Hey guys,

i just bought the "Stay on Target" sourcebook and the Hotshot profession sounds like fun. I just don't quite get, what' this profession is really about.

So he can transform system strain into personal strain and he has a fancy maneuver to make minions crash. But why would i pick the Hotshot over the Pilot anyway? How do i make him work properly?

So far, i had the impression , the Hotshot really works well together with an E-Wing and an Astromech for "Hold together" abuse. Is that all?

Thx for the help and the insight.

The Hotshot is the flashy show off pilot. If all you want is to get from A to B as fast as possible then Pilot is probably a better choice.

The Skills and Talents lend themselves well to a high Presence character, it's a way to be Maverick.

I'll dive a bit deeper later

In a nutshell, Pilot is the Technician, Hotshot is the Performer.

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TechnicianVersusPerformer

The Hotshot's gimmick is to be able to push their starfighter to the extreme, especially as it's easier to recover personal strain than system strain, allowing them to more frequently take additional Pilot-only maneuvers. And bear in mind that most starfighters have a system strain threshold in the single digits, so the ability to prevent your snubfighter from taking system strain is not to be overlooked.

The deal with hotshot is it works better with high performance fighters. Craft like the A-wing can do some neat stuff, but the low system strain these craft have make it difficult to really get the most out of them. By allowing the ability to convert system strain into easy to recover personal strain, the hotshot can compensate for a fighters low strain, or push a regular fighter well beyond its limits.

Remember, a huge part of vehicle combat is the action/maneuver economy. So the hotshot can take that second pilot only maneuver more then a conventional pilot, which is quite a thing.

I like hotshot for race drivers. That is all.

I'm playing a brawn 4, will 3, rest 2 human marauder right now. He's a swordsman and a kind of duellist, which means that blaster and such are out of the question.

Yet in space, swords have a rather short reach, so i fancied that he should become a fighter jockey later , taking his duels to space. Also i don't want to get too strong in meele and leave the rest of the team behind in terms of combat strenght.

So, i figured i would take dex 3 through dedication in the marauder tree and spec some pilot stuff after that.

But browsing through the pilot specs, i'm not quite sure if ace pilot or hotshot is the better way. Hotshot seems to nail it fluff-wise, after all he's got a duel signaute ability.

Yet i fear i would get slaughtered out there without Tricky Target and Evasive Maneuvering.

So, that's it.

Any input would be appreciated.

Might be a weird way for me to look at it, but I sort of like the NPC with a TIE, having the High-G Training, coupled with Intense Presence, or whichever. Dodge System Strain, and then heal up their own, all for the price of a Destiny flip. One thing I have often had trouble with, regarding this system, is why the GM would usually flip any; most people are just incidental, and a few are BBEG, but then the party can run out of the points, especially if they have a Force-user in the group, who might need some to use their powers. I can see this as a nice trade, where the hotshot NPC continues to survive, and dog the players, but they ARE getting a little something out of it, for their trouble.

I'm playing a brawn 4, will 3, rest 2 human marauder right now. He's a swordsman and a kind of duellist, which means that blaster and such are out of the question.

Yet in space, swords have a rather short reach, so i fancied that he should become a fighter jockey later , taking his duels to space. Also i don't want to get too strong in meele and leave the rest of the team behind in terms of combat strenght.

So, i figured i would take dex 3 through dedication in the marauder tree and spec some pilot stuff after that.

But browsing through the pilot specs, i'm not quite sure if ace pilot or hotshot is the better way. Hotshot seems to nail it fluff-wise, after all he's got a duel signaute ability.

Yet i fear i would get slaughtered out there without Tricky Target and Evasive Maneuvering.

So, that's it.

Any input would be appreciated.

Popped in while I was typing I have the image, now, of a Lord Commissar, poking out the top of a fast-moving TIE fighter, saying "get me closer! I want to hit them with my sword!" Darth Vader can sub in here, too, if you aren't familiar with Warhammer 40,000.

For the character, this sort of goes into one of the things that's given me a problem in all my years of Star Wars RPG; I build for something (Jedi, in my case), only to learn that we will be moving into something exceedingly different (piloting, in my case, which is convenient). Why I usually try to ask the GM if we can expect a ground-based campaign, or a space-based, squadron game. Almost everyone in SW can pilot SOMETHING, but I'd rather not be completely out of my element, flying a high-response fighter. As for your situation, while I know the Pilot talent you named is a ways down the tree, and you've already spent enough into one tree to get a Sig, it might pay to invest in Pilot, and Hotshot, at least some. Otherwise, if you get to use squadrons, the Silhouette bonus won't be too big a problem, and you'll have strap-on health packs, if you'll forgive the uncaring tone, there, regarding NPCs. Partially, it all depends on what you are going to be doing; soloing with a fighter, nearby other players, doing the same, or moving with squadrons, and how much your melee-based character is now being asked to leave that field behind.

Honestly Gunner is probably the better specialisations for you. In a Dogfight Gunmery is almost as important as Piloting, especially if you get to shoot first. Gunner has a lot more to offer your character that's useful outside of a ship too, True Aim, Jury Rig, Durable, Enduring. Now you won't be getting Piloting Space as a career skill, but your probably only going to get 1 or 2 ranks anyway, so the 5-10xp extra is worth it.

If your set on Pilot/Hotshot then you need to think about how each of them work. Your never going to have a 5 dice Piloting pool so anything that relies on a big positive result should be avoided.

With Pilot therefore I would advise avoiding the left column, your character is simply never going to have the quick reactions required to get a vehicle that fast, or control it once your going warp speed. But Pilot does have some useful talents, Skilled Jockey, Dead to Rights, Let's Ride and Master Pilot are all great and early in the tree. Tricky Target and Defensive Driving both help you survive, but Brilliant Evasion is probably beyond your abilities. With Planetary, Space and Gunnery you can throw a bit of XP at Skills and not be "wasting" any... But all those talents are specific to piloting vehicles.

Hotshot on the other hand is flashy in AND out of the vehicle, they are a risk taker no matter what. Short Cut and Second Chances have uses outside of combat, and a decent Cool is handy for a lot of Initiative checks and also recovering Strain after encounters. Koiogran Turn is great because no check is required, and High-G Training will let you get more out of your vehicle

Thx for the input so far. Think i will just see where the road leads the char. Hotshot is definitly not off the table but time will tell

Hey guys,

i just bought the "Stay on Target" sourcebook and the Hotshot profession sounds like fun. I just don't quite get, what' this profession is really about.

So he can transform system strain into personal strain and he has a fancy maneuver to make minions crash. But why would i pick the Hotshot over the Pilot anyway? How do i make him work properly?

So far, i had the impression , the Hotshot really works well together with an E-Wing and an Astromech for "Hold together" abuse. Is that all?

Thx for the help and the insight.

BTW, what do you mean with "make minions crash", the correllian sendoff is based on Hans move to get a collision between two chasing ISDs. Shame we are limited to use it on same or smaller silhouette targets

But, well, it still works against enemy aces, and technical even against targets like vader. One hard cool check and they get their potential lethal critical.

https://youtu.be/DOFgFAcGHQc?t=3m3s

The Koiogran turn allows to negate all GtAs on him with the use of a single active maneuver, which is great in target rich enviroments when your own GtA actions are aimed at your target and his wingmen is trying to scratch you from his buddies back.

High-G tolerance is another thing which helps a lot when you are outnumbered and forced to spend each turn doing double maneuvers, fly like the devil while can not afford to waste time with damage control.

Lastly showboat can basically guarantee a triumph and increases the chance for double triumph by about 400% on a 5Y ace pilot if memory servers me right. This means a hotshot with enough xp should be able to get rid of a whole flight of eyeballs (TIE/LN) without even bothering to fire a single shot at them. He literally out flies them with ease. And if he chooses to shoot in most scenarios that Triumph from showboat means he still gets GtA to line up his next shot on his next target.

Everything about the hotshot is about fancy flying ad having the nerves and coolness to provoke collisions on your enemies and simply outfly them with your maneuvers.

Now pilot/hotshot is imho the natural progression for a hotshot, master pilot and brilliant evasion support and enhance the abilities of the hotshot even more. And this holds true when you are an unlucky smuggler/pilot as hotshot gets you the cool skill as career option and helps you a lot with actually running or evading imperials.

With all that said: All pilot professions work very well with astromechs, especially PC mechs who bring the whole toolset of a support character to the table. Does not even mater if the droid is a engineer, ace, technician or even slicer. The increased action economy combined with the special mech maneuvers and actions are usually better than having a second ship. So that synergie with with mechs is not limited to hotshots. Makes the old clone war interceptors especially interesting as well, V-Wings and Delta's come all with astromech sockets, something which is not as easy to get into an A-Wing.

If your set on Pilot/Hotshot then you need to think about how each of them work. Your never going to have a 5 dice Piloting pool so anything that relies on a big positive result should be avoided.

Oh, you mean that specific character. Now that is true. Imo the hotshot is not really so much of a presence ace, but more like someone with still high agility, but a focus on cool. A 5 dice pool on cool is all you need as a hotshot, does not matter much if your presence is just 1 or 2, but you absolutely have to nail those pilot checks when you call showboat or else you will get drowned in despair.

I still think Gunner is the best option for this character, it has the most synergy for the Marauder, an odd but functional pairing.

Edit, it also means your XP is not overshadowed when the party is in a big ship by the actual Pilot of the party

I still think Gunner is the best option for this character, it has the most synergy for the Marauder, an odd but functional pairing.

Edit, it also means your XP is not overshadowed when the party is in a big ship by the actual Pilot of the party

That really depends, nothing wrong with having the Marauder as Gunner sure, works for most Wookies.

At the other hand, nothing wrong with getting that retrofit hangar for the big party ship and launch fighter support from it and than having actual pilots is for sure a good idea to have. The agility of 2 is a little crippling.

Another thing to consider is that the hired gun career offers two amazing signature abilities, so taken maybe another one of those, something with gunnery should be enough to fill the gunner position on the party ship.

Pilots are the equivalent of NASCAR drivers...skilled and steady. Hotshots are street racers...not much skill and pedal to the metal.

The Hotshot's gimmick is to be able to push their starfighter to the extreme, especially as it's easier to recover personal strain than system strain, allowing them to more frequently take additional Pilot-only maneuvers. And bear in mind that most starfighters have a system strain threshold in the single digits, so the ability to prevent your snubfighter from taking system strain is not to be overlooked.

This. A Hotshot's natural home is the A-wing or E-wing (with R7 astromech). An A-wing which uses the Punch It! maneuver basically explodes instantly - unless it's a hotshot at the helm, whilst, as you note, Hold Together! with an E-wing makes for a fighter which can take 2-3 times the abuse of an X-wing. With a couple of ranks of Grit and Intense Presence, even more.

Showboat - the "automatically add a triumph/despair to a roll" is a good one, too. Remember that the easiest checks you'll find yourself doing in a space combat are Piloting (Space) checks whilst flying something nippy. An A-wing at max chat pulling Gain The Advantage with someone with agility 4 and a couple of ranks of Pilot (Space) is as near an automatic pass as makes no odds (especially with Second Chances up your sleeve) giving you a boatload of advantage and at least one Triumph to hand out to everyone else in the squad.