Astromech Translator

« Asteroids Do Not Concern Me ·Dagobah · At Peace »

Info

Title	Astromech Translator
Side	Light
Type	Device
Set	Dagobah
Rarity	C
Uniqueness	Unrestricted
Destiny	3
card_uid	4_8
Version	printed
Printings	Dagobah — this page

Astromech Translator is a Light Device from Dagobah.

Card Text

Deploy on any starfighter. While an astromech character is aboard: If not piloted, starfighter may move and may use power, maneuver and hyperspeed. OR if piloted, starfighter is immune to attrition < 3 (< 6 if matching pilot aboard).

Lore

Standard technology found on hyperdrive-capable starfighters. Many manufacturers. Converts electronic impulses and high-density electronic languages into readable text.

Strategy

By Johan de Jong

The Dagobah set brought us the 'Astromech Translator', which can be put to interesting uses. Here's why :

First of all, the destiny is 3. You might have noticed I have only done cards up until now which have a destiny of at least 3. I love to have a high destiny average and a lot of cards I include in my decks meet this need. You see, 3 is a magic number. You will not get a Darth Vader out of the way, but a lot of characters and starships with the right droids on board are immune to attrition <3. Bad news for the opponents if your average destiny =3.

Next, of course, there must be another use for the card. There is. This is one of those cards that deploys for free, which is always nice. It can be deployed onto any starfighter, making it versatile enough to include in almost any deck that relies on starfighters. Next, it allows you to use power, maneuver and hyperspeed when an astromech character is aboard, a pilot is no longer needed. Suppose one of your Y-Wings has lost its permanent pilot and you only have an astromech and the Astromech Translator in hand. Simply deploy both and fly to where a new pilot can be picked up. Also, when this starfighter is at a battle, the extra power might swing the balance in your favour.

The true Strength of this card appears when you have a piloted starfighter to which this card may apply. If the starfighter is piloted, and the Astromech Translator and an astromech character are aboard, the starfighter becomes immune to attrition <3. This in itself might not be too powerful, but, what if the pilot is a 'matching pilot' ? The Immunity to attrition becomes <6 !!! Unless a lot of destiny adders are used, this makes such a starfighter very difficult to destroy. And remember, there are a lot of matching starfighter / matching pilot pairs out there, especially if you look at the persona rule. To this you may add that you can easily make a matching pilot with Rebel Flight Suit, so this shouldn't be too hard to accomplish. The starfighter becomes much more difficult to take out than the Star Destroyers hunting it. The only real drawback with this card becomes the number of cards needed for it to work. However, if you use this wisely, you do not need two or three of these combo's.

In short, if used correctly, this card can save you a lot of lost pilots, starfighters, etc.

Strong Points:

• Common, thus cheap and easy to get.

• Destiny 3. Nothing to brag about, but definately above the norm. Takes out a lot of otherwise immune cards.

• Deploys for free. Don't you dare ask why this is a strong point !

• With the right combo's you have a virtually indestructable powerhouse on the table. You should only need one or two of these.

• Power and mobility without ability, do not fear battles, just add to them.

Weak Points:

• For it to work you need a starfighter, a pilot, a droid and the card itself. The effective combo contains 4 (!!!) cards.

• As a sort of extension from the above weak point, this card needs characters. Astromech icons do not count and permanent pilots are rarely matching pilots (leader cards are examples that are matching pilots).

• The most interesting way to use it affects immunity to attrition, nothing else. It is a rather specialized card with regard to function.

Combos:

• Red 5 + R2-D2 + Astromech Translator + any of the 3 Luke's that have a pilot icon to date = ouch for the Dark Side.

• Red 2 + Wedge Antilles + R2-X2 + Astromech Translator = a powerhouse in the sky, which can also take on numbers decks.

• Red 3 + Toryn Farr + Rebel Flight Suit + Astromech droid + Astromech Translator = Wedge's little sister in numbers.

• Gold Leader In Gold 1 + Astromech passenger + Astromech Translator = a three-card combo that kicks *beep* when not able to otherwise and has the immunity to attrition <6.

Pulled by

• Corporal Beezer
• Portable Scanner

See Also

Sources

• Star Wars CCG cardlists index at Decipher.com (archive, 25 December 2008)
• Complete Card List (Decipher PDF, archive 28 September 2007) — Light Device: Astromech Translator, Dagobah, C

References