Having played it a few times it really isn't that bad at all. On a high pilot skill X or Y it is a cheap way to get an evade, which if used even once is at least a hull upgrade, and if used a few more times its even better. Not the best by any means but not bad if you have a Y-Wing that miffed on a roll, or a Wedge or Wes that could have shot better. Consider a focused Wedge shooting at Fel. If the tie has an evade and Wedge rolls hit, focus, and blank. Chances are Fel will make that second evade and Wedge misses with nothing to show for it. Instead Wedge cancels for an evade and now when the next ship shoots he has a focus and an evade, greatly increasing his dodge chance. I honestly believe that Luke, Wes, Wedge, Nora, Elo, and a few others just might find this droid more useful than he seems. Yeah he's crap on low pilot skill, but the aces just might make it worth while.

Yay, more then just me likes this droid.

For me it's all about the juke combo.

To all the R3 haters out there, just try it. You don't have to like it but deciding it sucks before trying it annoys me.

I always hear about how much better regen is, but that's 2 very specific and expensive droids, one which makes you more predictable, and another which gives you serious action economy problems. Unless your name is Poe Dameron, and even then...

I need to try Salm, TLT, R3, BTL-A4, VT

The problem is that it trashes your offense unless you take TL or just are out of luck anyway.

Why not take the TL on an X-Wing? I have always found things go better that way. I know the math favors the focus token but I have beaten the odds plenty of times in both directions. TLs are nice because you can keep them and even if you roll all blanks on 4 dice you have one more chance.

The problem is that it trashes your offense unless you take TL or just are out of luck anyway.

Besides if you see my example I think you might see that you were already screwed offensively. So you switch to defense rather than a miss with noting to show for it.

Can you even re-roll canceled dice?

CANCEL When a die result is canceled, a player takes one die displaying the canceled result and physically removes the die from the common area. Players ignore all canceled results

Correct, you can't reroll cancelled dice.

The R3 can trigger after you reroll, if you then get an eyeball yet have no focus token.

You can't.

So it's a corner case where:

You think your opponent will match your hits with evades +

You have this extra focus result +

You have no focus token +

You need that evade token +

You realize you spent 3 points to cancel a focus result for an evade to cancel an opposing evade token when you could've just taken Fearlessness or PTL for the TL or Crack Shot to push that damage through.

I can see it's application. Pair it with Integrated Astronech on some generic X's, on on it's own on Y-Wings, and target Lock instead of Focus. If your offence still whiffs with the modifier, chances are you'll boost your defense for the inevitable return fire.

I might give 4 x Red Squadrons with Integrated R3 a go and see how it gets on. SLacks repositioning, but that's what overlapping fire arcs and approach pls is for.

Edit: 2 points spacelion. You're not getting Push the Limit (crutch!) for two points, or on ships withough ab Elite Talent slot for that matter, like generic T65s, E-Wings and all Rebel Y-Wings.

And Fearlessness is scum only

I can see it's application. Pair it with Integrated Astronech on some generic X's, on on it's own on Y-Wings, and target Lock instead of Focus. If your offence still whiffs with the modifier, chances are you'll boost your defense for the inevitable return fire.

I might give 4 x Red Squadrons with Integrated R3 a go and see how it gets on. SLacks repositioning, but that's what overlapping fire arcs and approach pls is for.

Edit: 2 points spacelion. You're not getting Push the Limit (crutch!) for two points, or on ships withough ab Elite Talent slot for that matter, like generic T65s, E-Wings and all Rebel Y-Wings.

Red Squadron is PS4, that might be a problem when you run into anything that's not U-boots, maybe Dash+Ghost, considering you have to shoot first in order to get that evade.

True enough. Although the Dash/Ghost combos I've seen usually un the Lothal Rebel, so at least you'd get some benefit against that. Wouldn't help a jot against Dash though.

Might help against Crack Squadrons, dependant on initiative.

R3 Juke and Comm Relay its expensive but if you can get it early it will pay off

I'm sorry OP but that droid really is terrible. Don't get me wrong - it will trigger every once in a while. After all, most ships k-turn from time to time and when they do, they typically can't use their eye results, so at least you get an evade. You can also try and rely on TLs and then cancel any eye results that remain. If it saves you a hit, that's already a hull upgrade for just 2 points. A bargain, right?

Well, wrong.

It's not that hull upgrades barely see any use because they're just not efficient (though they do and they aren't in most cases) or that R3 is wildly unreliable (though it is) or even that it's only worth using on generics which are not competitive and R3 doesn't change that fact. No, the reasons why that droid is pointless is that it is useless to the only ships that would find it worth equpping in the first place.

Essentially in X-wing you either build an ace list with relatively few highly efficient and typically high-PS ships or you build a generic list with more numerous but less individually efficient and typically low-PS ships.

R3 is not a good upgrade for an ace list, because you simply cannot afford to lose that much firepower with so few ships on the table. In the era of ever-present defenders you have to assume that your first shot (and possibly the second one as well) will do nothing but force your opponent to spend his tokens. Only once you've managed that can you expect your shots to finally start chewing through the enemy HP. In order to do that you need to concentrate fire on a single target and achieve as high accuracy as possible. Aces these days typically have double red dice modification and sometimes also enemy green dice modification to do just that. An eye result is virtually always a hit for them and cancelling a hit is just a big no-no even if the droid was free which it isn't. Not to mention there are usually far better droids that aces could make use of.

Now, in a generic list R3 is seemingly much more reasonable. You've got more ships and more shots overall, so you can afford to lower the damage of one ship that is being focused in order to boost it's survivability. There's only one tiny problem - in order to use that evade token something must shoot at you after you acquire it. And in order to acquire it, you need to shoot first. Since pretty much any generic will shoot after the aces do (or even, say, triple glaives) in most match ups that droid will never ever get to see any use.

TLDR R3 is just bad period. Whatever situational use you might find for it, in vast majority of match ups it's 2 points of dead weight.

R3 Juke and Comm Relay its expensive but if you can get it early it will pay off

Yeah, for about 30 points you get a low PS ship with no pilot's ability that can maybe perform 2 actions per turn provided it cripples it's own attack. You can fit 3 of those in your list! Yay! Or you could, you know, just field triple aces that can actually perform 2 or more actions per turn without compromising their offense, with high PS and useful pilot abilities...

Why not take the TL on an X-Wing? I have always found things go better that way. I know the math favors the focus token but I have beaten the odds plenty of times in both directions. TLs are nice because you can keep them and even if you roll all blanks on 4 dice you have one more chance.

Target Lock and Focus are exactly equal in terms of math. Both increase the likelihood of the attack dice to show a hit/crit from 50% to 75%. If anything the target lock is better by a tiny bit because it has more critical hit chance (3/16 crit, 9/16 hit) compared to the focus token (2/16 hit, 10/16 hit).

Target Lock has the bonus that you can keep it if you happen to roll well enough on the first run for another attack next turn. Focus has the bonus that you can still use it on defense if you roll well enough that you don't need it.

Why not take the TL on an X-Wing? I have always found things go better that way. I know the math favors the focus token but I have beaten the odds plenty of times in both directions. TLs are nice because you can keep them and even if you roll all blanks on 4 dice you have one more chance.

Target Lock and Focus are exactly equal in terms of math. Both increase the likelihood of the attack dice to show a hit/crit from 50% to 75%. If anything the target lock is better by a tiny bit because it has more critical hit chance (3/16 crit, 9/16 hit) compared to the focus token (2/16 hit, 10/16 hit).

Target Lock has the bonus that you can keep it if you happen to roll well enough on the first run for another attack next turn. Focus has the bonus that you can still use it on defense if you roll well enough that you don't need it.

Focus also has an added benefit that you can use it against any target rather than the one you have chosen during your activation phase. For generic X-wings this is a non-trivial consideration. Their low PS and limited manueverability mean that the target they initially aimed to shoot at might be out of arc, touching them or simply be destroyed by the time they get to make their shot.

Yeah, for about 30 points you get a low PS ship with no pilot's ability that can maybe perform 2 actions per turn provided it cripples it's own attack. You can fit 3 of those in your list! Yay! Or you could, you know, just field triple aces that can actually perform 2 or more actions per turn without compromising their offense, with high PS and useful pilot abilities...

For about 32 points you can get a PS 10 Wes Janson with R3, integrated and VI.

It's the same as the stressing Wes pointwise, but i'm not sure which is better, since he lives so much longer after biggs dies, triggering his ability much more (not to mention not limiting his k-turns).

If you field 'triple aces that perform 2 or more actions' as a rebel player, you either get an A wing, or an expensive as hell ship to pay for the PTL.

Give me an example of triple aces in rebels that have 2 or more actions each.

What about on Red squad Vet's with Comm relays? Or any mid PS T-70 with comm relay.

I can see it's application. Pair it with Integrated Astronech on some generic X's, on on it's own on Y-Wings, and target Lock instead of Focus. If your offence still whiffs with the modifier, chances are you'll boost your defense for the inevitable return fire.

It's exactly this. You don't really sacrifice anything from your offense, but have the chance to boost your defense.

Also, Luke is the best pilot to take R3 with. He isn't going to use the Focus anyways as he gets the free (one) eyeball result every time on the defense. I've actually flown R3 with Luke and it's kicked in about 3 times in one game. That's well worth the points.

What about on Red squad Vet's with Comm relays? Or any mid PS T-70 with comm relay.

If you want to run T70s with Comms relays as a tactic, you would be better off taking a ship with Jan Ors onboard to keep them supplied with Evade tokens. She costs the same as an R3 and can charge up Comms Relays on turn 1 which saves your actions for later.

To be honest, I would be inclined to take Sensor Clusters instead. They are a point cheaper and are quite a good choice for a low PS ship. If necessary, you can spend your Focus token on defense. If you don't get attacked or don't need to spend it, you can spend it in your own attack phase. All for only 2 points which is much better than the 5 points that R3 + Comms Relay will cost. It also leaves your Astromech slot free to take something more interesting.

Yeah, for about 30 points you get a low PS ship with no pilot's ability that can maybe perform 2 actions per turn provided it cripples it's own attack. You can fit 3 of those in your list! Yay! Or you could, you know, just field triple aces that can actually perform 2 or more actions per turn without compromising their offense, with high PS and useful pilot abilities...

For about 32 points you can get a PS 10 Wes Janson with R3, integrated and VI.

It's the same as the stressing Wes pointwise, but i'm not sure which is better, since he lives so much longer after biggs dies, triggering his ability much more (not to mention not limiting his k-turns).

If you field 'triple aces that perform 2 or more actions' as a rebel player, you either get an A wing, or an expensive as hell ship to pay for the PTL.

Give me an example of triple aces in rebels that have 2 or more actions each.

You can put it on Wes alright, replacing R3-A2. However a typical Wes-Biggs-Corran list has 2 major weaknesses and 1 minor one. Replacing R3-A2 with R3 will slightly help with the minor one while making the major ones even worse. The major weaknesses are:

1. Vulnerability to all sorts of arc-dodgers - the list has to fly in a tight formation, neither X-wings nor E-wings have a terribly good dial, only Corran can reposition and even he only has access to barrel roll. Action denial thanks to R3-A2 is the list's only saving grace vs arc-dodgers. Taking it away will leave them very exposed.

2. Lack of reliable firepower. Biggs is usually tokenless when it comes to shooting and he tends to die early anyway, which only leaves Wes with a single modifier and thankfully Corran, who can get 2 modifiers and double tap - but only every other turn. Overall thanks to Wes' token-stripping and Corran's double tap the list does manage to do some damage but you definitely can't afford to weaken Wes' offense any further.

The minor weakness is that neither ship is particularly tough, especially the X-wings. R3 might help with that but it's hardly worth it.

As for the triple ace lists, rebels do have it tough indeed (not that the faction matters - if you try to run triple R3 Red Veterans vs triple cracked Glaives you'll just get eaten before you can say "That's not fair"), but if you want an example of high action economy 3 ship rebel list, a good example would be R5-P9 VI Poe, Procket Jake and RecSpec TLT Kyle. Granted, Kyle might not be an "ace" in the strict sense of the word but by passing focus to either Jake or Poe he can either grant the former up to 5 actions per turn (ie focus-boost-focus(from kyle)-barrel roll-target lock (from PTL)) or grant 2 actions to Poe. A combo of Poe firing with both TL and focus, Jake with Prockets and Kyle's TLT is quite capable of taking out a single R3 Veteran before he could even open fire and possibly trigger his R3. Even if the other 2 managed to take out Kyle before one of them got destroyed (not so easy), it would be an uphill battle from that point onwards. Jake's firepower at this point would no longer be impressive but they couldn't touch him either and it's doubtful they'd manage to punch though Poe's regen especially if they used R3. Best case scenario then would be losing on points due to Kyle being cheaper than either of them. More likely one or both of them would slowly but surely get picked apart 1-2 HPs at a time.

Put it simply, when I try and think of any remotely competitive list these days and analyze what chances a triple T-70 R3 Comm Relay list would have against it, I can't think of a single one that would be at a disadvantage against them.

Yeah, for about 30 points you get a low PS ship with no pilot's ability that can maybe perform 2 actions per turn provided it cripples it's own attack. You can fit 3 of those in your list! Yay! Or you could, you know, just field triple aces that can actually perform 2 or more actions per turn without compromising their offense, with high PS and useful pilot abilities...

For about 32 points you can get a PS 10 Wes Janson with R3, integrated and VI.

It's the same as the stressing Wes pointwise, but i'm not sure which is better, since he lives so much longer after biggs dies, triggering his ability much more (not to mention not limiting his k-turns).

If you field 'triple aces that perform 2 or more actions' as a rebel player, you either get an A wing, or an expensive as hell ship to pay for the PTL.

Give me an example of triple aces in rebels that have 2 or more actions each.