I've been trying to decide if I want to use C-3PO crew member vs. Kanan Jarrus to go along with Rey + Finn in the Falcon with the new title. Most people are urging to go with Kanan, who allows Rey to pop the 3 S-loop stress-free (which is important because I'll have Expertise as her EP).

But, flying Rey with one green die means she will die very quickly. I wanted to test to see if switching in C-3PO would be worth losing the ability to perform the S-loop stress-free. How many times does that happen in a normal game? Once or twice for me. I can live with not doing the stress-free S-Loop if I have the added benefit of survivability.

Here was my test:

I created a scenario of Rey going up against a standard 3-attack ship. This 3-attack ship has a target lock for each attack. I figured that was the easier dice-modifying tactic I could test in volume. Neither the attacker nor the defender had other modifiers (focus/evades). I tested dice results from all three ranges, both in-arc (to trigger Finn/Rey) and out-of-arc. I gave each range 10 rolls each. I added two more categories for range-3: guessing 0 agility dice, and guessing 1 agility die. I'll give you the totals at the top, with the supporting data below.

C-3PO Influence Results:

3PO Worked: 35 rolls -- 115 hits. 3.29 avg. -- 62 evades. 1.7 avg. -- 1.59 damage taken.

3PO Didn't work: 45 rolls -- 116 hits. 2.5 avg. -- 58 evades. 1.29 avg. -- 1.21 damage taken.

In-Arc Influence Results:

40 rolls -- 107 hits. 2.68 avg. -- 68 evades. 1.7 avg. -- 0.98 damage taken

Out-of-Arc Influence Results:

40 rolls -- 102 hits. 2.55 avg. -- 52 evades. 1.3 avg. -- 1.25 damage taken

Total Results:

80 rolls - 231 hits. 2.8 avg. -- 120 evades. 1.5 avg. -- 1.3 damage taken.

Conclusion:

Being in-arc is more important than triggering C-3PO. My gameplay will be focused on taking advantage of the rerolls, which makes sense for this build, both for attack and defense. That being said, this data sample doesn't show C-3PO giving enough of a defensive benefit to be worth the crew slot over Kanan. Rey is an offensive ship, and Kanan's ability will help Rey stay in arc without getting stressed, giving her both an action and remaining stress-free for Expertise.

* Test variables/weaknesses:

Not accounting for modifiers could make a huge difference. If Rey has expertise and gets an action, I could hold onto a focus for defense. Not every ship has a target lock ability, so it may not be accurate to account for damage. I didn't test against obstacles, which I think would make it more difficult to guess C-3PO correctly. Lastly, 80 dice rolls is slightly more than one game, but is still a pretty small sample size. Ideally, you would want 100 rolls for each category.

Supporting Data:

Range 1:
In Arc
3PO Worked - (4,2) (4,3) (4,2) (4,2) (4,3) --(4,2.4)
Didn't - (4,1) (4,1) (4,2) (4,1) (3,1)-- (3.8,1.5)
Totals: (39,18)

Out of Arc
3PO Worked - (3,1) (2,1) (3,1) (4,1) (1,1) (4,1) -- (2.8,1)
Didn't - (4,1) (4,1) (3,1) (2,1) --(3.25,1)
Totals: (30,10)

Range 2:
In Arc
3PO Worked - (3,2)
Didn't - (3,1) (2,1) (2,1) (2,2) (2,1) (3,1) (2,1) (3,2) (2,1) -- (2.3,1.2)
Totals: (24,13)

Out of Arc
3PO Worked - (1,1) (3,1) (2,2) (2,2) -- (2,1.5)
Didn't - (1,1) (3,1) (2,0) (1 ,1) (2,1) (3,0) --(2,0.6)
Totals: (20,10)

Range 3:
Guessing 0:
In Arc
3PO Worked - (2,1) (1,2) (1,1) (3,1) -- (1.75,1.25)
Didn't - (2,2) (3,3) (3,1) (1,3) (3,2) (2,2)-- (2.3,2.1)
Totals: (21,18)

Out of Arc
3PO Worked - (3,1) (2,1) (2,1) (3,1) -- (2.5, 1)
Didn't - (3,1) (1,1) (2,1) (3,1) (2,1) (3,1) --(2.5,1)
Totals: (24,10)

Guessing 1:
In Arc
3PO Worked - (1,2) (3,3) (3,3) (3,2) (2,3) --(2.4,2.6)
Didn't - (3,0) (0,2) (2,1) (3,1) (3,2)--(2.2,1.2)
Totals: (23,19)

Out of Arc
3PO Worked - (2,2) (3,2) (2,2) (1,2) (3,2) (2,2) (3,2)-- (2.2,2)
Didn't - (3,2) (3,2) (3,2) (3,2)
Totals: (28,22)

Nice analysis.

I have actually wondered if C3PO might be better for Rey, but as it seems, it doesn't fit her playstyle / her special ability, so statistics say that Kanan is better.

4 hours ago, Schu81 said:

Nice analysis.

I have actually wondered if C3PO might be better for Rey, but as it seems, it doesn't fit her playstyle / her special ability, so statistics say that Kanan is better.

Thanks! Another huge factor I couldn't attribute for is the opposing ship. Arc-dodging aces will shread Rey because they'll move after her and reposition. Slower targets will be easier to keep in-arc. Overall though, Kanan looks like the way to go.

Not quite sure why you did simulations - you can just do the math for it. If you're going with a 3 attack ship with a single modifier, then the following are the options for it:

3 hits = 42%

2 hits = 42%

1 hit = 14%

0 hit = 2%

As for Rey w/ C3PO+Finn, it gets a bit complicated. First, you can go and say that she's guaranteed a single evade whenever she wants one (guess 0, and either roll 0 and get one from C3PO, or roll 1 and get 1 from the dice). But then Finn and her reroll can actually mean she gets up to 3. Let's do the math there assuming C3PO always guesses 0.

Out of Arc:

0 Evades = 0%

1 Evade = 100%

In Arc:

0 Evades = 0%

1 Evade = 53.7% = (F rolled & F/B Finn) | (B rolled & F/B rerolled & B/F Finn) | (E rolled & B/F Finn)

2 Evades = 41.0% = (F rolled & E Finn) | (B rolled & E rerolled & B/F Finn) | (B rolled & B/F rerolled & E Finn) | (E rolled & E Finn)

3 Evades = 3.5% = (B rolled & E rerolled & E Finn)

So, comparing the two results (attack & defense) you end up with the following distribution of damage:

C3PO Damage out of arc is just 1 damage less than the hits, for an average damage of 1.26 Damage

C3PO Damage in arc:

2 Damage = 22.5% = (3H & 1E)

1 Damage = 39.8% = (3H & 2E) | (2H & 1E)

0 Damage = 36.2% = (3H & 3E) | (2H & 2E | 3E) | 1H | 0H

Average Damage = .848 Damage

And then compare this all to without C3PO....

Out of arc

0 Evades = 62.5%

1 Evade = 37.5%

In Arc:

0 Evades = 30.3% = (B rolled & B/F rerolled & B/F Finn) | (F rolled & B/F Finn)

1 Evade = 50.4% = (B rolled & E rerolled & B/F Finn) | (B rolled & B/F rerolled & E Finn) | (F rolled & E Finn) | (E rolled | B/F Finn)

2 Evades = 19.3% = (B rolled & E rerolled & E Finn) | (E rolled | E Finn)

So then average damage distribution without C3PO is:

Out of Arc:

3 Damage = 26.3% = (3H & 0E)

2 Damage = 42% = (3H & 1E) | (2H & 0E)

1 Damage = 24.5% = (2H & 1E) | (1H & 0E)

0 Damage = 7.2% = (1H & 1E) | 0H

Average Damage = 1.874 Damage

In Arc:

3 Damage = 12.7% = (3H & 0E)

2 Damage = 33.9% = (3H & 1E) | (2H & 0E)

1 Damage = 33.5% = (3H & 2E) | (2H & 1E) | (1H & 0E)

0 Damage =22.5% = (2H & 2E) | (1H & 1E) | 0H

Average Damage = 1.394 Damage

So, what you find is that C3PO saves you .614 Damage out of arc and .546 damage in arc. Compared with In Arc saves you .41 w/ C3PO & .48 w/o goldielocks. Note that all of this changes as soon as you realize that with Kanan you can take a Focus as your action for defense, not to mention that since you're stress free you can use expertise on offense. I think it's a pretty hands down comparison that C3PO isn't really worth it on Rey.

10 minutes ago, Khyros said:

Not quite sure why you did simulations - you can just do the math for it.

"Never tell me the odds."

But yeah. I didn't take the most scientific approach to it. I was also rolling a different number of dice for range variation, so I felt it was easier to just roll. It also helped me practice using the combo. C3PO and Finn complicate the game a bit, so the repetition helped me figure it out.

In my experience, the sloop isn't actually that usefull on rey. I'd rather take the old title with expertise and always take the evade action. Then once I'm in range I use 1 speed maneuvers to keep the enemy in arc, maybe pop inertial dampeners (it's a non-bo with expertise but often still worth it).

couple that with c3po and you've got yourself a pretty tanky rey.