What ships work best with regen bots, and which bot is the best?

The droids you're looking for:

R2-D2, ( regen a shield for each green manuver) R5-P9,(spend a focus at the end of the round for a shield) and R5-D8(action:roll a defense die, on a focus or evade result, remove one facedown damage card) and Chopper(discard one other upgrade card to regain a shield)

Ships with astromech upgrades

Arc-170, E-wing, Sheathapiede shuttle, T-70 x-wing, x-wing, y-wing

Enjoy.

R2D2 is best. He goes on many. He is expensive, so tossing him on a 18pt ywing with 2 greens isnt the most efficient, so he is usually found on more expensive builds with Poe,Corran,Norra. Pretty much anything with decent greens, some repositioning and high-ish pilot skill (cause greens give your position away). Although, there is no problem tossing him on just about any T70.

R5P9 was the staple to Poe for awhile because his ability makes him never spend a focus token, then he spends it at the end of the round to regen. Still great on him, but r2d2 is guaranteed regen, so most prefer that. R5p9 pairs well with expertise EPT. If you dont spend a focus on defense, can use it to regen. Ive liked it on Snap Wexley in the T70. He is fast and can zip out of battle, focus, and regen, then zip back in.

R5D8 is mostly unplayed. Cards, expensive cards at that, that require you to spend an action AND roll a die are garbage. Actions are super valuable, and wasting them on a non guaranteed event is a setup for failure.

Chopper astromech. Great 1pt card and almost any ship can take it for cheap regen by just adding guidance chips in the mod slot. Best use is something like a ywing that can discard guidance chips, btla title, and bomb loadout (all 0pt cost upgrades) for three regens. Notice this is like r5d8 by spending an action, but it costs 1pt and is guaranteed regen. This makes it acceptable.

Try to get away from randomness as much as possible in this game.

Wurns got it. Basically r2d2 or bust

The ideal ship for r2d2 is currently Poe by virtue of autothrusters, highest possible ps, and advanced optics with his great ability. With optics and his ability, he can simply take a target lock for full offensive mods

Norra Wexly (ARC) is the next best. Low ps and agility is really rough in a game sadly dominated by turrets, but she can stack her ability (PTL) with c3po and r2d2 to guarantee cancel 3 damage a turn. If she's ignore, she hits hard

Generally, if you can stack good defense atop regeneration and decent offense, you've got yourself a great Regen ship. Otherwise, Regen surprsingly doesn't do a whole lot by itself

So keep an eye on Luke Skywalker, who has a great ability but flies a currently horribly underpowered ship, when Saw's Renegades comes out

4 hours ago, wurms said:

R5D8 is mostly unplayed. Cards, expensive cards at that, that require you to spend an action AND roll a die are garbage. Actions are super valuable, and wasting them on a non guaranteed event is a setup for failure.

So many of the old "take and action and roll a die" cards would be so much better if they worked more like Cloaking Device or Scavenger Crane: the effect always works, but you have a chance to discard the upgrade.

The thing with Cloaking device, though, is that it isn't good enough to warrant a random discard chance

Neither are any of the Astromechs

They should simply always work

upgrades in a game already so determined by dice really do not need a random chance of working or failing. They either work or work not, there are no dice

13 hours ago, theBitterFig said:

So many of the old "take and action and roll a die" cards would be so much better if they worked more like Cloaking Device or Scavenger Crane: the effect always works, but you have a chance to discard the upgrade.

I often wondered, since they all worked off an evade die, whether a means to jimmy the results on green dice would be a good 'fix' for X-wings - because (a) it gives the ship a defensive mini-palpatine (which reduces, rather than eliminates, incoming fire) and it also makes the more awkward 'mechs work more consistently.

13 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

The thing with Cloaking device, though, is that it isn't good enough to warrant a random discard chance

Neither are any of the Astromechs

They should simply always work

I think the cloaking thing was just to make it not-as-good as the phantom as a background tool. If it was cheaper, the chance of breaking would still be justified - and on a Vaksai (the place I see it most locally) it is.

I agree with most of the others, though. R5-K6 is probably the most egregious example - a Fire Control System that sits in the astromech slot is nice in theory, but it's the same price as a Fire Control System and only works 3/8ths of the time. Either it should be a lot cheaper, or it should be automatic.

(The only possible bright spot someone pointed out - which might elevate it from steaming garbage of the highest order to plain old unusable garbage is the possible interaction with Threat Tracker, since unlike Fire control or targeting synchroniser it's not limited to attacks).

17 hours ago, wurms said:

R2D2 is best.

14 hours ago, ficklegreendice said:

Wurns got it. Basically r2d2 or bust

No argument here. It does nail you to the green bits of your dial, but an action-independent shield recovery every turn is hard to pass up (that's essentially a big chunk of Miranda Doni's ability, and that pilot ability has nailed her firmly to the top of the pilot league tables ever since she came out).

As noted, Poe Dameron, Norra Wexley, or Corran Horn - i.e. the three best Astromech-carrying pilots! - all suit him to a tee. He is expensive, so is best used for a 'no expense spared' version, alongside Poe's PS9 Black One version, C-3PO on Norra, or Push The Limit/Engine Upgrade Corran. If you're making a 'budget' version he's often one of the things to cut for a cheaper alternative.

R5-P9 worked well with Poe but with Advanced Optics, you'll generally get more mileage out of keeping that focus token indefinitely than spending it for a shield back; the two upgrades don't work well together and Advanced Optics is cheaper. Poe's ability means you can easily (and cheaply) generate evade tokens via intensity for a 'pseudo-regenerating-shield' if it really bugs you that much.

R5-D8 as noted is pretty garbage. It has only one real pairing - Jek Porkins - who's not exactly amazing himself. He can 'swallow' a stress for a 3/8 chance of damage, and if the damage occurs, has a 5/8 chance of fixing it immediately, costing his action but leaving him unstressed and undamaged after a red move.

Which all sounds fine and dandy, except that Jek with D8 costs 29 points for probably a white K-turn - whilst a TIE/x7 TIE Defender gets a stress-less K-turn with a focus and evade for 28 points, and Hobbie Klivian gets a stress-less K-turn with a focus and target lock for 27 points.

Chopper isn't bad if you have a spare point. I think his best use is probably on Horton Salm; Horton has an ability which means he can fire his Twin Laser Turret pretty effectively even if he isn't getting any actions, and can take lots of zero-cost or low-cost upgrades (bomb loadout, guidance chips, etc) to feed chopper as required. Plus he's tough enough that even if your opponent decides to make a point of whomping on him, he's unlikely to die in a single turn, meaning you get a chance to run away and heal (a bit).

4 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I often wondered, since they all worked off an evade die, whether a means to jimmy the results on green dice would be a good 'fix' for X-wings - because (a) it gives the ship a defensive mini-palpatine (which reduces, rather than eliminates, incoming fire) and it also makes the more awkward 'mechs work more consistently.

That would have been a cool approach. Seems unlikely due to the upcoming Saw's Partisans, but still.

5 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

R5-K6 is probably the most egregious example - a Fire Control System that sits in the astromech slot is nice in theory, but it's the same price as a Fire Control System and only works 3/8ths of the time. Either it should be a lot cheaper, or it should be automatic.

Sorry to derail.

This interests me. Been having some fun with Norra, Expertise and R5-K6. When you roll 0 evades in a game, its.... um....

When you roll a whole bunch, laughing maniacally with each successive squiggle, it's fantastic. It allows you to TL reroll and use her ability. Something FCS couldn't do. I think....

Anyway, if he was automatic, he'd possibly be my new hotness. May have a new house rule in mind

6 hours ago, Magnus Grendel said:

I often wondered, since they all worked off an evade die, whether a means to jimmy the results on green dice would be a good 'fix' for X-wings - because (a) it gives the ship a defensive mini-palpatine (which reduces, rather than eliminates, incoming fire) and it also makes the more awkward 'mechs work more consistently.

Wait. Norra+C3P0+R5K6....

How have I missed this? Is this a thing?

Extra sorry for derailing now. The R5K6 TL cannot be spent on the same attack so the whole thing falls apart. Works on Fly Casual though

I thought it might be fun to try and fit the three favored regen droids into a list. Not entirely happy with it, anyone come up with something better?

2 hours ago, eljms said:

I thought it might be fun to try and fit the three favored regen droids into a list. Not entirely happy with it, anyone come up with something better?

Regen Rebels (100)

•Norra Wexley (35) - ARC-170

Adaptability (0), Recon Specialist (3), •R5-P9 (3), Alliance Overhaul (0)

•Poe Dameron (39) - T-70 X-Wing

Veteran Instincts (1), •R2-D2 (4), Advanced Optics (2), •Black One (1), Integrated Astromech (0)

•"Dutch" Vander (26) - Y-Wing

Autoblaster Turret (2), Bomb Loadout (0), •"Chopper" (1), BTL-A4 Y-wing (0), Guidance Chips (0)

I actually flew a list very similar to this at the campaign aganist cancer tournament, with PS 8 Poe with intensity, R5-P9 and autothrusters instead of IA, and Norra with R2-D2 and C-3P0.

(No chopper though, Sheathapiede instead)

R2-D2 on Norra is AMAZING, but Poe is also very strong.

I've seen R5-P9 work wonders on Intensity Snap with Comm Relay, as he has endless tokens. Anybody who might reliably have free tokens is good.

Chopper is bloody brilliant on Y wings, what with how many free upgrades they can equip - title, GC, Bomb Loadout, EM puts a munitions token on both itself and Bomb Loadout, giving you 6 regen for 3 points.