Hello, Gamer Nation!

I'm starting up a campaign where the characters have been given a ship and asked to go privateering. I'm considering giving them a small Silhouette 5 ship instead of a more typical Sil 4. Are there any hidden dangers to this decision you veteran GMs can fill me in on?

The reason I'm thinking of a Sil 5 ship is that it feels like it will have more longevity. At the campaign start the ship is in bad shape, so one of the goals of the early part of the campaign is getting back into fighting trim. So a banged up small Sil 5 ship seems like it will play like a Sil 4 ship and fighters/freighters will make good opponents.

As the campaign progresses the ship will improve as the PCs improve, which will allow them to take on larger prey. Eventually they can start upgrading the ship to the point where they can probably take on small capital ships live Blockade Runners, Neb-Bs, and smaller imp cruisers/frigates.

From a mechanics standpoint, I understand that Sil 5 ships cant do some of the maneuvers that are available to smaller ships. Is this going to make the pilot role more boring?

Thanks!

In a Sil 5 ship, you basically won't be doing any maneuvers, because they are typically Sil 4 or less. They're larger-sized freighters, they aren't designed to be flown in combat, and so yes, a pilot will be more bored in a Sil 5 ship than they would in a Sil 4.

I don't know that it will make the pilot's role more "boring" that really depends on what you're' going to do with the campaign and how you define boring. As you already noted they won't be doing all the fancy smancy maneuvers, so it won't be like it's a dogfighter. It will need a good pilot. Yeah most of the time that's not a huge deal, but when you hit your first asteroid field and see that minimum ☻♦♦♦♦ difficulty things are going to get dicey. The rest of the time having someone on board that at least knows what the heck they are supposed to be doing is important. So they won't be flying around, just means more importance to things like shield management, angles of attack and facing (remember unlike smaller craft Sil 5 craft are supposed to track facings), weapons management (slow firing) and so on. Barrages also become something of a concern and interest so you may want to look into that.

Well by the book you could give them a wayfarer.

I suggest the Gozanti, for any large group of PCs. Its cheap, it's got enough guns and is massively flawed (slow engines, slow hyper drive, tiny guns for a ship its size) .

Its a ship with an appetite. I also recommend removing its torpedo launcher at the start of the game further down grades will not be needed.

We've been using a Wayfarer since the core book came out and the limited piloting maneuvers you can perform has been an issue, but the biggest problem is that you can only perform one pilot-only manauver per round. That was a big problem in our last vehicle encounter.

Well by the book you could give them a wayfarer.

I suggest the Gozanti, for any large group of PCs. Its cheap, it's got enough guns and is massively flawed (slow engines, slow hyper drive, tiny guns for a ship its size) .

Its a ship with an appetite. I also recommend removing its torpedo launcher at the start of the game further down grades will not be needed.

I agree with everything said about the Gozanti except removing the torpedo launcher. That's there to give the pilot something fun to do, and Limited Ammo 6 means it's not going to be overused. OTOH f the group decides to strip it out and replace it with a light turbolaser then...yeah.

The big trick with Sil 5 ships is to give the pilot something to spend his actions on during starship engagements. Pilot-fired weapons are one obvious answer.

I'm also a fan of the Gozanti. It's the perfect fixer-upper. It has lots of weak weapon systems waiting to be upgraded to something better, and a whole crapload of hard points.

It won't be going up against Neb-B's right away, but with enough time and credits, it could have a lot of nasty little surprises.

I don't know that it will make the pilot's role more "boring" that really depends on what you're' going to do with the campaign and how you define boring. As you already noted they won't be doing all the fancy smancy maneuvers, so it won't be like it's a dogfighter. It will need a good pilot. Yeah most of the time that's not a huge deal, but when you hit your first asteroid field and see that minimum ☻♦♦♦♦ difficulty things are going to get dicey. The rest of the time having someone on board that at least knows what the heck they are supposed to be doing is important. So they won't be flying around, just means more importance to things like shield management, angles of attack and facing (remember unlike smaller craft Sil 5 craft are supposed to track facings), weapons management (slow firing) and so on. Barrages also become something of a concern and interest so you may want to look into that.

Isn't it silhouette / 2, for a minimum difficulty of ☻♦♦ ? I'm only asking in case I've missed something.

I don't know that it will make the pilot's role more "boring" that really depends on what you're' going to do with the campaign and how you define boring. As you already noted they won't be doing all the fancy smancy maneuvers, so it won't be like it's a dogfighter. It will need a good pilot. Yeah most of the time that's not a huge deal, but when you hit your first asteroid field and see that minimum ☻♦♦♦♦ difficulty things are going to get dicey. The rest of the time having someone on board that at least knows what the heck they are supposed to be doing is important. So they won't be flying around, just means more importance to things like shield management, angles of attack and facing (remember unlike smaller craft Sil 5 craft are supposed to track facings), weapons management (slow firing) and so on. Barrages also become something of a concern and interest so you may want to look into that.

Isn't it silhouette / 2, for a minimum difficulty of ☻♦♦ ? I'm only asking in case I've missed something.

You are correct, it's Sil/2 for navigational stuff. Still, that is harder than any combat check a starting PC should be making, and most people are more prone to start combat-favored, so even that check may prove daunting to some pilots

I don't know that it will make the pilot's role more "boring" that really depends on what you're' going to do with the campaign and how you define boring. As you already noted they won't be doing all the fancy smancy maneuvers, so it won't be like it's a dogfighter. It will need a good pilot. Yeah most of the time that's not a huge deal, but when you hit your first asteroid field and see that minimum ☻♦♦♦♦ difficulty things are going to get dicey. The rest of the time having someone on board that at least knows what the heck they are supposed to be doing is important. So they won't be flying around, just means more importance to things like shield management, angles of attack and facing (remember unlike smaller craft Sil 5 craft are supposed to track facings), weapons management (slow firing) and so on. Barrages also become something of a concern and interest so you may want to look into that.

Isn't it silhouette / 2, for a minimum difficulty of ☻♦♦ ? I'm only asking in case I've missed something.

That's correct, the part you missed was me forgetting to divide by 2.

We've been using a Wayfarer since the core book came out and the limited piloting maneuvers you can perform has been an issue, but the biggest problem is that you can only perform one pilot-only maneuver per round. That was a big problem in our last vehicle encounter.

My group opted for the Wayfarer which we actually enjoy because a lot of the episodes I've run are in the spirit of "Firefly" where you take on a job hauling cargo, or people, and the adventure ensues. A smaller silhouette ship would have allowed for more pilot-action in space battles but the heroes like having the high cargo space and have concentrated on having two good gunners among the PC's for when they get into trouble with pirates, the law, or other angry NPCs.

I like the Wayfarer for the reasons you cited above, but when the PCs are deciding on a ship, it's important to discuss the limitations of large ships. In the end, I gave them the Retrofitted Hanger Bay attachment as a quest reward and a Delta-12 skysprite to haul around. This seemed to be a good resolution and they're having a lot more fun.

Thanks to everyone for the input. I talked through some of the points brought up in the thread with one of my players and he suggested that we leave it at Sil 5 but allow an upgrade that allowed the ship to use manuvers normally available to Sil 4 ships. Is this going to destory balance or have unintended consequences that I can't see as a new FFG Wars GM?

Keep in mind the goal: to have a player ship that starts out weak and only able to take on fighters and freighters but builds up to take on small caps ships, and that is fun for the PC pilot (fly, turn and fire weapons is not as much fun as all the other things a smaller ship can do). Is that just an unreasonable goal with a single ship?

I've considered a homebrew attachment very much like the one you are suggesting. I would make it costly in either credits or systems that it consumes on the ship. Maybe 2 Hard Points and it permanently reduces your system strain threshold by 2 or something.

Thanks to everyone for the input. I talked through some of the points brought up in the thread with one of my players and he suggested that we leave it at Sil 5 but allow an upgrade that allowed the ship to use manuvers normally available to Sil 4 ships. Is this going to destory balance or have unintended consequences that I can't see as a new FFG Wars GM?

Keep in mind the goal: to have a player ship that starts out weak and only able to take on fighters and freighters but builds up to take on small caps ships, and that is fun for the PC pilot (fly, turn and fire weapons is not as much fun as all the other things a smaller ship can do). Is that just an unreasonable goal with a single ship?

I've considered a homebrew attachment very much like the one you are suggesting. I would make it costly in either credits or systems that it consumes on the ship. Maybe 2 Hard Points and it permanently reduces your system strain threshold by 2 or something.

I think I would have the attachment allow the Sil 5 ship do all the maneuvers allows to smaller ships at a cost of strain per usage of the maneuver. I consider mass along with height, length and width when I think of Silhouette. Some of those Sil 5 ships may not have their mass properly balance or centered compared to a YT-1300 or a fighter.

I'd allow for maneuvers against similar sized vessels or larger.

Also some of those Sil 5 monsters can outrun the yt-1300 and have similar maneuverability.