Starfighter Campaign

[mouthymerc 4,483]

Something you may want to check out for inspiration is an old show Space: Above and Beyond if given the opportunity. Came out back in the mid 90s. It was about a space fighter squadron. Only made it one season but was pretty enjoyable.

[Reuben What Is? 4]

I expand the "Gain the Advantage" action somewhat. In my version, you get to declare your relative position to what you are gaining the advantage on. This means that in a classic dogfight, you get to sit on the tail and be immune to shots. Of course, your target will probably try to do something similar to shake you off. This means that the focus occurs on the positioning and the shooting only occurs once the positioning has been achieved.

[Magnus Grendel 11,679]

A TIE firing on an A-wing (Sil 3 vs sil 3) faces 2 purple.  A TIE firing on an A-wing with Tricky target (Sil 3 vs sil 2) faces...2 purple. 

 

An A-wing is effective Sil 2 (so Sil 1 with Tricky Target) as it comes stock with a Jammer.

 

While technically true, it's cold comfort to the PCs that have to pay to repair or replace their poor ship every space encounter.  That gets expensive real quick.

 

In a fighter-squadron campaign, I wouldn't be expecting them to pay for repairs out of their own pocket, though.

 

No one expects the Solder or the Hired Gun to eat dirt every single time, so why should the Ace expect to always suck vacuum?

 

Actually, I kind of do. I'm not asking players to be killed each session, but if you're essentially playing an infantry combat game, and in any kind of even fight, you'd expect one or more players to get injured in each session if it's going to be anything more challenging than Gunning Down Goons, The Musical.

 

TIE minions have skills in gunnery and piloting, and you're running them in groups of at least three, meaning you have to contend with three YELLOW dice. 

 

Firstly, as noted, a group of three is one green, two yellow. Secondly, why not run them in pairs or solos.

A lot of the time you see TIE/ln fighters in the films, you're seeing them fly two-by-two.

 

You're also assuming they'll use Evasive Maneuvers, which isn't a given: TIE's know their defense comes from attacking in numbers and killing the enemy before they whittle those numbers down.  An intelligent TIE minion group will use their maneuver to Aim, giving them a pool of three yellow and one blue vs 1 red, 1 purple, 2 black.  They could also go for a GtA instead of aim, sacrificing the blue for a chance at going against 2 purple and nothing else.  In fact, given their high handling, that's probably the smartest thing the TIEs can do. Either way though, the PC doesn't have the odds much in the favour.

 

Evasive piloting is a standard approach - TIE pilots are taught to avoid being hit. And you can assume, if you want, that they'll evade, because the OP is the GM. So the TIE fighters will do exactly what he wants them to do.

Also note that the players can potentially dart in and out of range, or move in and evade/aim, because they can strain their fighters and the minions can't.

 

 

Ultimately, a lot of the problem is 'hero syndrome' - Early-level Age Of Rebellion pilots are not Anakin Skywalker. If you ask your players to take on three-to-one odds at once, then their fighters are going to get crippled or destroyed in short order. Even Red squadron - who were supposed to be an elite unit - took serious casualties even before the 'trapped in the trench' bit.