What about building a computer with AP and control module for scanners and make him a science officer? :)
I don't believe this is allowable under the reading of the rules. PCs can take starship actions. Otherwise the extension of this logic is to have a PC ship full of computers doing the jobs.
So we are now outside the rules and looking at GM interpretation. If I were GM, I wouldn't allow it unless the crew was short on players. One of the major drivers of starship combat is the action economy, and this is a way to bypass it and get another action for the crew. If you're short players, then that's a reasonable way to mitigate the shortage. But if you have four or more PCs in the crew, then it seems like an end run.
I'd try to negotiate with the GM to hire some help instead:
CRB page 234
Professional Freelancer
The price of hiring a freelancer is based on the typical total
bonus she has in a specific relevant skill (often Profession),
representing her skill level. However, the GM can determine a
specific freelancer actually has a bonus much higher or lower
than the norm for someone at her pay rate.Even professional freelancers won’t generally take work that
places them in serious danger, and those few who do are likely
to insist on pay rates two to 10 times higher than those listed.
CRB page 235
TABLE 7–38: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
SERVICE - PRICE (in credits)
Professional freelancer - Skill bonus × 2 per day
Seems very cheap to populate Science Officer and Engineer roles with NPCs, at least - let the rest of the party go nuts with the weapons.
Ship can have more than one officer. So, I will be the 1st officer, and take the most difficult tasks, and my AI will, for example, scan other ships. With it's OWN actions.
AI has skill ranks, so why not? Why would I take an NPC for this role? Just roleplaying mad mechanic.
And about actions economy: this is the point, exactly! But EVEN IF I manage to find 10th tier computer, it would have 20 in skill, such as computers. My character on 7th level has 21 in computers. So this is just a backup, a help, that can take additional actions but with really low chanse of sucsess.
I'd try to negotiate with the GM to hire some help instead:
CRB page 234
Professional Freelancer
The price of hiring a freelancer is based on the typical total
bonus she has in a specific relevant skill (often Profession),
representing her skill level. However, the GM can determine a
specific freelancer actually has a bonus much higher or lower
than the norm for someone at her pay rate.Even professional freelancers won’t generally take work that
places them in serious danger, and those few who do are likely
to insist on pay rates two to 10 times higher than those listed.CRB page 235
Seems very cheap to populate Science Officer and Engineer roles with NPCs, at least - let the rest of the party go nuts with the weapons.TABLE 7–38: PROFESSIONAL SERVICES
SERVICE - PRICE (in credits)
Professional freelancer - Skill bonus × 2 per day
Players go out to hire some help... They hire an AP. :)
And IF it is possible to use AP computer in such way, what do I actualy need? Control module? Just basic functions? What is the price of control module?
From the Core Rulebook:
A computer system functions in many ways as a ship’s brain. Most computers aboard starships have at least a rudimentary artificial personality, and while they can’t fully perform the duties of a crew member, they can assist crew members in various tasks.
A shipboard computer can't fill the role of a crew member (but could probably do most anything else). What you're looking for is an Android or SRO.
Honestly I love the SRO ship idea. SROs specifically say they come in all shapes and sizes, a ship SRO just sounds fun. Like EDI from Mass Effect 2, or HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey.
Honestly I love the SRO ship idea. SROs specifically say they come in all shapes and sizes, a ship SRO just sounds fun. Like EDI from Mass Effect 2, or HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey.
I can't do that, Dave.
Honestly I love the SRO ship idea. SROs specifically say they come in all shapes and sizes, a ship SRO just sounds fun. Like EDI from Mass Effect 2, or HAL 9000 from 2001 a Space Odyssey.I can't do that, Dave.
That was a joke Shepard.
And IF it is possible to use AP computer in such way, what do I actualy need? Control module? Just basic functions? What is the price of control module?
What you're talking about here is "hiring additional help" either way. There are two lenses here.
The mechanics lens: You're trying to find a way to "buy" another action in starship combat. The rules don't allow for it. The design is that the players fly the ship, otherwise they're just bypassing encounter balance.
The question is "Will the GM allow it, and accept the mechanical impact on the gameplay?" If yes, no problem. (And as a couple of us noted, the GM may be more flexible if you're short handed.) It doesn't really matter if you call it an AP computer, a broken robot, or some guy you hired at the cantina; it's all the same result mechanically.
The roleplaying lens: I understand your "crazy mechanic" angle (playing a mechanic myself). You could use a computer, SRO, "the ship", a trapped demon in a circuit board, whatever. As for what the cost would be, that'd be up to the GM for anything not specified; the rules don't cover this. But the roleplaying solution is never a substitute for the solving the mechanics question first - if the GM won't allow it, the rest is irrelevant (since we're outside the rules).
It's bypassing encounter balance to assume that a ship should have a full crew compliment? I would have thought that, that was the baseline assumption!
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Hiring freelancers seems like it would get *very* expensive quite quickly. Even just a single NPC with a +10 skill bonus ( ie, about the same as first level PC whose a relevant specialist ) is going to cost 20 credits per day. 20 credits doesn't sound very high, but its the "per day" that matters. Remember, just flying from one planet to another in a system takes 1d6+2 days, or an average of 5. That's 100 credits just to fly there. Unless all your space adventuring occurs in a very narrow time span, this is going to eat at your balance sheet, often for little or no benefit.
( And once your high enough level that 100 credits a week for months on end is trivial pocket change, your also high enough level that a +10 skill bonus probably isn't going to actually do much. . . )
I can already see the trail of NPCs kicked out the airlock on the last day of the trip, right before payment is due...
It's bypassing encounter balance to assume that a ship should have a full crew compliment? I would have thought that, that was the baseline assumption!
Not at all but it depends what you mean by "full".
If you have a four player adventure path with 2 or 3 players, you're going to need the help. This was discussed above in the first couple replies. If that's the case, I'm all for it.
If you have a four player crew and you want to get to 6 because the ship can handle up to six crew actions, then that's more problematic.