Comprehend Technology states: "Take the Comprehend Technology action; make an Average Knowledge (Education) check to use Force rating as ranks in skills to use a single item."

As I interpret it, this means that for every force rating you have you gain a rank in the skill required to use the item you target, I have two questions about this:

• Does this stack with existing ranks?
  • I have 2 ranks in mechanics and I use Comprehend Technology on a set of tools with 2 force rating. If I pass do I have a 4 in mechanics for the next check I make with those tools?
• If these do stack, do they ignore the skill rank cap?
  • I have 5 ranks (the max) in mechanics and I use Comprehend Technology on a set of tools with 2 force rating. If I pass do I have a 7 in mechanics for the next check I make with those tools?

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!

Reading the full description, no it doesn't stack.

Protip: Always read the long description.

If it was meant to stack then it would almost certainly be phrased to say so, such as "add your Force rating as extra ranks".

11 hours ago, Ghostofman said:

Protip: Always read the long description.

By and large this.

The short descriptions in the talent trees are there to give the player and GM a quick overview of what the talent does without going into information overload and too badly cluttering up the spec tree.

The long descriptions found in the Talents section of each book is where the writers are able to go into further detail, noting various nuances that won't fit as neatly into the small box that the talent tree page permits.