I have played/ran every incarnation of Star Wars RPG. From West End to Saga's end. I have also played/ran the Warhammer Roleplaying Game 3rd Edition extensively, and own nearly every supplement currrently out. I have played Rogue Trader and am familiar with the rules.

I am a fan of Fast combat systems. To me, Star Wars should be a fast game, because there always seems to be so much going on all around the characters. There many are heavly populated areas and stuff flying around the PC's at all times. Elevations can change in a instant and vehicles at the PC's disposal pretty much all around. And Cover, always lots of cover.

I was stoked to hear FFG picked up the SW brand. But, having played WHRPG 3E, I have watched it slowly bloat like a corpse with it's "optional" rules with each supplement and TONS and TONS of chits and cards. Table space Real Estate has now come to a head and become a major problem, only half-way into Ranks. I have just a few concerns about Star Wars I hope someone can answer. Nothing specific, just give me an idea

Starship Combat…in my opinion, there is where nearly every system ever made has fallen somewhat flat. I think the Saga Edition of this game got pretty close to being a fast and balanced system. For those who have read the Beta, do you think that the system will be condusive to high speed space chases, i.e. out running TIE fighters in your freighter or having multiple players in fighters batting other fighters?? Or, (GASP) will we perhaps be able to fighter larger ships to ship combats. Second, could all of this be done in under and hour?? What I means is, could ship combat, say a Freighter vs. 3 TIE's (or any fighter) be accomplised in a reasonably short amount of time??

Or, are we looking at Rogue Trader'ish combat system, where one entire game session may be Starship Combat

Can you see Starship Combat tying into the X-Wing miniatures game somehow? Is there any relation?

Vehicle Combat, i.e., say Walkers vs. Speeders, or Speeder vs. Speeders, is it a clear system??

Finally, player combat. How long would an encounter with a Squad of Stormtroopers last? say 3 PC's vs. 3 Storms?

Thank You in advance!!

I really hope that they tie the XWing gaeme ot the RPG, could be a really good way to 'break out' from the rpg game, or at least have conversion rules.

As for the combat vs the Stormtroopers, it would all delpend on whether the Stormtroopers were minions or henchmen..

a combat vs 3 minions could last as long as 1 roll if the player in question rolled well enough he could take out all 3 Stormtroopers.. otherwise I'd guess they would last a few rounds at most.. 5 mins tops

a combat vs Henchman stormtroopers would last longer and be more dangerous to the players.. again it would last a few more rounds than the minions so 10 mins tops

Combat in this game is very quick, once you've gotten the hang of the way the dice work.

Fair warning, the first couple combats might be a bit on the slow side as your players get used to calcuating their Successes and Advantages after accounting for Failures and Threats.

As for the scenario presented, it partly depends on how the stormtroopers are grouped. If they're just individual minions, it's going to take a little longer as you have to pick off each individual trooper. Put them in minion groups of 2, and the combat speeds up as it's possible for a really good damage roll to take out more than one trooper at a time. Though a group of four stormtroopers might be too much of a threat for a group of starting-level PCs to handle; it's only one attack per round, but given how many proficiency dice that pack of 4 stormies will be rolling, they're bound to score a hit.

Another factor that lends itself to quicker combats is that the PCs are far more fragile. If you've played D6, it's along those lines, except with far less chance of even exceptionally burly characters like Wookiees being able to soak up shots from blaster rifles.

Similar to Saga Edition, starship combat in this game works similar to character scale combat. I can't speak too much to starship combat as I've only been in one combat, and I think that got wrapped up quick due to a tired GM and a couple other players having hard stops. And it's nothing at all like the X-Wing minis gaem, which is just as well.

I see, so having players with WHRPG3E experience will certainly be an advantage then. That's great to hear about the minions/henchman/boss mechanic that they kept from the WH system. I think that's a good one to retain. Now…having players READY!!!! with their dice pools I'm sure will be an continuing problem, but that's not the system's fault. haha.

I'm mainly concerned about starship combat. I have always wanted this to work so bad and have always wanted my PC's to eventually get small tramp fleets, rocking it out like Galaxy Guide 6: Tramp Freighters, the greatest single Star Wars WEG product and possibly all SW RPG products ever written!! Shamelss Plug, but I bet a LOT of peeps agree with me.

GalaxyUC said:

I agree, that was a pretty cool supplment, not only for providing gear-head PCs with options to trick out their ships, but also offering a great setting and mini-campaign.

You won't find a whole lot for the PCs in regards to pimping their ride, but you may want to grab a couple of your mates and run a few starship combat demos just to get a feel for the system and perhaps give it a bit of a stress test.

Having bought the X-Wing Box Set and the Y-wing expansion, combat can get interesting.

I say wait until the Slav 1/Millenium Falcon Expansions come out, since that'll be more of what the PCs will have. Use the initial starter pack as a way to under stand the rules a bit.

I'm really just trying to get an idea of is Starship Combat feasibly fast? can you have a small ship encounters in under an hour (assuming players are familiar with the system? I have a good understanding of personal combat, that's fine. No one seems to be talking about Starship and Vehicle Combat. If this has been discuessed ad nauseum elsewhere, just send me in that direction. haha.

Seriously though, yeah previous commenter, X-wing is a sweet game and hope to be able to use those minis.

GalaxyUC said:

If it was the group in Snub Fighters, like Y-Wings, I'd see what is would take to translate their abilities to the X-Wing Format.

Like I mentioned, wait until the M.F./S1 Expansions comes out first to see how they handle the larger, and there by more heavily crewed, ships. This can help with figuring out the various abilities that the players have and such.

GalaxyUC said:

I agree, and am anxious for news as well. I'm of the mind that starship combat should be quicker and more exciting than personal combat (that's how it felt in the films, after all)! Every version of the RPG hasn't really nailed this, except maybe 1E D6 - because it used abstract movement, like this system does. So… how do they compare?

I. J. Thompson said:

The ship combat moves just as quick as the character combat, in the scenario they run in the book it ends with your ship fleeing from two fighters that were chasing you, the whole thing took about 5 rounds for our group, 1 to close into range and then long enough to land 2 shots on each fighter. Their ship got a little shot up in the process but survived to tell the tale.

I will say that the system is designed to be lethal by nature and so be careful what you are throwing at your groups of PC's. 3 or 4 fighters will easily shoot their ship out of the sky in short order.