Hi all. I recently picked up a rebel transport, so now I finally have all the cool astromechs to play with. I've noticed that a lot of people run R4-D6 on Biggs. Can somebody explain to me why that's a better choice than R2-D2 or R5-P9? Is it just because R4-D6 costs so much less? Or is there something else I'm missing? Thanks!

R4-d6 makes it so Biggs doesn't pop from a single attack, the droid makes him last at least three attacks (unless your opponent gets the rare roll of all crits, then the droid just laughs as Biggs explodes)

Assuming he doesnt get slapped with a mass of crits that is, since R4D6 only counts Hits.

1 minute ago, Vineheart01 said:

Assuming he doesnt get slapped with a mass of crits that is, since R4D6 only counts Hits.

Then the droid just laughs away as he flies out of the x-wing before it goes boom

95% of the value is that it's an extra point of hull for just 1pt (Integrated Astromech). You're not fussed about the ability as much as you are by the low cost.

The remaining 5% is that it's probably the only 1pt Astromech that might possibly help to keep Biggs alive a little longer, in certain circumstances.

People used to play something like R2-D2 but these days Biggs's life expectancy is so low that you may never get to regen a shield at all, and you're just throwing 3 more points away when he dies.

Just cost.

R4D6 works almost never actually. But there are tiny chance that it will save Biggs one time. May be. I believe.

Played with R4D6 about 20 games. Prevented one damage one time. Not worked even against squad with 3 HLC's (last round of escalation).

2 minutes ago, bernh said:

Just cost.

R4D6 works almost never actually. But there are tiny chance that it will save Biggs one time. May be. I believe.

Played with R4D6 about 20 games. Prevented one damage one time. Not worked even against squad with 3 HLC's (last round of escalation).

Well, i was testing out a squadron using Biggs against another squadron of mine, and believe me, Biggs was wishing he had R4 as his droid instead of artoo, he got lit up like a firework almost instantly

5 minutes ago, bernh said:

Just cost.

R4D6 works almost never actually. But there are tiny chance that it will save Biggs one time. May be. I believe.

Played with R4D6 about 20 games. Prevented one damage one time. Not worked even against squad with 3 HLC's (last round of escalation).

I've had almost the opposite experience with R4D6. I've only ever used Biggs 5 times or so and every time that I have, R4-D6 stopped at least a point of damage. Sometimes I would not spend a focus token so that Biggs would take 3 hits to trigger the droid and leave him with a focus to use against the other attacks that he was facing.

As mentioned it's all about price with a small touch of function.

R2-D2 is relatively expensive and you really don't want to make Biggs more expensive than he already is as you know he's going to die. It also restricts Biggs maneuvers which means he may not be doing his job. Sometimes R2D2 will stick around long enough to provide 2 more shield tokens but Biggs needs to survive those rounds to get there.

R5-P9 may be even worse than R2-D2. It may just require keeping a Focus token until the EoT but that means getting a token and then not spending it. If spending that Focus would have turned a Defense die you would have used it then and are unlikely to have it. If Biggs' attack rolled any eyes you're likely better to modify those instead of saving it to regain a shield; a dead opponent doesn't shoot back so it wouldn't matter how many more hits Biggs could take.

R2D2 is expensive, as others have said, and it's unlikely to ever get used. In the current state of the game, with so many 4+ die attacks and super aces flying about, Biggs is likely to get cleared in the first round, and never allow R2D2 to recover a shield. R4-D6, as others have said, is aggressively priced compared to other defensive/recovery droids. Therefore, in the likely event that he dies in the first turn of fire anyway, you haven't lost as many points. Also, in the high attack dice climate, the droid is more likely to trigger. It essentially ensures that your opponent has to shoot him at least twice, unless he rolls something ridiculous like 3 crits and 2 hits, which will unfortunately happen at some point. Basically, if the enemy has to use 2 attacks on Biggs, he's done his job. It's just simply too likely that he will be destroyed before R2D2 or R5P9 have any effect, so its best to spend as few points as possible and just let him eat some hits while he can. Then, one day, your opponent will get five hits, you'll blank on on defense, and get to cancel three of those hits anyway.

It's always better to cancel incoming damage than try to recover damage you've lost.

Of all of the defensive astromechs in the game R4-D6 is the cheap, the easy to use, has no dependency on other ships in your squad, and can amount to significant damage reduction if it triggers.

Defensive Astromechs:

R4-D6 (1)

Cheap, doesn't require an action, can trigger multiple times per turn, blocks damage before it is suffered.

R5 (1)

Cheap, Biggs needs to live to the end phase to use it, it only turns a crit into face down damage.

R2-D6 (1+X)

With the right EPT this could count as a defensive Astromech, the big advantage to R2-D6 is that Integrated Astromech can discard the droid but the EPT stays.

R3 (2)

Only works against attacks that comes after Biggs's attack.

R7 (2)

Requires a target lock that gets spent to use. Only works against a specific attacker. Biggs will have trouble getting a target lock on higher PS targets during the initial exchange.

M9-G8 (3)

Requires a target lock to use. Only works against a specific attacker. Biggs will have trouble getting a target lock on higher PS targets during the initial exchange. Droid would be a better choice to protect Biggs on another ship in the squad.

R2-F2 (3)

Requires an action to use. Works against all attacks made in the same round. Can be a strong choice if Biggs can get additional mitigation from other ships ( like Keyan with Jyn + Rey)

R5-P9 (3)

Requires a focus token at the end of the round. Biggs must live to the end of round to benefit.

R5-D8 (3)

Requires an action for a 50% chance to remove damage. Biggs must live through a round to benefit.

R2-D2 (4)

Requires a green maneuver. Biggs must live through a round to benefit.

I would say the main reason is survivability. I have an example of how useful this droid really is. I was practicing with a 59 point list for a fun little tournament and was flying against Fenn Rau with Push the Limit and Advanced Proton Torpedoes. I had Biggs with R4-D6 and Integrated Astromech accompanied by one other ship. I miscalculated a maneuver with Biggs and Fenn was able to get into range 1. He focused and target locked and I ate a six dice Advanced Proton Torpedo with 5 hits and 1 critical. I rolled one evade and then used R4-D6 to cancel two of the hits so that I only took two hits and the critical. That droid allowed Biggs to limp away and escape the game with one hull left.

16 minutes ago, WWHSD said:

R7 (2)

Requires a target lock that gets spent to use. Only works against a specific attacker. Biggs will have trouble getting a target lock on higher PS targets during the initial exchange.

M9-G8 (3)

Requires a target lock to use. Only works against a specific attacker. Biggs will have trouble getting a target lock on higher PS targets during the initial exchange. Droid would be a better choice to protect Biggs on another ship in the squad.

I was thinking about all kinds of interesting combos with Targeting Synchronizer, but looking at the wording on the cards, I don't think it flies. Pity.

7 minutes ago, Verlaine said:

I was thinking about all kinds of interesting combos with Targeting Synchronizer, but looking at the wording on the cards, I don't think it flies. Pity.

Depending on how T.Syc gets clarified, there's a lot of stuff that may potentially become useful.

Most things that allow you to spend target locks seem to use language like "a target lock that you have". Nothing about T.Sync appears to get around that. The only Target Lock thing I can think of that spends a target lock that doesn't refer to the ownership of the target lock is paying the cost for ordnance.

Brace Yourself -- the list I created for dealing with triple-Scouts, comprising Wes, Keyan, Biggs -- used R4-D6 and Draw Their Fire on Wes to make Biggs really, really survivable. He routinely tanked three torpedoes to the face.

(Nowadays that wouldn't work, because the TL necessity means ordnance carriers can now ignore Biggs and kill the huge Keyan threat.)

Lot of the people that seem to never have it work usually forget the 3rd Hit counts and can be cancelled. Its not any Hits beyond 3 are canceled and take a stress, its 3 or more cancel until theres 2 remaining.

Especially against the likes of APT Fenn being fed tokens or using PTL, which is pretty common right now, i'd be shocked if you didnt get it to proc.

Have a mindlinked range 1 Fenn Rau roll 1 hit and 4 eyeballs and you will thank the heavens you had R4D6 on Biggs. Its a droid that doesn't work much, but when it does, it saves you the game. Biggs lists usually depend on Biggs surviving, so if he gets taken out in round 1 of engagement, you are fighting an uphill battle. At regionals, the droid worked only twice in 6 games, but both times it kept Biggs around for one more round. Biggs had two hull left. Opponent gets three hits, Biggs blanks out. Bot reduces down to two hits, then IA for one damage. Biggs takes 1 dmg and survives. Now, the next round, my opponent has to have his Big Gun like Bossk or Dengar fire at 1 hull Biggs instead of my important ships.

I think in casual games or small tournaments you might not see the droids effect that much or at all. But in large tournaments, your list needs to be prepared for a variety of stuff and some lists just churn out mega damage, and that is when the droid works.

Also, look at the M9G8 droid, it can make your opponent reroll those crits into hits, procing the droid even more. Biggs + R4D6 and Jess + M9G8.

I guess it depends on the list. A Kanan/Rex/Biggs list could see Biggs last a lot longer, so maybe R2-D2 would be viable. Kanan reduces two attacks by one die, Rex reduces one ship by another die, Jan provides Biggs with an Evade and Jyn provides him with a Focus (or multiple). On top of that, Tactical Jammer hopefully gives Biggs a third green die. I doubt it's competitive at a high level, but I could see Biggs lasting for a quite a while.

Captain Rex (14)
Jyn Erso (2)
EMP Device (2)
Sabine's Masterpiece (1)

Biggs Darklighter (25)
R2-D2 (4)
Integrated Astromech (0)

Kanan Jarrus (38)
Fire-Control System (2)
Twin Laser Turret (6)
Recon Specialist (3)
Jan Ors (2)
Tactical Jammer (1)

Total: 100

View in Yet Another Squad Builder

If you're going to spend more than one point, I'd go R2-D6 plus Determination. That way if a crit gets through, you can potentially discard it without ejecting the droid (and possibly mitigate a second crit if the droid takes the first one).

But generally, keep Biggs cheap, and R4-D6 is probably the best way to do that.