Federation Commander

[storeylf]

There are a few questions that came up during our starbase assault game today. kzinti Starbase, and attacking force (sensibly) came with an aegis ship, but that threw up a few inter-related questions.



If there are multiple ships just impacted, hence multi defensive fires to resolve, what is the order. Is the person with the drones the attacker and decides, or is the one shooting the attacker and decides. This isn't normally important, although order may affect some defensive fire decisions if you have already seen the result of another ships drone impacts. Where it gets a lot more important (although see next 2 quiestions, as they may render this question moot) is where aegis concerned - when ships can help each other it can be vital to get the order correct, especially if the aegis ship itself is a target - if it loses weapons to drones and they are out before getting to help other stuff.


Is all defensive fire amongst all impacted ships declared before being resolved in the same way direct fire is, or do I resolve one ship at a time fully, including weapon allocation and drone damage before moving to the next ship, again important where aegis is concerned. The answer to this obviously also impacts whether weapons are lost before being used. I can't see it all being declared up front as phasers need to see what ADDs did, and tractors what phasers did etc.

How does an aegis ship fit into the cylce of defensive fire when helping another ship. Do the impacted ship and aegis both separately go through the steps, or do they act together. ie. does one ship go ADD/Phaser/Tractor and then the other go ADD/Phaser/Tractor (on what is left), or do you resolve all ADDs from both the impacted and aegis ship, then all phasers from the 2 ships, and then the impacted ship can tractor?

[mjwest]

Well, ignoring aegis for a moment, defensive fire is resolved ship by ship. So, if three ships have impacted seeking weapons, each ship is handled in turn, irrespective of where those seeking weapons came from.

For aegis, I say that defensive fire is still resolved target ship by target ship. An aegis ship may then participate as if it was simply an extension of the target ship. This means that an aegis ship can participate in the defense on multiple ships, as those ships are handled. Obviously, this is limited by the aegis ship's own limitations (e.g. a Ph-3 or ADD can still only fire once per impulse).
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[storeylf]

Ok ta - but who determines order, the drone player or firing ships? Both are 'attacker' so to speak.

To clarify, based on your answer, if an aegis ship is resolved before other ships, then any weapons lost to drone damage are in fact unable to be used defending other ships, defensive fire isn't simultaneous in that regards.

[mjwest]

Well, since it has never mattered before, it has never been defined before.

In this case I say that the target ships get to choose their order. So, if I have three ships, all of which have drones that impacted this impulse, I get to choose the order of resolution, not the player who fired the drones.

Let's go through an example of what I am thinking: A Fed player has three ships: two frigates and one frigate escort. All three ships get hit by drones. The Fed player can then pick which order the ships will resolve their defensive fire. Let's assume the Fed player chooses to resolve the two frigates first, and the frigate escort third. We will assume the escort frigate is within aegis range of both frigates.

So, the first frigate gets to go through the defensive fire steps. At any of those steps, the escort frigate may fire weapons in its defense as if they were its own. Let's say the escort fires two of its three Ph-1s to help the first frigate deal with its drones.

Next, the second frigate gets to go through the defensive fire steps. Again, at any of those steps, the escort frigate may again fire. Let's say the escort fires two ADD shots (out of three racks) and the remaining Ph-1. The escort could not fire the first two Ph-1s, as they were used in the defense of the first ship.

Finally, the escort frigate gets to go through the defensive fire steps. In this case, no one else can help, as it is the escort. Also, since it has fired two of its three drones, and has fired all three Ph-1s, it cannot use them in its own defense. I sure hope its two Ph-Gs and remaining ADD round will handle its impacted drones!

The above seems to me to be the cleanest and easiest way to run through it. This should also keep other interactions to a minimum, too.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[storeylf]

Thats good, it is the way we ended up doing it - it was crucial at the point the suicide freighter was hit by 12 drones, and the escort was hit by 12 and the DN was hit by 11. The main issue was who choose the order, but lacking a clear rule I left my opponent choosing as he wanted, As the drone chucker I would have gone escort first for obvious reasons