What follows are my notes and thoughts on various Astromech droids. Even though I only ever see 3 of them used in our list-building, I truly feel there are merits to all 6, and want to spark a discussion by sharing my thoughts with you.

R2 Astromech

For 1 point, convert all maneuvers of 2 or less to Green.

This gives both the X-Wing and the Y-Wing the same number of Greens as a Tie Interceptor, greatly ameliorating stress generated from Red Maneuvers and stressful Elite Pilot Talents.

If X-Wings had more than one koiogran, this upgrade would be better. Having only the one, I feel it's excellence alongside Push the Limit has overstated the droid's worth.

R5 Astromech

For 1 point, during the end phase, you may flip one of your Faceup Damage cards with the "Ship" trait facedown.

Of the 33 cards in the standard Damage Deck, 25 of them have the "Ship" trait.
Of those, 19 do not immediately resolve themselves, or 57% of the damage deck..
They are: "Direct HIt!", "Structural Damage", "Damaged Engine", "Damaged Sensor Array", "Minor Hull Breach", "Console Fire", and "Weapon Malfunction", all of which are bad news.

Although a staple for many Y-Wing players, who have 5 hull on which to accumulate damage cards, the new "Hull Upgrade" card gives this added synergy for X-Wings as well.

R5-K6

For 2 points, after spending a target lock, you may have a 3/8 chance of reacquiring that target lock for a future attack.

This is strictly worse than a Fire-Control System, which nary an X nor a Y may yet equip. It requires that you first Have and Spend a Target Lock before becoming useful, and then has a 5/8 chance of doing nothing anyway.

However, it is still a greater chance of a free action than any other Astromech Droid yet offers, and has some synergy with "Dutch" Vander.

R2-F2

For 3 points and an action, gain 1 agility die.

This Astromech Droid seems fairly unpopular because it requires an action. However, taking this droid provides you with two defensive upgrades: Gain an extra agility die across the board, or gain an advantage on a single die roll. To properly rate this Droid, we have to figure out at which point 3 evasive dice with no additional advantage will outclass 2 with a focus (or 2 ed with no additional advantage will outclass 1 with a focus for Y-Wings, which is a bit more blatant).

If you're in a position where you're outnumbered and relying on your actions for survivability instead of damage, this droid's your guy.

R5-D8

For 3 points and an action, have a 5/8 chance of removing non-critical damage from your hull.

A full 16/33 of the Standard Damage Deck have mechanics to flip themselves facedown, which is also to be considered with this juggernaut of a droid.

This droid mostly faces the issue of not being R2-D2. Even so, there are advantages in healing hull rather than shields, and there are also advantages in sacrificing your Actions rather than your Maneuverability to do so. Pilots with R5-D8 are not as predictable as pilots with R2-D2, after all.

R2-D2

For 4 points, every time you perform a green maneuver, you may regenerate a shield (up to your full shield value).

This card is, frankly, insane.

However, the X-Wing only has 3 green maneuvers (4 if you count the different directions of the 1 bank as different maneuvers), and the Y-Wing only has 2. You have to make the judgement call in the moment as to whether your 1 critproof HP is worth being predictable to your opponent.

R2-D2 also opens up the "Draw Their Fire" combo, thanks to being perfectly plannable.

Question on R2D2.

If you have lost all shields and 1 hull...then perform a green maneuver, will R2 still give you back a shield? If so, that means you can have hull damage and still regain all you shields if you can perform enough green maneuvers without getting hit.

Yes R2-D2 does that. As long as you have Hull points and do Green Maneuvers you will gain back Shields.

R2D2 is insane and awesome. Just so good if you plan it out right. Remember, even if you bump you still count as having done the green manuever.

Yes R2-D2 does that. As long as you have Hull points and do Green Maneuvers you will gain back Shields.

Wow! no wonder Luke with R2-D2 is hard to kill.

I feel there have been a number of discussion on Astromechs in the semi-recent past... Anyways...

Generally I've found that R2's are better on X-Wings while R5's are better on Y-Wings, regardless of suffix number attached (K6, D8, D2, F2).

here are some more thoughts on the droids, tried not to overlap what you've already stated.

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R2

Stress clearing. Great for combinations with PTL, Elusiveness, Expert Handling, Opportunist.

If you know you're opponent is going to use Rebel Captive or Kath this negates the stress effects.

When Ionized the Forward-1-White becomes FWD-1-Green.

R5

Better on Y-Wings than X-Wings. If you're running Turrets being predictable after a Koiogran is less detrimental.

Slightly Increases chances of getting a second Torpedo Shot off or first. (increase from surviving early Crits.)

R5 + Determination is partial Crit Immunity

Negates the Saboteur ability if a Ship Crit is flipped up.

R5-K6

Allows Focus+TargetLock on following turns it Proc's.

Decent on Dual-Torpedo Y-Wings. Makes nuking a High HP/SP target a little easier.

On Dutch when it proc's can share 2 Target Locks. (lower PS pilots near Dutch can Focus rather than TL.)

Has some synergy with EPT-Expose.

R2-F2

Better on X-Wings than Y-Wings.

Most beneficial on Biggs, Wedge, Luke. and probably any of the new X-Wing + EPT pilots.

Requires Action Sharing or PTL to be most effective (Extra Dice + Focus).

Decent in Combination with Stealth Device.

R5-D8

Very similar to the standard R5.

Again better on Y-Wings than X-Wings.

Also decent in combination with EPT-Determination.

(This is Porkin's named droid they should have good synergy together once we find out his action.)

R2-D2

Great across the board even if the price is high when compared to the Maneuver Dials.

Best on Named Pilots you want to try to keep alive longer (Exception: Biggs).

R2-D2 + DTF has potential to be some of the best 5pts you can spend defensively.

Effective on Y-Wings with Turrets. since movement predictability is less harmful to firing angles.

I have been looking at these droids, and thinking of making some house rules to help out some of them that don't see much love.

First the ones that I think don't need changing:

• R2: great card for one point, pairs well with Push the Limit. No action cost makes it useful.
• R5: Spending 1 point to reduce a critical hit to a regular damage isn't a bad deal. It doesn't get used very much, but it probably doesn't need fixing either.
• R2-D2: No action cost makes it a great way to get shields back. Obviously R2-D2 gets used competitively.

Then we have:

• R5-K6: 2 points for a 3/8 chance to get another lock just seems really low. I get that System Upgrade is more powerful than a droid upgrade slot, but it's basically 3/8 as effective as Fire Control System but at the same cost. I would allow an evade or an eye to give a new lock, upping it to a 5/8 chance. That seems more fair. If that's still not balanced, you could roll an attack dice and let it trigger on a hit, crit, or eye, for a 6/8 chance. Curious to see what people think about this.
• R2-F2: I have a difficult time justifying this, because it costs an action so you EITHER get a focus, OR you get one more die. At 3 points that is a VERY difficult sell. I'll run the numbers on this later and re-post, but I really don't think it's that good. One idea is to let it trigger at the start of the combat phase (no action cost), but you need to gain a stress token (and have none at the start) to activate it.
• R5-D8: So it costs the same as getting a Hull Upgrade for 3 points. So, if you use it only once you might as well have bought the Hull Upgrade, and still had your action. If you use it twice, then you get 2 hull back, but have lost 2 actions. This seems expensive to me, again, because it costs an action. Things that cost an action really should yield a better result. At a minimum I would make it guaranteed that you can spend an action to remove one damage, no dice roll. R2-D2 is still the better droid though, because it doesn't cost an action! Still open to suggestions.

R2-F2 is definitely beneficial on Biggs, because if Biggs is the closest target, the Imperial player MUST target Biggs. And if Darklighter is at Range 3, and the player chooses to use F2's ability, then that's what? 4 Defense dice?

I want a Imperial Only R2 upgrade card.
With one of these:

http://www.angelfire.com/droid/astromechs/page11.html

He doesn't have to have awesome powers. He doesn't have to fix shields, or whatever...

But R2-A1 has always wanted to fly. And he is thinking of revamping his resume if he doesn't get the chance soon...
And he has friends in Dark places....

[...]

• R5-K6: 2 points for a 3/8 chance to get another lock just seems really low. I get that System Upgrade is more powerful than a droid upgrade slot, but it's basically 3/8 as effective as Fire Control System but at the same cost. I would allow an evade or an eye to give a new lock, upping it to a 5/8 chance. That seems more fair. If that's still not balanced, you could roll an attack dice and let it trigger on a hit, crit, or eye, for a 6/8 chance. Curious to see what people think about this.
• R2-F2: I have a difficult time justifying this, because it costs an action so you EITHER get a focus, OR you get one more die. At 3 points that is a VERY difficult sell. I'll run the numbers on this later and re-post, but I really don't think it's that good. One idea is to let it trigger at the start of the combat phase (no action cost), but you need to gain a stress token (and have none at the start) to activate it.
• R5-D8: So it costs the same as getting a Hull Upgrade for 3 points. So, if you use it only once you might as well have bought the Hull Upgrade, and still had your action. If you use it twice, then you get 2 hull back, but have lost 2 actions. This seems expensive to me, again, because it costs an action. Things that cost an action really should yield a better result. At a minimum I would make it guaranteed that you can spend an action to remove one damage, no dice roll. R2-D2 is still the better droid though, because it doesn't cost an action! Still open to suggestions.

K6 -- If the last sentence on the card was removed ("You cannot spend this target lock during this attack") I'd be okay with the 3/8 chance. Or simply adding focus to the success roll. 5/8 chance wouldn't make it to powerful.

If it was like FCS then it would be auto-include on Wedge or Dutch.

F2 -- I think it's fine considering the dice lasts for the round meaning extra defense across multiple shots whereas a focus token or evade can only be used on a single attack but are potentially superior to an extra dice on that single attack.

D8 -- Is as you mentioned equal to Hull upgrade via points. If it was paired with determination (or R5 if it was possible) it's benefits are greatly increased. Sadly the only pilots that can use D8 + Determination are X-Wings with "medium-low" HP and making it less desirable.

I still think once we find out the ability text on Pokins R5-D8 will be perfect for him even with the Medium-Low HP of the X-Wing.

The R2 on an X-Wing with the engine upgrade works nicely also. You do the green manuaver clear your stress and still have the ability to boost, it cuts down on where your opponent thinks you might end up.

R2-F2

Better on X-Wings than Y-Wings.

R2-F2 is actually FANTASTIC on a Y-Wing, particularly one with an Ion Cannon Turret, who doesn't need the damage actions as much.

1 Agility Die when focused is actually pretty crap, while 2 naked is much more survivable, particularly when you've got 8 total HP.

2 defense dice is fantastic compared to 1. But even with an Y-Wing w/ Ion I much rather Focus. Focusing increases the chance of an Ion hit if needed. And it is there for Defense if i don't.