I have a few questions

[Xynar]

[Samp]

Thanks for your help. Also I only mentioned the control attribute because that is what he was teaching first.

[TheDoctor]

As for the Jedi, one thing to remember is that WEG wrote the rules so that there would be a balance of abilities in a mixed group. If you only have 2 Jedi, it's better for them to have limited Force abilities to offset the non Force-using characters. It's not fun having Jedi steal the show with their powers and leaving the smugglers on the sidelines; just ask Han!

For party comprised entirely of Jedi, that's when it makes sense to ramp up their powers.

As for characters who are "asshats", try instead to keep an open mind rather than just saying no and ask them to explain it to you and why they think it would work.

If you still think it's impossible, instead of telling them so, just kinda smirk and say "well, you can try it..."

Then have something horribly go wrong and tell them:

"The only way to save yourselves is to reverse polarity of the neutron flow..."

Reversing the polarity of the neutron flow can be Moderate to Difficult, depending on how mean you want to be.
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"We attack under cover of daylight. Yes it's the last thing they'll be expecting, a daylight charge over the minefield." - Arnold Judas Rimmer, BSC SSC

[Rerun941]

I'm actually a big fan of using non-Jedi force users to teach powers in my games. If you search around, you can actually find quite a few of them.

Platt's Starport Guide - The Wise Man of Kooroo on Planet Gelgelar
Wretched Hives - The Failed Jedi Gladiator (A great way to learn lightsaber combat and potentially get a Dark Side point doing it!)

I also ran an adventure on Socorro and had the PCs crash in the wastelands only to run across a lone shaman who taught magify senses.

I usually only had the PCs learn the more basic powers this way. (e.g. Magnify Senses, Sense Force, Concentration, Hibernation Trance) Save the tough powers for long adventures and ongoing campaigns.

Don't forget that there are non-Jedi out there who know how to tap into the Force. Mind you, the method of teaching is probably cryptic, but this makes for some great roleplaying.
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Han - "How're we doin'?"
Luke - "Same as always."
Han - "That bad, huh?"

[TheDoctor]

[garhkal]

I have had the 'desert' shaman teaching force powers before, though they were more an actual power, not a force ability....
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Delkarnu]

For the La Forge, in addition to the time to use, anything that is not the intended use of the item would be jury-rigged (for the hyperdrive move, heavily jury-rigged) I'd warn the player about this. Modifying the hyperdrive to do this would add at least 4D of jury rig dice to be rolled every time the hyperdrive is used, all 1s go to the mishap table

[enderandrew]

I say reward creativity. The game is meant to be fun. However, if you have doubt that La Forge's ideas should work, then pause a moment and think it through. Ask the player to explain the idea in detail and then be fair.

If you just shut things down because it is inconvenient for you, then players won't trust you, and the game isn't fun. If you can explain why their idea won't work, and you make a fair ruling, then the players should appreciate you, even if you rule against them.

Consider the consequences for their actions. If they improvise explosives which short-cut through your plot, consider the negative side affects from their decisions. Let them react to the unforseen consequence, and it may give you a new direction to cover up the fact that your plot just got sidetracked.

Arguably the toughest skill to learn, and one of the most important ones, is handling the unexpected as a GM. Yet you will have to do it all the time.

I've played games where it was very structured. We were constantly surrounded by uber-npcs, and we never had any choice as players. The plot went exactly as the GM wanted it to, and it was an easy game for him to run, but none of the players enjoyed it. I often refer to this story as GM masturbation, since the GM is basically playing with himself.
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Nihilism makes me smile.