We are using known placement. The second a bomb appears anywhere, it is known to exist. The problem is...since I am standing on it. He claims that I must announce not the bomb. But at the instant it becomes active. Which since I am on it and moving off. Means I move to range one of the bomb and announce...bomb becomes active. This says...it is a range 0 set bomb. I move to range 2 and announce...the bomb is active. This says it is a range 1 bomb. So as soon as I leave the range it can see me...it becomes active. Which it certainly does. The problem is if I have to announce it. Which I have found no rule saying I do but he claims that it is required because of the order of events which has the part about t bombs and other bombs now become active. That I have to announce when it becomes active like a t bomb becomes active after two impulses.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Monday, May 04, 2020 - 09:12 pm: Edit

Unless he can find a rule explicitly saying you have to announce it, you don't.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Monday, May 04, 2020 - 09:13 pm: Edit

question re attaching a pod.
A Tug with a MC of 1 and 1 pod already attached is speed 0 waiting for freindly ships to bring 2nd pod to it.
Once attached, it plots a speed jump to 10 but now it has a MC of 1.5 because of 2nd pod.

At start of turn, the Tug MC is 1 but as soon as the 2nd pod is attached mid turn, its MC becomes 1.5.

How is the extra MC of 0.5 handled mid turn ?
Is it handled with bttys ?

Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Monday, May 04, 2020 - 09:36 pm: Edit

question re Rom FAL mauler.
FAL has 20 warp and 6 imps and 36 bttys
How can the mauler charge all 36 bttys in EA with only 26 power ?

Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Monday, May 04, 2020 - 09:52 pm: Edit

Take more than one turn to do it.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 12:01 am: Edit

I do not see how its possible for the mauler to charge all its bttys even in multiple turns ?
At WS 3, all 36 bttys are charged so it discharges all 36.
With only 26 power [ 20 warp and 6 imp], that still leaves 10 bttys uncharged.
Way I see it, the mauler loses its combat ability slowly over several turns as it simply cannot charge all its bttys?

Have to admit, maulers always confused me. :>)

Cheers
Frank

By Mike Dowd (Mike_Dowd) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 04:13 am: Edit

Frank;

You simply won't get more than 1, maybe 2 *good* shots with a mauler. Getting a target lined up into the arc at even a 1:1 energy to damage ratio isn't easy, let alone a perfect 1:2 ratio. You won't need to charge all of the batteries in a single turn. Heck, you'd probably need to use 3 turns to recharge batteries after a blast from the weapon, assuming that you drained them all.

The typical mauler tactic is either to use the battery bank to establish an unbreakable tractor lock on a high value target (and then get the remainder of the fleet to unload plasma), or to snipe and cloak as part of a fleet or squadron action.

Maulers are never meant to operate alone. They are a great support unit, but operating solo they are simply dead.

By Richard Eitzen (Rbeitzen) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 07:47 am: Edit

Essentially it depends what you are fighting and the circumstance. If attacking slow moving or stationary targets, a FAL can spend two or three turns to get a full charge while moving slowly (or not at all), perhaps even under cloak.

Alternatively, you can simply charge it with however much power is available and fire every turn at less than 36 power used per shot.

By Alan Trevor (Thyrm) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 10:17 am: Edit

There are a few maulers that have significant "non-mauler" firepower. The two best examples are the Lyran Single-Tooth Lion and the Romulan Flamehawk-X. One possible use of ships like these is to use the huge battery banks (X-batteries for the Flamehawk-X) to put up a huge "brick". This, plus the dreadnought (Single-Tooth Lion) or X-cruiser (Flamehawk-X) shields, may enable the mauler to take the enemy's shot and then hit back with the other weapons. Even if the enemy doesn't oblige by throwing a lot of firepower at an extraordinarily well-shielded target, maneuvering to avoid this may place him at a positional disadvantage against the rest of your fleet. Naturally, this means the mauler must be used as part of a coordinated plan. But that's always true.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 03:09 pm: Edit

AH The Mauler. It is a good support ship. A great anchor ship as well. The best Mauler anchor ship is the KRM and D6M. All of those BTTY and 3 tractors. The Hybrid maulers such as the Flame Hawk and Sparrow Hawk mauler are interesting but I have not played with them at all.

No mauler that I know of other then a Andro can load all of its BTTY in one turn let alone two. The Mauler is a one shot weapon and done. If you get time to reload a Mauler. Well You should have won that battle.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 03:10 pm: Edit

Oh and I am going to remember about the cloak lock on thing. Ah yes silly FEDS>

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 04:38 pm: Edit

Charles H. Carroll:

There is no proviso to "announce" that a mine becomes active.

Frank Lemay:

You accelerate at your plotted speed modified by the new cost the same as if the ship had tractored an enemy ship. If you have battery, you can dump that mid turn to speed up the ship to as close to speed 10 as it will allow. But you cannot dock tot he pod if you are moving faster than speed 1, and if your move cost changes as a result of the attached pod, you cannot go faster than you allocated for.

As to the Falcon Mauler, it does require multiple turns to fully charge the battery banks. You can fire at less than full strength, after all, that is the reason it has banks of batteries so you can fire some at one target and some at another. It does not require that the batteries all be loaded to fire. You are basically saying "How come I cannot fully load a plasma R torpedo and fire it in one turn?" You need to plan to load the batteries over two or more turns.

By Charles H Carroll (Carroll) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 06:12 pm: Edit

Thanks Steve that was also my belief.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Tuesday, May 05, 2020 - 10:44 pm: Edit

SPP, that makes sense !
Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By Charles H Carroll (Carroll) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 01:28 pm: Edit

And one more mine question. Someone says that dummy mines cannot be laid from the hatch. Obviously this makes little sense. And I can find no rule under dummies that restricts that. So...is there one? And I am missing it?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 02:24 pm: Edit

From (M3.224): Dummy T-bombs will not function (i.e., will not fool anyone) if dropped rather than transported.

Dummy mines are not included in that because they can only appear in mine fields. I.e., the only place a dummy NSM can appear is in a dummy minefield, it cannot be purchased by Commander's Option Points so that you can attempt to lay it from the hatch.

Dummy NSM and dummy mines (similar to T-bombs, but different from them) are laid in fields and that makes the difference.

By Charles H Carroll (Carroll) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 02:32 pm: Edit

Ah ok...though it seems that a dummy T bomb...dropped from a hatch should have the same effect as a dummy T bomb transported to a hex. They both just appear there. Now in secret placement. No...it would be nothing at all. Just a lump of dirt. But with known mine placement where a dropped bomb shows instantly. What is the difference? Both are equally visible.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 02:50 pm: Edit

Was something I wondered about. It is something about it being placed by transporter. Something was placed by transporter it might be a mine. It is the right shape size and looks like a mine on sensor. How they can know the difference out the hatch is beyond me but they can.

By Ted Fay (Catwhoeatsphoto) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 03:06 pm: Edit

SPP: To clarify, M3.244 does not *prohibit* one from dumping a dummy T-Bomb out of the hatch, yes?

For example, say a ship anticipates being rammed by an ESG. A dummy T-Bomb laid out the hatch (while fooling no one and thus instantly revealed as a dummy) would still absorb a point of ESG damage, I believe.

By Charles H Carroll (Carroll) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 03:42 pm: Edit

And it appears....from the description that as described...it will not fool anyone because it will not go off. But...that does not really say that until it does not go off...it is not causing doubt. So again. I see no reason a Dummy T bomb when placed with bombs are known when placed...would not have the normal dummy effect. That of being seen but not going to blow up.

By Charles H Carroll (Carroll) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 03:57 pm: Edit

See this is where some rules of SFB just do not seem to have any sense to them.

Ok lets consider a dummy t-bomb transported. What makes it any more real to scanners than one dropped? Nothing. Neither will blow up. Both seem to be active. We have no way to tell if the transported dummy is active. And if we can tell when a bomb becomes active. Then we should always know where all bombs are even when playing hidden because they are generating a signal we can detect.

So while no you cannot drop an NSM dummy. Cause there are none. And no you cannot drop a large mine dummy. Again because the only allowed dropped mines that are large are NSMs...which have no dummy. That in a way makes sense. Though only as a plot point in a story. Since we do have large dummy mines. And if we simply added large dummy to Roms ability to buy one like it could buy an NSM if it wanted to, then..we could have had them.

But there is no technical reason why a t-bomb dropped or transported would not appear the same to sensors.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 03:58 pm: Edit

Dummy T-bombs are activated by the act of transorting them. If they are laid out of a hatch, they are not transported and thus not activated.

By Charles H Carroll (Carroll) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 04:21 pm: Edit

Lol as you wish. Though that really makes no sense because there is no electronic shock or power applied to people or anything else. And if that is required. Like powering a WW or SS just not using enough power to justify it. Then I suppose...the connection was for whatever reason only in the transporter bay and the shuttle bay just got left off the power connection required lol.

Anyway...thank you...and as always...we will do it the way the rule says to.

By MarkSHoyle (Bolo) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 04:30 pm: Edit

With hidden deployment, even though it's transported, there is a wide area it could be transported to (which hex up to 5 is not known)...
Just the act of transporting trash out of a down shield, would affect how an opponent closes with that area....

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, May 07, 2020 - 05:34 pm: Edit

Ted Fay:

(G23.617) Dummy T-bombs deployed by transporter will reduce an ESG by one point (M3.224), but if not activated by being transported will not affect an ESG, i.e., a dummy T-bomb dropped out of a hatch is inert material and does not interact with the ESG.