So I was thinking of ways to make flotillas more survivable. I think the most popular methods I've observed are hanging them in the background and either using boosted comms to activate squadrons or passing tokens along with comms net.

But what about those flotillas that you want to get near the enemy, specifically Slicer Tools. You want to keep them as cheap as possible (because they tend to pop at medium-close range, or when mass fighters are involved), but you'd also want them to be able to survive at least another round for more dial shenanigans. I've tried Lando before, and He works, but he's just better on a bigger ship for his cost.

For both types of flotillas, collisions are a huge liability. In my last tournament, I think I only killed 1 out of 5 flotillas by shooting it. The rest I rammed with extreme prejudice and would have rammed more if there had been an extra round.

I started thinking in terms of cover and concealment...making your Flotilla obstructed from the enemy, or taking a round about path to get in your enemies weak arc. A skilled opponent will make this difficult by maneuvering his big targets to make those approaches (the path you would take to get in the weak arc) difficult to navigate. Landing on an asteroid can be doom for a flotilla, and a debris field is not much better.

Chart Officer comes in at 2 points, and lets you take that approach. Landing squarely in a debris field can completely neuter most squadron attacks against you from most directions (we'll just assume that no maneuvering will be able to get a small base completely obstructed aside from landing smack dab in the middle of the station, but 3 sides is feasible). It could also very well turn an opponent's attempt to ram you for free damage into a terrible idea by forcing them to also land on the same obstacle you are occupying (this is admittedly achievable without chart Officer, but the card lets you take more risks in achieving it).

I think this is a perfect Officer upgrade for a slicer tools Flotilla. It increases your chances of keeping it around for cheap, and it lets you take an otherwise deadly escape route if it somehow manages to survive. It is also a decent choice for any other outfit, though there are definitely better support officers for those roles, even at a higher price.

Walex or Devlin?

Expensive and more utility for other ships. I think Devlin would be an absolute monster on Bright Hope, but really just an over expenditure anywhere else. Walex dictates activation order if you want to get the scatter back before you get shot again.

And I was too verbose to communicate the idea that chart officer can improve your chances of surviving 1 more round, implying that it is going to go down. So why spend 2 points if you're planning to lose it? To get an extra turn of slicer tools on that Demolisher's Nav command. Or to take away another round of Squadron commands from Yavaaris.

A lot of options work, but as my point about Lando said, they get more utility on other ships and can only go one a single ship, whereas Chart Officer could be on any number of ships.

@Park... I like it!