Boy, are you guys gonna be cross when you realise I don't have the book and I'm just making all this up!

Good joke though, huh, guys?

Guys?

You're going to burn in the special hell. The one reaerved for child molesters and people who talk at the theatre.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neuMyI8M5fc

Thanks for the repsonse, Marcy. One thing that we were hoping for with the Mechanic... Since ship-to-ship combat isn't especially prevalent in Firefly (it's more about running away), Solid Repairs is a largely useless talent for the character. We were hoping there might be some sort of "Innovative Solutions" (for lack of a better term) talent in SPECIAL MODIFICATIONS that we might be able to replace it with, I actually got as far as pitching a few custom ideas, then we decided to wait to see what the book might have. Looks like there's nothing like that?

The three specs here are fairly specialised. Mechanic in the Core Book is as close to a general shipwright as you get.

Cyber Tech and Droid Tech are fairly focused on their own speciality, and Modder is mostly about improving the Signature Vehicle.

I wouldn't say Solid Repairs was useless though - a ship can get damaged running away, and it can get damaged with all kinds of hazards like asteroids, sabotage, etc. Not a bad thing to have, being able to patch it up when it's your home base.

Also, you don't have to buy every talent in a tree - some will suit more characters than others. The 'Inventive Creation' Signature Ability might be what you're looking for, although that requires a reasonably advanced character to dig down to the base of a tree.

Also, you don't have to but every talent in a tree - some will suit more characters than others.

The #1 thing in the PC rules i love about this system, 1/2 of one tree and 1/2 of another make for a completely new and entirely different build. For example the Hunter Protector Nautolan I made (in sig) who is the equivalent of a park ranger, protecting endangered species from the back of her Ronto.

How much XP does the Mistafarian have, is there any gear for them, how does the book rationalize them as techies, and are there lava fleas?

Standard 100 xp. They mention lava fleas but we don't get stats.

They rationalise them as techies by saying they were used in mining and industry by the Techno Union pre Clone Wars. (I hope that means something to someone as it means bugger-all to me!)

I actually found it mildly bizarre that the book expressly calls out that these three races are not known for technological skill.

In general, I'm always baffled and bewildered by the choices for species, and these make very little sense when we could have had jawas or Arkanians or something iconic to being techies.

Thanks, it turns out that the lava fleas are stated inStay on Target.

I got special modifications today... pretty cool... loving the custom gear creation rules particularly when it comes to cybernetics... there's no schematic so you can't decrease the difficulty (it would probably be to abusable if you could) but the cybernetic appendage (4 purple) gives a +1 to agility or brawn like the "mod" arms and legs in the core boo, and with 2 advantage you can make it "unobtrusive" (can't do that in the core book) and with 2 triumph you can make it ion shielded (doesn't shut down when affected by ion weapons). Also cool is the inbuilt weapon option (4 advantage or 1 triumph), basically you can put a weapon that you own with encum 2 or less in a limb, for example a dragoon cavalry blaster from stay on target or maybe the neuronic whip (I think Lords of Nal Hutta, maybe fly casual), and you could have it fire from the palm iron man style (which I think is mad cool) rather than from a pop open compartment like the cybernetic weapon in the core book.

I'm thinking that integrating stun gloves into a prosthetic hand for a "joy buzzer" hand shake would be funny... for 1500 credits you can make a cybernetic implant that provides 1 rank in say brawl or ranged light.

Ok, if you wanted to make an ordinary prosthetic arm (3 purple, 1000 credits a pop), that was ion shielded (2 triumph), unobtrusive (2 advantage or 1 triumph), and had an inbuilt weapon (4 advantage or 1 triumph), and the sentient making it was a northern mustafarian droid tech, cyber tech (meaning 4 ranks of EyeForDetail, which lets you change up to 4 extra successes into advantage at a 1 to 1 ratio) with 5 regular ranks in mechanics, a cybernetic implant to give him an extra rank in mechanics, a natural 6 in intellect and a cybernetic brain implant from the core book (increases intellect by one), and you had the right tools for the job, then your base pool would be 6 yellow, 1 green, 1 blue, and 3 purple, on unsuccessful attempts you use any triumph to upgrade green dice to yellow dice (say if you had 3 triumph but failed, then you'd spend 1 triumph to change the green die to a yellow, and 2 more triumph to add a yellow) and any left over triumph or advantage was used to buy boost dice for your next attempt, then the "dependent median" (middle out of 10,000 random trials) result (where the results are sorted from best to worst, where soonest is considered best, ties broken in favor or more triumphs, those ties broken in favor of more advantage) is that it would take the galaxies best cyberdoc 8 attempts, having 2 triumphs, 8 unconverted successes, 13 advantage and having successfully made 7 bog standard prosthetic arms (which normally sell for 2000 credits each)... what that says is the difficulty of getting the 2 triumphs for the ion shielding is the limiting factor, the other upgrades come for free.

since that's the case, why (other than cost, 5000 a pop vs. 1000 a pop) not try to make a "cybernetic" (increase brawn or dex by 1, difficulty is 4 purple) arm that is unobtrusive, ion shielded and has an inbuilt weapon. And in this case the dependent median is 8 attempts, 2 triumps, 4 unconvereted successes, 9 advantage (you only needed 6 advantage to get it to be unobtrusive and have an in built weapon, which means you can also make it "tailored" for 3 advantage i.e. you don't need to make a separate check to install it), having successfully made 7 bog standard cybernetic arms (which normally sell for 10,000 credits each).

now that's with probably the galaxies best cyber doc... the limiting factor is the ion shielding

I saw it at my FLGS today, but had already pre-order it online. It looks like brick and mortar shops are being given preferential treatment on early shipments, and I'm quite alright with that. I support the gaming store quite a bit, and we play many games in their gaming area. So, now I find that must wait until my copy gets shipped to me since I jumped the gun.

Any chance we could get more info on what other kind of stuff is floating around in the Cyber Tech tree? Or perhaps more details on what exactly 'Overcharge' does? Is it like Jury Rig but for Cybernetics?

Any chance we could get more info on what other kind of stuff is floating around in the Cyber Tech tree? Or perhaps more details on what exactly 'Overcharge' does? Is it like Jury Rig but for Cybernetics?

I second this, and will add that I'm curious as to how much of the tree applies specifically to the Technician and how much can be used to support allies.

Any chance we could get more info on what other kind of stuff is floating around in the Cyber Tech tree? Or perhaps more details on what exactly 'Overcharge' does? Is it like Jury Rig but for Cybernetics?

I second this, and will add that I'm curious as to how much of the tree applies specifically to the Technician and how much can be used to support allies.

It has Medicine and 2 ranks of Surgeon, so that could help out others, I guess. It seems to be a self-buffing class rather than buffing other people though.

Let's see...

Cyberneticist (2) (removes black dice when fitting cyberware and halves costs)

Toughened (2)

Durable (2)

More Machine Than Man (4) adds +1 cybernetics cap each

Engineered Redundancies (heal with repair patches but stimpaks have less effect)

Utility Belt

Energy Transfer (recharge energy weapons that are out of ammo)

Eye For Detail (convert success to advantage for Mechanics/Computers)

Surgeon (2)

Dedication

Overcharge/Supreme Overcharge

The latter is a Hard Mechanics or Cybernetics check that gets more out of your cyberware (or shorts out on a Despair). If your cyberware gives you +1 to a ranked talent, skill or characteristic, using this gives you another +1 for the scene. Supreme Overcharge affects all your cyberware, not just 1 piece.

So it does make use of the optional Cybernetics skill from BtR?

So it does make use of the optional Cybernetics skill from BtR?

Yes. It suggests giving it to Cyber Tech as a career skill.

In place of which one of the listed career skills?

Slicing is expanded on quite a bit. The system they suggested is kind of a 'decker duel' between the attacker and the one defending the system. There are also security programs of various difficulties.

You don't have to get into specifics, but how does FFG handle the Cyberpunk 2020 "The Netrunner does awesome Cyberspace hacker stuff while the rest of the party watches him roll dice for an evening" problem?

Having read a bit further over lunch, there's actually a couple of pages on this - ways to keep the other PCs amused, and ways to challenge a Technician's other skills aside from Mechanics and Computers.

In place of which one of the listed career skills?

None, they get it as a freebie bonus skill. Substitutes for Medicine or Mechanics when dealing with cyberware.

Slicing is expanded on quite a bit. The system they suggested is kind of a 'decker duel' between the attacker and the one defending the system. There are also security programs of various difficulties.

You don't have to get into specifics, but how does FFG handle the Cyberpunk 2020 "The Netrunner does awesome Cyberspace hacker stuff while the rest of the party watches him roll dice for an evening" problem?

Having read a bit further over lunch, there's actually a couple of pages on this - ways to keep the other PCs amused, and ways to challenge a Technician's other skills aside from Mechanics and Computers.

I did the Slicing stuff, in addition to a couple other things, and one of my top concerns was balancing the need for engaging slicing gameplay with keeping the whole game flowing for all the players. My mental model for the whole process was R2-D2 in the escape from Cloud City. I cannot promise that I succeeded in making anything that awesome, but that was definitely the goal!

Thanks RPG! Reading it I felt that someone was definitely addressing the old Shadowrun moment when the decker did his thing and everyone else had lunch!

After finding the Commander book a bit of a let-down, I really enjoyed this one. Lots and lots of crunchy goodness. And advice that actually helps you running a game.

Thanks for your efforts.

More Machine Than Man

Nice.

Okay, I'm just going through the gear - I haven't looked at the rest of the tome - that section alone is worth picking up the book! I am SO putting All-Terrain Legs on the ship and then slaving it to an on-board AI.

***EDIT***

Wait - to hell with putting legs on my freighter! I'm building myself a Veritech Fighter out of an X-Wing!

(subtitle: a Veritech from the anime series Robotech/Macross, that looks like a fighter jet with legs and arms and a big rifle)

Picked up a copy on the way home from work. I know what I'll be looking through while the plumber and AC guys are here tomorrow....

Oh man, the Intelligent Toolbox is BOSS! Knocking 50% off the time it takes to build something? Suddenly the 80 hours to build armor turns into a normal work week? SWEET!

Do anybody say what the ships are?

That talent that halves the cost of cybernetics is quite special, this tree with a droid sounds absolutely killer, it kind of completely changes a Droid mechanic in some massive ways.

For the duration of some of the craft checks it's kind of required

It all sounds good to me. The career books are getting meatier and meatier I think as they go which is nice.