Yeah, as-written, Invigorate does just sound like a straight-up "not as good" version of Balance. And not even just mildly inferior; noticeably worse, given the frequency of Dark Side points on those dice. Now, if it were a risk/reward choice between taking more Strain in order to recover Wounds, then it would be worth it, and I don't think it'd be unbalanced.

We already have the Heavy Repeating Blaster and Missile Tube, so it does get some use outside of vehicles. I do agree that a few more would be nice. Gunnery also applies to mines, for what it's worth.

The Age of Rebellion Beta at least has basic Dark Trooper stats. They're Nemesis-level adversaries and are quite nasty.

My thinking was that the justification is that it allows you to increase encumbrance even further than just wearing a backpack (since wearing two backpacks at once seems silly-to-impossible). It's more of a piece of specialized gear than the more ubiquitous backpack, hence the higher price, but for the survivalist or trooper who needs to bring along a whole ton of equipment, having both the pack and the load-bearing gear is worth the cost.

Likely, that's because the marketing department wants to limit how much they say about the book's content this far out, so that they can generate more marketing buzz by dropping new info closer to release.

I really don't see that playing a group of Imperials requires specific 'rules' in the book to be called out. More than anything, it requires a mature group of players and a deft GM, not an extra chapter in a rulebook. Also, I think the Chiss role in the Rebellion Era is very much a niche thing, so while we might see it in a supplement, I doubt we'll see them in the main book.

That's super cool! Thanks for sharing!

Exactly. Stressing yourself out every time it came time to take the shot would wear on someone, so the added strain each time makes complete sense.

It actually doesn't. So I guess homebrew it is (until maybe the final AOR has them?).

The biggest problem with ascribing hard game mechanics to military rank is that it'd be way too hard to standardize against different play styles for different play groups. There are all sorts of things, such as the timing of sessions and how much of a time frame they cover, to how much time passes between sessions, not to mention the actual roleplaying that can't exactly be rules-codified. I like the Alliance Contribution table, myself, which--to paraphrase the words of Captain Barbossa--is more like guidelines.

I guess I don't have this problem. I think the EotE font is elegant and easy on the eyes, myself.

Regarding the "Squad Leader" specialization: A "squad" is a type of infantry formation. When I saw this specialization in the book, I first thought of the leader of a ground team, but looking over the skills and talent tree, this is clearly talking about leading a group of pilots. I'd seriously suggest renaming this to "Squadron Leader" for both clarity and accuracy's sake, as "squadron" is the proper term for a group of aircraft.

How do mines actually work? They're listed as using the Gunnery skill, but how do they take effect in-game? There's no explanation in-book that I've seen. Given the way 'map distance' is abstract in this system, how do you rule if and when a target triggers a mine? Is Gunnery rolled as an attack roll at the time of the explosion, even if the 'attacker' isn't present, or is it rolled at the time of placement? Is there some sort of difficulty involving how mines are spotted before potentially being set off?

For what it's worth, Star Wars media typically treats all of Star Wars canon as canon to at least some degree. As for whether that'll change with Disney and Episode VII, well, that's up in the air.

"How does this game I haven't played interact properly with this game that hasn't come out yet?" Jeez, people, just give the **** thing a chance before you write things off because the opportunity for your questions to get answers hasn't arisen yet.

As someone who's had work published through non-super-mainstream press on a few occasions, I can say that it is not unusual at all for online ordering to not be available until a few days after the company has gotten back from their big, giant trade show.

Having a product released at a trade show first and then made available to the general public afterward is fairly standard industry practice. Not just for this industry, either. It's only a few more days, folks. Just relax.

I think that's a solid design choice, too. +1 for FFG.

Yeah, Blast doesn't change how the weapon itself works, it functions as a special option that's triggered for 2 Advantage on a roll, in addition to the hit itself.

So, in short: Paizo fanboy trashes system he's clearly never played in order to make himself feel better on the Internet.

I also think that people undervalue the droid ability to have equipment built-in. The ability to never worry about forgetting a key piece of equipment, or being able to sneak internal systems past guards, can be huge if the GM is doing his job and including the proper narrative feel (i.e., not letting people walk down the street on a civilized world with a heavy blaster rifle on their back).

What you read was probably fan speculation. No official FFG material has definitively indicated whether new species will be included.

It's pathetic if you apply min-max logic, sure. "Why do okay damage versus an entire group of targets when you could do a lot of damage to just one target?"

Or, for that matter, why is the fundamental unit of XP in this game 5 instead of just 1? This is an issue that bugs me everywhere and all the time -- did math teachers abruptly curtail teaching Greatest Common Factors? I think it's because, for most people, thinking in chunks of five makes the perception of cost and value easier to see than doing it more incrementally. I'm sure there's a psychological explanation for it, but the progression and of 5-10-15-20 feels 'neater' and more, like, number-friendly (?) than just straight up 1-2-3-4.

The best use I've ever found for an actual d100 die is as a Trade Federation battleship token during a starship combat.