Not a tournament specific question - but I know you guys will see it.

Question: When a ship going 12 or faster hits a 12 power web hex it rolls for breakdown or uses the free HET bonus. Roger that. Does it also lose the ability to perform a HET for a quarter of a turn?

I am thinking yes but could not find a rule to confirm.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Thursday, April 08, 2021 - 02:55 pm: Edit

Jack Taylor:

No. The ship could perform a HET the impulse after it hit the web. No delay on when a HET could be used is imposed by impact on a web, they ship simply lost its HET bonus (or one of its HET bonuses if it had more than one).

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Sunday, May 23, 2021 - 09:29 pm: Edit

Ok I am pretty sure about this but guess wanted to clarify:

ORION TOURNAMENT BATTLE RAIDER (Additional Rules)
1. STEALTH: Does NOT get two ECM points for stealth (G15.8).
Note: The stealth bonus makes the Orion ship unbeatable in
the hands of an experienced player. The stealth shift should
NEVER be used; it will ruin your tournament (many non-Orion
players will take the ship) and will violate the sanction.
2. OPTION MOUNTS: The ship has five mounts, three on the
forward centerline (FA or FP, but LS/RS if plasma-D racks are
installed) and one in each wing

I am kind of assuming that if the Orion TC takes plasma torps in the forward 3 mounts that the arcs on those are FP. The rules are specific for the Aux TC, in that it's forward mounts are FP. Rule 2 above suggests FP mounts on the Orion for something but is not specific. So...are those mounts FP for plasmas?

By Brian Evans (Romwe) on Monday, May 24, 2021 - 08:36 am: Edit

They've always been played as FP, as far as I've seen. Paul Scott won Origins using them as FP, so I'd wager that is the correct arc for them.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, May 24, 2021 - 05:54 pm: Edit

Jack Taylor:

If you put a plasma-G (because you feel sorry for your opponents?) or a plasma-S in two of the centerline option mounts and a plasma-F in the third, they will all be FP. If you put three plasma-Fs. in the centerline option mounts, all will be FP. If you put a plasma-F in the middle option mount and plasma-D racks in the other two, the plasma-F will be FP and one plasma-D will be LS and the other will be RS.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Monday, May 24, 2021 - 11:44 pm: Edit

The 2xPlasma-Ds is one of the different options I have thought of using with the Orion.

By Graham Cridland (Grahamcridland) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 02:52 am: Edit

What is an FB arc?

I know FH,FX,FA,FP...

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 07:25 am: Edit

I think it was meant to be FP arc.

By Mike Dowd (Mike_Dowd) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 10:34 am: Edit

Could have also been "FH", since the B and H keys are adjacent.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, May 25, 2021 - 04:22 pm: Edit

It was meant to be "FP" but I mistyped.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Friday, July 30, 2021 - 08:10 pm: Edit

Is it possible for the Orion tournament cruiser to choose ion cannons for options?

(E21.0) ION CANNON
Ion cannon are carried by Vudar ships and some Orion pirates.
They are considered to be the heavy weapons of the ship, but
because they must be armed in advance and cost a considerable
amount of energy to hold in the cannons if they are not fired
immediately, their use is normally restricted to heavy combat
situations. An ion cannon armed ship does not normally keep the
cannon armed because of the energy requirement to simply hold the
charge in the weapon.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Thursday, August 05, 2021 - 09:31 pm: Edit

Similar question- could the Orion mount the IPG?

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Monday, August 16, 2021 - 04:49 pm: Edit

Tournament Barrier Question:

Ship A has Ship B tractored at range 1, A's #1 shield to B's #3 shield, with Ship B 1 hex from tournament barrier (direction A). Ship A is facing A (towards the barrier), ship B is facing B.
Ship A rams B into the barrier, which stops Ship B, breaks the tractor & results in Ship A going to range 0 on Ship B.

Ship A cannot avoid also hitting the barrier on its next move. Question is, what will the facings be? Does Ship A move past Ship B & then hit the barrier, or does it stay on the same side of Ship B?

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Monday, August 16, 2021 - 06:59 pm: Edit

Tournament barrier,

It maybe (P17.243) for that situation.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - 02:34 pm: Edit

Daniel Bitsef:

Wayne Douglas Power has the right of it. Here is the rule:

"(P17.243) If two units in the same hex are adjacent to the barrier, even if one is already stopped as a result of striking the barrier, and one moves to strike the barrier itself, it is judged to have PASSED the first unit and be on its opposite side, i.e., between it and the barrier, for purposes of (D3.42)."

By Daniel Bitseff (Cadet_Stimpy) on Tuesday, August 17, 2021 - 03:06 pm: Edit

Thank you Wayne & Steve!

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Sunday, September 05, 2021 - 07:57 pm: Edit

Could a tournament ship start the game moving in reverse at max speed and HET into battle the first time it moves?

By Mike Grafton (Mike_Grafton) on Sunday, September 05, 2021 - 08:07 pm: Edit

Probably. Why would you burn your het Bonus like that though?

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Sunday, September 05, 2021 - 09:03 pm: Edit

A ship can not start in reverse. Tournament Rule Book T2012,
in Scenario set up, Speed Max (forward).

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Sunday, September 05, 2021 - 09:22 pm: Edit

I guess it could be classified as retrograding which the rules seem to talk about as not being too cool. Bad idea. Forget I asked.

By Jack Taylor (Jtaylor) on Sunday, September 05, 2021 - 09:24 pm: Edit

Thanks Wayne - I think you are right. Backwards doesn't look like an option per the rules.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Sunday, September 05, 2021 - 09:52 pm: Edit

To get in reverse early on turn 1, a ship would need to start at speed 0, then do 2 tacs (1 on impulse 2 and impulse 8) and then go up to speed 10 in reverse from impulses 9.
The turn 2 max speed would be impulses 1-8 speed 10, and impulse 9-32 speed 20.

By Ginger McMurray (Gingermcmurray) on Friday, October 15, 2021 - 06:01 am: Edit

Is there an actual Maesron SSD?

Also, what are the R13 restrictions for the ISC' plasma-Fs?

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, October 15, 2021 - 03:42 pm: Edit

From Module TR:

(R13.1C) REAR-FIRING PLASMA TORPEDOES

Most ISC ships include a number of type-F plasma torpedoes aimed toward the rear. These are designed to protect the ship from flank attacks or during retreats; they are not designed as the second volley of an overrun attack.
These rear-firing torpedoes do not have PPTs. They are tied to a defensive fire-control system, which allows any or all of them to be fired at size class 5 (i.e. PFs) or smaller targets on the same turn (but not at the same target on the same impulse). This defensive control system is not linked to any other weapons and cannot identify drones.
Each ship can fire only one of its rear-firing torpedoes at a size class 4 (or larger) ship each turn. The 1/4-turn firing limit applies when firing at ships and does not apply to or restrict firing at size 5 or smaller units (except for planetary bases, which are always under the size 4+ restrictions regardless of their size).
There is no refit to allow more than one of these plasma torpe­does to fire at size 4 and larger ships on a single turn. There is no way to add PPTs to these weapons.
These weapons are fixed, firing in direction 3 or 5 with the track­ing arcs shown on the SSDs and in rule (D2.35). These torpedoes cannot be equipped with swivels due to the mounting. They do NOT use the firing arcs of the Gorn battle pods.


As to a Measron tournament ship, to the best of my knowledge none has been formally published, although one was being worked on by a player. I do not possess a draft of it.

By Peter Bakija (Bakija) on Saturday, October 16, 2021 - 04:24 pm: Edit

There is a Maesron TC in the SFBOL interface.

The tournament rules synopsis (which, IIRC, I wrote) for the Maesron TC is still on the SFB Tournament Ship page:

http://www.starfleetgames.com/sfb/tournament/ssd/maesrontournament.shtml

I'm pretty sure the TC had 4 Tachyon Guns with traditional arcs (2FA/backwards; LF/L; RF/R), 2 Tachyon Missile racks (and could launch 1 TM per turn total); 8xPW1 with traditional arcs; 4xPW3 with traditional arcs. It probably had 40 power. And was otherwise pretty standard.

We used it in a few online tournaments, and at Council of 5 a few times. My memory was that it was pretty good against folks who weren't really familiar with it, but against opponents that knew what it did, it was generally reasonable.