Is Speed 6 the fastest possible?

By Rationalinsanity, in Star Wars: Edge of the Empire RPG

So far, all ships listed don't have a speed higher than 6. Of course certain talents, most notably Full Throttle, allow pilots to push beyond their ship's listed top speed. As it is written, there is nothing stopping someone with this talent from taking an A-Wing or a TIE Interceptor for example to beyond 6, however there are no mechanical rules regarding maneuvers and range bands etc, beyond chases and narrative effects.

So it is possible to go over speed 6? Or is that supposed to be a ceiling>

Well, there is ludicrous speed and going to plaid......

True enough, and woe to anyone stupid enough to go that fast near obstacles. All those Challenge dice...

While there are no rules for speed beyond 6 that I can find, I would allow pilots to achieve speed 7 through talents to allow those that invest in full throttle and full throttle (imp) to not have wasted talents just because they already have a fast ship.

That was my thought on the matter, but I wanted to make sure. Having a quick ship shouldn't negate any talents that make it faster. I'm not sure about the implications of higher speeds though when it comes to range bands.

With the two +1 speed talents available to the Rigger and the High Output Ion Turbine attachment, you can get an A-Wing to speed 9. Throw in the Full Throttle talent and you can get up to speed 11.

Edited by zathras23

With the two +1 speed talents available to the Rigger and the High Output Ion Turbine attachment, you can get an A-Wing to speed 9. Throw in the Full Throttle talent and you can get up to speed 11.

Yeah, but you better be one heck of an ace at the stick if you want to avoid going splat whenever you're racing through an asteroid field, since you're looking an insane difficulty pool for any Piloting (Space) checks to avoid said obstacles.

I don't think that the Rigger has any Speed-increasing talents. The Pilot does.

I don't think that the Rigger has any Speed-increasing talents. The Pilot does.

Correct. The Rigger's Tuned Maneuvering Thrusters talent affects handling and can be purchased twice. Full throttle (Supreme) could take it to an increase of 2, but it is not ranked and cannot be gained again from another specialization. So the max with an A-wing with High Output Ion Turbines and Supreme Full Throttle is 9 for a number of rounds equal to Cunning...still very fast.

Astromech droids have a maneuver that can add +1 Speed too, but only for silhouette < 4.

So it is possible to go over speed 6? Or is that supposed to be a ceiling>

We know the limit is c, the speed of light. Technically you could travel at the speed of light, but this will cost an infinity amount of energy.

6, or 9 seems a good caps for me. :P

I see no reason to impose a hard cap on speed. Just because the highest listed speed is 6 (so far) doesn't mean that nothing can move faster. Especially if you start adding various talents into the mix, like Full Throttle. I think the Piloting difficulty at speeds 6 and up pretty much regulate things automatically; once you start rolling against 5 Challenge dice plus setback dice you start having long, deep thoughts about your own mortality.

Edited by Krieger22

So it is possible to go over speed 6? Or is that supposed to be a ceiling>

We know the limit is c, the speed of light. Technically you could travel at the speed of light, but this will cost an infinity amount of energy.

6, or 9 seems a good caps for me. :P

Actually, the Star Wars universe would seem to disagree with you. We know they can go faster than that in "Hyperspace" and we don't know the principles of that or what provides motive force for ships in the setting. It's quite possible for all we know that ships could "skim" hyperspace or deploy whatever other technology it uses to go faster than light. The setting has already declared that there are ways around the limit.

And actually, as all speeds are relative it's quite possible that two fighters that are moving "fast" relative to each other are actually moving quite slowly relative to a third ship passing by. I don't mean this as an irrelevant aside - it means that the speeds in Star Wars aren't about absolute velocities but about acceleration and manoeuvrability. It literally does not make sense to say - even in an abstract way - that Speed 3 = 200km/s or whatever; because two ships that were both going "Speed 3" might actually be going different speeds to the same observer. You have to treat speed of ships in EotE as something else.

Edited by knasserII

Astromech droids have a maneuver that can add +1 Speed too, but only for silhouette < 4.

Is this a new Stay on Target rule?

yes, it is

The main thing I see about this is at what point does it get ridiculous. Also at what point will you be going so fast (sub light) that the materials on your ship are stripped off by the shear force of it.

I know from being on this forum people like to push every limit so they can min-max until a GM's eyes bleed but there has to be a point a limit exists. I don't remember in any Star Wars cartoon/movie/fantasy where pilots flew ships so fast they looked like streaks of light. I figured the point of those talents/abilities/upgrades are to get you to max rather than to raise the max to crazy levels.

This is my view at least.

Also there is a point there is no advantage to extra speed. There are not rules for outrunning a missile coming at your ship.

Gain the Advantage maxes out at "2+ slower speed" for difficulty. Based on that you could be going speed 14 versus a speed 5 and while it would be not able to gain the advantage without a lot of luck, it would still hit you easily. So if you want to buy the fastest ship in the universe, go ahead but there is zero mechanical value above speed 6.

Actually, the Star Wars universe would seem to disagree with you. We know they can go faster than that in "Hyperspace" and we don't know the principles of that or what provides motive force for ships in the setting. It's quite possible for all we know that ships could "skim" hyperspace or deploy whatever other technology it uses to go faster than light. The setting has already declared that there are ways around the limit.

My bad! For a certain reason I assumed this topic was about star ship speed in real space. ;)

The main thing I see about this is at what point does it get ridiculous. Also at what point will you be going so fast (sub light) that the materials on your ship are stripped off by the shear force of it.

I know from being on this forum people like to push every limit so they can min-max until a GM's eyes bleed but there has to be a point a limit exists. I don't remember in any Star Wars cartoon/movie/fantasy where pilots flew ships so fast they looked like streaks of light. I figured the point of those talents/abilities/upgrades are to get you to max rather than to raise the max to crazy levels.

This is my view at least.

Also there is a point there is no advantage to extra speed. There are not rules for outrunning a missile coming at your ship.

Gain the Advantage maxes out at "2+ slower speed" for difficulty. Based on that you could be going speed 14 versus a speed 5 and while it would be not able to gain the advantage without a lot of luck, it would still hit you easily. So if you want to buy the fastest ship in the universe, go ahead but there is zero mechanical value above speed 6.

I don't think we are approaching this from a min/max perspective too much. The question is could a ship go above Speed 6. The discussion of how much (or how ridiculous it would be) is a natural extension of the OP. Imagine that a PC in an A-wing is dogfighting an Imperial ace in a TIE/IN. They both open their engines up to max speed. Now, should the PC be able to use the Full Throttle talents for an edge in the Gain the Advantage maneuver? I think so. Should the GM create situations where obstacles and congested space battles make this a hair-raising, death wish? Heck yeah.

Actually, the Star Wars universe would seem to disagree with you. We know they can go faster than that in "Hyperspace" and we don't know the principles of that or what provides motive force for ships in the setting. It's quite possible for all we know that ships could "skim" hyperspace or deploy whatever other technology it uses to go faster than light. The setting has already declared that there are ways around the limit.

My bad! For a certain reason I assumed this topic was about star ship speed in real space. ;)

Well if it's consolation, then if we were you'd have been right. (Or at least have all the world's leading Physicists agreeing with you which is pretty good company. ;) ).

Ok, so let's say that greater than Speed 6 is possible (because why limit what players can do with their abilities?).

What effects does this have on:

1) Moving between range bands?

2) The Punch It, the pilot only action (because ****! That's a lot of acceleration)?

Edited by GM Hooly

Ok, so let's say that greater than Speed 6 is possible (because why limit what players can do with their abilities?).

What effects does this have on:

1) Moving between range bands?

2) The Punch It, the pilot only action (because ****! That's a lot of acceleration)?

1) You could continue the pattern and say one manuever to move from long to close and vice versa, and two maneuvers to move from extreme to close and vice versa....but given the description of extreme range (jockeying for position, still have a chance to escape, etc.), I'd leave it at two maneuvers to move from long to close as per speed 6.

2) Punch It? Go ahead and take that A-Wing from 0 to 6 if you want, but with the System Strain threshold of 6, you'll be in trouble.

This is where the real limits of these pilot abilities are, the ships that have the capability to go beyond Speed 6 don't have the System Strain to pull it off. There is balance in the system without imposing a ceiling on speed.

I've been looking at speed six as being the maximum and the Pilot with the better modified ship and Talents wins if both ships are traveling at six, but for everything else, travel time etc. speed six is the max.