Just got my Starships of the Galaxy!

[jinnetics]

Yes that's right Borders had Starships of the Galaxy a day before it was supposed to be released....which meant my 40% off Borders Rewards coupon that expires today didn't go to waste!

They didn't have D&D Elder Evils, though, but that just means less temptation.

Now the book dutifully hops into the pile of Christmas presents yet to be wrapped ... after I sneak a peek at the Star Destroyers, of course! I'm only human.

UPDATE: First impressions - it feels a little slim for the price, but the ship codex just seems to go on and on.....very nice presentation throughout, and everything I could think of wanting at first blush was there, and more.

 

[Captain Tagon]

A Booksamillion in NC had them out Saturday when I was up there.

I looked at it and decided there was no way I was paying $35 for a book that small.

 

[Inferno!]

Yes that's right Borders had Starships of the Galaxy a day before it was supposed to be released....

I was shocked to see it at a Borders in Indianapolis last week. I went in to do some Christmas shopping, and there it was...taunting me. Buy me it said, buy me... so I did

 

[pawsplay]

I just snagged mine from Borders also at 40% off (of $29.95).

 

[jinnetics]

A Booksamillion in NC had them out Saturday when I was up there.

I looked at it and decided there was no way I was paying $35 for a book that small.

That's why i took a chance on them having it before my coupon expired! Shop smarter, not harder.

 

[RodneyThompson]

That's why i took a chance on them having it before my coupon expired! Shop smarter, not harder.

I say shop smart, shop S-Mart.

 

[pawsplay]

Some first thoughts:

Very nice, very complete, but still just a dip into the spaceships of Star Wars. Only one Yuuzhan Vong vessel is offered, which suits me fine, but that means the one is taking up space while not really offering a full set of Vong adversaries. Covers the Headhunter, three X-wings, all the major TIE variants, all the major Star Destroyer variants (including Republic dreadnaughts), and a couple of oddities like Maul's unique Sith Interceptor. Has some nice templates: used, Junker, Advanced, Archaic, Prototype.

The rules for customizing ships appear at first glance to be robust, although fairly simple.

You know what it doesn't have? An Armor Specialist equivalent for ship armor. But it does have some very nice new Talents, and some Maneuvers (which are used and refresh similarly to force powers). Includes notes for using normal Talents and feats in space combat.

The Noble engineer is still an oddity. Nobles qualify for Tech Specialist, but must be trained in Mechanics which is not a class skill. So multiclass Nobles get the most mileage out of that, but only if they have a feat, which means 3rd level to be trained in Mechanics, 4th to be a Tech Specialist. On the other hand, the dandy new Engineer Talent makes them trained in Mechanics and fast at designing stuff. However, since it requires Educated, that still means 3rd level or higher for a Noble Tech Specialist, and it still means Noble engineers have a certain role confusion, in that they are technical characters who are not trained in Mechanics for many levels. It's as if Engineer and Tech Specialist were included purely to taunt people who want to play a skilled engineer. To put it another way, it's hard to imagine a techie/scientist type character who is the one character who CANNOT repair stuff for the first three levels, then becomes the mechanical expert.

Also, I'm wondering why they didn't allow engineers to use Knowledge (technology) in place of Mechanics, making it the equal of the Jedi talents, or the Scoundrel talents Hotwire and Tracer.

 

[RodneyThompson]

Also, I'm wondering why they didn't allow engineers to use Knowledge (technology) in place of Mechanics, making it the equal of the Jedi talents, or the Scoundrel talents Hotwire and Tracer.

I really thought about it. I mean really thought about it. It was probably one of the biggest debates I had during design. In the end, I liked the simplicity of putting the Mechanics training rider into the talent, and I didn't think the talent would stand on its own. If it had been a lone talent I might have gone the Knowledge (tech)-for-Mechanics route, and don't think there's any mechanical reason not to, but I was a little hesitant to allow Knowledge skills to sub in. Since that time, though, I think I've become less squeamish about it, as we've been playtesting some stuff from The Force Unleashed Campaign Guide that does that, and it's worked out OK.

So, if you want to change it to sub Knowledge (technology) for Mechanics, I don't think there's any harm with it. It's just not the route I chose.

 

[Kaffis]

Any new PrCs? Or new talent trees for Starship Ace directed towards light freighter combat?

That's my players' biggest disappointment so far -- since freighters can't dogfight, and the size penalty for them is so big, they feel wholly incapable of creating a Han Solo character. About all they can use their piloting skill for as a pilot of, say, a YT-1300 or a Firespray, is go for increased throttle. I was hoping to see something to address this, and let characters focus in small freighter combat such that they can pull enough agility out of the kinds of ships that groups involved in mixed space/ground action tend to parade around the galaxy in. As it is now, they feel like all they do is declare attack runs and let other people do the rolling, or, worse yet, their piloting skill goes to waste in anything larger than huge.

Alas, of course, my FLGS didn't get it in yesterday like they were expecting, and I must wait till Thursday.

 

[RodneyThompson]

While there are new starship talents, the key piece of info you want from SotG is the maneuvering thrusters, which let Colossal freighters act like Gargantuan starfighters.