I saw alot of talk about this on the forums and wanted to just clarify. If a character chooses the Commodore character class, what kind of ship would he or she most likely command. The default rules state that a group can start with a Lambda class shuttle, but that would be rather lame since it is just between a starfighter and a capital ship.

I would imagine that the most common kind of capital class ship in the rebel alliance would be a Correlian Corvette. Maybe after he proves his chops he might them move to a Nebulon B, and then pilot a cruiser. What would be the most likely command vehicle for a starting commodore and what would command progression look like?

RAW - a Lambda shuttle.

Of course, your GM could always build an idea around being the command crew or PCs of a small corvette in the alliance navy. In that case a Corvette would be the most appropriate. Marauder would also be good choice.

Corvette, Frigate, or even a small group of ships. Something like a squadron or a wing of fighters. Could even apply that to freighters instead of fighters. As Quicksilver posted the command crew is a good starting point, but don't limit that command crew to just a starship.

Both the Republic Assault Cruiser (the combat fitted version of the diplomatic ship from Episode I) and the Gozanti Armed Transport are Silhouette 5 and have crews of 9 and 12 respectively (although the RAC doesn't list any gunners for its five big gun systems, so I think the crew size might be in error). I personally think the Gozanti makes a fine ship for a starting Commodore.

If you need fighter capacity you could add the retrofit hanger bay to the Consular a couple of times, or maybe talk to your GM about changing the salon pod into a hanger pod

If you need fighter capacity you could add the retrofit hanger bay to the Consular a couple of times, or maybe talk to your GM about changing the salon pod into a hanger pod

The retrofitted hangar bay, like all other attachments aside from Upgraded Weapons, can only be taken once by any given vehicle. This is in the Developer Answered Questions thread.

Great. Things like that should only blimited by the space avaiable and the GM and players IMO

You can mod the retrofitted bay to hold more, though.

Happy is correct in that each mod can only be taken once (except for weapons).

However, if you want to, and your GM agrees, there will be no FFG game police breaking down your door if you allow the party to strap on two of the hangar bays.

What would a hangar pod on the consular carry? 2x Sil 3 ships maybe? Maybe only one. But with the retro hangar bay as well that could be a flight of 4 or 5 fighters. Not bad for a pocket carrier.

Not sure but I would say at least 4 sil 3s. A CR-90 Carrier conversion can carry 12 or more Sil 3s in the EU and CR90s are only slightly larger then a Consular.plus the Consular has more cargo capacity according to Wookieepedia

Not sure but I would say at least 4 sil 3s. A CR-90 Carrier conversion can carry 12 or more Sil 3s in the EU and CR90s are only slightly larger then a Consular.plus the Consular has more cargo capacity according to Wookieepedia

The example you give is often considered one of the more absurd ones rather than one of the more reasonable ones. Still, four Sil 3 fighters on a Sil 5 corvette doesn't seem outrageous, and the Imperial version of the Gozanti (seen in Rebels) pulls it off reasonably.

Not sure but I would say at least 4 sil 3s. A CR-90 Carrier conversion can carry 12 or more Sil 3s in the EU and CR90s are only slightly larger then a Consular.plus the Consular has more cargo capacity according to Wookieepedia

The example you give is often considered one of the more absurd ones rather than one of the more reasonable ones. Still, four Sil 3 fighters on a Sil 5 corvette doesn't seem outrageous, and the Imperial version of the Gozanti (seen in Rebels) pulls it off reasonably.

Personally I find the Night Caller with 14 fighters (12 in a hanger and 2 docked externally.) much less absurd then the FarStar which had 12 fighters, a shuttle, a light freighter, 6 speeder bikes, 2 scout vehicles, and 4 light speeder tanks. To each their own though.

I was referring to the FarStar. I think they tried to do too much with too little of a ship.

Yeah Far Star was crazy. Night Caller/Ession Strike Is my preferred CR90 Carrier conversion form by far

Well a couple points about the FarStar:

It carried Five Sil 3 and four Sil 2ish fighters internally. If my math is right that's only 3 Sil over what you can put on a CR90 with 2 fully modded attachments. The transports and remaining 3 X-wings were carried externally on docking clams/tubes. The ground vehicles were essentially carried as cargo under current rules since they could not be deployed while the FarStar was in flight.

A lot of people forget what a total nightmare the FarStar is supposed to be. It's dark, too cold, or hot, too damp, smelly, understocked, overcrowded, with shared bunks, in modern game terms it's got a System Strain Threshold of LOL, is lighter armed then current stock CR90s and nothing works quite right. Not to mention the thing is riddled with boobytraps, trojans, and other virtual middle fingers waiting to pop up.

So Happy is actually right... they tried to do too much with it, and the players are supposed to pay the price for it. Since it's an older source people tend to leave that part out.

I ran the whole of the FarStar missions (DarkStryer I believe) and loved that ship. It really would be a great option for a group to command in the heavily narrative systems of AoR/EotE.

As has been said, keep in mind that 4 of those onboard craft were the VERY small Defender Starfighters that were designed with space saving in mind. And as has already been said, the vehicles were not deployable but carried onboard. I feel the FarStar works well within the limits of the game, and actually works better than the ones from the X-wing books.

That being said, I always though that the CR90 with more than 4 fighters would destroy the ability for the CR90 to do most of the other functions it was designed to be able to achieve.

Sorry if I'm all over the place, the CR90 and has always been the gem of the Star Wars universe for me.

Citadel cruiser and two y-wings would make a great command.

IMO a Citadel isn't large enough in either hull size or crew size to rate a dedicated CO but too each their own. Personally I feel that nothing with a smaller hull and crew compliment then a YZ-775 or Gozanti rates a Commodore character as a permanent commander though they might end up on smaller craft for specific missions.

I suppose if you are starting your commodore character as an Ensign fresh from training a Citadel or Patrol Boat would make a good first command. The groups I've been part of usually start our commodore role characters as Lieutenants or Lieutenant Commanders, and if they've ever done any with the PC in that role starting as an Ensign the campaigns occurred either before I joined the group or after I left.

I ran the whole of the FarStar missions (DarkStryer I believe) and loved that ship. It really would be a great option for a group to command in the heavily narrative systems of AoR/EotE.

As has been said, keep in mind that 4 of those onboard craft were the VERY small Defender Starfighters that were designed with space saving in mind. And as has already been said, the vehicles were not deployable but carried onboard. I feel the FarStar works well within the limits of the game, and actually works better than the ones from the X-wing books.

That being said, I always though that the CR90 with more than 4 fighters would destroy the ability for the CR90 to do most of the other functions it was designed to be able to achieve.

Sorry if I'm all over the place, the CR90 and has always been the gem of the Star Wars universe for me.

True. Night Caller and Constrictor didn't have the problems FarStar did but they were different. Rather then being CR90s modified to serve as carriers they were a new CR90 variant, a CR90CV if you will, that was designed and built to serve as a pocket carrier from the ground up

Lords of Nal Hutta gives us the modified Minstrel-class yacht. It's Sil 5, with light turbolasers and medium ion cannons, Armor 6, and carries six fighters and two shuttles. For "only" 1.8M credits, it's still a nice not-so-small vessel for an aspiring Commodore.

I'd only allow them a lambda or other transport of 120k or less. Allow them to get bigger commands with duty rewards. Something you have to recognize about the Commodore is that they are not that far off from being an alternate pilot class, and they can function as such very effectively on a transport, while still easily multi-classing into a ground commander role as well.

I would shy away from giving a commodore a corvette or frigate or anything of that nature that requires crew outside the core party unless that is the focus of the entire campaign. Granted, that can make a VERY awesome campaign, with captain antilles, princess leia, R2, 3P0, and a bodyguard or two all on the Tantive IV. But I wouldn't allow anything that big unless that was something all my players agreed upon and knew they were getting into. You can't have 4 party members wanting to be part of an elite squad of infiltrators, 1 commodore running an MC-80, and 1 wookiee soldier who just wants to get into big ground fights and meet all of those expectations for everyone at the table equally. Those are all pretty different campaigns.

Before I started making blanket statements about what size ship a Commodore should get, I'd make sure I understood what the campaign was going to be first, otherwise that Commodore is going to be up on his ship alone a lot, or feel a lot less than useful when he goes to ground with the team.

Lords of Nal Hutta gives us the modified Minstrel-class yacht. It's Sil 5, with light turbolasers and medium ion cannons, Armor 6, and carries six fighters and two shuttles. For "only" 1.8M credits, it's still a nice not-so-small vessel for an aspiring Commodore.

Yeah. If the crew is the same size as the version in the old instant adventures book its crew is a little bigger then that of a Consular or Gozanti but not so much that I feel a Lieutenant commanding it would be unrealistic. Perfect for a starting commodore whose party has some fighter pilots in it IMO.

The yacht has a crew of 37. The old source said 35+2 gunners, but two gunners is way too few for this ship (12 would be better).

I'd only allow them a lambda or other transport of 120k or less. Allow them to get bigger commands with duty rewards. Something you have to recognize about the Commodore is that they are not that far off from being an alternate pilot class, and they can function as such very effectively on a transport, while still easily multi-classing into a ground commander role as well.

I would shy away from giving a commodore a corvette or frigate or anything of that nature that requires crew outside the core party unless that is the focus of the entire campaign. Granted, that can make a VERY awesome campaign, with captain antilles, princess leia, R2, 3P0, and a bodyguard or two all on the Tantive IV. But I wouldn't allow anything that big unless that was something all my players agreed upon and knew they were getting into. You can't have 4 party members wanting to be part of an elite squad of infiltrators, 1 commodore running an MC-80, and 1 wookiee soldier who just wants to get into big ground fights and meet all of those expectations for everyone at the table equally. Those are all pretty different campaigns.

Before I started making blanket statements about what size ship a Commodore should get, I'd make sure I understood what the campaign was going to be first, otherwise that Commodore is going to be up on his ship alone a lot, or feel a lot less than useful when he goes to ground with the team.

The idea of seeing what everybody wants is great, but the idea that there isn't a capital ship option is a poor one. They give an option for a handful of fighters, an option for a shuttle, and an option for a base. These are fine for many campaign types, but there's no reason that they couldn't have given an option for a larger ship too.

Well, the Core Book seems to state it pretty clearly in the Commodore write-up on page 71: Each Commodore given one to command (starship) has EARNED tremendous respect and trust.

This signifies that you don't start out with a command, you earn one over time. It goes on to suggest that Commodores should start out as department heads on a ship (given the talents, either in fire control, damage control, or navigation).

Anyone showing a capacity for the role finds themselves groomed for EVENTUAL command.

The class is not intended to begin with its own command, unless that command is a Lambda-Class or equivalent 120,000 credit ship or shuttle. Some GMs might add some negative features/templates, or allow the taking on of obligation from Edge, to get a used, fixer-upper of a slightly larger/more powerful model ship.

Like I said, if you wanted to design a campaign around the concept of one capital ship, which I think would be awesome, that is great, but you'd want other party members designing characters that function well in that setting.

I think it would be difficult to run a campaign where you have a Commodore character with, let's say a Neboulon B Frigate, and five other PCs each taking a random specialization from the other 5 careers, with more typical AOR character concepts. Now, every adventure you send them on, you have to find a way to deal with a "nuke from orbit" strategy (which, while there are certainly ways to do this, can become as repetitive as villians fighting superman with kryptonite), and in addition, you have a large NPC crew that the Commodore might want to mobilize as infantry, which is another element you have to constantly find a way around.

An entire ship like that is just a whole lot of power that is going to make the rest of the party feel somewhat useless, unless they have specifically designed their character to function as a part of that, both in terms of their character story concept and skill/talent selections. The other option is to constantly find ways to negate or call away the ship so that it isn't able to be used, so the other 5 players can get their moments to shine. Of course, while they are doing this, the Commodore might feel entirely useless.

In my opinion, a capital ship under direct PC control, particularly at start-up, is going to be a game breaker unless all of the players and the GM are building their characters and the campaign around that concept. However, the PCs all serving on a ship controlled by an NPC, where the Commodore is just one of the major officers (in charge of damage control, navigation, fire control, or some other department where his leadership skills can function effectively) you can be just fine, as the NPC ship captain can just become a source of mission generation.

I can see Commodore a couple of ways. Admiral Ackbar style or Captain Kirk/Picard style. Just because Commodore is a sort of rank, doesn't mean it's as it says. Malcom Reynolds could be considered a Commodore mechanically, people just call him Captain. As KRKappel said, figure out what everyone wants out of the campaign then you can decide. In the books, Naval rank is listed as Admiral, Captain, Commander, Lieutenant and Ensign. Starfighter Command is General, Colonel (Wing Commander), Commander, Captain, Lieutenant. Commodore isn't listed as a rank in either branch of Alliance military. Worf in Star Trek First Contact was the captain (small "c") of the Defiant, he wasn't a Captain by rank. That spec of Worf could be a Commodore.

Think of a Wayfarer

Pilot, Co-Pilot, engineer, cargo master, 6 crew

Stick a Commodore in there and poof, he's the captain.