Why doesn't this maneuver take into consideration the piloting skill of the pilot you're trying to "gain the advantage" on? I understand the speed of the ship needs to be taken into consideration, but couldn't that be represented by a setback or boost die? If I make the difficulty of this action equal to the pilot skill of the opponent, would it break something? How about if I add a boost die if the speed of the ship trying to get the advantage is one more that the opponent or 2 boost die for a speed difference of 2+? Or what about the opposite, what if I add a setback die if the speed of the ship trying to gain the advantage is 1 speed slower than the opponent or 2 setback dice fro a speed difference of 2+? Would that break something?

I dunno, I just wanted my player's piloting skill to matter just a little bit more in combat.

Thoughts?

Z

The pilot skill does matter! Every successful use of Gain the Advantage makes each successive roll increase in difficulty. So it might not matter on the first roll, but the better pilot will end up keeping the advantage in the end.

It's designed to be a back-and-forth, not a one-time thing.

-EF

The better pilot...?

Bah!

The smarter pilot doesn't bother spending an Action on GtA - he spends that action shooting his opponent and laughing at the useless 'advantage' that kept that sucker from shooting.

EldritchFire - I should have read all the words in the GtA description. =) I see where you are coming from there and thanks for pointing that out to me. For some reason though, it still rubs me the wrong way. I like opposed checks and this seems like it needs to be an opposed check to me. The increasing difficultly as the Advantage bounces back and forth seems clunky and doesn't seem right too. Why would it be progressively more difficult for me to Gain the Advantage on someone? It could still bounce back and forth using my suggestion too. I was wondering if my suggestion would break something. Do you think it would break it?

HappyDaze - Come on now, if I've got a gunner beside me that can shoot a gnat's ass from 2 parsecs away, why not have him take the shot? =) Seriously though, I totally see where you are coming from. I can see Gain the Advantage used in a starship like a YT-1300 where there is a larger crew doing more things at the same time. If I'm a pilot in a Y-Wing or X-Wing, I'll be taking the shot because there is no one else on my ship that could ... except in the S3 Y-Wing varient ... then again, I'll just shoot the proton torpedoes at the poor sucker. Hehehe

To me "Gain the advantage" is kind of like a getting an opponent into your sights and keeping him there. It is easier if you are faster and have already done it. A vehicle with good handling will be also give a boost dice for the Pilot check.

In combat there is really no "opposed combat check" in this game. YOu see a target, it is right there, and you KNOW how difficult it is going to be to hit. I think it keeps things more simple when you don't have to worry about the skill of a target. Talents on the other hand can be used to change the difficulty of being attacked, or attacking

And do not forget: Gaining the advantage means that you are able to chooce what defence zone to hit. I like this rule for dogfighting between the pilots. I also use it as GM not to shoot all the time on my players, cause it is really dangerous. Two Tie-Fighters can blow a YT-1300 into pieces just within two or three rounds (linked shot).