Federation Commander

[Kang]

A while ago, I asked a question about batteries in this thread:

http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=2490

(...and in fact my question really related to Andromedan batteries which hadn't been 'invented' then in FC) - but the idea was that once you got your pile of power tokens at the start of the turn, you kept them until used, no matter what happened to the generating/storage systems they came from.

Now we learn from (5V3a2) that Andromedan batteries lose the power they contain when they are destroyed. Why is this; why should an Andro ship lose its battery power (and I realise it's not always a bad thing!) when the battery is lost, whereas a Galactic ship does not?

And can a battery repaired in a given repair phase accept power from panels in that same repair phase (which is when power purging happens)?
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[Dan Ibekwe]

I'd assume the energy-loss on destruction thing is due to the Andros having to track energy use to individual batteries...otherwise every time a battery got it there would be frantic erasure and re-shulffling of tokens. It just makes matters quicker and easier.

The Andros are meant to be 'different', after all.
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We are Hydrans! NO ONE LIKES US!

[terryoc]

For Galactics, the battery thing is just an accounting trick. In SFB, where power is allocated at the beginning of the turn, you do lose power in a battery if it's hit before the battery is used. In FC, they just simplify things because of the pay-as-you-go system.

For Andromedans, you have to use all your engine power before tapping batteries, it's two "pools" of power rather than one, simpler to do it as a battery losing the power it contains if it gets hit.
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"Captain" Terry O'Carroll, fourteen papers published including six best of issue
"Man, Terry, you are like a loophole seeking missle!" - Mike West

[mjwest]

Terry and Dan covered it fine.

Basically, in that old discussion, I talked about how it could be done, and how I would do it. Obviously, it wasn't done that way. Andromedan batteries are just different.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[DirkSJ]

Batteries are tracked with individual boxes on andros. As Terry says it's an accounting trick for everyone else. You are assumed to use your battery first I guess.

Or perhaps batteries aren't really batteries, they are just energy recycling systems and the entire ship is one big battery. That would mode accurately align with how play works...sorta...

[Dan Ibekwe]

In a flash, the full horror of the Adromedan threat seared the marine's mind...
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We are Hydrans! NO ONE LIKES US!

[DirkSJ]

Is 1D4 a limit for Andros? It says at the end of turn count the number of batteries you have. You may save that much energy going into the next turn.

Lets say its the end of Turn 1 and the Andro has 8 batteries, all empty, and 10 power sitting around. Is it then correct that they may carry over from 0 to 8 power (their choice)?

[Scoutdad]

Andromedan batteries hold 5 points of power each. Those 8 batteries, if empty could hold an additional 40 points of power.
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Commander, Battlegroup Murfreesboro
Department Head, ACTASF

[DirkSJ]

[Bolo_MK_XL]

The problem lies in that Andromedans cannot use battery power till they have exhausted all other power sources ---

At that point batteries are used as power sources ---

In most cases other races will use the power in the batteries to reinforce shields, mitigate damage before damage is allocated (consider having battery power left at that point as a tactical mistake) ---

If Galactic Empires exhaust/use all power including batteries, the next turn batteries will be empty ---

In most cases Andros will not have engine etc power to recharge batteries, but they can get it through clearing shields --

For Andros, lots of things operate different, "In this instance" style rules ---

[Kang]

I think that the 'that's just the way things are' approach is in this instance the best one. They are supposed to be like really alien, I suppose....we can just say that 'that's how Andro batteries work'. Period.

So having systems work differently from the Galactic races is perfectly acceptable to me. I'm happy with that; thank you, gentlemen
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[Kang]

Another battery question. This does not arise with Galactic players, because they can only have one point per battery.

Can the Andromedan player move power between batteries, to redistribute where the actual power is? And, if so, when does this happen?

--

What difference does it make, some will ask? Well, the reason will become apparent if you take a look at my recent tactical submission in the Tactics forum:

http://www.starfleetgames.com/federation/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?p=37286
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[terryoc]

[Shinanygnz]

This might be a slightly dumb question (apologies if it is) and bear in mind I don't have the consolidated rulebook as there are <xzy> Attack modules to buy first...

Is there a rule anywhere in FC that movement energy has to come from generated warp power? I haven't managed to find one yet. Now it doesn't really matter for Galactic ships (hence there being no need for such a rule before to keep things nice and simple), but for Andros it might.

As an example, suppose your INT has 40 power in its batteries and needs/wants to clear these out (for whatever reason). The entity in charge decides to operate his engines at a reduced level (as per 5V3b). A quick bit of calculation later, he declares the engines (and does this mean warp, impulse and/or reactor?) are running at 12 points.
The INT then runs at base speed 24 (24 points), 7 power for the PA panels, 4 for 2x DisDev and 9 for 3x TRH. Total 44. As per 5V3a3, the 12 generated power is used first (it matters not for what, it seems), leaving 32 to come from batteries. 8 power is left in the batts.
During the turn, he does four accelerations to 24+1 (4 power) and in impulse 8 fires 4 phasers in to space as per 5V3c using 4 more power, all from the batteries. At the end of the turn he has no power in the batteries.
He could have generated 4 and not fired the phasers or accel-ed, but as all 8 phasers could have been fired in to space at the end, may as well keep the options open.
We'll assume he has a bit of stored "damage" in each panel bank, so at the end of the turn, 14 gets transferred to the batts ready for next turn when he's coming back at you (and having empty batts to pick up released energy might be the difference between who goes boom).
Edit: of course, emptying out the batts like this at the beginning of the turn also lets him play around with tactical PA bank activation/deactivation to empty them to the batts too.

This appears legal, barring a rule about movement requiring generated power. Is it?
Obviously, no-one wants to get in to the level of the SFB rules in FC and the example may be at the extreme end, but are the blighters supposed to be able to do this? Yes, I know their ships are different to ours, but "hey, no fair".

It kind of offends my sense of reality (as far as that goes in a game about warp powered spaceships) that he only generated 12 power (of which 8 could be imp/reac) and moved 28 hexes, essentially moving 16 hexes on battery power, or in fact all 28 of them if you sent the 12 generated power to TRs and DisDev.

Stephen

[OGOPTIMUS]

No such thing as stupid questions. Well, that's my opinion anyway.

Power is power in FC. So movement energy can come from any source (warp, impulse, reactor, batteries).

Andros have their own rules, like having to use all other power before using battery power.
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O.G. OPTIMUS


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