I'm still kinda new to the game and just got the heavy laser cannon upgrade card in the slave 1 box. Can anyone explain it's use to me?

The, ships i have that i'd consider using cannons on are the firespray 31, b-wing and tie defender. All have a primary weapon value of 3. If i pay 7 points which seems seriously expensive what advantage do i get?

At range 1 i'm rolling 4 dice anyway and can keep crits, Range 2 & 3 at least i get an extra attack dice over primary weapons but with the loss of crits and a 7 point tax i can't see how this could be worth it?

HLC isn't super common on 3-dice primary ships unless there's something else to go along with it (Gunner effects, etc), or you just want that extra punch at range 2-3 (Thing of note is that as it's a secondary weapon your opponent won't get an additional evade dice at range 3 when using it).

I wouldn't think too hard about where you get certain upgrade cards from. It's often a thematic thing (Slave-1 probably had modded lasers for instance :P), just keep them in mind when you build your lists as they can often be good on other ships.

At R2 you are gaining an extra die at the expense of no initial crits although re-rolls could provide those later. Although it may be overprice consider the 12 points one ship pays for a constant +1 attack on its primary.

Where the HLC will shine in at R3. There you are rolling 4 dice on attacks but because it is a secondary weapon your target is NOT gaining the additional defense die. You're rolling 4 dice just like your 3 die primary would at R1 but they don't get any extra defense so their dice are a lot like they would be at R1 as well. Say you're 3 die primary is shooting at 3 agility; at R1 you attack with 4 and they defend with 3 but at R3 you only attack with 3 yet they defend with 4 but if you were attacking with the HLC you'd be attacking with 4 yet they'd only be defending with 3.

In all fairness the HLC was pretty nice at one point but you really don't hear so much about it these days.

On certain ships, like a YT2400 with Outrider title, HLC works well. Even on a Firespray, the range 3 effect can help you punch through damage.

A four die attack is ALWAYS a good thing. It is overpriced, but it is also one of the first "heavy" upgrades, and like ordnance from back then, it was deemed powerful enough to warrant a large price tag. However players found the price didn't warrant the return and it doesn't see too much play as a result, except for some niche applications like the YT-2400 with the Outrider title, which makes it a Heavy Laser Cannon turret. These days, there are plenty of options at a much cheaper price. My favourite application for it is on Scum Kath Scarlett where she gets a 4-die attack at any range to the front, and her ability gives her a 4-die attack to the rear, except at range 1, when it becomes a 5-die attack.

Can a person using say...Marek stele with hlc and a somethingwith Palpatine choose the order of the dice mod?

Marek shoots rolls 3 hits and a crit...Flop the crit to a hit per hlc then flop a hit to a crit via Palp? And have it stay as a crit?

58 minutes ago, Velvetelvis said:

Can a person using say...Marek stele with hlc and a somethingwith Palpatine choose the order of the dice mod?

Marek shoots rolls 3 hits and a crit...Flop the crit to a hit per hlc then flop a hit to a crit via Palp? And have it stay as a crit?

Yes, you can do this. Once all of the crits of the initial roll have been turned to hits as per HLC any modification can be made to them and is no longer affected by the HLC effect.

This includes rerolling dice into crits or, as you said, using Palpatine.