I think there's an insane amount of redundant skills myself.

Good for you if you change them.

You've already said you're trying it out RAW but one other thing to consider for Cool and Discipline is that we do not know yet the role Discipline will have when Force and Destiny comes out, I suspect it will play an important one and will further delineate the difference between it and Cool. If you eliminate a Skill just because you find it a little redundant and can't figure out how to use the two you may be setting yourself and your players up for some issues when the final part of this game system is revealed.

Cool's the one that seems redundant and seems to be there JUST to give a Discipline/Vigilence-esque skill under Presence rather than allowing Presence/Discipline to be rolled to recover Strain (in-universe simulation of exactly how Presence/Cool would remove mental strain aside, I think Willpower/Discipline has immersive believability, but Presence/Cool doesn't).

Discipline already has a set role with Force Powers in both EotE and AoR, so it's clear Discipline is an important skill for Force-users (so important that making it in-Career is a 5 XP talent in both Exile and Emergent).

We learned last night that Cool is apparently used in playing sabacc.

Discipline already has a set role with Force Powers in both EotE and AoR, so it's clear Discipline is an important skill for Force-users (so important that making it in-Career is a 5 XP talent in both Exile and Emergent).

You're correct, I should have added this but I was also figuring the distinction could become more apparent when we see F&D and start dealing with opposing Force Powers as opposed to playing games of chance or being overcome by another non-Force effect. In any case although the distinction ins't great and there is some overlap I think that keeping Cool and Discipline separate is partly important in maintaining balance between Force using characters and non-Force users. More importantly I'm not seeing a compelling argument to combine them.

As has been indicated previously, another catch with combining skills is you may end up having to keep making more house rules to cover the gaps in your house rules.

For instance, you can't simply say that perception replaces vigilance, and all careers/specializations with vigilance gain perception instead. The bounty hunter is one reason why, because he has both vigilance and perception as career skills. You would have to give him a new career skill to replace vigilance (possibly coordination).

When you layer on the house rules too thick, it becomes more difficult for new players to adjust.

I can see both sides of the argument on this, but I think at the end of the day, the system works as intended as is, and you're going to do more harm than good if you try to 'fix' a system that isn't broken. Your modifications in the name of simplicity may end up just making the game more complicated by deviating from the rulebook.