The die canceling wouldn't be such a big deal if it reliably did something that didn't have it's usefulness tied to having a higher PS than your opponent's ships.

Maybe something like this:

"When attacking you may cancel one [focus] result to change one of your attack dice to a [hit]. When defending you may cancel one [focus] result to change one of your defense dice to an [evade]".

Something like this would help mitigate horrible rolls without making already modified rolls more likely to get maximum results. It might need to be limited to one use per round but it might actually be okay at two points.

Nah that actually sounds pretty solid for 2, as long as it's not limited. Might have to be primary only so it doesn't overpower TLTs though TLTs ruin so much good design.

i would run R3 if only he worked with TLT... than he would be the best horton companion

The TIE/x7 title is still better and costs 4 points less.

The best suggestion I've seen for R3 was use it as a bookmark. I wish I could remember who posted it so so I could give them due credit.

Was it this that you were thinking of?

Even if it wasn't I'll totally take the credit. There is no finer currency than the approval of anonymous strangers on an Internet forum.

I feel like we just had a Craiglsist "Missed Connection" moment.

I think R3 just needs to be the sensor cluster of astromechs. Spend a focus to change a blank to an evade. 2pts for sensor cluster, 2pts for R3. Makes sense to me. Gives Ywings and Xwings a bit more life, and a focus token is a guaranteed 1 evade for Xwings, no more blanking out.

Another option is FAQ R3 for 0pt costs, so now rebels will have a 0pt droid for IA.

You want to have R3 in good?

Cancel a blank result to add a hit or evade result to your roll. 3 Points. ;-)

I had average success with R3 Astromech and Juke on high PS pilots. Luke Skywalker and Wedge Antilles were my favorites. Luke has a pretty decent defense and can perform target locks on almost everyone. When a focus appears, he cancels that and receives an evade token. He uses his TL on the other dice. Then he can Juke a defense die and use his skill and the evade token on his own defense. It even works after kturns. The issue is with the unreliability. Sometimes the focus just doesn't appear. And during that round you will not receive any evade tokens and you're doomed on your defense.

Yeah, the mech has plenty of problems (relying on RNG, requires primary weapon, low PS problems) but I just don't like the "damage nerf" argument.

Adding the Evade action to the action bar would have been a nice use of the slot and points.

The benefit of being able to trade a focus results for an Evade token instead of adding the Evade action however, is action efficiency as it doesn't take an action to get the token, allowing you to K-turn, T-Roll, Boost, Target Lock, or other possible action upgrades instead of evading.

But its not reliable enough to work (the RNG problem).

First of all, my sincere thanks for phrasing what I was thinking!

I agree the R3 is situational, but for 2 points an interesting alternative for R2D2.

If you have a TL and a focus token, surely you won't use R3. But if you have only TL, no action, or used PtL for a barrel roll and TL, you might end up with an attack roll with an unchangable focus result.

And then...then your Wedge, Wes, etc can use R3 for a nice, free focus token, helping you when your ace is attacked by a bunch of TIE fighters

I would be content with it, if they simply removed the Primary Weapons only restriction. Snap Shot X-Wings, and Horton would get some not insignificant use out of him. He wouldn't be the best Mech ever, but he would have a few corner cases worth trying him in.