So you have a Technician who is a Slicer.

With him/her are two Astromechs to help with the Slicing.

They're on board a YT-1300 with a ID that is known for its Scum affiliations. But it's on a direct course for a New Republic planet and needs to pretend it's a different ship. If it doesn't it'll face a fleet of starships with dozens of starfighters, and that's before it even gets to the planet.

I'm here to ask a simple question, which might not have a simple answer:

Can a PC and two NPC helpers perform Slicing actions on one ship against other ships?

I'm aware that a ship can mask it's signature (Ghost on Rebels did it) but I'd like to complicate things a little.

There are checks you can make in the smuggler splatbook to mask, forge, cancel your signature. In addition there are a number of 'slicing' checks allowed in ship combat as well. So, yes, you can slice from a ship.

There are checks you can make in the smuggler splatbook to mask, forge, cancel your signature. In addition there are a number of 'slicing' checks allowed in ship combat as well. So, yes, you can slice from a ship.

Sweet! Thanks.

I'd like to have a tense Slicing session rather than a simple ID mask fly by. I'll try not to make it too difficult.

The Technician book has slicing rules for dialing up the checks of a contested slicing encounter.

You might need some special gear on the ship. There really isn't much in the way of 'wireless' slicing traditionally.

The Technician book has slicing rules for dialing up the checks of a contested slicing encounter.

I'm already enjoying that! In fact, it's partly to blame for me wanting to run a Slicing Encounter. Highly recommend Special Modifications for Techies and Hackers.

You might need some special gear on the ship. There really isn't much in the way of 'wireless' slicing traditionally.

That's what I was thinking. Perhaps things like data breakers and slicer gear which were built into the ship. Bit more expensive than the handheld gear, but bigger with better range.

I would be very, very, very careful about allowing slicing (as in using the slicing rules from Special Modifications) on another starship. All the slicer would have to do is make a single Lockdown check (Hard difficulty) and then the other ship is shut down and helpless for one hour. That's a very bad presedence to set.

Just remind the players that anything they can do to someone else, is something that can also be done to them.

And if they go ahead and abuse it anyway, then you should definitely use it against them.

I would be very, very, very careful about allowing slicing (as in using the slicing rules from Special Modifications) on another starship. All the slicer would have to do is make a single Lockdown check (Hard difficulty) and then the other ship is shut down and helpless for one hour. That's a very bad presedence to set.

If the players did that, the rest of the fleet would investigate. Not a good idea. That's why I was going for some computer trickery to fool ship sensors.

Just remind the players that anything they can do to someone else, is something that can also be done to them.And if they go ahead and abuse it anyway, then you should definitely use it against them.

Oh yes. Though little more than a Crewman X with no unnecessary characteristics, there will be someone sat at a computer on the opposing ship.

I really like the Slicing Encounter presented in Spec Mods. I've already got a backup plan for if things go badly, but hopefully it won't be necessary to play a chase encounter through a system. Not that the pilots would mind.

I would be very, very, very careful about allowing slicing (as in using the slicing rules from Special Modifications) on another starship. All the slicer would have to do is make a single Lockdown check (Hard difficulty) and then the other ship is shut down and helpless for one hour. That's a very bad presedence to set.

And that's why I only allow the slicing of ships, that can be controlled by remote, based on the principle: No physical connection no slicing.

I only allow the slicing of ships, that can be controlled by remote, based on the principle: No physical connection no slicing.

Colour me intrigued.

I'd like to know how you would go about bypassing a fleet of ships to land on a planet where you'd not be welcome if they knew who you really were.

If possible as a Slicing Encounter.

One idea I had, as a possible alternative, was to capture a ship which wouldn't alert the fleet or planet. Slicing being used to stop the crew from setting off an alarm while being silenced themselves, and getting the necessary security codes and access codes.

Realistically, it wouldn't be too absurd to suggest that comms and sensor gear might be air-gapped from other systems in a military vessel. What this means to me is that a Scum slicer might be able to spoof sensors or mess with comms, but certainly won't be able to interact with the rest of the ship's systems. I would also say that a military vessel would have a slicer onboard and on duty.

It probably wouldn't be too absurd to rule that in most vessels air gap as a practice. I could see instances where, after a Destiny Point expenditure, that so-and-so mechanic just happened to leave the engine diagnostic software online at the enemy ship's last port of call and thus a skilled slicer could interact with that with the right rolls - but as a practice it's not so easy.

It just doesn't make a ton of sense (and yes, I'm using the term lightly; after all, laser swords and samurai wizards and whatnot) to have ship designers not consider the consequences of slicing on a vehicle.

IMO, the same statement holds true for civilian vehicles, as much as it does for military vehicles.

I mean, Pirates are a real thing, and Pirates doing slicing is definitely something that would be first on their list — if they could do so.

So, the fact that there aren’t any known instances of Pirates doing slicing, that tells me that the rules as provided in SM are almost certainly not applicable in general to ships or vehicles.

This is the song that never ends. The whole there is no wireless slicing or there is no remote anything is born of the fact that the OT was made in the mid 70s and not by Skunk Works engineers at Lockheed. Then comes the PT and we have drones, wireless command and control ships, guided munitions, and a single wireless 'master control' wireless command that switched off the droid forces. The TFA premieres and we have smart bullets from ventral cannons, as well as Rey and Finn being 'locked out' of the Falcon's controls remotely. The point being the tech has been reflective our times in which the movies were made. Given the math and engineering mountains Star Wars tech would have to climb for a great deal of the tech we see, it's pretty much game on for whatever a GM wants to do at their table and none of it is blasphemy imo.

We must also consider that despite the setting containing a galactic civilization, the technology available to systems and manufacturers differ wildly. We already see examples of this on our own tiny planet, so it stands to reason that the same would be true of a galaxy with at least 25 thousand years of recorded history and billions of sentient species.

I would note that one of the "Additional Starship and Vehicle Actions" listed in the core rulebook chapters on vehicle combat is "Slice Enemy Systems," which allows you to do some limited disruption of another ship's shields or weapons or inflict some system strain. This establishes this as something that is possible while also setting a relatively low baseline for how much mischief it can do. I would probably also rule that you have to be within sensor range to slice an enemy ship, which could create problems if you are in a tramp freighter with Short range sensors being scanned by a picket ship with Medium range sensors.

It's possible that a ship that is not on full alert might be vulnerable to greater mischief, but I would stress the high level of risk involved. If the EWAR specialist on the other ship notices that someone is mucking about with their systems, then they're going to alert their ship and any friendly ships in the vicinity while they start narrowing down the list of suspects. And it only takes a single successful Trace User action to pinpoint who's doing the slicing so that the gunners know where to point their guns.

A potential house rule I would consider would be that a dedicated EWAR specialist on-board a ship, i.e. someone who remains at the same station and only spends their actions on Computers checks during their turn, can oppose slicing attempts instead of allowing the intruding slicer to just roll against the normal Hard difficulty. If nothing else, it would give players with the Slicer spec more opportunities to use those Defensive Slicing talents.

Don't forget, in Special Modifications , there is a vehicle attachment called a "Slicing Computer". On page 67:

Although most starships include sophisticated computers and comm equipment capable of slicing into the systems of enemy vessels, such electronic warfare tactics are usually overlooked in favor of more conventional attacks. However, some crews undertake efforts to upgrade their on-board systems for precisely this kind of work. With the right equipment and software, a skilled computer expert can become one of the most valuable crew members in a space battle. Many Technicians continue to tinker with and add to the ship's computer systems over time, sometimes to the confusion and frustration of other crew. This attachment can be applied to any starship.

If you can't slice other ships in a space battle this attachment wouldn't exist.

Scanners and communication gear has to be slicable, right? But if the ships engine and other systems are tied to that, then I would say no if the players didn't come up with something very fun or creative. Maybe have them flip a point or take strain/system strain, depending on what they want to do. Increase or add risk if you want.

The jawa mechanic in my game took down an enemy fighter by immitating bird sounds(star wars equivalent) over the comms an affecting that fighter's systems. I wasn't going to let him do it, but he pointed me to a real life example where this had been done with actual jets a few decades ago.. So I thought, what the hell. Always embrace creativity, right? And rule number one: have fun!

I think he flipped a point. Everyone enjoyed it.

Don't forget, in Special Modifications , there is a vehicle attachment called a "Slicing Computer". On page 67:

Although most starships include sophisticated computers and comm equipment capable of slicing into the systems of enemy vessels, such electronic warfare tactics are usually overlooked in favor of more conventional attacks. However, some crews undertake efforts to upgrade their on-board systems for precisely this kind of work. With the right equipment and software, a skilled computer expert can become one of the most valuable crew members in a space battle. Many Technicians continue to tinker with and add to the ship's computer systems over time, sometimes to the confusion and frustration of other crew. This attachment can be applied to any starship.

If you can't slice other ships in a space battle this attachment wouldn't exist.

Sure it would. You have the "Slice Enemy Systems" action, which does one (or two, with Triumph) specific things to a single enemy ship without involving the other, more detailed slicing rules from SM.

Sure it would. You have the "Slice Enemy Systems" action, which does one (or two, with Triumph) specific things to a single enemy ship without involving the other, more detailed slicing rules from SM.

The description of the attachment references the slicing rules from the starship combat rules and isn't intended to be used with the expanded hacking rules so I completely agree with you there.