Problem: The bigger the ship, the more guns, the more rolls you have to make to fire them all, and the more ships you have, the more rolls you have to make, etc., etc. The result is a soft lock on the size of the ships you can plausibly wield in an actual combat.
Objective: Abstract large ship combat to the point where it is playable without compromising damage potential, operator choice, and the feel of FFG combat.
Experience: I’ve already rewritten Chapter VII: Starships and Vehicles, and the response has been quite positive. I’ve played a fair bit in that system, including with large-scale combats. Given the dramatic improvements of that system above the RAW, I’ll be writing these houserules to be used with the rewrite. However, due to how I rewrote the chapter, the changes are not so significant that this would be incompatible with the RAW.
Solution Part 1: Abstract all weapons of a type into a single profile; drop “Linked” and add “Battery” equal to one-fifth of the weapons (rounded down) plus half Linked (rounded up). Each success, rather than dealing +1 damage, deals an additional hit (but excess Success beyond Battery still increases damage). 3 Advantage/a Triumph may be spent to inflict damage equal to Battery on the target, provided the attack dealt damage past Armor/Shields. Other weapon qualities (including Critical Rating) are triggered as normal.
Solution Part Two: Abstract vehicle crews into a single NPC profile. They receive Characteristic ratings (except Brawn), skill ranks, and talents and abilities. Were I building this from the ground up, I would build vehicle crits that inflicted maluses on the crews in a similar manner to Critical Injuries, but that’s beyond the scope of these houserules. Each turn, the NPC starship crew gets 1 Starship Maneuver, 1 Maneuver (e.g., Angle Deflector Shields or Aim), and a number of Gunnery actions depending on crew expertise.