Every attempt (mechanics roll) to "repair" strain to a vehicle (beside the "once per encounter" roll that lets you repair damage too) will "repait" 1 point, even if I roll 5 successes, 6 advantages and 2 triumph?

Can a droid recover strain using the same mechanism?

I believe the book says that you can recover additional strain for a certain number of Advantages or Triumph. Not sure there is a limit to it though. I'll edit this in a moment when I find the page number...

Edit:
Woopsy, found it. No, you can't spend Advantage or Triumph to recover extra strain. It can recover from actions or from every day spent without suffering more system strain. Though, I don't see anything about multiple people working on recovering system strain independently. I suppose it would be up to the GM's discretion about how that would work.

Personally, I would say that they have to perform different actions relevant to how the strain was incurred and maybe even in separate locations. But that's just me.

You can use the Combat Repairs action (at least that's what I think it's called) to recover strain for vehicles and starships. You get one strain per uncancelled success. I don't think you can recover system strain in any other way except "rest" (one strain per day where the ship/vehicle hasn't taken any additional strain).

As for droids, they recover strain just like organic characters. One Simple: Cool or Discipline check at the end of the encounter.

Leaving aside the "once per encounter" use, the "Damage Control" action says:

It doesn't say anything about extra successes (or advantages).

Leaving aside the "once per encounter" use, the "Damage Control" action says:

"Using this action, any Player Character who makes a successful Mechanics check recovers one point of system strain. The difficulty of the Mechanics check is determined by the strain the ship is currently suffering. Damage Control can be attempted as many times as needed to redu ce a ship's system strain to zero."

It doesn't say anything about extra successes (or advantages).

It does, actually.

It says no.

Makes those Fine Tuning and Solid Repairs talents very attractive.

I actually mentioned this in the dogfighting thread. Currently, the system as written it is very easy to strain ships and take them out of combat without a single point of damage done to them by just using threat. You can inflict system strain on a ship with each point of threat just like you can inflict strain on a character with threat. However, unlike character combat, ships can't regain strain by spending a single advantage, as characters can. This makes a hole in the system as far as I'm concerned, as it is far easier to "strain out" a ship then it is to blow it up.

I postulated that a simple change to the mechanics skill might be in order here to balance this out. Currently, a Damage Control action can only be taken once per round and can only repair 1 HT or 1 SS. While I'm in agreement about the HT (after all, the damage is most likely to the outside of the ship in space), SS to me is computers and networks and ship components that are easily accessible from inside the ship. Damage Control should reflect this, as well as helping plug up a hole in the mechanics where ships can suffer strain from threat but cannot regain from advantage.

My thought is a successful mechanics check using the Damage Control action can repair 1 point of Hull Trauma or X point(s) of System Strain. X would be equal to either number of successes (which I think might be too much) or X could be equal to successes divided by 2 and rounded up (which I think would be better). That way, a highly skilled mechanic can keep up with the threats rolled without having to require the Mechanic skill tree in the party, while still making stuff like Fine Tuning and Solid Repairs very good.

Hasn't it been errata'ed ? I'm pretty sure it has for damage control, making it 1/success. Why it would not be the same for ship strain ?

Not for strain. In addition to what tear44 said recovering strain has no limit,so with enough other crewers working on it you can never blow your ships strain.

Why you think its so nice to have a copliot, and flight engineer, and main engineer, and astromech and...

To me it's OP if you can both heal Strain indefinitely AND use extra success/advantage to do it more. Especially with Fine Tuning and, as mentioned, multiple characters trying. I'd be more comfortable allowing extra stuff spent to repair Trauma since that can only happen once.

Not for strain. In addition to what tear44 said recovering strain has no limit,so with enough other crewers working on it you can never blow your ships strain.

Why you think its so nice to have a copliot, and flight engineer, and main engineer, and astromech and...

Interesting Theory. What if you are in a single man snubfighter? How's that one recovery of strain working out?

The point is, it isn't. The pilot isn't going to take his hand off the stick and try a repair action for one measly point of system strain. If anything, the "R2, that stabilizer has broken loose again. See if you can lock it down" action is going to be taken by the astromech droid, IF the ship has room for one.

Meanwhile, his ship can lose strain like a sieve when he's taking 2 strain for extra maneuvers (necessary in a dogfight), any damage from crits that cause strain, and any and every threat he rolls that can be converted straight to system strain. He has no reliable way of regaining that strain as no matter how good a pilot he is, can never convert advantages into system strain recovery.

To me it's OP if you can both heal Strain indefinitely AND use extra success/advantage to do it more. Especially with Fine Tuning and, as mentioned, multiple characters trying. I'd be more comfortable allowing extra stuff spent to repair Trauma since that can only happen once.

I don't know exactly who you're replying too, but I'll answer as if you are talking to me. My apologies if this is not the case.

I haven't said anything about extra advantages. The point is, ships can't recover strain with advantages like characters can in small scale combat. I'm only talking about extra successes on a Damage Control action in regards to strain only. ie, the better you repair the ship, the more strain you recover. And I don't even recommend it as a 1 point per success ratio. I actually think 1 point per 2 successes is better (# of successes divided by 2, round up). Meaning 1 or 2 successes will still repair 1 point of system strain. You need 3 successes to get 2 points, which isn't easy if the GM is appropriately tossing setback dice your way due to the violent twisting and turning the ship is doing in combat. At least 5 successes is needed for 3 points of repair.

Multiple characters is great and all, but not necessarily what you may have. The characters may be on a larger freighter with two good pilots who scramble into one man fighters to fight off bad guys. Or they might all be in one man fighters.

I like how this game doesn't make you have to have something. You don't have to have one of the characters be a Pilot or a Mechanic. However, under the current system regarding ships and system strain, you almost NEED one of each to keep system strain on a ship down to a respectable level. What if your pilot is a Fringer? Or your Mechanic a Slicer? Are you now screwed? You shouldn't be.

I dont really see the issue here. If the GM wants to attack PC's with ion weapons to disable their ship it may serve the story or try and get PC's to run instead of fighting. Otherwise, enemies that I'm running are typically shooting to kill or shooting to maim until PC's surrender.

If my PC's used nothing but ion weapons, and kept abusing a system I'd just ratchet up the difficulty. All of this seems easily avoided by talking with players or better yet, having mature gamers in your group.

Op has nothing to do with ion weapon or maturity.

Please Diggles stop arguing about people's attitude without any clue of who they are and how they play.

Now I understand ion weapon would be less powerful with an unlimited strain restore capacity. What if you could do it only once per

Encounter but with 1/per success (and possible assist from other people). It would be like first aid

Ion weapons are good where they are. They are not "less powerful" even with an unlimited strain restore capacity. Here's the math:

Your standard Ion weapons are already among the best damage profile weapons in the game. The only drawback is it takes 4 advantages to crit where as standard Laser cannons only need 3. Damage profile is good; Ion weapons do 5/6/7 (light/medium/heavy) while Laser weapons do 5/6/6. The interesting thing is the heavy Ion cannon can only shoot every other turn while the heavy laser cannon does not, but the HIC makes up for it in range as it can fire out to medium range whereas the HLC's maximum is short. The only damage profile that is better is (understandably) Turbolasers, but they all suffer from Slow Firing 1, meaning they too can only fire once every other turn like the HIC.

While the LIC is no slouch at 5 damage, the best Ion weapon is the Medium Ion at 6 damage base per round. This is before successes are considered. Meaning the weapon will do 7 points of strain per round on a hit and upwards of 10 on a good hit requiring only 4 successes. Of course, running two LIC's linked is even better, if you have the skill to hit with both.

Now look at most of the ships. While the light freighters and skipray blastboat have 15 to 20 SS, all of your one man snubfighters are somewhere around the 8 to 10 range. Meaning one shot from the Ion weapon will often mean one kill, especially during a dogfight when ships are using extra maneuvers and suffering 2 strain voluntarily.

My question has always been whether or not to apply armor to soak an Ion Cannon hit. It seems by RAW, you do apply armor which really makes no sense to me. Since it is an electrical discharge that overwhelms a ship, the fact it has 1 or 2 inches of armor plating should make little to no difference. But I haven't found anything in the RAW that says Ion weapons ignore armor.

Regardless, a solid hit from a MIC or twin LIC will disable a ship in one blast the majority of the time. Which I think is what the developers intended. And it is what it should be.

Not for strain. In addition to what tear44 said recovering strain has no limit,so with enough other crewers working on it you can never blow your ships strain.

Why you think its so nice to have a copliot, and flight engineer, and main engineer, and astromech and...

Interesting Theory. What if you are in a single man snubfighter? How's that one recovery of strain working out?

The point is, it isn't. The pilot isn't going to take his hand off the stick and try a repair action for one measly point of system strain. If anything, the "R2, that stabilizer has broken loose again. See if you can lock it down" action is going to be taken by the astromech droid, IF the ship has room for one.

Meanwhile, his ship can lose strain like a sieve when he's taking 2 strain for extra maneuvers (necessary in a dogfight), any damage from crits that cause strain, and any and every threat he rolls that can be converted straight to system strain. He has no reliable way of regaining that strain as no matter how good a pilot he is, can never convert advantages into system strain recovery.

Not to sound rude but: ....and?

Your freighter is a big ship at sil4+, it got a handling of -1, an one, maybe two average at best guns, and isn't very fast. But its bigger, has more redundant systems, better system management tools, and room for the people to use them.

A fighter is sil3ish, handling of at least +1, several different weapons, and can fly faster then your freighter any day of the week. But its smaller, so it has to forgo noncritical backups, doesn't have room for as many people, or the kind of system access and tools to manage systems in flight.

Its a trade off. Take the freighter and you'll be able to do more longer (not to mention the cargo, passenger space, lower profile etc), but you'll be taking more hits, have few attack options, and be struggling to execute combat maneuvers. The fighter can't take the same level of stress, but you'll have a stack of weapons, be harder to hit, and be able to execute maneuvers to get bonuses in combat.

...and not to sound rude but... you're not seeing the big picture here.

Your freighter is a big ship at sil4+, it got a handling of -1, an one, maybe two average at best guns, and isn't very fast. But its bigger, has more redundant systems, better system management tools, and room for the people to use them.

Your freighter is also usually piloted by a pilot who only has to fly, as the other PCs typically work the guns. This means the pilot only has to concentrate on flying the ship, and not on shooting at the same time. So typically in this system as written, the pilot does two things on his turn: Gain the Advantage as his action, and Evasive Maneuvers as his maneuver. Meaning each turn he's put his gunners into a place where they can succeed while making it harder for his enemies to hit him. And it costs him nothing strain wise. Occasionally he'll have to blow strain out of a large strain pool to do an additional maneuver if the situation calls for it. Mostly not.

An Ion Weapon is only slightly scary at this point. He can suffer strain voluntarily and still take a hit.

A fighter is sil3ish, handling of at least +1, several different weapons, and can fly faster then your freighter any day of the week. But its smaller, so it has to forgo noncritical backups, doesn't have room for as many people, or the kind of system access and tools to manage systems in flight.

On the other hand, the one man fighter has to fly AND shoot. Gain the Advantage? Not really used. Why gain the advantage in hopes you still have it next turn to shoot when you can just shoot now? And the next turn? And the turn after? Meaning if he wants to maneuver, he's constantly bumping up against the 2 strain for an extra maneuver threshold. Considering he has the lowest SS total in the game, he's essentially cutting his own throat with no clear way in how to get it back. Getting hit by an Ion Weapon is pretty much a one shot, one kill, especially if he's voluntarily suffered strain at any point in the fight.

Its a trade off. Take the freighter and you'll be able to do more longer (not to mention the cargo, passenger space, lower profile etc), but you'll be taking more hits, have few attack options, and be struggling to execute combat maneuvers. The fighter can't take the same level of stress, but you'll have a stack of weapons, be harder to hit, and be able to execute maneuvers to get bonuses in combat.

Furthermore, let's take your last point into consideration. Which is the better fighter?

Ship A: Slightly slower, can take more punishment, can get more favorable shots, can take more stress in combat

or

Ship B: Slightly faster, can't take punishment at all, can't get in position to take favorable shots on the same turn, has a limited budget for stress on the frame?

Ship A, all day. I can deal with slightly slower. It gets better shots and can take hits. Winner winner, chicken dinner. Ship A is a light freighter. Ship B is a snubfighter.

Huh?

How is the the ship DESIGNED for ship to ship dogfighting somehow how worse in this scenario? Its not right, the ship that is designed to dogfight should have more of an advantage against a slower, larger light freighter. But the rules as written give the nod to the light freighter. Sorry if I'm the only one calling Shenanigans. It's slightly insulting to think that the ship frame that was designed for stress and dogfighting gets penalized more for making those extra maneuvers then the (in comparison) huge light freighter who's frame was designed for exactly the opposite.

Are we talking about ion cannons mounted on larger ships (Silhouette difference will come into play) or in fighter vs fighter scenarios (which are usually going to be 1-2 shots and you're done anyway)?

.

Your freighter is also usually piloted by a pilot who only has to fly, as the other PCs typically work the guns. This means the pilot only has to concentrate on flying the ship, and not on shooting at the same time. So typically in this system as written, the pilot does two things on his turn: Gain the Advantage as his action, and Evasive Maneuvers as his maneuver. Meaning each turn he's put his gunners into a place where they can succeed while making it harder for his enemies to hit him. And it costs him nothing strain wise. Occasionally he'll have to blow strain out of a large strain pool to do an additional maneuver if the situation calls for it. Mostly not.

Gain the Advantage is based on Speed with the pilot benefiting from the ships Handling, so in a lot of cases when the Freighter (Handling -1, Speed 3ish) attempts to execute this maneuver it's going to do so with a base difficulty of hard and a setback on top of that (plus any additional penalties). By comparison the fighter (Handling 1+, Speed 4+) has a MUCH lower difficulty of Easy, with some nice handling generated bonus dice to boot. So when involving pilots of similar skill the fighter will typically have the advantage on the freighter, and be able to keep it.

When you look at what GtA does, that Fighter will negate the easy options for your Freighter (shield doubling, Evasive Action), and in a lot of cases it might not even be worth the effort to try and GtA back when the pilot could instead do something else. And this is where that need to perform more maneuvers might be handy, "something else" can be a lot of different things in this systems and not just stuff limited to chapter 7.

A fighter is sil3ish, handling of at least +1, several different weapons, and can fly faster then your freighter any day of the week. But its smaller, so it has to forgo noncritical backups, doesn't have room for as many people, or the kind of system access and tools to manage systems in flight.

On the other hand, the one man fighter has to fly AND shoot. Gain the Advantage? Not really used. Why gain the advantage in hopes you still have it next turn to shoot when you can just shoot now? And the next turn? And the turn after? Meaning if he wants to maneuver, he's constantly bumping up against the 2 strain for an extra maneuver threshold. Considering he has the lowest SS total in the game, he's essentially cutting his own throat with no clear way in how to get it back. Getting hit by an Ion Weapon is pretty much a one shot, one kill, especially if he's voluntarily suffered strain at any point in the fight.

Gain the Advantage isn't all that valuable though if the ships are evenly matched. A pair of Z-95s trying to Gain the Advantage back and forth all day can be a slog until one of them fails. But again, you're not expected to Gain the Advantage all the time, it's a single option of many, and sometimes it will make better tactical sense to do something else without the advantage instead of trying to jockey to get it. The difference is, because that other fighter has the same limitations that you do as far as actions taken per round, you won't need to burn system strain to take an additional maneuvers as often as in something like a Freighter.

Yes, a lot of fighters won't handle Ion Cannons well, but Ion cannons aren't all that common, and unlike laser cannons and missiles (which fighters don't really handle all that much better) the Ion cannon won't even cause any actual damage to the fighter. Then your pilot does his repair check, gets some system strain back, and away he goes again.

Additionally space combat isn't always just one fighter on another, when you throw a capital ship into the mix that freighter is going to be taking some nasty hits far more often then a nice little Sil3 fighter.

So what am I missing here? The lightly armed but tough Freighter will have a lot of trouble making combat maneuvers and will have to rely on more creative tactics and can leverage additional crew and more system strain to do so. The Fighter will find it easy to perform combat maneuvers, and can switch to missiles or other weapons if he wants to do some serious damage, but can't perform as many actions/maneuvers due to the single pilot, and he's got less system strain to leverage and his ship is more likely to be splashed by a solid hit.