedge and pull the same aggro. VI replaces adaptability and completes the 100 points.

I don't understand why it is so difficult to understand that chatting about how Crap the card is IS chatting about the card

If you want to disregard the logical premise that, relative to most every other upgrade option in the game, r3 is garbage then it has to be specified in the op

We get that it's not the most efficient card there is. We understand it won't be at the top tables at worlds. With that said, some of want to find uses where it isn't a horrible choice. Just because there is a better option doesn't mean that this is a bad option. All you have really contributed is that it's terrible and should never be used....ever. We want to find a use for it where it isn't just a bad choice. What I don't get is why you have to keep posting about how it's a bad choice. Yes....there are better options, but we want to try it with R3. You don't have to tell us it's not the best option.

Interesting. Luke at 31 points might be the cheapest good use of R3. (28 + 2 + 1 for VI). Now obviously you can make the argument that 1-2 extra points would mean that he can take R5-P9, but perhaps you don't have the points to spare, or they're being used elsewhere.

One note....you can use R3 even if you bump or are stressed. That's something you don't get with R5-P9. R2-D2 does work that way, but you have to pull off a green, which makes you a bit predictable. In fact, what if you do K-turn? You don't get any modifiers, but you can still use that eyeball result.

I think these are R3's two greatest strengths. Rolls willing, he grants an evade without any other input from the player. He requires no actions and at the same time gives you access to defensive capabilities you didn't have before. Additionally, I think Focus being the 'default' action (since it's offensively roughly equivalent to a TL but more versatile) is throwing people off. With R3 you can take TL's all day and still (occasionally) enjoy the versatility of a defensive bonus (remember, if you spent your Focus on offense, it did you nothing on defense anyway).

I actually really like the idea of R3 on Luke. For fun I'd probably go with Lone Wolf and Vectored Thrusters. Barrel Roll to your heart's content while still enjoying offensive re-rolls and decent odds at 3 Evades!

Yeah....I like that you get the use of your action and you don't have to sacrifice something to use R3. Everyone seems to think you are giving up offensive ability, but I don't think you do. After you use the TL, you can't do anything with the eyeball.

Well, to be honest, you can still use Lone Wolf and Vectored Thrusters on Luke with R3. You get to re-roll one blank. That works with R3 fine, especially if you are Barrel Rolling for your action.

What you aren't understanding is that r3 is situational. You wont put r2d2 on a gold squadron pilot, or a rookie. You dont put r3 on every pilot. R3 is good on high ps pilots that are using actions for other things (such as repositioning). It is especially good if you dont want a regen droid on there for whatever reason. No its probably not good on Poe, but its reasonable on other things.

Consider the opportunity cost though. If you're taking R3, you're not taking BB8. And BB8 is so much better it's just not funny. Unless you have BB8 elsewhere in your list of course. But in that case, you're not taking R2 and having a point spare to spend elsewhere. Or any of several other good (or even mediocre) cheap astros.

Opporunity costs are huge when slots and points are limited, and this has to compete with other two point astros.

It fails to do so effectively.

What you aren't understanding is that r3 is situational. You wont put r2d2 on a gold squadron pilot, or a rookie. You dont put r3 on every pilot. R3 is good on high ps pilots that are using actions for other things (such as repositioning). It is especially good if you dont want a regen droid on there for whatever reason. No its probably not good on Poe, but its reasonable on other things.

Consider the opportunity cost though. If you're taking R3, you're not taking BB8. And BB8 is so much better it's just not funny. Unless you have BB8 elsewhere in your list of course. But in that case, you're not taking R2 and having a point spare to spend elsewhere. Or any of several other good (or even mediocre) cheap astros.

Opporunity costs are huge when slots and points are limited, and this has to compete with other two point astros.

It fails to do so effectively

on an xwing bb8 is not so much better than r3. BB8 works only on greens, r3 works on ALL manuevers. bb8 doesnt provide any defense. r3 has the opportunity to, especially after a TL. BB8 doesn't keep you alive longer, wheras r3 does.

what i am hearing is theory crafting from you. What I am providing you is tested knowledge that r3 does make xwings more survivable. that r3 plus a high ps pilot is a reasonable solution, and that r3 plus vectored thrusters is a combo that synergies well together.

I don't think I saw anyone mention R3 as a juke enabler. Wedge R3 and Juke is bizarrely strong (keeping in mind it is a T-65, blah blah blah).

Wedge hits all the points that make R3 good. You are firing early, meaning the evade token is less likely to be wasted. He already reduces defense, and this compounds with that. It enables him to take that target lock, or bump, or k-turn. It doesn't limit his dial, like R2-D2 or BB-8.

I'm slowly starting to think T-65 = bad is more groupthink than reality at this point.

I don't think I saw anyone mention R3 as a juke enabler. Wedge R3 and Juke is bizarrely strong (keeping in mind it is a T-65, blah blah blah).

Wedge hits all the points that make R3 good. You are firing early, meaning the evade token is less likely to be wasted. He already reduces defense, and this compounds with that. It enables him to take that target lock, or bump, or k-turn. It doesn't limit his dial, like R2-D2 or BB-8.

I'm slowly starting to think T-65 = bad is more groupthink than reality at this point.

Not remotely.

But.

Wedge needs actions to get good damage through. Even with R3 and Juke, he's still shooting against 3 dice of defence a lot of the time (i.e. 4 dice due to stealth device, rocks, range, or better than that due to focus/evade), and a maximum of two hits isn't going to chop through that, especially when the aces concerned will almost always have at least one focus token.

Whereas Wedge will be relying on two naked greens plus a single evade.

It's not BAD per se, but high PS pilots will often benefit more from repositioning options...

Consider the opportunity cost though. If you're taking R3, you're not taking BB8. And BB8 is so much better it's just not funny. Unless you have BB8 elsewhere in your list of course. But in that case, you're not taking R2 and having a point spare to spend elsewhere. Or any of several other good (or even mediocre) cheap astros.

Opporunity costs are huge when slots and points are limited, and this has to compete with other two point astros.

It fails to do so effectively.

They can be compared abstractly in the areas of improving defense (slightly arc-dodging or less predictable for BB and R2, Evade token for R3) or maneuverability (barrel-rolling or more green for BB and R2, not being as afraid to k-turn or keep stress with R3), but really BB-8, R3 Astromech, and R2 Astromech all do different things. So if you're trying to fit R3 into R2 or BB-8's role, then sure, you've already failed. But you're also going to struggle to fit a square peg in a round hole.

Wedge needs actions to get good damage through. Even with R3 and Juke, he's still shooting against 3 dice of defence a lot of the time

TIL most ships have 4 Agility.

The best use for this card I've seen is putting it on 3 PS 10 X Wings, which at least mostly solves the PS issue.

That was definitely a cool list, because being three PS10s means it has legs against a number of lists.

As someone who ran a PS10 R3 Astro list in a tournament, I am here to say it was absolutely terrible and R3 was an awful point sink.

i wouldnt really consider R3 as a juke enabler.

You're paying 5pts for juke at that point on top of not changing one of your focus to a hit because you need to cancel it first for the evade.

i'd rather get a different astromech/ept and just spend the focus to change all my results to hits instead of -1 result. It might as well be the same offensively, +1 hit -1 evade sounds the same thing to me. Especially since juke can be countered by a focus token.

The best use for this card I've seen is putting it on 3 PS 10 X Wings, which at least mostly solves the PS issue.

That was definitely a cool list, because being three PS10s means it has legs against a number of lists.

As someone who ran a PS10 R3 Astro list in a tournament, I am here to say it was absolutely terrible and R3 was an awful point sink.

Sounds correct, obvious and intuitive.

Now, let's all yell at Kdubb for being negative, being a hater, and not giving this card a fair shake.

Honestly, I feel like if FFG came out with an 80pt ship that had one hull, no shields, a one die primary, and no upgrade slots, there are a handful of players on this forum who would still yell at me if I said a disparaging word about it and tell me to fly better or give it a chance before rushing to judgement.

The best use for this card I've seen is putting it on 3 PS 10 X Wings, which at least mostly solves the PS issue.

That was definitely a cool list, because being three PS10s means it has legs against a number of lists.

As someone who ran a PS10 R3 Astro list in a tournament, I am here to say it was absolutely terrible and R3 was an awful point sink.

Do you have anything to add to this? Like why it was bad, what lists you faced, etc, etc. I mean, if you fought 3x ion defenders all day, then yeah, i get it. Do you normally do well at tournaments? Have you had any practice with the list?

Its a pretty normal response to say, "man, i did bad with this, this list sucks" but in reality if you havent ever flown 3 ps10 xwings, then you will lose a lot because they arent the easiest to fly. This is the same reason why people get frustrated when trying Paul Heaver's worlds list shortly after he won, the list isnt bad, it just is tricky to fly.

Stopped reading shortly after my post because it wasn't any fun, so apologies if this has already been covered.

What about using it outside of the 100 point deathmatch? The first one that comes to mind is the Heroes of the Aturi Cluster campaign. R2-D2 and R5-P9 are unique, so only one player can have each. There aren't really any other defensive astromechs, and defensive bonuses are desperately needed in the campaign. Plus, it's only 2 points and enables the use of Integrated Astro. Saves you a few points to spend on other upgrades, like bumping your PS and getting Predator a bit earlier.