I have a question about jetpacks...

They are speed 2 vehicles that just happen to be worn by a person. If a bad guy uses it to move does he immediately move from lets say engaged... to half way around the planet? Does he jump to "Close" range which is just past Extreme range?

How exactly do they work in combat?

In combat I'd let them work on the character scale range band. I might let the user move from for example Engaged to Medium with one maneuver, or from Medium to Long or Long to Extreme with just one maneuver (somewhat like starships with a Speed of 5 or 6 can) but no more. The main advantage to jetpacks is that you can move vertically as well as horizontally, not that you are insanely much faster than everyone else.

In combat I allow up to twice normal movement per maneuver with skill check (athletics)

Just beware of enemy smugglers rolling triumphs.

In combat I allow up to twice normal movement per maneuver with skill check (athletics)

Why Athletics? It should be Pilot (Planetary).

In combat I allow up to twice normal movement per maneuver with skill check (athletics)

Why Athletics? It should be Pilot (Planetary).

It should definitely be Pilot (Planetary), and I speak from experience when I say that believe me, this is not a check you want to result in Despair.

Since they are considered vehicles with a jetpack I let them move like a vehicle. No check required, unless environment suggests/dictates otherwise. This means they can move from extreme to engaged in one manoeuvre, with no check. Perhaps only from extreme to short...

If a check is required I'd use pilot (planetary) mostly, but an athletics, even coordination, could be required if landing on or catching onto an unstable surface, a narrow ledge or wire, or whatever.

In combat I allow up to twice normal movement per maneuver with skill check (athletics)

Why Athletics? It should be Pilot (Planetary).

In combat I allow up to twice normal movement per maneuver with skill check (athletics)

Why Athletics? It should be Pilot (Planetary).

for use its more of a physical check like riding a bike, skateboard, roller skates, etc. to me pilot planetary is cars, speeders, hover, vehicles in general not something strapped to your back.

It states in the rulebook it's pilot planetary. I agree with an athletics/coordination check to land on dangerous terrain though.

So, can anyone reference anywhere in the book for how they actually work? Are they supposed to actually let you move the speed of a vehicle? Do they not have any movement increase? It is really unclear honestly.

It is definitely a Pilot (Planetary) skill though.

You mentioned it yourself, really. They're a Speed 2 vehicle. There really isn't any more to it than is laid out in that equipment listing.

In combat I allow up to twice normal movement per maneuver with skill check (athletics)

Why Athletics? It should be Pilot (Planetary).

It should definitely be Pilot (Planetary), and I speak from experience when I say that believe me, this is not a check you want to result in Despair.

Else you will turn into a burp joke during a battle on Tatooine.

In combat I allow up to twice normal movement per maneuver with skill check (athletics)

Why Athletics? It should be Pilot (Planetary).

It should definitely be Pilot (Planetary), and I speak from experience when I say that believe me, this is not a check you want to result in Despair.

Else you will turn into a burp joke during a battle on Tatooine.

I managed to ram my character's face into the ground from a vertical height of Medium range. I don't recommend it.

You mentioned it yourself, really. They're a Speed 2 vehicle. There really isn't any more to it than is laid out in that equipment listing.

So then you would say with a Pilot (Planetary) check, they go from 0 to "Close" range (beyond extreme) or anywhere in between, yes? This is kinda how I read it also...

Exactly. While this gives them a strategic advantage, as it should do, bear in mind that performing two pilot only manoeuvres, which you can with <4 silhouette vehicles, costs two system strain from the vehicle also, regardless of exchanging your Action for a manoeuvre instead of taking personal strain. So no one move, attack, then go beyond range... or you can do it once, as far as I remember the jetpack has 3 system strain threshold, so you can do that once. A proper hit and run attack, then pray they don't have ion weapons that said, I just thought of this: while hull traume = 10x wounds, does System Strain = 10x strain? I would think so... then a marginal hit isn't going to make you crash... not straight away

I would not let a jetpack be considered planetary scale for purposes of being hit by blasters. Vehicles and starships get that because they're big and solid - a jetpack is a metal backpack filled with rocket fuel.

I would not let a jetpack be considered planetary scale for purposes of being hit by blasters. Vehicles and starships get that because they're big and solid - a jetpack is a metal backpack filled with rocket fuel.

I would agree that they do not have planetary scale defenses.

Fair point.

I have read all of your comments, but I'm afraid I really don't follow. The way I read it was that you would moved your normal range band on the initial movement, and on the second movement you could move two positions instead of one. So engaged to short, then short to.. Medium 2? Maybe long 1? I'm trying to think of a scenario where a BH jets in as a sniper fires a stun shot at the target and the BH grabs said target and keeps going.

I don't think it can be done.

Turn 1

Action: Shoot the guy

Manoeuvre: Jetpack over to the body

Turn 2

Manoeuvre: Pick up his unconscious body

Manoeuvre: Jetpack away

If you play the Initiative slot game (going on your side’s last slot for your first Turn, acting in your side's first slot on for your second Turn) you can't do this without reprisals. (Unless he's one of those Nemeses that get an extra turn at the end of the round (an "enhanced" nemesis?).)

I think Sara meant two people in the party coordinating - one acting as the sniper and the other swooping in - in which case it would be that easy: sniper stuns victim, rocketeer uses maneuver (I'm NOT going to use your weirdo spelling LOL) to swoop in, action to pick up body, strain for additional maneuver to jet out. Am I missing something? Aside from extraneous o's?

Bloody colonials!

(I aim to spell it correctly (to my nation) and mess it up every single time . The word just won't stick.)

So from what I understand bout jet packs;

- on pg 181 of core they describe the jet pack as heavy, limited on fuel, and needing great skill to pilot. As a GM, this gives me some ideas where to spent threat/despair

- Also, it says that the pilot uses verbal control interface AND wrist controls to fly. So with a stock jet pack (unmodified, jury rigged) I wouldn't let the player shoot and fly (2 action checks), unless steps where taken to modify the weapon or jet pack (think unmanned weapon systems). Or they are at speed 0 (hovering), in that round the player is acting as a player rather than a vehicle.

-Use vehicle range bands. Just remember that a round could be several minutes long and that all personal scale combat exist within vehicle close range band (pg 239).

-Also remember (pg 224) that personal scale damage must exceed vehicles armor before applying damage/crits. So the base jet pack model has 1 hull thresh = 10 soak and 10 wounds. Personally, if I were to want to say disable a jet pack I'd sooner use the option of spending 3 advantage to temporarily disable one piece of gear (pg 206). You will have better success than trying to damage the jet pack with just wounds inflicted by a holdout blaster. HOWEVER, remember that the stats for having the jet pack on doesn't have a hull thresh while using it, so I would use the players wounds.

Why give it planetary defenses? It's a vehicle, and those are the rules. In spite of that, the vehicle is a silhouette of 0 and if someone shoots at the player, that enemy has a better chance to hit the player than the jet pack. It's made of star wars metals (dura steel) and should reflect that, besides there are talents that are specifically designed to work through such problems ( ie heavy hitter). Use the previously mention 3 advantage to disable the pack fora short time, or despair to totally make it disabled or blow up. Word of caution, I wouldn't blowup players jet pack, only an npc. There are worse things than death to a player, and a jet pack wearing player who rolled a despair will know them. (insert evil laugh here)

Now, in your scene where the BH flies in and picks up a target who's been incapacitated from a sniper a moment before; I would have the BH make an action check using pilot and coordination (or athletics if the player wants to use more muscle than the vehicle's thrust). Success means she flew in and picked up the target and flew away. Add awesome descriptions of the actions and done. I would also consider the BH's brawl, current encumbrance, and weight of the target. A Drall won't be able to carry a Wookie.

Just flying isn't an Action, it's a Maneuver. Having to avoid obstacles and making a piloting check is an Action.

Yeah, I have a player who decided to reveal all of the party's plans to a spy [ unbeknown to him ]. This is going to get him in a lot of trouble, so I created a BH squad to come collect him. One of the members is a sniper with the Stun gun that had long range damage 10 from Into the Unknown [Explorer Book]. The second member has a jetpack and the auto-fire pistol [damage 6 etc, irrelevant] I was thinking of having the Sniper fire, drop the target, and the jetpack user to zoom in, scoop, and take off. Leaving the party in shock, etc. I just don't understand the distance, etc, that the jetpack offers for such a situation. How many range bands do I get to move with it legitimately.