Federation Commander

[Dragi]

Hi, I have three questions about anti-drone defense:

1) Is ADD disabled by a Drone hit in the Damage Allocation Chart? If yes, does it mean that "the last drone box" for the purposes of scoring a hit into the frame rather than to it is either a drone rack or an ADD?

2) When firing ADDs in the defensive phase, do you need to announce all firings before any dice are rolled, just as in the offensive phase? For example if there is one drone and I have two ADDs, can I fire both of them at it, and if so, do I need to announce this before rolling the dice, with the risk that one shot was wasted if the first one already hit? Or could I shoot one and only if it misses try the other?

3) When a drone is tractored, you can NOT shoot it with ADD in the defensive phase anymore. Can you still shoot it with ADD in the offensive phase?

I was trying to search the rules over and over but failed to find the answers.

[mjwest]

1) Yes, ADD boxes are destroyed by "drone" hits in Damage Allocation. Yes, the "last drone box" can be either one.

2) Even though that step isn't as clear as the phaser step, yes, you have to declare what you are firing (in that step), then roll to see if it is effective. Yes, that means you can fire two ADD shots at the same drone to increase your chances of successfully destroying it. Yes, if the first hits, the second is "wasted". (Technically, it isn't really wasted as the purpose was to increase your odds. Despite not being needed, it did succeed at increasing your odds.)

3) No. When fired defensively, ADDs may only be fired on drones that impacted that impulse. So, if it is tractored, it would have impacted on a different impulse. Impacted seeking weapons may only be fired upon defensively. A seeking weapon "in flight" may be fired on offensively, but once the seeking weapon impacts, it can only be fired upon by the impacted ship in the defensive fire phase. (4F5a) states that weapons can be fired on seeking weapons during the Offensive Fire Phase before they enter the hex of the target (i.e. impact the target).

There are two special cases to consider: 1) If an ESG is used offensively, it will hit drones wherever they are as long as they are in range. 2) Aegis fire control allows for targeting seeking weapons that have impacted other ships during defensive fire, which does allow targeting a tractored drone.
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Federation Commander Answer Guy

[Dragi]

Thank you for the quick and very clear answers!

I thought that despite other ships not being able to shoot drones tractored in a defensive phase, the tractoring ship could – but now I see that (4F5a) is very clear about that 👍