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I've searched, and somehow still can't find all the answers to life, the universe, and tracking weapons.
Our group just had our first Starship Combat session last night, and boy was it a lot of learning. Lots of questions of course, but one of the bigger head-scratchers that I feel should be easier to answer relates to Tracking Weapons.

1) I've seen it mentioned that after the initial firing of the missile, you do NOT apply range increment penalties to Tracking the target. I've also seen mention that you DO. I don't see anything in the rules (aside from "make your gunnery checks, kids"), but maybe someone else has? If it does apply, is the range based on distance between missile and ship, or ship and ship?

2) Most tracking weapons in the CRB have the Limited fire 5 special property. When you fail your initial gunnery check, is that ammunition consumed? I can't tell if you make the check before or after the launch. To me it makes sense not to pull the trigger until you know you're locked onto the target, and it's just silly to think you launched that missile and it explodes (or fizzles) outside your launch bay because you can't make the check.

3) What happens when someone who's not the target of a missile passes through (or stops in) a hex containing that missile? Can missiles share hexes with other missiles and non-target starships? I know it's locked on to a target, but we were launching a lot of nukes at each other last night. At one point there were more missiles than ships in a 1v4 combat. The field was cluttered with missiles and it was hard to decide if we could fly through them or not.

4) Directly related to the last question, sorry. If you fly into a hex containing a missile targeting you for any reason, does it hit you? The rules SEEM to state that it can only move then hit you in the gunnery phase. But if you fly straight into it in the helm phase...?

5) If a gunner switches roles, who makes the gunnery checks on the missile he fired from a previous round? Does anyone? What if there is no more gunner?

6) Last one (for now). When an enemy ship is destroyed, are its missiles that are still in play removed from the table?

We reasoned it out a lot, and ultimately house ruled, but want to know what the truth is.

Please no house rules, advice, or homebrew. Just want some clarification if it's available.

I play an envoy 3 atm. I didn't realize how little they can do on their own in combat, so it has taken some adjustment. The more combat oriented improvisations that require actions you take, the less you can actually do. You can spend more time boosting or applying modifiers than attacking or moving, and it can be stifling, repetitive, and a bit boring. I'm considering multi-classing as soldier for those proficiencies and retooling my improvisations. We didn't really know the game when I started this character.

On the flip side, outside of combat, you basically run the show. You have a ton of skills, and if you enjoy role-playing, you can't go wrong with envoy. It's a lot of fun.

From what I've seen, operatives can stand on their own very well in both worlds.

That's a good point that I didn't think of at the time.
We were all on separate bikes and some of us didn't have piloting (We didn't group up because some of us were carrying rescued hostages). So we were trying to keep pace with each other. There was a boss-type robot monster that engaged our Technomancer and hopped on her bike with her +3 Piloting check. She instant killed it with a grease spell targeting the back of her custom enercycle. It fell off as we were traveling 55 mph. We picked off the rest one at a time.

After browsing the equipment section, I see that there are certain items that don't adhere to the standard 20, 40, 80, 100 battery capacity sizes.
For instance, the Blue star plasma caster has a capacity of 200.
Likewise the HFD Sonic pistol has a capacity of 60.

There are a couple home brew solutions for this, but the rules seem to indicate you can't buy a spare battery that matches these specifications and can only swap the battery that comes with the gun for smaller capacity battery.

Additionally,there are some items that are sold with batteries that are more expensive than the weapon itself. I.e. Pulsecaster rifle.

Is there going to be any FAQ for this kind of thing?

[ And in the Advance Vehicles section on page 284, the very first sentence tells us that one required check results in a given vehicle moving forward (and since Slow Down is the only action that lacks a check, this just corroborates that the table is the definitive source of what all actions give you the Chase phase move forward).

Far more plausible is that Evade is supposed to be a higher DC. But there should be some reason for Keep Pace existing.

We just ran into this last night and scratched our heads. The GM considered adjusting the DC for Evade or Keep Pace to make one of the options more viable. It shouldn't be that hard to Keep Pace, so he considered reducing the DC to 5 + vehicle item level. That way only untrained characters who botch their rolls fall behind.

We didn't want to make any game changes mid combat, so there were just 4 Enercyles swerving across the desert every round as an Evade action. It felt silly.
As written, Keep Pace offers 0 tactical benefit.

This would fall under the refit rules.

You can remove or downgrade systems and get a refund on BP. Say you want to downgrade a heavy mount in the forward arc to a light mount. Since it costs 4 BP to upgrade from light to heavy you would get a refund of 4 BP. You could then install a light weapon in that mount.

I'm not sure of the exact context of the OP question, but I don't think this works in cases where the frame starts with a heavy mount. The Transport starts with a heavy forward mount, so I don't think you would get a 4 BP refund for sticking a light weapon onto a 15 BP frame.

I tend to agree in terms of refits after you level, just not the initial shipbuilding stage.

A more pressing question - should that "may" really be there in the second power. What if I choose not to roll a d6. Can I just leave it out in front of a character permanently?

I agree. The way it's currently worded suggests you don't have to roll that d6. I also cannot think of a reason why you would ever want to do so, if it's permanently displayed (until the end of the scenario). As long as that "may" is in there, this card is phenomenal. Even if it gets removed, it's still circumstantially useful.

Hmm. I remember a big discussion around this scenario and location and thought I had it right, but it was many months ago, so I'm going to have to defer to Vic or Mike for its final disposition.

Sorry to resurrect this, but I'm very curious. Was there ever any developer resolution on how to win this?

Except if all other locations are closed.

My first thoughts were the same as you skizzerz but that can't be right because then you couldn't win that scenario solo.

Oh crap. I didn't even consider that.

So does the Five-Pointed Sun NOT re-open a closed location that it is displayed on (primarily for purposes of the villain escaping)?
Is that the alternative strategy to win, then? Close every location if you can't temp-close the Five-Pointed Sun because it's on an unoccupied location?

If the villain escapes to the pyramid location, while the pyramid is above a closed location, does he stays there when the pyramid moves? So now the villain is alone on a closed location?

Not necessarily alone. Due to the other scenario power, unoccupied locations that Five-Pointed Sun is displayed on drop down random monsters from the box.

Just attempted the first scenario of Adventure 5 in Mummy's Mask. The rules for In Defense of Wati indicate that while displayed on a certain location "treat that location as if it had the same text as Five-Pointed Sun." Additionally, the When Permanently Closed text for Five-Pointed Sun indicates "This location is never permanently closed."
This led to some confusion on how to treat closed locations that the Five-Pointed Sun is currently on, and consequently if a villain could technically escape into a closed location.

1)If the Five-Pointed Sun is displayed on a closed location, is that location treated for all intents and purposes as being Open for the duration of that turn?
2)Can the villain escape into this now open location?
3)If you defeat the villain at the Five-Pointed Sun, does it escape into its own location (as the location cannot be permanently closed for the duration of this turn)?

We were just rebuilding our decks after our first scenario and came across an odd thing.

The Twin Serpent Quarterstaff states "For your combat check, reveal this card to use your Melee skill + 1d6+1..." Does this mean that if you don't have the Melee skill, you are only capable of using its secondary ability? Shouldn't it be "...your Strength or Melee skill + 1d6+1..."?

The Staff of Focus likewise states "...use your Strength skill + 1d6+1." Does that mean you don't get your Melee bonus? Shouldn't it be "...use your Strength or Melee skill + 1d6+1."?

Both weapons can be acquired using Strength or Melee, just like most weapons with the Melee trait (these both do).