I would like to do something on Hoth...pre-ECHO BASE. PCs landing to deliver goods and needing to fly into a port an then transport goods to a remote base (perhaps under guise as scientific) and face a disaster that would tax their abilities to fix and to survive but not involve much, if any actual fighting. ...perhaps finding something really bad happening at the base and they need to rescue people. Thoughts?

Pre-Echo Base, or Pre-Battle of Hoth? Like, who are they delivering goods to?

A couple of Forum-posters over on the D20 Radio put together a nice Set Piece document, which can be found here . The first set piece, Arctic Snowfield, sounds like Hoth So that might give you a nice background on which to flesh out a few encounters.

Thanks for the linky!

Pre-battle of Hoth and during the time Echo Base is being set up. Perhaps landing at a preliminary Echo Base and taking small transport(s) to a further outpost. I was thinking that perhaps Echo Base was being "publicly" represented as either a science base or, perhaps, under the guise of a corporation planning on preforming research or production but wants it to be done in secrecy...or needs to take advantage of the extreme cold for its purposes.

One though would be that the outpost got attacked by pirates/smuggler for getting being suspicious and too close to their base/flight path...while that would negate much of the natural disaster it could provide a narrative for needing to repair generators/heaters....trying to save people..etc.

Well.... I think it stretches credibility that Echo Base would be "publicly" known at all. If it were me and since you asked, I would make it pre-Echo Base. A true scientific station - like in The Thing.

What we have in the movies is Captain Piett saying, " But, sir, the Hoth system is supposed to be devoid of human forms. " This is at the time of Empire Strikes Back, but it doesn't mean there wasn't ever a science outpost there that was abandoned in short-time due to whatever emergency you have concocted that is going to get the characters embroiled.

Piett, the go-getter that he is, did his homework when sending out probes and knew off the top of his head Hoth was likely a dead end due to these events years ago and lifeform readings now, all these years later struck him as the "best lead", despite Ozzel's incompetence.

It's not so far-fetched, I'd go with it.

By "publically" I meant as a reason give the workers and anybody transporting goods..and the narrative they would use if caught before the base was found before being fully functional.

The history of Hoth seems a bit weird. Looking at the Wookiepedia a video game had a pre-Echo base ..rebel base on Hoth, which seems to parallel the Echo Base. It seems a bit contrived to me. Also it talks about how Hoth has been a haven to pirates and smugglers at various times...and there appears to be sentient primitive bipedal race living there as well. I think given the choatic nature of "cannon" a good portion of this would be better off being ignored, except the smugglers/pirates.

So to address, your actual question - do a search on "Bear Grylls Tundra" and watch those (or buy it on Amazon - Man vs. Wild, season 2, episode 8 - Siberia) That should give you plenty of ideas for non-combat encounters in a Hoth environment besides the ones you'll have setup with the research station and its people.

Thanks.