Think about it: He is cheap(!), has a native PS9(!!) with an elite slot(!!!) , will almost always have a shot thanks to an auxiliary-firing-arc(!!!!), doesn't care about doing damage himself(!!!!!) and will never have a focus anyway since he will most likely pass of his action(!!!!!!). FFG managed to create a ship that somehow clears all the requirements to make this most useless of all astromechs work. (Yes I know FAA and Chopper are still better on him, shut up!)

Now if we can only find a way to get rid of his first stress token we could putt Baze Malbus on there and then we would have broken all the rules.

And then you roll no Eyeballs and still wonder what went wrong... Seriously, nothing justifies R3s existence.

3 minutes ago, Mef82 said:

And then you roll no Eyeballs and still wonder what went wrong... Seriously, nothing justifies R3s existence.

The rear arc of an arc...... not that it makes it good.

The worst part is, you get TWO copies of R3 astromech with the ARC-170. I just don't understand these things.

That could be really fun with Juke...

16 hours ago, Mef82 said:

And then you roll no Eyeballs and still wonder what went wrong... Seriously, nothing justifies R3s existence.

I've gotten decent results with R3 on Horton+TLT, especially against low-agility opponents where two hits can be enough to push damage through.

Reroll a blank on the second TLT, get a focus, don't have a focus token, then add an evade for defense.

**Ha, apparenlty it's primary weapon only. Good thing I've only used it a few times in a casual game. No wonder it worked so well....

I quite like R3 Astromech.

52 minutes ago, Stay On The Leader said:

I quite like R3 Astromech.

I’m listening.....

People haven't thrown away their R3s yet?

oh boy r3, the cream of the trash. the astromech that could have canceled any die result on its ship's roll and STILL be PS dependent trash. R3 is the perhaps the most hated card in the game not by the players, but by the developers who went out of their god-fearing way to absolutely and utterly mangle the poor mech beyond all hope of playability

if anything Rau makes it even less viable. Rau is the epitome of a ship that doesn't care about its own life, as his sole purpose in the game is to mitigate the damage dealt to other ships in his squad. On his own, he's technically durable but complete garbage because of how little damage he is capable of doing

using r3 to further neuter his damage output only exacerbates how useless he is on his own

20 hours ago, Duskwalker said:

... doesn't care about doing damage himself(!!!!!)...

I think Fen Rau does care about damaging himself. The character in rebels might be seeking a glorious death but for a ship in X-wing to not care there either has to be some sort of regen so the pilot can shrug off the damage (like Miranda) or has some sort of suicide mechanic like deadman's switch, and in the suicide mechanic Fen Rau simply cost too much to be viable.

High pilot skill Aces make poor suicide units.

I mean, there could be some strength in R3 when paired with Juke. You're gaining an evade token and also have a good chance at forcing your opponent to burn their focus to avoid taking damage. However, there are so many better ways to spend 4 points.

3 minutes ago, Marinealver said:

I think Fen Rau does care about damaging himself. The character in rebels might be seeking a glorious death but for a ship in X-wing to not care there either has to be some sort of regen so the pilot can shrug off the damage (like Miranda) or has some sort of suicide mechanic like deadman's switch, and in the suicide mechanic Fen Rau simply cost too much to be viable.

High pilot skill Aces make poor suicide units.

I think you might have misread that. What was said was “he doesn’t care about doing damage himself”, not “he doesn’t care about doing damage to himself”. Fenn Rau doesn’t have some kind of deathwish where he wants damage done to him, he just doesn’t need to do damage to his enemies. He’s fully a support ship, which is why it might be ok for him to sacrifice some attack power in order to get an evade token.

Could be fun with Juke and Gunner. Knowing my dice I'd throw fire, have it never trigger, and still do no damage

Wired would be my preferred EPT on Fenn, if not for #PS11GODLIKEVIMASTERACE

Oh my, R3...

while it seems like potentially one of the better uses for the Astro, that's not saying much. Depending on the dial, R2 might be a much better and cheaper option to keep him on useful positions and shedding his stress tokens as he needs to be. BB-8 might be an interesting option as well if he already has some decent green movement options.

Having actually tried to use R3 myself for several games I'll say even when paired with an appropriate pilot and chassis it's a frustrating card. There is no way to guarantee it "working", even if you are entirely willing to do zero damage in exchange for an evade token. Sometimes it can trigger when you don't need it, and that one round when you really wish it would work there isn't a focus result in sight.

Would be an interesting 0 point astro, or even at 1 point just to get IA.

12 hours ago, Dengar5 said:

The worst part is, you get TWO copies of R3 astromech with the ARC-170. I just don't understand these things.

And only one flight assist with this one.

Not that they're super duper powerful, but I'd sure as heck get more use out of a spare there...