2 hours ago, Vontoothskie said:

in ww2 the bombers wouldnt even try to run once fighters intercepted, theyd stay in formation and try to finish the mission because they knew a B17 couldnt escape a Bf-109,

Ah yes, the famous regenerating superiority fighter known as the B-17.

I don't know if you've been paying attention to the latest developments, but X-Wings are actually faster than TIE Fighters now. 4-straight plus an angle-boost can get you out of range of a 3k-turning TIE Fighter you just jousted with at range 1.

This X-wing just safely regenerated a shield. Next turn, he can 4-straight and boost again, easily outpacing the 3-bank pursuit from the TIE Fighter. That's an entire R2 Astromech's worth of regen. I guess he could have just kept jousting the tie fighter, but why?

Yes, it's an awful choice if you are being pursued at range 1. It's not an awful choice if you're being pursued at range one after a Panicked Pilot crit. It's a good choice if you time your disengagement well. It's a great choice if you're about to run into a block and have no shot this turn anyway, as any good B-17 pilot knows.

Usually use R5 on my finisher, need to make sure he can clear some of the bad crits. After that it seems that R4 is the most useful. With the R2 series how many times can you afford not to shoot in a game? If I have to take multiple turns off from shooting am I losing anyway? You only have so many opportunities to shoot.

They're all good, but none of them are standout. Situational and contextual are good words to apply to any upgrade, if you're using words like good or bad there's a design problem.

Chopper if you have some kind of stress management (Perkins, Ibtisam) and an EPT & red maneuvers (elusive), or just extra charges around. Shout out to AP5 who can coordinate a chopper regen using last turn's red elusive recharge.

R3 is very nice on Shara Bey with perceptive copilot or Saw crew.

R4 on Norra especially but any Y.

R2 on X wings if you boom and zoom, R4 if you want that blue 2-hard, which can be useful depending on your flying style.

R5 seems to merit consideration in lists with coordinate, on turret Y wings or ARCs just because of the extra hull and disinclination to take a Weapon Disabled token (multiple arcs)

there are plenty of other factors but these are some I've come across so far.