Archive through April 03, 2019
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Star Fleet Battles: Rules Questions:
SFB Rules Q&A:
Archive through April 03, 2019
Francois Lemay:
"Calling up" an ISF ship is no different than the Federation "calling up" a police ship. You get the ship with its ISF crew. You are not taking it into spacedock to reconfigure it and replacing the crew with a DSF crew.
Thanks SPP !
One more ? if I may please ?
Can suicide shuttles and Scatter packs be launched with a programmed plotted speed change or must they be set at one set speed ?
Thanks.
Cheers
Frank
Curious question, Frank. It's not something I've ever thought about and couldn't even guess!
Got me thinking. Thanks! 
Took a look at (FD1.8). One of its bullet points says, "Seeking shuttles can be set for various speeds up to their maxiumum."
My interpretation says "... Can be SET for various speeds..." means that they have to be set at one set speed.
Still, it does set up a royal screwball idea in my mind; one that has a 99.9999999999% chance of NOT working... (another )
Someone sets a maxiumum damage potential suicide shuttle up at speed 0 with a distress beacon on it. In reality, it's meant as a trap for a pirate.
As the pirate flies up to collect, the police ship that deployed it "Returns" to "Rescue" their stranded crewmembers, warning the pirates over subspace that, "If you've done anything to them, if you've harmed them in any way, we will spare no efforts to bring you in!"
The pirate, of course, reads no life signs; there is no life aboard. What would they do? I mean, wouldn't they figure that their claims of innocence in the matter would fall on deaf ears? Would they try to "Collect" the shuttle, if for no other purpose than to deny the police any "Evidence" of harming the "Dead Crew" (who knows, maybe it was a raider from the hostile empire across the border), and maybe picking up a shuttle for a little extra profit for their assignment...
... and promptly get caught in Rule (J2.228) for Impulse 32 of Turn #0 of the scenario.
Heeheeheeheeheeeee...
Okay, here's wishing I could take back the last two thirds of that last post. Even thinking about it for a few minutes tells me a number of things.
Pirates would know that a distress beacon would serve to attract all sorts of attention, and they don't want to be near the center of that sort of attention.
If they were to come, they'd take off without investigating the shuttle too closely on detecting the police ship; there's not enough profit in salvaging a shuttle to warrant the risk to the ship.
If they were to want to salvage the shuttle, they'd beam someone on board after discovering it to be lifeless; they wouldn't take it aboard without eliminating the risk.
On top of all that, if there was some "Rule of the Seas" where responding to a distress signal was regarded as something so sacrosanct that it outweighed things like the duty to prosecute piracy; the ONLY thing I can imagine that MIGHT prompt a pirate to put his ship at risk like that, then ANY officer suggesting violating that sanctity for such a trap would be in SOOOO much trouble for that suggestion.
The only place that stupid idea would work is in a bit of tri-video by someone so bad that they make Olivette Roche look like Cecil B. DeMille.
Seeking shuttles cannot change their at launch speed except by being crippled, or releasing their submunitions (drops to speed zero), or having their tracking dropped (also dropped to speed zero), are successfully boarded and disarmed (again drops to zero), or are destroyed (in which case it accelerates rapidly in all directions).
As to tricking someone into dragging a suicide shuttle aboard, see the cover fiction story in Captain's Log #7.
Then after the first Pirate took the explosion or used sensors to identify it was SS, the word would travel.
After that, any shuttle dead in space would be considered debris and destroyed on sight.
Correction: I answered the shuttle query off the top of my head without access to a rulebook, and made an error. A seeking shuttle boarded and captured by boarding parties does not stop, the boarding party takes control of the shuttle. They cannot fire the phaser, any drones or suicide bombs go inert, but they can fly the shuttle. Which in game terms means it keeps going at the speed it was going when they captured it since non-fighter shuttles cannot do unplotted speed changes in mid-turn.
If two ships with same turn mode and same shield are in same hex and 1 ship explodes. I've heard there is errata that says only roll for shields 1 and 4. Is that right?
Pretty sure that is not correct.
For example, if one Fed CA is in 1010, and another Fed CA is in 1011, with both ships heading in direction B on turn 2, impulse 32, both with a speed of zero, and the first ship is tractor rotated into the hex of the second ship, then the facing shields most certainly are not 1 or 4 on turn 3, impulse 1, when (for this example) one of those ships explodes.
No tractor just ships movement. Also noting that ships are same speed.
I've never seen a rule that defines it, but heard there is an errata that says 1 or 4 shield gets dam, not 1-6 shield (rolled randomly).
Is the rule "Back up one movement", shields that applied then are the ones damaged, still there ---
I think we'd need to know their movement plot throughout the turn to really determine the facing shield.
I mean, it just seems that too much is unknown to determine the answer, unless there IS something in the errata that states in all cases of two ships in the same hex with the same speed and facing that only the #1 and #4 shields can be hit by one of them exploding.
I'm sure the errata file is somewhere on this site if you want to go look in that.
By Jarod Ikeda asked on Wednesday, March 27, 2019:
If two ships with same turn mode and same shield are in same hex and 1 ship explodes. I've heard there is errata that says only roll for shields 1 and 4. Is that right?
RESPONSE: Technically, when the two ships first entered the same hex, their relative facings towards each other should have been determined at that time under (D3.42), even if the ships are friendly to each other. [This allows the ships to determine which shields to lower to use transporters between each other, or to determine under (P3.23) which ship is "leading" and which is "following" through an asteroid field hex.) While in the hex If nothing else changes, then as long as the two ships move together that relative facing remains the same, up to and including determining which shield will be damaged if one of the two ships blows up.
If you have not made this definition (afterall, the ships are friendly, so you were not thinking about determining who could shoot at each other, and several impulses later one of the ships brews up, then while (D2.42) would normally be how this is determined (and works if you in fact kept track of the facing when the hex was entered), the fact that it is now completely ambiguous (there is no way to determine what the facing of the ships was since either player could claim it to be whatever best favors him), then you are forced into (D3.43).
Admiral Growler posted an Errata on November 22/2002 in 'Official SFB Rulings' thread re multiple ships in same hex when 1 blows up .
I have been using that errata for such an occasion .
Cheers
Frank
I'm trying to understand how Hydran fighter (and other races) loading works in relation to Weapon Status and Megapacks.
Per (J4.831) Hydran St-II fighter boxes have a capacitor that holds 8 charges. (J4.886) specifies that at WSIII all capacitors are full and at WSIII the fighters are presumed to have been armed from these. So at WSIII a St-II is fully armed with 4 charges (2 per fusion) and then there is 4 left in the capacitor so has one set of reloads. That seems fairly clear.
However, for Hydran St-H hellbore fighters, per (J4.834) the fighter box has a capacitor that holds "a" charge. So at WSIII does that mean that the fighter is armed with that one charge and there is no reload for it ready? It seems a bit strange to have reloads for fusion fighters but not hellbore. And the photon rearming in (J4.85) seems to be worded similarly. Given the whole section is titled "Rearming fighters" and (J4.834) goes on to use the wording "reloading the fighter with this charge..." if there is only one charge total and that is used to arm the fighter in the first place why all the references to using that charge to reload it?"
Now let's add in the complication of Megafighters. My sense of what the megafighter system is is through its description right at the beginning of (J16.0). I.e that it is a "belly pack into or onto which a standard fighter would be fitted." Let's now consider a St-H megafighter that gets an extra hellbore charge to have two total. Is the second charge part of the megapack itself as seems to be implied or does this second charge come from the fighter storage box? If the latter how can it do that if there is only one total charge in the capacitor. If the capacitor normally has one reload for a non-standard megapack does the megapack then use up this second charge and now there are no reloads at all if you have magapack?
If the extra charge is part of the megapack then even at WS0 if a fighter has a megapack on it should have at least the one hellbore charge from it loaded even if not one of the two allowed armed fighters at WSO by (S4.1).
Please clarify. Hopefully I was clear with my questions.
Regards,
Paul (Grim).
Paul Graves:
Federation and Hydran "torpedo" fighters (which is what the Stinger-H effectively is while the Stinger-1s and -2s are effectively the "drone" fighters) have capacitors that hold only one (1) charge.
At WS-III you can be assumed to have loaded that charge onto the fighter, and to have launched the fighter, but if you have loaded the charge, the capacitor is empty at WS-III.
Hydran fusion fighters are an exception in the "charges' situation. No other fighter gets a "free reload." This may harken back to when the Hydrans were the only fighters in the game.
So if you have a drone armed fighter (and it is not one of the two allowed to be armed at start), then its ready rack has a full load of drones and pods for it. At WS-III that full load of drones and pods can be on the fighter, and the fighter launched, but if you have chosen to do that, the rack is empty and your deck crews need to run around getting the rack rearmed for when the fighter returns.
Disruptor fighters have two charges for their disruptors, and the freezer/capacitor holds two charges. At WS-III both charges can be loaded on the fighter (together with any drones the fighter might also be able to carry), and if so, the freezer capacitor (and any drone spaces on) the rack begins the scenario empty.
A plasma-F armed fighter is not any different than a photon or hellbore fighter. There is one plasma-F torpedo armed and ready and at WS-III it can be on the fighter, but the freezer will be empty at that point.
The weapons status rule are something of a simplification. Thus at WS-III an F-16 can have had the equivalent of three deck crew actions performed on it (loaded two pods on its pod rails and two type-VI drones on its small drone rails) and is thus fully armed and ready to go. But at the same time a F-15CM can have had 11 deck crew actions performed on it (loaded 8 type-I drones, two type-VI drones, and two pods). Both are considered to have been fully armed at WS-III despite the obvious disparity in the number of deck crew actions required to make it so. (That disparity is more obvious at the lower weapons status levels.)
So a Stinger-H has one hellbore, and its ready rack holds one (1) hellbore charge and two pods. At WS-III you can assume that is all loaded on the fighter, and the ready rack is empty.
Note, I will say here that you are not forced to fully arm a fighter, and you might at WS-III record that your Stinger-H has its hellbore charge, but the ready rack is still holding the pods because you did not want to restrict the fighter's speed by adding the pods. You could even choose to launch the fighter without the hellbore charge, leaving it in the freezer, for some reason. It is a tactical choice.
If your fighter happens to be a Stinger-HM, then as part of purchasing the fighter with megapack the ready rack was upgraded to hold an extra hellbore charge to be loaded onto the fighter+pack combination. The ready rack also still holds two pods. At WS-III the four deck crew actions needed to fully arm the fighter can be assumed to have taken place (both hellbore charges loaded and both pods loaded), but if you do that the rack, again, begins the scenario empty.
Thank you Steve for clarifying. So with the Stinger-HM there are now two capacitors in the fighter box each that hold one hellbore (or 1 capacitor that holds two charges) so after loading the St-HM with both charges I can begin to rearm the capacitor with 2 more charges on the ship.
Since Stinger IIs with magapack get one extra charge for each fighter, presumably then it's capacitor is also increased. However is it increased from 8 to 10 or to 12? If only increased to 10 there would not now be a full set of reloads since it holds 6.
Either way, where is this clarified in the rules? I couldn't find anything discussing these questions anywhere.
Thank you again,
Paul.
Paul Graves:
I am not sure what needs clarifying (I am not trying to be difficult here, I really am unsure).
Rule (S4.13) is pretty clear "All fighters may be armed." It does not differentiate between a squadron of Stinger-Fs (all 12 can be fully armed with two deck crew actions each basically fitting pods on their pod rails, and this would apply if they were all Stinger-FMs, well the EWF would need two extra deck crew actions because it gains two extra pod rails for a total of four) and a squadron of F-15CMs (11 of the fighters as previously noted need 11 deck crew actions each, the F-15EM will take fewer deck crew actions, six, since it only has four pod rails and four type-VI drone rails). All fighters on a given carrier are armed at WS-III. See also (J4.886).
Your nightmares come in (particularly for drone armed fighters) at lower weapon status.
Under (S4.10) a squadron of 12 Stinger-Fs has two fighters with any pods you want loaded already up and ready to go (since pods slow the fighters, you might choose not to have any pods loaded), leaving you 12-16 deck crews (16 covers if you bought the allowed extra four deck crews under Commander's Options) to arm the other 10, to fully arm them takes 20 deck crew actions (assuming you were putting two pods on each one), even if they are Stinger-FMs, so six-to-eight (depending on whether or not you bought the four extra deck crews) of the Stinger-Fs (or Stinger-FMs) can be fully armed (have the two added pods) added by the end of Turn #1 (two deck crews working on each one), and the other two-to-four will be ready at the end of Turn #2.
But a squadron of 12 F-15CMs? Well, again you have two fighters ready to go, and again you have 12-16 deck crews to work on the other 10 fighters. If you choose to have two deck crews work on the F-15EM, it will be ready pretty quickly (three turns). But every other F-15CM, even with two deck crews working on them, will take five and a half turns to fully arm, and another five and a half turns to arm the two-to-four other fighters (again depending on the extra deck crews).
Things do not change under (S4.11). The status of the fighters is still two fully armed and the other 10 sitting next to their full ready racks.
Under (S4.12) you have two fighters ready to go still, and 24 deck crew actions that can be applied to the other 10 fighters. So a Stinger-FM squadron can be fully ready to go (to fully arm the other 10, if one is a Stinger-EM, takes 22 deck crew actions, four of them on the Stinger-EM, with two unused deck crew actions remaining), but the F-15CM squadron ... Rule (J4.81) requires you to record actions and allows only two deck crews to work on one fighter. So 24 actions can see the F-15EM with all of its type-VI drones loaded and two pods added to its pod rails (if two deck crews work on it). It will take another two deck crew actions to add pods to the extra pod rails, so it will not be fully armed until the start of Turn #2 (if you wanted it fully armed and dedicated the deck crew actions to this purpose). But if you ignore the F-15EM fighter, 24 deck crew actions will only load 24 drones or pods, and no more than four (one or two of which might be pods) on any one non-electronic warfare fighter (two deck crews each doing two actions on one fighter). And an F-15CM with four type-I drones loaded still has four type-I drone rails, 2 type-VI drone rails, and two pod rails that are empty.
As to the ready racks. Under (J4.891) each ready rack is specific to the fighter assigned to that box. Thus when you bought the Stinger-FM and assigned it to that box on the SSD, the ready rack became a ready rack to support Stinger-FM fighters. It cannot arm the fusion beams of a Stinger-2, or Stinger-2M, or the hellbore(s) of a Stinger-H or Stinger-HM.
The fact that an F-18 can be fully rearmed in a box for an F-18M makes it plain that if you purchased a F-18M, the ready rack will service it fully (J16.111).
I hope this helps.
I think he's looking for (J16.111)'s last sentence - 'Purchasing a mega-pack also upgrades the corresponding ready rack.' (at least in regard to ready racks) …
Paul??
Steve,
Sorry for the confusion. I wasn't referring to Weapon Status, but rather to the capacitor size of the ready rack for a Stinger - 2M. You mentioned that for a Stinger - H becoming a Stinger-HM the ready rack for it changes from a capacitor for one hellbore to two. So since a Stinger-2 ready rack normally has 8 charges, enough for 2 full loads, I'm wondering when you convert the Stinger-2 to a Stinger-2M does that capacitor increase to hold 10 charges now or 12 so it still has a full reload?
My question about rules clarification was trying to find out where in the rules is this discussed? In other words I couldn't find these details in the rules and I'm wondering where these rules you are quoting are coming from.
Paul Graves:
I thought I cited the rules as I went as far as the questions I thought you were asking?
Rule (J4.891) says the ready rack is specific to the fighter. So when you paid for a Stinger-F, the rack is for a Stinger-F. If you buy a Stinger-FM, then under (J16.111) the ready rack is configured for a Stinger-FM. If you started with a Stinger-1, the same rules apply. So unless you find a rule that says otherwise a Stinger-2 ready rack has eight charges, and a Stinger-2M ready rack would hold enough fusion charges to reload the fighter twice.
Steve, you have now answered all my questions and I appreciate the promptness of your replies especially on a Saturday.
You just didn't cite any rules in your first response and I was hoping somewhere in the rules this stuff was spelled out more clearly. Regardless you have graciously cleared it up for me now for which I thank you again.
Paul.
Ok time for me to ask another question hehe. In a campaign...there has come up...a fleet...as an example...consisting of say 2 ships...and only 2. Both are D5L's. The discussion revolves around the various intricate and randomly placed rules dealing with various reasons for and against this being legal. If...you claim one of the D5L's is the flagship of the fleet. Does that remove the no 2 Leader type restriction. If not...what size fleet, if any size fleet would remove such a restriction. In general I am wondering if a 2 ship patrol can even claim one as a flagship. While one would be probably senior. Is it always required to have a flagship in such a small fleet? Or is it optional? Or is there a size of fleet needed before you declare a flagship? Or are flagships mostly relegated to Battle Groups?
Charles Carroll:
I think this has come up before,
(S8.21) General: (Flagship)
(S8.36) Leaders, command ships,
(S8.363)The Flagship is exempt from the leader/led provisions of (S8.36)
My understanding is a Fleet of 2 D5Ls is allowed by S8 rules if one is the Flagship.