One thing I forgot - Tor Cordell has "light battle armor (+1 def, +1 soak)". This isn't in the rules… is it meant to be armored clothing? Or something else like armored clothing, with a higher cost and presumably more Hard Points (and/or built in functions like heavy battle armor)?

Excellent writeup, Grib. I really enjoy reading these and I think they are great insights into the game. I hope the designers are following these posts closely, as this information is invaluable.

A few quick thoughts/reactions…

Good insights on the healing/repair rules. I wonder if they were deliberately kept weak to reinforce the tenuous nature of life on the Outer Rim. Sure, stimpacks are better, but stimpacks cost credits and the characters in this game will probably not be rolling in money very often.

I guess "Stay on target" is maybe intended to represent a pilot's efforts to stay in firing position behind an enemy who is swerving, banking, dodging and generally trying to avoid getting shot at. Maybe that's why a slow ship would be less effective. I remember playing X-Wing back in the day, where if I slowed down too much, the enemy ship would be able to circle around behind me. It's really all just a big abstraction, but I understand why it works that way.

FWIW, I like the way you interpreted the rolls, especially the failures. In my opinion, your instincts were spot on: you kept the story moving forward in epic, heroic fashion and I'm sure everyone had more fun as a result. You could always make the heroes pay for turning failures into success by allocating Strain to the charaters or ship, flipping Destiny points to the Dark Side, or with a story rationale. Say, for example, that the shields burned out after their "flare-up" and now they need to be fixed, which will cost credits or obligation.

The dice are there to help guide the game, but you are the ultimate arbiter and can ignore them or change them if it will make the game better. Remember, you can also extend that same courtesy to NPCs when you need your evil boss to trap the PCs or to do something awesome and scray and then he rolls horribly. It all comes out in the wash, really, and as long as the game is fun, who cares?
 

First of all, thanks for the recount. Very insightful, especially as I'm about to tell that part of the story over the weekend. 

I have a few questions about the repair skill. Maybe you guys could help me figure this out.

gribble said:

Page 163 of the rulebook states that repairing hull integrity (hull trauma) costs roughly 500 credits per point. 8 points of haul trauma means 4000 credits worth of repair. Quite expensive considering that the adventure's reward is 5000 credits. Is the repair cost only to be used when the players are paying for somebody else to do the repairs? (i.e.: Nobody has the mechanic skill.)

I'm confused on how the mechanic skills functions regarding ship repairs. P. 77 states that additional success on a mechanic checks reduce the repair time by 10-20%. The beta updates explains that advantages obtained whit a repair check may grant boost dice when using the repaired item. P.162-163 only lists repair costs and time. I can't seem to find the rules for figuring out how much hull trauma can be repaired with a single mechanic check. Are we to assume the mechanics skill works the same way as on droids ? Are we to take into account the x10 scale modifier?

I also have a question about brawl/melee damage. I can't retrieve where in the book it is explained that you add a weilder's Brawn to brawl and melee weapon damage.

Thanks for any input.

Aazlain said:

It's not entirely clear, because it's spread between some poorly worded rules in the main book and the updates, but essentially a PC can make a check, once per encounter, to repair damage done during that encounter (a "first responder"kind of thing). Successes equal amount of hull trauma recovered, and advantages equal amount of stress recovered. They can check as many times as they like to recover stress using the same rules.

The rules you're referencing are for repairing any hull trauma beyond that. As I recall, the rules as currently written don't allow PCs to repair this damage, but I'd probably allow it at half price (for raw materials, etc).

Aazlain said:

Can't give you a page reference, as I don't have the rulebook handy, but I believe it's in the equipment section where it describes what the damage values for melee weapons mean.

gribble said:

Harsh. I was hoping I missed the some rules covering this. Chances are that every starship encounter will result in a multi-thousand credits loss in the PCs' budget. I will have to take that into account. House ruling is also always a viable option, as you said. I would if one of the designer could chime in and clarify this point.

gribble said:

Still can't find the rule. I know it must be there. This is driving me crazy. :) Hopefully the final book will be more concise, with less repetition and scattering.