Hello everyone relatively new GM here and I’ve run 7 sessions with the Star Wars FFG system, mainly using Edge of the Empire and Force and Destiny, and I’ve been having some issues with the game so far. So I wanted to reach out to the community and ask if other people are dealing with the same problems.

My main issue so far has been trying to balance combat. The game gives no rules or guidelines as for what the party is suppose to fight against, and I’ve been trying my hardest to make my combat encounters interesting without just giving every enemy the “Adversary” talent. But so far the party has steamrolled everything I’ve thrown at them so far. Groups of minions, rivals, nemeses and of course combining them to have larger encounters of groups with a main bad guy. So I’ll just go ahead and describe the party composition so you know exactly what I’m working with.

My party consists of 4 players, 1 guy that so far has focused on combat talents and dumped all his exp in lightsaber skills (using the ancient saber) and makashi duelist talents, a bounty hunter gadgeteer that’s mostly about shooting people, a pilot with some skills in shooting and skullduggery, and a jedi Guardian that has been mostly focusing on knowledge, and medical skills, and some force powers. The party isn’t all about combat, the Jedi Guardian is very weak in combat, and usually opts out of attacking to do something else, and the three other characters has spread out their skills to some extend.

Even with a party where not everyone is completely focused on combat they have been steamrolling everything from session 1 and the problem is only becoming more and more apparent as we play, and at this point I feel like I could take anything from the core books and throw it at them in almost any quantity without it being a problem.

My big question is then. How do I fix this? How do I make combat more of a struggle without just arbitrarily making the enemies harder? I’ve also contemplated making my own enemies but again, I haven’t really found a guideline anywhere on how to do that so it would take up a lot of planning time and effort to come up with something that works. ( If that even is possible )

Bonus question: Is the disruptor rifle just broke or am I missing something? Don’t get me wrong I have nothing against my player characters being strong, but I feel like Darth Vader could show up and the bounty hunter gadgeteer would vaporize him in 1 shot with the modded disruptor rifle

TL;DR Combat is too easy, what do?

7 sessions in, the party probably shouldn't have a disruptor rifle... Nor should they have one with significant mods...

In my experience, balancing combat in high-threat systems (such as this one) is about the action economy more than individual combatants. If a side is outnumbered or if the initiative is staggered in such a way as to allow multiple consecutive initiative slots for a side, that side is going to have a significant advantage.

To that end, one minion group per "combat" character (preferably consisting of at least a number of minions equal to that characters' combat stat) and one rival per non-combat character should make a pretty decent fight.

To make it longer, add additional minion groups. To make it more deadly, add more rivals.

To protect your main combatant, add an ablative minion group.

Damage is really easy to scale up, but defense and soak are significantly more difficult. If there's a party member with high soak, use vibro-weapons against them or, in extreme cases, vehicle-scale/gunnery weapons against them.

Be aware that gear can (and should) be looted, so make sure not to equip your enemies with anything you don't want your party members to eventually get ahold of.

Parry and Reflect are useful with nemeses, as well as abilities like Imperial Valor (for non-Imperials, I would rename it). And more minion groups. Don't be afraid to break up minions if needed, as, even though they aren't deadly on their own, they make for more individual enemies the PCs have to fight off.

More tactics, too. The melee-fighter may not be able to stand against several blaster wielding foes that are constantly moving away and peppering him with laser fire, and the blaster-fighters might be hard pressed to fend off a sword wielding rival or two.

Outnumber them with more targets than they can address.

Use range against them.

Use weapon effects like Ensnare on melee PCs and Concussion and Disorient on everyone.

Throw in complications and don't let each fight just be a dice pool comparison, innocent bystanders, volatile cargo, not so innocent by standers likely to join in against the PCs for errant shots, authorities arriving as reinforcements or in response to reckless weapon discharges.

Environmental considerations like weather, ambush the PCs while they are in a bad spot.

In regards to Disruptor Rifles I'm hesitant to use them on PCs so that's a good yardstick to measure weapons with overall for power level I find.

Defensive abilities are meant to be kept low so that fights are over quickly. A lot of games try to keep about a 50/50 chance on hitting or missing, but that means that things can get really bogged down when the dice just ain't hot. In this system, many characters will hit a lot more than they miss, which means fights are often over in a couple rounds. This is intentional.

Of course, it's not meant to be a steamroll. I don't think i have anything to add except what folks above me have said. If the fights are over fast, that's good. If the fights are over fast and your PC's never get hurt, well, it may be time to up the ante.

Give them things to do during combat, objectives other than kill everyone. Make the enemies a distraction that's slowing them down. Add a ticking clock and they suddenly can't stop to fight, they will be patching the dam that's about to burst (literally of figuratively) instead.

Disrupters are highly illegal, any authority anywhere will try to confiscate that. Any social encounter will be hostile until that thing is out of the room. Make it part of the story.

More targets than they can shoot at.

Use the Chase guidelines regularly.

Environment. Dark, Fog, Wind, Stench, Searing Heat, Snow, Steam, Under Water, Zero G, Dense Foliage, Tall Grass... Anything that can add setback to the dice pool and can create interesting uses of Threat/Despair. Pre list a couple of uses for threat and despair that fit the encounter.

Strain. Make them use it up, keep a battle going so long that they are exhausted and almost passing out. Just keep bringing reinforcements in if you have too, a never ending wave of groups of 5-6 minions.

Have a Competitive encounter, where the NPC's and PC's are both trying to do the same thing. There isn't enough time to take out the opposition so they just have to get on with the job. Whoever gets the target number of success first runs off with the MacGuffin, a chase ensues.

Pack more story into 24hrs, that last Stimpack won't be doing much and suddenly their mortality will become very clear. If they haven't got time to rest and heal the have to be much more cautious.

Capture them, have the BBEG monologue to them while they are locked up onboard the enemies ship, then they manage to escape. But now they don't have all their cool gear, they can find it but there are some interesting encounters to get through first.

The thing about this system is that dishing out damage is easy, and taking it is hard. That goes for PCs and NPCs equally.

The result is that if your PCs get the drop on an enemy - if they all roll better initiative, or if they're all shooting at the same target - then the odds of the NPCs being able to do a lot is quite small. I recently ran the beginner game for a party of 4: 1 combat specialist, 2 mediocre fighters, 1 non-combat specialist. They came up against the Gamorreans in the first encounter and crushed them BEFORE THE GAMORREANS HAD A CHANCE TO HIT ANYBODY. They proceeded to do this throughout the game until they got to the Stormtroopers, who managed to get a couple of shots away, which nearly "killed" two of the players.

Solution: more groups of enemies, with higher Cool and Vigilance stats, will result in much harder combats.

Also...

7 sessions in, the party probably shouldn't have a disruptor rifle... Nor should they have one with significant mods...

...this. When you ask "is the disruptor just broke?", the answer is...well, kinda, because it's supposed to be an end-game sort of weapon, the kind of thing that CAN be deployed against a Sith, or a rancor, or something. Obviously that doesn't help you now, since your player is unlikely to let you take it away from him. Possible narrative solutions - such as having the player be arrested for carrying it - have been suggested; mechanically, you could also try engaging that character in close-combat as much as possible.

I have a similar problem. I have one player who plays a Dashade Hired gun and focuses very heavily on being hard to kill. I have a jedi player who deals an awful lot of damage and gets critical hits on almost every attack and I have another player who is very mixed and has branched out a lot into various skills and talents.

Yesterday they faced a Leviathan, an ancient Sith Spawn beast. They killed it without the creature making a successful attack. However it took pretty much the whole session for them to do it. My guys are experienced players who started at Knight level and have been playing for around 8 months now so their XP's have been well earned and their characters are beginning to put points into Signature Abilities.

The way I deal with this is by remembering that Star Wars is a game about heroes and the players should always be the heroes in their own saga. As long as they enjoy the game, it shouldn't matter if they are untouchable.