I am new to playing, and running, a STA game. The ship my players have has the Slim Sensor Silhouette Talent. I am trying to figure out exactly how this translates in game. I am most likely missing something, but what is the normal Difficulty of detecting a ship? Is there a way to “Run Silent” as the Talent suggests? If so, how does that work? I am very open to a reference on where to find these rules if you would be so kind. Thanks!
Generally the difficulty of any task is 1, modified by the circumstances of the task. I’d calculate the difficulty of the task, then when I’m done, reduce it by 1 according to the talent.
That’s from the Utopia Planitia book. Below is the mechanics portion of the talent:
Like a cloaking device, utilizing the EM shielding and ECM systems on board requires a Control + Engineering task with a Difficulty of 2. If this task is successful, the maximum Power rating of the ship is reduced by 2 to represent the power usage of the systems and “running silent,” and shields are deactivated. All tasks to detect the stealthy starship have their Difficulty increased by 1.
Edit: The Disco campaign book also has a “Stealth Systems” talent, although it’s more like a proto-cloaking device than the Slim Sensors Sillhouette talent.
There is none.
The difficulty of any Task depends on the Task’s circumstances.
As a rule of thumb: Basic tasks hav difficulties ranging 0–2.
Yet, there are specific Tasks that are affected by the Talent. Take into consideration the Sensor Sweep Task (cf. p. 222 of the Starfleet Core Rulebook) that is definetly affected by the Talent. The Slim Sensor Silhouette Talent isn’t going to be very useful in “open space”, but within a nebula, near a gravitational distortion, things might look very different.