So I've been reviewing the Droid Upgrade pack that is to be coming out at some point in the near future and trying to understand if its worth getting the set or not.

I read through this thread:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/topic/298483-new-unit-upgrade-packs/

But there wasn’t a whole lot of actual unit dissection and assessment for the Droid options so I thought I might start one up myself.

My current assessment of the new personal is as follows:

OOM-Series Battle Droid

A standard B1 droid upgrade with an additional 6 points (on top of the 6 points for the basic droid) to be able to co-ordinate out to range 2 instead of just range 1.

This could actually be quite useful as doubling the co-ordinate range is fairly notable, more so in a full 800 point game on a 6x3 vs. a skirmish game on a 3x3. Seems like a solid option to make your deployment more flexible. Definitely worth considering 1-2 in an army.

B1 Security Droid

A standard B1 droid upgrade with an additional 3 points to turn off AI for a turn. Seems like a given in a squad that currently has both an additional standard droid and the E-60r Heavy as well. not too sure how often people will be running that specific squad though. Also overlapping redundancy with HQ uplink which mitigates its potential usefulness further again. At the very least it can be considered a 3 point upgrade (+6 for the trooper) that gives you a turn where you can actually focus before shooting if you are unable to be coordinated.

Radiation Cannon B1 Trooper

Yay red dice for Droids, though only 2 and reduced range means the unit is more likely to be decimated before it gets close enough to actually shoot. Maybe the poison effect will make any unit with this trooper more of a "shoot me, not that other unit over there" type effect but I'm not sold.

E-5s B1 Trooper

A red and a white along with a surge effect in critical 1 makes the additional damage from this trooper pretty good, the only downside I see is potentially the additional range actually being a liability whereby if the unit does not have an order token assigned to it AI might force a range 4 shot with 2 dice as your first action. Still the potential damage output from this trooper is significant for a B1 unit where their standard damage output is abysmal.

So having said all that I really don’t know what is good and what's not!!! It could be that I'm way off on my assessments and some of these units are busted or maybe just terrible.

Additionally if either the OOM or security droid become staples in squads how do you feel about buying 3+ upgrade packs just for a single mini and card?

Incidentally as the pack comes with the B1 Trooper card in it and as I have bought 2 core sets and only really want 5 B1 Squads this is a better buy over getting an extra B1 Squad Box.

Yeah, my biggest issue is having to buy multiple packs just for ooms.

Spose there's conversion value, a pointing arm + binos is a little interesting

Personally I really like the E5-s, adding critical1 into the droids dice pool means usually (on average) just adding one crit. I dont think the range 4 will be that much of a hindrance, with uplinks and a couple of OOM droids I dont think it'll be hard to keep orders on B1 units most of the game, and if you're worried about it just try to block LOS from the E5-s to anything. Doing lazy math (assuming at least one surge in the dice pool on the misses) the E5-s is about .5 more damage than the E5-c and it let's you shoot back a bit while closing against long range gun lines.

I like the OOM droid, and think 2 will be great for either starting chains from a distance or keeping them going.

The security droid I am not sold on. It is .33pts more per unit, for 6 units, for 2 uplinks. The tradeoff being one unit needs to recover vs all units need to recover.

I am not sure yet on the rad trooper, haven't had time to try him out lately. Overall I think I am going to pick up 4 boxes just for the E5-s troopers

11 hours ago, Mace Windu said:

So having said all that I really don’t know what is good and what's not!!! It could be that I'm way off on my assessments and some of these units are busted or maybe just terrible.

So I am no pro at the game, but I do listen to the podcast and have a little insight for everything........... just take it all with a bit of salt.

OOM-Series Battle Droid & B1 Security Droid: While both are interesting the problem as you mention above with both is that they are there to fix a screw up so their mileage will depend on the player. If you keep you B1s in formation and have one or two HQ uplinks then these upgrades are backup plans at best.

Radiation Cannon & E-5s: I like both options and think one or two in a list would be fine. Give a sniper to the HQ uplink B1s and keep them safe in the back of the line. One or two radiation cannons in the front also does not sound badnot since at some point close range happens in most games. If you are getting a pack these guns would be the reason why IMO.

11 hours ago, Mace Windu said:

Additionally if either the OOM or security droid become staples in squads how do you feel about buying 3+ upgrade packs just for a single mini and card?

Not good lol. I figure two really works well, but I am basing that on the weapons and not the trooper upgrades. Also like to hedge my bets and waiting to see how the weapons feel/play before I decide to get a third. Figure two packs will cover four units and the basic E5C is a pretty solid gun to round out any type of list.

11 hours ago, Mace Windu said:

Incidentally as the pack comes with the B1 Trooper card in it and as I have bought 2 core sets and only really want 5 B1 Squads this is a better buy over getting an extra B1 Squad Box.

The only issue with that is you would have to proxy in order to get to 6 B1s in a squad. I'm doing a similar thing with my Rebels since have only have 4 core. Plan on using the extra trooper and switching around weapons to get 6 core and a alien in each unit. CIS is really the only faction I would say needs at least 4 to 5 B1s units............

I've been considering putting the B1 Security Droid in my squads that run the E-60R, B1 Upgrade, and HQ Uplinks. With the security droid, you can swap out the B1 upgrade and the HQ Uplink and get almost the same effect for 7 points less. The E-60R squad is typically the only squad that'll need to repeatedly recover, so having two exhaustable cards unexhaust for stronger shots that stop the AI hinderance feels good.
However, after having played Separatists a handful of times, I'm realizing how helpful HQ Uplink is on turns where the droids are a bit out of position for a full chain off one droid, or on turns when you play your commander's 1-pip card so all your B1's get orders on those critical turns. So now I'm not as sold on the security droid as I was initially.

The OOM droid seems like something that's worth trying to fit one-of in an army. If only to allow your army to split up a little more without risk of suffering from AI.

I'm not sure about the Radiation droid either. That's one that I think needs time on the table before getting written off as "not useful". Maybe it'll be more powerful in armies that are also running 2 squads of Super Battle Droids, since you'll be trying to get units in range 1-2 with them anyways.

I know I saw discussion on another thread about the E-5C vs the E-5S, but I don't think any solid conclusion was made on which is "better". It's nice to have another range 1-4 option that doesn't exhaust, but I don't know if it's theoretical mathematical increase in damage is worth it for the points and for the risk of getting caught by AI if you're unable to get an order to that squad.

Well its good to know I'm not too far off base on my assessments.

@Steck368 Ensuring the E-5s Trooper doesn’t have LOS is actually a really simple solution I hadn't really considered as a means of mitigating AI on any early turns before getting to range 3, good thinking.

@derpzilla88 in terms of the pros and Cons of E-5s vs. E-5c instinctively I'm going with the statistically additional damage as well as the higher chance (over the E-5c) of punching through armour with Critical makes the extra 2 points for the E-5s seem like a worthwhile investment, though it will mean buying multiple upgrade boxes unfortunately. Though I think ill be running a few games with a proxy unit first just to be sure.

So it seems overall buying at the very least 1 of these is worth it, and likely more if my/our assertion about the E-5s is correct.

In average, E-5s is better than E-5C for all (frequent) scenarios. Critical 1 is a **** good keyword, especially with so many dice being thrown (full squad + E-5s = 8W1R, which means, in average, you will get a surge from the white dice). The difference between then, though, is not that great - except vs vehicles, where the E-5s significantly takes the lead (it's even better than the E-60R is the vehicle has cover).

The Rad Cannon is the best anti-infantry weapon against non-cover units. It's Range 2 is a serious drawback... but I believe it would go well in units flanking Grievous/Dooku. As said by others, with B2s around this unit will be even more interesting.

I like the Security Droid because it emulates both the generic Personnel upgrade AND HQ Uplink, saving 7p. If you use Aggressive Tactics, the previous combo is better.
I'd say this was made to go with E-60R and avoid spending its missile on bad targets.

The OOM is quite expensive, but brings flexibility to the CIS player - as he won't have to keep everyone so tightly-packed for Range 1 goodness. It goes well if you use the Rad Cannon on other units.

I plan on using 2x E-5s on my units, as well 2x Rad Cannon upfront; if those don't pay themselves over the course of some games, I'll go back to E-5C. My meta has a bunch of AT-RTs, so E-60R aren't off the menu... and I'd probably put the Security Droid with them.

4 hours ago, Vector Strike said:

I like the Security Droid because it emulates both the generic Personnel upgrade AND HQ Uplink, saving 7p. If you use Aggressive Tactics, the previous combo is better.
I'd say this was made to go with E-60R and avoid spending its missile on bad targets.

Just to make sure I'm reading this right, are you saying agressive tactics is better with the uplink or the security droid?

I dont see any sort of combo between agressive tactics and a security droid, if you are using the security droid you dont have an order and are avoiding AI attack, but agressive only gives you a surge if you have an order.

5 hours ago, Steck638 said:

Just to make sure I'm reading this right, are you saying agressive tactics is better with the uplink or the security droid?

I dont see any sort of combo between agressive tactics and a security droid, if you are using the security droid you dont have an order and are avoiding AI attack, but agressive only gives you a surge if you have an order.

Sorry if I wasn't clear, but we're in agreement; Security Droid and Aggressive tactics don't go well with each other.

Imo the security droid is a clutch save against activation control (comm jammers or units breaking the coordinate chain by melting). He's no replacement for commlinks unless there's value in losing the later actions or he gets used as a 1 shot.

With a game plan on objectives or a meta that supports his use maybe.... but my stars are the e5s and oom

The Security Droid can be a nice objective grabber, but his usefulness depends on the new objectives. In Hostage Exchange he might useful as the initial escort for the Hostage since the unit might very well be out of command range and the last thing you want is to have it AI: Shooting when it should be running.

Uplink + OOM series b1 is pretty much your battle droid commander on his own, can tuck thst squad further back so it doesnt get blasted.

Free's up your commanders orders for more valuable things like tanks or droidekas