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Hacking a system takes one full action per tier. If you fail, countermeasures activate. However, I don't see anything in the rules about when they activate.
Do they activate in the first round of that task? If so, you'll immediately know you've failed and can try again, only having wasted one round.
Or do they activate only on the last round of the task? That would mean that you have to do the whole task before even checking if you've failed.
The latter would be extremely unforgiving, given how hacking already takes forever. It would be in line with other multi-round tasks like Disable Device, though. You have to do the whole task, even if you fail. However, with Disable Device, you don't even know you've failed which is an important difference to hacking.

So, the Exocortex Mechanic gains an advanced artificial intelligence which aids them in combat and (presumably) hacking. It can hack just as well as you, too.

Instead of combat tracking, your exocortex can access another computer system within 20 feet, allowing it to attempt a Computers check against that computer each round, using your skill bonus. This counts as a standard action for the purpose of the Computers skill. [...] If the task requires multiple actions (or even rounds) to accomplish, you can spend your actions to work in concert with your exocortex, counting both your action and the exocortex’s effective standard action toward the total time required.

There's a few uses of the Computers skill which take several rounds, such as "Hack System" and "Gain Root Access". So, the intention seems to be that your Exocortex can do these tasks and hack a computer for you or that you can even cooperate with it on that.

Unfortunately, it actually can't. Because here's what the rules have to say about that.

Hacking a computer system typically takes one full action per tier of the computer system.

Emphasis mine.

Hacking a computer or gaining root access requires several full actions. The Exocortex can never take full actions, only what counts as a standard action. And the Pathfinder rule that standard actions are roughly half a full action (Start/Complete Full-Round Action) doesn't exist in Starfinder.

Can the Exocortex use the "Hack System" and "Gain Root Access" tasks? If so, how should its standard actions count towards the full actions required?
I'm pretty sure the intention is "Yes" and "Fully", but this isn't actually stated anywhere, from what I can find. Is there something I overlooked? I'd love to get a clarification on this.

So, I'm playing a Shirren Mechanic with Exocortex. We're currently level 3, so I can't really undo any mistakes I've already made, but I'm planning for the future.
The role I'm planning on filling in the party is that I'm shooting with Longarms (later Heavy Weapons), overcharging myself and my allies. Outside of combat, I want to be able to hack decently well and also get some knowledge checks done.
My ability array is 10/14/12/16/13/8. Should have probably switched Dex and Int, but oh well, I like skills. Here's what I'm planning on taking. I would greatly appreciate some advice.

1 - Weapon Focus (Longarms)
2 - Overcharge
3 - Far Shot
4 - Energy Shield
5 - Skill Synergy (Culture, Mysticism)
6 - Visual Data Processors/Hack Directory
7 - Heavy Weapons Proficiency (via Exocortex Mod), Versatile Specialization
8 - Improved Overcharge
9 - Deadly Aim/Iron Will
10 - Resistant Energy
11 - ?
12 - Ghost Intrusion
13 - ?
14 - Superior Overcharge

The Skill Synergy is basically just because I like having all the Knowledge skills. Synergizes well with Scholar, too. I'm not gonna out-skillmonkey our Operative, but I like the flavor of a Shirren being really good at Culture.
I'm super unsure about level 6. Perception bonuses are always fantastic, but I'd like to hack well. Our Technomancer is probably generally gonna out-hack me (started with 18 Int and has a level of Operative) until I get Coordinated Assault, but with the high DCs on Computers checks, not triggering countermeasures is a pretty huge advantage.
Is Deadly Aim worth it? Dealing even more damage on an overcharged explosive weapon is tempting, but it makes the Reflex save way easier to deal with. It's probably not that good for Longarms, either, because -2 is rough.

I have no idea what to do with the rest of my feats. I'm eyeing Connection Inkling just so that someone can keep our Mystic stable and alive if she's down. Should I maybe take that at level 9? Improved Initiative is another good option, but I'll generally want to go after our Operative anyway because flat-footed. Or maybe Medical Expert?

I'm also not sure which abilities I should increase. Int and Dex, obviously. Wisdom for the better save.
But should I go with Con or Str on level 5? More stamina and better saves are always good, but both Heavy Armor and Heavy Weapons are, well, heavy. I'm generally planning to have one explosive Heavy Weapon and one Longarm for a different energy type, so I might be fine, I dunno.

Any really bad options in my build? Any excellent ones I've overlooked?

So, I'm playing a Shirren Exocortex Mechanic wielding Longarms in combat. We're level 3 at this point, so the extra 1d6 damage from Overcharge is quite nice. And I could get more if I get better Overcharge tricks.
However, then I look at what the Operative is getting just for being an Operative and it's just a frankly ridiculous amount of extra damage dice on their Trick Attack. I've never seen the skill check from Trick Attack fail, so it's very reliable, too.

If my Mechanic goes all-in on Overcharge, they're going to be hyper-specialized and at level 20, they're getting... 7d6 extra damage. And I'd have to pass up a lot of nice tricks, too.
Meanwhile, the Operative is just getting extra damage for free and 10d8 of it at the end.
Yes, they can only do this with Small Arms and Operative Weapons, but the damage is still huge. Sure, the best Longarm is better than the best Small Arm, but also costs way more. I just don't see how I could ever compete, given the same amount of cash.

Is Overcharge just no good and should I just go with Full Attacks? That doesn't seem like it's gonna work at low-to-mid levels. Heavy Weapons are an option, too, but that's two feats (or a feat and Exocortex Mod) to get Specialization which is a big investment.
How on Earth am I not going to be completely outclassed by freaking everything in combat?

To be frank, I'm currently debating how combat-heavy I want to go in the first place, given that we have a Soldier and an Operative on the team. I might want to go more hacking-focused, but we also have a Technomancer who gets higher bonuses on Computers (Techlore every 3 levels vs Bypass every 4), so I dunno.

So, I'm playing a Strength-focused melee Occultist, currently wielding a two-handed weapon because I hadn't heard about Panoplies before. I'm planning to take Trappings of the Warrior at level 10. This, as my GM has said, would require me to go sword-and-board.
But which sword? Scimitar and Rapier do little damage, but crit a lot. Longsword crits a bit less, but does more damage. Short Sword is a light weapon. Or something else entirely?
Does it even matter? Surely, the weapon damage won't be making much of a difference, anyway, since most of my damage will come from special abilities (due to Legacy Weapon) and Power Attack.

Also, I had originally planned to take Power Attack for my two-handed weapon build at level 9, but it's much worse with a one-handed weapon. Is it still the way to go with a Strength-focused sword-and-board build? TotW will fix my low BAB, so I can probably deal with the penalty to attack.

Or should I just bite the bullet, stick with my two-handed weapon and a buckler and sink two feats into Unhindering Shield? That's a pretty hefty feat investment, but gets me a better AC and slightly higher damage from Power Attack, so I'm not sure.

I originally asked part of this question in another thread, but I thought it better to create a new thread since they're actually different questions entirely.

Here's the ability's description:

So, how does this actually work? It states that the circle "functions as" Magic Circle against, say, Evil, but what does that mean? That's like saying "this fork functions as Stoneskin"; one's a physical object, the other's a spell.
The way I interpreted that is that this ritual of drawing a circle is essentially equivalent to a casting of Magic Circle against Evil, so the Occultist touches a creature who then emanates a 10-ft. aura of protection until the circle is physically broken. The creature need not remain anywhere near the physical circle.
The way I've seen it interpreted elsewhere, though, is that the physical circle itself defines the limits of the protective aura which would make it extremely different from the spell in a way that's not entirely clear from the description.

If it's the latter option, then how big is the physical circle and thus the protective aura of the Magic Circle? If we assume that it's essentially the same as the spell, it would be 10 ft in radius. However, that doesn't really make sense once Fast Circles comes online which allows the Occultist to draw a circle as a full-round action. If the circle is 10 ft in radius, that's a lot of running around (possibly more than even a Run action would allow you) and would potentially even allow the Occultist to draw a Binding Circle around a foe. It's comical, but doesn't seem like the intended way.
But if the circle and the corresponding aura are very small, small enough to fit in a square, then surely, the ability would say so? That would be a huge change from how the spell functions. Or maybe the circle is very small, but the protective aura, emanating from the center of the circle, is still 10 ft in radius?

I would be very glad if somebody could explain to me how it's supposed to work or how they would handle it, preferably with rule or FAQ references.

What differentiates these two bomb types from the others is that these two aren't really thrown, but instead start at the alchemist and extend. They both state that one creature in the area of effect should be the designated target. If you hit, everyone in the area takes splash damage and none take direct hit damage, I think.
But what happens if you miss? It's fairly simple with thrown bombs which work with Throw Splash Weapon. But that doesn't apply to these two since there is no notion of range increments or a square where you throw the bomb.
So, how does it miss? Does a miss imply that you don't shoot out a cone or line at all, so nobody gets damaged? Or does just the target not get damaged, but everyone else still does? Or is your line or cone just slightly off and you actually attack other squares, similarly to Throw Splash Weapon?
I couldn't find anything about that in the combat or magic rules, but I'm fairly certain that there must be something there. The closest I could find were rules about aiming spells, but spells don't really "miss", they just give saving throws.

I have three questions regarding Sticky Bombs.

1. Does only the creature who was hit directly take the splash damage in the next round? There seems to be some disagreement on the forums about this.
The first sentence of the description seems to imply that it applies to all creatures that took the "initial damage" from the bomb. The second sentence could either be interpreted to say that it only applies to directly hit creatures or it could just be a clarification that the directly hit creature does not take the full damage all over again.

2. Does the "afterburn" from the Sticky Bomb only do damage or does it apply its other effects, too? So, does a Sticky Tanglefoot Bomb, for example, have a chance to entangle in the next round?
I'd probably say "No" because the description of Sticky Bomb only ever talks about damage, not about other effects like sickening or entangling. On the other hand, it would make sense either way.

3. How does Sticky Bomb interact with Targeted Bomb Admixture? I don't think I've seen any consensus on this. Technically speaking, Sticky Bomb applies the "splash damage" on the next round. However, Targeted Bomb Admixture doesn't splash at all, meaning that there is no splash damage to apply.
On the other hand, Targeted Bomb Admixture doesn't explicitly state that, say, splash damage is zero. It just says that it doesn't splash which, I'd argue, isn't quite the same. So, I'm gonna guess that a Targeted Sticky Bomb is going to do the splash damage to the creature on the next turn, even though the bomb initially didn't splash.
However, if that is the case, does the doubled Int modifier apply to the afterburn damage as well? The description for Targeted Bomb Admixture technically talks about all bomb damage, not just the initial hit. But gleaning any information about "splash damage" from an extract that explicitly doesn't make your bombs splash seems sketchy at best.
On the other other hand, if a Targeted Sticky Bomb doesn't actually do any damage in the next round, there seems to be absolutely no reason to use Targeted Bomb Admixture once you have Sticky Bombs. After all, TBA bombs only affect one creature and merely add your Int modifier to the damage again while Sticky Bomb still has the normal splash damage and an additional splash damage to at least the directly hit creature which is much more than merely your Int modifier.

So, I've been building a Ratfolk alchemist for a while and wanted to take the Tumor Familiar discovery. However, my character isn't all that strong, so I've been wondering whether the Tumor Familiar should weigh something when it's absorbed in my alchemist's body.
On the one hand, a Tumor Familiar is, for all intents and purposes, equivalent to a normal familiar and thus a creature. So, it should weigh something.
On the other hand, it's part of your body and thus doesn't technically weigh you down per the rules on Carrying Capacity. And after all, it's magic, so it could just not weigh anything when attached to you. Not to mention that some animal descriptions don't even list any weight.
Is there any verdict, FAQ or discussion on this that I've missed? I couldn't find anything on this. Which surprised me, given that non-Hyde alchemists usually aren't the strongest.

If a crafter works on an item for "a day", how long do they actually work on it? It can't be 24 hours because nobody works 24/7. Not for long, anyway.

This is relevant if you get so good at crafting that an Unstable Accelerant takes, say, a sixth of a day (Swift Alchemy, Master Alchemist etc.) But what's a sixth of a day? If a day of work isn't 24 hours, then a sixth of a day isn't 4 hours either.
I couldn't actually find any information on this. The mundane crafting rules seem to have been written with the idea in mind that it's solely used during downtime. I would guess that it's based on the idea of 8 hours of sleep, 16 hours of work, but I'm not certain.