What specc would you all advise as a captain specc?

16 minutes ago, Paris Teta said:

What specc would you all advise as a captain specc?

Some of this depends on what you view as "necessary" for a captain. And a captain of what? A large capital ship would require high leadership, lots of ranks that boost it. But some of the smaller scale leader stuff like Field Commander, Inspiring Rhetoric, etc may not apply. And depending on how the GM runs it, mass combat boosters may become godlike for a captain.

21 minutes ago, Paris Teta said:

What specc would you all advise as a captain specc?

I actually think the Field Commander (and its improved version) is a must for a captain. It is less important for a commodore (someone controlling multiple ships), but it is great for a ship's captain ordering certain members of the crew to do different things. Think of a captain yelling out for his engineers to shut down a fire, or for the pilot to take evasive maneuvers, and they instantly do those orders instead of waiting for their turn.

To that end, there are four specs that can work that don't need the Force: Hired Gun/Mercenary Soldier, and Commander/Squadron Leader and Tactician and Instructor. Mercenary Soldier is great for commanding a privateering vessel, as it encourages both leadership on the vessel and in boarding actions through being a competent fighter on one's own. Squadron Leader is great for a captain of a smaller vessel where he will also be piloting. Tactician is a great leader in general, able to direct others to greater success in the middle of a firefight thanks to defensive talents and Coordinated Assault, and it even has some landslide bonuses. Instructor is an odd bag, but has some nice things for keeping inexperienced crew above water like Encouraging Words for assisting those who are failing their checks, or Master Instructor to allow the rookie pilot who has just spotted Vader to not soil his trousers in fear.

Something I just noticed is that a Droid Instructor can actually be a good fit for a Force and Destiny, a guiding voice from the days of the Jedi who possess an inordinate amount of knowledge on using the Force and assisting Jedi. Think of the droid from Clone Wars that taught younglings about assembling their light sabers. It could actually assist his students with Force power checks despite being unable to use the Force!

First you need to decide if you will be Piloting as well as commander, your options change drastically when you remove the need to actually fly the vehicle

On 8/6/2017 at 3:19 AM, Richardbuxton said:

That left column is a challenging one, how do you repair a ship without Athletics or Mechanics? First off by paying credits, you pay a shipyard to fix your ship and get 3 Hull points done for free! But you technically also repair a ship by giving orders to the maintenance crew. So you make a leadership check to direct repairs and because you know your sh1t 3 extra Hull points are repaired.

Why would you get 3 HP done for free when you pay for the repairs? I thought Solid Repairs gave 1 extra HP per rank when you roll for Damage Control, similar to the medical talents for first aid.

5 minutes ago, Edgookin said:

Why would you get 3 HP done for free when you pay for the repairs? I thought Solid Repairs gave 1 extra HP per rank when you roll for Damage Control, similar to the medical talents for first aid.

You repair 3 additional HP whenever you repair a ship. It's not tied directly to the Damage Control action or even the Mechanics skill. If you have any way to repair a ship then three additional HP are healed.

On a side note Fine Tuning is the same, it even works with the Manipulate Force Power!

1 hour ago, Richardbuxton said:

You repair 3 additional HP whenever you repair a ship. It's not tied directly to the Damage Control action or even the Mechanics skill. If you have any way to repair a ship then three additional HP are healed

I think the key is the "you" part. It's an awful big stretch to say that you are repairing the ship just by giving someone some credits. With your way a character could just Galactic-Ex some credits to a buddy on the other side of the galaxy and they get bonus HP repaired because reasons.

No you need to be on the ship, that much is clear. Of course there are times where a skill won't work or a technique, but with creative story telling there's no reason it doesn't work. I'll go over the two examples I gave to try and convey this idea better than I think I'm doing.

First is the use of Leadership to get the repairs done. This is where Scot the officer in charge of engineering does his thing. He has a bunch of crew down in the engine room or running about the ship. Perhaps he first uses Known Schematic, or this ship is just so familiar he doesn't need it. He makes a leadership check to coordinate the repair work, to manage who goes where to diagnose and fix what problems. He has no idea how to use a hydrospanner or plasma cutter, but he knows the people that do. Perhaps the difficulty is set by the level of ship damage, perhaps its harder. Success means he has gotten some people in the right places to be effective. With Solid Repairs his experience and knowledge of ship repairs has proven to be beneficial, more work got done and the ship is in better shape because of it.

The second example is in Negotiating to have a ship repaired by someone else. Normally they rock up to the yard, have a chat about price, pay the credits then come back when the work is done. But if they have Solid Repairs then their experience with ship repairs helps them prioritise the work that they pay for, they make better decisions on what gets replaced vs repaired etc. this doesn't necessarily change the overall cost of repairs, but it means the ship yard got a better job done in the same amount of time with the same value of parts.

Does that help explain where I'm coming from? I'm not trying to be a min/max power gamer, I'm just looking at a less obvious type of character.

7 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

First you need to decide if you will be Piloting as well as commander, your options change drastically when you remove the need to actually fly the vehicle

Commanding, not flying, and support the crew in their tasks.

5 hours ago, Richardbuxton said:

The second example is in Negotiating to have a ship repaired by someone else. Normally they rock up to the yard, have a chat about price, pay the credits then come back when the work is done. But if they have Solid Repairs then their experience with ship repairs helps them prioritise the work that they pay for, they make better decisions on what gets replaced vs repaired etc. this doesn't necessarily change the overall cost of repairs, but it means the ship yard got a better job done in the same amount of time with the same value of parts.

My problem with this theory is the ultimate PC cheese. I land, negotiate 1 HP repair, get 3 free. Rinse, repeat. Wow, my repairs now cost 1/4, assuming I am willing to make multiple transactions.

6 minutes ago, Edgookin said:

My problem with this theory is the ultimate PC cheese. I land, negotiate 1 HP repair, get 3 free. Rinse, repeat. Wow, my repairs now cost 1/4, assuming I am willing to make multiple transactions.

You never get as good a deal on minor works where I GMing this there would be Setback added etc. If they really start laying it on then time critical story elements could come in "oh your ships in the shop again , guess I'll find another courier" or "Sorry we had to wait on parts so your ships still getting fixed, but really you need to get going right now? You can take it unfinished or take the loaner ship we have... it's a bit beat up but it should get you there"

Outside of character this is the kind of crap I'm glad I don't have to deal with in my group.

On 8/5/2017 at 1:56 PM, EliasWindrider said:

hired gun:demolitionist/martial artist might make the best 2 spec Jason Bourne

This got me thinking.

Take the Commando spec, mix in Trailblazer for the Stealth and flavorful talents, and top it off with either of the signature abilities, and who do you end up with?

John Rambo.

On 8/7/2017 at 11:55 AM, Paris Teta said:

What specc would you all advise as a captain specc?

RickAllison provides some really good points. For my money:

• The center two columns of Commodore mixed with Tactician (if he/she's ever going to get their hands dirty), Strategist, or Figurehead. Ambassador could make a good cross-class Specialization further down the road.
• The Commodore-Tactician I envision a bit like Captain Kirk from Star Trek:TOS . Clearly in command, but not afraid to mix it up in person. If that doesn't appeal to you so much, you can still pick your way through Tactician for the Improved Field Commander talent.
• Commodore-Strategist seems a bit like Hannibal from The A-Team ; extensive contingency planning, wheels within wheels, etc. Seems like a cerebral sort of commander that makes extensive use of his/her knowledge. If the Military Decision-Making Process (MDMP) is your thing, then this might be a good build for you.
• The Commodore-Figurehead is all about charisma. This sort of commander could be much-loved by his/her crew, like Adama from Battlestar Galactica (reboot). It offers a lot of roll-modification in terms of removing Setbacks and adding Boost dice, as well as some Strain mitigation. If I were to build an admiral or capital ship commander, this is probably the way I'd go.

Commodore and Shipwright. If I converted my Star Wars characters from other systems to FFG those would be the two most common specs by far with several characters having both.

I really like the Ace: Driver spec. It's a solid combination of piloting and mechanics skills, and combines well with pretty much any other Ace spec. Plus if your team spends more time planetside than in space, your driving skills can pay off really well!

On 8/7/2017 at 9:55 AM, Paris Teta said:

What specc would you all advise as a captain specc?

For a freighter, Pilot is a solid go-to, but Squadron Leader could be cool for someone a little more focused on leadership.

For a capital ship, Commodore is a good start. Strategist could work well too, if you're engaged in a lot of large space battles.