Remember too that the scout ship doesn't have to have gear down. It can float 3m above the ground on its repulsorlift engines and have full ventral turret coverage. Yes, repulsorlifts can do this for a long, long time (they are highly efficient and use a minimum of power). The ship only has to land for a few minutes at a time to change shifts (and even then can just drop boarding ladders).

Keeping a ship in the air constantly running would be a maintenance and supply nightmare. Even keeping one constantly prepped for launch would be a huge maintenance problem unless the base has enough ships to rotate which one is on standby, I would say at least two or three ships off standby for every ship that is on alert. Than of course theirs the issue of having enough trained personnel to keep a crew on constant standby. And I don't know much about Imperial standby rules but I know in US carriers craft considered on alert are supposed to be ready for launch within five minutes. A lot can happen in five minutes in a real battle or a Role played battle..

You underestimate the technology. If the ship can operate for months at a time just with onboard consumables, then parking it on repulsorlift is nothing. Read the Wookieepedia entry on Repulsorlift.

Yes you could do so, again assuming you had the crew to keep in manned all day every day. But why would the commander in question choose to do so? It will burn a lot of supplies, which from the description of the outpost probably can't be replaced, or at least are very limited on site. Those limits are only meant to be reached in extreme emergencies IMO. Just because you can have a ship operating for months without maintenance doesn't mean a commander is going to keep it in the air or even on standby without some reason beyond just in case the enemy decides to attack us.

Yes you could do so, again assuming you had the crew to keep in manned all day every day.

A car in idling in park doesn't require all that much of attention at the wheel. As to why you would do it, consider the advantage a few hundred meters would have on improving LoS for sensors.

Yes you could do so, again assuming you had the crew to keep in manned all day every day.

A car in idling in park doesn't require all that much of attention at the wheel. As to why you would do it, consider the advantage a few hundred meters would have on improving LoS for sensors.

which doesn't do much good if their is no crew manning those sensors. Ditto for the guns. Maybe there is a military which allows its manned scout craft to just hover over a remote base just because an enemy might attack. Most though are only likely to do that if they have some reason to suspect an impending attack

Why wouldn't they?

Military and mercenary crews would have patrol craft running the base perimeter at all times. It's part of standard base security protocols, even during non-alert times.

I mean, if you work as a cop in Manhattan, yeah, you're expected to drive around all night on patrol. Patrolling is sort of where guards and soldiers spend most of their duty time.

I'm not familiar with the exact scenario, but if the scout craft is part of a patrol, then I imagine it would be moving/hovering.

I think it's highly un-starwarsy to be a hero and be blasted by a mere starship cannon. On the other hand it should be a dramatic moment when a starship opens fire! In films and comic books this is usually depicted not as a precise pencil-thin laser beam piercing our hero from afar (as it would be in a good sci-fi ), but by explosions all around! After all targeting systems of Star Wars starships have difficulties acquiring something so small as a human-sized being.

So in my games when a planetery-scale weapon attacks PCs I roll the to-hit pool (or just judge how good the gunner is) and allow characters to make a 'dodge' roll - usually coordination or athletics. The difficulty of the roll depends on the to-hit roll. Fail means damage - usually Planetary scale damage x2 (so a laser cannon with dmg 6 would deal 12 dmg - a lot, but not a one-shot kill), usually with pierce 2.

Planetary Scale Weapons due x10 damage, not x2. I hope you realize that a modded Heavy Blaster Rifle will do more damage using your rules than a Heavy Laser Cannon.

Why wouldn't they?

Military and mercenary crews would have patrol craft running the base perimeter at all times. It's part of standard base security protocols, even during non-alert times.

I mean, if you work as a cop in Manhattan, yeah, you're expected to drive around all night on patrol. Patrolling is sort of where guards and soldiers spend most of their duty time.

I'm not familiar with the exact scenario, but if the scout craft is part of a patrol, then I imagine it would be moving/hovering.

See the way I'm reading the scenario the scout craft isn't on patrol. Its serving as part of a very small outpost. There's no mention of any structures in the outpost. Just the ship, troops, some probe droids, and some weapons emplacements, which could be anything from E-Webs to full turrets.

A base for patrolling scout ships would logically have enough ships to keep some on patrol while keeping others down for resupply, or repair rather than relaying on one ship, unless the force using the base is a lot more desperate for ships than the Empire should be at this point. A rebel outpost I could see in such condition that it only has one craft for patrol, because the rebels are almost always short on ships an Imperial outpost no.

Unless there has been some major incident which drew any other ships deployed to the base away and the TC forgot to mention it.

Why wouldn't they?

Military and mercenary crews would have patrol craft running the base perimeter at all times. It's part of standard base security protocols, even during non-alert times.

I mean, if you work as a cop in Manhattan, yeah, you're expected to drive around all night on patrol. Patrolling is sort of where guards and soldiers spend most of their duty time.

I'm not familiar with the exact scenario, but if the scout craft is part of a patrol, then I imagine it would be moving/hovering.

See the way I'm reading the scenario the scout craft isn't on patrol. Its serving as part of a very small outpost. There's no mention of any structures in the outpost. Just the ship, troops, some probe droids, and some weapons emplacements, which could be anything from E-Webs to full turrets.

A base for patrolling scout ships would logically have enough ships to keep some on patrol while keeping others down for resupply, or repair rather than relaying on one ship, unless the force using the base is a lot more desperate for ships than the Empire should be at this point. A rebel outpost I could see in such condition that it only has one craft for patrol, because the rebels are almost always short on ships an Imperial outpost no.

Unless there has been some major incident which drew any other ships deployed to the base away and the TC forgot to mention it.

To clarify on the state of the Imps. The scout ship is a lone craft that was dispatched with the sole purpose of capturing the PCs. Their nemesis (actually a rival) is an ISB agent who pulled some strings in the stormtrooper corps and got a scout ship and a squad of scout troopers + some ordanance to go after them. The only 'base' in any respect is this little encampment they set up for themselves with the ship and some speeder bikes placed strategically around plus all I mentioned before.

The ship is still more useful off of the ground, and it can maintain that position as long as needed. Hopefully the bad guys are smart enough not to leave it on the ground just to make things easier on their enemies.

The ship is still more useful off of the ground, and it can maintain that position as long as needed. Hopefully the bad guys are smart enough not to leave it on the ground just to make things easier on their enemies.

I'm definitely keeping that in mind.

Yeah until the crew needs to eat, or sleep, unless it has enough troopers onboard to keep up rotating shifts. and has been mentioned those guns are not meant for targeting infantry. It would be like trying to use a small cannon on a ship to target a lone man. Yes in theory you could but it would be very iffy and odds are the crew would do more good with rifles than manning the big guns, unless the players or allies bring in their own ships.

There's a good reason that the only times we see ships firing on infantry in the Star Wars movies the shots are either serve as little more than a distraction (AOTC) or are being fired by weapons specifically installed for use against infantry. (ESB)

And starships are normally featured in space which limits their capacity to fire on infantry. You could, however, equate the power of a freighter's guns to, say... somewhere inbetween an AT-ST walker and an AT-AT. Who don't necessarily need to even target infantry. Just aim in their general direction and... boom.

That's the thing with directed energy weapons. They still need at least a glancing hit to harm their targets unless the bolt hits something else which explodes harming its target. Plants or dirt aren't likely to do that unless rocks, nuts, or tree bark are sent flying. If the ship had torpedoes or missiles than yeah it would be able to rip an infantry assault apart with ease because even a near miss would cause a lot of damage. Hell even if it had autoblasters it could do a good job but based on what the TC said it has laser cannons. Which means it needs at least a glancing hit on a person to cause serious harm, barring something that will explode and throw shrapnel nearby and anti-ship weapons have never been shown as having that kind of accuracy in Star Wars..

The one real advantage the scout ship offers in this case is its ability to absorb damage and stay in the fight.

Yeah until the crew needs to eat, or sleep, unless it has enough troopers onboard to keep up rotating shifts. and has been mentioned those guns are not meant for targeting infantry. It would be like trying to use a small cannon on a ship to target a lone man. Yes in theory you could but it would be very iffy and odds are the crew would do more good with rifles than manning the big guns, unless the players or allies bring in their own ships.

There's a good reason that the only times we see ships firing on infantry in the Star Wars movies the shots are either serve as little more than a distraction (AOTC) or are being fired by weapons specifically installed for use against infantry. (ESB)

I think you have it backwards. They scouts would eat, sleep, and otherwise 'live' on the ship (its designed for doing this for up to six months). The guys on the ground are the ones pulling a shift doing patrols or sentry duty.

It's part of standard base security protocols, even during non-alert times.

Patrolling is sort of where [snip] soldiers spend most of their duty time.

You've not been on many bases, have you?

Security Forces and Military Police are the ones who drive around bases in cop cars and try to catch people speeding. Those same personnel are going to be checking ID's and credentials at the gate(s), if the job hasn't been farmed out to private contractors. "Perimeter patrols" aren't really a thing, at least, not in the way you're describing them. Certain portions of a base might be under tighter security, such as the flight line of an Air Base. In some bases, (Joint Base Balad being a notable example) perimeter security is going to be handled by sentries in guard towers.

Your typical "soldier" (I assume you mean infantry types?) spends most of his time training or doing some additional duty to keep his unit running smoothly. Unless, of course, you mean in a "deployed" or combat environment, in which case what the soldier spends most of his time doing is entirely dependent upon which type of unit he's in.

Edit: Typos; clarification.

Yeah until the crew needs to eat, or sleep, unless it has enough troopers onboard to keep up rotating shifts. and has been mentioned those guns are not meant for targeting infantry. It would be like trying to use a small cannon on a ship to target a lone man. Yes in theory you could but it would be very iffy and odds are the crew would do more good with rifles than manning the big guns, unless the players or allies bring in their own ships.

There's a good reason that the only times we see ships firing on infantry in the Star Wars movies the shots are either serve as little more than a distraction (AOTC) or are being fired by weapons specifically installed for use against infantry. (ESB)

I think you have it backwards. They scouts would eat, sleep, and otherwise 'live' on the ship (its designed for doing this for up to six months). The guys on the ground are the ones pulling a shift doing patrols or sentry duty.

Hmm perhaps. The problems with trying to use directed energy weapons designed to target something the size of a spacecraft against infantry remain though.

Yeah until the crew needs to eat, or sleep, unless it has enough troopers onboard to keep up rotating shifts. and has been mentioned those guns are not meant for targeting infantry. It would be like trying to use a small cannon on a ship to target a lone man. Yes in theory you could but it would be very iffy and odds are the crew would do more good with rifles than manning the big guns, unless the players or allies bring in their own ships.

There's a good reason that the only times we see ships firing on infantry in the Star Wars movies the shots are either serve as little more than a distraction (AOTC) or are being fired by weapons specifically installed for use against infantry. (ESB)

I think you have it backwards. They scouts would eat, sleep, and otherwise 'live' on the ship (its designed for doing this for up to six months). The guys on the ground are the ones pulling a shift doing patrols or sentry duty.

Hmm perhaps. The problems with trying to use directed energy weapons designed to target something the size of a spacecraft against infantry remain though.

The problem is represented by a base Difficulty 4 (assuming a Silhouette 4 ship and Silhouette 1 characters). The is the equivalent of a personal scale shot at Long Range. This applies regardless of how close the target is to the ship or how far away they are, the Difficulty is the same even if the ship is FAR above the ground, so long as it's not beyond Close Range (so, no more than a few kilometers up). If the gunner is good enough to make that shot with even a single success, he can pick off man-sized targets. Even Agility 2, Gunnery 1 with an Aim maneuver is going to succeed enough to cause nightmares for the footsloggers.

That doesn't with anything ever shown on screen though. According to the rules you could add sets of 10 linked lasers or turbolasers to a ship and only use 1 hardpoint but the odds on a GM allow it are almost zero. The same is true for pinpoint accuracy against infantry with an anti-ship weapon. Yes anti-ship lasers can hit infantry targets but unless there is some massive mitigating circumstance, or they are dumb enough to bundle up in a tight formation hits should be very, very rare. The guns in question just aren't designed for that. Remember how much trouble the Death Star's turbolasers had targeting the rebel fighters in A New Hope? The same principle applies here but in this case there are actually more targets and a vastly smaller number of guns, and positions firing on them, at least for the shipgrade weapons though obviously the anti-infantry weapons won't have the accuracy issue.

It's part of standard base security protocols, even during non-alert times.

Patrolling is sort of where [snip] soldiers spend most of their duty time.

You've not been on many bases, have you?

Security Forces and Military Police are the ones who drive around bases in cop cars and try to catch people speeding. Those same personnel are going to be checking ID's and credentials at the gate(s), if the job hasn't been farmed out to private contractors. "Perimeter patrols" aren't really a thing, at least, not in the way you're describing them. Certain portions of a base might be under tighter security, such as the flight line of an Air Base. In some bases, (Joint Base Balad being a notable example) perimeter security is going to be handled by sentries in guard towers.

Your typical "soldier" (I assume you mean infantry types?) spends most of his time training or doing some additional duty to keep his unit running smoothly. Unless, of course, you mean in a "deployed" or combat environment, in which case what the soldier spends most of his time doing is entirely dependent upon which type of unit he's in.

Edit: Typos; clarification.

Nope, I've never been in the military.

I guess what I'm talking about then is police and security forces.

That it does mean that there is someone out there constantly standing watch, driving around in a vehicle, and that's certainly not an outlandish thing at all.

That doesn't with anything ever shown on screen though. According to the rules you could add sets of 10 linked lasers or turbolasers to a ship and only use 1 hardpoint but the odds on a GM allow it are almost zero. The same is true for pinpoint accuracy against infantry with an anti-ship weapon. Yes anti-ship lasers can hit infantry targets but unless there is some massive mitigating circumstance, or they are dumb enough to bundle up in a tight formation hits should be very, very rare. The guns in question just aren't designed for that. Remember how much trouble the Death Star's turbolasers had targeting the rebel fighters in A New Hope? The same principle applies here but in this case there are actually more targets and a vastly smaller number of guns, and positions firing on them, at least for the shipgrade weapons though obviously the anti-infantry weapons won't have the accuracy issue.

I'm just telling you how the rules handle it. Difficulty 4 is supposed to be pretty hard, but this game makes basic success on tasks rather common even at such levels. By the game's rules, turbolasers on the Death Star should have scored several fighter kills just through sheer volume of fire before the fighters were even in range to launch their own attacks.

Military vessels maintain a 24 hour watch, in fact all vessels maintain a 24 hour watch. In regards to targeting people with ship weapons, if a ship weapon can be used to target another spacecraft going thousands of miles per hour I doubt a man sized target going man sized speeds is all that hard.

That depends, doesn't it? I mean, a purpose-built drone is going to be fairly successful at hitting a human sized target from a respectable distance. Of course, the drone is using guided munitions (which would be reflected in the weapon quality) and is travelling relatively slowly.

The main gun on a main battle tank, on the other hand, is designed to hit other tanks and would be completely unwieldy against a person, unless you were just trying to annihilate a building and everyone in it. That same tank might have a machine gun mounted on it that is designed for infantry types, and would be much more successful at hitting individuals.

Battleships (like the now decommissioned U.S.S. Missouri and U.S.S. Iowa) used huge guns to barrage an area, but when they needed a specific target destroyed, they could fire cruise missiles. Carriers have point-defense weapons for use against anti-ship missiles, but they're going to farm out all of their "attack" jobs to fighters, which may or may not be better equipped to attack a person sized target depending on their loadout and the type of aircraft.

All that to say: I doubt a Star Destroyer (the Battleship-Carriers of Star Wars) is going to drop into the upper atmosphere and use its turbolasers to bump off a single individual. The Star Destroyer is purpose built for orbital bombardment, which is going to destroy everything in a huge area and/or ship-to-ship combat. The quad-lasers on a YT-1300 (or similar) are probably more analogous to a couple of .50 cals mounted on the side of a helicopter or in the turrets of a B-29.

A quad mounts 50 cal would be murderous against infantry. Even more nasty would be the quad 23mm guns Soviets mounted for antiaircraft use.

Well, that was kind of my point. On a low, slow, helicopter, .50 cal machine guns are very effective against infantry and soft targets. In a B-29 at 30,000 feet, going 190 knots, they're only going to be effective against other high flying, fast moving aircraft. A YT-1300 flying a little above treetop level (as we see on Yavin IV) should at the very least be effective at suppressing infantry, if not outright destroying them. Of course, that same YT-1300 is going to be a ripe target for AAA and interceptors if it's flying in contested airspace.

That said, I've always had a much harder time shooting small targets accurately in an X-Wing: Alliance simulation of a YT-1300 gun turret than I ever did shooting machine guns out of helicopters.