Does it bother anyone else that, of all the ships in the game, the Eta-2 arguably has the easiest time removing Buzz Droids?

It kinda makes Obi-Wan look like a real scrub getting so flummoxed by them in RotS.

I suppose it's possible that the Discord Missiles detonated in such a way that Obi-Wan overlapped the Buzz Droids in the same engagement they were fired, and that the crit they produced at Init 0 was either Panicked Pilot or Damaged Sensor Array so that Obi-Wan couldn't do his pre or even post maneuver barrel roll on the next turn and was stuck with them. But still. It either makes Obi-Wan the unluckiest Jedi to ever fly a starfighter, or he's an idiot for forgetting those Intuitive Controls of his.

Also, I know it would have added a whole lot more rules text to an already wordy RR, but does anyone else think it might have been neat if, on performing an attack against Buzz Droids that are aligned to a ships guides, a crit result causes the ship to also suffer a crit result? It's a shame that Anakin hitting Obi-Wan for that Structural Damage can't be replicated.

It's simply awesome/stupid that R2-D2 can remove them.

I really do think that there should be some sort of risk of hitting a friendly ship while trying to get buzz droids. Maybe roll an attack die, with a focus result dealing one damage??

1 hour ago, Gupa-nupa said:

I really do think that there should be some sort of risk of hitting a friendly ship while trying to get buzz droids. Maybe roll an attack die, with a focus result dealing one damage??

We've seen dev comments that tester feedback doesn't favor random damage outside of attacks - either it feels unearned or unlucky. That's why it was mostly phased out in 2e, and I wouldn't expect to see it come back in now.

18 hours ago, gamblertuba said:

It's simply awesome/stupid that R2-D2 can remove them.

It's true, I love the design of Republic R2-D2. Just feels right that he can do all the things he does in the films.

Does make me a little said for Rebel R2-D2, though. I don't need full blown Republic level R2, I just wish that Rebel R2-D2 could flip faceup ship damage cards instead of having an extra shield recovery charge, as the third shield regen often isn't necessary and this would make him a bit more of an all rounder.

Also a little bit sad that R4-P17 gets so little to do in comparison when she's on Obi-Wan's Eta-2. I guess you could argue that's true to the films, though. She pulls off one fairly lame evasive maneuver then gets her dome torn off.

10 hours ago, Gupa-nupa said:

I really do think that there should be some sort of risk of hitting a friendly ship while trying to get buzz droids. Maybe roll an attack die, with a focus result dealing one damage??

I'd probably phrase it like this, as extra text on the Buzz Droid remote card (though obviously there's not a ton of space there). "While you defend, after the Neutralise Results step if you suffered at least one [crit result], you may choose 1 enemy ship at range 0. That ship suffers one [crit result]."

Anakin blew Obi-Wan's whole wing off shooting at the Buzz Droids, it's clearly a dangerous thing to attempt.

8 hours ago, PaulRuddSays said:

We've seen dev comments that tester feedback doesn't favor random damage outside of attacks - either it feels unearned or unlucky. That's why it was mostly phased out in 2e, and I wouldn't expect to see it come back in now.

I feel like this is an exception, though. For one, it's not entirely random. It's a chance as part of a risk/reward system. I don't believe too many people complain about the chance of taking damage from overlapping or moving through an asteroid. And indeed, when gas clouds first came out and didn't have a chance of incurring a negative people actively complained. Because there should be an element of risk for going near or trying to go through the obstacles, and players understand that. Fly near an asteroid, there's a chance you'll hit it. That makes sense. Equally, I think most players would understand that shooting at small robots on a friendly ship has a strong chance of hitting that ship, and so it's back into a sensible risk/reward. Risk: you might damage a friendly ship. Reward: you'll probably kill the Buzz Droids on it and might even be able to do it before your other ship suffers any damage at all.

Secondly, I think players are far more accommodating of mechanics like this when it's clearly there to replicate something from the movies. The only time we saw Buzz Droids on screen in the films, we see the results of Anakin trying to deal with them by shooting them off (something you can currently do in X-Wing) and we see it go badly wrong (something which currently doesn't happen).

Going back to the obstacles argument, I think players are very accepting of the risks of 'random' damage when moving through an asteroid because we see a TIE Fighter get on the wrong end of one in ESB. You can't recreate a thrilling chase through an asteroid field if you remove the risk that we see is present in the source material. Also, while he's not exactly a popular pilot competitively, I've never actually seen anyone complain about Jek Porkins' ability. Partly because it's upfront and optional. It's not truly a random chance, it's a risk/reward mechanic the player must voluntarily enter into. But mostly because it's such a thematic ability when looking at the films. Who here hasn't tried out Porkins and felt compelled to shout "I can hold it" whenever you trigger his ability?

For what it's worth, my experience with Buzz Droids is super limited but I've never really seen anyone try to deal with them by shooting them anyway, when the barrel roll is by far the simplest solution. So making shooting them even less preferable as an option is almost certainly never going to happen. I do think it could be fun as a house rule for a themey game, however.

Before suffering the random damage, it is more palatable if you have already opted into the risk. For example, you select the maneuvers that put you at risk of coming in contact with an obstacle. If you choose to shoot at buzz droids on a friendly ship, you are opting into the percentages for all the consequences.

I wish they had set it up so you could shoot the droids before going thru them .. I mean, they are an object, so you can at least target lock them, right?