I need some advice on how to handle an upcoming situation dealing with a space scenario.

The very experienced (800 XP) crew of the PC's starship has been sent to the planet Nava to obtain some valuable information.

The star system they are about to jump into is a very young star system with upwards of 30-40 planets and planetisimals, and lots of comets, asteroids, dust, etc. They are going to find that almost every full planet is shrouded in the dust and have rings. Between them and the planet that they want is an Imperial presence, consisting of a Star Destroyer and it's compliment of TIE fighters.. As the system is an unknown system, as soon as they jump in, the Imperials will know that they are unauthorized and will act accordingly. The planet has a tracking system that the Imperials use to plot courses through the debris, but this will not be available to the players.

I planned on using the normal rules for starship travel (Speed/Silhouette) and add Setback dice to represent the sheer amount of debris that is around, but I wanted to give the Imperials some advantage as they are tied into a tracking system and should be able to avoid the worst of the debris.

The Star Destroyer will remain near the planet and will attempt to grab them with a tractor beam as they get closer.

If they can make their way to the planet's atmosphere they can escape into the dust clouds enveloping the planet.

1) Are the normal rules for starships (Sil/Speed) with Setbacks enough for the situation outlined above? If so, how many Setbacks would be necessary? Or do you think extra Upgrades would be appropriate.

2) Would the sheer amount of dust and debris slow the ship down when considering traversing range bands?

3) If the PC's run, I plan on using the CHASE rules, but what advantages would the TIES gain because they have tracking data? Would upgrades or Boosts be more appropriate?

4) In a Chase scenario, how can I represent the Star Destroyer waiting by the planet ready to grab the PC's ship?

5) How much would sensors be affected by the debris? And would having a non-pilot use the Co-Pilot action, or Plot Course, be enough to represent tracking a course through the system and should these difficulties be increased.

6) Should all the ships gain some advantage when being targeted as due to the debris, or is this something that is already taken into consideration with the ship computers.

7) Once (if) they make it to the planet, is a Stealth roll appropriate for hiding?

Thanks for the insight in advance.

I assume they'll jump into the outer system so they can properly plan their route so that Star Destroyer will be obvious to them before they detect them but that doesn't mean there isn't a TIE patrol out there.

So have them run into a pair of those I'd suggest they try and lose them either by using the tail of a comet or asteroid belt, etc to escape their sensors if they really want to persist in heading for that planet they need to escape detection to make a short hyperspace jump to the other side of the planet and land before the Star Destroyer realises they're there

Easiest way to fool them is give them a blast site to make them think you either blew up or crashed then get your mission dealt with and hope to plan a distraction that's enough to get your ship offworld and clear before they can deploy sufficient TIEs to either stop or delay you for it to get into range of their tractor beams or guns either way this depends on your PCs...

Good luck either way!

How much setback dice are you planning on giving them initially?

It was going to depend upon the course that they laid out. They aren't aware that the Imperials are at the planet as the information that they have gathered has led them to believe that the planet is abandoned. Around the planets, or the asteroid belts between planets, I was going to go as high as 3-4 Setback. The other areas would be at least 2 Setback.

The tracking system of the debris should become almost useless the moment when players don't follow the save corridors and force the imperials into the middle of it. Star Wars has extremely unrealistic, but awesome dense debris and asteroid fields which lead to the issue that navigation becomes a task of reaction mostly normally.


Now you could define that the tracking system is so good that it can send telemetry data and calculate optimal course true the debris similar to modern augmented reality pilot assist systems.

In that case the imperials get definitely boost dice, most likely several …until someone starts jamming. Either way they still get the same 1 to 4 setback dice based on the terrain.

I need some advice on how to handle an upcoming situation dealing with a space scenario.

The very experienced (800 XP) crew of the PC's starship has been sent to the planet Nava to obtain some valuable information.

The star system they are about to jump into is a very young star system with upwards of 30-40 planets and planetisimals, and lots of comets, asteroids, dust, etc. They are going to find that almost every full planet is shrouded in the dust and have rings. Between them and the planet that they want is an Imperial presence, consisting of a Star Destroyer and it's compliment of TIE fighters.. As the system is an unknown system, as soon as they jump in, the Imperials will know that they are unauthorized and will act accordingly. The planet has a tracking system that the Imperials use to plot courses through the debris, but this will not be available to the players.

I planned on using the normal rules for starship travel (Speed/Silhouette) and add Setback dice to represent the sheer amount of debris that is around, but I wanted to give the Imperials some advantage as they are tied into a tracking system and should be able to avoid the worst of the debris.

The Star Destroyer will remain near the planet and will attempt to grab them with a tractor beam as they get closer.

If they can make their way to the planet's atmosphere they can escape into the dust clouds enveloping the planet.

1) Are the normal rules for starships (Sil/Speed) with Setbacks enough for the situation outlined above? If so, how many Setbacks would be necessary? Or do you think extra Upgrades would be appropriate.

2) Would the sheer amount of dust and debris slow the ship down when considering traversing range bands?

3) If the PC's run, I plan on using the CHASE rules, but what advantages would the TIES gain because they have tracking data? Would upgrades or Boosts be more appropriate?

4) In a Chase scenario, how can I represent the Star Destroyer waiting by the planet ready to grab the PC's ship?

5) How much would sensors be affected by the debris? And would having a non-pilot use the Co-Pilot action, or Plot Course, be enough to represent tracking a course through the system and should these difficulties be increased.

6) Should all the ships gain some advantage when being targeted as due to the debris, or is this something that is already taken into consideration with the ship computers.

7) Once (if) they make it to the planet, is a Stealth roll appropriate for hiding?

Thanks for the insight in advance.

+1 upgade to all Piloting checks due to dense debris- PC and Imperial.

To represent the advantage the Imperials receive from their satellites, I'd treat the system as Difficult Terrain for the PC vehicle- slows the PCs down, allowing the ISS a chance to run down the PC vehicle.

The PCs can try jamming the enemy, specifically to negate the Difficult Terrain during a chase. I'd add setback (2, 3 at most) to the Computers check.

This is a bit railroad-y, but if the PC vehicle makes a run to hide behind a planet the ISS is using the same planet; perhaps they can avoid this "unfortunate coincidence" by making a successful Plot Course check (again, with setback due to the debris).

Hiding the vehicle...personally I'd ask for a Piloting check.

I'd try to keep checks to a minimum unless there is a direct engagement.

And the first time the group rolls a Despair result...

Thanks everyone for your help. The crew made it safely to the planet by becoming a blockade runner. It was a good 2 hours of fun and I appreciate everyone's comments.