I am not sure if this may have been mentioned before, but what if fantasy flight released era source books.

For eras such as the clone wars, old republic etc

One set of rules for units, weapons and any important events of the time could then be used to play any of the rpg systems.

It could even contain a mission in the end to bring the group into play in that era

That's a great idea. Prequels, prequels prequels! But FFG has been excruciatingly slow releasing everything so far, IMHO. Just looking at the upcoming board, not a single new RPG item on the on the list

Well... I doubt it, that we'd get it like you said, containing all the vehicles etc. Why? because we got some starfighters, transports, battleships etc. already from those eras.

The only way I can see this coming is as a new CRB. I would totally buy that, though. (You reading FFG?)

FFG release things as they are ready. Sometimes we get a rush of things. In the last month or so I've picked up two adventures (F&D:Chronicles of the Gatekeeper and EotE:Mask of the Pirate Queen), a region book (AoR:Strongholds of Resistance), and a career book (F&D:Keeping the Peace). And we know of three books which are upcoming, Nexus of Power (F&D), Lead by Example (AoR), and Special Modifications (EotE).

I would be surprised to see any era book considering that it took three core books for FFG to encompass the OT era. Unless people are expecting three more books for the PT I think we will continue to see things from many different eras showing up in upcoming source books. We have all the tools for running games in any era at this point. Not to mention the only era I can see them being remotely interested in doing is the prequel era. Even though they have drawn on Legends material, they have focused solely on the OT. I don't see them focusing any books on the Old Republic or anything else which is now firmly ensconced in Legend status. The PT era being canon would be more likely if any at all.

I don't see the problem in making Era books. They would be inclusive of all three CRB and they would be mostly fluff plus some rules to adapt careers/specializations if needed. Vehicles would be either reprints (for a PT book) or reskinning of existing vehicles already, with just a handful of newly created stuff (some of which exists already, like the stats for besalisk war droid). I don't see them being any bigger than a normal career splatbook. I think they could make one to cover the PT era, one for the old republic era (timeline of KOTOR and SWTOR), maybe one for the Force Awekening era, or at least what we know from the Episode VII. Otherwise two distinct books for KOTOR era and SWTOR era would be better (after all there are 300 years between them).

So far FFG have released (or are releasing) 9 main Star Wars lines;

Of all of these the only real reference to the prequels is occasional mentions in the roleplay book for vehicles, weapons and a few Clones Wars era droids in Chronicles of the Gatekeeper book.

There's been a lot of times where something prequel could be released I honestly think FFG are shying away from it.

As for KOTOR the game was made under licence and owned by EA, I highly doubt FFG will be able to touch anything of that Era.

Of course conversion from the current rules would be easy.

Clone troopers/Sith soldiers just use Stormtrooper Stats.

Rebel troops become republic troops.

Use similar rules for Separatist droids

Re-skin some of the ships but keep the stats the same; everything else converts over nicely.

But FFG has been excruciatingly slow releasing everything so far, IMHO. Just looking at the upcoming board, not a single new RPG item on the on the list

Wait - slow? We've had two months of back-to-back books - Keep the Peace, Strongholds of Resistance, Mask of the Pirate Queen and Chronicles of the Gatekeeper since November.

I'd personally love an Era book, but that doesn't seem to be in their plans. I'd be all over an Old Republic supplement. I just don't see it happening. They concentrate on the era that everyone knows and agrees is good, and seed little bits of prequels/TV-show stuff through the various lines.

They also seem to have an odd pattern of releasing things. As Desslok mentions, nothing for ages, then a whole bunch come out at once. Although 'Strongholds' was due out much earlier and was 'on the boat' for 100 years or so.

Also, bear in mind that the RPG line is a distant fifth place in importance after X-Wing, Armada, Imperial Descent and the Card Game.