If you have seen my posts you know I am pretty new to this and I have to say I have seen some complaints about the ships and space flight/combat. I also kind of thought it was, I don’t want to say ridiculous, but I shook my head when I saw the ship we got in the Beginners box was the same model as the Millennium Falcon. Out of all the ships, they had to pick the most iconic one.

So I have two questions:

1. It seems to me that you are going to start a new PC after the Beginner box. Do you also start with a new ship/new story, or does it somehow continue on replacing the pre-made PC's with your own?

2. How much do ships matter? Of course it’s great for story line or plot but in the long run does it matter? i.e. how much ship combat is there, how much actual exploration is there. How hard is it to get a new ship? (I realize it could be easy as going and winning one in a cantina) Because I would love to get my PC or my group into a XS-800 ( http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/XS-800_light_freighter ) or a YZ-775 ( http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/YZ-775_medium_transport )

The answer to both your questions is ... It's up you. (You as in GM and Group)

1) Personally if creating a party of new PCs then I'd want to start a new story/campaign.

2) In our first adventure the players had a choice of two ships to take, they went for the YT-1300 rather than the luxury yacht.

The type of ship available is going to be up to the GM. If you are GM pick something else then. If you are a player ask the GM if you can have what you want.

The amount of space combat again is up to you and your group. I throw a bit in occasionally but don't really like space combat in an RPG. Some people can't get enough.

We tend to get attached to our ships but ultimately they are just a plot device to get from adventure to adventure.

How much do ships matter? Of course it’s great for story line or plot but in the long run does it matter?

Like DoctorWhat said, it's really all up to you and your group. From the tone of your questions here and other posts it seems you think there might be a set way to do things, but there isn't. RPGs (the good ones anyway) are completely free-form, and you emphasize whatever you want to emphasize. All the rules provide are conflict resolution mechanics and a basic economy, and everything else is up to you. If an adventure module has encounters the players don't experience, it's not a failure on your part, it's just how things happened based on what the players said they did. If you don't want to use ships in your game, so be it.

In EotE the player group does get to start with a ship (one of 3 or 4 options are given), but you don't have to stick with that. If you wanted to use your own ship, stat it out like the examples given to ensure a reasonable power scale. If you wanted a campaign set entirely on one planet (say, Coruscant), you could replace the ship giving everyone personal transportation instead, or some other trade-off. You might be aware that there will be a follow-up game to EotE called Age of Rebellion: same rules, but players can start with a squad of starfighters. No reason you couldn't do that for EotE if you really wanted to.

As for how hard it is to find ships, again that's up to you. The ships all have a cost/rarity score, that might indicate the chance of a dealer having one, or a shady dealer being able to get one. This leads into a broader topic:

There's one cardinal rule (at least for me) when playing any RPG: when in doubt, default to the real world . Don't know where to find a ship? Well, if ships are analogous to cars, then ship dealers are probably in places where space is cheap and nobody cares about the decor. This kind of "real world" thing is difficult to extract from the movies...there is a lot more of it in the Clone Wars shows, and I tend to draw heavily on that for things like ship dealers, restaurants, what public transport looks like, how public phones work, etc.

For what it's worth, as far as starting ship choices, while there's three offered in the book I also remember the core book declaring that in essence you can have the players start in any (plausible) starship at or below the price of the most expensive of the three, which is 120,000 credits -- so for example, while the XS-800 seems almost perturbingly cheap compared to other starship models, it would definitely be an allowable starship by that rule.

The answer to both your questions is ... It's up you. (You as in GM and Group)

The amount of space combat again is up to you and your group. I throw a bit in occasionally but don't really like space combat in an RPG. Some people can't get enough.

We tend to get attached to our ships but ultimately they are just a plot device to get from adventure to adventure.

I kinda figured it was going to come down to "Its up to you" lol.

I am not sure how much space combat I really want but I also want a pilot to be usefull or an explorer to have a good roll in the game.

How much do ships matter? Of course it’s great for story line or plot but in the long run does it matter?

Like DoctorWhat said, it's really all up to you and your group. From the tone of your questions here and other posts it seems you think there might be a set way to do things, but there isn't. RPGs (the good ones anyway) are completely free-form, and you emphasize whatever you want to emphasize. All the rules provide are conflict resolution mechanics and a basic economy, and everything else is up to you. If an adventure module has encounters the players don't experience, it's not a failure on your part, it's just how things happened based on what the players said they did. If you don't want to use ships in your game, so be it.

In EotE the player group does get to start with a ship (one of 3 or 4 options are given), but you don't have to stick with that. If you wanted to use your own ship, stat it out like the examples given to ensure a reasonable power scale. If you wanted a campaign set entirely on one planet (say, Coruscant), you could replace the ship giving everyone personal transportation instead, or some other trade-off. You might be aware that there will be a follow-up game to EotE called Age of Rebellion: same rules, but players can start with a squad of starfighters. No reason you couldn't do that for EotE if you really wanted to.

As for how hard it is to find ships, again that's up to you. The ships all have a cost/rarity score, that might indicate the chance of a dealer having one, or a shady dealer being able to get one. This leads into a broader topic:

There's one cardinal rule (at least for me) when playing any RPG: when in doubt, default to the real world . Don't know where to find a ship? Well, if ships are analogous to cars, then ship dealers are probably in places where space is cheap and nobody cares about the decor. This kind of "real world" thing is difficult to extract from the movies...there is a lot more of it in the Clone Wars shows, and I tend to draw heavily on that for things like ship dealers, restaurants, what public transport looks like, how public phones work, etc.

This all makes sense to me, and thanks for the direct answer on the 3-4 ships being aviable. Yes, I will admit I am kinda trying to find the ground rules. While I love sandbox games, I still want to find some standards. Using the real world is a good idea, honestly I thought of that a little bit but actually just reading it gave me a few idea's on how to make it happen.

For what it's worth, as far as starting ship choices, while there's three offered in the book I also remember the core book declaring that in essence you can have the players start in any (plausible) starship at or below the price of the most expensive of the three, which is 120,000 credits -- so for example, while the XS-800 seems almost perturbingly cheap compared to other starship models, it would definitely be an allowable starship by that rule.

Ahh cool, this is basicly the baseline I was trying to get.

If you're looking for alternate suggestions for a group's starting ship beyond "knock-off of the Falcon," take a look under the Equipment Labs header over that the Gamer Security Agency. I did conversions of a number of freighters from prior editions of Star Wars RPGs, most of which are perfectly viable for a group of starting PCs. The price tags on some of them are over the 120,000 credit cap suggested in the core rulebook, but to be fair most of these ships were written with only the EotE Beta rulebook to go by, but you can easily waive that if a particular craft strikes your group's fancy.

http://gsa.thegamernation.org/category/article/stat-blocks-and-builds/equipment-lab/

Ahh cool, this is basicly the baseline I was trying to get.

For what it's worth, the Age of Rebellion beta book offers a different starting selection: a Lambda -class T-4a shuttle (140,000 credits in EotE), enough BTL-S3 Y-wing two-seaters for the whole party (each is 80,000 credits in EotE), or a stationary base within a star system and more starting credits.

Say, does the EotE book say anything about starting with multiple starfighters for a two-member or three-member party, such as three CloakShapes or two Z-95 Headhunters? I ask this since either combination would come in under the 120,000 limit.

With out group each bounty hunter ( there are 2) each started off with their own ship.

The were both promptly blown up but its also a really big part of backstory and how and why they ended up working together.

In order to get off planet they recruited an imperial law enforcement droid ( another PC) who gained them access to a shuttle...that they managed to also get blown up.

(first adventure we have gone through 3 ships already for anyone who is keeping count)

Which then lead them to a scoundrel and slicer (also PC's) both with bounties on their head and a ship. Long story short that ship was purposely blown up to fake their own deaths.

Now it is pretty much a running joke that they will somehow manage to destroy their ship in their adventure. (Think of the PC's ship as Kenny from Southpark.) You blew up our ship! You nerf herders!

It's not my fault!

The TOLD me they fixed it !

As long as you provide a way for the character to get from one planet to the next to keep the adventures moving that's all that matters. Sometimes leaving them stranded in a wretched hive of scum and villainy works too.

If you're looking for alternate suggestions for a group's starting ship beyond "knock-off of the Falcon," take a look under the Equipment Labs header over that the Gamer Security Agency. I did conversions of a number of freighters from prior editions of Star Wars RPGs, most of which are perfectly viable for a group of starting PCs. The price tags on some of them are over the 120,000 credit cap suggested in the core rulebook, but to be fair most of these ships were written with only the EotE Beta rulebook to go by, but you can easily waive that if a particular craft strikes your group's fancy.

http://gsa.thegamernation.org/category/article/stat-blocks-and-builds/equipment-lab/

Ahh cool thanks. A few of those I have seen on wookiepedia. Either way another cool resorse, thanks!

A great many ships (the YZ-775 amongst them) has also been converted and exist in this catalogue . More stuff can also be found on my blog , some ships and some gear and stuff.

Over one month of play and my group still does not have a ship. In our group of 6 we collectively have about 6k in credits. It's all up to the GM and group how ya want to do things. We are shooting for a long campaign and pretty much agreed that we want to earn everything.

A great many ships (the YZ-775 amongst them) has also been converted and exist in this catalogue . More stuff can also be found on my blog , some ships and some gear and stuff.

I was actually looking at that ship as one of my options.I cant get to dropbox or gdoc's on this computer though.

Over one month of play and my group still does not have a ship. In our group of 6 we collectively have about 6k in credits. It's all up to the GM and group how ya want to do things. We are shooting for a long campaign and pretty much agreed that we want to earn everything.

We also agreed that we dont want to start off with too much. our plan is to steal a ship from a shipyard but something along the lines of the starting ship that the core book gives you, but diffrent models and damaged/missing parts.

Here are three ships that I found and tried setting up comparisons to ships in the core book.

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/YV-929_armed_freighter

Silhouette: 4

Speed: 2

Handling: -2

Fore: -

Port: 1

Starboard: 1

Aft: -

Armor: 4

HT Thresh: 28 (-3)

SS Thresh: 13 (-5)

Hyperdrive: Primary class 3, Backup 10

Navicomputer: Yes

Sensor range: Short

Encumbrance Capacity: 190

Passenger Capacity: 6

Consumables: Three Months

Cost/Rarity: 100,000 (used) Credits/5

Customization Hard Points: 4

Weapons: Two Twin turbolaser turrets (5 damage, Critical 3, Close range), Two destroyed Ion Cannons (3 damage, Critical 2, close range), Two destroyed Triple blasters (6 damage, Critical 3, Close Range), Four severely malfunctioning Concussion Missile Launchers (7 damage, Critical 4, Medium range).

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Dynamic-class_freighter

Silhouette: 4

Speed: 3

Handling: -1

Fore: 1

Port: -

Starboard: -

Aft: 1

Armor: 3

HT Thresh: 22 (-2)

SS Thresh: 15 (-3)

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Barloz-class_medium_freighter

Silhouette: 4

Speed: 2

Handling: -3

Fore: 1

Port: 1

Starboard: 1

Aft: 1

Armor: 3

HT Thresh: 18 (-1)

SS Thresh: 15 (-1)

Hyperdrive: Primary class 2, Backup 12

Navicomputer: Yes

Sensor range: Short

Encumbrance Capacity: 190

Passenger Capacity: 4

Consumables: Two Months

Cost/Rarity: 120,000 Credits/4

Customization Hard Points: 8

Weapons: Fixed Laser cannon under the bridge (5 Damage, Critical 3, Close Range).

We also agreed that we dont want to start off with too much. our plan is to steal a ship from a shipyard but something along the lines of the starting ship that the core book gives you, but diffrent models and damaged/missing parts.

We are on a pretty barren planet, in a system in uncharted space that has been terraformed by "The Company" (GM made area that he has developed quite well) "The Company" goes to "great lengths" to make sure that the Empire does not find out about what they have going on. We suspect, but don't really care at this point since we have so much to do where we are at the moment, that travel out of the system, or suspected travel out of the system, might be met with deadly force. That is, unless you have clearance and the likes of us are still pretty much nobodies, but slowly gaining a name for ourselves.

There is rumored to be several ships out in the desert that have been swallowed by the sand. Our Mechanic spends all his spare time looking for one. That is our best chance considering that the few starships that are in use where we are located are heavily guarded at all times. That and these people did us a favor considering our circumstances at the time. It was, catch a ride with them, or catch a ride with the closest meteor.

We are hoping to find a yt-1930, but we will take what we get and LIKE IT!