I was thinking about the Astromechs available to us, and the ones that seem to be in and out of favour. So here are my thoughts on droids.
The Good
R2-D2 - He's a great little droid. Combined with Luke and or a shield upgrade R2-D2 can really shine. He gets his points back from a single green maneuver. Best thing about him is that his ability is relatively passive - the pilot can still take actions.
I wonder how much R2-D2 would cost if he would also make all 1 and 2 speed maneuvers green maneuvers? 5-6 points? Maybe he'd be a little over powered that way but then again the movies were all about him if you think about it, so it would be fitting.
R2 Astromech - He's good because of what you get for the single point. Making all 1 and 2 speed maneuvers green maneuvers can help with de-stressing X-wings and especially Y-wings with their limited dial. Also, R2s are a viable option with Push the Limit on X-wing heroes. Best thing about an R2 is that his ability is passive. The pilot can still take actions.
If Y-wings had elite talents, R2s would be even better on them! Torpedoes cost a lot of points, and they need to be unloaded with focus to be effective. Target lock and focus combos seem to be a theme in wave 3. If Y-Wing heroes could take Push the Limit, that would give them a similar punch. But then again Push the Limit might be over powered when combined with a turret and a little 1 point R2 de-stressing every turn. But I digress.
R2-F2 - This little guy seems to fit best with Biggs but can also work well with Luke's quasi focus on defence. R2-F2 is definitely worth it on Biggs imho. If he gets you an extra evade just once then he's earned his points back. Sure he costs an action, but his ability to add an evade for all attacks that round is great if everyone is forced to shoot at Biggs.
Not Sure About
R5 Astromech - Like the R2 he also costs one point. Even though he comes with the X-wing expansion, I would only ever use him on a Y-Wing. X-Wings go down fairly fast when they're taking hull damage, while the Y-wing can take 2 solid hull shots most of the time, so not taking ship crits can be important. I haven't really used the R5 much but have taken it as an insurance policy to keep the Ion Cannon firing. The good thing is that the R5's ability is passive, letting the pilot target lock or focus.
I tend to go with the R2 over the R5. How many people out there use the R5 regularly? How does it compare to the R2?
The Underutilized
Correct me if I'm wrong but I get a feeling that the following droids are not used.
R5-D8 - On paper he sounds like a good droid and similar to R2-D2. If he discards at least 1 damage card then he's earned his points back, right?
In practice the problem is that he requires an action to use. R2-D2 is great because he has a relatively passive ability. Also, R2-D2 is guaranteeing you a shield back 100% of the time. R5-D8 will give you a hull back 62.5% of the time and costs an action.
A ship with R2-D2 can still focus and help with offence/defence even if the opponent guessed your move. If you spend an action on R5-D8 you don't get that boost to your ship and can easily whiff on the repair roll (which can totally suck).
On X-wings he doesn't make much sense to me as when they start taking hull damage they go down rather fast. He does make some sense on a Y-wing, specifically Horton as he has a built in offensive reroll.
Still, at 3 points he costs too much in my opinion because he makes you spend an action and doesn't guarantee a hull regeneration. I think people would start taking him at 2 points if he was to regenerate a hull back 75% of the time (any hit, crit or focus result on an attack die).
R5-K6 - In my opinion he costs way too much for only a 37.5% change to re-acquire a target lock. You're paying 2 points for a statistical fail. For the same 2 points Fire Control System gives you a 100% chance to acquire a target lock after an attack. Very similar abilities, both cost 2 points, one is 37.5% the other 100%.
Perhaps the designers were afraid of Dutch abuse? I can see that argument. Even so, I believe he costs too much.
In my opinion, R5-K6 as he stands is worth 1 point. Perhaps he might be worth 2 points, if he were to give at least a 62.5% to re-acquire a target lock (any evade or focus result on an evade die). He'd definitely be worth 2 points if he were to re-acquire a target lock 75% of the time (any hit, crit or focus result on an attack die) when combined with Dutch's ability.
I'd encourage someone who can get lots of games in to playtest him at 62.5% on Dutch and see if he's overpowered. Maybe he would be, and that's why he currently costs 2 points with a low probability of success.
The odd thing about R5-K6 is that he has no synergy with his thematic partner Garven Dreis. Luke to the contrary, has great synergy with R2-D2. Garven should always be taking focus actions because of his skill and not be target locking. He therefore has no use for R5-K6. If R5-K6 acted exactly like a Fire Control System, that would have been much better for Garven - he focuses while his little R5 buddy target locks for him. Or, perhaps R5-K6 could have helped or buffed Garven's focusing action somehow a la the Moldy Crow? Finding a way to boost Garven's "command ability" via focus would have been a synergistic option but, unfortunately that ship has sailed.
Those are my thoughts on droids. Of all of them I'm happiest with R2-D2 and most disappointed in what R5-K6 could have been. However, hind sight is always 20/20 and FFG have done a great job with this game overall. Maybe we'll see reprinted cards with tweaked stats or new droids in the future? Wouldn't it be neat to see droids give generic x-wing and y-wing pilots boosts similar to Fire Control System? Or maybe there could be a "torpedo R5" droid that allow re-rolls of blanks on torpedoes? How about a new R2 droid that has better repair options to keep ships in the fight a turn longer? The possibilities with them are endless. One can only hope FFG re-visits them someday!