Wayne, it is perfectly fine within the rules for a ship or shuttle to move more hexes in a turn than its rated maximum speed. I see no rule prohibiting this for ECM drones using station keeping.

It is used quite frequently when playing with mid-turn speed changes. For example, a Hydran Stinger fighter with a maximum speed of 15 can go speed 15 from impulse 1-9 (4 moves), then "slow down" to speed 14 from impulse 10-19 (5 moves), then accelerate to speed 15 from impulse 20-32 (7 moves). It moves a total of 16 hexes while never exceeding speed 15.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Thursday, May 11, 2023 - 09:59 pm: Edit

Kosta, I am aware of its use during a turn, this is at the begging of a new turn impulse 1 when the tractor ship makes a delayed move from tractor. The extra move is gained by ships from the tractor over the turn break, the drones are not in tractor how are they doing a delayed move? I see no rule allowing the ECM drone to do a delayed move following tractor ships over a turn break.

I will abide by the rule noted by SPP.

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Friday, May 12, 2023 - 12:19 am: Edit

Although if the drone was a speed 32 drone than yes it could follow the tractor ships delayed move over the turn break at impulse 1.

(FD9.111) station keeping says
if an ECM drone enters the hex of its target it will continue to pursue that target. If it is in the same hex, it will immediately reduce or increase its speed to match the target speed in an effort to stay in the same hex as its target.
Any speed increase must be within the limits of its maximum speed (impulse 1 speed 32 moves and tractor ships move delayed)

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, May 12, 2023 - 03:32 pm: Edit

Wayne Douglas Power:

Please indicate you are using Hyperbole when you are doing so. ECM drones have an endurance of six turns for lending ECM, after which they go inert and drop off the map. No ECM drone while conducting station-keeping on a ship can move more than that many turns. I cannot change my answer since the ships' are moving Speed 20, have established a tractor link, which slows both ships nominally to Speed 10. This gets you into the end of turn situation which has a number of strange occurrences. The individual ship the individual drone is tracking moves on Impulse #1 for delayed movement, the drones move the same hex because the ship is moving slower (Speed 10 pseudo speed) than the rated speed of the drone (Speed 20).

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Friday, May 12, 2023 - 06:18 pm: Edit

Understood, thank you for the answer.

By Jonathan Jones (Jej1997) on Monday, May 15, 2023 - 10:28 pm: Edit

On Ammo counter sheets, what does the white circle in the corner of each counter indicate?

By Jeff Guthridge (Jeff_Guthridge) on Monday, May 15, 2023 - 11:13 pm: Edit

It’s intended to offer a place to mark sets so that one sheet design can add extra countersheets for even more ammo.

Put a mark in the dot or color with a marker to help separate these add-on counters with others.

By Jonathan Jones (Jej1997) on Tuesday, May 16, 2023 - 01:48 am: Edit

Ah, ok. Thanks, Jeff

By John Malis (Jmalis) on Saturday, May 20, 2023 - 05:37 pm: Edit

Hello everyone. It's been over 25 years since I played SFB so I'm a bit rusty. I'm getting back into the swing of things...slowly.

Question:

D3.41 Shield Boundaries.
B: Determine which ship is scheduled to move next.
Does this imply who moves the very next impulse or who moves next in the movement chart? Thank you and it's great to be back!

By Jamey Johnston (Totino) on Saturday, May 20, 2023 - 09:40 pm: Edit

Whichever moves next regardless of timeframe. That could be many impulses from now, even a later turn (you look forward at their current speed). If both ships are on same impulse (next or otherwise) you drill further down to the usual tiebreakers, turn mode, etc.

By John Malis (Jmalis) on Sunday, May 21, 2023 - 09:57 am: Edit

OK, great. Thanks Jamey, I apprecate the quick response. Now, back to the books!

By John Malis (Jmalis) on Sunday, May 21, 2023 - 03:54 pm: Edit

Got another question:

D7.84 Multiple Raids: Two or more raids cannot be made by the same player (race, side, Team) within a period of 1/8 turn.

Does this mean to say that if I try to conduct a Hit and Run raid on a cloaking device on impulse 1 and I fail, I could then use a different transporter any time after impulse 6 of the same turn to try again to destroy the cloaking device? Thank you.

By Jamey Johnston (Totino) on Sunday, May 21, 2023 - 10:38 pm: Edit

Impulse 5. "Cannot be done within 1/8 turn" means "Can be done 4 impulses later"

Theoretically, an attempt could be made on a single box on impulses 1, 5, 9, 13, 17, 21, 25, and 29. Although, as you noted, each transporter box (and boarding party) can only make one attempt per turn, so you'd need 8 pads and 8 boarding parties, on the same or different ships, to do so.

By John Malis (Jmalis) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 08:05 am: Edit

Thanks again Jamey!

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 10:35 am: Edit

A drone has entered a 1 hex atmosphere mid turn and will strike the planet on turn x+1.1
can this drone be tractored and pulled out of the atmosphere and hauled away from the planet?

I could not find any reference to this situation.

Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 03:00 pm: Edit

Frank Lemay: You can tractor the drone, and if you are moving at all, you tractor link will be broken (G7.323). Note, this assumes the drone is on the "other side" in the battle. If the drone was on your side, it of course goes inert and is removed from play.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Tuesday, May 23, 2023 - 04:04 pm: Edit

Thank you SPP for pointing out the reference and your quick reply!

Cheers
Frank

By Xander Fulton (Dderidex) on Wednesday, May 24, 2023 - 07:17 pm: Edit

(YM0.0) seems a touch incomplete. Certain things are clearly called out - (YM2.0) and (YM3.0) NSMs and T-Bombs are here but are limited in range, (YM4.0) captor mines are not available, (YM10.0) power absorber mines are not available, etc.

But...that leaves a LOT of section M unclear.

Does the Y-era still have the (M6.2) 'standard minefield'? Assuming without the captor mines (since those are called out as unavailable). But...still get the deployment style and (M6.32) package rate?

What of (M4.5) Sensor Mines or (M5.2) Command-Controlled mines? (One would assume the latter, at least, otherwise friendly navigation around a base gets...harrowing) (M5.3) Chain controlled mines? etc.

Lots of questions...

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Friday, May 26, 2023 - 08:23 am: Edit

SPP,
Follow up on tractoring drones in atmosphere.
Situation is this, ship gets to R1 of the planet that has a bunch of drones in the atmosphere and about to hit the planet on imp 4.1
Ships get to R1 but at speed 8 on imp 3.32.
They trac a bunch of drones on 3.32.

Question is, they plot speed 0 for turn 4, can the ships rotate the drones out of the planet hex before imp 1 is called for even though they are technically speed 8 from the last turn?

Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By wayne douglas power (Wayne) on Friday, May 26, 2023 - 05:58 pm: Edit

(G7.7) Rotation

if the tractor is maintained from the previous turn, the ship maintaining the tractor can conduct a rotation during the Initial Activity Phase.

(G7.323) if the first hex entered (by towing) during the turn is outside the atmosphere, there is no restriction.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Saturday, May 27, 2023 - 09:30 am: Edit

Wayne,
Yep, I saw that rule.
So if my understanding is correct, the ship could be moving at speed 8 [lets say] on turn x1.1, rotate the drone out of the atmosphere before imp 1 is called for to protect the planet and then move away from the planet dragging the drone along to dispose of it later on.

Am I correct SPP ?

Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 - 01:10 pm: Edit

Frank Lemay:
Sorry, I had to leave while I was working on the reply. Rule (G7.323) Makes your move legal. There are caveats. If two units are linked by a tractor beam and as a result there is movement on Impulse #1 (delayed movement), the tractor link would be broken if the ships had an effective speed greater than one.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 - 01:30 pm: Edit

Xander Fulton:

Sensor Mines are a subset of Captor Mines i.e., Captor Mines are covered by (M5.1) and Sensor Mines are (M5.3). In the General way of things, if Sensor Mines existed in the early years, then mines would not be limited to zero hex detection zones. If minefields existed, so would minesweepers, which appeared in Y150 (approximately five years after mines got the 1 hex detection range.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 - 02:53 pm: Edit

No worries SPP.
Thanks once again!!

Cheers
Frank

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 - 03:05 pm: Edit

Somewhere, some point in the last week or so, Ken Kazinski asked a question somewhere on this board but not in this specific topic a question relating to Early Years and rule D3, to the extent that he hoped a rule (YD3.0) would appear. I cannot for the life of me see what the point is. Can someone at least find where in he made this bak handed request?