So last night, it was finally revealed to the group that they had been caught up in a plot by an Imperial Admiral and manipulated to further her ends - I weaved together Beyond the Rim, Jewel of Yavin, and Mask of the Pirate Queen for such ends - and that Aris Shen had been an undercover Rebel Intelligence agent who was able to arrange for them to be rescued by the Rebellion from an Imperial Death Trooper ambush. Now, they've been employed as Rebellion agents so they can get revenge on their former employers.

The Rebellion has agreed to pay the bounty for the Veiled Sorority queen and clear their Criminal obligation from the Jewel of Yavin heist, and they've also offered them Rebellion resources. One of these options I've considered making a ship - but I'm not sure how I feel about the group having two freighter-class ships instead of one. Perhaps it's simply that they've had one for so long I've not explored much with two, but I'm still debating.

Has anyone ran for a group that has two 'main' ships and what have you found are the pros and cons of such a situation?

One of my PC's first missions was retrieving a stolen freighter; and so as they made their way back to their employer, they had two ships. To be honest, I kinda miss it sometimes.

Pros

One problem with most ships in Star Wars is a lack of gunnery stations. Sure, you can have a copilot assisting the pilot and people helping out with damage control, but a lot of players don't find that as fun as flying or shooting. With two ships, the crew was spread thin enough for everyone to have something fun to do.

Most of my players have busy lives, so it's not uncommon for anywhere from 1-3 of them to be missing from a given session. Having a separate ship is a good way to get the characters of the absent players off-screen without complicating things.

If you have a group like mine that really likes to split up, having a second ship gives them a lot more freedom in doing so.

Cons

Double docking fees, fuel, maintenance, etc. (assuming that you're not just hand-waving such things).

Socialization among PC's hampered by being separated in between missions.

What would be the purpose of the PCs having a second freighter? There isn't much point in having one just to have one - why do they need it (and need it badly enough for the resource-strapped Alliance to hand it over to them)?

That may not sound very helpful, but unless there's a clear reason to have two freighters, all it's liable to do is add more bookkeeping without adding anything to the story or gameplay. (And if the PCs don't have the right skillsets to cope with two ships, they may not want to bring a second one along anyhow.)

If the idea is to make space encounters more dynamic then that's something better done with environmental circumstances. If you really, really want two ships involved then look for a different second one that the PCs can reasonably make use of - a battered old Y-wing that can be clamped to the freighter is probably a better bet.

One reason is that the captain of the original ship owes the bounty hunter a ship since she accidentally blew up his ship in the past - which is how they meant and allowed him to work off her ship for his bounty hunts. We've also talked about the times when players are absent, and a second ship helps with that.

They've certainly got the skills to cope - both the Smuggler and Bounty Hunter are good in space, and the Bounty Hunter intends to pick up Operator eventually. Since they're basically now facing the new Director of Imperial Advanced Weapons Research as the campaign Nemesis - plus the full might of IsoTech, the Zann Consortium and a faction of the Black Sun - having two ships to go against the vastly superior resources of their enemies helps a little with the challenge, especially with one ship being more of a 'combat and pursuit' craft and the talents Operator gives.

I always have various ideas if they decide to embrace the Rebellion more fully - a lot of them are hesitant about it at the moment, given their histories, except for our Bounty Hunter and Explorer - and it would see them involved in some pretty heavy space battles, and maybe eventually the Battle of Endor.

Pretty much the same here. My PCs have always had two ships- a Jumpmaster and a Sorosuub 3000. The player who owns the Jumpmaster is not often able to make it, so it's easy to say he's doing over-watch or chasing a bounty head. The only times it really could've caused trouble to have two ships in the party would have likely been during the big chase scenes a while back, but the one player in question was absent. The REAL problem is keeping track of all the NPCs they tend to store in those ships. However, I suspect this is more my own personal problem rather than any problem caused by multiple vehicles. One anecdote worthy of mention is that PCs seem very likely to get attached to ONE ship. They've captured a few prizes during their adventures, but in their own minds, nothing compares to that Sorosuub 3000. Suppose my advice would be: don't sweat it, but try to keep in mind how two vessels could complicate certain narrative scenes and how you'll write around it.

A Y-wing is great idea, Garran. The party found one on Cholganna, so the token Rebel fixed it up out-of-pocket and has a bug-out bag stashed in it.

So on a side note- I've kept my eye open for quick-and-easy starship operations cost tables- anyone seen such a thing in any of the books? It's about time to start chipping away at that disposable income. Hey, maybe I should introduce an ancillary NPC operating cost while I'm at it. : P

15 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

One anecdote worthy of mention is that PCs seem very likely to get attached to ONE ship. They've captured a few prizes during their adventures, but in their own minds, nothing compares to that Sorosuub 3000. Suppose my advice would be: don't sweat it, but try to keep in mind how two vessels could complicate certain narrative scenes and how you'll write around it.

For sure, I imagine. And, largely, it would be the Mandalorian has his ship - the Jai'galaar - where they might keep prisoners or other dangerous people since it's more equipped for it, and then the Rogue Zenith (YT-2400) is the 'iconic' ship. At least, for now. I guess, similar to how Luke had his X-Wing and then there was the Falcon .

Oh, forgot to say - the second ship is a Lancer -class Pursuit Craft.

Our group had a Yacht, a sil 5 ROC-Gozanti cruiser, armed to the teeth as current base of operation, a VCX-100 modified into a mini-carrier and command center two fighters and had as well other scout ships, V-Wings, X-Wings, Y-Wings, etc … and those ships had always been used based on the mission profile, replaced as the need arises, traded in or requested from starfighter command.
The key is has always been what the group currently needs, the Yacht for example is the ship one of the characters is attached to, an piece of Heirloom from her late father, prized possession, a clean and clear record with Boss and the one ship which I don't we will ever blow something imperial up with. We have used it a few times for stealth missions or hidden diplomatic missions, it sees rarely combat and not only because the player owning the ship was busy in the recent months with personal stuff.
Meanwhile the mini-carrier (first the VCX-100, now the ROC) has always been the centerpiece of the small rebel fleet of our little rebel cell. The ship which is there for the heavy combat duty, maintenance of other fighters and small scale shuttles, the ship which does the heavy lifting, while scout ships and air speeders are alway the first thing to deploy when entering unknown areas, the high sensor range, combined with usually at least some form of stealth abilities make them nearly risk free in deployment to clear a path, allow for infiltrating planets or breaking blockades.

So to sum this "tell me about your group section" up,
we have made only positive experiences as a group with having several ships in use at the same time. What goes without saying is that crew size can quickly expand beyond the scope of the player group, in our case for example the Yacht is owned by one of the player characters and operated by her and her bodyguard droid (another pc), meanwhile the ROC has a squad alliance special ops npcs with a commanding officer in form of a PC, a crazy group of self-build gunner npc droids (mono-task droids with elimination directives), astromechs for the fighters (pc and npc) and even a beast rider for special environment missions who takes the role of pathfinder for the players rebel unite. So it is basically a organisational mess … highly flexible, which makes it easy to fit the group into all kind of adventures, but already involved into the military structure of the alliance enough that not every adventure will work out anymore. Which is one of the key things to consider when increasing scope, influence and firepower of the player group. The group might outscale some stuff and the crew requirements, logistics involved, but as well the ability to deal with threats changes. This is something to consider not only when your group starts to own their own little fleet, but as well when you upgrade from light freighters to warships for example. A CR90 has for example some significant crew requirements, but as well some serious orbital bombardment power already.
Two light freighters are still on the tame side of things, as long as the PC group covers enough pilots both ships should operate efficient enough and the scope does not change dramatically, especially as two cheap light freighters have less combat prowess than some of the heavier armed mediums or armed transports and about the same crew requirements as well. So best is to look what your players make out of the second ship. Do they new specialised each one for a unique task, do the players used them as Wingmen to increase combat effectiveness and cover blind spots, etc … as GM you can at first watch relaxed and see what your players do with their new toys and adjust accordingly.

Yeah, and the Mandalorian has become somewhat of a 'protector' of the rest of the group, and he adds a bit of legitimacy to their endeavors, since he's got an IPKC and various contacts they wouldn't otherwise have. Plus, mutual enemies is a reason for them to stick together.

So our group has recently picked up a second ship and we always have been on that line of thought anyway. Heck, we have one player eager to build a whole fleet!

We are firmly in an EotE campaign now and are kinda planning on morphing into a AoR campaign. Unfortunately we've angered the rebels a lot and blew up two of their X-Wings . . . (But I digress).

Back OT.

So we have the main ship (Currently a YT-2400) which we use as our main center of operations. The second ship is a stolen Star Viper (ABY 1-3 so . . . um . . . Obligations: you are totally hosed)! The GM has permitted us to dock the two ships during mid flight and Hyper Jumps so we don't have "separation of crew" issues yet. And having a powerful fighter available for escort and combat is really nice.

If we do have an issue it is that our players do not have their characters "socialize" while in hyperspace. So even having 30 ships may not be a problem for us for now.

I concur with Vorzakk's assessment and that's how things are working for our group too.

6 hours ago, SEApocalypse said:

We have made only positive experiences as a group with having several ships in use at the same time.

Oh man, now I'm kind of jealous of your game/group. There's the advantage of having a true home base. When the game's more of a "tramp freighters" setting and the PCs tend not to settle anywhere, they're inclined to bring everything with them. Thanks for sharing that- it's something I hadn't thought of.

6 minutes ago, Superunknown said:

Oh man, now I'm kind of jealous of your game/group. There's the advantage of having a true home base. When the game's more of a "tramp freighters" setting and the PCs tend not to settle anywhere, they're inclined to bring everything with them. Thanks for sharing that- it's something I hadn't thought of.

Thing is, we are still constantly on the move and I think we have brought the alliance about a dozen ships so far, captured fighters, freighters, our old VCX-100, etc … duty mechanics and contribution rank and the whole chapter about alliance structure are all there for reasons, the group for example got an A-Wing for my character has the first duty reward, we tuned it up for combat and reconnaissance missions and it is now my little baby, but when we found an old jedi holocron (and played chronicles of the gatekeeper) we ask for permission from the alliance to pursuit this old lead to jedi knowledge and requested to assign the A-Wing temporary someone else and get a V-Wing loaner, because a clone war relict would not bring the imps down on our tails each time we use it. When we returned the V-Wing to starfighter command, we brought along two Aethersprite, a hyperspace ring, established a hidden alliance base, etc … the A-Wing could have been gone, just like all goodies the alliance can provide are always based on what the GM is willing to hand out and what makes sense in context of the current mission assignment.

So basically, we invest a lot of the party resources into keeping in good standing with Alliance Starfighter Command and Alliance Support Services which pays off from time to time. But, we still have basically everything from "our" stuff on the ships, from fighters in the retrofitted hangar bay over bacta tanks and oil path on the infirmary to the armory with quite a lot of rifles, blasters, explosives, suits and armor. So yeah, having a ship to call home is a lot fun too. We nearly went with a homestead instead, but unfortunately some events lead to us leaving Ryloth in a hurry with a bunch of dead inquisitors, slave traders, TIEs on our six and our ships transponder (VCX-100 at the time) burned, which lead to quite the nomadic lifestyle for months and especially strong case of paranoia. Thank god for Sil 5 ships and the retrofitted hangar bay.

All that flexibility in my group is based on duty and contribution mechanics, we are part of the alliance, we take orders when given and operate on our own in search for opportunities when alliance command has nothing fitting to do for us (which has been lately basically never), but you can have something very similar with the homestead mechanics from the colonist source book. Edge of Empire is actually suited rather well to play on a single domain like a colony or a single city instead. The space tramp aspect is purely optional even when it might be a damocles sword which hands over all PC operations in case they screw up and bring the wrath of the empire, hutt, shadow collective, etc upon themselves and need to flee their homes and everything they build up.

Which reminds me, that soon we might getting assigned to a new base … on hoth.

One Ship? Two Ship?

Green Ship? Blue Ship?

3 minutes ago, Mark Caliber said:

One Ship? Two Ship?

Green Ship? Blue Ship?

Actually, one will potentially get a repaint to match the Mandalorian's armor - which is green and blue!

See? Green and blue!

With forward-mounted dual-lightsabers

4 hours ago, StarkJunior said:

See? Green and blue!

Hmm, I'm assuming that's a silhouette 3 fighter type ship. I'd love to see a deck plan of that ship scaled up to silhouette 4 so that the cockpit shown there was more of a 4 man falcon size . Disregard, I see that it is a sil 4 ship. That would make a neat ship to have to use if I ever get to play again.

What book is that from?

15 minutes ago, Ahrimon said:

Hmm, I'm assuming that's a silhouette 3 fighter type ship. I'd love to see a deck plan of that ship scaled up to silhouette 4 so that the cockpit shown there was more of a 4 man falcon size . Disregard, I see that it is a sil 4 ship. That would make a neat ship to have to use if I ever get to play again.

What book is that from?

No Disintegrations.

The lancer comes with a special targeting computer as well, which allows to fire all weapons, including the tractor beam in one action, which makes it the perfect ship to operate with a single crewmen or just the pilot and copilot in place. It is still better when you have more crew, but it already works nice enough with just the pilot.

When my players began hoarding all the ships, they got hold of, at first I wasn't very enthusiastic. But then I realised what a terrific dump for excess credits they represented; the maintenance/fuel/docking cost multiplied. In the end they bought a Temple-class hulk to refit as a carrier for a couple hundred grand; the project has gobbled up more than a million so far, become a major Obligation, and is far from done.

So, yes, I'd say: More ships, more fun!

Yeah, it's an awesome ship. I've been looking for a deck plan, but so far, I can't seem to find anything!

2 hours ago, StarkJunior said:

Yeah, it's an awesome ship. I've been looking for a deck plan, but so far, I can't seem to find anything!

At least from the impressions I get in rebels, it basically a single deck, with an x of corridors going from the docking ports on the sides and from the cockpit to the engine section, with an unknown number of cargo rooms and crew quarters in between. Nothing to fancy on the deckplan side.

edit:

But I am not 100% sure were the docking ports really are. Checked the blood sister episode again, I remembered wrong. Seems like the docking is aft and the ship rather small on space.

Yeah, I was watching some of the episode and looked at some concept art. I'm sure a deck plan will appear eventually!

My party in the campaign I run have about 6 ships but it's because they are forming their own mercenary army. They've even had a space station constructed above Rattatak that helps to keep the ships docked and maintained. Their largest is a restored Hammerhead Cruiser from the Old Republic era.