Starfinder is too cool not to have barrel rolling Arwing skirmishes.
Lol, yeah that would be cool- except for the fact that they don't actually do barrel rolls.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Looking forward to the AI rules. Already had planned on a flavor AI for my gaming group, the Onboard Digitally-Interfacing Executive, or ODIE. He's going to be based on John Cleese. :D
Drift tea shops? :3I'm really excited about our great cast of authors on this project. Some of those who are comfortable with my calling them out by name include Abigail Slater, Alex Augunas, Alexi Greer, Diego Valdez, Jason Tondro, Jessica Catalan, JN Childs, John Godek, Kate Baker, Kendra Leigh Speedling, M.W. Hawkins, Sam Phelan, Vanessa Hoskins, plus a bunch more!I am part of that 'bunch more' and was very excited to be part of this project. I hope you like what we did!
Hmm
Starbucks is getting ridiculous. :D
|
I think it's worth saying that I was greatly disappointed by the Starship Combat Rules in the CRB. We finished Dead Suns AP and let SF sit for the past year or so. The dissatisfaction with Starship combat greatly contributed to our group's tepid reception of Sf.
Don't get me wrong, we played Dead Suns AP to the end and we finished the campaign. But tbh, there was no player enthusiasm to start another SF campaign any time soon.
To be clear, I have continued to subscribe throughout for all of Starfinder's product lines, but we simply haven't been playing it. I knew with the passage of time we'd come back to the game and by that time, many expansions would be released and the game would feel new again. Plus -- first APs are rarely the best ones (and by rarely, I mean to say 'never"). The AP line for a new rules set improves over time as everybody involved, freelancer, developer, GM and players all get more used to the system and how it all works together.
Given all the releases over the past two years since the debut of Starfinder - and now with this book on the near horizon - I'm feeling excited about the product line again. I foresee another kick at the Starfinder AP can in our future in late 2020/early 2021.
Bottom Line: This is all very well received as far as I am concerned and I am very much looking forward to it. Sometimes, that sort of customer response is unclear (especially when I have subscribed throughout) so it's worth mentioning :)
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I think it's worth saying that I was greatly disappointed by the Starship Combat Rules in the CRB. We finished Dead Suns AP and let SF sit for the past year or so. The dissatisfaction with Starship combat greatly contributed to our group's tepid reception of Sf.
Don't get me wrong, we played Dead Suns AP to the end and we finished the campaign. But tbh, there was no player enthusiasm to start another SF campaign any time soon.
To be clear, I have continued to subscribe throughout for all of Starfinder's product lines, but we simply haven't been playing it. I knew with the passage of time we'd come back to the game and by that time, many expansions would be released and the game would feel new again. Plus -- first APs are rarely the best ones (and by rarely, I mean to say 'never"). The AP line for a new rules set improves over time as everybody involved, freelancer, developer, GM and players all get more used to the system and how it all works together.
Given all the releases over the past two years since the debut of Starfinder - and now with this book on the near horizon - I'm feeling excited about the product line again. I foresee another kick at the Starfinder AP can in our future in late 2020/early 2021.
Bottom Line: This is all very well received as far as I am concerned and I am very much looking forward to it. Sometimes, that sort of customer response is unclear (especially when I have subscribed throughout) so it's worth mentioning :)
It's funny how everything you wrote is the same for our group.
We did play the first Skittermander adventure though.
I think we will eventually play Starfinder again, but not this year and not in the first half of 2021.
I think it's worth saying that I was greatly disappointed by the Starship Combat Rules in the CRB. We finished Dead Suns AP and let SF sit for the past year or so. The dissatisfaction with Starship combat greatly contributed to our group's tepid reception of Sf.
Don't get me wrong, we played Dead Suns AP to the end and we finished the campaign. But tbh, there was no player enthusiasm to start another SF campaign any time soon.
To be clear, I have continued to subscribe throughout for all of Starfinder's product lines, but we simply haven't been playing it. I knew with the passage of time we'd come back to the game and by that time, many expansions would be released and the game would feel new again. Plus -- first APs are rarely the best ones (and by rarely, I mean to say 'never"). The AP line for a new rules set improves over time as everybody involved, freelancer, developer, GM and players all get more used to the system and how it all works together.
Given all the releases over the past two years since the debut of Starfinder - and now with this book on the near horizon - I'm feeling excited about the product line again. I foresee another kick at the Starfinder AP can in our future in late 2020/early 2021.
Bottom Line: This is all very well received as far as I am concerned and I am very much looking forward to it. Sometimes, that sort of customer response is unclear (especially when I have subscribed throughout) so it's worth mentioning :)
It's funny how everything you wrote is the same for our group.
We did play the first Skittermander adventure though.
I think we will eventually play Starfinder again, but not this year and not in the first half of 2021.
I’d really recommend Dawn of Flame. It’s one of my favourite APs Paizo have ever produced.
We have a guy who doesn’t like starship combat and it’s been a piece of cake to excise that with no real impact on the AP (I narrated one combat and took the rest of them out).
Since one of the most common criticisms I see levied against Starfinder is that people don't enjoy the objectively cumbersome starship combat system, it seems mind-blowing to me that this book isn't overtly advertising that they're doing something to remedy it. Isn't this a bit tone-deaf? Sure, many people are fine with the slow pace of starship combat (I personally don't mind it), but many players just *hate* it. Would it have killed the dev team to include some alternate rules to speed things up or streamline things? This seems so obvious, it's kind of killing me that this wasn't addressed.
I don't know, perhaps the feedback Paizo collects beyond the forums (which tends to heavily tilt negative) is that starship combat is fun. Having played it and run it, it's been popular. It's not perfect but it's vastly superior to almost every other starship combat rpg system available.
As with others, I, too, am excited for the Starship Operations Manual.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
The wait is killing me
yep, me and my group as well!!
:)
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Taking to long. :( I am a sad panda. Still waiting for the playtest rules as well. Either one will suffice for now. So much waiting. I need my fix now.
|
|
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Since one of the most common criticisms I see levied against Starfinder is that people don't enjoy the objectively cumbersome starship combat system, it seems mind-blowing to me that this book isn't overtly advertising that they're doing something to remedy it. Isn't this a bit tone-deaf? Sure, many people are fine with the slow pace of starship combat (I personally don't mind it), but many players just *hate* it. Would it have killed the dev team to include some alternate rules to speed things up or streamline things? This seems so obvious, it's kind of killing me that this wasn't addressed.I don't know, perhaps the feedback Paizo collects beyond the forums (which tends to heavily tilt negative) is that starship combat is fun. Having played it and run it, it's been popular. It's not perfect but it's vastly superior to almost every other starship combat rpg system available.
As with others, I, too, am excited for the Starship Operations Manual.
The feedback Paizo has received from repeat PFS GMs and players is unambiguously bad. It takes multiple play sessions though. Initially? It's positive. That's the problem with Starship Combat and how playtest feedback can be so deceptive.
Yes, it can be excised from the game. Ultimately, we did so from our Dead Suns AP. But to be blunt? That's no answer. Starship operations and combat is an iconic element of the genre. It's like leaving out magic in a FRPG. You could do it, sure, but that's not really a practical answer - and it's not the same genre anymore.
Paizo can get this right. I hope that they do.
| 5 people marked this as a favorite. |
Just got mine!
One optional rule I'll immediately be implementing is the Design Budgets. Restricting the amount of BP that can be spent on shields, so the players don't trivialize encounters with a super-shielded ship? Restricting the percentage of BP that can be spent on turret weapons, so that PC ship-weaponry doesn't always consist of a single turret supergun? Hell. Yes.
Lots of other cool stuff too (new super-sized ship stats for space stations and cities, rules for building spaceship-sized creatures), but I'm excited to try out the squadron rules. These include squadon-specific crew actions and ship systems, including the "Unification Matrix" option which allows smaller ships to merge together into a larger one! Very cool.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
That sounds terrific. Thanks for the mini-preview!
I CAN'T WAIT FOR MINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Ooooh, just wondering, but what are the starships in the book? As well as their tiers and hulls? Mostly want to know out of curiousity.
There's a little over 40 new starships, of every hull type, from tier 1/3 to tier 20. At first glance, some cool ones are:
Is there anything in it about racing in starships?
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Is there anything in it about racing in starships?
Yeah, lots of rules for alternate kinds of starship encounters. A 5 page section on starship chases, including new crew actions for each crew member, environmental effects, etc. Seems like this should be pretty easy to use for a race.
In fact, one of my favorite sections is the "Designing Starship Encounters" section, which gives lots of suggestions for making more interesting starship encounters, including non-combat challenges and alternative win-conditions. Combine that with the sections on hazards and atmospheric conditions, and GMs have a bunch of ways to spice of starship combat.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So does this do anything for the main problem a lot of people have with of starship combat, ie, giving someone other than the pilot interesting , meaningful decisions and variety?
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So does this do anything for the main problem a lot of people have with of starship combat, ie, giving someone other than the pilot interesting , meaningful decisions and variety?
I haven’t read it carefully enough to definitively answer this question, but are various new rules that could directly or indirectly help with this.
But squadron rules aside, it’s tricky for me to say with confidence how much variety of play is actually opened up by these new rules. But I'm eager to find out!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Is there anything in the book for non-starship combat gameplay?
I haven’t read it carefully enough to definitively answer this question, but are various new rules that could directly or indirectly help with this.
Of those it sounds like the only one that'd actually increase the options for non-pilot non-gunners is squadrons. Other ones just change what option is most optimal, doesn't give them actually more things to do aside from "Repeat same action that was taken on round 1 for each fight" unfortunately.
Any hints on the boarding actions, that will help a lot in Starship combat I think, is it like disable (instead of destroy) then board so all can get into action in the boarding process??
Thanks, July 30th can't come soon enough!!
Tom
Is there anything in the book for non-starship combat gameplay?
/QUOTE]
I'm going to speculate no, since it was sorta approved for sfs with the caveat there's nothing in here to use really...
I'm going to speculate no, since it was sorta approved for sfs with the caveat there's nothing in here to use really...
Dang, that's unfortunate.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Any further information on squadron rules. We have a few people in our party that want our own starfighter ships and fly around the main ship. Problem is not enough build points to manage all of it yet.
| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Any hints on the boarding actions, that will help a lot in Starship combat I think, is it like disable (instead of destroy) then board so all can get into action in the boarding process??
Thanks, July 30th can't come soon enough!!
Tom
Disabling the ship isn't necessary. You can board an opposing ship in a number of ways.
Once a boarding party is on board, there are two ways to resolve the results. You can use some abstract rules (with boarding attacks against the ship's boarding resistence, etc), or (if it's the PCs) you can resolve it using ordinary tactical combat rules.
Any further information on squadron rules. We have a few people in our party that want our own starfighter ships and fly around the main ship. Problem is not enough build points to manage all of it yet.
If the PCs are going to form a squadron, there's a conversion chart for what tier the individual ships should be. (For example, if there are 4 PCs with individual ships, each PC should get a (average party level-3) tier ship, and so would have that many BP to construct their individual ships.)
There are a couple of new systems available when building squadron ships. For example, as I mentioned in an earlier post, squadron ships have the option of having each ship equiped with a unification matrix, which allows the squadron ships to merge together into a single higher tier ship.
The squadron rules also include the option of providing the squadron with an HQ ship (for no extra cost). The HQ ship effective tier is the same as the APL, but it uses special build rules. It gets only 25% of the usual BP; the cost of the ship's frame, and the cost of hanger bays and shuttle bay expansions bays is only 10% the normal cost; it has a minumum crew of 4, and only has one weapon mount -- a single turret with a light weapon.
Finally, squadrons have some new squad-specific stunts and crew actions available, in addition to the usual stunts and crew actions. So lots of fun stuff to play around with!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Any further information on squadron rules. We have a few people in our party that want our own starfighter ships and fly around the main ship. Problem is not enough build points to manage all of it yet.If the PCs are going to form a squadron, there's a conversion chart for what tier the individual ships should be. (For example, if there are 4 PCs with individual ships, each PC should get a (average party level-3) tier ship, and so would have that many BP to construct their individual ships.)
There are a couple of new systems available when building squadron ships. For example, as I mentioned in an earlier post, squadron ships have the option of having each ship equiped with a unification matrix, which allows the squadron ships to merge together into a single higher tier ship.
The squadron rules also include the option of providing the squadron with an HQ ship (for no extra cost). The HQ ship effective tier is the same as the APL, but it uses special build rules. It gets only 25% of the usual BP; the cost of the ship's frame, and the cost of hanger bays and shuttle bay expansions bays is only 10% the normal cost; it has a minumum crew of 4, and only has one weapon mount -- a single turret with a light weapon.
Finally, squadrons have some new squad-specific stunts and crew actions available, in addition to the usual stunts and crew actions. So lots of fun stuff to play around with!
OMG I can't wait for my book to ship. That sounds exactly what we want and need. The more I see what is in this book the more I need this in my life. I can't wait to see all of the new options, armors, weapons, expansion bays. WHY HASN'T MY BOOK SHIPPED. The wait is killing me.
Thanks again Porridge. You are a saint.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Love those boarding actions, so there is no option to disable ship then board, I guess to make it faster in the boarding action I suspect, should be fun to try out.
How are the new crew actions, will it keep more players interested and engaged in the game I hope?
Thanks again Porridge :)
Tom
What kind of new weapons/armors are we looking at? What about ai?
Seems we are dead in space with no help...
No once can hear you scream in space..........
Us mortals just need to wait until we can buy the PDF.
Star-Nambulance Void-Eater, Medium Oma (13), a barathu ship built around sleeping space whales (Omas)
I noticed this and wondered if they actually had a standard Oma as an encounter yet? I know they have the frame from AA1, but I always thought it was funny that they had a monster that you can only encounter in space not have space statistics after all this time.
| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
Seems we are dead in space with no help...
No once can hear you scream in space..........
Sorry about that; juggling work, a small child, and trying to answer questions in other threads has left me stretched a little thin.
What kind of new weapons/armors are we looking at? What about ai?
There are a bunch of new weapons. Some interesting additions:
On the defensive end, there are also several new options: Ablative Armor (e.g., temporary shields), Deflector Shields (which provide ship DR and AC/TL boosts), Fortified Hull (which increase critical threshold), and Reinforced Bulkheads (which provide fortification against critical damage).
Finally, the Virtual Intelligence (VI) rules allow you to add a VI to your ship that can take the gunner, pilot, or science officer role during starship combat, as well as do a couple other things with the appropriate upgrades.
I noticed this and wondered if they actually had a standard Oma as an encounter yet? I know they have the frame from AA1, but I always thought it was funny that they had a monster that you can only encounter in space not have space statistics after all this time.Star-Nambulance Void-Eater, Medium Oma (13), a barathu ship built around sleeping space whales (Omas)
Now that you mention it, it is kind of odd. They include rules for constructing starship-scale cratures in this book, and include four new starship-scale creatures (Derelict Shade (4), Zoaphorix (10), Alinoisos (13), Cerebrex (18)). But sadly, no starship statistics for a standard Oma yet.
Again thank you. One day Paizo with ship mine and I can read it myself.
I’m super excited to see the orbital weapons. Now I can finish building a part of my campaign. This was missing. It’s cool to see them expand on the spinal weapons. I knew they existed. New armor sounds meh, maybe I had higher hopes or maybe something is lost and I need to fully read them.
I like the upgrade weapon concept. I really need this book.
Are there any new defensive counter measures? Power cores? I feel some of the options can’t really be expanded on.
From the little I've read in the core rules of starship combat, it appeared to me that piloting a small fighter is pretty much a death sentence for a PC, since there is little one can do to evade the high-attack roll big weapons from large starships. Is this addressed somehow or did I misread those rules in the first place?
It'd be interesting to know if the kind of "X-Wing pilots vs. a capital ship" playstyle is supported in SF.
From the little I've read in the core rules of starship combat, it appeared to me that piloting a small fighter is pretty much a death sentence for a PC, since there is little one can do to evade the high-attack roll big weapons from large starships. Is this addressed somehow or did I misread those rules in the first place?
It'd be interesting to know if the kind of "X-Wing pilots vs. a capital ship" playstyle is supported in SF.
Capital weapons cannot target ships smaller than Medium in size.
From the little I've read in the core rules of starship combat, it appeared to me that piloting a small fighter is pretty much a death sentence for a PC, since there is little one can do to evade the high-attack roll big weapons from large starships. Is this addressed somehow or did I misread those rules in the first place?
It'd be interesting to know if the kind of "X-Wing pilots vs. a capital ship" playstyle is supported in SF.
The other issue that would present itself is Damage Threshold (DT). Only Huge or larger ships have a DT and only when shields are depleted. So if you don't do enough damage nothing goes through. Unless I misinterpreted it. If a ship has DT of 10 and I do 11 all 11 goes through but if I don 9 damage nothing goes through. So really unless your fighter does damage they are really good at depleting shields.
Does this book have Jinsul ships?
I'm afraid not. :/
(At least, a search for "Jinsul" didn't bring anything up.)
Are there any new defensive counter measures? Power cores? I feel some of the options can’t really be expanded on.
In addition to the new defensive options I mentioned above (ablative armor, deflector shields, fortified hulls, and reinforced bulkheads) there are some other kinds of miscellaneous defensive options. There's the Quantum Defender (which gives you the opportunity to phase your ship out of the way to avoid harm), the Emergency Accelerator (which gives you the opportunity to make a superspeed jump out of combat), and Algal Shielding (which gives a bonus to saves against radiation effects).
There's also a bunch of special materials you can use to build things out of, some which gives bonuses to various kinds of systems. For example, Adamantine armor give a bonus to the ships Damage Threshold, Horaculcum-made defensive countermeasures systems slow the speed of incoming projectiles, Noqual armor increases the ship's AC and TL against weapons with the mystical property, Siccatite armor gives you bonuses to resisting the heat damage of moving through atmosphere, and Siccatite defensive countermeaures make it harder for other ships to successfully use science officer actions against you.
There isn't a lot by way of new power cores, though there is a series of new "Titan" power cores for supercolossal ships. That said, some of the special materials can also be used to make power cores, which grant special bonuses and penalties depending on the material.
|
I'm hoping the expansion bays gets an expansion option because currently it's already a struggle to fit things in and usually things like escape pods aren't an option especially for the bigger ships where even if you used every slot for escape pods there wouldnt be enough. A dreadnaugh has 20 slots and 150 to 300 crew. If every bay is an escape pod thats enough for 120 crew less than the minimum.
Capital weapons cannot target ships smaller than Medium in size.
See, I didn't notice that rule. That already helps with playing a fighter pilot.
The other issue that would present itself is Damage Threshold (DT). Only Huge or larger ships have a DT and only when shields are depleted. So if you don't do enough damage nothing goes through. Unless I misinterpreted it. If a ship has DT of 10 and I do 11 all 11 goes through but if I don 9 damage nothing goes through. So really unless your fighter does damage they are really good at depleting shields.
Hm, okay. Would fighters have something like "proton torpedoes", which they could use to damage large ships after the shields are down?
Capital weapons cannot target ships smaller than Medium in size.See, I didn't notice that rule. That already helps with playing a fighter pilot.
The other issue that would present itself is Damage Threshold (DT). Only Huge or larger ships have a DT and only when shields are depleted. So if you don't do enough damage nothing goes through. Unless I misinterpreted it. If a ship has DT of 10 and I do 11 all 11 goes through but if I don 9 damage nothing goes through. So really unless your fighter does damage they are really good at depleting shields.Hm, okay. Would fighters have something like "proton torpedoes", which they could use to damage large ships after the shields are down?
To be honest at some point tiny fighter will come very difficult to take on the larger ships. This ism't really the forum to discuss this. I mean we look at the Dreadnought with has a DT of 15. You have to do a minimum of 15 points before you can even damage the hull. Tiny fighters can only have 2 weapons per arc no bigger than small. 6d4 - Chain cannon, is the biggest direct fire weapon (minus the Starship Operations Manual SOM). The tracking weapons can deal more damage but have a limited number of shots. Your best bet is to get 2 identical weapons and link them. Dual linked chain cannons will do 12d4 per shot. The SOM may have better raw damage weapons or have ways to help with this. But look at the base hp of a dreadnought 400. That doen't take into effect the increase at every 4 tiers. Taking on one of these bad boys with a fighters is almost impossible. You really need some good heavy weapons, maybe a capital weapon or 2 to take one of those things out.
The best light tracking weapon is Tactical Nuclear Missile Launcher at 5d8. Again limited 5.
When I say best, I mean highest die count, highest raw damage. Other weapons have other effects that do different things for different situations.