My RPG group will soon start a new campaign with all-new characters starting from 0. I'm gonna be part-time player and was wondering what would be the best transport to aim for. In our last campaign, our ship had an Armor rating of 3 and we would get hammered hard by TIE Fighter minions (our pilot had Defensive Driving and full-upgraded Sense Defense) ; having to pay huge repair costs. Did your players have that problem also ?

I'm not that well versed into attachments and mods, so I'm not sure how good you can build a ship. But I think for each weapon emplacement, it only costs 1 HP, even if its a Dual mount or better. So in theory, I could get the HWK-290 and put 2x Twin Medium Laser canons (Dam6, Crit3, Linked1) for just 2 HP and have 3 HP for other improvements.

So main question is what's the best all-around transport ?
- I know HWK-1000 is awesome, but with Rarity 10, I wouldn't expect to find one anytime soon.

- Same goes for the Surronian Conqueror-Class Assault Ship, even with Rarity 7 ; the fluff text says it's extremely rare and a precious gift from the Surronians.

Except for the price and attention it would draw, the J-Type Star Skiff if pretty awesome, but it doesn't have any HP. Could another ship beat it after a few modifications or is it one of the best ship ever ?

Thanks for the input guys.

The Ghtroc 720 is an awesomely tanky little ship. It also has some rather good cargo capacity and upgradability.

The YT-2400 is one of the best light freighters in the game, but can't carry a ton.

I, personally, consider the Gozanti pretty much optimal for an EotE party. Excellent cargo capacity, can have the hangar mod, and still has some room for expansion beyond that. It also has solid armor and weapons. Additionally, with a few ranks of Skilled Jockey, the handling penalty is almost entirely mitigated.

So main question is what's the best all-around transport ?

- I know HWK-1000 is awesome, but with Rarity 10, I wouldn't expect to find one anytime soon.

- Same goes for the Surronian Conqueror-Class Assault Ship, even with Rarity 7 ; the fluff text says it's extremely rare and a precious gift from the Surronians.

Technically your EOTE party could start the game with a HWK-1000 so you wouldn't have to worry about having to FIND one but the YT-2400 is probably the optimal ship... only thing "wrong" with it is a base speed of 3 instead of 4

I agree the YT-2400 is probably the best all around ship The speed can be fixed with a modification. I would wager that most PC's will want speed 4 so they can do all of the slick manuevers. The YT really lets you customize in a lot of ways, you can pretty much put on extra weapons if you have a lot of gunnery type pc's, or make it a stealthy ship/hard to hit or even more heavily armored.

If you have an especially large party or are willing to have droids do the shooting some of the bigger weapon ships become more viable so everyone has something to do the Gozati is great if you have enough people to fire its guns but we find that against small attack craft size 5 ships are a brick that just can't perform dogfighting manuvers and end up soak up hits.

As a solution we have a size 5 for transporting big stuf and a YT-2400 and a few snub fighters to defend it. Admittedly having one of our characters as a squadron leader really helps.

With an experienced pilot and mods the YT -2400 can have speed 4 defense 4 in all sections armor 4 and be considered a sil 2 when being targeted between tricky target and night shadow coating.

Although it's requires a great pilot is expensive and requires some restricted parts the YT-2400 is really a ship you can build a long career on.

The YT-2400 is the hot rod waiting to happen, but priced just a touch above the normal starting budget for a group if I remember correctly. I'm a fan of the YT-2000 if your GM intends for you to start at 120k or lower for the ship budget.

I gave my players a YT-2400 (I didn't want yet another Definitely-Not-A-Millennium-Falcon-Ripoff YT-1300) and it works pretty well for them. They're a somewhat small group of 3 so a bigger ship would actually be an hindrance. It's not the best in any category but a strong contender in all, which is its biggest strength.

YT-2000 -- it won't fly itself in circles.

I gave my group a YT-2400. However, no one is a specialized pilot and we don't really do a lot of space battles. They're ground-pounders for the most part. It mostly just gets them from Point A to Point B.

Going to have to disagree with the YT recommendation. It is a good ship, but the ILH-KK CITADEL-CLASS CIVILIAN CRUISER is by far the best all around light frieghter. It has the best armorment, hull trauma, and system strain for its class. Equal cargo hold, hard points speed, armor and handling with the other YTs. Holds more passengers than the YTs and even comes standard with a medium tractor beam.

I do agree that for the price it really hard to beat a gazonti. However, I see that as more of a tier 2 frieghter. Due do it being a Sil5, it may require a small fighter escort.

I think the problem with these discussions is best at what? All ships have trade offs. So one should figure out their need then pick the best ship for the job.

I think the problem with these discussions is best at what? All ships have trade offs. So one should figure out their need then pick the best ship for the job.

Fair question

It's a 4 man crew (4 players), so a Gozanti would probably be too big.

We mostly see small skirmish... escape from a planet and evade enemy fire until you hop into hyperspace... a chase to get to a specified objective... take out some escort and board a cargo ship...

So I'm looking for some good speed and handling, and good at evading/taking shots to get low repair costs (in our current game, it always costs a bunch of credits - after our last space battle, we got 22 damage on our ship).

Hope this helps.

I think the Surronian Conqueror-Class Assault ship is slightly superior to the YT-2400, but with higher rarity. (also Surronian has a Class 1 Hyperdrive while YT-2400 has a Class 2)

The YKL-37R Nova Courier might be a good contender against the YT-2000. (guns of the Nova Courier don't have linked which is really sad)

A HWK-290 with Electronic Countermeasures Suite and Nightshadow Coating, plus a pilot with Tricky Target can reduce it's Silhouette to 0 for combat rolls, meaning that a TIE Fighter targeting it would have a Daunting Difficulty (PPPPB) to target it (with shields included) for only 2 HP. You can then add a Twin Light Ion Canon (dam5, crit4, short, linked1) and a Twin Medium Laser Canon (dam6, crit3, short, linked1) for 1 HP each, leaving you with 1 HP to do has you please (I'd probably go with Whisperthrust engine for the stealth ship awesomeness). Overall, not a bad ship at all, only small drawback is the Class 2 Hyperdrive.

The ILH-KK Citadel-Class Light Freighter is a great ship... the price tag is a little high but it's worth it.

Maybe after a few games if we have the credits to spare.

Does the bonus (no penalty from Evasive Maneuvers from own ship and target) from Gain the Advantage work with gunners on the same ship ?

If so, a speed 4 ship (or speed 3 with the improved engine attachment) would be thing to look at since it would make a difference of 2 difficulty upgrades to hit against be hit.

Is there an attachment to raise Handling ? (didn't look everywhere but I don't remember seeing any)

Thanks again

personally, I love the g9, its very cheap, three guns, a shield both sections, armor, and some encumbrance and hp.

My only problem is that its **** slow, so 1 hp for engines, others on extra shields, and its a bit of a tank

Space Turtle! The Ghtroc-720 is a good ship, which I like a lot. It's a little slow, and doesn't handle -all- that well, but those are fixable issues, and its main selling point, 5 armor! 5! Enough to absorb the majority of most laser shots, and a 28 HT means you've got Hull for days! Slap some engines on it, upgrade the weaponry to a pair of quad cannons and you've got yourself a heavily armed, heavily armored badass little freighter, perfect for swatting those annoying TIE swarms.

The suronian is a very small ship to live on with very little cargo space its not as good of a generalist ship as the yt2400 specifically it trades +1 shields for -1 hard point and though its starts with a slightly better hyper drive it has less hull and system strain, putting you in danger if you get shot at alot.

The ILH-KK is great ship especially if you have a lot of gunners or want to have droids firing your guns. It has boosts to hull points and sensors over the yt-2400.

With mods and a good pilot and a full crew it would by far overpower anything else in its sil class.

For smaller groups without the size to take advantage of 5 weapons The YT-2400 is still able to carry 1/3 rd more and is customizable 1 additional HP.

Since it's a 4 player group, we usually have 2 official gunners, with the pilot or co-pilot taking some pop shots now and then when they don't have other more urgent things to do. So a ship with 3 weapons (2 turrets and 1 forward mount) is all I really need. And since we are a pretty steady group of close friends, in the last 5 years, we only had 2-3 sessions where one player was missing, we were all there (4 players and 1 GM) every other time.

I'm juggling between 2 ideas right now...

a) 1 Transport for the whole group (Ghtroc 720 or YT-2400)

b) 2 smaller transports both designed for a 2-man crew (Surronian Conqueror-Class + one other small ship, maybe a HWK-290)

But the more I think about it, the more I ask myself if a speed 4 ship is really that important, or if speed 3 would be enough for almost everything. I mean, except Gain the Advantage, nothing else requires a speed above 3. Also, you rarely do a GtA in a space fight, only between slower transports... I never see TIE Fighter minions doing GtA. And since the difficulty to navigate into space is Speed upgraded by Half-Silhouette, a speed 4 ship (PPRR) would be harder to pilot in a fight then a speed 3 ship (PRR). So does Speed 4 really make a huge difference ?

I'm just doing some numbers crunching...

Ghtroc 720 Light Freighter : 112,000$ - total of 4 HP

- Switch current gun for a Quad Laser Canon (8,000$ - no HP cost)

- Add Twin Medium Laser Canon turret (10,500$ - 1 HP cost)

- Add Twin Light Ion Canon (7,500$ - 1 HP cost)

- Hyperdrive Generator (6,400$ - 1 HP cost)

- Advanced Targeting Array ( 4,000$ - 1 HP cost)

Silhouette 4 ; Speed 3, Handling -2, Shield 1/1, Armor 5, Hull T. 28, S.S.15 ; Encumbrance 200 ; Class 1 Hyperdrive ; Advanced Targeting Array

Quad Laser Canon (Dam5, Crit3, Close, Accurate, Linked 3) ; Twin Medium Laser Canon (Dam6, Crit3, Close, Linked 1) ; Twin Light Ion Canon (Dam5, Crit4, Close, Ion, Linked1)

Total Cost : 148,400$

YT-2400 Light Freighter : 130,000$ - total of 5 HP

- Add Twin Light Ion Canon (7,500$, 1 HP cost)

- Hyperdrive Generator (6,400$ - 1 HP cost)

- Advanced Targeting Array (4,000$ - 1 HP cost)

- Reinforced Shield Generator ( 3,800$, 2 HP cost)

Silhouette 4 ; Speed 3, Handling 0, Shield 3/2, Armor 4, Hull T. 25, S.S.18 ; Encumbrance 140 ; Class 1 Hyperdrive ; Advanced Targeting Array

2x Twin Medium Laser Canon (Dam6, Crit3, Close, Linked 1) ; Twin Light Ion Canon (Dam5, Crit4, Close, Ion, Linked1)

Total Cost : 151,700$

Surronian Conqueror-class Assault Ship : 100,500$ - total of 4 HP

- Advanced Targeting Array (4,000$ - 1 HP cost)

- High-Output Ion Turbine ( 5,300$ - 1 HP cost)

- Reinforced Shield Generator ( 3,800$, 2 HP cost)

Silhouette 4 ; Speed 4, Handling 0, Shield 4/3, Armor 3, Hull T. 20, S.S.13 ; Encumbrance 80 ; Class 1 Hyperdrive ; Advanced Targeting Array

Twin Medium Laser Canon (Dam6, Crit3, Close, Linked 1) ; Twin Light Ion Canon (Dam5, Crit4, Close, Ion, Linked1)

Total Cost : 113,600$

HWK-290 Light Freighter : 70,000$ - total of 5 HP

- Add Twin Medium Laser Canon turret (10,500$ - 1 HP cost)

- Add Twin Light Ion Canon (7,500$ - 1 HP cost)

- Hyperdrive Generator (6,400$ - 1 HP cost)

- Advanced Targeting Array ( 4,000$ - 1 HP cost)

- Nightshadow Coating (3,500$ - 1 HP cost)

Silhouette 3 ; Speed 4, Handling +1, Shield 1/1, Armor 2, Hull T. 18, S.S.18 ; Encumbrance 75 ; Class 1 Hyperdrive ; Advanced Targeting Array

Twin Medium Laser Canon (Dam6, Crit3, Close, Linked 1) ; Twin Light Ion Canon (Dam5, Crit4, Close, Ion, Linked1)

Total Cost : 101,900$ (but it can drop to silhouette 1 with Tricky Target skill)

Wow! I'm more messed up then before

I like Advanced Targeting Array because it helps the less space combat oriented characters, but I could drop it for any other Attachment that could improved those ships...

I also know it's all fluff having a Class 1 hyperdrive... because hyperdrive class should never matter in a game : I would not penalize my players if they didn't have the right hyperdrive... maybe less time for shopping and other leisure. So I could also drop the Hyperdrive Generator... so I'd get back 1 or 2 HP for each ship to add other Attachments if some are better investments.

So... any suggestions ?!?

Also, on a side note...

Would you charge HP points if the players wanted to build a medic bay with a Bacta tank in their ship ?

Would you charge HP points if the players wanted to add a ANQ 3.6 Tracking Computer (from Enter the Unknown) to their ship ?

Thanks for the input

Adding twin weapons takes 2 hard points and costs double the base weapon cost (as you're buying two weapons and "linking" them together).

Adding twin weapons takes 2 hard points and costs double the base weapon cost (as you're buying two weapons and "linking" them together).

Edge Core Rulebook p. 271

Weapon systems combining two or more weapons always cost 1 hard point, even if replacing an existing weapon system

Table 7-17 : Linking two or more weapons of the same type (this adds the Linked Quality to the weapon, with a value equal to the additional weapons added) ; + half the cost of the weapon per additional weapon

So it's only 1 HP and cost +50% for each weapon added after the first.

Unless they changed it in an errata, I've got the right costs (HP and $)

Adding twin weapons takes 2 hard points and costs double the base weapon cost (as you're buying two weapons and "linking" them together).

Edge Core Rulebook p. 271

Weapon systems combining two or more weapons always cost 1 hard point, even if replacing an existing weapon system

Table 7-17 : Linking two or more weapons of the same type (this adds the Linked Quality to the weapon, with a value equal to the additional weapons added) ; + half the cost of the weapon per additional weapon

So it's only 1 HP and cost +50% for each weapon added after the first.

Unless they changed it in an errata, I've got the right costs (HP and $)

How could I have missed that?! Been running it completely wrong this entire time....

Thanks for pointing that out!

I've always liked the hyperdrive, irrespective of the campaign. It's immensely useful to be able to outrun pursuit fleets and get ahead while laying false trails. Further, it allows more trips to be made in the same time period as well as to reduce transit time, so there's less down time in campaigns.

However, it's really up to the campaign and GM as to whether it'll be useful or not.

As for the Bacta Tank/Medbay, I'd say that's not a HP cost. It's basically just re-purposing a stateroom or cargo hold. I would take the "cost" out of passenger capacity or cargo space if the ship is small enough that it'd matter.

As for the ANQ, I'd treat that as a Droid brain. Comparing the Reconnaissance Pathfinder and the Civilian Pathfinder, it doesn't look like the ANQ takes up any hard points, so I'd let it slide.

To your question about speed 3 vs speed 4, while having GtA is better than not having it, from a practical standpoint, anything against which it'd be effective won't last long enough in a fight to worry much about it. Unless, of course, there are swarms of them. In that case, GtA isn't all that helpful either as it's time to run.

JP have ypou checked the stats for the Nova Courier from Fly Casual? it's quite similar to the YT-2400 but has more powerful startin wepons for the same cost. It could be an interesting option.I noticed you never added smuggling compartments i guess your groups isn't much into transporting stuff, in that case a smaller ship with less cargo could be a good option.Of course that requires two dedicated pilots in the group.

Two ships vs 1, it costs more (you're basially paying double) but gives your player more flexibility: imagine a space battle with 2 hwk-290 coordinating against the TIEs! For the price and versatility i'd suggest 2 Hwk-290, the free HP alow you to install any type of gun available to a size 3 without penalty, and with the shadow coating ecm suite and tricky target your sil drops to 0. Absolutely worth it. Oh and i'm surprised by your choice of light ion gun, i thought those were kinda useless because that little ion ability isn't worth the price (consensus is that the best use for the ion gun un the Firespray is to switch it for anonther gun!) maybe you cana invest in concussion missiles or proton torpedoes to pack more punch.

From your armament loadout i assume your group is going to do regular space fights, in that case you could also check out the Firespray, good speed, good armor and decent handling, and decent weapons with space for more.

As a game master, I like to have one of each ... so one gun fight, one social encounter, one chase and one space battle... not every game ends up with all four, but I strive for that goal to make sure every skill set is used and that no character archetype is forgotten. So yeah we do regular space fights, even if it's just a few rounds to escape a space station or run away from an imperial cruiser.

For the ion guns, it's more to have versatility... with ion guns, you have the option to disable the enemy ship if you want to board it.

I agree that most of the time, good old blaster are way more effective, against TIE fighters particularly, but many freighters have less SS then HT.

For the smuggling compartments, it was an oversight... I forgot we had one in our last ship to hide all the illegal stuff like stolen imperial armors, heavy repeating blasters or lightsabers. I'll have to remove the Advanced Targeting Arrays to put those in.

Thanks

For the Nova Courier, I like it a lot, but the fact that the main guns don't have the linked quality means that the main guns from the YT-2400 are more powerful. I won't blow a load of concussive missiles just for fun... you keep them in stock against larger targets, where you can usually go all out using snub fighters like X-Wings or B-Wings. But it's one option still on the list It does add versatility to the ship and it has more cargo room.

Space Turtle! Space Turtle! Space Turtle!

C'mon guys, are you all crazy? Selonian coneship.