Alright, all of your points about range, obstacles, and silhouette make perfect sense. In retrospect, I'm not even sure why I asked about range... that's what I get for trying to post while herding toddlers.

I don't intend to add to the already-considerable debate about the Ghost, Hera, and what the stats "should be." I'm still curious about your distinction about using an opposed roll only when there's a small piloting crew. To me, it seems very arbitrary. You might just as well say that you'll use standard gunnery rules against Minions and opposed rolls against Rivals and Nemeses.

To toss my 2 cents in on the Ghost/VCX-100 debate, I just want to inform that it is actually a quite sizeable ship: we are talking about 30m wide and 45-50m long with two decks, in comparison to a Gozanti-class Cruiser which is 32m wide (wingspan) and 64m long with two decks, so it can actually be justified being a silhouette 5, but silhouette as described by the developers is a very abstract thing anyway.

(Based off my observations where they are docked in SW: Rebels)

20 hours ago, SFC Snuffy said:

I'm still curious about your distinction about using an opposed roll only when there's a small piloting crew. To me, it seems very arbitrary. You might just as well say that you'll use standard gunnery rules against Minions and opposed rolls against Rivals and Nemeses.

Ah, to summarize our discussion we felt that if a ship required a large enough bridge crew / secondary crew stations, it was pushing into that "arbitrary" category of being too big and lacking sufficient dexterity as a ship that the pilot(s) just cannot do any sort of evasive flying. After all I doubt your average star destroyer is that maneuverable.

But the main reason for the wording has to do with silhouette 5 ships in general, we were arguing originally for what silhouette this rule should be used till and everyone could find a reason why to and not to use the rule with silhouette 5.

A rule of thumb would be if the ship lists very specific crew stations like the Consular-Class Light Assault Cruiser or the Gozanti-Class Armed Transport would use the rule, but the Vigil-Class Corvette which has a crew of 200 officers, enlisted, and troops represents a ship that requires a large number of individuals working together to function properly and doesn't use the rule.

FYI, yes the Vigil-Class Corvette was one of the most argued for or not for and we again compromised with the CR90 Corvette, saying that the ship complement of 30 is an alliance modification to make the Corvette more responsive and automate most manned features but the ship has +1 difficulty to all mechanics checks representing the lack of personal interfering with repairing and maintaining the ship (made everyone happy).

I am currently working on something, which might interest you. I am about to finish it in apx. 1 day, then I'll post it.

So this weekend, instead of gaming we decided to make some practice pilot characters, both starter and at the 150 XP earned.

Result

Very Fun, Drawn out battles that are still just as lethal.

With an opposed gunnery vs. piloting check it became very hard for real pilots to get hit, but just like before if you got hit, it was a big deal.

Minions still ruled space combat with there inflated health thresholds.

So after many, many, many chuckles, giggles and far more deaths due to collisions then we saw coming we talked about why space combat was lethal.

And it quite simple came down to those vehicle health thresholds not caring if you were a Player, Nemesis, Rival or Minion. So a simple rule that still makes Piloting skill a thing and makes space combat a little more like ground combat. Player, Nemesis and Rival all add their Agility plus Ranks in Pilot (space/planetary) to the vehicles Hull to determine its threshold. If a ship has the co-pilot station then you add both the pilot and co-pilots to values to the vehicles hull.

What sold this idea for my group was when one member asked what happens then when you get into a damaged vehicle that the previous pilot could use but your Agility plus Piloting is below the current damage of the craft, and a party member cracked "Well you just don't know how to talk to the old girl." After laughing, we liked the idea that your over all ability in piloting also showed how well you were at getting a vehicle to continue moving even past its normal limits. Also it's a lot less rules bending, but we still plan to keep the previous rules for special scenes, like a fight with a long time rival or nemesis.

On 17.5.2017 at 0:39 AM, Leopardao said:

As far as I know range isn't a thing in vehicle vs. vehicle combat.

Range management is key when in combat with ships with different ranges. Keeping your distance with a ship that offers longer ranges can nullify firepower disadvantages quickly and movement can delay shows while your weapons recharge as well.

1 hour ago, SEApocalypse said:

Range management is key when in combat with ships with different ranges. Keeping your distance with a ship that offers longer ranges can nullify firepower disadvantages quickly and movement can delay shows while your weapons recharge as well.

Yeah like my group at the moment. Thy have a YT-2400 as their ship and opted for two Twin-Linked Heavy Laser cannons, instead of the Quad-Laser. Paired with the modded targeting array, they can shoot at medium distance at their targets, while those can't retaliate.

It has to prove itself in a dense combat though yet. It isn't a dedicated combat vehicle after all, and my guys are Rebels.