Hello folks

We had our first ship combat encounter in a number of months in our session last night, and (as tends to be the case in our group) we ran into some questions about some of the actions and how they work.

Co-Pilot specifically had a couple of questions levied against it, and my searches have so far not turned up any real answers. Here goes:

1- Can the benefits of Co-Pilot be applied multiple times to a single pilot check? IE - It takes two or three turns before the two ships actually come together, and during that time, the Co-Pilot is 'Co-Piloting' every turn, and the Pilot isn't doing anything that requires a pilot check. Will the pilot get multiple changes to downgrade the difficulty of his next pilot check or can the ability only be applied once?

2- How do you play the benefits of Co-Pilot in the context of an opposed Piloting check? In this example, the enemy ship had been co-piloting (at which point we ran into the stacking question above), and then the PC ship tried to do Brilliant Evasion. We were unsure if the Co-Pilot ability should result in the skill check of the PC pilot (the 'difficulty' of the check from the NPC standpoint) being downgraded (Yellows to Greens X Co-Pilot effects in play).

Thanks in advance for the thoughts on the above.

1 No. Benefits do not "stack".

2 It's all about timing. Pilot gets no benefit if co-pilot does nothing before pilot maks Piloting check.

RAW don't really specify. I would say no. Plus it's downgrading Difficulty which is only going to remove Challenge dice. It's only an Average Difficulty so one good roll could easily be all of them anyway.

It doesn't work as a defensive measure for an enemy pilot. It's used by whoever is rolling dice. All it does is downgrade Difficulty. It certainly could be used by NPCs when they're the one rolling the dice.

1) answered above.

2) it would affect only the rolls made by the pilot of the craft, i wouldn't have it affect someone else's opposed rolls. If the PC's had a Co-Pilot then that would have affected the rolls.

Also pay close attention to what 2P51 said. Downgrading is different to Upgrading, something missed by quite a lot of people. Upgrading can add dice to a pool, but Downgrading can only ever change Challenge(Red) to Difficulty(Purple), not remove Difficulty. This is the main reason that all upgrading must be done prior to Downgrading. If a Talent (or other descriptive text) is written with the word "Reduce" then it can remove Difficulty, but this is rare.

Personal quirk, but I prefer spelling copilot without the hyphen.

Tomato Tomato, Potato Potato my spell check doesn't like it

As long as there is an actual co-pilot thread, I thought I'd make use of it.

I had a question about co-pilots. In the EotE book, under Maneuvers on pg. 232, it says "Some ships have multiple pilots, in which case each can perform a Pilot Only maneuver and only the ship suffers the strain. However, these ships are rare."

Are rare. I have always taken that passage to mean "co-pilot", but I just noticed that it doesn't say that, it says multiple pilots and goes on to say that such ships are rare. If it meant co-pilot, why not say co-pilot, since looking at the rules, that's the only way a ship can have multiple pilots to begin with, if they go up to Crew and Sil 5 then they can't even do more than one period. And as far as being rare goes, there are four or five ships in this book alone that meet that, and almost every ship a PC crew is going to have will have a co-pilot spot. So, I am just asking if I've interpreted that correctly.

Are rare. I have always taken that passage to mean "co-pilot", but I just noticed that it doesn't say that, it says multiple pilots and goes on to say that such ships are rare. If it meant co-pilot, why not say co-pilot, since looking at the rules, that's the only way a ship can have multiple pilots to begin with, if they go up to Crew and Sil 5 then they can't even do more than one period.

Hmm. IMO, this is a good question for the Devs.

I can’t think of any reason why they would say that, but maybe there’s something I’m missing.

Personal quirk, but I prefer spelling copilot without the hyphen.

Isn't that pronounced "CAH-pee-laht"?

As long as there is an actual co-pilot thread, I thought I'd make use of it.

I had a question about co-pilots. In the EotE book, under Maneuvers on pg. 232, it says "Some ships have multiple pilots, in which case each can perform a Pilot Only maneuver and only the ship suffers the strain. However, these ships are rare."

Are rare. I have always taken that passage to mean "co-pilot", but I just noticed that it doesn't say that, it says multiple pilots and goes on to say that such ships are rare. If it meant co-pilot, why not say co-pilot, since looking at the rules, that's the only way a ship can have multiple pilots to begin with, if they go up to Crew and Sil 5 then they can't even do more than one period. And as far as being rare goes, there are four or five ships in this book alone that meet that, and almost every ship a PC crew is going to have will have a co-pilot spot. So, I am just asking if I've interpreted that correctly.

Co-pilots are not pilots. That was made clear by the devs on multiple occasion. Co-Pilots have no access to pilot only maneuvers or actions.

Co-pilots are not pilots. That was made clear by the devs on multiple occasion. Co-Pilots have no access to pilot only maneuvers or actions.

Sweet! Thank you for answering. Can you point me to one of those occasions? If not, I'll take your word on it.

That being the case, what special function do co-pilots serve on the ship? Just that they are available to perform some of the auxiliary actions that the crew can do? (Shields and things?)

In our game the cahpeelat is also the Mechanic, he/it (a droid) gives me a Boost during Peelat rolls - checking sensors diverting power etc and I look over his shoulder mumbling about damaging the circuits while assisting it/him as I assist with Mechanics as I took 1 rank in it during PCgen for the back story.

During a swoop race he was the Pit Co-Ordinator, Chief Mechanic, Electrical Engineer, Pre-Race Course Advisor, Advanced In-Race Power Usage Director and In-Pit Back Seat Pilot, feeding my Pilot info via the radio-com, all my Pilot did was steer the swoop. A good GM can find plenty for a co-pilot to do.... a great GM helps your co-pilot to assist your pilot to finish a swoop race and not end up as a bloody smear on the hairpin bend.

Co-pilots are not pilots. That was made clear by the devs on multiple occasion. Co-Pilots have no access to pilot only maneuvers or actions.

Sweet! Thank you for answering. Can you point me to one of those occasions? If not, I'll take your word on it.

That being the case, what special function do co-pilots serve on the ship? Just that they are available to perform some of the auxiliary actions that the crew can do? (Shields and things?)

Diverting power, jamming comms,gunnery? stuff like that IIRC all add boosts or advantages. I'm AFB - EDIT: Page 237 Core Rules. Additional Starship and Vehicle Actions

For the swoop race, the Mechanic/CoPilot would make say.. a Mechanics check, successes would give me boosts or advantages on the next section of the course, any threats or disadvantages would hinder my pilot in the next section of the course OR the rolls of my Mechancic/CoPilot could overcome them with HIS successes. AS FAR AS I CAN REMEMBER

So TBH the success of my Pilot hinged on the SUCCESS of my 'pit crew'

This, in my opinion, led to much more enjoyable race/game session, and each player was fully engaged in the encounter. The droid player didn't have to sit there for 10-15 minutes while I got my Piloting (Planetary) jollies.

PS.. we came second , which was worth it because coming first could have caused problems during the next part of the adventure.

The main purpose of the copilot is to support the pilot. That said, their station should be capable of performing all piloting actions should the pilot become disabled or simply be away from the controls. What they cannot do is act as a second pilot concurrently with the primary pilot.

Speaking of copilots, what are others thoughts on the autopilot droid brain using the copilot action? It's come up in several discussions and I'm just curious as to others opinions. Both in a freighter and a fighter. Just curious

Everybody needs a good Curse Advisor.

Speaking of copilots, what are others thoughts on the autopilot droid brain using the copilot action? It's come up in several discussions and I'm just curious as to others opinions. Both in a freighter and a fighter. Just curious

Personally I think NPC's shouldn't provide much more than a Boost dice, Stay on Target has a good section on NPC droids helping pilots.

Speaking of copilots, what are others thoughts on the autopilot droid brain using the copilot action? It's come up in several discussions and I'm just curious as to others opinions. Both in a freighter and a fighter. Just curious

That one is on the ship to provide skilled assistance to someone who has good hand-eye coordination, but doesn’t necessarily know much about piloting.

IMO, it wouldn’t be able to act as a co-pilot on it’s own.

However, there are other options where a droid could act as a co-pilot — like when an R2 unit is plugged into a droid socket.

Can a pilot perform the Co-pilot action?

For example, a TIE Fighter pilot using the Co-pilot action to downgrade a Fly maneuver through an asteroid field.

If not, then I don't see how a single seat ship can navigate hazardous terrain safely.

Can a pilot perform the Co-pilot action?

For example, a TIE Fighter pilot using the Co-pilot action to downgrade a Fly maneuver through an asteroid field.

If not, then I don't see how a single seat ship can navigate hazardous terrain safely.

The answer would be: Slowly.

All 4 chasing TIE-Fighter pilots die in a collision.

Can a pilot perform the Co-pilot action?

For example, a TIE Fighter pilot using the Co-pilot action to downgrade a Fly maneuver through an asteroid field.

If not, then I don't see how a single seat ship can navigate hazardous terrain safely.

Possibly, I'm AFB so exact wording may exclude it, but on face value it seems reasonable, just adds to the idea it takes time to get through.

Of course anything with an R2 unit (especially an R2 PC) can get through much quicker.