Do both the pilot and the vehicle suffer 2 strain if the pilot performs 2 maneuvers in the pilot's turn?

As the Speeder bike has a strain threshold of 3, starts with 1 strain from being shot at by enemy speeders, that means that if a pilot tries to perform a 2nd maneuver, it breaks down and stops?

I ran through this encounter on paper, and the speeder bikes spent the whole chase trying to keep up with the AT-STs. Not sure if I'm doing something wrong.

1. There's a fundamental difference between pilot maneuvers and vehicles performing the maneuvers. The pilot can suffer two strain to perform a second maneuver during his turn. A vehicle must suffer 2 system strain if it performs two pilot-only maneuvers (such as accelerate, decelerate, fly, evasive maneuvers, etc), regardless of where that extra maneuver came from (like Advantage spent by the pilot).

2. No. The speeder bike would only become non-functioning if its System Strain exceeded its threshold. So sitting at 3 system strain, it would still be functional.

3. Speeder bikes have a higher max speed than the AT-ST. Not to mention they have better handling. So they should be able to catch up no problem in the dense jungle, especially given the river. Run it as a chase, and allow the difference in speeds to effect a change in relative distance at a 1:1 ratio. Keep it simple

ALSO...be prepared for your players to play it smart and take the Lambda-class shuttle instead of the speeder bikes

Thanks for the help, but I'm still kind of confused. First up, I haven't been able to have a good look through the full rule book (I don't own it), mostly the adventure book and beginner rules.

What is the difference between pilot maneuver and vehicle maneuver? I couldn't see anything to clarify this. In Vehicle Characteristics "Vehicles and starships can suffer strain much like characters and for the same reason (to perform a second vehicle maneuver...)" and under the Shortcut text "Note that this means that in this encounter, the pilot can move the vehicle three times in a turn if he or she succeeds on this check and also suffers two strain to take a second maneuver".

Edit edit: Oh I think I get this now - if it's a maneuver under the "pilot" heading, then it'll count as a maneuver for the vehicle? The speeder bike is an odd case because it gets the gunner "aim" maneuver as well, but because it's not normally a maneuver a pilot can do then it doesn't count? Doing an "aim" and a "move" in speeder pilot's turn won't strain the vehicle?

2 - OK awesome.

3 - Oh? Can you elaborate? That's not how I read the rules. I mean, I know it makes absolutely no sense, but the campaign book said to treat vehicle movement exactly like character movement (ie 2 moves to get from extreme to long, etc). The Beginner Rules had more in depth rules about this, but it seemed that speed 2 and speed 3 were both the same in terms of moving through range bands, and the only difference would be the difficulty in trying to catch up with the other vehicle, but the only relevant action for that is "Shortcut" action in this campaign, which has nothing derived from vehicle speed in it at all?

The Lambda Class shuttle may experience a mysterious technical failure

PS - the river? Are there actually rules for that? The map doesn't seem like it was designed by someone who understood the campaign (extra door on garage, corridor lengths vs garage length...many minor things that don't seem quite right), so I had decided to use it as a guideline only and draw another map for my players...and completely ignore the river.

Ah, the shortcut action. This is a bit of an anomaly, specially constructed for this encounter. I would say that, given the flavor of the action, this "move" would not count against the vehicle's maneuvers made per round, and so wouldn't cause system strain. That is the way I am interpreting it.

The beginner game rulebook expounds on maneuvers made at personal scale and in vehicles under Chapter VI > Starship And Vehicle Combat > Maneuvers.

7 minutes ago, spacebug said:

So, if the pilot uses the Move (Maneuver) twice in a turn, he gets strained because he's done 2 maneuvers in a turn, and the ship gets strained because it's done 2 maneuvers in a pilot player's turn? How about speeder bike, if the pilot uses move and aim, both maneuvers...I would assume the pilot takes the strain, but not the bike because Aim is not a maneuver for the vehicle? Or, changing crew stations, that has to be a maneuver for the player, but not the vehicle. I really don't see anything that makes it clear which of these maneuvers count as maneuvers for the vehicle?

Yeah, all the maneuvers listed under the Pilot heading would be "pilot-only" and thus are maneuvers that the vehicle is performing. Aiming, drawing a weapon, and other maneuvers not listed under the Pilot heading are not pilot-only, and thus are not maneuvers that the vehicle is performing, and therefore would not incur any system strain. It's pretty simple in concept: if the vehicle itself is being caused to perform a second maneuver, then it is strained as its systems are being taxed.

13 minutes ago, spacebug said:

3 - Oh? Can you elaborate? That's not how I read the rules. I mean, I know it makes absolutely no sense, but the campaign book said to treat movement exactly like character movement for the vehicles. The Beginner Rules had more in depth rules about this, but it seemed that speed 2 and speed 3 were both the same in terms of moving through range bands, and the only difference would be the difficulty in trying to catch up with the other vehicle, but the only relevant action for that is "Shortcut" action in this campaign, which has nothing derived from vehicle speed in it at all?

Ah, right, there are no "Chase" rules in the Beginner Game. My bad. The way I described it is sort of the stripped-down version of the Chase scene described in the Core Rulebook. I think the Shortcut action should get you there, though—that's even more stripped-down, and that's probably why they put it there instead of the generic Chase rules.

A few points for consideration: Sarev doesn't have a great piloting skill pool, and he's rolling with a setback for handling, and one or more additional setbacks for the rough terrain (especially the river). And the adventure notes make it clear that he's just blundering forward, beelining for the bunker, so I wouldn't have him take any Shortcut actions. Leave that to the players. Give 'em that, combined with their +1 Boost for good handling, and they should have a decent chance at incapacitating the walker before it gets to the bunker.

26 minutes ago, spacebug said:

The Lambda Class shuttle may experience a mysterious technical failure

Ha ha I let my players have it in the end (only 1 of the 3 groups I've taken through the adventure thought of it), and it was a crowning moment of achievement for them. I'd advise you to be careful when causing a tech failure, since if you're running the follow-on adventure, they might need the shuttle for part of it. Don't wanna stymie them unintentionally!

Thanks for the help, it's making more sense now!

As for the Lambda Shuttle, I just ran up to the interlude, and they not only broke the engine well and truly, they rigged up a grenade and a tripwire to blow up anyone who tries to use it. So there goes that plan.

I wasn't planning on running the follow-up adventure, but yes I really should have a look at it before I run the second part at the very least. I guess I'll just have to make them repair the shuttle again!

Thanks again.