7pts is a lot to spend on a single upgrade. Is it worth it?

Which ship is best suited to carry it?

Yes. It's a great upgrade. Put it one a B-wing (or 3) or a Firespray (or 2) and you should see some pretty great results. B-wings are able to keep range easier than Firesprays but Sprays can survive a bit longer. With FCS equipped on the HLC B-wings, you can set up similar results to endlessly firing concussion missiles + focus. Great at taking down big targets.

Yeah it's worth it, but not all the time. The cards main advantage is it's a sniper rifle, it allows you to take out ships at long range without getting the extra green dice. I played a 250pt game last week with Ibtisan with it, PtL and Advanced sensors. OK a huge investment, but I got her on a flank, and she sweeped through the enemy, with her reroll when stress, she is horrifically deadly, easily able to take out ships stealth devices, and ships which are hiding behind the enemy lines. She shot out Jonus before he got to fire off him missiles, took down Krassis at long range, and then was happily taking down a TIE a turn at range 3.

Oh yeah Ibti makes good use of it, as do simple Blue squadrons with only HLC plus either Fire control system or advance sensors. Of course they lack the second action to boost shots further except you have FCS and shoot the same guy twice.

Ibti also can barrel roll back to keep her distance better. I love that and have used it on Boba with expert handling from time to time.

A really good combo is also 2 Firesprays with HLC plus Jonus. That can really ruin someones day!

Back in the olden days of Wave 2, I preferred 3 Firesprays over 2 with upgrades. But I have yet to try them with Jonus -- that's been on the to-try list for awhile now.

Another dicussion of this, greettings.

Worth every penny, if you're a good enough pilot.

7 points is worth it. The real question is, do I buy an extra Firespray so I can equip all three of my B-wings with HLCs. I think the answer is yes. Or maybe I buy a second Shuttle.

It also costs you your Cannon upgrade slot and that new auto-laser (I might have got this name wrong). Is awesome. (But it only works in range 1)

I bought the shuttle almost entirely because of this upgrade so I could have three on hand for a B-wing trio. And it's SO worth it!

I bought the shuttle almost entirely because of this upgrade so I could have three on hand for a B-wing trio. And it's SO worth it!

My dilemma is, I am I more likely to field two Fire Sprays, or two Shuttles. The Fire Spray is cooler, but the shuttle is cheap (in points)

Well, contrary to my avatar, I'm mostly a Rebel player, so I hardly ever field the Firesprays or Shuttle I own.

I've had a lot of success with HLC's on Blue Squadron B-wings. Sure you can put FCS or other upgrades on too but at 29 points w/ just HLC's they are really solid and leave plenty of points left over to add in other ships.

I don't like HLC's on Firesprays at all. The cheapest you can do it is for 40 points on a Bounty Hunter if you don't take anything else. Krassis makes it look tempting w/ his re-roll ability w/ secondary weapons but that's 43 points w/o any other upgrades. Besides that the Firesprays aren't nearly as maneuverable as the B-wings and can only fire them out of their front arc.

The B-wing is just so much easier to fly than the Firespray in general which allows you to keep yourself in position to make attacks the majority of the time. I love that w/ HLC's a B-wing rolls 4 attack dice every time (range 2-3 HLC - range 1 primary).

I am sad that the B-wing didn't come with the HLC upgrade. Since I own so much Imperial and Rebel stuff I will often provide all the ships that are use in most of my (friendly) games. That means If one player runs a HLC list the other player basically can't without proxy-ing upgrades. I know I shouldn't care, but I don't like using proxies.

I used to be a huge fan of the HLC. But as time went on those 4 dice were no better than a solid flight line and range 1 shots. I'll save the 7 points for engine upgrade and advanced sensors. Beat my 3 dice with focus while you k-turn and shoot your 4 unmodified, if i am even in your firing arc.

More ships are better.

I like them, but if we're talking Ibtisam, I put Adv Sensors, Engine Upgrade on her, and with all that, I think I prefer an Autoblaster.

She's real easy to push into range 1 with the extra mobility (I like the autoblaster on any ship with good mobility - see the "Tie Defender Values" thread... it's a beast on that bird)

On the Firespray, I think it's fine. As far as how expensive it is? Well, imho you're using a firespray... you want to fly the Iron, you're gonna pay the admission price.

47 points for krassis with hlc and eng upgrade, leaves you enough points to field 3 academy pilots and backstabber
or mauler mithel.
This gives you a maneuverable Firespray with a big gun, and a half tie swarm with a decent named pilot. for 99 or 100 points

yes

I was once a huge advocate of the HLC, but now I am using it infrequently. I have found that on a Firespray, I am getting minimal usage due to the ship making R1 very quickly. (The exception being if I use Expert Handling on Kath with a Rebel Captive and Jonus in support).

On the B-Wing, my 7pts now go to Advanced Systems and an Engine Upgrade, keeps me alive longer, greater options for moving and therefore greater option to stay at R1 outside my enemies fire arc.

Never tried it on a shuttle, but I'm not seeing the win there.

Is it a great situational upgrade, hell yes, is it an auto include nowadays. Not for me.

I've tried the HLC on the shuttle a couple times, and it's just not potent enough, especially when for the same price you can throw on Gunner and Fire Control Systems, which is much more likely to land a hit with the primary weapon in most cases.

It has it's place but I'm not sure where yet. Most ships that can equip it right now already have 3 dice and the big ships usually only are in range 3 for 1-2 rounds. If low power ships are able to take it in the future it will start showing up a lot more. Unless you're game planning around it you're paying 7pts to add a die to 1-2 rolls a game for most of the ships that can currently use it.

It's worth it when it works.

If you pair it with something like FCS on a Lambda or B-Wing so that you can get a free target lock on your first shot (while ideally focusing it) and then have a Focus + TL second shot, you can do some serious damage. But I would definitely say if you're running around using it just for the extra attack die or denying your opponent the range 3 defense die, but not supporting your shots with focus and/or target lock whenever it is humanly possible to do so...then no, it's probably not worth it.

Just to clear up what we say when we say worth it. a HLC on three B-wings is 21 points. That is a basic X-wing.

HLC + FCS on three B-wings is 30 points. That is more points than buying Wedge!

That being said, I still want to try it.

My experience with the HLC has been purely on Firesprays, and I've found that often times, it's simply not worth its cost. One of the major benefits of the Firespray is its rear firing arc, but with the HLC you're encouraged to pull those K-turns often or otherwise get turned around to get that primary arc back into firing position to make the most of the HLC, and 7 points is a big investment for a secondary weapon that's competing with one of the built-in features of the Firespray.

For my money, just give me a Gunner on a Firespray, and I'll go to town.

The HLC works well with Krassis Trelix. Krassis is my friend.

I just ran a squadron with three b-wing, two of which had Heavy Laser Cannons. I got my backside handed to me. I also gave each ship the also had the Fire Control System. I think I just spent to many points on upgrades, and didn't have enough ships.