Federation Commander

[Kang]

In the rules for Defense Satellites, it gives the weapon choices for different races. I know that all DefSats have 2xphaser-2 and 2xphaser-3. My question is about the other weapons.

For example, the weapons for a Fed DefSat are given as phaser-2, drone, photon. Does that mean that those two undefined weapons boxes can contain two different weapons - say photon and drone, do they both have to be the same - both photons, for example.

And - and this is the most intriguing - can those boxes instead have two extra phaser-2's instead of heavy weapons? Is that what it means when it says 'phaser-2' with the other weapons, given that it does not say 'phaser-2, drone, photon, phaser-3'. So, a DefSat could be a phaser-boat if the owner wanted that?
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[mjwest]

Yes, the weapons boxes may be different.

Yes, the weapons boxes may contain Ph-2s, giving it a total of 4xPh-2 and 2xPh-3.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[Kang]

Thanks Mike.

While we're on the subject, I have another three DefSat questions. Guess who's playing with DefSats this evening....

1) Can DefSats use directed targeting?

2) (5L5b) says that DefSats can't be fired upon until they have fired earlier in the turn, or on a previous turn. My question is, if a given DefSat first fires its phasers in Impulse #3's Direct Fire phase, can an enemy fire seeking weapons at it in Impulse #3's Other Functions phase? I'd think they can, since the DF weapons fired 'earlier'.

3) (5L5a) says that '[Defsats] can function as a laboratory...'; how does this work? Does each one assume a single 'lab' box and calculate points from the point of closest approach?
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[mjwest]

1) Since (5L5a) says they are treated as "ships" (rather than fighters or shuttles), and since there is no rule prohibiting it, yes, DefSats may use directed targetting.

2) Sounds good to me. I don't know if it was necessarily intended that way, but, yes, you can launch weapons at a DefSat that just fired direct-fire weaponry. Note that if the DefSat only launched seeking weapons, then you would have to wait until the following impulse.

3) Yes. Treat the DefSat like it had a fully functional lab box. So, use the closest approach to that DefSat. Note that, since each DefSat is in a separate hex, this will likely cause several different ranges to be used to each one.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy