I'm shocked that nobody has mentioned this yet: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5231

The rebel side isn't really my bag - but the signature abilities look pretty sweet: keep your ship flying for 3 rounds after it shouldn't be and dogfight with an enemy where nobody else can interfere.

Also - more races: a Xexto , a Dressellian (woo! Prune face!), and a Chadra-Fan ! Not what I was expecting, but there you go.

Nice. Wasn't one of the pod-racers in E1 a Xexto?

I'm shocked that nobody has mentioned this yet: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5231

Even though I'll buy this, I'm not into the AoR setting much. Nothing to do with FFG's product, but I had enough of this with WEG. Judging from the traffic here compared to other boards, I'd say I'm not alone...

So when is this coming out?

Wasn't it supposed to be 4th quarter 2014, but it's alluding to 'later previews' which assumes next year?

As for Prune Face, nothing sums up the pointless background scenery species like this one:

They usually run a few articles in the 2-3 weeks before the release. And it is on the boat, not sure how long it's been there.

Hopefully we will see it in stores just ahead of Christmas. It's been classed as being on the boat for a little bit, but "on the boat" probably means in transit either by boat or by truck.

I can't wait to see what goodies they have in the vehicle section of Stay on Target.

I'm also hoping for some more vehicle and starship attachments. After reading the description of the Rigger I'm guessing there might be a few.

Hopefully we will see it in stores just ahead of Christmas. It's been classed as being on the boat for a little bit, but "on the boat" probably means in transit either by boat or by truck.

Both. I believe the printer is in China and then the container gets here and has to go to either FFG directly or some middleman distributor for distribution to stores/businesses for us schlubs to get them from.

Don't forget the unpredictability of making it through customs! The article gives some more highlights from my chapter. I can't wait for this one to come out. I especially had a lot of fun working on the species.

Don't forget the unpredictability of making it through customs!

But we don't have the rules on that yet. Maybe with Fly Casual ...

Don't forget the unpredictability of making it through customs!

But we don't have the rules on that yet. Maybe with Fly Casual ...

Now I'm trying to remember if I covered that... Gotta go check my notes

I'm also hoping for some more vehicle and starship attachments. After reading the description of the Rigger I'm guessing there might be a few.

Yeah I would be shocked if they didn't. I'm still hopeful that the T-Wing will appear in this book, though I know its a long shot that it will appear in FFG at all.

Two of my favorite Legends Fighter models, the other being the Novasword, would fit in EOE fine but of those the T-Wing is IMO more likely to appear in an AOR book, while the fourth, the Cutlass-9, will probably appear in a Sullust linked book if there ever is one since Sorosuub doesn't have many EU fighter models, and one of the few they have was in Dangerous Covenants so I doubt it will appear again. My fifth favorite EU fighter model, the I-7 Howlrunner, could appear in either EOE or AOR and IMO its a tossup which it will appear in if either. Maybe if I'm lucky it will appear in Stay on Target.

Without retroconning my third favorite EU fighter model was introduced several years to late to appear in the current FFG games but with as many lesser known ship models that have appeared in the RPG so far I'll hold out hope for the others, and for many of my favorite EU capital ships to appear in FFG until either they do appear or the line ends.

There are only so many ubiquitous fighters and freighters out there, and the core books covers most of them. No, I'll be shocked if we don't see some of the more obscure (or dare I say: original) ships.

My copy is tied to an order with the Nal Hutta book for Edge so I get to wait a bit. My group is on hiatus for now so it kind of works out.

I think the Hot Shot's spec skills, much like many AoR specs, are poorly designed. Gunnery should be a part of that spec. They need to approach the specialization trees as if the character doesn't have the Career. If a farm boy goes into the Hot Shot spec then they should have access to the top four skills that spec would need. Coordination isn't one of those skills. If they had thought in this manner to begin with we wouldn't need the Basic Training spec tree.

I think the Hot Shot's spec skills, much like many AoR specs, are poorly designed. Gunnery should be a part of that spec. They need to approach the specialization trees as if the character doesn't have the Career. If a farm boy goes into the Hot Shot spec then they should have access to the top four skills that spec would need. Coordination isn't one of those skills. If they had thought in this manner to begin with we wouldn't need the Basic Training spec tree.

Why? You can still take ranks in Gunnery. When you come from outside the Career you're not going to be setup as well as someone who focussed on that Career as their starting point.

They need to approach the specialization trees as if the character doesn't have the Career.

Why? Cross-specialization is an option, but a Hotshot functionally is an Ace from the ground up. The hotshot specialization enhances Ace characters in a particular direction. As for a farm boy becoming a hotshot, its not surprising that they'd have to work a bit harder and get things like basic training before getting behind the stick of a fighter. Yes, Luke did it, but given that he may well have been an Explorer/Fringer, he may have had some skills in that direction. However, I don't consider Luke a hotshot.

I think the Hot Shot's spec skills, much like many AoR specs, are poorly designed. Gunnery should be a part of that spec. They need to approach the specialization trees as if the character doesn't have the Career. If a farm boy goes into the Hot Shot spec then they should have access to the top four skills that spec would need. Coordination isn't one of those skills. If they had thought in this manner to begin with we wouldn't need the Basic Training spec tree.

Or maybe they just thought things though a little differently.

The extra cost for a couple ranks in Gunnery is pretty minor, and depending on the craft being piloted, you may even be able to skip Gunnery entirely. Not to even mention how Space Combat encounters in this system are designed to go pretty fast.

On the other hand offering other less obvious skills as careers will discount them, making the players more willing to buy a rank or two and by extension try and use them, and not in the most obvious combat oriented ways.

You're complaining that the Hot Shot has to pay a few extra XP to shoot well. I'm intrigued with the idea of my Hot Shot using coordination to do something like slide past my squadron leader when he's blocking the hallway to the hanger so he can chew me out for not flying the way he thinks I should be... Yeah, whatever Major, when I crash you can say you told me so... which will be never because I'm the best pilot in the entire galaxy. Yes, even better then that smuggler guy with the vest.

Please let there be an E-Wing in there somewhere.

I think the Hot Shot's spec skills, much like many AoR specs, are poorly designed. Gunnery should be a part of that spec. They need to approach the specialization trees as if the character doesn't have the Career. If a farm boy goes into the Hot Shot spec then they should have access to the top four skills that spec would need. Coordination isn't one of those skills. If they had thought in this manner to begin with we wouldn't need the Basic Training spec tree.

Why? You can still take ranks in Gunnery. When you come from outside the Career you're not going to be setup as well as someone who focussed on that Career as their starting point.

Because, getting a specialization shouldn't just be about the Talents you get. It should be about the skills just as much. In a world where I am learning to be an Infiltrator I should be able to learn Stealth. If I am learning to be a starfighter pilot Hot Shot I should be able to learn Gunnery.

I'm already spending extra XP on buying a spec outside of my career. Spending even more points because a skill that I would think should be part of the training is just wrong. Yeah after all that said it's just 5 xp per level but it shouldn't be that way. I'd much rather spend 5xp per level on Coordination. A skill I would not use at all in starfighter combat.

Please let there be an E-Wing in there somewhere.

I'm kind of torn on how I would feel about an E-Wing appearing. On one hand it is my third favorite EU fighter. On the other hand I personally like the T-Wing more then the E despite the E having better stats, and since the T-Wing and E-Wing are IMO meant for similar roles but with the E-Wing being more advanced and thus more powerful I'm not sure if FFG would include both.

I think the Hot Shot's spec skills, much like many AoR specs, are poorly designed. Gunnery should be a part of that spec. They need to approach the specialization trees as if the character doesn't have the Career. If a farm boy goes into the Hot Shot spec then they should have access to the top four skills that spec would need. Coordination isn't one of those skills. If they had thought in this manner to begin with we wouldn't need the Basic Training spec tree.

As much as I agree with you, how do we know they didn't? Perhaps they want the Hot Shot to be good at flying, not so much at shooting.

Please let there be an E-Wing in there somewhere.

I'm kind of torn on how I would feel about an E-Wing appearing. On one hand it is my third favorite EU fighter. On the other hand I personally like the T-Wing more then the E despite the E having better stats, and since the T-Wing and E-Wing are IMO meant for similar roles but with the E-Wing being more advanced and thus more powerful I'm not sure if FFG would include both.

Maybe they did both?

There's room for a lot of starfighters for the AoR product line as well as beasts, so it's not impossible that both ships made the cut and into the book.

As for the E-Wing and its level of power, prior to the AoR core rulebook the TIE Defender was pretty much the poster child for munchkin starfighter designs, being superior to every other starfighter out there in every way that mattered. And yet, FFG created TIE Defender stats that were pretty well balanced against other starfighters; it was fast but not TIE Fighter fast, had a lot of firepower but didn't completely eclipse the B-Wing. So it's quite possible that the E-Wing will be a capable fighter but won't utterly dominate the game.

I think its a tricky business to decide which skills to provide a new specialization with. Yes, you want to make the specialization appealing to those cross-speccing in terms of the skills available, however, you don't want to do it by punishing those who are staying within their career, and limiting their skill options, especially at character creation. If you only have 4-5 career skill options at character creation (because so many of them are doubled up), you kind of homogenize all of the early builds in that career, and almost force cross-speccing to acquire new career skills.

The way it works now allows the fastest access to the broadest array of career skills, and it does it immediately at character creation, allowing for any number of different builds right out of the box.

Please let there be an E-Wing in there somewhere.

I'm kind of torn on how I would feel about an E-Wing appearing. On one hand it is my third favorite EU fighter. On the other hand I personally like the T-Wing more then the E despite the E having better stats, and since the T-Wing and E-Wing are IMO meant for similar roles but with the E-Wing being more advanced and thus more powerful I'm not sure if FFG would include both.

Maybe they did both?

There's room for a lot of starfighters for the AoR product line as well as beasts, so it's not impossible that both ships made the cut and into the book.

As for the E-Wing and its level of power, prior to the AoR core rulebook the TIE Defender was pretty much the poster child for munchkin starfighter designs, being superior to every other starfighter out there in every way that mattered. And yet, FFG created TIE Defender stats that were pretty well balanced against other starfighters; it was fast but not TIE Fighter fast, had a lot of firepower but didn't completely eclipse the B-Wing. So it's quite possible that the E-Wing will be a capable fighter but won't utterly dominate the game.

Yeah the big thing is that both the E-Wing and T-Wing were designed for the same role IMO. High speed Interceptors armed with Torpedoes so they could also function as fast bombers. They could tweak the E-Wing's stats to balance it, cutting the Hull points and shields, the speed or both maybe set the E-Wing up as a sniper fighter since it has the longer ranged heavy lasers.