My players are on Nar Shaddaa, and we ended last session with TIEs and a Gozanti heading for their powering up ship still on the landing pad. We stopped there, but the pilot asked about flying through the buildings to avoid being shot at, since he thinks the ship is too easily hit and the party doesn't want to spend credits fixing up the ship.

So now I have a party who thinks it's safer to fly in, around, and through the buildings of Nar Shaddaa than through open air being shot at.

How would you handle this? Since the TIEs are going to be effectively short range when they push off the landing pad, I didn't think a Chase was in order. Also, the TIEs can just easily fly overhead, eliminating the need for ridiculous piloting checks.

I was thinking of doing something like this: Not run a Chase per se, but if any TIE wants to shoot at them, then the TIE pilots have to make checks equal to the PC ship in order to shoot at them? Or should I allow the TIEs to merely fly overhead, maybe making slightly less difficult checks to line up a shot on this crazy freighter? Then say as long as they are low enough to necessitate Hard checks, the Gozanti wouldn't have a clean shot. All this while they try to plot hyperspace routes to get away.

Is that wildly inaccurate for some reason?

Have you seen the crash rules? Those buildings aren't made of paper mache, they're Durant eel and concrete. I'd rather be shot than try to fly through a building.

Through a building would be at least 3 major collisions in my book, in, the stuff inside, and out. That would add up to a big mess after a building or two for the PCs....oh, and probably HT equal to speed at least.

Considering how much of a ridiculously built up hive Nar Shadda is, I think flying low would actually be a good way to loose their pursuers (assuming their pilot is as good as he obviously thinks he is).

Fly down a tunnel meant for landspeeders, trains, etc. Fly through an empty storm drain (we are talking about a city that covers the entire moon), etc etc. Fly under the overhang of an arch shaped building and then through a parking garage, then double back and head down an entirely different angle of narrow streets and tall towers. All sorts of ways you could break contact, and with that much metal and energy zipping around the towering edifices I expect it would play merry hell with the enemy's sensors.

It actually sounds like a really cool chase scene/action movie moment. Roll with it, and make it work.

Watch the Jedi Knight Cutscene for the level "Double Cross on Nar Shaddaa" to get an impression of the city. It's a nice fly-through.

But I don't know how fun a chase scene with a Gozanti Cruiser really is. I think it's not as fast or maneuverable like a YT-1300 or similar..

Don't know, somehow I think about that chase scene in .. what was it .. episode 2? On Coruscant. But with a Gozanti it reminds me more of the underwater canyon scene in "Hunt for Red October"...

Taking your chances with the TIEs at high altitude might be safer than risking a high-speed collision with a building from a purely practical standpoint, but a fast, turning chase through a maze of towers is definitely more in the Star Wars idiom.

"Sir, the chances of successfully navigating this district are approximately-"

"I SAID NEVER TELL ME THE ODDS!"

Being better than Tie pilots and seeing them smash to pieces as the pilot out maneuvers them in a crowded and dangerous area is iconic star wars. I would be hesitant to discourage said behavior. Roll with it.

Thanks all. I suppose my question wasn't so much "Should I or shouldn't I?", but more about the rules mechanics involved.

I'm currently away from my books, so I don't have the crash rules in front of me. I assume they are generous and costly at the same time.

In my head, I imagine the freighter zooming and banking through the buildings, with a trio of TIEs at higher elevation taking shots at it, while higher than that at safe altitude, the Gozanti closes in.

Going to go with giving the pilot options for altitude, the lower they go, the less they'll get shot at, denying the TIEs the ability to Gain the Advantage, and even providing Cover.... At the cost of more difficult Pilot checks. Whatever the PCs do, the TIEs will have to do at one less difficulty in order to be able to shoot at them. If they get too high in altitude, they get shot at from the Gozanti.

I'll let you know how it goes.

The 'Beyond the Rim' adventure has some fun rules for flying through the colossal junk pile that is Raxus Prime while suffering... shall we say... Imperial Complications. Essentially, they have built up a few narrative mini-setpiece complications where positive results on Piloting checks (Advantages and Triumphs) lead to good things happening (collapsing junk on pursuers, boost dice on next check, increasing distance to foes, etc.) and negative results lead to bad things (collisions of varying severities, setback dice, etc.) You can either roll dice to select what complications are hit, or just choose the ones that seem coolest. Of course, gunners can still fire on the pursuers, slicers can use electronic warfare, etc.

My group really enjoyed it, and I think something similar would work well for your situation. You could easily toss in a few complications (positive and negative, of course) that include the Gozanti. Good luck, it sounds like a fun encounter!

There is a complete list of spending advantages and disadvantages etc. Floating around here somewhere. It includes suggestions for an asteroid chase that I think would be easily adopted here.

On 4/28/2017 at 2:24 PM, R5D8 said:

Thanks all. I suppose my question wasn't so much "Should I or shouldn't I?", but more about the rules mechanics involved.

I'm currently away from my books, so I don't have the crash rules in front of me. I assume they are generous and costly at the same time.

In my head, I imagine the freighter zooming and banking through the buildings, with a trio of TIEs at higher elevation taking shots at it, while higher than that at safe altitude, the Gozanti closes in.

Going to go with giving the pilot options for altitude, the lower they go, the less they'll get shot at, denying the TIEs the ability to Gain the Advantage, and even providing Cover.... At the cost of more difficult Pilot checks. Whatever the PCs do, the TIEs will have to do at one less difficulty in order to be able to shoot at them. If they get too high in altitude, they get shot at from the Gozanti.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Stellar Phenomena covers the manner to set Difficulty as well as Setbacks for the terrain. More or less rolling a Despair is your crash, unless you intend to crash, in which case, you just crash....no dice needed..... Collisions are a gray box on p. 256 AoR.

It's "legends" now (Dark Empire II: Issue #2: Duel On Nar Shaddaa) but this is relevant (the beginning of the issue is relevant about flying through the Duros sector)

So, first round, the PCs will want to Punch It to a speed they think they can handle. The TIEs are on them right now, so they'll get in a few shots, but remember that every time the Fail the Piloting check at the end of the round, they drop in speed. And the faster they go, the harder it gets.

The second-best PC pilot will want to use the Copilot action to downgrade the difficulty. If he can eliminate all those red dice, the PCs won't crash. The guy with the highest Intellect/Astrogation will want to Plot A Course, to eliminate Setback dice.

It's possible for the group to lose the TIEs by causing them to fall behind. But even better, since I assume the TIE pilots are minions, every time they roll Despair on the chase roll, one of them dies. Collision=Crit=Disabled TIE.

And the Gozanti really shouldn't be able to keep track of them. This ain't the Grand Canyon, it even New York City. This is layers upon layers of tightly packed city, with the most corrupt architectural safety officers you ever did see.

On 4/28/2017 at 8:28 AM, MasterZelgadis said:

Watch the Jedi Knight Cutscene for the level "Double Cross on Nar Shaddaa" to get an impression of the city. It's a nice fly-through.

But I don't know how fun a chase scene with a Gozanti Cruiser really is. I think it's not as fast or maneuverable like a YT-1300 or similar..

Don't know, somehow I think about that chase scene in .. what was it .. episode 2? On Coruscant. But with a Gozanti it reminds me more of the underwater canyon scene in "Hunt for Red October"...

You mean this one?

This also gives a good indication of flying around in Nar Shaddaa:

Yep, this one

The second one of course gives impression of Nar Shaddaa in the Old Republic era, the Dark Forces video plays after the fall of the empire

(Late to the party, I know). Don't forget that page 240 of the EotE core book has explicit rules for flying through difficult terrain. Interestingly enough, a big freighter will be able to fly through difficult stuff at top speed more easily than a TIE (not accounting for boost/setback from maneuverability). A TIE can slow down to get easier checks, of course, creating conditions for a chase. According the table, you'd also be adding at least 2 setback, if not three or more.

20 hours ago, Genuine said:

(Late to the party, I know). Don't forget that page 240 of the EotE core book has explicit rules for flying through difficult terrain. Interestingly enough, a big freighter will be able to fly through difficult stuff at top speed more easily than a TIE (not accounting for boost/setback from maneuverability). A TIE can slow down to get easier checks, of course, creating conditions for a chase. According the table, you'd also be adding at least 2 setback, if not three or more.

Of course, the TIE fighter will be getting Boost dice from its superior Handling, while the big freighter is likely to be getting more Setbacks due to having negative Handling.

9 hours ago, Dafydd said:

Of course, the TIE fighter will be getting Boost dice from its superior Handling, while the big freighter is likely to be getting more Setbacks due to having negative Handling.

Yup. But if your designated pilot doesn't have a handful of talents that remove setbacks, then you shouldn't be flying around buildings to start with.

[edit]Corrected spelling of 'your'

1 hour ago, Genuine said:

Yup. But if you're designated pilot doesn't have a handful of talents that remove setbacks, then you shouldn't be flying around buildings to start with.

Truth