Am I doing this wrong?

[AslanC]

Okay I may be doing something wrong here...

Lt. Cmdr. Lowell has a Systems Ops (Helm/Flight Control) of 6, he get's +2 from his Int and +2 from Dog Fighter and another +3 affinity from Space Sciences (Due to the Astrogation Pro Ability) and Skill Focus (Hot Dog) giving him another +4

His total is 17 before any dice are dropped to pilot the ship in a combat situation.

This seems rather intense overall... is there something I am missing?

[Doug Burke]

Okay I may be doing something wrong here...

Lt. Cmdr. Lowell has a Systems Ops (Helm/Flight Control) of 6, he get's +2 from his Int and +2 from Dog Fighter and another +3 affinity from Space Sciences (Due to the Astrogation Pro Ability) and Skill Focus (Hot Dog) giving him another +4

His total is 17 before any dice are dropped to pilot the ship in a combat situation.

This seems rather intense overall... is there something I am missing?

Nope. You got it. But keep in mind some of the Tier Two Maneuvers have some fairly heinous TN's. (Will provide examples when I get home to my books...)

[AslanC]

That seems awfully skewed to me. I am surprised the system goes towards min/max so easily... should have paid more attention while making characters.

I look forward to your examples

[Tobian]

Well for him to have got all of that he must be a pretty advanced character OR he's a one trick pony and he's spent all of his experience on improving his CONN skills

One thing with all of that is those modifiers only apply if he is using System Operations (CONN) and he will only get +8 for other System Operations tests... Not all manoeuvres are Helm manoeuvres..

It is a singular problem with CODA that if someone wants to be really good at something they can.

I can't find the skill focus (hot dog) +4, but then I assume you (or someone) just invented it (which you more or less can). I would say that the 3D thinking edge was more aplicable, and really the GM should step in when things get really silly!

The flip side to that I guess is that there do need to be pilots that good, due to space hazards, natural phenomena or just very tough conditions. For example while operating near stelar agregates your helm gets penalties, or flying round an asteroid field.. can be tricky... I guess the Gm is going to have to get creative.. or just take him away from Helm

[Tobian]

Actually quickly checking....

Disengage - 10 +5 per oponent.. that could be quite a high number!!!

Match speed - targets protection +5 - that can also be high, up to 23

Most of the high TN manoueuvres are command and tactical anyway, to whoch is extra modifiers do not apply, and he wouldn't be doing anyway...

[Tomcat]

Remember too Aslan... if it is a dogfight situation, the tests rolled may be able to be opposed. I mean if one pilot is trying to get into a better position, the other pilot would be actively trying to keep him from doing that - kind of like attack and parry.

So if both characters have roughly the same skill level, the playing field has been leveled.

Tomcat

[black campbellq]

Nope. You got it. But keep in mind some of the Tier Two Maneuvers have some fairly heinous TN's. (Will provide examples when I get home to my books...)

We have an android flight control person that starts with a...I want to say 19. Still blows rolls occasionally. For the average flying, or even "oh, shit" moment in the plotline, they'll do okay, but in battle, failure happens.

[Tobian]

because of some people minmaxing skills this is one of the main reasons I have the rule of double 1's.. if a test CAN fail, but is impossible to fail, then a double 1 always causes it to fail )though it is very rare, it tends to happen when it really needs to NOT fail ! )

[Doug Burke]

Actually quickly checking....

Disengage - 10 +5 per oponent.. that could be quite a high number!!!

Match speed - targets protection +5 - that can also be high, up to 23

Most of the high TN manoueuvres are command and tactical anyway, to whoch is extra modifiers do not apply, and he wouldn't be doing anyway...

Add Scorpion Offensive (TN 20) from Starships to that list. Also consider negative situational modifiers. Damage to the ship, physical conditions on the bridge, what kind of "terrain" the battle takes place in, there's all kinds of ways to make it more difficult.

[Don Mappin]

It is a singular problem with CODA that if someone wants to be really good at something they can.

That was intentional, actually.

What one person considers a problem is, in fact, a necessary design element to illustrate highly-capable characters who excel in certain specific areas. Plus, as others have noted, some advanced TNs are quite high.

Sure, you can create an ultra hot-shot pilot out of the Academy, unfortunately that's all your character is good at. Like oh, say...Tom Paris?

Presumably, as your character matures (advancements) you diversify from there on out. It's a necessary element of RPG design to allow characters (and players!) to have something to "hang their hat on" as it were.

[C5]

I'm not bothered by characters with high modifiers... this means they are experts in their field, and that is rather consistent with Star Trek. After all, how many times have we seen Scotty actually fail to fix something ?

But I too used the rule of double 1s : if a character rolls a double 1, then he rolls a die and substracts the result from the initial result as long as he rolls a 6 (the opposite of the double six). This allows for a little suspence to build over during intense situations, and, since I usually ask rolls only for difficult things or during stressful situations, this doesn't put the players at too high a disavantage.

[AslanC]

I only ask my players to roll for crucial moments, not routine stuff. This creates a problem. With an 17 or 18 before they roll, a TN of 15+5 or 20 is hardly scary to them. The double ones rule works, but really, counting on those is like counting on rain in the desert. It comes when it comes and you can only react to it.

[IceGiant]

But that's the thing with ST Aslan. When have you ever seen them worry about the normal stuff? The only time you usually saw cast fail at routine actions is from outside influence. Some material blocks scans, blocks transporters, etc, etc.
So I would't sweat it too much. Like others have said once you start throwing in the modifiers, that particular chars chance to fail evens out.

[AslanC]

Well I don't think the modifiers compensate enough and they penalize the crap out of the player who didn't min-max alongside the others.

This is unbalanced and would be the kind of thing that hsould be addressed if somehow a 2nd edition were ever to get made (fan made or pro).

Anywho, I will survive... though I must admit the tempation to go back to ICON was great.