Somewhat back on the original topic, can you guys tell me what your stance is on Characters knowing about every piece of equipment that FFG has put out in all the splat books? I feel like comprehensive knowledge of all those items seems fishy, but at the same time I understand why some might feel like its all open season, especially as the Rarity System leaves knowing about items up in the air.

I'm lucky enough that I am the only one in my group who reads all the equipment lists, so I never have a player with comprehensive knowledge

The way I see it, if the players are going thru the books looking at gear, that is the equivalent of the characters getting/ looking up a pre-internet Jane's. It is somewhat dependent on the characters being played correctly tho. A fringer doctor with a fear of space shouldnt know what a YT-1300 is much less that a HWK-1000 even exists. On the other hand, a smugger with a penchant for blockade running at maximum speed probably starts drooling whenever he thinks of a HWK-1000.

The biggest problem I would have is that policing character knowlege is usually a pain in the backside. As long as they arent abusing the rules, I dont see the point in a restriction that can be gotten around fairly easy

2 hours ago, korjik said:

I'm lucky enough that I am the only one in my group who reads all the equipment lists, so I never have a player with comprehensive knowledge

The way I see it, if the players are going thru the books looking at gear, that is the equivalent of the characters getting/ looking up a pre-internet Jane's. It is somewhat dependent on the characters being played correctly tho. A fringer doctor with a fear of space shouldnt know what a YT-1300 is much less that a HWK-1000 even exists. On the other hand, a smugger with a penchant for blockade running at maximum speed probably starts drooling whenever he thinks of a HWK-1000.

The biggest problem I would have is that policing character knowlege is usually a pain in the backside. As long as they arent abusing the rules, I dont see the point in a restriction that can be gotten around fairly easy

The character generator is how the players normally learn of this stuff, and I agree that equipment that is in line with their profession is not all going to be a mystery, but the core rulebook equipment becomes junk when you can easily get the same thing with qualities on it from character building.

I have done the cost/benefit analysis and the equation came out on the side of policing for me, but I think you have players who are more able to do that sort of thing than I do in the campaign I'm discussing.

Jane's oh I haven't thought about that in a while. brings me back to days of reading Clancy novels. Thanks for the response Korjik

Something I've been considering when my game starts up is to hit them in the gear more often. Occasional damage to, or loss of, equipment should help keep things in check a little more. Once players have to start paying for repairs on that 2K credit blaster pistol, the 400 credit blaster pistol isn't so bad.

I had considered putting caps on skills and attributes along the lines of can't go above X until Y xp. I was toying with the idea of attribute caps of 4 and skill caps of 3 until 200xp and increasing by 1 for each 100xp after that. Mostly it was to reel in one power-gaming player who will always rocket to 5 yellow in order to dominate whatever schtick he's chosen. But I'm not the primary GM so I didn't want to make any big changes to the rules.

On ‎9‎/‎1‎/‎2018 at 1:56 PM, Ahrimon said:

Something I've been considering when my game starts up is to hit them in the gear more often. Occasional damage to, or loss of, equipment should help keep things in check a little more. Once players have to start paying for repairs on that 2K credit blaster pistol, the 400 credit blaster pistol isn't so bad.

I had considered putting caps on skills and attributes along the lines of can't go above X until Y xp. I was toying with the idea of attribute caps of 4 and skill caps of 3 until 200xp and increasing by 1 for each 100xp after that. Mostly it was to reel in one power-gaming player who will always rocket to 5 yellow in order to dominate whatever schtick he's chosen. But I'm not the primary GM so I didn't want to make any big changes to the rules.

I've really started using decay in the form of equipment damage and it's great. The players seem to have lost that sense of having gear that is painted into the art of their character sketch and is therefore like Captain America's shield or something. One player accidentally gave another Player's weapon a level of disrepair and the player hasn't tried to fix the weapon or use in in 3 sessions now. They also know that ship repairs are expensive and so they aren't flippant about getting into space battles.

I think the caps make sense, but I also basically water board any min-maxers or power gamers who end up in my group. The obsession with being able to insta-gib any challenge is just beyond my ability to comprehend. It's like they try to become a boredom-seeking warhead. As a GM it seems to me that part of your job is to make things interesting, and players who work against that by wanting constant and unopposed success seem like they are sabotaging the game. Winning at poker is an understandable pursuit, but these games aren't about winning by causing everyone else at the table to lose.