by Even if most of us play Star Wars Legion for its universe, sometimes ditching the immersive experience to concentrate on the stats and numbers has some perks. So stop the escapades in the stars and let’s go back to Earth and its school benches. In your opinion, is a B1 unit more sturdy than a basic rebel unit? Which one has the most changes of surviving an attack ? One is made up of six droids with a one-in-six chance of parrying blows while the other, made up of four brave guys, has a one-in-three chance of saving his skin. To answer this question, you need to know how to calculate a unit’s resistance. Don’t panic for your test, I’ll go through those calculation in this article.
What is the resistance of a unit?
A unit’s resistance is the average amount of damage you need to deal to defeat it. Resistance does not include game effects such as cover or dodge tokens for example, as these depend on the hazards of the game. No, resistance describes a unit’s sturdiness in the face of a firing squad. No tricks, just a face-to-face encounter with death.
How do you calculate a unit’s resistance?
To calculate a unit’s resistance, you take its number of health points and divide it by the probability of losing one. Let’s take the example of a basic rebel unit:
This naked unit has four health points (4 x 1 hp) and has a 2 in 3 chance of not saving a hit (given that they defend in white and convert surges, i.e. a 1 in 3 chance of blocking). The resistance of basic rebel troopers is therefore = 4/(2/3) = 12/2 = 6. This means that on average you need to inflict six damage to a basic rebel unit to kill it.
FYI, to answer the question in the introduction: a unit of six B1s has a resistance of 7.2! They’re tougher than those rebels. Who would have guessed ?
The limits of the metric
Resistance is a metric with its limits. While easy to calculate for units without defensive keywords, it is complex for those with such keywords. For instance Uncanny luck, Low Profile or Armor 1 make the calculation pretty hard. Either you’re a mathematician and you manage to integrate them into your calculation, or you follow my basic calculation and it will give you a kind of minimum resistance… in average.
What’s the point of calculating the resistance of a unit?
Resistance is a metric used to compare the sturdiness of different units. Once you are aware that 75% of the objective cards favour the player with the most living units at the end of turn 6, you’ll be curious to know the resistance of your troops.
| Example Let’s say that you are not sure who to choose between one unit of Wookies and one unit of Mandolorians led by Ursa Wren. Which one is the most resistant? – The Mandos with Ursa = 15 resistance points – The Wookies = 10.8 resistance points |
Given that in 75% of scenarios you have to resist to win, resistance is a relevant metric for determining which units of your faction are most likely to score points in these scenarios.
What is the cost of a unit per point of resistance ?
If you couple resistance with the unit cost, you get the cost of a unit per point of resistance (CPPR). In simple terms, this is a metric that tells you how much a unit ‘charges’ you for its resistance points. The lower the result for a unit, the more cost-effective its resistance.
Calculating a unit’s cost per resistance point
To calculate a unit’s cost per resistance point (CPPR), you need to take the unit’s cost and divide it by its resistance.
Let’s go back to the case of basic rebels. A naked unit is worth 40 points and has a resistance of 6. The cost per point of resistance = 40/6 = 6.66 points. In other words, basic Rebel Troopers bill you 1 point of resistance 6.66 points in your army list.
Obviously this information alone is useless. You need to compare it with other units to make sense of it. For example, a naked Wookie unit has a CPPR of 6.38. They are therefore more profitable than basic rebels in terms of resistance (although not as much as you might have thought at first sight).
The limits of unit cost per point of resistance
If you have a keen eye, you’ll notice that there’s something not quite right with this CPPR calculation. Is it so? you might ask. Yes! A unit’s cost doesn’t just include its health points and defensive dice but also its movement speed, its offensive keywords, its courage and so on. In short, all the characteristics that make the unit what it is.
The result you get with the CPPR is therefore partially biased. I say partially because CPPR remains a relevant metric if you’re looking to maximise the resistance of your army list at the lowest cost. But it should not be used to compare the performance in term of offensiveness between units. Capisce ?
| Fun fact Did you know that Leia’s CPPR is 8.33 and so is Chewbacca’s? There are a lot of players praising the hairy beast: “He’s super tanky“. However, since Leia’s points have been reduced (to 75 points), Chewie and Leia charge the same for their resistance. (Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t mean that Leia is as tough as Chewbacca — We are talking about CPPR here). For sceptics, remember that a unit’s tanky characteristic inevitably depends on its cost. Imagine for a moment that Chewbacca was worth 300 points. Would he still be considered as such? |
Are all these calculations a load of nonsense?
Don’t get lost in all these calculations any more than you have to. These metrics have their pros and cons. In my opinion, resistance is just another indicator that can help you decide between two units for your army list, at least when it can be calculated. CPPR, on the other hand, is a useful indicator when you want to maximise the resistance of your army list for the lowest cost. And maximising resistance is a viable strategy given the objective cards currently available in the game.
A final word
With this article on resistance, I wanted to tackle a much broader subject: game balance. Does each faction have the same chances of winning a game of Star Wars Legion? It’s a subject that will form the backdrop to my forthcoming Strategies & Tactics posts. While you’re waiting for them to be published, I’ll leave you with this table below which compares the CPPR of a basic troop of each faction. Can you spot what’s wrong (unfair) ?
| Name of the unit | CPPR (no upgrades) |
|---|---|
| Rebels (basic) | 6,66 points |
| Stormtroopers | 5,50 points |
| B1 | 5,28 points |
| Phase I Clones | 6,50 points |
