Updating X-Wing: Alliance Ship Stats

[garhkal]

[Ray]

If the Astromech has the Shields skill, that is.
_________________
"And you, sitting in that turret, doing nothing but pick your nose..." "Just marking my kills." - Fitz and S.C. MacDuff

[garhkal]

Point, it doesn't have a listed skill, but do droids get like human (and alien) pcs do, where they can Default to attribute if they lack the skill??
_________________
Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Dr. Bidlo]

[CRMcNeill]

When I did the TIE Droid Brain post, I was mostly focusing on how to duplicate the drone TIE ships seen in X-Wing: Alliance. However, subsequent discussion led to a slightly different concept that I'm thinking about incorporating from the Solo deleted scene that Whill mentioned, which I'm conceptually calling the TIE Droid Co-Pilot. The idea would be for this to be standard equipment on TIEs with a single pilot who also have additional duties or weapons, such as ordnance launchers or reconnaissance (right now I'm thinking the TIE/rb, TIE/gt, TIE Bomber and likely some of the later craft like the Avenger and Defender). I'm also going to edit the TIE Droid Brain stat to better reflect the Crew Quality house rule to give TIE Droid Brains a higher base skill but not allow them to take advantage of Crew Quality (due to regular memory wipes and the like). Anyway, I'm a bit too tired to put in the work tonight, but I figured I'd at least get a post about where my mind is heading in the morning.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

An interesting possibility occurred to me as I was researching for the TIE Droid Co-Pilot concept...

It's an established part of the lore that the Empire doesn't grant their starfighter pilots the same level of trust as does the Alliance. It's also known that there was a shift in this attitude with introduction of hyperdrive-equipped craft piloted by high-ranking and/or elite pilots. So, what if the Droid Co-Pilot also serves as a failsafe against the pilot defecting?

If you look at the stats on the stock Astromech, it has 5D in Astrogation, which is better than that of most pilots. As such, I see the Empire using the droid both to handle normal Astrogation duties (that way they don't have to give the pilots additional training) and as oversight to ensure that the pilot doesn't try to set his own course and defect. It could even offer the semblance of independence by allowing the pilot to calculate his own course, with the Droid Brain providing "shadow oversight" without the pilot's knowledge. This feature could be overridden, but only by inputting a master code known only to high-ranking Imperials.

Not only would this line up with Imperial doctrine and thought processes, it would also be a great way for GMs to keep a team of PCs from stealing those cool new experimental TIE fighters they ran across in that hidden Imperial base.
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index

[CRMcNeill]

Imperial Copilot Droid

The Copilot Droid is a droid brain hardwired into the systems of the more advanced TIE models, as well as several others like the Assault Gunboat. As the missions expected of TIEs became more and more complex, and with later models including ordnance launch capabilities that were dependent on target locks, repeated tests showed that Imperial pilots lacked the skill level to perform the multiple, simultaneous tasks required to make full use of their craft's capabilities. In response, the Empire introduced a simple, mass-produced droid brain that could split the workload with the pilot. Because not all of the droid's capabilities would be needed on all the various types of fighters, the brain was designed to accept plug-in modules for shield control and hyperdrive operation that would only be included when installed in a ship with those capabilities.

What isn't widely known is that, as the Empire experiments with and fields more and more hyperdrive equipped fighters, the Copilot Droid serves as a fail-safe to prevent any treason-minded pilots from defecting with their valuable starfighter. When equipped with the Hyperdrive Control module, the Copilot Droid normally handles all Astrogation duties, but can be manually overriden by the pilot. However, the Droid is monitoring any course entered by the pilot, and can override his commands, preventing the hyperdrive from activating, or overriding the programmed course and returning the ship to its home base. This can be overriden via an authorization code known only to high-rank Imperials and their agents, or by completely disabling the droid brain (Moderate Droid Programming roll).

Skills:
Piloting 3D+1
Gunnery 3D
Sensors 3D+2
Repair 3D
Upgrade Modules:
Shield Control
Installed only on fighters equipped with shields, with a Shields skill of 3D
Hyperdrive Control
Installed only on fighters equipped with hyperdrives, with an Astrogation skill of 5D
_________________
"No set of rules can cover every situation. It's expected that you will make up new rules to suit the needs of your game." - The Star Wars Roleplaying Game, 2R&E, pg. 69, WEG, 1996.

The CRMcNeill Stat/Rule Index