I'm trying to understand how to rise the odds to keep him alive for at least two rounds of focused fire so that Wedge can shine.

Until now I was under the impression keeping Biggs at range 3 on the alpha strike with Luke + Draw Their Fire + Shield Upgrade by his side was the best option. Something like:

-99-

Biggs

Wedge + PTL + R2 + EU (after Biggs is gone hopefully he can boost out of firing arcs)

Luke + Draw Their Fire + Shield Upgrade

But, what if we trade Luke for Kyle:

-98-

Biggs + R2-f2

Wedge + PTL + R2 + EU

Kyle + Recon + Title + Squad Leader + Blaster turret

Biggs gets 4 die and 2 focus on the alpha strike staying at range 3...and after he is gone Wedge gets 2 focus per turn helping him live longer.

I'm guessing you're thinking of handing focus tokens off to Biggs to use for defense. The problem there is, you can only hand one token off per turn with Kyle.

So that means Biggs will at best have 2 focus to use defensively. Depending on the amount of incoming fire it might not make much of a difference.

Not sure I like your Kyle set up. If you use squad leader you can't fire the Blaster and as squad Leader is R1 you are going to almost certainly need to fire.

A better option would be;

This allows you to boost Wedges damage output, keep Biggs alive longer and mis-direct an opponents ship with Ion strikes.

Nien helps Jan shed her stress easily.

I see, thanks.

I liked the idea that after Biggs was gone Wedge had some extra help in surviving and having a PS6 ship with at least 2 focus per turn with 360 Turret as a game closer wasn't bad at all.

With the Title Kyle can stack 4 focus before the alpha strike and use those to keep Biggs alive and still shoot the Blaster.

In this game, offense trumps defense. Having Wedge shooting 4 or 5 dice with a TL and Focus will take down ships better than hoping Biggs lasts a round or two longer. If the enemy is dead, he isn't shooting back, Biggs or not :-)

In the config I set up, Biggs isn't a great shot, but if you can keep him at R3 he'll have 5 def dice 4 after the Stealth blows out.

With the Title Kyle can stack 4 focus before the alpha strike and use those to keep Biggs alive and still shoot the Blaster.

It can work sure Giving Biggs 2 focus could mean the difference between life and death... Kyle is also quite useful. So it's not that you have a bad list, but I don't know how much use you'll get out of squad leader on Kyle.

He can only use that on Biggs and Biggs generally isn't around long enough to make it really effective.

As Vandor says, your squad is not a bad squad, but Squad Leader does you no good, you might be better with determination or veteran instincts?

As Vandor says, your squad is not a bad squad, but Squad Leader does you no good, you might be better with determination or veteran instincts?

Or Elusiveness.

As Vandor says, your squad is not a bad squad, but Squad Leader does you no good, you might be better with determination or veteran instincts?

Or Elusiveness.

Or Marksmanship. considering you might have a decent stockpile of focus for defense and turret.

If you want Biggs to stay around he needs to avoid getting hurt. Being able to dump damage or regenerate shields after the fact (something a few astromechs can help with) doesn't help all that much because if he's getting hit it is just a matter of time and he doesn't have time. R2F2 can give him another defense dice which is helpful, especially through multiple attacks, but it takes an action to get up. A Stealth Device also gives the +1 Defense for the same price as the droid but without the action; its drawback being that once hit its gone but if it lets you dodge one in has done better than a shield upgrade. To help Biggs stay alive I'd only be looking at these upgrades although I'm not sure using both of them is the best use of points.

Next you look at ships that can help Biggs. A common suggestion is Luke + DTF + R2D2 as this ideally allows Luke to draw off critical rolls to hit his shields which R2D2 then regenerates; sometimes Luke as a Shield for more padding. Having Chewbacca using DTF can also help Biggs stay alive but at the expense of the other ship which Biggs is supposedly there to protect. Beyond that you're looking at things that can give Biggs Focus actions or tokens but you don't want those to be too specific or cripple the ship giving them.

I'd say the "basic" Biggs use is:

Biggs

Luke + DTF + R2D2

You can dress things up from there.

[...]

I'd say the "basic" Biggs use is:

Biggs

Luke + DTF + R2D2

You can dress things up from there.

If you have (Luke or Wedge) + DTF + R2D2. you might want to give Biggs R5D8. Since Biggs won't always be geting by every crit the repair damage ability from D8 has the possiblity of keeping Biggs around longer once he loses shields.

NOTE: R2F2 costs the same and is still is useful while shields are up. Both are Actions. Both roll evade dice.

since it is an action you will need a pilot with a "share action" ability to keep him alive for longer.

The R2F2 and R5D8 may have the same cost but that is about all they share. Both require an action to activate but the F2 provides a guaranteed effect while D8 requires a favorable die roll to do anything. F2 is used BEFORE you take any damage to avoid taking damage but the D8 is ONLY useful after you start taking cards. I could add those cards need to be Face down but if we have Luke/R2D2 taking the face up cards that could be most of them.

What's the problem? It is that the D8 can MAYBE repair ONE point of hull damage if it survives to the next turn so it has the action to spend on it. The F2 works against any number of attacks even if the chances of avoiding a given hit aren't as great. Two situations:

Biggs moves, activates R2F2, gets to roll 3 agility dice for defense, is attacked twice (say 2 hits each) but each time the extra die prevents a hit. Down to 3 hull 0 shield. Repeat setup next turn and isagain attacked twice (say 2 hit) but extra die negates one each time. Down to 1 hul.

Now with R5D8:

Biggs move and takes Focus, is attacked twice (2 hits each) but Focus is spent and negates one. Down to 2 Hull 0 shield. Next round Biggs move and uses R5D8 so Hull 3. Biggs is again attacked twice with each landing 2 hits. Biggs is destroyed.

I'm sure the numbers can be argued but the fewer dice Biggs is attacked with the more valuable the extra agility becomes while R5D8 is just waiting for damage to reach the hull which doesn't care how many dice are attacking him. Hit Biggs with a focused Advanced Proton Torpedo and I think you'll rather try dodging 3 with 3 dice than trying to dodge with 2 and then hope you live to use the R5D8 next round.