Question re a scout using a SENSOR channel to control drones.

Kzinti DDS has 3 channels powered but has not used them yet.
Lyran ships tuck in behind a planet and the 2 Kzinti ships controlling drones now lose lock on to the Lyran ships.
However, the Kzinti DDS still has the Lyran ships in her LOS.
Can the DDS immediately use a channel to conrol 6 drones as an involuntary transfer and 6 more as an involuntary transfer again for her regular control channels ?

Thanks.

Cheers
Frnak

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Sunday, December 07, 2025 - 07:58 pm: Edit

As I look at my question, I think what I am actually asking is does the scout need to announce a Sensor channel is for drone control the imp before it is required or can it do so on the imp when needed whether it be voluntary or involuntary ?

Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By Dennis Surdu (Aegis) on Thursday, December 11, 2025 - 08:14 pm: Edit

I have asked this question before and seem to remember that SPP told me drogues are paid-for using Commanders Options under scenarios specific situations only and normally they should be counted as part of your force BPV. Is this correct?

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Friday, December 12, 2025 - 06:00 pm: Edit

As I understand it in a published scenario You have to buy them with COs. In a build Your own force they should be bought as part of the ships force.

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Sunday, December 14, 2025 - 09:12 am: Edit

I posted these in the MSSB-R03 After Actions report area, but I would like to see if these updates to (R3.R53) are acceptable.

(R3.R53) MSSB-R03 Klingon - Per R3.R53 J-boom shields are: D6J/D4J/D3J = 13; D5J/DWJ/D5JX = 10; E7J/F6J/F5J/F4J/F3J = 9, E4J = 7. Per module Y2 (pg 35) the F4J shields #3, #4, #5 boxes are only 7. Should not the "F4J" be 7? Update "E7J/F6J/F5J/F4J/F3J = 9" to "E7J/F6J/F5J/F3J = 9, F4J/E4J = 7." - Ken Kazinski, 06 Dec 2025.

(R3.R53) MSSB-R03 Klingon - Per R3.R53 J-boom shields are: D6J/D4J/D3J = 13; D5J/DWJ/D5JX = 10; E7J/F6J/F5J/F4J/F3J = 9, E4J = 7. Per module Y2 (pg 35) shield #3, #4, #5 boxes are only 5. Should not the "F3J" be 5? Update "E7J/F6J/F5J/F4J/F3J = 9" to "E7J/F6J/F5J = 9, F4J/E4J = 7, F3J = 5."- Ken Kazinski, 06 Dec 2025.

(R3.R53) MSSB-R03 Kligon Booms - Per (R3.R53) "J-boom shields are: D6J/D4J/D3J = 13" but the D3J's shields are 15/12/10/10/10/12. The boom would have more shields than the complete boom and aft sections. Should not (R3.R53) be updated so the D3J has 10 shields all around? - Ken Kazinski, 10 Dec 2025.

(R3.R53) MSSB-R03 BOOMS: (R3.R53) states "J-boom shields are: D6J/D4J/D3J = 13; D5J/DWJ/D5JX = 10; E7J/F6J/F5J/F4J/F3J = 9, E4J = 7." The F3J booms shields are 9/7/5/5/5/7. The separated boom would have more shield boxes than the complete ship. Possibly create a new entry for the F3J to "F3J = 5." - Ken Kazinski, 12 Dec 2025.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 - 04:30 pm: Edit

By Frank Lemay asked on Sunday, December 07, 2025 - 01:52 pm:

Question re a scout using a SENSOR channel to control drones: Kzinti DDS has 3 channels powered but has not used them yet.

Lyran ships tuck in behind a planet and the 2 Kzinti ships controlling drones now lose lock on to the Lyran ships.

However, the Kzinti DDS still has the Lyran ships in her LOS.

Question: Can the DDS immediately use a channel to control 6 drones as an involuntary transfer and 6 more as an involuntary transfer again for her regular control channels ?

REPLY: Yes and no. The KInti scout must first meet the conditions to accept control of the drones, i.e., the drones in question must be in a position to "see" the Lyran target and to see the Kzinti scout. The transfer is done to a channel held "in reserve" (powered, but not assigned a role to this point in the turn and not previously or under the effects of being blinded), this allows you to pick up SIX. and six only, of the seeking weapons. This is the "yes" part, the "no" part is that no scout can use more than one (1) channel to control seeking weapons at any one time or during a turn. The largest control rating for a scout is nominally 18 seeking weapons; 12 seeking weapons controlled by its own separate drone control rating (usually six, but the given scout might be a staircase or bats or Kziinti Super Space Control Ship, and a maximum of six controlled by one special sensor.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Tuesday, December 16, 2025 - 07:15 pm: Edit

Thank you SPP.

Cheers
Frank

By Dana Madsen (Madman) on Wednesday, December 24, 2025 - 10:33 pm: Edit

Steve P, follow up on the Kzin question above. The situation described doesn't actually cover all of what happened, and maybe in the timing / sequence your answer might change. Also, this game is over, just looking for confirmation on whether we played the situation correctly or what we need to do differently in the future. For perspective I was the Kzin player and I'm not sure we handled this correctly.

Board situation, place a planet, on imp X lyran ships are 1 hex away south west of the planet in dir E from the planet. 2 Kzin ships are south east of the planet in dir C (a little towards direction D, not on the hex line). The Kzin DDS is in Dir B from the planet, to the north east, a little above the hex line so partially towards dir A. 9 or 10 drones are either south of the planet chasing Lyrans, or south east or north east. Some of the drones had the planet directly between the drone and the lyrans but the 2 kzin ships had lock on. None of the drones had ATG.

Impulse X: 2 Kzin ships controlling drones targeting Lyran ships adjacent to a plant and have LOS on this impulse to the Lyrans (note some of the drones did not have LOS to Lyrans as the planet was in the way but I assumed as the controlling ships had LOS they were still fine), some of the drones were right behind the Lyrans and the planet wasn't in the way. Kzin DDS is along a separate hex and on impulse X does NOT have LOS to the Lyran ships. Kzin DDS is only controlling the ECM drone targeting it so the DDS has 5 empty control channels.

Impulse X+1: Lyrans move north, dir F from the planet, into the shadow of the plant from the initial Kzin ships and they lose LOS, however in moving the Kzin DDS gains LOS to the Lyrans. Under F3.532 - Involuntary Transfer, transfer takes place at any point in the turn when original controlling ships are disqualified from control for failing any check in F3.3. So they lost lockon when they lost LOS.

Question 1: does the Kzin DDS immediately gain lockon when they get LOS to the Lyrans or is there a delay at any point in the sequence of play. Ie at the moment in movement when the other Kzin ships lost LOS and lockon, does the DDS gain it at that instant, or does it gain it later. If it doesn't gain lockon at that instant it wouldn't be able to assume control of any of the drones released under involuntary transfer. FYI, we played that it did gain lockon and was able to accept transfer of 5 of the drones on it's empty channels.

Question 2: is there a point in the sequence of play where the Kzin DDS needs to declare that it is using a channel for controlling drones. Or can it just declare that at the instant it's required. Ie without declaring in any previous impulse that it was using a sensor for control could it have declared that at the instant the other 2 kzin ships were trying to transfer 10 drones that had just become uncontrolled. We played that the kzin hadn't declared a channel used for that purpose at that instant, so it was only able to accept transfer of 5 drones (assuming that transfer was legal). But what point in the sequence of play does the scout declare that it's using a channel to control drones. Can it declare it an any point it needs to, so that it can satisfy involuntary transfer, or would it have to have forseen the issue and announced it in a relevant step an impulse earlier.

Question 3: should the drones have lost lockon if the lyrans flew on the far side of a planet from them even though a controlling ship had lockon. It wouldn't have affected every drone on the specific impulse but at some point over multiple impulses of movement every drone would have been affected by this.

Thanks,
Dana

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Monday, January 05, 2026 - 09:52 am: Edit

Aquestion on T-Bombs, do you have to have a lock-on to transport out a t-bomb?

By Jessica Orsini (Jessica_Orsini) on Monday, January 05, 2026 - 10:01 am: Edit

Eddie: per (G8.17), the unit operating the transporter must have a lock-on to both the origin and destination of the transporter action.

By Eddie E Crutchfield (Librarian101) on Monday, January 05, 2026 - 06:25 pm: Edit

Jessica so even if it is empty space, Its not like I have anything there to lock on to? How do you lock on to empty space?

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Monday, January 05, 2026 - 07:13 pm: Edit

You need the T-bomb to materialize intact. Transporting without a lock presumably would result in the item being transported materializing in a random jumble, or just as its constituent atoms, or the like.

By Dan Kosko (Dak4482) on Thursday, January 08, 2026 - 03:06 pm: Edit

Hi all. In the Module J Fighters Rulebook 2020 version in the table of contents it shows that there are supposed to be annexes 3,4,6,7G and 12. I guess those entries on pages 113-120 might be 4 and 7g but I dont see any references to commander's options or monsters. Am I missing something?
Dan

By Ken Kazinski (Kjkazinski) on Monday, January 12, 2026 - 09:50 pm: Edit

Dan,

Look on page 80 for the annexes.

By David Hanson (Glimaash) on Wednesday, January 14, 2026 - 09:12 am: Edit

I have a few questions about Warp Booster Packs. Relevant rules below.

Question #1 If fixed to a shuttle, it says they can be turned on or off during energy allocation (J5.13). J5.14 talks about use with mid turn speed changes. Is J5.14 applicable to shuttles or just fighters?

Question #2 J5.14 says "the WBP can be turned on (or off) once during the turn in addition to any change made during the Energy Allocation Phase" Does this mean they can be turned on once and turned off once during the turn (similar to cloak) or is it that it can be turned on or off only once total?

Thanks, David

Relevant Rules:

(J5.13) ACTIVATION: If a manned shuttle is carrying a WBP, it has the option of turning it off during the Energy Allocation Phase of any
turn; it must remain off for the duration of that turn.

(J5.133) A shuttle fitted with WBPs can be launched with the packs on or off (active or inactive); WBPs are turned off automatically when
the shuttle lands. This does not count as a “change” under (J5.14).

(J5.14) SPEED CHANGES: If using speed changes in mid-turn (C12.34), the WBP can be turned on (or off) once during the turn in addition to any change made during the Energy Allocation Phase.
NOTE: (C12.342) explains that this is not a “speed change.” If a fighter uses emergency deceleration (J4.13), the packs are turned off. This does not count against the limit of turning the packs
off once per turn. See also (J5.133) for another exception to the limit.

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Friday, February 06, 2026 - 09:39 am: Edit

PA panels:

A cobra with 4 front panels and 3 rear panels. Takes 28 damage to the front panels. Going to reinforced levels.

Later in the turn the Cobra drops to standard from reinforced. The front panels can only hold 24 so the 4 extra points flow into the rear panels. As per 10.424.

If the cobra instead goes to standard level and drops the front panels. Then all 28 points flow to the rear panels. They can only hold 18 at standard levels. That would leave 10 points and those would flow into the BTTYs. As per 10.424

My question is. Are both of the above, correct?

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Friday, February 06, 2026 - 11:46 am: Edit

Gregory: you are not taking into account (D10.321) degradation or (D10.33) “leak” damage. What would happen here is:

Cobra is operating with reinforced panels which are clear (no energy or degradation). It takes a 28 point volley to the front panels. First, (D10.331) is checked and as the volley is at least three points per panel (12 being the threshold here) *and* requires the panels to be reinforced to hold it all (standard can only hold 24), the 28th damage point is resolved as a “leak” point, hitting a hull box per (D10.333) as we are presuming an undamaged ship.

This leaves 27 damage points to resolve into the panels. (D10.321) says 20% of this (rounded normally) is scored as permanent degradation - in this case 5.4 which rounds down to 5. The forward panels now hold 22 energy and have 5 degradation (reducing the total capacity to 35 energy at reinforced and 19 energy at standard).

The panels are subsequently reduced to standard. This releases 3 energy which, per (D10.424) will flow into the rear panels.

If you instead deactivate the front panels and reduce panels to standard [note that per (D10.27) these are separate, sequential actions, but in this case they will have the same net effect) what will happen is that the 22 energy in the front panels will flow into the rear panels which have a capacity of 30 energy. They then reduce to standard and a capacity of 18 energy, releasing 4 energy which will flow into the batteries per (D10.424) - but note you can only reduce the panels to standard if you have at least 4 points of battery space available to receive this energy. (D10.423) prohibits voluntary release of energy that would result in internal damage, which would be the result if there was not sufficient battery capacity.

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Friday, February 06, 2026 - 12:11 pm: Edit

David:

Question #1: The first sentence of (J5.14) does not specify fighters so it applies to the operation of WBP regardless of what they are affixed to. The later part of the rule addresses fighters specifically as it is explaining an interaction with emergency deceleration, which only fighters can do. So yes, all shuttles may toggle their WBP when uaing (C12.0).

Question #2: The operative element in (J5.14) is the word “or”. Compare to (G13.113) which says “A cloaking device can only be turned on one time during each turn and can only be turned off one time during each turn.” A shuttle may only change the status of its WBP once during a turn, with the exceptions in (J5.133) and (J5.14). These exceptions basically allow a shuttle with active WBP to land and subsequently launch later in the same turn with its WBP available for use, and for a fighter with active WBP to emergency decelerate, then reactivate them once it is clear to accelerate again later in the turn.

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Friday, February 06, 2026 - 12:15 pm: Edit

And just to be clear: I am just another random player and my answers are all unofficial. I just really enjoy digging into the fine details of SFB and testing my own knowledge and understanding, and with SPP’s ongoing health issues limiting his availability here I figure I can turn that interest to trying to be helpful. So take all my answers with the grain of dilithium

By Paul Franz (Andromedan) on Tuesday, March 31, 2026 - 08:39 pm: Edit

In FP5.11 it says:

"Type-D and type-F plasma torpedo launchers cannot arm or launch EPTs."

Question: Can a G launcher create a type-F Enveloping plasma?

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Wednesday, April 01, 2026 - 01:55 pm: Edit

Paul,
Nope.
F plasma cannot arm as an enveloper.
See FP5.11

Cheers
Frank

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Saturday, April 04, 2026 - 07:16 pm: Edit

An Andro Mother ship is carrying a SAT base. Can it deploy the SAT base by transporter? Then in 4 impulses Can the SAT base then be active? Other than the positional stabilizers.

If so, then could it act as a Displacement beacon as well?

By Alex Chobot (Alendrel) on Sunday, April 05, 2026 - 10:38 am: Edit

Gregory, (R10.11) notes “if the satellite base is deployed (or moved by a displacement device) during a scenario, it cannot operate its weapons or special sensors.” (G19.415) and (G19.416) address specific cases of transporting bases (positional stabilizers will not be active and they can be transported directly to a planetary surface, respectively). So while there is no singular “Satellite bases are deployed like satellite ships except as otherwise noted”, it is very clear that is the case (and, indeed, is consistent with the background). The (R10.11) restriction is the significant factor, as it makes the SatShip essentially just a target.

As for acting as a displacement beacon, (G35.425) simply says “All Andromedan bases act as displacement beacons for no energy cost” with no caveats for bases deployed during a scenario. Personally, I believe that dropping a sat base and having it function immediately as a displacement beacon (let alone at all during the scenario) is unintended and not in synch with the (R10.11) restriction on weapons and sensors, but absent any official ruling they do function as such upon deployment.

By Frank Lemay (Princeton) on Sunday, April 05, 2026 - 01:59 pm: Edit

Curious question re directional phaser hits.

Target ship is in 1010A
Enemy ship in 0912B and another enemy ship in 1112F

The #4 of target ship is down from earlier combat.

Enemy ship from 0912B scores 20 points damage and enemy ship at 1112F scores 15 points.

As per the rules, the ship doing the most damage in 1 volley has its internal damage applied first so phaser hits in the 1st 20 internals will be facing enemy ship at 0912B.
All good until now.

Target ship takes 2 phaser hits, the 1st is applied to a lone ph 3 facing 0912B, can the 2nd phaser hit be applied to the lone ph 3 on the right side [not in arc of 0912B] of the ship even though 20 internals have not been scored yet from 0912B ?

I'm thinking not so a ph 1 and subsequent phaser hits facing 0912B until 20 internals is applied facing 0912B will have to take the hit and then the 1st phaser hit [as of internal #21] from 1112F can be applied to the lone ph 3 facing 1112F

Am I correct in this understanding ?

Thanks.

Cheers
Frank

By Gregory S Flusche (Vandar) on Sunday, April 05, 2026 - 02:17 pm: Edit

Alex I was wondering if it only meant by Displacement., Not by Transporter. For deployment.