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I have a vague memory of seeing this before but couldn't find the thread.
When I see a NPC ship stat block, do I take the numbers as final or do I have to do arithmetic?
For examples of what I mean:
Does the AC include the pilots ranks?
Does the Pilots skill include the +1 modifier from the ship?
I think that the comment on page 293 (in the crew section) "Any modifiers listed earlier in the stat block are accounted for here." means that any piloting, computer, etc modifiers ARE already included in the Pilot stats. But that doesn't tell me anything about the ships AC.
It is accounted for there as well. For instance, the Necroglider is tiny (+2) with Mk 3 armor and defenses (+3) and a pilot with 1 rank (+1) in Piloting. That's a +6 total bonus for 16 AC and TL, which is as listed.
All the above is true and good advice, except in regards to Gunnery Bonuses. The Gunnery Bonuses in the corebook are...well, wrong. They're based on the skill rules for NPCs...and really shouldn't be. Since Gunnery is not a skill.
Actually, you can use Piloting to fire the ship's weapons (Starfinder Core Rulebook, page 320).
The NPCs ships presume that to be what the NPC gunners are doing.
You can specifically use your piloting ranks for gunnery. You do not use your piloting skill. It's a gunnery check, not a piloting check; compare the formula given there to the ones in the Skills chapter, and you will see they are not the same. By the stated math of the game, the NPC gunnery bonuses are erroneous and hopefully will be modified - either by bringing them back in line with the stated formula, or clarifying the math that actually goes into it in a way that does not rely on bonuses that do not apply there.
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All the above is true and good advice, except in regards to Gunnery Bonuses. The Gunnery Bonuses in the corebook are...well, wrong. They're based on the skill rules for NPCs...and really shouldn't be. Since Gunnery is not a skill.Actually, you can use Piloting to fire the ship's weapons (Starfinder Core Rulebook, page 320).
The NPCs ships presume that to be what the NPC gunners are doing.
Nope! You can use ranks in piloting, which is very different, since it ignores Class Skills and other bonuses to skills.
A 20th level Operative with 20 ranks of Piloting and Dex 28 has a +38 Pilot skill bonus...and a +29 Gunnery bonus.
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All the above is true and good advice, except in regards to Gunnery Bonuses. The Gunnery Bonuses in the corebook are...well, wrong. They're based on the skill rules for NPCs...and really shouldn't be. Since Gunnery is not a skill.
Are you sure that the gunnery modifiers for NPCs are unintended? They're WAY high, of course, but that may well be intended
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I obviously have no proof, but they certainly shouldn't be intended.
NPCs have higher accuracy than PCs in physical combat, but lower AC and total HP. This is workable.
In ship combat their AC tends to be identical (since it's entirely based on ship and Pilot ranks), and durability is certainly identical, meaning that if they have a +5 bonus to hit over PCs, PCs are really and profoundly screwed in a way that seems distinctly un-fun and makes NPCs flatly superior.
If you wanted to model the way it works in personal combat, you could instead halve NPCs ranks of Pilot for AC only or some such thing, but there definitely needs to be some change in the current stat-blocks.