We haven't played (that game) in a while and as I had time to reflect on this system, I've taken a few decisions for the upcoming games. Most of these decisions have more to do with our playstyle than the game as a product. I'm not designing for a large audience so better to focus on what my group and I like.
Opening volley - Gone! The concept is sound in the context of a hand-to-hand combat paradigm; as combatants close in to clash in close-quarters combat, opportunities for ranged attacks present themselves before the chaos of melee. This works well for a Lord of the Ring or wanna-be medieval game, but Star Wars is all about ranged combat and combatants don't necessarily rush into melee combat. This step of the onset felt redundant and even awkward at times.
Equipment and Technology. I'll treat it like useful and magical items in The One Ring 2e; they will simply grant 1d6/2d6 on some tests. Perhaps with a group that was more interested in specific equipment it could have worked differently, but I'm just gonna ask my players "what is you one item that you carry, and what does it do?". Luke Skywalker would have had his binoculars in ANH (+1d6 search), Chewbacca would have had his bandolier (+1d6 Awe because it looks awesome) or whatever. I'm not going to be picky or even ask for much sense. I may modify the technician archetype to allow three items or something. Then there will be expensive and/or cumbersome and/or fragile items akin to wondrous items in TOR. They grant 2d6 on a few relevant skills and allow "magical successes". I'm thinking scanners, spy-drones, astromech droids, jetpacks etc. Other equipment (that are not weapons or armor) are just going to be fluff.
Space Combat. I'm still hesitating between ship-as-character or ship-as-party. Ship-as-character has only one pool of shields (hit points) and like a character, it can get injured and crippled (hull breaches). Characters provide actions for the ship. Ship-as-party has as many departments as there are characters. To defeat the ship you need to defeat each character/department individually, just like a typical party of adventurers. I want the latter but the former makes more sense for Star Wars. One thing is sure; I don't want space combats where only the pilot and the gunner have all the fun, so I need to a) allow every character to engage in the fight like they would in ground combat and/or b) give a variety of significant options so that, for example, the mechanics has more things to do than just repair breaches and boost shields. In a D&D analogy, the cleric should have more to do than casting heal wounds rounds after rounds. Currently, I'm working on a hybrid solution...