I'll have a try.

The 'pretty good' pilot has now been promoted into an X-wing, facing 3 TIE/LN fighters. I'll actually roll dice for this one.

Again, the fighters start at medium range, at full speed.

Turn 1

Rebel

Not wishing to engage if he can avoid it, the X-wing peels off his attack run on the Imperial communication satellite as he picks up three TIE fighters unexpectedly heading out to intercept him. He pulls into a corkscrew, hoping to drop in on their flank without exposing himself to fire.

Evasive Manouvres

Gain The Advantage

Skill check: AAPP (Agility 4, Piloting 2) B (Handling +1, DD (Same Speed) - Result: Success, Advantage

Can't really spend the single advantage on much, other than 'notice an important detail' - he realises that the TIE fighters must have been vectored onto his position by someone with much longer ranged sensors, hence there is probably a heavier ship somewhere beyond the relay satellite. In a 'proper' game, this might be a boost die for someone else, which is a much bigger deal...

Imperials

The TIE pilots close in attack formation, jockeying with one another for the best firing position. They turn into a long, looping barrel roll to keep the X-wing in their sights.

Fly (closing range)

Gain The Advantage

Skill Check: APP (Agility 3, 3 Minions with Piloting), BBB (Handling +3), DD (Same Speed), S (Enemy has advantage) - Result 4 Successes, 3 Threat

Two threat can be spent on a Boost Die for the X-wing.

Unexpectedly braking hard in a Silurian Stall, the X-wing turns in to attack, catching the Imperial pilots by surprise.

Turn 2

Rebel

Closing fast, the rebel heavy fighter unloads his lasers at the TIE group before they can take advantage of their superior position.

Fly (Closing Range)

Attack

Skill Check: AAPP (Agility 4, Gunnery 2), B (Spent Threat), DD (Same sillouhette as target) - Result 3 Success

6+3 Damage - Armour 2 is sufficient for a kill.

The closest TIE is blown to shrapnel with a single clean hit as his two wingmen scatter out of the line of fire.

Imperials

The TIEs turn back in, weaving to throw off the X-wing's line of fire, and open up with their own lasers.

Evasive Manouvres

Attack

Skill Check: AAP (Agility 3, 2 Minions with Piloting), DD (Same sillouhette as target, ignore evasive manouvres), S (Defense 1) - Result: 3 Success, 1 Threat

6+3 Damage - 3 Armour takes off over half the X-wing's hull

A laser blast rips into the starboard wing, and one of the engines is running rough. Tough as it is, the Incom fighter won't take much more punishment.

Turn 3

The X-wing pulls a tight Koiogran turn, trying to throw off the TIE behind it, and fires on the Imperial's wingman, hoping to even the odds.

Evasive Manouvres

Attack

Skill Check: AAPP (Agility 4, Gunnery 2), CC (Same sillouhette as target, target and firer both using evasive manouvres) - Result: 3 Successes, Despair (failure and threat elements cancelled)

6+3 Damage - 2 Armour is a second kill.

Despair spend on upgrading the next skill check

A second TIE fighter is blown to pieces, but the X-wing's damage is starting to show, and the fighter is becoming sluggish at the controls.

Imperial

Closing, the last TIE steadys up and looks for a killshot

Aim

Attack

Skill check: AAA (Agility 3), B (Aim), DC (Same sillouhette as target, evasive manouvres), S (Defence 1) - 2 Success, 3 Threat

6+2 Damage - 3 Armour is sufficient (by only 1 damage) to cripple the X-wing

There is a static squeal from the X-wing's computer and the fighter tumbles end-over-end as its engines fire randomly before going dead. The TIE fighter loops around for another pass at the helpless Rebel....

That was very close - specifically, the last attack roll for the TIE only pushed the X-wing into critical damage because it managed to roll not a single failure...

Ultimately, fighters do die very quickly if they get hit. More than anything else, one-on-group fights end badly, because minion groups of fighters can take so much punishment relative to a PC in a fighter - unless you're in something really ludicrously upgraded, you aren't significantly tougher than one of your enemies, let alone 3.

You didn't raise the difficulty of the gain the advantage roll each time it was used.

Also:

• 1 Minion Group vs 1 Fighter is a blatantly white room scenario. Once you have more than one actor on each side, applying setback dice is going to stop being as useful.
• Using completely average rolls also ignores how trivially easy it would have been for the TIEs to take him out on the first pass. My argument will never be that A-Wings instantly blow up every time they are fired on, but its definitely a high probability.
• Damage 6, Blast 4. 2 success, 2 advantage. Activate Blast. 8 +6x3. -2 to each hit for Armor. 6+4+4+4. All of them would be crippled, but only a single one would have died. Even if you grouped all the damage for simplicity (which depending on how you read the minion rules makes sense), you still would have had 1 left. This is, of course, using your Average Die rolls. A likely outcome is yes, the destruction of all of them, but no more likely than the destruction of the A-Wing in the first pass. The Starfighter game is Rocket Tag.
• Also, the issue is that survivability doesn't really go up with skill, other than being able to take out things FASTER. A more skilled pilot in an A-Wing still faces going down in one lucky shot, and lucky shots will happen. You can't really predicate the survivability of a fighter on the basis of "don't ever get shot at".

Conclusion (if you can call it that)

Well that was fun. I was curious to test out how it worked out, and especially how useful/unuseful Gain Advantage/Evasive manoeuvers were.Turned out better than I would have guessed for a "1 PC in a flimsy ship against 4 TIEs".

Thoughts:

• Of course those are theoretical results for the die roll, but I found they vary surprisingly with the ebb/flow of the game, which is a lot of fun.
• 4 TIEs is probably one too many, 3 would probably have gone the way of the A-Wing since they may very well not hit in the first place.
• Handling +3 is MAJOR, and those Boost/Setback dice are essential to generate advantage if you want to survive. This is probably where Ace pilots will shine.
• The X-, Y- and B-Wing are all more durable, but will not generate as much Advantage on the Piloting rolls, which could be problematic. They will pack a bigger punch, tough you will have to be skilled/lucky to generate enough Advantage to activate.
• The missile would have KILLED the Squad.
• If you see anything I recorded/did wrong, let me know, I'm expecting to run big Starship battles soon enough and I want to get it right.

Reading this play through, I come to a completely different conclusion. That Gain the Advantage is a waste of time.

The A-Wing would have been better served to spend his first turn to Punch It (3 strain), do a second Maneuver to Fly to Short range (total 5 strain) and then fire his missiles. The TIEs can get to Close and fire back but are most likely doing so at a reduced strength. On Turn 2, the A-Wing can fire with his lasers and then use a Fly to go back to Medium range. From medium range, the TIEs can't close and shoot again so must either go to Short and GtA or use their action as a maneuver to go to Close. On turn 3, the A-Wing can fire again, which is three attacks to the TIE fighter's one so far.

You didn't raise the difficulty of the gain the advantage roll each time it was used.

Also:

• 1 Minion Group vs 1 Fighter is a blatantly white room scenario. Once you have more than one actor on each side, applying setback dice is going to stop being as useful.
• Using completely average rolls also ignores how trivially easy it would have been for the TIEs to take him out on the first pass. My argument will never be that A-Wings instantly blow up every time they are fired on, but its definitely a high probability.
• Damage 6, Blast 4. 2 success, 2 advantage. Activate Blast. 8 +6x3. -2 to each hit for Armor. 6+4+4+4. All of them would be crippled, but only a single one would have died. Even if you grouped all the damage for simplicity (which depending on how you read the minion rules makes sense), you still would have had 1 left. This is, of course, using your Average Die rolls. A likely outcome is yes, the destruction of all of them, but no more likely than the destruction of the A-Wing in the first pass. The Starfighter game is Rocket Tag.
• Also, the issue is that survivability doesn't really go up with skill, other than being able to take out things FASTER. A more skilled pilot in an A-Wing still faces going down in one lucky shot, and lucky shots will happen. You can't really predicate the survivability of a fighter on the basis of "don't ever get shot at".

Thanks for the comments.

• You are right, The TIEs' "cancel out the advantage" roll should have been one step more difficult. Still would have succeeded but may not have dished the Setback die to the A-Wing, which in turn might have generated some more advantage for the A-Wing, potentially upgrading difficulty for the TIEs, which in turn might not have hit the first time around (it _was_ a 1-success hit...).
• This is a white-room simulation, but I wouldn't say this is a completely unusual situation (1 minion group VS 1 ship happens in quite a few scenarios).
• I purposefully took the flimsiest ship around to show it has a reasonable chance to withstand one hit. Of course lucky shots happen, but misses and Despairs too. All I've given is "most probable outcome". I did not take Triumphs/Despairs and triple-advantages in account (For a Triumph to be a probable outcome, you need 7 Yellow die . Also, usual ships (Ys, Xs, Lambdas) are sturdier.
• Blast does add the successes to the Blast Damage, so Damage is 8,6,6,6 etc once you activate Blast. Breach 4 (which is passive) then takes care of armor and all Ties within Engaged (I agree it's the GM's call at that point if they're sufficiently ganged up) suffer 6 Hull. Dead Squadron
• For your comment about skill (and Hedgehobbit's subsequent too), the Gain the Advantage rolls really serve to generate Boost/Setback/Manoeuver chances, as opposed to Gunnery rolls that don't use Handling (one of the major advantages of the A-Wing). This is all without Talents, too.

I'm tempted to say that if you disagree you should try do demonstrate with more data and examples I may try my hand too at "X-Wing VS 3 TIEs", I'm curious where the probable outcomes lead us.

Conclusion (if you can call it that)

Well that was fun. I was curious to test out how it worked out, and especially how useful/unuseful Gain Advantage/Evasive manoeuvers were.Turned out better than I would have guessed for a "1 PC in a flimsy ship against 4 TIEs".

Thoughts:

• Of course those are theoretical results for the die roll, but I found they vary surprisingly with the ebb/flow of the game, which is a lot of fun.
• 4 TIEs is probably one too many, 3 would probably have gone the way of the A-Wing since they may very well not hit in the first place.
• Handling +3 is MAJOR, and those Boost/Setback dice are essential to generate advantage if you want to survive. This is probably where Ace pilots will shine.
• The X-, Y- and B-Wing are all more durable, but will not generate as much Advantage on the Piloting rolls, which could be problematic. They will pack a bigger punch, tough you will have to be skilled/lucky to generate enough Advantage to activate.
• The missile would have KILLED the Squad.
• If you see anything I recorded/did wrong, let me know, I'm expecting to run big Starship battles soon enough and I want to get it right.

Reading this play through, I come to a completely different conclusion. That Gain the Advantage is a waste of time.

The A-Wing would have been better served to spend his first turn to Punch It (3 strain), do a second Maneuver to Fly to Short range (total 5 strain) and then fire his missiles. The TIEs can get to Close and fire back but are most likely doing so at a reduced strength. On Turn 2, the A-Wing can fire with his lasers and then use a Fly to go back to Medium range. From medium range, the TIEs can't close and shoot again so must either go to Short and GtA or use their second action to go to Close. On turn 3, the A-Wing can fire again, which is three attacks to the TIE fighter's one so far.

I pretty much agree with this.

The TIE series in this system has been really keenly worked to allow it's weaknesses to also be strengths, and Lex walked into it face-first.

If the TIEs don't already have the advantage on you, aren't taking evasive action, or you are in a slow ship/unmaneuverable ship/ship without shields, odds are there's not much point to GtA on a TIE... All you did was waste a turn you could have spent doing something more productive.

I'd agree on that. Gain The Advantage really, really matters when both attacker and defender are pulling Evasive Manouvres because (A) that's two difficulty upgrades on the attack roll and (B) a pilot check where fighters with good handling can generate advantage.

I'd trade only attacking every other round for my attacks being against two difficulty dice and yours being against two challenge dice and a setback die.

As soon as one side starts sticking to aim/attack, I think Gain The Advantage loses its shine.

• Blast does add the successes to the Blast Damage, so Damage is 8,6,6,6 etc once you activate Blast. Breach 4 (which is passive) then takes care of armor and all Ties within Engaged (I agree it's the GM's call at that point if they're sufficiently ganged up) suffer 6 Hull. Dead Squadron

The F&D Beta still uses the term "engaged" in the Blast description even though that term doesn't really mean anything in space combat. Has this been errata'ed or FAQed?

The F&D Beta still uses the term "engaged" in the Blast description even though that term doesn't really mean anything in space combat. Has this been errata'ed or FAQed?

Not that I know of, you're right depending on your interpretation you could actually rule that the attack also hits the A-Wing . For TIEs I have this picture of a neat, close 4-TIE wing and figure "that's what they built missiles for in the first place" . Like I said, GM's call.

... I forgot Breach, I'm a moron. Forget my statement on the concussion missiles, they would definitely destroy the whole minion group if you got a 2 success 2 advantage roll, if you consider the entire minion group engaged with each other. I stand by the rest of the post though.

All this really does though, to me is show two things I've been saying for a while: Starfighter combat is rocket tag, and GtA is really only useful in very niche situations.

(For those who are not video gamers and don't recognize the imported term, Rocket tag is a situation where the ability to deal damage far outweighs the ability to absorb it, to the point that the only true defense is not getting hit at all. And since FFG Star Wars isn't a system where you can make yourself reliably unhittable...)

I'd agree on that. Gain The Advantage really, really matters when both attacker and defender are pulling Evasive Manouvres because (A) that's two difficulty upgrades on the attack roll and (B) a pilot check where fighters with good handling can generate advantage.

I'd trade only attacking every other round for my attacks being against two difficulty dice and yours being against two challenge dice and a setback die.

As soon as one side starts sticking to aim/attack, I think Gain The Advantage loses its shine.

It's also a deal with defenses. 3 or 4 Defenses in a single zone can change a lot. Toss in a few more setback for terrain and Advantage/Threat effects and you'll need some good rolls to hit more then 1/3 of the time, and good luck to do so with more then 1 or 2 success.

• Blast does add the successes to the Blast Damage, so Damage is 8,6,6,6 etc once you activate Blast. Breach 4 (which is passive) then takes care of armor and all Ties within Engaged (I agree it's the GM's call at that point if they're sufficiently ganged up) suffer 6 Hull. Dead Squadron

The F&D Beta still uses the term "engaged" in the Blast description even though that term doesn't really mean anything in space combat. Has this been errata'ed or FAQed?

Everything I've seen has engaged as right. The purpose isn't to allow a missile to use it's blast to wipe out a group of vehicles in combat, it's to make it a better option for attacking certain ground targets compared to the cannons.

Vehicles moving in combat will rarely be engaged with each other. Dismounted troopers, or vehicles parked in a motorpool will be.

All this really does though, to me is show two things I've been saying for a while: Starfighter combat is rocket tag, and GtA is really only useful in very niche situations.

(For those who are not video gamers and don't recognize the imported term, Rocket tag is a situation where the ability to deal damage far outweighs the ability to absorb it, to the point that the only true defense is not getting hit at all. And since FFG Star Wars isn't a system where you can make yourself reliably unhittable...)

I understand and respect your stance. That being said, I came in thinking the system was pretty broken, and after fiddling some with it have gained a certain reverence for it; it's surprisingly solid.

(By the way, besides attacking, what else is there really to do for Actions except try to Gain the Advantage? )

I believe that the systems includes enough "Handles" (things the GM and players can influence) for it not to be as "irrelevant" as you believe it to be: Defense, piloting Rolls, manoeuvers, environments, co-piloting and passenger actions (slicing!), types of ship, etc. After all, this is not X-Wing minis... you're supposed to have a story unfolding on a dogfight background, not the reverse.

No, for me the only "real" pain point (this could mandate its own thread I recon) is the lack of importance of Fire Arcs (and by extension, turrets). I do believe there could be some of this included in some "House Rules" around GtA that could make it a bit more interesting (Maybe choosing both the attacked arc AND the arc you're attacking from?). That would probably be the extent of my modifications to the system.

Update: "For Silhouette 1-4 ships, the pilot with the advantage also chooses in which Fire Arc he is relative to the attacker". Problem solved for me, including some of the current criticism for GtA.

I dunno, that second sentence sounds pretty final.

Here is the passage on Attributes and the talent relating to Attributes:

Attributes cap at 6, on page 92 "During the course of play, no characteristic can be increased higher than 6."

On page 134, Dedication "Each rank permanently increases a single characteristic of the player's choice by one point. This cannot bring a characteristic above six."

Here is the passage on Defense and the talent related to Defense:

Defense caps at 4, on Page 228, "The maximum amount of defense a ship or vehicle can have in any of its defense zones is four points, regardless of its size.”

On page 134, Defensive Driving "Any vehicle the character pilots has its defense rating on all zones increased by one per rank of Defensive Driving."

The is no text in Defensive Driving to suggest that it is limited to the cap set on page 228.

Defense caps at 4, on Page 228, "The maximum amount of defense a ship or vehicle can have in any of its defense zones is four points, regardless of its size.”

On page 134, Defensive Driving "Any vehicle the character pilots has its defense rating on all zones increased by one per rank of Defensive Driving.".

It seems to me that a couple of ships fighting each other in a featureless void is analogous to two characters standing in an empty room shooting at each other. That too would be a relatively uninteresting scenario.

I think LexMajor has the right of it - put these rules in the context of a story with more going on, environments, etc. and it can be great. And yes of course you can have environments in Space - it should be the default in fact! People don't fly out into the middle of nowhere to have a fight. You'll be leaving / heading towards a planet, a space station, an asteroid mining colony, in the middle of a naval battle, trying to fire a torpedo down an exhaust port - something at least. Fighters are fast, have good handling - this makes them interesting for all sorts of occasions.

Just a different perspective anyway. Take it or leave it.

That still doesn't stop a single lucky shot from taking a starfighter out.

Even an X-Wing is taken down by a 1 success 2 advantage shot (to activate Linked) from a TIE Fighter, which is not that rare of an occurrence. Sure, you can add setback from circumstances, but that still doesn't change the game from rocket tag.

(An X-Wing performing evasive maneuvers with both shields angled toward the enemy facing a 4 Minion TIE Fighter Group would be disabled about 1 out of every 6 shots, and severely damaged on one out of ever 2)

That still doesn't stop a single lucky shot from taking a starfighter out.Even an X-Wing is taken down by a 1 success 2 advantage shot (to activate Linked) from a TIE Fighter, which is not that rare of an occurrence. Sure, you can add setback from circumstances, but that still doesn't change the game from rocket tag.(An X-Wing performing evasive maneuvers with both shields angled toward the enemy facing a 4 Minion TIE Fighter Group would be disabled about 1 out of every 6 shots, and severely damaged on one out of ever 2)

Well a 4 minion group is pretty nasty in any situation...

That still doesn't stop a single lucky shot from taking a starfighter out.

Seems pretty faithful to the source material to me, for small starfighters anyway (Biggs, Jek, thousands of anonymous TIE pilots; we'll miss you forever)

Even an X-Wing is taken down by a 1 success 2 advantage shot (to activate Linked) from a TIE Fighter, which is not that rare of an occurrence. Sure, you can add setback from circumstances, but that still doesn't change the game from rocket tag.

(An X-Wing performing evasive maneuvers with both shields angled toward the enemy facing a 4 Minion TIE Fighter Group would be disabled about 1 out of every 6 shots, and severely damaged on one out of ever 2)

That would be 2 successes and 2 advantages (X-Wings have Armor 3, so 6+1 success-3 armor=4, Linked will double that to 8). If I'm following along, you're talking about a PPP vs CDSS roll, and I'd have to get into calculations, but it probably helps the odds a lot.

That still doesn't stop a single lucky shot from taking a starfighter out.

Seems pretty faithful to the source material to me, for small starfighters anyway (Biggs, Jek, thousands of anonymous TIE pilots; we'll miss you forever)

Except we aren't playing Biggs, Jek, etc. We are playing Lukes and Hans and Corrans and Wedges. I don't mind a bit of plot armor, but when the only thing keeping you alive is a rule that for some reason your ship doesn't blow up repeatedly, it gets a bit wonky. Plus, it doesn't make the player any more effective, it just stops them from dying.

I seriously think something more like the Reflect/Parry rules work better. Each time you take a hit, you can suffer 7-Pilot Skill Stress to lower the damage by 2+Handling. Or something like that. And the cool thing about that rule? Everyone can use it. Players just get more use out of it because Minions take stress as wounds. And it makes dueling an enemy Ace way cooler.

Also, a 4 minion group is what we see in Onslaught at Arda I, so the idea that that firing on someone is a "tough situation" rather than what is expected in the system seems a bit suspect.

(On the math, you are correct, I made an error in my math, I don't know why I got the armor wrong)

Also, a 4 minion group is what we see in Onslaught at Arda I, so the idea that that firing on someone is a "tough situation" rather than what is expected in the system seems a bit suspect.

Being nasty doesn't mean it can't happen, just that its nasty.

Tossing a 4 fighter minion group at a player in an a-wing is entirely doable, but also dangerous if the players aren't equipped to handle it. Probably why the players have the option to board the transport and skip it entirely....

Even by minions, outnumbering the players more than 3-1 seems a little harsh.

And yes, good call on defence - if a fighter's got only 1 defence total (I think interceptors?), you can bypass it, or if they're considering throwing all deflectors forwards, the ability to gain the advantage keeps them honest.

I just remembered that in SAGA there was a list of maneuvres for various effects. I have to look the names up but one for example allowed you to redirect one incoming attack against another enemy in the same dogfight.

Would such a maneuvre be a good idea and if what should the requirements be to pull it off?

Even by minions, outnumbering the players more than 3-1 seems a little harsh.

And yes, good call on defence - if a fighter's got only 1 defence total (I think interceptors?), you can bypass it, or if they're considering throwing all deflectors forwards, the ability to gain the advantage keeps them honest.

But it doesn't take outnumbering them 3-1. If you have 4 players, several NPC ships, vs 2 minion groups of 4 and an enemy ace you aren't even outnumbering the player. But those minion groups have to fire at SOMEONE. Oh, and so does that enemy Ace who is Agi 4 Gunery 2. (Once again pulling from Arda I).

And of course, there are NPC allied ships up in the air in Arda I to, but it gets tiring to constantly have to target people other than the PCs just because they are PCs. I don't see the thrill of victory when they are never in actual trouble. Oh yeah, I shot down that Enemy Ace, that was awesome. Yeah, I picked him off while he was focused on a bunch of schlubs.

The problem is that there is very little near death in starfighter combat. There is looking cool, and dead.

And seriously the "and that is why you can just straight board the freighter", if your suggestion to starfighter combat is "just avoid it" there might be a problem.

And seriously the "and that is why you can just straight board the freighter", if your suggestion to starfighter combat is "just avoid it" there might be a problem.

Yeah, that problem is not having players specced as combat pilots. Not an impossible occurance.

Encounter design is just as critical as die rolls. That's why the "oh they do it it Arda" line doesn't hold water, because you ignored the design and just pulled the enemies.

Encounter and adventure design is hard, especially module design as you have NO idea what the players even look like. Take to the skies is actually a pretty well designed encounter. It accounts for the possibility of the players not being in a condition to do it, it accounts for the players to not be skilled enough to win a stand up fight, provides the resources for a mixed party to run it, it gives suggested tactics and solutions, provides NPC backup if needed, and can be scaled to adapt to previous action and player power.

Thats why I consider your results valid, but not definitive, because you essentially ran a basic lab test. For best result you need to run several operational tests and then compare results with your lab tests.

I don't usually house rule too much, but when I do i'm more of a "measure twice, cut once" type of guy: The simplest change to the rule system I can make that solves the largest amount of problems is generally the one I go for. So here is something for the space battle system I have devised, this seems as good a place as any to post. Feedback welcome.

Precision to Gain Advantage
When you have advantage over an opponent, you choose which Arc you attack. This firing Arc is also where you are relative to that opponents, and he can only fire at you with weapons that cover that Arc. You stay in that Arc until your next action, where you can decide (if you still have advantage) to switch to a different Arc.

Examples, please!

• An X-Wing gains advantage over TIE fighters, and targets their Aft arc. This means that until the TIEs cancel out the advantage, they cannot fire at the X-Wing. I suggest Evasive Manoeuvers and to try and regain the Advantage.
• An Y-Wing that has gained the advantage over a Lambda Shuttle and chose the Aft arc still will get shot at with the (weaker) aft-facing blaster cannons. But when the Lambda eventually gains advantage, she is also at risk from the Y-Wing's Ion Turret!
• If neither has the advantage, defender still chooses which arc is targeted, as usual. Makes the "capital ship" rule a bit clearer also.

Funnily enough, while it's certainly not written as such in the rulebook, it's not specifically "ruled out" either. "Reading between the lines", you kind of get the feeling that this is something the developers fiddled with without actually going through with it, the "bread crumbs" are all over: fire arcs, choosing arcs for gain the advantage, etc. I could almost see this get FAQ'd.

Further thoughts

• It makes Gain Advantage, the main piloting action, a more useful and important.
• It increases the survivability of the ship, as you can effectively deny some shots to an opponent (or as Monty Python would say it "How not to be shot").
• It makes fire arcs matter, and turret weapons important. Perusing the books, you'll see that most "low handling" ships have turret weapons or at least weapons to cover all Arcs. Corvettes and Destroyers have them in spades; no "blind siding" a Star Destroyer.
  • Notable exception I could find is the Wayfarer transport... as Silhouette 5 you can't GtA at all... I'd look up those turret weapons if I were you
• Remember ships with Silhouette 1-4 still only have 2 arcs: Forward and Aft. No "flanking" a YT-1300.
• In a "multiple ship" battle, I would probably try to Gain the Advantage over the most dangerous ship.

Issues? Probably

• This means that if an opponent keeps the advantage and I only have a Forward Arc weapon, I can never fire at him?
  • Yes, it does. That being said, cancelling the advantage is not an impossibly difficult action to do (at least at first), even at different speed.
  • You can still Gain advantage or target other opponents.
  • You can probably still get those Aft-facing or Turret weapons installed (costs are ill-defined though).
• But if the opponent gains multiple times the advantage, it becomes very difficult to cancel it!
  • Call it "I have you now": the Ace in front of you has you so owned that you'd better just bail out.
• What if my opponent piled up 4 Defense dice on his Aft arc?
  • Switch to Forward arc when your turn comes. Of course, you'll be in his firing arc too. Risk vs reward...
• What happens with "Stay on Target"?
  • Nothing, really. You can still perform this action, but can't actually fire at the target. It still makes sense that you have to have a target first to "stay on it".

Outstanding issues

• Can you maintain Advantage over multiple ships?
  • I'd say yes, but at some point it becomes a bit of a stretch in believability ("You're running circles around the Star Destroyer, 4 TIE groups AND a Shuttle?"). Could be "no" without much damage I think; there are only so many actions you take during a dogfight.

And seriously the "and that is why you can just straight board the freighter", if your suggestion to starfighter combat is "just avoid it" there might be a problem.

Yeah, that problem is not having players specced as combat pilots. Not an impossible occurance.

Tell me, how does being specced as a combat pilot, without being WAY up in the trees to grab stuff like Brilliant Evasion (which is seriously the only reliable way to not die in Starfighter combat) keep you from getting blown up by a slightly lucky shot.

Arda I is designed to be a pretty early adventure. Even possibly starting with it. Having 2 pilot, 2 gunnery, 4 agi, Full Throttle, two ranks in Skilled Jockey, and Dead to Rights doesn't make my character any harder to hit. And that is a pretty solid combat pilot character.

There are three defensive talents in the pilot tree, two in the fourth row, and one in the fifth. And one of them doesn't matter in dogfighting unless you are in an A-Wing (Tricky Target).

So what is the Arda I design meant for? What kind of pilots are supposed to fly that combat? Its also one of the few Starfighter combats that are shown in a module, so the idea that it is not what is expected seems bizarre.

Also @LexMajor, one of the house rules I had proposed before was somewhat similar, but instead required paying two advantage for it on the GtA roll. Since Blue dice are really good at generating Adv, I felt it gave an extra little boost to high handling.