Player characters involved in ship-to-ship combat receive bonuses from their spaceship skills. It follows that the NPC crews of most ships will have some spaceship skills as well. A referee can offset this advantage in one of three ways.

Use the Boardgame Tables. The easiest way to resolve the problem of skills is to use either the Basic or Advanced Board-game rules and no skill modifiers. Average skill levels were taken into account when these tables were designed. This assumes that everyone in the battle has average skill levels.

Use Average NPC Skills. Characters are likely to possess a wide variety of skills, and different crews will have different average skill levels. Rather than have the referee determine a skill level for each NPC aboard each ship, averages are listed for various jobs on different types of ships.

The referee can determine average modifiers for different types of ships by checking the Average NPC Skill Levels table. Tables are prepared for Sathar, UPF, pirate, militia and civilian ships. The average level of each significant skilled NPC aboard that type of ship is listed. The most important bonuses received by NPCs during spaceship combat also are listed.

Use Unique NPCs. This is suggested only when the characters' ship is fighting one or two enemy ships, because the referee must do a lot of preparatory work.

In a small engagement, the referee can determine a skill level for each skilled individual on each of the ships involved. This includes NPCs on board the characters' ship, as well as those on enemy ships.

Although this system requires extra preparation, it is recommended for detailed combats involving only a 

few ships because it gives an extra flavor of realism to the encounter. It also provides actual people for the characters to deal with, instead of uninteresting "enemy ships." This is especially valuable when characters are battling a high level NPC whose skills are a major obstacle, such as an old and wily pirate captain.

Most referees will find occasions to use all three of these Systems. Use whichever system is best for the current situation. The most important goal is keeping the action moving and the players provided with challenges!

The Spacer Wages table shows suggested daily wages for characters working on commercial spaceships. Pay can vary up or down considerably, depending on economic conditions in the area.