I'm currently running an AoR campaign with 4 PCs and an occasional fifth. They opted for a ship instead of a base and started with the stock Lambda shuttle from the core book. Five or six sessions in, and a few space battles, have proved that the shuttle is not a good fit for the group.

We're just about to start the Onslaught at Arda I campaign and I thought that the end of Act I would make for an organic way to switch out their ship. Doubly so since going back to the main hanger, and firefight, seems kinda foolish. My problem is that there are roughly eleventy five billion ships in the game, many of which are nearly identical except minor stat changes. My fallback is the trusty YT-2400, but I was hoping that I could lean on your collective knowledge to come up with a something more exciting than that.

The group acts mostly as a covert ops group, so they don't need much cargo space. Between crew and passenger space, it needs to be able to transport roughly 10 people, just in case they have extra help on a mission. Space combat is super fun and one of the PCs is a pilot, so it needs to be able to at least do okay in a fire fight. Another player is eyeing Rigger for his second Specialization, so a decent number of hardpoints for him to play with would be nice too.

Thanks is advance!

2400 is probably what you want. Above average Armor and weapons, good hull, strain, shields.

If you want the pilot to be able to Gain the Advantage you'll need an ion turbine upgrade to get to speed 4.

That is assuming they want a freighter. There's other options if they want more of an assault ship, or a light carrier, or a gunboat, or whatever...

Have you asked them what they want? Not as in make and model, but as in what they want the ship to do for them.

YT-2400 from the core rulebooks is a pretty solid choice, as Ghostofman noted.

Other options are the ZH-25 Questor from the Force and Destiny Beta Rulebook, as it's plenty tough and has a few customization hardpoints to play with. It's only got a single medium laser cannon, so it's fairly under-gunned.

Another option is the YT-2000 from Fly Casual, which again is pretty comparable to the YT-2400, but with additional cargo capacity at the major trade-off of a much lower strain threshold.

But yeah, you may want to ask the PCs what sort of ship they're after. If they want flying firepower that's not blatantly illegal, there's the Citadel-class Light Freighter, which is plenty tough and not lacking in weapons at all. There's also the YKL-37R Nova Courier from Fly Casual that's a respectable ship on those counts as well.

To be different, I think the HWK-290 would be good as a rebel insertion vehicle. It's small, just enough to carry everyone + mission cargo, which makes it easier to land in small clearings or even cram onto landing platforms designed for starfighters.

But if they have to be at a civilian starport, the ship is still civilian enough that the party can pretend they're bounty hunters or express couriers. Plus, with the amount of hardpoints it has, the party can keep asking for upgrades for some time, making it a ship that can get better as they do.

But as Donovan said, find out what they want it to do and work from there.

Problem with the HWK-290 is that it's very small, only allowing for a few people on board (2 crew, 2 passengers, so not much use for groups of more than 4 characters), is pretty fragile (Armor 2, Hull Trauma 18), doesn't have a lot of cargo space, and most troublesome is that it's completely unarmed. It's speed and handling are about on par with a starfighter, which is a plus, but TIEs are faster and pack enough on-board firepower that a HKW-290 is going to be badly damaged if not outright crippled very quickly.

The Firespray-31 has a similar issue, being fairly fragile for a "party transport" and not a lot of passenger space unless the GM handwaves that the prisoner cells were retro-fitted into proper passenger berths. It's got on-board weapons, but those weapons are pretty underwhelming.

On a semi-related topic, I've never really understood why FFG separated Passengers and Cargo. Passengers are a form of Cargo - particularly if your trips are measured in minutes or hours. Counting number of beds/berths makes sense - that would tell you how many people could sleep comfortably and store their gear on board, but passengers is just a throw-away number that suggests it's impossible to put boxes on a seat or a folding chair in a cargo bay.

The idea of the HWK is that it combines the 'party transport' with the 'party starfighter'. The fragility of fighter sized craft is a different issue. However, if you don't have a dedicated pilot, it may not be worthwhile.

Have you checked out this thread:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/145009-best-valued-starship/

Has a lot of good conversation about finding the best value for a party star craft.

My vote would be for either the Krayt Gunships or the Citadel Light Freighter.

The M22-T Krayt Gunship comes with good armor and the best shields you can get stock. It also has a nice mix of weapons (2x H.Lasers, 3x Ion cannons, & missiles) and a fast hyperdrive (Class 1) with 4 hardpoints to play around. The only down side is the cargo room and the number of passengers (caps out at 2 crew + 2 passengers). It is a little bit faster than the Citadel but with a little less hull trauma (fair trade). If you want to hand wave the cargo room for extra passenger room then it should meet everything your group needs.

The Citadel Light Freighter has a nice mix of fire power (4x ion cannons, 2x Med. lasers, & missiles) and the only ship of its size that comes stocked with a medium tractor beam (which is really nice). It only needs 3-4 crew members and can hold 14 extra passengers. Good armor mixed with better than average shields, its only real draw back is the slow hyperdrive (Class 2). But with 4 hardpoints that can be easily remedied.

The HWK's (290 & 1000) are nice ships, and come with A LOT of flexibility. But they are a bit fragile compared to other ships of its class. Plus they are super rare.

First off, thanks for the replies.

Have you checked out this thread:

https://community.fantasyflightgames.com/index.php?/topic/145009-best-valued-starship/

Has a lot of good conversation about finding the best value for a party star craft.

I did check that thread out, but the OP was looking for MUCH larger ships than what my group needs.

As for what the group wants the ship to do, that's pretty much covered in the specifications I listed in the first post. They're primarily a spec ops team, so they need a relatively small ( silhouette 4, 5 at the most) ship for insertions and extractions, that can carry them (max 5 PCs) and any cargo or extra mission personnel, and can survive if/when they're engaged in a fire fight. They're still fairly new to the system, so that's all they really want out of it. Get them to/from and not blow up if they get shot. I know the Engineer character is looking at the Rigger Specialization from Stay on Target, I'm looking for something with a decent amount of customization that he can play with.

I know the YT-2400 (or any of the YTs really) fits this just about perfectly. I'm just looking to see if there are other ships that do as well. Something the players haven't seen over and over.

The HWK's are a pretty good choice, and I can even forgive them for being associated with Kyle Katarn, but I think they'd need a better pilot to survive in them.

I like the Krayt Gunship a lot, but it has almost no cargo and would be a bit crowded when the fifth player makes it. I dig the Citadel light freighter, and it hits every point I listed. Looking at it though, I do wonder how it lands. Can't find a picture of it that doesn't have it docked at a boarding platform.

Does anyone have any other suggestions?

The Nova Courier is a good choice. I also really like the Ghtroc 720 if you don't mind trading some handling for armor and are prepared to spend a bit on upgrading the weapons. I'll again mention the Skywatcher-class Deep Space Scout Ship for something used to transport a large number of people (plus a dozen droids) in a small craft. Lastly, if you have the credits and want a covert ship that can really kick some ass while looking like a humble light freighter, the 4R3 Light Assault Transport is awesome.

The Loronar E-9 Explorer (Enter the Unknown, page 62) is a pretty solid option for something that a strike team could use for insertions, having decent firepower (a pair of medium laser cannons that offer Linked 1), good armor, and a fast hyperdrive right out of the gate. It's also got supplies for six months and Medium range sensors, making it suitable for recon missions as well. It doesn't have a huge cargo capacity, but it seems most veteran GMs don't tend to get all that precise with how much Encumbrance a ship can carry, and instead use the listed value as more of a guideline than anything else, so you can probably figure that the cargo area can carry some additional troops as needed. And with 4 hard points, the PCs have some room to play around with upgrades based upon what they need out of the vessel.

The E-9 and the Skywatcher are very similar. The E-9 has an extra hard point but it loses handling and system strain not to mention a great deal of crew/passenger space to get that hard point.

The Nova Courier is a good choice. I also really like the Ghtroc 720 if you don't mind trading some handling for armor and are prepared to spend a bit on upgrading the weapons. I'll again mention the Skywatcher-class Deep Space Scout Ship for something used to transport a large number of people (plus a dozen droids) in a small craft. Lastly, if you have the credits and want a covert ship that can really kick some ass while looking like a humble light freighter, the 4R3 Light Assault Transport is awesome.

I like the Nova Courier. Respectable stats and well armed too. 4R3 Assault Transport and the Skywatcher are both nice too, but it makes me wish that there was an upgrade for handling. Or I've at least not found one.

As for the cost of various upgrades, this is an AoR campaign, so the PCs won't have to pay for the upgrades so much as earn the right to receive them from the Alliance.