I apologize if this has been covered before, I searched for it but couldn't find it, though there were similar topics I couldn't find the advice I am looking for.

The players are in a Speed 3 light freighter and zipping through hyperspace when suddenly the ship is violently ripped back into real space. Oh no! An Interdictor cruiser! With 2 groups of 3 TIEs on patrol (fairly early in the campaign).

The TIEs turn towards the freighter, the freighter turns away from everything and goes full throttle.

But .... now what?

The book states that the PCs must get beyond Extreme Range of the Interdictor in order to make the jump to lightspeed again.

If I resolve that as a Chase per pg 241, the pilot of the freighter is likely going to be able to maintain distance from the TIEs, and if I include the Interdictor as a chasing ship, the PC freighter is going to use the Full Throttle talent to really outdistance it, so I'm guessing two rounds even if I put the Interdictor at Short Range at the initial encounter.

If I use the standard space combat rules, the opposite happens. Since it always takes two maneuvers to change range band outside of medium, then as soon as the freighter and the interdictor get to medium range, they can never escape. The freighter takes two maneuvers to go from medium to long range of the interdictor, the interdictor takes two maneuvers to go from long range to medium, and this doesn't end until the other 3 PCs on the ship fail to recover two strain on Damage Control (just to make this even more silly).

And it looks as though I could possibly combine the two, the Chase and standard combat, but that leaves me with the same problem as before with the Chase in that it's far too easy for a smaller and faster ship to outrun the Interdictor. I could increase the number of TIEs in the patrol, but it's space, so even if the TIEs fan out as a net the PCs are still thundering straight away from them and I don't know how I'd describe the fact that since there are now 6 TIEs in the patrol formation that they are suddenly faster, plus a 6 TIE minion squad represents a problem when they finally do show up as the ship isn't geared for combat at all. I do not simply wish to hand wave the interdictor range band limit, my group immediately sees that as GM contrivance and it deflates the scene completely for them (Nobody will say as much, but I get a feeling of "Then why are we bothering to roll at all?" from them).

What is it that I am missing?

So you want to capture them, yes?

Actually, I want them to run and make it after taking a few shots from pursuing TIEs. But I am having trouble using the rules as written to create tension. One way the PCs have it too easy, the other way they can never escape.

Well, Interdictors aren't pursuit or capture ships the way they're stated, so have a SD that takes some ion and tractor beam shots. That should slow them down or cause them consternation, but if you want them to absolutely be able to get away then that's still GM hand waving to a certain extent if you're pre-judging outcomes.

The only way I've found that works to keep the PC's from just fleeing immediately is using terrain. This forces piloting rolls which can get pretty difficult if you go fast in a freighter. I'm AFB at the moment, but I think it's a difficulty of Sil / 2, upgraded by speed. So if the freighter is Sil4, the base difficulty is PP, but if they go Speed 3 that's three upgrades, for a final difficulty of RRP. You can modify this up or down by density of terrain, but those are the basics.

Failed piloting checks mean "no progress", which means the PC's ship doesn't get further away from the Interdictor. Of course, the TIEs also have to make their piloting checks, and part of the fun is when the players narrate the TIE's Threats and Despairs...

EDIT: it also makes using some dogfighting actions almost impossible, like Gain the Advantage, which requires Speed 4. Nobody in their right mind would try Gain the Advantage in an asteroid field.

There is a more narrative aspect to it that you might use. The Interdictor is just sitting there in space, waiting. You could have the PCs come in off the port, starboard or aft of the Interdictor. The Imps would then have to fire up the ship and come about before they are able to start chasing the PCs. That could take a couple turns, as I wouldn't think a Star Destroyer turns on a dime.

Or havwe the TIEs out on the edge of the field, acting as a net to catch the ship dorpped out of hyperspace. Leave the Interdictor where it is, but to get out of the field and jump to hyperspace the players will have to run the gauntlet of the TIEs, certinaly pass them once and maybe if the TIEs are fast and the freighter slow they'll have to hold off the TIEs for a few rounds. A fun breif adventure that would seem to fit your goals. Of course there must be TIEs spaced out, perhaps in the 6 cardinal directions to cover all the angles, so if they hang around they would quickly get outnumbered. Wookiepedia says a standard Immobilizer 418 cruiser holds 24 TIE fighters, so maybe stick 12 of them out in 6 paris, with 6 more on standby that will lauch immediately from the Interdictor and 6 off-duty for rotation (assuming this is a long standing inspection point rather than a planned deployment, in which case I'd stick all 24 out).

They'll drop in a Short range to the Cruiser, maybe take an Ion shot or two but give them the benefit of surprise as they turn and run and not shoot them up too badly. The nearest pair of TIEs to their escape vector with strafe them on the way out and 6 more wings will chase them from the Interdictor. I haven't worked it out but they will probably catch up, so adjust their launching reaction speed acording to if you want that or not.

With the big cruiser and the many TIEs flying around and the pressure to plot the new course and get out before they're overrun it should be more scary than actually damaging.

Then again, make usre you have a plan for what happens if they mess up and their ship gets dissabled...

You know what, you've just talked me into adding this into my campaign soon.

Tractor beams are wonderful things to keep ships from running away. One would expect that a picket built around an Interdictor would have several fast ships with tractor beams on them.... Perhaps Imperial Customs Frigates or something similar?

Well, ideally I want them to get away.

If they are captured or disabled, they'll be taken aboard the Interdictor, processed, and sent to the same prison they are attempting to infiltrate.

This is just a kind of "watch out" moment. Something I'm throwing in there since we usually just hand wave the hyperspace trip (I'm actually still doing trips in hours and days).

Thank you for the advice. I'm probably going with Squirrelsan's idea of just spreading out a lot of small groups of TIEs and forcing them to go through one of them. I've already established that Interdictors normally hang out in empty space along well traveled routes unless looking for someone specific, so they won't be next to obstacles that would otherwise be plotted around anyway (at least in my game, people take nice wide paths).

Oddly, according to the EotE book, there are no ion or tractor beams on the Interdictor, only a bunch of short range anti-starfighter guns. They are just pulling people out to shake them down and see who they get, they aren't on a major lane and aren't expecting anything their size, my show is set about 2-5 years before Yavin.

Anyway, I may make them 6 patrols at the cardinal points with three TIE minions each. From what I read, once the TIEs are in Close Range, it's an Average difficulty to hit the ship. They will be rolling YYG against PP. Except that the pilot can take Evasive Maneuvers and make that an RP. And someone can Angle the Deflectors to make that RPBB. And the Mechanic can Boost the Shields to make it RPBBB.

It's probably enough to get the scene I want though. Thanks all!

The write up on the Interdictor says they support other vessels, so pursuit and capture ships working with them makes sense. Their weapon load out suggests they are armed to defend themselves. It makes sense you wouldn't want your high tech capital ship for nuking hyperspace to get into direct action against enemy forces.

It also talks about how 4 can cover an entire solar system, so honestly it isn't likely they would actually be anywhere near whatever vessel gets pulled out of hyperspace and that would be left to vessels spread out in a picket formation to intercept and board the interdicted ships.

Reading this tread also made me want to run an Interdictor pull from Hyperspace event...

Some players do nothing during an hyperspace jump, while others meditate, sleep, work on their gear or practice with their new toy... You guys just gave me a bunch of ideas to make location cards for this event. After asking my players what they will do during the trip, I'll have them hear the alarms from the navcomputer bringing the ship back into realspace and maybe one or two warnings shots. Then I'll have them pick up a location card so they now where they are and "what" they were doing... I'll probably screw around with the cards a little to tip the odds for some humor...

Some location cards could say the players was in the sonic shower washing his hair using no-water shampoo.... or having the guy working on the team guard droid, both hands covered in oil... or having one guy (usually the worst pilot) just hanging in the cockpit enjoying the hyperspace streaks... or if I plan a boarding scene, have one player doing simple cleaning of his gun, still taken apart.... or maybe another meditating in his rooms, comms out so not to be disturbed (so he won't notice the alarm and another player will have to go fetch him)

I'd probably run a boarding scene... here how I would do it....

1- Have the ship ripped back into realspace near the edge of an asteroid field, players scatterred around the ship, unprepared or worse (see location cards)

2- The players receive a comm telling them to prepare to be boarded ; if they try to flee, have them get shot and after a good hit, flip a few darkside points and blow up the main power regulator... dead in space

3- Most of the enemy fighters return to the main ship, leaving a picket line while a boarding ship closes in... they'll have to hold out the boarders while 1 or 2 players repair the power regulator.

4- Once the regulator is repaired, blow off the main hatch and escape into the asteroid field, having a few fighters on their tails, the main ship not risking it (chase scene - the main ship launching fighters so they can't just go slow in the asteroid field)

Yup yup That would make a nice encounter
Gonna write it down!

Then I'll have them pick up a location card so they now where they are and "what" they were doing... I'll probably screw around with the cards a little to tip the odds for some humor...

Just be careful you don't do this too many times in a row, otherwise you run the risk of turning the crew into hyper-ready soldiers who do nothing but hold steady at battlestations during 14 day hyperspace trips...

Once the regulator is repaired, blow off the main hatch and escape into the asteroid field, having a few fighters on their tails, the main ship not risking it (chase scene - the main ship launching fighters so they can't just go slow in the asteroid field)

I like it. Do you worry about the Imperials having the ship's codes and id signatures after that in your game? Or can the PCs change their ID codes easily?

I like it. Do you worry about the Imperials having the ship's codes and id signatures after that in your game? Or can the PCs change their ID codes easily?

My players usually rig their ship with dual transponder codes that they can switch depending on where they are going and what they will do once they get there. Officially, I only use it has a gaming tool to push the story forward. In the last game they might have gotten in and out of that system easily, but this game they'll have a zealous captain on their back chasing them in because HE knows they are lawless criminals, but the next game they might have no worries because the officer in charges doesn't give a sh*t.

I think the first and foremost task of the GM is to tell a good story that the players will enjoy, not to get boggled down in details.

Main thing about Interdictor is they don't travel alone; i'd put some support vessel, mainly patrol boat/cruiser or boarding ships, depending if they are guarding a system or planning on capturing a particolar ship (that maybe or not being PC's one...)

I as far as i could remember the old imperial sourcebook from WEG, Interdictor should travel with a couple or more carracks cruisers for anti-fighter or a Victory for anti-capital, both with full TIE complement, or gunboat. Also, Interdictor was part of larger planetary/system/sector fleet.

I think the right way to handle is the "half the sil or speed difficulty" (pg 254 on AoR), just as traveling around a dangerous terrain; you can put some asteroid or debris pulled close to the interdictor as an excuse for the check (if the "increased gravitational pull from non standard source" is not enough for you). In this way, if they go full throttle to escape from interdictor (and obviously the Interdictor's complements, ie TIE, gunboat, carracks, etc), they have an hard way to survive the asteroid field/gravitational streak; if they go slow to lower the difficulty, of course they risk on getting caught

Also JP_JP's location card is a cool idea to quickly figure out what the pc are doing...

If they are captured or disabled, they'll be taken aboard the Interdictor, processed, and sent to the same prison they are attempting to infiltrate.

Seems to me that they just successfully infiltrated the prison. (:

If they are captured or disabled, they'll be taken aboard the Interdictor, processed, and sent to the same prison they are attempting to infiltrate.

Seems to me that they just successfully infiltrated the prison. (:

Indeed. At least that's the plan, though it would be better for them if they do it with their plan and resources rather than just beige jumpsuits.

Space interdiction / blockades are just one of those tropes I guess you have to accept, no matter how impossible the actual math makes the concept.