Scott Iles asks:

How is a Spearfish drone affected by the Proximity of Detonation chart?

Example: A Type-I Spearfish hits a Fed HDW with three ECM and an active ECM drone (6 ECM total). The Proximity of Detonation roll indicates 50% damage. A Spearfish does two shield damage and 1 internal (three points).

So, 50% of three is two (1.5 rounded up). Do you score those two points as the shield damage, or one shield and one internal?

Also, if the roll indicates 25% damage, that would be one point, which I assume would be a shield hit, right?

Answer:

Given the scale of the damage, there is only one possible interpretation.

Either it does full damage, or it does none. So when you role for proximity of detonation either the narrowly focused beam of damage [see (FD14.0) background description] hit the target (doing full damage) or it missed (doing no damage). This means that any result of less than 100% is a miss.

Note also that the ruling above applies not only to the D6.36 chart, but also to the G13.37 (cloaking device fire adjustment) chart as well.

By Mike Filsinger (Growler) on Friday, November 22, 2002 - 06:13 pm: Edit

(C12.0) CLARIFICATION: SPEED CHANGE RULES REVEALED: It started at Origins 1992, with a question about the mid-turn speed change rule that even Petrick could not understand. He would bring the data to me and I would, in a couple of seconds, calculate the correct answer, but no one could figure out how I was doing it (and I could not figure out why it was so hard for anyone else to grasp the concept). This continued for years, with baffled staffers watching me calculate move costs with aplomb while their heads hurt. And I must confess that there were periods when the rule baffled me and I forgot just what it meant. During a recent episode of trying to get Petrick to leave me alone about this question, the core of the problem became suddenly clear to me, and in a minute or two, it will be clear to you as well.
The core of the problem is (C12.24), the infamous "cap rule" which puts a limit on how much you would have to pay for a given speed change. The key part of the rule is ". . . but not more than if the increase had been for the entire turn."
This seemed perfectly clear to me when I wrote it (still does) but confused everyone else on the planet. The problem is that you all were reading this as "not more than if the higher speed had taken effect on Impulse #1 and had continued throughout the entire turn." That became incredibly complex since other independent changes prior to the point of the change in question made this calculation incredibly complex and pretty much meaningless. If you moved speed 20 for Impulses #1-8, then speed 10 for Impulses #9-24, then speed 5 for Impulses #25-32, and then used a mid-turn acceleration to change your speed for Impulses #9-16 to 15, calculating the speed cap (under the above interpretation) was complicated by the 8 impulses at speed 20. If you assumed speed 15 for all 32 impulses, you got credit in the cap rule for the eight impulses at speed 20, which made the cap very low.
What the key phrase really means is "but not more than if the new higher speed was continued for the entire remainder of the turn from the point of the change, accounting for the difference between that new higher speed and the original speed plot." Which means, of course, that the eight previous impulses you spent moving at speed 20 are totally irrelevant to the question of how much you pay to gain the extra speed points during the eight impulses after the change. Once I pronounced this revelation, even Petrick and Filsinger said it was "suddenly all very clear" how the rule worked. Of course, if you play with the math, you will find that if you change speed anywhere after mid-turn, you might very well find that the same reserve power will give you the higher speed for the rest of the turn as opposed to just for eight impulses.
Since many of you like formulae such are those proposed by Mike, here is one:
LINE A: How many movement points does your original legal speed plot have left this turn? [Multiply by movement cost; assume the impulse power (if any was used for movement that turn) was used before the change.]
LINE B: How many movement points does your proposed speed cost gain, as compared to your original legal speed plot? [Multiply by movement cost, then multiply by two; assume the impulse power (if any was used for movement that turn) was used before the change.]
LINE C: If you continued the new higher speed to Impulse #32, how many points would you gain as compared to your original legal speed plot to the end of the turn? (Multiply by movement cost)
LINE D: Use the lower of B or C. (If C is lower, take a moment to consider maintaining this speed through the end of the turn, since you paid for it anyway. There may be tactical reasons that you want to slow down, such as to get in just the right position, or take advantage of a better turn mode, or reduce your chances of voiding your cloak, or you may be forced to do so by previously-plotted further speed decreases, etc.)

By Mike Filsinger (Growler) on Friday, November 22, 2002 - 06:14 pm: Edit

Repost part 1, from the Official Rulings Archive before that section was wiped out:

Question:

When a PA Panel is destroyed when is the panel energy release resolved? Is it done after rolling all of the internals for that volley or is it done as of that point in the volley?


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Quote:
Answer:

Volleys scored by destroyed PA panels are separate volleys. They are resolved after you resolve the other damage as a result of the volley. Whether the PA panel was the first item destroyed, or the last item destroyed by a volley, it is resolved AFTER the volley is completed. It might then be its own volley if it was not possible to absorb it all.


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This came up in the context of whether a battery which was destroyed in the same volley as a PA panel could still absorb energy released by that panel. By the above ruling, even if it is destroyed later in the DAC procedure (same volley, of course), the battery is unavailable to absorb the released energy.
By Steve Cole (Stevecole) on Tuesday, June 20, 2000 - 01:11 am:


Mike: Petrick pestered me with that one over dinner, and I answered it (he wouldn't let me have any food). We didn't get it posted because our ISP here in Armadillo had the string between their tin cans break, and routing their datastream through the Sedalia Cattle Trail Barbed Wire Fence has a baud rate of about 4. Either they got it fixed, or I'm the only one in Amarillo who is awake and using internet right now.

Consider this my recollection of the ruling we wrote (which is in the CL21 file and needs to get into the official rulings file) and he'll post the real ruling tomorrow (if the barbed wire holds out).

Anywhere, the question is complex in that it's several questions.

First, when you are resolving DAC die rolls and get a PA panel hit, you wait until after the volley is complete to see if there is anywhere to put the power released by D10.424. All of the damage in the volley is instantaneous and simultaneous, so the power cannot go to a battery about to be destroyed; the battery was already destroyed.

Second, all of the power released in a given "resolve damage step" of a given impulse is combined into one big "released power volley" which is the last volley resolved. If that volley releases more power, THAT becomes the last volley. And so on.

By Mike Filsinger (Growler) on Friday, November 22, 2002 - 06:18 pm: Edit

Repost part 2:

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Sunday, July 09, 2000 - 06:05 pm:


Okay, here is a number of rulings that have been made at various times. This includes, for those who have not seen them, items drawn from recent Captain's Logs. These will all be in force at Origins. They will follow this message.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Sunday, July 09, 2000 - 06:05 pm:


(C1.313) ERRATA: It is theoretically possible that a seeking shuttle which has not been revealed as such may be closing head-on with a fighter on which it is targeted. By the Order of Precedence, a shuttle must move before a fighter, but a seeking weapon must move after its target. In some cases, if the shuttle revealed its status (effectively saying "no, YOU go first") the fighter would be able to dodge the shuttle, which at such short ranges is impossible. The solution is for the unrevealed shuttle to move first, then the fighter moves. Then, if the seeking shuttle could have entered the hex the targeted fighter picked, the seeking shuttle may retroactively change its movement and enter the hex of the fighter, impacting it. If the shuttle?s original pre-retro move entered the hex of the target, no detonation occurred; this could only happen after the true (i.e., retroactive) movement.

(C1.313-5). STATEMENT: This rule specifically states that seeking weapons targeted on other seeking weapons move AFTER the seeking weapon they are targeted on. In effect, if a fast drone is moving along and on Impulse #16 has two choices of hexes it can enter that a counter drone can also enter (a speed-2 type-I externally armored drone), the owner of the intercept drone need only state that "my drone is targeted on your drone". At that point, his drone moves AFTER speed 32 drone despite the fact that it is 16 times faster than the intercept drone.

(C5.223) CORRECTION: Reference to (C5.2) should be to (C5.1).

(C5.532) CLARIFICATION: This rule is correct as written, but the earliest the ship would be able to perform a tactical maneuver would be Imp #25.

(C8.41) CLARIFICATION: "The ship cannot move out of the hex it is in during the post-deceleration period." This rule covers the ship moving under its own power, but is not clear on what happens if the ship doing the Emergency Deceleration was held in a tractor beam by another ship. If such a ship has a point of movement delayed until after ED takes effect, it loses that point of movement and that power that would have accounted for that point of movement is regarded as used, i.e., is not available for calculations to determine reinforcement energy. It is a game mechanic situation. The ship should have moved last impulse, and its movement would be judged based on the then pseudo speed at which it was moving. However, if the tractor was released after movement on the preceding impulse, the ship would not move (just like a turn break situation).

(C12.0) CLARIFICATION: SPEED CHANGE RULES REVEALED: It started at Origins 1992, with a question about the mid-turn speed change rule that even Petrick could not understand. He would bring the data to me and I would, in a couple of seconds, calculate the correct answer, but no one could figure out how I was doing it (and I could not figure out why it was so hard for anyone else to grasp the concept). This continued for years, with baffled staffers watching me calculate move costs with aplomb while their heads hurt. And I must confess that there were periods when the rule baffled me and I forgot just what it meant. During a recent episode of trying to get Petrick to leave me alone about this question, the core of the problem became suddenly clear to me, and in a minute or two, it will be clear to you as well.
The core of the problem is (C12.24), the infamous "cap rule" which puts a limit on how much you would have to pay for a given speed change. The key part of the rule is ". . . but not more than if the increase had been for the entire turn."
This seemed perfectly clear to me when I wrote it (still does) but confused everyone else on the planet. The problem is that you all were reading this as "not more than if the higher speed had taken effect on Impulse #1 and had continued throughout the entire turn." That became incredibly complex since other independent changes prior to the point of the change in question made this calculation incredibly complex and pretty much meaningless. If you moved speed 20 for Impulses #1-8, then speed 10 for Impulses #9-24, then speed 5 for Impulses #25-32, and then used a mid-turn acceleration to change your speed for Impulses #9-16 to 15, calculating the speed cap (under the above interpretation) was complicated by the 8 impulses at speed 20. If you assumed speed 15 for all 32 impulses, you got credit in the cap rule for the eight impulses at speed 20, which made the cap very low.
What the key phrase really means is "but not more than if the new higher speed was continued for the entire remainder of the turn from the point of the change, accounting for the difference between that new higher speed and the original speed plot." Which means, of course, that the eight previous impulses you spent moving at speed 20 are totally irrelevant to the question of how much you pay to gain the extra speed points during the eight impulses after the change. Once I pronounced this revelation, even Petrick and Filsinger said it was "suddenly all very clear" how the rule worked. Of course, if you play with the math, you will find that if you change speed anywhere after mid-turn, you might very well find that the same reserve power will give you the higher speed for the rest of the turn as opposed to just for eight impulses.
Since many of you like formulae such are those proposed by Mike, here is one:
LINE A: How many movement points does your original legal speed plot have left this turn? [Multiply by movement cost; assume the impulse power (if any was used for movement that turn) was used before the change.]
LINE B: How many movement points does your proposed speed cost gain, as compared to your original legal speed plot? [Multiply by movement cost, then multiply by two; assume the impulse power (if any was used for movement that turn) was used before the change.]
LINE C: If you continued the new higher speed to Impulse #32, how many points would you gain as compared to your original legal speed plot to the end of the turn? (Multiply by movement cost)
LINE D: Use the lower of B or C. (If C is lower, take a moment to consider maintaining this speed through the end of the turn, since you paid for it anyway. There may be tactical reasons that you want to slow down, such as to get in just the right position, or take advantage of a better turn mode, or reduce your chances of voiding your cloak, or you may be forced to do so by previously-plotted further speed decreases, etc.)

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Sunday, July 09, 2000 - 06:07 pm:


(C12.34) CLARIFICATION: Unmanned shuttles, including wild weasels, cannot make any speed changes, plotted or unplotted. The only two exceptions: an uncrippled unmanned shuttle becomes (after launch) a crippled unmanned shuttle (J1.331), and Cloaked Decoys (G27.32). (Well, there is a third exception, but that involves the component parts of the shuttle rapidly accelerating in numerous random directions.)

(C12.36) CLARIFICATION: Previous speed changes take effect in stage #6A2 Voluntary Movement Stage of the Sequence of Play.

(C52.222) CLARIFICATION: Hoverback does NOT count towards sideslip mode.

(C52.25) CLARIFICATION: Units held in a tractor can hoverslip by expending hoverwarp points with a power cost equal to the combined movement cost of the ships.

(C52.264) CLARIFICATION: A ship using hoverslip to enter a web hex is considered to be moving speed 14.

(D2.12), (D2.31), (D2.32), and (D2.33); ERROR: Pages #32-34: Due to a printing error, the shading depicting the various firing arcs is extremely faint. We have included a separate page with the rulebook that more clearly shows the shading.

(D3.33) CLARIFICATION: If you are at speed one on Impulse #32, regardless of what you did earlier in the turn, you are at "turn mode zero" and can turn and then move. The paranthetical statement "(not using tactical maneuvers)" was an "affirmation of fact" or "statement of the obvious" inserted because someone involved in the original rules debate could not understand English.

(D3.41-B) CLARIFICATION: Future speed changes have no affect until they take effect. The fact that a given unit has announced it will be going faster has no impact on the determination of who will move on the next impulse during the Direct-Fire Weapons Segment (6D) or any other segment or phase, e.g., shield crackers, transporters, etc., between the announcement and when it takes affect. Previously announced speed changes take effect during the Voluntary Movement Stage (6A2) of the Sequence of Play as part of determining which playing pieces move on the impulse.

(D3.42) CLARIFICATION: Facing is set when the two ships first entered the hex. The slower ship enters the hex FIRST. The faster ship then enters establishing a relationship of their shields. A subsequent HET by either ship within the hex does not change their relative directions, but will change the facing sheild of the ship(s) which HET(s). The subsequent movement in which both ships move simultaneously into a new hex changes nothing, and the facing of the two ships relative to each other for purposes of fire on that impulse would still be the same even if a tractor link was released/broken during Impulse Activity.

(D3.42) ERRATA: SFB is a game, and as such has limits on what it can and cannot do in the mechanics of a two dimensional space. The "what to do if two ships are in the same hex at the same time at the same speed, etc." question has been raised before. One proposed solution back in the old Nexus magazine days was to divide the hex into smaller hexes. The problem is that you wound up dividing the hex forever and never resolving the situation. I.e., if my ship and your ship continue moving towards each other and the "center" of the hex for some overwhelming tactical reason, we will always be moving there, neither of us will ever turn off. After much soul-searching (because as the above comment on the old Nexus magazine proposal indicates, this was NOT the first time this has ever come up), there is really only one possible "permanent" solution (as opposed to people demanding rulings every time this, admittedly rare, situation comes up). A random one. Basically, the two captains would have to record their movement for each impulse under (C1.311). ONCE THEY ARE IN THE SAME HEX, IF THEIR REVEALED MOVEMENTS INDICATE BOTH ARE GOING TO MOVE TO THE SAME HEX ON A SUBSEQUENT IMPULSE ROLL A DIE TO DETERMINE WHICH OF THE TWO SHIPS MOVES INTO THE NEW HEX FIRST. What this means is that if two ships moved into 0810, the situation is resolved under (D3.43-C3). On the next impulse when the two ships recorded movement shows that both will turn and enter hex 0809, both players roll a die and the lower of the two die rolls is regarded as having moved first, the higher of the two then enters the hex behind, i.e., on the #4 shield, of the first ship (sideslips might result in different shield facings). Note that more than one die roll may have to be made by each player if the first rolls are a tie. This procedure is also used with multiple ships in the hex, i.e., if two PF flotillas entered the same hex, and were all going to leave the hex to the same adjacent hex, the players would roll a die for each PF, to determine the order in which they all leave. There will doubtless be multiple ties in this case necessitating rerolls to resolve the ties and establishing the order the 12 PFs enter the next hex. For simplicity?s sake, once this new order is established, it remains until the ships are no longer in the same hex, i.e., if on the next move one ship slipped left and the other went straight to 0808. If both went to 0808, then whichever ship was behind the other would still be there. WE WISH THERE WAS A BETTER ANSWER AND WE KNOW NOT EVERYONE WILL BE HAPPY, BUT IT IS THE BEST AND FAIREST SOLUTION TO A RARE EVENT.

(D4.322) CLARIFICATION: Break the phaser hits into groups of three, and at least one of each group of three must be of the best type. In other words, it is not necessarily the case that phaser hit #3 must be of the best type, but at least one of the first three must be (also, at least one of the second three, at least one of the third three, etc.).

(D4.351) CLARIFICATION: C Hull is hit on either A hull or F hull damage points. There is no separate listing for C hull on the DAC. If you take an A hull damage point, and have no A hull remaining, it MUST be scored on C hull if you have any C hull. You can NOT go to the next column on the DAC if there is any C hull remaining on which a hull hit of any kind can be scored. It is entirely legal to score every F-Hull hit you receive on C hull until you run out of C-Hull, at which point any subsequent F-Hull hits must be scored on F-Hull until you run out of F-Hull. Or, of course, until you either repair some C-Hull or some F-Hull. All the above also applies to A-Hull.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Sunday, July 09, 2000 - 06:07 pm:


(D6.72) ERRATA: Low Powered fire control provides two seeking weapon control circuits no matter what the original ship?s control rating was, except that ships with no seeking weapons can only control one seeking weapon on LPFC. This means that a unit using LPFC can only control two (or one) seeking weapon at any given point in the Impulse Procedure. It can itself launch no more than two seeking weapons during any given turn so long as it is on LPFC. This launch rate includes any seeking weapons launched earlier in the turn under active or passive fire control, i.e., if the unit launched two seeking weapons during the first part of a turn and then went to LPFC for the remainder of the turn, it could not launch any more seeking weapons during that turn. However, once any seeking weapons it is controlling are removed from play, i.e., destroyed, released to their own guidance (if self-guiding) or their control is transferred, the ship is free to accept transfer of control of seeking weapons from other units within its own limits. It is legal for the ship to accept control of two seeking weapons from another friendly unit, and later in that same turn launch its own allowed seeking weapons after it is no longer controlling the other seeking weapons if it had not previously launched seeking weapons that turn. The quarter-turn delay between turns applies to the launching of seeking weapons by a unit on LPFC, i.e., if the unit launched two seeking weapons on Impulse #30 of Turn #1 and remained on LPFC (or went to LPFC) during the first eight impulses of Turn #2 it would not be able to launch any more seeking weapons prior to Impulse #6. The rate of launch under LPFC is not increased by using plasma-D racks in defense mode, type-E drone racks, or type-C drone racks, although obviously a ship armed with such racks could launch (within normal limits) both of its allowed seeking weapons from one such rack. Other seeking weapons with multiple launch capabilities that might be added to the game are also under these restrictions. Note that bolted plasma torpedoes are considered to be direct-fire and count against that limit and not against the seeking weapon limit.
Direct-fire weapons are limited as per this rule, i.e, the unit cannot fire more than two direct-fire weapons during a turn while it is on LPFC. As the rule applies to "weapons" and not "shots", a ship on LPFC could fire two PPDs, all six pulses from two overloaded PPDs, all eight pulses from a pair of phaser-Gs (on the same impulse, or spread over all 32 impulses), or launch all 24 ADDs from a pair of 12-round ADDs if so armed (or a combination of any two). As with launching seeking weapons, if the ship fired two or more weapons earlier in a turn on passive or active fire control, it would not be able to fire any weapons later in that turn on LPFC. The quarter-turn delay between turns also applies, i.e., if the unit fired two direct-fire weapons on Impulse #30 of Turn #1 and remained on LPFC (or went to LPFC) during the first eight impulses of Turn #2 it would not be able to fire any more weapons prior to Impulse #6. Note that the PPDs, phaser-Gs, and ADDs could fire some shots in one turn and other shots in another turn as per their normal rules. Other multi-shot direct-fire weapons that might be added to the game are also under these restrictions.
A unit armed with both direct-fire and seeking weapons can launch two seeking weapons and fire two direct-fire weapons on the same impulse or during the period is on LPFC provided other restrictions defined, e.g., fired/launched previously in the turn, currently controlling one or more seeking weapons, etc., above are not in force.
Non-weapon systems not defined above are not affected by this rule other than their range limits, i.e., labs, tractors, transporters (including Andromedan transporters used to move their satellite ships), ESGs, web generators are unaffected. Displacement devices are limited to affecting things within the 15 hex range limit and count as a weapon. SFGs count as a weapon. A unit on LPFC cannot detect mines or sweep them.
This resolves the conflict between the CL#19 ruling and a later ruling issued in November 99. This ruling is complete and final and supersedes all previous rulings.

(D10.333) STATEMENT: This rule is specific that leak damage is combined with non leak damage into a volley of internals if the panels are penetrated.

(D19.221) CLARIFICATION: This rule does not provide an exception for any case where the ship would have been unable to launch under AFC.

(E1.24) CLARIFICATION: If a unit does not discharge a held or arming multi-turn weapon at the end of a turn, it has the option to do so during energy allocation of the subsequent turn. However, if the weapon is discharged during the energy allocation phase by not paying the required holding energy or the required additional charging energy, the weapon cannot begin arming in that same energy allocation phase. It could, however, begin arming as early as Impulse #1 (or as late as Impulse #32, or any impulse in-between) with reserve power. This is not as obscure as it might seem since a photon ship might have allocated to overload a photon torpedo, or pay to begin overloading a photon torpedo on the first turn of arming and realize that it does not need (or want) the overloaded photon during energy allocation of the following turn. However, if the weapon was not discharged at the end of the previous turn, it cannot be charged during the energy allocation of the current turn.

(E4.413) STATEMENT: Photon Torpedo overloads are specific that only half points of power can be used for incremental overloads. There is no mention of fractional points of overload energy being lost, or used. Therefore you cannot use .25 power as overload energy either allocated or reserve.

(E9.42) CLARIFICATION: TR Beams can be used as tractors during their first turn of arming. At the time they are used as a tractor, all energy in the TR beam at that time is effectively "bid" (E9.422) when it is used. If any energy is NOT used for the tractor attempt from the TR beam, it is lost (E9.42). Essentially, you try to tractor "A" at one hex range. This takes one point of power of the three you allocated for the first turn of arming of a TRH. If he does not fight your tractor at all, at the end of the turn the remaining two points are lost. If he does fight your tractor you can use the other two points, plus any reserve power you care to add to the tractor attempt within the rules on Andromedan tractors, i.e., you cannot use more power than is absolutely required to achieve and maintain the tractor link.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Sunday, July 09, 2000 - 06:08 pm:


(E11.25) CLARIFICATION: "An undercharged PPD can be brought to greater strength with reserve power OR BY HOLDING IT FOR AN ADDITIONAL TURN AND ALLOCATING MORE ENERGY. Since adding four points of power on a turn results in it being overloaded, you can add two points of power on the third turn of arming giving you three pulses. You will not be able to get the fourth pulse until the fourth turn of arming since even adding reserve power to try get the fourth pulse during that turn would be adding four points of power on that turn. Note that "holding energy" is separate from "arming energy" and is not included in any of the above.

(E55.0) CLARIFICATION: Hyperdrones are considered to be the same size as drones for all targeting purposes.

(E55.23) CORRECTION: The final line in this rule is in error as only one magazine of a given launcher can be reloaded at a time.

(E55.311) CLARIFICATION: Hyperdrone Step: Allocate hyperdrone fire (E55.311) and defensive actions (E55.33), possibly including multiple shots by aegis-controlled weapons (D13.0). Mark damage caused by hyperdrones.

(E55.315) CLARIFICATION: Hyperdrones are not penalized when firing against drones.

(E55.323) CORRECTION: Word ?impulse? should be ?turn?.

(E55.326) CLARIFICATION: The retention of targeting to a unit which docks to a larger unit is an exception to (C13.943).

(E55.33) CLARIFICATION: An ADD hit on a hyperdrone destroys it as any other drone.

(E55.33) CLARIFICATION: An Anti-Fighter Drone System can fire against a Hyperdrone in ADD mode.

(E55.331) CLARIFICATION: During each of a hyperdrone?s two turns of movement it may be fired on by the target one time each.

(E55.332) CLARIFICATION: Hyperdrone launchers cannot launch any faster if controlled by aegis, but a ship with two or more launchers in arc could launch a second (or third or fourth) hyperdrone at a target missed by a hyperdrone in the first (or second or third) aegis step.


(E55.337) CORRECTION: Word ?impulse? should be ?turn?.

(E55.432) CORRECTION: Word ?impulse? should be ?turn?.

(E55.441) CORRECTION: Word ?impulse? should be ?turn?.

(E55.461) CLARIFICATION: Fighter chaff will prevent a hyperdrone from hitting the fighter if is dropped after a hyperdrone has been launched at the fighter from more than 20 hexes range, assuming the chaff roll is effective.

(E55.471) CORRECTION: Word ?impulse? should be ?turn?.

(E55.482) CORRECTION: Word ?impulse? should be ?turn?.

(E97.31) CHANGE: Arming the Ion Cannon takes two points of power (on each of two turns); one must be warp or impulse, the other can be from any source.

(E97.51) CHANGE: Overloading the Ion Cannon takes three points of power (on each of two turns); two points each turn must be from warp or impulse, the third can be from any source.

(F2.132) RESCINSCION: The last sentence of this rule "An HET may not be made if it is not necessary to enable the seeking weapon to track its target under (F2.2)" is rescinded.

(F2.24) CLARIFICATION: If a SEEKING WEAPON" (i.e., a suicide shuttle) and ITS TARGET (i.e, a wild weasel) are MOVING ON THE SAME IMPULSE, the SEEKING WEAPON HOMES ON THE HEX THE TARGET IS ENTERING, i.e., the wild weasel shuttle would move first, then suicide shuttle(s) targeted on it would move on a given impulse where both shuttles are called on to move.

(F2.5) CLARIFICATION: The situation vis-a-vis seeking shuttles (or any seeking weapons) is judged from when they move in the order-of-precedence. If at that point a ship is already IN the hex of a seeking weapon targeted on it, that seeking weapon impacts and any seeking weapon outside the hex targeted on that seeking weapon loses tracking and goes inert.

(FP1.14) CLARIFICATION: If a unit does not discharge a held or arming multi-turn weapon at the end of a turn, it has the option to do so during energy allocation of the subsequent turn. However, if the weapon is discharged during the energy allocation phase by not paying the required holding energy or the required additional charging energy, the weapon cannot begin arming in that same energy allocation phase. It could, however, begin arming as early as Impulse #1 (or as late as Impulse #32, or any impulse in-between) with reserve power. This is not as obscure as it might seem since a plasma ship might have allocated for a plasma-F torpedo in a larger tube, and realize that it does not need (or want) the plasma-F during energy allocation of the following turn. However, if the weapon was not discharged at the end of the previous turn, it cannot be charged during the energy allocation of the current turn.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Sunday, July 09, 2000 - 06:09 pm:


(FP1.96) CLARIFICATION: If you upgrade a held torpedo to a larger torpedo with reserve power, you do not have to pay the cost to hold the larger torpedo as part of the upgrade during the turn the reserve power is applied. The holding energy must be paid for the larger torpedo if it is to be held after the next energy allocation phase, or if the torpedo is upgraded during an energy allocation phase, whether the power was generated by the ships power producing systems or drawn from its batteries.

(FP5.31) CLARIFICATION: In regards to EPTs impacting a ship. A 22 point EPT would be divided by 6 (the number of shield facings, it would be divided by two if the target were an Andromedan, for example). The rule says any fractions are rounded down (but not lost), so each shield facing takes three points of damage, accounting for 18 damage points of the 22 point warhead. At that point, the DEFENDING player must allocate the four remaining points, no more than one point per shield facing, to any four shields of his choice, he can allocate the damage to a down shield (a point of it), or to multiple down shields (within the limits of the number of down shields and the number of points). Or he could allocate the points to shields which still have some boxes, or to some of both. It is possible that he will be forced to allocate a point to a down shield simply because there are more points than he has shields that are not down. Once the damage has been figured out, any penetrating hits are rolled normally on the DAC as one volley, except that the defending player has the option of scoring phaser damage points on any phaser that could have fired through a shield through which a damage point was scored. Note, the phaser must be able to fire through a shield that an internal damage point was scored, not a shield that was merely destroyed by the damage with no penetration.


(G7.9433) CLARIFICATION: If a tractored unit is rotated (G7.7), any seeking weapons in "the tunnel" rotate with it. This would affect a weapon still in the hex of the launching unit. A weapon in a hex between the two ships would not be moved as it would still be in between them.

(G10.592) CLARIFICATION: If a ship moving speed 12 or more strikes a web of strength 12, the ship will take no damage, but will roll for breakdown as a result of the impact. If the web is stronger than 12, and the ship is moving faster than speed 12, it will take one point of damage for each point of speed lost to the web above 12 in addition to rolling for breakdown. Thus if a speed 22 ship hit a strength 15 web the ship would roll for breakdown and take three points of damage. If the web was strength 22 and the ship were moving speed 15, the ship would also take only three points of damage and roll for breakdown.

(G10.71) CLARIFICATION: The rule says it is legal to maintain a tractor between two ADJACENT units, even if both are in hexes of the same web, or one is outside a web hex and one is inside. Therefore, even if ship A pushes ship B through a web hex, entering a web hex itself, the tractor link will never be broken so long as the two ships remain adjacent.

(G10.74) CLARIFICATION: What the rule is telling you is that Andromedans cannot waltz up to a web and drain power out of it. This is the crux, the draining of power. Damage, while expressed as power points in what is absorbed by a panel is not power per se. When an Andromedan hits a web it is caught. It has to roll for breakdown as a result of the impact at its speed as per (G10.591). It then absorbs damage on (or through) its facing PA panels (it might, after all, have been moving in reverse) as per (G10.592). This damage might be wholly absorbed by the facing panels (if they had the capacity), or only partially absorbed (if they did not have the capacity to absorb all of it). Any of the damage that could not be absorbed for whatever reason (panels could not hold it all due to previous power absorption, degradation, not being on, etc.) would penetrate as internal damage. It is possible that damage from a web collision could result in a "leak" point as any non-disruptor damage, i.e., the amount of damage resulting from the collision with the web results in an amount of damage equal to three points per box of the panel bank and the bank must be reinforced to hold the damage (D10.331).

(G13.32) CLARIFICATION: There is no exclusion for Range 0. You double the actual range (for the loss of lock-on), and add 5. Effective range is 5. Note that this is the same way you'd perform the "doubling" if you failed your lock-on roll for any other reason.

(G13.37) CORRECTION: Reference to (G13.34) for seeking weapons should have been (G13.35).

(G15.29) CORRECTION: This rule should have noted that the Orions will have to track power generated by systems repaired as AWRs or APRs separately from warp engine and impulse engine power since they will no longer produce "movement" energy.

(G23.513) CHANGE: Delete the second half of the third sentence (i.e., "unless the ....as the other ship") and just use (D3.4) in every case to resolve the question. That produces a result without any valid challenge, as (D3.4) always resolves the fire line.

(G23.52) CLARIFICATION: You divide the damage of everything that hits at the same time; it says so. The move-one-at-a-time-thing is to resolve shield facings. I don't believe anything Petrick or I have ever said defined, implied, stated, or imputed that the first thing to hit took all of the damage.

(G23.562) ADDITION: An ESG hex might slide into your hex and this will cause damage just as if the non-Lyran ship did the sliding.

(G23.573) CLARIFICATION: This rule covers one ship moving toward and the other moving parallel, which is basically the same thing as (G23.562) (you get hit if you are still in a hex of the same ESG). The rules already provide that if both ships are moving you move one of them and resolve the shield impact (unless the second move would mean no impact).

(G23.5731) CLARIFICATION: This rule and its kindred talk about tractors, which is untidy as (G23.573) did not mention tractors.


(G92.2) CHANGE: This rule from Module P6 is unchanged; the Ion Pulse Generator still requires impulse power to work.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Sunday, July 09, 2000 - 06:09 pm:


(J1.343) CORRECTION: The reference to (J3.33) should have been to (J4.33).

(J1.86) CLARIFICATION: If a unmanned shuttle is recovered, certain operations must be performed to prepare it for normal use. If it is a friendly shuttle, it takes 32 impulses (one deck crew action) to service the shuttle so its weapons can be used. See (FD7.215), (FD7.4152), and (J1.861) for SPs, (J1.865) for WWs and SSs. After the deck crew action, a SP could be re-used, or its drones offloaded. A former WW or SS would be back to a standard admin shuttle and would need to be re-energized. Note that under (FD7.215) and (FD7.4152) only a single deck crew can work on the SP systems. Other than that stricture up to two deck crews can work on a single shuttle so that in most cases (removing or reinitializing the SP systems being the exception) that 32 impulses can be completed in only 16.

(J3.112) CLARIFICATION: If a ship reactivates its fire control during the explosion period, and then deactivates its fire conrol before the explosion period ends, the weasel is not voided.

(J3.201) CLARIFICATION: "All seeking weapons launched with that ship (the one that launched the WW) as a target while an undestroyed and unvoided WW is on the map will not accept the ship as a target, but instead follow the WW. There is also an EW benefit; see (J3.23). A destroyed but unvoided WW will continue to attract newly launched weapons for some time; see (J3.211)." The upshot is that if an F5 is in 2201, a War Eagle is in 2205 facing A, and an unvoided WW launched by the F5 is in hex 2219, the War Eagle can launch its plasma R at the F5, but once launched the plasma R will begin tracking the wild weasel. It can either use its one HET, or it can turn by the normal rules [saving its HET for when the weasel is destroyed and it wants to switch back to the F5, assuming the weasel is going to be destroyed (or voided) by something else] to take up its pursuit. NOTE SPECIFICALLY that this would also apply to drones (whether they have ATG or not), suicide shuttles, and any other seeking weapon that would be attracted by a WW.

(J3.17) CLARIFICATION: This rule is simply stating that the WW receives the small target modifier INSTEAD of the 6 points of ECM rather than in addition to them. It is the small target RANGE modifier.... If you are within 11 hexes range it does not matter. If at greater range then the modifier increases to a maximum of four ECM.

(J3.41) CLARIFICATION: Launching a seeking shuttle (even a ballistic one) WILL void a weasel launched by the same unit at the same point.

(M2.63) CLARIFICATION: T-bombs laid during a scenario do not include mine identification numbers as do mines laid in minefields.

(S2.41-B) CLARIFICATION: Crippled status is based on the number of destroyed "interior boxes". Landing the shuttle in a destroyed bay (J1.661) does not repair an interior box (the SSD will still show a destroyed shuttle box), it does allow that box to "absorb another point internal damage

ANNEX #2: STATEMENT: You can launch a suicide shuttle at a drone launched by your opponent on the same impulse because shuttle launch follows drone launch in the Sequence of Play. If this happened in the same hex, then by definition the suicide shuttle would be between the ship and the drone and would intercept the drone, even if the drone was speed 32.

ERRATA TO MODULE T-2000
On page #4, Drone rule #7, the ADDs are prohibited from having Type-IV drones. Well, they can?t have Type-VI either.
The Frax TC does indeed have 14 boarding parties.
On the Orion TC, Mount C should have L+RF or LS arcs, depending on the weapons.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, July 22, 2000 - 05:10 pm:


(E11.25) CLARIFICATION: THIS HAS BEEN REVISED IN AN EFFORT TO MAKE IT CLEARER: "An undercharged PPD can be brought to greater strength with reserve power OR BY HOLDING IT FOR AN ADDITIONAL TURN AND ALLOCATING MORE ENERGY. Since adding more than four points of power on a turn results in the PPD being overloaded, you can add two (or four) points of power on the third turn of arming giving you three (or four) pulses. You will not be able to get the fourth pulse on the second turn of arming until the third turn of arming since even adding reserve power to try get the fourth pulse during that turn would be adding more than four points of power on that turn, i.e., two points allocated on the first turn of arming, two points allocated on the second turn of arming, no more than two more points could be added by reserve power during the second turn of arming without resulting in the weapon being considered overloaded even though it would only have three pulses. Note that "holding energy" is separate from "arming energy" and is not included in any of the above. This means that an underloaded PPD that was armed with two points on Turn #1 and two points on Turn #2 could receive four points of reserve energy on Turn #3, resulting in a standard four pulse PPD, as the two points of energy used to hold the underloaded PPD on Turn #3 do not count.

(FP1.96) CLARIFICATION: If you upgrade a held torpedo to a larger torpedo with reserve power, you do not have to pay the cost to hold the larger torpedo as part of the upgrade during the turn the reserve power is applied. THE FOLLOWING PART OF THIS REVIOUSLY POSTED LINE ITEM IS IN ERROR, SPP CHECKED THE RULE BECAUSE HE REMEMBERED THAT THE TORPEDO COULD NOT BE HELD ON SUBSEQUENT TURNS, BUT COULD NOT FIND WHAT HE REMEMBERED. IT WAS THEN POINTED OUT THAT THE RULE SAYING THE TORPEDO COULD NOT BE HELD WAS IN (PF1.961) (AND SPP CANNOT FIGURE OUT HOW HE MISSED THE SECOND SENTENCE OF THAT RULE). SPP APOLOGISES FOR THE CONFUSION: The holding energy must be paid for the larger torpedo if it is to be held after the next energy allocation phase, or if the torpedo is upgraded during an energy allocation phase, whether the power was generated by the ships power producing systems or drawn from its batteries.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Saturday, July 22, 2000 - 05:12 pm:


(G18.512) CLARIFICATION: If an Andromedan ship attempts self-displacement while held in a tractor beam, and the displacement attempt fails resulting in the ship still being in the hex it attempted to displace from, the tractor link is still broken as the Andromedan ship DID displace, albeit perhaps no more than a few meters.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Monday, August 21, 2000 - 03:27 pm:


(G7.54) Note that shuttles are death-dragged (G7.54) as a result of the "effective speed". This means that, under (C2.45) even if two ships tractored together are moving in opposite directions or directly towards each other thereby seeming to cancel out some movement, a shuttle will still be death-dragged as a result of movement called for on a given impulse. The fact that the movements are cancelled out does not change the fact that effective speed is equal to the sum of the pseudo speeds as stated in (C2.45). COMMENT: This ruling was over-turned by SVC. If two ships tractored together are moving in such a way that their movement is cancelled out, then their effective speed is zero. Note that if one ship is moving faster than the other, the effective speed of the two would be greater than zero, but would still be the remainder after subtracting the lower pseudo speed of the slower unit from the higher pseudo speed of the faster unit. NOTE THAT THIS ONLY APPLIES FOR PURPOSES OF DETERMINING EFFECTIVE SPEED and does not impact other types of speed, i.e., the "Maneuver Rate" is not affected by this.

(J15.23) SVC has reviewed the Erratic Remotely Controlled Fighters thing and determined that they CAN, I say again, CAN use erratic maneuvers.

By Steve Petrick (Petrick) on Friday, January 08, 2010 - 07:38 pm: Edit

RULINGS ON DROGUES

(G34.174) Weapons fired by a drogue do not blind the special sensors of a ship towing that drogue.

(G34.33) The cost for replacing a shuttle with a decoy drogue should be 9 points as given in Annex #6 and Annex #6A per the errata in Captain’s Log #25.

(G34.313) Plasma-D drogues on a ship which has the Sabot Refit (FP11.11) must also be upgraded to use sabot torpedoes, the cost is one BPV point per plasma-D drogue. If the ship has the sabot refit, it must pay this cost for each plasma-D drogue just as it would have to pay the cost for each plasma-rack, plasma launch tube, or plasma-armed fighter ready rack.

(G34.352) Heavy Weapons drogues armed with plasma-F torpedoes on a ship which has the Sabot Refit (FP11.11) must also be upgraded to use sabot torpedoes, the cost is two BPV point per Heavy Weapons Drogue. If the ship has the sabot refit, it must pay this cost for each Heavy Weapons drogue just as it would have to pay the cost for each plasma-rack, plasma launch tube, or plasma-armed fighter ready rack.

By Jean Sexton (Jsexton) on Tuesday, December 31, 2013 - 03:54 pm: Edit

Steven Petrick wrote:

(G24.17) CLARIFICATION: Unless a published SSD says otherwise, any special sensor placed in an option mount, whether that of an Orion ship (G15.4), Jindarian ship (R16.1C11), Barbarian ship (R55.1), or any other optional box (e.g., heavy war destroyers) is destroyed on "torpedo" damage points. This also applies to the Magellanic Jumokian pirates (MR6.1D) and to option mounts in the Omega Octant.

(R1.PF7) DAMAGE: For purposes of (K5.2) the systems that replaced systems are damaged as the systems they replaced. Thus on a Federation workboat the phaser-3s are destroyed by "weapon C" hits, the cargo boxes are destroyed by "weapon A" (forward boxes) or "weapon B" (rear boxes) hits, transporter by "APR/AWR" hits, and the tractor by a "weapon A" hit. If a shuttle is docked it can be destroyed by a "weapon C hit." In cases where multiple systems can be destroyed by a given hit, is is the Workboat player's choice which is hit, e.g., he may choose to score the first "weapon C" on the tractor, the shuttle, or a cargo box in the front of the boat.