So I'm working on a Rigger who is eventually going to branch into the Pilot tree but I was wondering if picking up Squadron Leader for the two ranks in Defensive Driving would be worthwhile? Between that and Pilot my ship would always have an effective defense of 3. Even only spending 45 XP would net me one rank for a total of 2. I guess what I'm really asking, this being my first pilot character, is Defensive Driving a good enough talent to justify the third specialization?
Is defensive driving a strong talent?
It's extra passive defense. There's nothing wrong with it, although it could be a waste if you ever get a ship with high Defense since it tops at 4. Taking the one rank from your current Sec is well worth it. As for taking another Spec just for DD... I'd wait and see if you want other things from the Spec.
3 hours ago, Ahrimon said:So I'm working on a Rigger who is eventually going to branch into the Pilot tree but I was wondering if picking up Squadron Leader for the two ranks in Defensive Driving would be worthwhile? Between that and Pilot my ship would always have an effective defense of 3. Even only spending 45 XP would net me one rank for a total of 2. I guess what I'm really asking, this being my first pilot character, is Defensive Driving a good enough talent to justify the third specialization?
If I was to make a pilot character it would be a gank operator/squadron leader. Offensive driving + 2 ranks of defensive driving is just too awesome to pass up and gank for the nara time justification to get the dex enhancing arm and Avianca interface which would eventually allow 6 Yellow and 1 green as the base pool. And he would fly the aggressor assault fighter which cyber in up let's you take better advantage of.
It's helpful, especially if you're in a ship that's got decent shields already, but it's not a "must have" talent either, since it only adds setback dice and those can be situationally useful, as there's a 1 in 3 chance the die will come up blank.
Personally, assuming you're in a snubfighter squadron game, I wouldn't say it's really worth dipping into a third spec if that spec in and of itself doesn't fit your character's general concept. Pilot gets a rank of Defensive Driving anyway, so I'd say save the XP you'd have spent buying into Squadron Leader and spent on Pilot talents instead.
We're only one game in, so I don't know if we're in a snubfighter game yet.
But I'm looking at the options for either becoming a really good fighter pilot (in my custom fighter) or doing my best to trick out an "assault ship/transport".
The options for customizing ships is really limited right now so I'm still looking at my options. I'd love to build an amazing pilot, but I'm not sure what the go-to talents are.
4 hours ago, Ahrimon said:We're only one game in, so I don't know if we're in a snubfighter game yet.
The options for customizing ships is really limited right now so I'm still looking at my options. I'd love to build an amazing pilot, but I'm not sure what the go-to talents are.
Given that description, you really want to take a look at the aggressor assault "fighter" (more like a patrol boat) in no disintegrations (the eote bounty hunter book)
3 minutes ago, EliasWindrider said:Given that description, you really want to take a look at the aggressor assault "fighter" (more like a patrol boat) in no disintegrations (the eote bounty hunter book)
Thank you. I'll give it a try. Unfortunately right now we're restricted AoR books only. But I think the GM will be open to other options.
I did spend some time looking at the Lamda shuttle and it could be turned into quite the gunboat. It's lacking in hardpoints, but 5 weapon mounts is pretty nice.
9 hours ago, Donovan Morningfire said:It's helpful, especially if you're in a ship that's got decent shields already,
Defense cap of 4. I think you mixed something up there, especially as defensive driving is ranked and getting your defense up to 4 even in a TIE-Fighter is a thing with that talent.
If you're in a group that switches vehicles regularly, it can be an incredibly powerful talent. As it also applies to ground vehicles, it's a great add if your group spends some time in space and others fighting on planet.
14 hours ago, JRRP said:If you're in a group that switches vehicles regularly, it can be an incredibly powerful talent. As it also applies to ground vehicles, it's a great add if your group spends some time in space and others fighting on planet.
I'd have to check, but since mounts are also treated as vehicles in many ways, this might be a way for somebody on a beast to get up to Defense 4.
On 21.1.2018 at 2:45 AM, Ahrimon said:So I'm working on a Rigger who is eventually going to branch into the Pilot tree but I was wondering if picking up Squadron Leader for the two ranks in Defensive Driving would be worthwhile? Between that and Pilot my ship would always have an effective defense of 3. Even only spending 45 XP would net me one rank for a total of 2. I guess what I'm really asking, this being my first pilot character, is Defensive Driving a good enough talent to justify the third specialization?
The nice thing is, that Squadron Leader also has a rank of Tricky Target on the way to Defensive Driving. Together with the one from Pilot, you would already count your silhouette as 2 lower. If you pick up another rank of it (Driver) and/or modify your ship with Nightshadow Coating and Electronic Countermeasures Suite, your ship will count as silhouette 0 in combat in addition to defense 4.
8 hours ago, Rogues Rule said:The nice thing is, that Squadron Leader also has a rank of Tricky Target on the way to Defensive Driving. Together with the one from Pilot, you would already count your silhouette as 2 lower. If you pick up another rank of it (Driver) and/or modify your ship with Nightshadow Coating and Electronic Countermeasures Suite, your ship will count as silhouette 0 in combat in addition to defense 4.
I don't think Tricky Target is ranked...
To answer the OP, Defensive Driving is an extremely strong talent provided that the ship does not have strong enough shields that the talent is redundant. A passive defense score is very beneficial because it protects against every single attack that targets the vehicle.
Against an attacking pool of YYG with a typical difficulty of PP, two points of defense reduces the chance of a hit by a bit over 12%, and reduces the chance of advantage by 15%. Not bad at all, especially when the benefits apply to every attack that comes in.
6 hours ago, DaverWattra said:I don't think Tricky Target is ranked...
You are right, it is not. I guess we somehow assumed from this silhouette "to a minimum of 0" that it must be ranked.
On 27.1.2018 at 12:11 AM, Rogues Rule said:You are right, it is not. I guess we somehow assumed from this silhouette "to a minimum of 0" that it must be ranked.
You still can reach silhouette zero based on this talent. Fang fighters for example come with a reducing in built in the chassis, add nightshadow coating or ecm and tricky target and you are down to zero. Same for A-Wings and some other of the light and agility fighters. Reaching sil zero is the stable of interceptor fighters. Ironically they forgot to account for this with the TIE Interceptor itself. I consider this one of the growing problems of the system.
With sil 0 you get a 4 dice difficulty in in fighter vs fighter combat, which is a solid base to extend survivability, especially when you add a defense of 4 to the mix.
On 21/01/2018 at 1:45 AM, Ahrimon said:So I'm working on a Rigger who is eventually going to branch into the Pilot tree but I was wondering if picking up Squadron Leader for the two ranks in Defensive Driving would be worthwhile? Between that and Pilot my ship would always have an effective defense of 3. Even only spending 45 XP would net me one rank for a total of 2. I guess what I'm really asking, this being my first pilot character, is Defensive Driving a good enough talent to justify the third specialization?
Im always wary of cost vs return defensive driving removes 2 setback and if you spend 45 xp to get it, this is worthwhile if you have piloting at rank 5 , but if your piloting is at rank 3 then buy more pilot ranks.
take a daunting check and an agility of 4 and compare the two rolls
YYYGvsPPPPBlBl roll with 2 setback (50% chance of success roughly)
http://game2.ca/eote/?montecarlo=100000#proficiency=3&ability=1&difficulty=4&setback=2
same check with 2 ranks of defensive driving (circa 63% chance of success)
http://game2.ca/eote/?montecarlo=100000#proficiency=3&ability=1&difficulty=4
Lastly spending 45 xp on skill ranks 4 and 5 (64% chance of success)
http://game2.ca/eote/?montecarlo=100000#proficiency=4&ability=1&difficulty=4&setback=2
So depending on how much a better piloting rank gives you in other areas it might be more worthwhile , especially as it is not situational, and boosts your other checks where no setback are. That being said the spec gives access to a lot more than just two ranks of defensive driving and you may already have maxed out your pilot skill, wnother thing to consider is the hqndling of your main ship , if it is sitting at -2 handling then you always have 2 setback and finally defensive driving works on both piloting skills.
9 hours ago, syrath said:Im always wary of cost vs return defensive driving removes 2 setback and if you spend 45 xp to get it, this is worthwhile if you have piloting at rank 5 , but if your piloting is at rank 3 then buy more pilot ranks.
take a daunting check and an agility of 4 and compare the two rolls
YYYGvsPPPPBlBl roll with 2 setback (50% chance of success roughly)
http://game2.ca/eote/?montecarlo=100000#proficiency=3&ability=1&difficulty=4&setback=2
same check with 2 ranks of defensive driving (circa 63% chance of success)
http://game2.ca/eote/?montecarlo=100000#proficiency=3&ability=1&difficulty=4
Lastly spending 45 xp on skill ranks 4 and 5 (64% chance of success)
http://game2.ca/eote/?montecarlo=100000#proficiency=4&ability=1&difficulty=4&setback=2
So depending on how much a better piloting rank gives you in other areas it might be more worthwhile , especially as it is not situational, and boosts your other checks where no setback are. That being said the spec gives access to a lot more than just two ranks of defensive driving and you may already have maxed out your pilot skill, wnother thing to consider is the hqndling of your main ship , if it is sitting at -2 handling then you always have 2 setback and finally defensive driving works on both piloting skills.
I'm following you, and appreciate the advice, but defensive driving adds 1 to your defense for every rank. So with 4 ranks even a shield-less ship would have 4 setback when shooting at it. I believe you are thinking of the one that removes setback from piloting rolls.
6 hours ago, Ahrimon said:I'm following you, and appreciate the advice, but defensive driving adds 1 to your defense for every rank. So with 4 ranks even a shield-less ship would have 4 setback when shooting at it. I believe you are thinking of the one that removes setback from piloting rolls.
ahh my bad you are correct.
12 hours ago, syrath said:ahh my bad you are correct.
Ironically your math does not check out for skilled jockey either, because that is a 5xp and 10xp talent. So basically if your piloting is 1 or higher, buy the first one, if your piloting is 3 or higher buy the second one in the pilot tree.
25 minutes ago, SEApocalypse said:Ironically your math does not check out for skilled jockey either, because that is a 5xp and 10xp talent. So basically if your piloting is 1 or higher, buy the first one, if your piloting is 3 or higher buy the second one in the pilot tree.
I was going on the cost quoted for getting the talents and the spec., just had a problem with a crossover with the talents.