A place for out-of-character discussion.
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I discovered that I had not added new languages for the last three ranks I put into culture, so I added Brethedan, Sarcesian, Verthani. I also purchased a Mk 2 Healing serum to bolster Stell's supply of serums now that she is facing tougher opponents who do more damage.
While I'm at it, I think I'll add a Climbing Kit and Thieves' Tools.
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I've been playing Starfinder (and in particular this character) since the beginning of the SFS. I wrote into Stell's background that her parents are Starfinders and are in the Scoured Stars region. I have not played any of the scenarios that detailed what happened and how that was resolved.
Can we get a brief summary of what is known at this point about the situation?
I've been playing Starfinder (and in particular this character) since the beginning of the SFS. I wrote into Stell's background that her parents are Starfinders and are in the Scoured Stars region. I have not played any of the scenarios that detailed what happened and how that was resolved.
Can we get a brief summary of what is known at this point about the situation?
The Scoured Stars is a trinary star system located in the Vast. It is currently cut off from all travel, divination, and mundane scanning by a shifting veil of aurum energy known as the Godshield.
The Society decided over a century ago to prohibit exploration of a region of space known as the Scoured Stars, both because of its obvious dangers and because the few missions that had scouted the systems in the region yielded little to no useful discoveries. This changed when First Seeker Jadnura spearheaded a massive expedition into the region to explore its connection to a magical artifact known as the Tear.
In 316 AG, the Starfinder Society First Seeker Jadnura led about four-fifths of the organization's assets and agents into the dangerous region of space known as the Scoured Stars.
The mission soon turned to disaster when the Society lost all contact with Jadnura and the expedition. It was soon discovered that all travel into and out of the region was being blocked by a massive shield of aurum energy later dubbed the Godshield. The Godshield has since prevented communication and entry to the systems of the Scoured Stars region.
Since this event, known as the Scoured Stars Incident, the Starfinder Society has suffered further losses, as discouraged surviving agents have opted to leave the Society. The loss of further field agents, especially those few veterans who left, made has holding onto the Society’s vast portfolio of claimed planetoids, stellar regions, and other archaeological sites almost impossible. The necessity of maintaining the Society’s claims on these regions was too much for the remaining agents to handle, and Luwazi turned to outside assistance from reputable mercenary organizations.
Through such imperfect arrangements, Luwazi Elsebo and her allies have so far successfully held the Starfinder Society together long enough for a new cadre of Starfinders to complete their training. Those agents have spent most of the past year working to rebuild the Society and undertaking missions that would set the groundwork for a return to the Scoured Stars.
One such mission recently took place on the library planet of Athaeum, which constantly teleports throughout the galaxy. It was of utmost importance to Luwazi Elsebo and the Second Seeker’s Faction. In addition to Luwazi, the mission was assisted by Royo, a ysoki who dislikes digital records, and Iteration-177, an android member of the Apis Consortium. Royo and Iteration-177 had previously attended the summit at the Lorespire Complex where Luwazi announced her intention to lead another expedition into the Scoured Stars.
Evidence collected from the library world of Athaeum suggests that eight groups departed the Scoured Stars in ages past, and that eight relics were removed following the same trajectories. One of these relics has been identified as magical artifact known as the Tear, which prompted Jadnura's failed expedition into the Scoured Stars.
The unclaimed planet that the Pact has labeled Icefront is not far from the flight path of one of the eight escaping groups and, while there are no known civilizations affiliated with the planet, its atmosphere supports life.
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The Pegasus is faster (10 vs 8 for the Drake). Both ships have the same shields. The Drake has better armor and defensive countermeasure systems.
We don't have enough crew to have more than one person at the guns (unless we don't need someone in both engineering and science officer), unless any of the drones can act as a gunner.
Engineering is generally needed every round to deal with damage. If not needed for damage, Engineering can use the Divert action to give a boost to a system for some bonuses to certain actions. Seldszar has enough ranks in Engineering to attempt the Overpower action which is like Divert action, but it can affect multiple systems.
Usually, the science officer acts the first round or two doing scans, after which the main thing the science officer can do is balance shields or target a particular system (although this only matters if the gunnery roll is a 19 or 20 for a critical hit). If Seldszar is on computers, he has enough ranks in computers to attempt a Lock On action, which gives the gunner a +2.
The Drake's weapons generally do more damage than the Pegasus'.
The main other difference is the modifiers from the PCU and computers.
Drake: Modifiers +2 to any three checks per round, +2 Computers;
Pegasus: +3 to any two checks per round, +4 Computers, +1 Piloting
So the Pegasus would give more and better bonuses, which might help considering we may have just one gunner each round.
Crew suggestions:
Pilot: Chip is +9 while Stell is +11, but Chip has 4 ranks in piloting to Stell's 1. The ranks adds to the ships AC and TL.
Here are the comparisons for pilot and ship choice.
Stell Drake: AC 16 TL 16
Stell Pegasus: AC 15 TL 17
Chip Drake: AC 19 TL 19
Chip Pegasus: AC 18 TL 20
I'd suggest Chip as pilot just because it boosts the AC and TL by 3 over what Stell can provide.
Seldszar would be good at either engineering or science officer, so I'd say that's his preference.
Stell's a little better than Dirk at gunnery, computers and engineering, so it depends on which role we want the highest skill on.
Wild card: We have Chip's Combat Drone and Seldszar's Artillery drone. Can either of those act as gunner or any other role?
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You can generally get away with one person in Science/Engineering - scans can also be done as a minor crew action which means the Sci/eng piece is really about shield management.
What we ultimately want to do is - stack the initiative, because who wins initiative dictates the battle, and maintain two gunners - because overwhelming damage makes for a short fight and less need to have people repairing.
The Drones can't act in any roles, neither can hirelings. There was one corner case which was one of the purchasable drones that can provide bonues to starship navigation.
Gunnery:
Chip - 6
Dirk - 7
Seldszar - 10
Stel - 8
Seldszar has 6 ranks in piloting so his gunnery is actually solid.
So my hot take would be (for combat)
Drake.
Pilot - Chip (take a +2 from the trinode for initiative)
Gunner 1 - Seld (+2 Trinode)
Gunner 2 - Stel (+2 Trinode)
Gunner 3 - Dirk (Be prepared to swap in for Seldszar)
Science - Seldszar - Minor Crew Action - Visual Identification.
*Bonus: Dirk could consider a round as Chief Mate and use Targeting Aid (looks like he has 6 ranks in Athletics) and Seldszar can then Broadside - which would give us a round of the best gunner supported by a Trimode firing three weapons at an opponent - would make quite a mess.
