Hey I haven't yet hosted or played EotE I hope to just create some large master plan over a year or so, so i will have no problems improvising.

I always worry with every game where you 'level up' eventually characters just become impossibly good compared to other characters in the game.

I think character progression is more important for giving them identity and i think they would have more fun winning through strategy than just overpowering enemies with their superior luck.

Is there any good strategies to keep characters from becoming too strong?
I guess i havent played so would a newly created character have a decent chance against one that had all of its careers talents learned?

My main advice would be to give out XP slowly at first. 5 XP is enough for a starting character to buy a Talent. It's easier to increase the ponts/session than to cut it back and it will give the GM time to get used to the game and the PCs. Once you get to 100 XP or so, you'll have a better handle on things.

Maybe emphasize gear over xp?

Slow the amount of experience points they get by giving them more opportunities to gain loot?

Ask them what they're interested in, give them the opportunity to investigate what gear, vehicles and even business opportunities they'd like to follow up... maybe even develop the roleplaying side so they can develop contacts, work in npcs they relate to.

Back in d6 I seem to have spent most of my experience points just surviving the adventure, only really run Edge as a gm I've not had the opportunity to play and this doesn't look like changing any time soon.

Hopefully the above helps!

Slow xp is good advice, although honestly even once you become 'powerful' in this game you still tend to be squishy. Death isn't the concern which really requires a solidly buffed crit roll, but being incapacitated is easy. In that regard, while players will become vastly more lethal, they always can be injured.

One thing I think a lot of the "My party is too tough!" posts highlight is that if all your players face is combat, the only thing they'll spend XP on is combat.

If you give them a variety of challenges from the start, they should see the benefit of investing XP in other skills and talents besides the combat ones.

In my group's latest session there was no combat at all, but plenty of challenges. They crash landed on an alien planet in a harsh environment, met some unfamiliar aliens and made friends with them, learned some of their history and lore which gave the PCs the clues they needed to know where to go next, and they trekked for a couple of weeks across this hostile environment, scavenging for food and water as they went.

So there were Fear checks using Discipline, Mechanics checks, Resilience checks, Survival checks, Xenology and Lore checks, Charm, Medicine, Vigilance...

At the end my wife decided to spend some XP on Discipline because even though she passed her Fear check, she was only rolling 2 green dice and wanted better odds. Exposing them to things like Fear checks or Resilience checks can help show them that it can be useful to invest in those skills!

Yeah i hope to make the first game something action packed and interesting to pull them into it, but then make a bunch of sessions going over different mechanics and styles of play to show them (and me) what can happen.

Really i am hoping they will think of Contacts and Npcs are the most interesting part of the game as they would effect what kind of adventures they might go on and IF they died it would effect how their next created character is introduced into the group.

I'm definitely not concerned about my game being only combat ive only hosted one game in d20 and they never came across the combat area i planned out. I guess ill try make it feel like DayZ where if you die its not that bad but you still really don't want to die, and hopefully both NPCs and PCs will regard survival in high priority.

I really love giving them a chance to play sandbox. alot more planning and improvising for me but means i dont know what the story will end up being.

I don't know how people play pure combat it can get dull quick on its own.

And thanks for all the advice all pretty good tips. cool hearing peoples ideas and opinions

One thing I think a lot of the "My party is too tough!" posts highlight is that if all your players face is combat, the only thing they'll spend XP on is combat.

If you give them a variety of challenges from the start, they should see the benefit of investing XP in other skills and talents besides the combat ones.

In my group's latest session there was no combat at all, but plenty of challenges. They crash landed on an alien planet in a harsh environment, met some unfamiliar aliens and made friends with them, learned some of their history and lore which gave the PCs the clues they needed to know where to go next, and they trekked for a couple of weeks across this hostile environment, scavenging for food and water as they went.

So there were Fear checks using Discipline, Mechanics checks, Resilience checks, Survival checks, Xenology and Lore checks, Charm, Medicine, Vigilance...

At the end my wife decided to spend some XP on Discipline because even though she passed her Fear check, she was only rolling 2 green dice and wanted better odds. Exposing them to things like Fear checks or Resilience checks can help show them that it can be useful to invest in those skills!

This is really important. They'll take what they think they need. If they only see combat, they'll only prepare for combat. Eventually they'll be so prepared for combat they'd rather see more combat than something else they're unprepared for.

My main group has been playing for six months or so, and the main players are around 350 XP. We've had combat...five times I think, counting space combat, in all that time. Other than a Trandoshan with Brawn 4, none of them are rolling more than P AA on any combat check (and most haven't even reached that), but all but two have utility skills at PP A or better. Several don't even have weapons (beyond combat knives or brass knuckles, at least).

My advice is a little different. I say give out the first 50 or so EXP relatively quickly over a few sessions then start slowing it down as the PCs get more accomplished. Then before a major break, completing a set of adventures, give a small bump. I think this better represents actual growth.

Another way is to slow Combat Monsters and Min-Maxing is after the initial build and say the first 50 or so EXP introduce a spending rule that a portion of the EXP earned must be spent on non Combat skills etc. (or if they are already non-combat specced then they must spend that portion on combat). If the Player's know this right off the bat there shouldn't be any griping and you will get more well rounded PCs.