I had a question about the skill check boxes on the character sheet. What is the point of the basic check box? The rules state that all skills are considered basic and that the first time that a character takes a skill it counts as trained. If that's correct, why would a skill ever just have the basic box checked?

There are Basic and Advanced skills. You may make tests on untrained Basic skills at half the relevant statistic, but Advanced skills require training Some character creation options allow you to make tests as if a specific Advanced skill were Basic, thus the checkbox.

Some skills are usually basic skills. Some skills are usually advanced skills. Advanced skills cant be used without having the skill as an actually trained (ie possessed) skill. However, some background options (origins, career path, perhaps alternate careers, background packages, species and so forth) let certain characters have advance skills treated as basic skills.

I assume that standard basic skills that everyone has access to use are not "pre-checked" on the sheet because future careers, origins and what not may present characters that treat certain basic skills as advance skills and so forth.

Some skills are basic skills. Anyone can roll against 1/2 their attribute. An advanced skill can only be rolled if you have the skill. Also note that some background allow you to treat certain advanced skills as basic skills.

Peacekeeper_b said:

The explorator can take the Machnator Array talent, which basically removes the ability to swim. So there are already ways to lose basic skills.