Richard Redmane's page

Came here today hoping the devs would tease something to make up for the foul taste reading through "Fly Free or Die" left in my mouth and instead I found... I should have known better then to come back. There's a reason why I wrote off Starfinder a couple years ago...

"SeCONd EDiTIon!" Look, you guys have been saying that since the first "Starfinder Alexa" adventure and that was... what? three years ago now? Four? Please just make like Frozen and "Let it go."

I could go on about how the real reason why the game is "dead" is because of the toxic community and some very poor decisions Paizo has been making since the game launched back in 2017 (pretty much everything with adventure paths) but getting back on topic...

Regarding Starfinder Enhanced, I am interested but not completely sold. I will be watching and we'll see what happens. The bullet points are a nice start. I already see a couple things I wanted since COM.

So when are the softcover versions of these books coming out?

Spoilers, we're getting a Bio book some time next year for the Biohackers and the Xenodruids.

You had a near-death experience with an unknown lifeform and failed to report it, thus risking the lives of inbound colonists... Okay then.

Are you able to tell us a little more about what different character classes can expect in the Galactic Exploration Manual in this episode?

Isn't it a little early for Halloween?

Troodos wrote:

I hope we get a book that similarly expands magic, it feels like the fantasy part of Starfinder is a little neglected, which can be disappointing since that's a big part of its appeal for me.

Well, we don't really know what book the Precog will be in. Perhaps that might be on the horizon.

It was practically a given that there was going to be a magic book somewhere down the line when they trotted out the Precog playtest. Practically... still the possibility that it might be something else but that something else would probably be VERY trippy.

As for Tech Revolution... after the playtest I'm marginally curious to see what new options the Mechanic and the Biohacker get but I've found I could really care less about the main draws of the book.

So Game Master's Guide mixed with Ultimate Campaign? Okay, let's see how this goes. Maybe you'll finally find your footing.

Well... definitely did not expect this. I agree with the remark that this seems a bit more niche. At least compared to the Witchwarper or the Nanocyte. But then again all we have is the name and that its a spell caster.

Curious, but I'm more curious what this means behind the scenes. This can't be for GEM, too late and doesn't feel like it fits the theme of the book. Can't be for Tech Revolution, not unless Paizo's breaking their "one class per Ultimate Sourcebook" rule. Precog doesn't sound like it fits the theme anyway.

So unless they're sick of monster manuals or plan on doing some weird for 2021, we're not going to see this again after the playtest until 2022... Or this is a really early April Fools gag.

Well, good to see that "The Company" now has a proper name on the Absalom Stock Exchange instead of just being The Company. EJ Corp.... yeah I can see something like "EJC +1.5%" appearing on a stock ticker somewhere.

I'm still extremely skeptical given Dead Suns left a bad taste in my mouth and later adventure paths aren't much better from what I've gathered before I finally had enough of what the facebook group became. But unapologetically depicting United Fruit Company or Nestle levels of corporate douchebaggery is a good start. I was starting to wonder if EJ Corp was going to be a proper villain or not. We'll see if you can keep it up.

More curious about the new mechanics you teased but I guess we'll be hearing about those soon enough.

I don't have much hope for the world building/law enforcement part of this AP. Hopefully I will be surprised.

I guess we will have to see. Still, 64 pages is not a lot of page space for an adventure AND new rules.

So GEM is basically a combination GM's Guide and Ultimate Campaign sourcebook? Okay.

Attackins wrote:

I don't see it falling short. I personally think this system has *great* starship combat, and adding even more possible crew actions and ship designs is just adding to the fun.

A very common thing you see crop up in reviews and SFS tables is that the pilot is the only one with meaningful choices , everyone else is just making the same check round after round. As a player I'm usually bored around the 4th or 5th engineering check.

As a DM I find keeping track of a spinning object in space with 4 different, recharging hit points occupies enough of my brain that I don't have enough left over to make the bluff check that I like starship combat.

Yeah that's basically my impression as well. Paizo tried to do Star Wars-style ship battles with a Star Trek approach to ship combat. And well, you CAN do that and do it well. Just not the way Paizo did it for Starfinder. Pretty sure I'm going to have to house rule a whole bunch of things if I introduce my players to starship combat.

As it is, starship combat probably would work best as a boss fight. The players face off between a rival crew or a fighter ace with as much personality and story as they do. Which of course is a double-edge sword.

Anyway, we'll see what the Nanocyte and mechs are like and if they're worth the hype when Paizo finally puts them up.

Sounds more like it's for the Galaxy Exploration Manual.

I mean... the Nanocyte is essentially a walking Swiss Army Knife and mechs are often used in exploration scenarios.

Except in the Paizocon thread, one of the devs specifically said the new class was NOT for GEM and that it would have its own book. Likely the Gencon 2021 release (and I'm willing to bet money at this point that the Gencon 2021 book will be some sort of tech or robotics themed book.) It's likely the Mech rules will be also part of this new OTHER book.

I also think it's very premature to say one is going to steal another's thunder. If you weren't already interested in starships, the announcement of the nanocyte or mechs isn't going to make you any more disinterested then you already were and visa-versa.

No, if SOM falls short, it's because a number of us (myself included) still really HATE Starship Combat and the book simply didn't do enough to make up for that. Which... well we'll see when it finally launches.

Anyone know when in July? Itching to make Generator Rex lol

Maybe this week... probably next week. Eh, either way there's still the Grimmerspace playtest I should be contributing to and the dozen writing projects I have. Still, I admit Paizo managed to get my curiosity. Whether or not they have my attention remains to be seen...

Honestly, I hope Generator Rex is the least of what we can do with the class. Granted it made sense for the character (he was what, sixteen for most of the series? A very bright sixteen-year-old for sure but still) but there's a lot of other things the creators could have played with.

Blog wrote:

Beginning in July 2020, Paizo is launching not one—but two—different Starfinder playtests.

I do want to point out that the blog doesn't say that the playtest lasts only the month of July; it says that the playtest begins in July.

Fair enough, thanks for clearing that up.

So, it’s July. Can you tell I’m anxious?!

I may not share your enthusiasm but I admit I am certainly curious. Especially since there are a lot of directions this can go given how nanotech is treated in science-fiction. It will be interesting to see which direction they go in.

When do they usually announce playtests anyway? On Mondays? Middle of the week?

If it's supposed to be a month-long playtest, then it would be pointless to "waste one more day" :P

As much as I love mechs, I'm really eager to see the Nanocyte, because for some reasons, I always liked characters who can form objects from their bodies, like the Kineticist from Pathfinder :)

What I'm really hoping to get:
- The Nanocyte (NC for short) can create both a melee and a ranged weapon, but of only ONE single damage type.
- The NC then gains additional types, like 1 new type per 4 levels, including energy types.
- The NC only gains the abilities to mix and match types, drawing them faster, etc.
- The NC can create its own armor (platings, scales, etc), with an AC bonus equal to its level, then gains the ability to add armor upgrades, like 1 per 3 levels, and gains abilities to don them faster, in addition of gaining charges to power the upgrades.
- The NC can create items and tools, which in turn can create one more item per 2 levels.

I have no idea but at this point I would guess Monday though at the same time I hope they run the play test for a little longer then a month (especially since they are throwing two things at us at once and odds are both of them are for the Gencon 2021 release at the earliest.)

Mechs are meh for me but I admit that while I'm not excited for the nanocyte, I am at least curious. Because while I strongly dislike the Witchwarper (the only player who should be able to shape reality is the one sitting behind the GM's screen, giving that to anyone else is just an invitation for trouble in my experience) I like the idea of classes built around weird science concepts. And while I would have not approached nanotechnology like that... we will see what we will see.

My predictions based off the description and the more plausible ideas:
- We will have two branching paths, one focusing on combat and one focusing on disguise and espionage. While the choice will be fairly fixed, there may be room for one path to dip their toes into the other to customize playstyles.
- Even level abilities will be utility powers that don't fit into either path. These can include abilities like flight, machine telepathy, or the ability to turn your fingers/hands/forearms into the precise tool you need at that exact moment. That last one can be further broken down based on size and complexity.
- For balance purposes, the nanocyte will (hopefully) be limited by conservation of mass (meaning you can't make anything bigger then you are.)
- For the combat path, the player will likely start able to replicate basic melee weapons and eventually work their way up to armor plating and ranged weapons of some kind. This would represent the character mastering their abilities and learning to replicate more and more complex technology with their nanites.
- For the espionage path, there may be an emphasis on sensory technology, shaping your cyber-nanites to enhance your senses or allow you to perceive things you normally can't (like dark vision for a species that doesn't normally get it.) Gathering information through technology instead of social means.

I'm curious to see how ranged weapons will be handled.

I mean, maybe a nanocyte can manifest ammo, but... I doubt that it can manifest it at will.

Well, with their body being infested/symbiotically intertwined with nanites, perhaps they can just "absorb" the ammo into their gun?

Or they could just do what Gen Rex did, make a big shoulder-mounted canon that scoops up rocks then flings them like a high-tech slingshot. Maybe not the most scientifically sound approach but eh, we have technomagical hybrid items in the setting.

I just did a Ctrl-F for the phrase "Nanomachines son" and got 0 hits.

I am very disappointed.

Wait until the playtest starts.

Mech Rules: Not my thing but eh, we'll see what you have cooked up.

New Class: *looks at the list of possible classes he thought the new class would be* Whelp, guess I better get cracking on those class ideas.

As for the Nanocyte. I suspected it would be something weird and science/tech-based so I'm not surprised on that count. As for the rest of the description... we'll see. Reminds me of Generator Rex a little bit so might be cool.

A new class? I haven't seen the panel. Any clue?

No clues were given, it was only mentioned in the last minute or so of the panel. It's not even clear when the playtest is going to begin other then Soon(TM).

But based off of John's comment, it's NOT tied to the Galaxy Exploration Manual. Which unfortunately means we have no real clue what it could be. Although on the plus side, once that test starts we'd have a pretty good idea what August 2021's book is going to be about.

Starfinder Q&A session at Gencon.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/292209916

They start talking about new classes at about 2:20:00.

Interesting, they don't really say if they're working on anything but they also don't say definitively that they're not working on anything. I suppose that's fair. Their comments on being generally against a pet class with a biological pet are also more then fair as that is kind of the Mechanic's thing. *rubs chin in contemplation*

I'm boggling at the attempts to shut down requests for new classes here. The existing seven are all fairly flexible, yes, but let's not pretend you can make anything like a kineticist yet. There are just seven classes now. Even Baby's First D&D, 5th Edition, has twelve classes. Starfinder needs more classes.

I would love to port in a void kineticist, very space.

Same, I understand the resistance to porting 9th level casters as the setting and system is built around a reduced level of magic but as a sci-fi writer myself... yeah the notion that there is no more room is folly. There is room, not a lot, but there is. And besides, Paizo clearly doesn't mind having some redundancy between themes and classes (case in point, the Roboticist and the Mechanic) so that argument doesn't have that much weight.

Like a couple others, I feel there is room for some sort of science-based biological specialist. While healing could be a cornerstone of this class's abilities, that certainly should not be the end of it. Paizo has established early on that biotech/bio-engineering is a major part of this setting. So there is certainly room for a class that focused on fiddling with that in addition to other aspects of biology like healing and cataloging all the wonderful wildlife that's actively trying to kill you.

As for the psionic classes... never played them so I can't really say.

At this point, if there's a single book I want for Starfinder, it would have to be a general analog to the Advanced Players Guide. More options for existing classes, a few new classes (not many, mostly to play with themes that the core rulebook hasn't touched,) and of course rules for things that have been teased but haven't been really done yet like trading. More gear wouldn't be unappreciated but Armory should tide most of us over for a while if what I've been hearing about it is true.

More lore books might be interesting, Veskarium is the most likely candidate (considering it's the closest to the Pact Worlds and the two conduct a lot of business of one kind or another together) but honestly, I wasn't particularly impressed by the Pact Worlds book so I'll probably pass on lore books unless something really interesting is announced.

Regarding the OP... overall I like the idea but like others I see that as Soldier class with a new theme (Tribal? Outlander?) or a Barbarian brought into Starfinder with the legacy rules. Other then that, I think it's a good idea.

Like a couple others, I agree with the prediction that the third Starfinder hardcover for 2018 is probably going to be another Alien Archives installment. The prediction could be wrong but it's not very likely. Which... eh, okay. Not exactly getting stoked over this predicted line-up for 2018 but we'll see how things play out when each book hits the shelves. At worst, it's more motivation to start homebrewing in earnest.

As for a hypothetical APG (Starfinder Core Companion?), well The Armory makes the idea of having an equipment section for the SFAPG feel redundant so hopefully that space would get used for more starships or better economy rules. In terms of possible new classes... science/tech-focused counterparts for the Mystic and Technomancer would be nice, particularly the Mystic as the Technomancer does have a bit of overlap with the Mechanic already.

Homebrewing projects on my docket:

- I have the rough outlines for potentially two settings that either supplement or completely ignore the Pact Worlds setting. Both of these are on hold at the moment as I need to discuss things with my current group first.

- While nothing has been written yet, I am toying with whipping up a bio-tech/medic counterpart to the Mechanic. Sort of the tech-user's answer to the Mystic. Was hitting a wall with the class conceptually but I think I may be able to get started soon now that I started rethinking my approach.

So the Tau Empire will be throwing down with the Imperium in the next installment? :P Cool.

Nice art.

Honestly, not really that interested in this book as my campaigns will probably be in homebrew systems outside of the Pact Worlds though I admit I am curious to see the new crunch.

Well this will probably be cool. Personally I'm hoping for the following:

- More guns: This is a given. More weapon elements and more variations of the existing weapon lines if possible.

- More Melee Weapons: Particularly axes. Where's my crystal laser battleaxe?! The book art lied to me! =P

- More Armor: More normal armor, more powered armor (especially power armor,) and physical shields for boarding actions/CQC.

- More Equipment: What we have presently is serviceable but sparse. In particular we're missing some good "gee-wiz" gadgets.

- Formulas for making your own gadgets: I share the hope that this is a thing.

Like Kaid said, the Hover chassis is best for scouting the outdoors and larger open areas. It's also good for quickly scouting places where the enemy might have a height elevation over the player such as an urban neighborhood with a lot of skyscrapers or other tall buildings. Ultimately it depends on what environments your GM sends you into.

Honestly, the main thing on my wishlist would be the Starfinder's version of the Advanced Player's Guide. Haven't gotten much chance to play yet so I'm not entirely sure what's missing from the gear section except for more armor, crystal laser battleaxes, and maybe some more general purpose "adventurer gear" or engineering equipment.

In particular, I notice there isn't much on what to do if your GM takes you somewhere light years from the nearest AbbadarCorp outlet for the entire campaign. Rules for something like a Fabber from Eclipse Phase or lassoing and reprogramming things like the "Rogue Assembly Oozes" teased in a recent review of the Starfinder Bestiary would not go awry. And like someone else mentioned, a "Utility" chassis for the Mechanic's drone wouldn't go amiss either for creating Mr. Handys or cargo hauling M.U.L.E. units.

But mostly I'm interested in more classes. Like several others, I'm interested in seeing if some sort of Bio-technician class is on the horizon to basically compliment the Mystic the same way the Mechanic compliments the Technomancer. In addition to having more healing options and ways to manipulate biological creatures (perhaps the class could have branching paths to allow players to specialize in being a medic, a field biologist, or some combination of the two,) a tech-based bio-manipulator would potentially allow GMs to run low or no-magic campaigns with the Starfinder rules. Which, while not something everyone would be interested, would be something the developers will want to eventually consider.

Beyond a bio-tech... I have to think of what else that would be on my wishlist. Operative has specs that allow me to play a explorer so there's no real reason to have a dedicated class. Hmmm... Well these are more "pie in the sky" classes but here goes.

- I wouldn't mind seeing a nod to something like the "working joe" careers from Traveller. Perhaps some kind of prospector/scavenger in a similar vein to the Belters (miners, technicians, and scientists that work in the low gravity conditions in and around asteroids.) Not sure how you would stat such a class though. Something I'll think on more.

- Going from the "mundane but practical" to the exotic, I also would be interested in a class that has an affinity for nanomatter and grey goo. Someone with powers of matter hacking, advanced chemistry, and maintaining a personal supply of nanomatter for conjuring temporary gadgets that only they could use. Sort of like the Alchemist to the Technomancer's Wizard. Again, something I'll need to think about further.

I have ideas for a star system "somewhere nearby" that I plan on getting the players stranded in when I started a Starfinder campaign. No idea whether or not I plan on having it connected to the canon universe as of yet, I need to get a notebook and start finalizing ideas for planets and such.

I have to agree with the Tidal King on this one, there are way too many planets here (13 planets to our solar system's 9.) But here goes:

Starfinders Are Cataloging All Very Interesting Denizens Even The Lowly Billywap At Absalom.

This is all well and good however the mystery Iseph had thrust into their lap feels INFINITELY more interesting. Who are these people and what did Iseph's past life do to get them so cheesed off? If I was grading these biographies as a creative writing project, Navasi would be a C/C- but Iseph would be a solid B. There is little to Iseph's story that I haven't seen before as a fan of 80's sci-fi but it's presented in a way that's engrossing none the less. If you want to sell tie-in novels for these characters, this is how you do it.

I also have to second the call for characters that aren't "rebels against the system." For one, it helps define what the system actually IS. Two, this would give us some interesting inter-party conflict which would certainly make things interesting for the eventual novelization of this universe. Nothing major, but a spat between the one fighting for ideals (Navasi,) the one fighting for vengeance and answers (Iseph,) and the one just trying to pay their bills (working class stiff that falls in with the crew when even the odd jobs stop coming) would be amusing.

Quig, because it's awesome to be handy in space and a flamethrower is always useful for killing nasty space bugs. Just ask Ripley.

"So... how many different shades of blue can I paint my gun again?"

I can so see that trait becoming extremely annoying or incredibly hilarious in the wrong/right hands. Imagine a Shirren mechanic with the handles of all their tools lavishly colored and every new purchase results in several hours just deciding what color to paint the handle. Do I want red or do I want blue?

Richard Redmane wrote:

Like some of the above, I must abstain from the contest. However, in regards to the Know Direction podcast:

When will we see a full reveal of the last race and presumably the Mystic iconic as well? What can you tell us about them at this time?

When will we see the Mechanic iconic? What can you tell us about them at this time?

Can you tell us anything new about the Mechanic, Mystic, or Technomancer classes?

Is there anything new about feats or skills you can tell us at this time?

Unveiling iconic characters and final player character species is much more the domain of the Starfinder development team, so I would not expect us to make announcements on that front. We are, after all, focusing much of our attention on the organized play side of this exciting new system. That might bring with it some incidental spoilers about the rules system.

Ahhhhh, I somehow missed that. Sounds like it still might be interesting.

Like some of the above, I must abstain from the contest. However, in regards to the Know Direction podcast:

When will we see a full reveal of the last race and presumably the Mystic iconic as well? What can you tell us about them at this time?

When will we see the Mechanic iconic? What can you tell us about them at this time?

Can you tell us anything new about the Mechanic, Mystic, or Technomancer classes?

Is there anything new about feats or skills you can tell us at this time?

The reasoning makes sense but giving numerical levels to weapons and gear still feels unnecessarily complicated. Unfortunately it's late as I write this so I'm drawing a blank on alternatives I could be suggesting to be helpful.

As I said elsewhere, the thought processes behind the UPBs is interesting and definitely encouraging though I have a few questions before I get into my quibbles. First of all, how do you handle manufacturing in the Starfinder universe? Is it conventional assembly-line production compared to what we have now in most of the real world? Or has the Starfinder universe made considerable advances in the realm of 3D printing and similar automated technologies? Like "all our vending machines are printers and if you can afford a mid-range laptop now, you can afford a good 3d printer with capabilities above and beyond modern printers in the Starfinder universe" sort of advances?

Richard Redmane wrote:

Hmmm, not entirely sure how I feel about some of the bits regarding skills and archetypes/themes but some very good ideas all the same. I particularly like how you solved the problem of currency in the setting. It took me a little while to think about it but there is a subtle brilliance behind the idea of Universal Polymer Bases and backing the credit with an object that's valuable because of its utility instead of its rarity. Not quite sold on the rest of your economic system so far but it certainly sounds like a good foundation for some tinkering if the need arises.

The UPBs reminds me a lot of the nannites that went into being able to build/buy things in System Shock 2. You could also recycle trash and random personal items for small amounts of nannites to convert into useful things like ammunition and hypos.

The nanites from System Shock 2 is a good example but my mind immediately went to the Darwin's World RPG which handled crafting materials in a similar way to the UPBs. You had money (called Corium in that setting) and you had crafting materials that were treated as "money" and in theory you could exchange between the two at a similar rate to the UPBs (in theory at any rate, the game's post-apocalyptic setting frequently made that up to the whims of the GM.)

Anyway, UPBs are an interesting idea though I wonder how it would affect the rewards for certain assignments like salvage recovery. Would you split the payout for cleaning out a pirate-infested ship graveyard into UPBs and ship points?

Hmmm, not entirely sure how I feel about some of the bits regarding skills and archetypes/themes but some very good ideas all the same. I particularly like how you solved the problem of currency in the setting. It took me a little while to think about it but there is a subtle brilliance behind the idea of Universal Polymer Bases and backing the credit with an object that's valuable because of its utility instead of its rarity. Not quite sold on the rest of your economic system so far but it certainly sounds like a good foundation for some tinkering if the need arises.

Skills... I will have to see the end results before I fully commit either way. Umbrella skills are one thing, chopping them out entirely is another. And I've seen both good and bad examples of both in other sci-fi games.

Finally it looks like I might have a reason to be excited for Free RPG Day for the first time in a while.

1. When will the last two playable species in the core rulebook be announced? Can you give us a rough estimate of how many creatures in the first Starfinder Bestiary (the one you claim will be co-launching with the core rule book at Gencon 2017) will be playable?
2. The robot familiar for the Mechanic class… is it designed to be modular and customizable? Or are we stuck with one specific configuration? Is there a Archetype/Variation of the Mechanic that does not have a familiar in exchange for something else?
3. On a tech-related note, how will Starfinder handle players building, repairing, and modifying their own technological equipment? Will it be similar to how Pathfinder handled crafting and enchanting weapons and armor? Does the Mechanic get any particular bonuses of note to any of these three activities?
4. Do some kind of demon or devil worshippers make an appearance somewhere for those of us that want to get our Doomslayer on?
5. Is there a subsystem/mini-game to simulate cargo trading between planets for the party to make a little extra scratch between dungeon crawls/ghost ship expeditions?
6. What if any Prestige Classes can we expect?

As I said when you shared this on Facebook, good to see a proper interview covering Starfinder. A bit long and covered some familiar ground but there are some interesting gems to be had here. Both about the larger world the players can explore and about some of the behind the scenes bits. I like the story behind the iconics, was not aware of that previously. Iseph definitely sells their class.

As for the Androids in general. They sound interesting but I'm going to defer proper judgement until I see the write-up in full. Even then, not sure how I feel about the whole "ebil hoomons r ebil slave lords" story line. Seen it done before many times, not one of them has been done particularly well. Not that you couldn't be the first to do it justice but still, you'd be the first.

First of all, repeating what I said about this on Facebook, the quality of journalism is about what I expect out of Polygon (ie: very little) and there's no new information for those of us that have been sta... er, following Paizo very enthusiastically regarding this project. :P The new art however steals the show. I'm digging the late 80's/early 90's sci-fantasy vibe, you've pretty much captured my childhood in one RPG. Eox in particular looks like a planet I will have to visit at least once, if that back story is not totally metal (in the musical sense,) I don't know what is.

Regarding the planar ripping/rending thing... at first I didn't get why Paizo felt the need to stick that in there but hearing James's explanation, it makes sense. It's like the Warp from the 40k RPGs in a way, the longer you stay in it the more likely you are to have uninvited guests stowing away and needing to be sorted out. Feels a bit unnecessary but I'm going to wait and see how it's executed before I pass a final judgement. And if it turns out to be too much I can always house rule that instead a ship can only go so far without needing to stop for gas, repairs, or to just make sure the navigational computer is still properly calibrated.

So stoked for this.

In our new grimdark universe, the economy is totally just dwarf parts. "Gimme five teeth for an ear," you'll hear someone say.

** spoiler omitted **

I am intrigued by this spoiler... did you create a currency where gold and silver pieces are embedded with electronic currency? :P

abandoned space stations, civilian colonies attacked by strange creatures, intact deep-space exploration vessels that aren't responding to hails, there's a bit you can do without having to lean on classic fantasy.

Everyone is ignoring THE most important Science Fiction setting for any branch of Starfinder.

Star Munchkin!

I forgot Steve Jackson Games made an RPG based off of Munchkin... Gods help us all.

Anyway, getting back on topic, it was said in a couple panels and interviews that Starfinder is going to be more Star Wars instead of Star Trek or "Star Wars but more" overall. Exactly what that means, besides the obvious, I have no idea but it definitely sounds like fun.

I agree with the comparisons to Dragonstar and yes, yes I know the Dragon Empire was a big part of that particular setting. But the look, the feel... the comparisons to Dragonstar are fair ones to make. Dwarves in space suits mining asteroids for precious minerals, the wizard copying spells to a PDA, the fighter armed with a laser pistol and long sword... Dragonstar was the last game to really give us that sort of an experience.

Strength can still be insanely useful for a number of reasons (some of which have already been mentioned but will be repeated anyway to stress their importance.)

- Wielding heavy support weapons: Things like repeating laser cannons or what have you would require either exceptional strength to fire on the move. You don't have that strength, either you suffer a horrible penalty or pull a muscle just picking it up.

- Power Armor: Normally, powered armors are equipped with a complex system of strength-enhancing hydraulic muscles that allows STR 10 characters to operate them... until something happens to the power supply then it becomes a giant lawn ornament. And you inside it, just getting out may require a high strength much less operating it manually.

- Close Quarters Combat: Invariably the players will get into a situation where they're in a tight, narrow area where a missed shot is disastrous and have to resort to melee. The interior of the party's ship is one such place. A missed plasma bolt can damage life support or navigation and at best spawn a whole side quest just to get it fixed. Other such places include the crowded confines of a lunar or asteroid colony where a stray shot can accidentally hit a civvie (which is bad PR for most parties) or breach the outer hull and expose the whole area to hard vacuum. In some sci-fi settings, some colonies (such as Blue Heaven in the Outlaw Star anime) outright ban firearms to prevent such things from happening.

- Power Failure/Low Tech: The mechanic class may want high strength in case they get in a situation where they have to brute force something without a fancy power-assist device.

Can you elaborate on that any further? it sounds like the problem is more with item creation than tech levels or classes. Unless it is a class that has item creation as a central class ability. i would like to see item creation removed from specific classes and just be a feat or skill used when you have access to a lab.

I have to agree, in my experience, unless we're talking about that XP penalty/XP crafting reserve used by a couple WotC classes (I never was a fan of that idea,) the problems with crafting rules have always been with the players or the GM, never the system.

If it's a problem of giving the players too much time during the times on the ship between planets, well then there are always chores that need to be done or else the ship becomes broken, unsightly, or whatnot. You can always just say they need to spend X amount of hours per day taking care of that and X amount sleeping, leaving them to manage the rest as they will. If it's a problem of the players trying to take their time to craft objects ahead of time, force them to deal with things that require a degree of urgency.

Regardless, I would not turn crafting into a huge tech tree. Tech trees are for strategy games, they should only be used in an RPG to describe "why players should be impressed with civilization Z." Making it overly complicated does not prevent it from being abused, it merely punishes players who wish to enjoy it without abusing it. At the most I would use something like Darwin's World, making a couple crafting feats to represent the specialized knowledge needed to manufacture incredibly complicated high-end items like power armor and leave it at that.