Federation Commander Forum Index Federation Commander
A NEW fast paced board game of starship combat!
 
 FAQFAQ   SearchSearch   MemberlistMemberlist   UsergroupsUsergroups   RegisterRegister 
 ProfileProfile   Log in to check your private messagesLog in to check your private messages   Log inLog in 

Burn Through
Goto page Previous  1, 2
 
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Federation Commander Forum Index -> Rules Questions
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
TJolley
Lieutenant Commander


Joined: 25 Oct 2006
Posts: 284

PostPosted: Thu May 22, 2008 8:26 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Vladimyr wrote:
I've noticed that if you have a 10 point shield and also have armor remaining, then if you take 11 or 12 damage, don't reinforce, as the burn through ignores armor. If you let those minor points penetrate the shield, it damages the armor instead.

Is this correct?


Burn through only applies if the shield is not penetrated. In the scenario you described, the first 10 points would fry the shield, then the next point(s) would carve into the armor until it is gone, then you would take internals.

Now let's say you have a 15 point shield and take 10 points of damage. In that case you would take 9 shield damage points, and 1 burn through point. In that case, the armor is by passed, and you would roll on the Damage Chart and take your 1 point of damage.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail
Vladimyr
Ensign


Joined: 29 Nov 2006
Posts: 20

PostPosted: Thu May 22, 2008 9:51 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

But what happens when the shield is 10 points, and I reinforce it to absorb the extra damage?

In this case, the shield was not penetrated (as I reinforced it). This would mean that the burn through would penetrate armor and hit internal systems, no?

I thought that I should only reinforce the shield to one point below the damage caused, in order to ensure that the armor takes the hit, and not other internal systems (because in that case, there would be no burn through at all).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
junior
Captain


Joined: 08 May 2007
Posts: 803

PostPosted: Thu May 22, 2008 10:12 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

On the surface, you're probably right.

Taking a deeper look, though, you may be wrong. It depends on the circumstances (and at this point we move from Rules Questions to Tactics).

Burn through will only affect a single system on your ship. Depending on the Damage Control rating on your ship, you may be able to repair the damage at the end of the turn. If you're playing Squadron Scale, then your ship will have a Damage Control rating of at least 2, which guarantees that you can repair any yellow box. A Damage Control rating of 3 guarantees that you can repair a power hit before that hit actually affects your power (since you calculate available power after you repair damage). A Damage Control rating of 4 allows you to repair weapons - which means that if you either already fired the weapon that gets disabled then it's irrelevant.

Basically, if you haven't taken any internal damage and your opponent scores a single point of burn through damage and rolls a '3' on the Damage Chart, then who cares?

So depending on your Damage Control rating, that single point of burn through might be a non-issue. And it might be in your best interest to let it through instead of losing armor (which is much more difficult to repair).
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
mjwest
Commodore


Joined: 08 Oct 2006
Posts: 4069
Location: Dallas, Texas

PostPosted: Fri May 23, 2008 3:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Actually, in the case of a 10 point volley on a 10 point shield, I believe you will still have a shield box left and take a point of burn through.

But as to why use the battery power to keep the last shield box and bypass armor: so that you still have that last shield box. If you let the damage hit, and take it on the armor, you may be better off in that specific volley. But if you save that last shield box, you will save your ability to reinforce that shield in the next volley, which will likely save you a handful of internals in that volley.

But, as Junior points out, that starts to get us directly into tactics.

When the threshold of burn through is perfectly hit, you can get slightly wonky results. It is just how it works.
_________________

Federation Commander Answer Guy
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website
defurusu
Lieutenant JG


Joined: 20 Nov 2006
Posts: 85
Location: London, UK

PostPosted: Fri May 23, 2008 11:11 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

As I understand it, in the case of a 10-point volley on a 10-box shield there is no choice to make: there is 1 point of burn-through and a 1-box shield remaining, no matter what the target does. Of course the target could use Reinforcement, but the point of burn-through is not changed by this.

If the volley is a few points larger, a ship with Armour can choose to just let the Armour burn or (if it has the spare energy and enough Batteries) spend energy to reduce the damage to a single point of burn-through, which will always be on a system with a shorter time to Repair.

In an extreme example of this, a target receiving an 11-point volley on such a 10-point shield can choose to spend 1 point of energy which both preserves a shield box for the future (which is always more energy-efficient than repairing it in the future) and turns the 1 internal into burn-through. Sounds like a win-win to me, especially for a ship with a Dam Con rating of 4.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Post new topic   Reply to topic    Federation Commander Forum Index -> Rules Questions All times are GMT
Goto page Previous  1, 2
Page 2 of 2

 
Jump to:  
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group