Hello fellow GMs, I have a question regarding the latest book for Age of Rebellion "Stay on Target" and the Edge of the Empire book "Suns of Fortune".

In both these books, they reveal a starship attachment and item (respectively) that can be used to essentially do the same thing, remote activate a ship and get it started and prepped, or even fly it remotely.

My question is thus...what is the difference between the two? Both seem to use the same terminology and concept, the difference being one is an item and the other is an attachment. How should I run this in my personal games? Do you require both items? Does having both give an extra benefit? Is one very different to the other?

Going from the fluff, both are basically required. You can have the remote, but it's only going to work if your ship is slave-rigged. Most ships have at least a basic slave-rig, so that technicians can cycle the engines and activate the repulsor lifts to move it around the bay. Full slave rigs that allow the ship to be remote flown are available, if not common. Lando had one that brought Lady Luck to him for example.

So in one case, you're buying the slave-rig and it comes with a remote. In the other, you're buying a remote to work with an existing or basic slave-rig.

As far as I can decipher you need...

To remotely turn on the vehicle:

The DVI beck and call

OR

The Slave circuit (assuming a basic key-fob bnc is included)

To allow the vehicle to auto-fly/drive to you:

Modded Slave Circuit (with an ability/skill of 1G, so difficult terrain is probably not a good idea)

To allow you to remotely start and pilot the vehicle you need:

Modded Slave Circuit AND the DVI, with the difficulty starting at Daunting. But this allows you to otherwise pilot the craft as if you were actually there...

So one is a remote startup and vehicle interface, the other is a computerized control system that can mate with that interface to achive greater effects.

...by your powers combined....

BLUF: the DVI is way cheaper, doesn't cost a hard point, and isn't that rare, so buy that one.

----------------------

The cheap DVI in SoF allows you to start-up the ship at a short-ish range, for 300cr/rarity 4.

The expensive DVI in SoF allows you to start up at longer ranges and Pilot the ship fully, at 4D difficulty, for 1,500cr/rarity 7.

The base Slave Circuit in SOT allows you to duplicate the cheap DVI, as well as lock-down the ship, for 10,000cr/rarity 2. That sounds waaaay overpriced, but let's consider that it allows for the following mods:

- the Flight mod for the Slave Circuit allows you to call the ship directly to you, using your own pilot skill, for an extra 1,000cr. This means 11,000cr/R2 vs 1500cr/R7 to fly your ship to you. Again, Slave Circuit sounds like a rip-off, though the difficulty is generally less for the Slave Circuit (whatever the difficulty would normally be, vs Daunting with the DVI).

- the Weapons mod for the Slave Circuit allows the ship to autonomously use your Gunnery skill to shoot at enemies, for an extra 1,000cr (2,000cr you already took the other mod).

So with both mods you have something beyond the DVI, for 13,000cr, but only rarity 2. You can fly the ship to yourself, and it shoots without you taking an action (assuming that's what 'autonomous' is supposed to mean here).

On the other hand, the price difference is huge (11,500cr) and rarity is of limited importance if you have a decent Scoundrel or Entrepreneur in your group.

Also, the DVI doesn't cost hardpoints, while the Slave Circuit costs 1.

So really, the Slave Circuit is only good for those who want an uber-ship and have waaaay too much money on their hands.