Heya I was wondering how one could go about taking a HWK 290 Light Frieghter and have a "hopefully" rough in game translation stats wise to the Moldy Crow. Namely it also states It can take six passengers? When the default can only handle 2.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Moldy_Crow

(However the details on this could be incredibly wrong)

Would love some feedback on this soon, otherwise I just might have my part stick with the YT-1300 that I'm ... *Cough*goingtocrashhorriblythisnextsession*cough* Possibly on the fence of replacing with something a touch more in the expanded universe/not so well known light freighter. (My next bet would probably be the "ghost" as a replacement for the party as well. Namely because I like the design of that one too)

The HWK-290 has a bumpy history regarding it's details and such. Variations in it's size and capabilities resulted in it being a mess of conflicting sources, with no one able to figure out how big it was or what it could do.

FFG reconciled this with the introduction of the HWK-1000, a ship with the same shape and similar performance, but the larger size, with a note that because of the extreme exterior similarity and rarity of the 1000, they are often mistaken as 290's. Essentially it's a subtle joke suggesting that everyone statting the "big" version of the Crow had never actually seen a 290 and were instead applying the big numbers for a 1000 to an obviously smaller ship.

If you want to go "moldy crow" with more passengers (default on the 1000 is 4) that's how to do it. Just be advised the 1000 is one of the best craft in the game once you've invested some upgrades in it.

I've seen the Cross Section on the Moldy Crow and that book has it listed as a heavy fighter and the cross section art itself showed no room for anything. I've actually been thinking about generating some homebrew stats for such a version but I doubt it would come up in one of my games.

The Moldy Crow is tiny. If you go back to the game and the cinematics you realize the smaller size is correct.

FFG asked Lucasfilm about the HWK-290 dimensions and they answered that it's 16.5 meters long (same length as the Y-wing). So it's really tiny and fits size 3. I actually think that the 2 passengers are exactly that, temporary passengers that can't stay long because there aren't bunks for them. It's really a starfighter with a cargo hold than anything else.

I'd avoid the Ghost like the plague, it's much too big and too bulky to be effective unless you have a very skilled pilot. It's a size 5 ship with -3 manouverability. If you want something better than YT-1300 look at the YT-2400 or the Nova Courier.

FFG asked Lucasfilm about the HWK-290 dimensions and they answered that it's 16.5 meters long (same length as the Y-wing). So it's really tiny and fits size 3. I actually think that the 2 passengers are exactly that, temporary passengers that can't stay long because there aren't bunks for them. It's really a starfighter with a cargo hold than anything else.

I'd avoid the Ghost like the plague, it's much too big and too bulky to be effective unless you have a very skilled pilot. It's a size 5 ship with -3 manouverability. If you want something better than YT-1300 look at the YT-2400 or the Nova Courier.

I would go wayfarer befor going VCX 100. At least the Wayfarer can carry a couple fighters.

FFG asked Lucasfilm about the HWK-290 dimensions and they answered that it's 16.5 meters long (same length as the Y-wing). So it's really tiny and fits size 3. I actually think that the 2 passengers are exactly that, temporary passengers that can't stay long because there aren't bunks for them. It's really a starfighter with a cargo hold than anything else.

I'd avoid the Ghost like the plague, it's much too big and too bulky to be effective unless you have a very skilled pilot. It's a size 5 ship with -3 manouverability. If you want something better than YT-1300 look at the YT-2400 or the Nova Courier.

The VCX-100 shines if you have good pilot and mechanic. The ship is hurt a lot by it's inability to do evasive maneuvers, but at the same time it has tons of HT and SS and is one of the most affordable ships with an retrofitted hangar options. Which means that you up to 3 fighters or 2 fighters and 3 swoops ready to go as well.

And a ghost + fighter escort is a force which can be scary even for imperial class star destroyers. (I said can, not usually is.)

FFG asked Lucasfilm about the HWK-290 dimensions and they answered that it's 16.5 meters long (same length as the Y-wing). So it's really tiny and fits size 3. I actually think that the 2 passengers are exactly that, temporary passengers that can't stay long because there aren't bunks for them. It's really a starfighter with a cargo hold than anything else.

I'd avoid the Ghost like the plague, it's much too big and too bulky to be effective unless you have a very skilled pilot. It's a size 5 ship with -3 manouverability. If you want something better than YT-1300 look at the YT-2400 or the Nova Courier.

The VCX-100 shines if you have good pilot and mechanic. The ship is hurt a lot by it's inability to do evasive maneuvers, but at the same time it has tons of HT and SS and is one of the most affordable ships with an retrofitted hangar options. Which means that you up to 3 fighters or 2 fighters and 3 swoops ready to go as well.

And a ghost + fighter escort is a force which can be scary even for imperial class star destroyers. (I said can, not usually is.)

And a good pilot can treat the ship as 1 silhouette smaller meaning they can do fighter manuevers in it...which has to be all kinds of scary with the VCX is chasing you like a fighter...It shouldnt be able to do that

FFG asked Lucasfilm about the HWK-290 dimensions and they answered that it's 16.5 meters long (same length as the Y-wing). So it's really tiny and fits size 3. I actually think that the 2 passengers are exactly that, temporary passengers that can't stay long because there aren't bunks for them. It's really a starfighter with a cargo hold than anything else.

I'd avoid the Ghost like the plague, it's much too big and too bulky to be effective unless you have a very skilled pilot. It's a size 5 ship with -3 manouverability. If you want something better than YT-1300 look at the YT-2400 or the Nova Courier.

The VCX-100 shines if you have good pilot and mechanic. The ship is hurt a lot by it's inability to do evasive maneuvers, but at the same time it has tons of HT and SS and is one of the most affordable ships with an retrofitted hangar options. Which means that you up to 3 fighters or 2 fighters and 3 swoops ready to go as well.

And a ghost + fighter escort is a force which can be scary even for imperial class star destroyers. (I said can, not usually is.)

And a good pilot can treat the ship as 1 silhouette smaller meaning they can do fighter manuevers in it...which has to be all kinds of scary with the VCX is chasing you like a fighter...It shouldnt be able to do that

This is not something that the RAW supports.

FFG asked Lucasfilm about the HWK-290 dimensions and they answered that it's 16.5 meters long (same length as the Y-wing). So it's really tiny and fits size 3. I actually think that the 2 passengers are exactly that, temporary passengers that can't stay long because there aren't bunks for them. It's really a starfighter with a cargo hold than anything else.

I'd avoid the Ghost like the plague, it's much too big and too bulky to be effective unless you have a very skilled pilot. It's a size 5 ship with -3 manouverability. If you want something better than YT-1300 look at the YT-2400 or the Nova Courier.

The VCX-100 shines if you have good pilot and mechanic. The ship is hurt a lot by it's inability to do evasive maneuvers, but at the same time it has tons of HT and SS and is one of the most affordable ships with an retrofitted hangar options. Which means that you up to 3 fighters or 2 fighters and 3 swoops ready to go as well.

And a ghost + fighter escort is a force which can be scary even for imperial class star destroyers. (I said can, not usually is.)

And a good pilot can treat the ship as 1 silhouette smaller meaning they can do fighter manuevers in it...which has to be all kinds of scary with the VCX is chasing you like a fighter...It shouldnt be able to do that

I wish this would be true, but I nearly all methods to reduce silhouette only work against attackers, but not on the ship itself.

Tricky target works only against attacks, ecm works only against attacks, night shadow coating … works in combat. So it does not really depend on a good pilot, but on a good paint job.

Though I would assume that night shadow coating is an intentional fluke and not rules as intended. Besides it comes with the big issue of being restricted which makes your mobile base outlawed in most civilized space which comes with problems on its own.

Yeah, a coating on your ship's hull doesn't really make it handle like a smaller vessel--unless it's red and you're a WH40K Ork.

Yeah, a coating on your ship's hull doesn't really make it handle like a smaller vessel--unless it's red and you're a WH40K Ork.

Which is the reason I assume that it is a fluke. Though you could argue that the coating makes targeting so hard that it can open the option for evasive maneuvers, etc … in case of sil 5 ships . You might not maneuver as hard, but in combination with enough speed and the targeting issues it becomes enough. So it might be intentional.

I think I did send a rules question about that to FFG, but never got an answer.

The way i see it Nightshadow coating doesn't let you do evasive manouver but forces the enemy to count you as 1 size smaller, increasing the diffculty. Nigthshadow + ECM would make the Ghost size 3 for an opponent, which isn't of any use against TIEs or the Millenium Falcon, but it helps alot against stuff like Gozantis, Cr90 and Consulars and Marauders, besides anything bigger.

I still think that for the Ghost to pull off the stuff we see in Rebels Hera must be a Pilot/Rigger and have quite a lot of talents in the rigger tree, besides the skilled jockey and tricky target talents from pilot.

On the other hand a HWK-290 with ecm and nightshadow coating + pilot witha tricky target talent becomes quite hard for TIEs and a nightmare for any size 4 ship.

I still think that for the Ghost to pull off the stuff we see in Rebels Hera must be a Pilot/Rigger and have quite a lot of talents in the rigger tree, besides the skilled jockey and tricky target talents from pilot.

Well, the nightshadow coating cost 1 hp, might unlock evasive maneuvers for the ghost, they do use a secondary transponder mod (SM, p67) in one of the episode, which leaves 2 hp for a basic retrofitted hangar bay for the Phantom. The weapons are stock and they seem to do indeed evasive maneuvers with the ghost. Chopper might be the rigger of the crew, Hera is most likely an Ace Pilot which adds tricky target.

This would be not only consistent with the show, but as well consistent with the X-Wing Miniature game, which gives the VCX-100 zero agility, but still an evade action, meaning a huge target profile which still can avoid damage if you spend some pilot attention for it.

You kind of convinced me that this loophole is intentional. Maybe I should retry asking that question again.

On the other hand, what they do in the show that looks like "Evasive Maneuvers" might just be the narrative demonstration of Hera's Defensive Driving and Tricky Target talents.

I really dislike the intepretation that some special paint (aka Nightshadow) makes your ship shrink 1 size. The enemy sees you 1 size smaller but the ship stays the size it is. And a size 5 ship can't do evasive manouvers.

The fact that a B-2 bomber might be seen as big as a seagull on a radar thanks to its stealth tech, does not make it fly like a seagull.

Also look at the description of the nightshadow coated smuggler compartments: the check to find them becomes harder but the compartments don't become smaller.

I really dislike the intepretation that some special paint (aka Nightshadow) makes your ship shrink 1 size. The enemy sees you 1 size smaller but the ship stays the size it is. And a size 5 ship can't do evasive manouvers.

The fact that a B-2 bomber might be seen as big as a seagull on a radar thanks to its stealth tech, does not make it fly like a seagull.

Also look at the description of the nightshadow coated smuggler compartments: the check to find them becomes harder but the compartments don't become smaller.

This is the interpretation I use for Nightshadow Coating. Your ship isn't getting smaller, it only looks smaller to others.

I really dislike the intepretation that some special paint (aka Nightshadow) makes your ship shrink 1 size. The enemy sees you 1 size smaller but the ship stays the size it is. And a size 5 ship can't do evasive manouvers.

The fact that a B-2 bomber might be seen as big as a seagull on a radar thanks to its stealth tech, does not make it fly like a seagull.

Also look at the description of the nightshadow coated smuggler compartments: the check to find them becomes harder but the compartments don't become smaller.

You are now mixing up size with silhouette anyway. Silhouette is not a fixed size, it is an abstract concept that includes target profile, size and agility of a ship.

Just because that F-117 has that nice stealth coating which reduce its radar signature by magnitudes does not make it physically smaller either, but it for sure has a much easier time evading enemy missiles as smaller movements have larger effects.

Besides, the coating does not make your ship look any smaller either.

Silouhette doesn't change. There are talents and mods that make it *look* smaller to enemy ships when fired upon, but the real silouhette never changes as far as the ship's pilot is concerned.

And isn't the "has a much easier time evading missiles " already reflected in the upgraded difficulty of targeting it?

And IMO against guided missiles it mightt be conceivable to allow evasive manouvers (but it's probably enough to upgrade the difficulty of the check), but not against a TIE fighter or the lasers of a Gozanti or a Corvette. However I don't remember the Ghost being fired with missiles so i can't reference what happened on screen.

But the best way to sopve the issue once and for all is to submit the question to the devs and get an official answer, i think you can do that by email.

And isn't the "has a much easier time evading missiles " already reflected in the upgraded difficulty of targeting it?

Yes and no, that open to interpretation. Technical evading maneuvers are something that takes attention from the pilot, while passive boni like having tricky target or just being in a ship which has a small target profile is something that makes it harder for people to hit you without requiring extra attention from you. It fits my spacesim experience as well, as you can acquire an rather erratic flight style which does not take away focus from flying, especially your offense or can switch to a mode which is especially aware of your enemy fire and utilize flight patterns which are build around the idea of evasion. It one of the fun parts which makes the circle flying fun in space sims as you do not have unlimited attention to spend on each thing.

Anyway, my guess is still that the fluke and indeed submitting a rules question should work best to really find out the intention of the coating. And while at it, it for sure would be interesting how easy it is to spot. It is nothing you can just enter to your ship's manifest, so Boss is always an issue if you use the restricted coating.

Well, the nightshadow coating cost 1 hp, might unlock evasive maneuvers for the ghost, they do use a secondary transponder mod (SM, p67) in one of the episode, which leaves 2 hp for a basic retrofitted hangar bay for the Phantom. The weapons are stock and they seem to do indeed evasive maneuvers with the ghost. Chopper might be the rigger of the crew, Hera is most likely an Ace Pilot which adds tricky target.

Don't forget the reason it's called Ghost - the pseudo-cloaking device.