Update #4 is Live!

By FFG Andy Fischer, in General Discussion

Hey Age of Rebellion beta testers!
The final update PDF for the Age of Rebellion beta has been posted. Feel free to download it and start using it in your testing:
Thank you for all your hard work throughout this beta test. Make sure to keep on testing and submitting feedback. We will be still be integrating your feedback throughout the rest of the development period.

Nothing too exciting here.

More info on the Dark Trooper's plasma shell assault cannon (i.e. a full weapon write-up like those in the gear section) would definitely be appreciated.

Nothing too exciting here.

And after last week's updates, I'm really not surprised to see that this week was mostly just a few tweaks here and there.

The new starship combat actions got some revisions, and we did get a new talent for the Squad Leader spec. But overall, it seems that FFG was pretty happy with the work they did, at least at this point in time. It'll be interesting to see what else gets changed between now and when the final corebook is released (hoping for a May 2014 release this time 'round), much as there were changed between the EotE Beta + Final Update compared to the EotE core rulebook.

I'm surprised that the Force Powers didn't get some attention. Not because they don't work, or aren't good, but because I'd imagine it to have been an area where beta testers would have been particularly critical.

Not that I'm in any way unsupportive of what's been done so far. Good work folks! Loving it all, especially the addition of the sections regarding EotE/AoR crossover.

I haven't been keeping up, but I really like the new recruit talent tree and its universal status.

I still think the devs need to address the issue of capital ship combat - specifically for the gm. What I mean is how many crew are allowed to take actions? Can I have 100 technicians try to remove strain on star destroyer? Guns are a bit rasier as I figure each turbolaser for example is crewed by a single minion.

Running a space battle is going to be tough for a GM. In a system designed to be fast, capital ship combat will slow things down.

I still want mass combat but I'm fine with that being in a splat book. What we need is a crew guidline/streamlining or at least a side bar of how to effectively run a star destroyer or other large ship.

The issue with Capital ships: I agree we want/need more stuff, but I also disagree about some of the issue(s). I guess you could argue that you could have 100 technicians, but would you want to have? I mean, sure you can divide it between lots of crew and so on, but I'd go with what you feel is best... if that makes some capital ships less powerful, add a crew member. Roll as minion group as simple as possible. For instance a Star Destroyer have thousands of crew, a good bunch being technicians... I'd simply make a YYY GG dice pool - for some reason I think 5 dice is enough for minions :ph34r: This can be changed due to critical hits, lots of structural damage, whatever fits the narrative.

Same with gunners really, if you think about the new Actions, use the gunner minion and upgrade for a "full group" (which in my mind is the same as above for technicians). Or have a "head gunner" Rival performing the Gunnery check - the difference in negligible.

To me this would basically be what can be ordered and performed by the crew in a round, sure there are other technicians, but perhaps they spent a whole round moving between levels or areas that need fixing, the exact area that they need to move to so that they can regain more strain is way off, while another group is fixing it this round. I mean, these things won't be narrated as such to the players, so this is how I rationalise it for myself, my players won't ever know :ph34r: most likely.

I'm surprised that the Force Powers didn't get some attention. Not because they don't work, or aren't good, but because I'd imagine it to have been an area where beta testers would have been particularly critical.

Could just be that the design team was generally happy with the way the powers worked. Doesn't mean there's no chance for a change to happen between now and the core rulebook, seeing as how the Move power got tweaked between the last EotE Beta update and the EotE core rulebook.

Far as I saw, the only real "complaints" with Force Powers was that Foresee didn't allow for looking into the past (not a major problem given most of what we see in the films on this angle is future sight) and that it didn't have strict rules on what the person saw. The later has been pretty systematic of Farseeing effects since the d6 days, so that's not exactly anything new, and being able to accurately see the future and/or past has been an issue in RPGs since the early days of D&D (not as problematic as Wish could be, but still pretty problematic).

I still think Foresee is too vague as a player-side mechanic, and works equally well or better just on GM fiat.

I loved the new Recruit specialization. I've been playing a Survivalist BH who joined the Imperial Army to get out from the lowest depths of Coruscant. I was going to take Gadgeteer as a second spec, but fortunately FangGrip advised me of this tonight.This one really does help to flesh out characters with a military background, trained fighters who have been around the galaxy.

I still think Foresee is too vague as a player-side mechanic, and works equally well or better just on GM fiat.

Depends on which part of Foresee you're looking at.

The side that directly impacts initiative by providing additional successes/advantages to both the Force-user and their allies sure as hell isn't vague on the player side of things.

And as I mentioned previously, the "PC receives visions" aspect has always been vague in terms of what the PC sees, and not just in Star Wars. Seeing as how not every Jedi has such an ability in the EU, or is able to see things with as much clarity as Yoda generally can, having it be a narrative tool in a narrative game system makes perfect sense, with the GM using it to drop plot hooks.

I'm surprised that the Force Powers didn't get some attention. Not because they don't work, or aren't good, but because I'd imagine it to have been an area where beta testers would have been particularly critical.

Not that I'm in any way unsupportive of what's been done so far. Good work folks! Loving it all, especially the addition of the sections regarding EotE/AoR crossover.

Well, if nothing's wrong with it, why would we change it?

Simple as that.

I still think the devs need to address the issue of capital ship combat - specifically for the gm. What I mean is how many crew are allowed to take actions? Can I have 100 technicians try to remove strain on star destroyer? Guns are a bit rasier as I figure each turbolaser for example is crewed by a single minion.

Running a space battle is going to be tough for a GM. In a system designed to be fast, capital ship combat will slow things down.

I still want mass combat but I'm fine with that being in a splat book. What we need is a crew guidline/streamlining or at least a side bar of how to effectively run a star destroyer or other large ship.

Eh. I'd just say, "You're near *here,* which means *these* guns will be shooting you." As for repairs, I wouldn't advise much. Of course, this is coming from someone who doesn't exactly specifically have the book, but still has the book... sort of... in a box... about to be wrapped in colorful paper and shoved under a tree...

I'm surprised that the Force Powers didn't get some attention. Not because they don't work, or aren't good, but because I'd imagine it to have been an area where beta testers would have been particularly critical.

Not that I'm in any way unsupportive of what's been done so far. Good work folks! Loving it all, especially the addition of the sections regarding EotE/AoR crossover.

Well, if nothing's wrong with it, why would we change it?

Simple as that.

Exactly.

I still think Foresee is too vague as a player-side mechanic, and works equally well or better just on GM fiat.

Depends on which part of Foresee you're looking at.

The side that directly impacts initiative by providing additional successes/advantages to both the Force-user and their allies sure as hell isn't vague on the player side of things.

And as I mentioned previously, the "PC receives visions" aspect has always been vague in terms of what the PC sees, and not just in Star Wars. Seeing as how not every Jedi has such an ability in the EU, or is able to see things with as much clarity as Yoda generally can, having it be a narrative tool in a narrative game system makes perfect sense, with the GM using it to drop plot hooks.

The initiative side is way too weak for its cost. 15 to gain Advantages, which are only relevant if there's a tie? Too expensive. Should have flatly been replaced with the "swap Advantage for Success" Control upgrade for 15 XP.

We are just not going to agree on the vision side. The GM never needs a player to spend XP to drop plot hooks, Forceful PC or not. The player should get something that he has control over for his XP investment, because it's the player's class feature, not the GM's plot button.

This is a good place to bring it up then. Maybe make a thread so the ability can be discussed more.

I haven't been keeping up, but I really like the new recruit talent tree and its universal status.

I second that. It is really an advantage to the non-combat careers to be able to take open up the Recruit talent tree and gain some combat skills.

To whomever does the organizing of the book, could you please ORGANIZE IT BETTER! As in putting groupings of items better?

Weapons w/ weapons descriptions, Obligations w/ character creations, and other things that Empire doesn't have because you have to jump 100+ pgs to get to something that is mentioned 50pgs ago?.

Thanks