Federation Commander

Jiraiya1969 · Lieutenant JG Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 90

(2D1) Tactical Maneuvering

The rules state that you may tac once per turn, and then says that it has to be at the end of the Fourth Movement sub-pulse. Is this any of the 8 impulses during the turn, or can you tac every impulse?

(2D2) HETs

If you spend the energy cost to execute an HET immediatley per 2D2a, what scenario could you find yourself in where you have to cancel and waste that energy?

The battleship stipulation references 2A2a and 2A2b. Should that not be 2D2a and 2D2b?

(2D3) Emergency Deceleration

Is the energy gained from (2D3b) in addition to any extra energy tokens you may wish to reinforce shields with?

terryoc · Captain Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1386

Any impulse for TACs.

What scenarios?? Huh? Well, since you declare your intention to HET before anyone moves, you might cancel if your opponent moves before you do and you want the option to HET based on what he does.

Yes, you can use the emer decel energy ONLY for reinforcement, but other energy can be used for reinforcement as normal if you wish to do so.
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Kang · Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 7:44 am Post subject:

Jiraiya1969 · Lieutenant JG Joined: 17 May 2007 Posts: 90

So you have to 'declare' your intent to HET? Don't remember reading that in the rule. I know you have to declare EMj do you have to declare other moves as well?

Can you HET multiple times in the same turn or even impulse?

Also, to clarify, you can tac only once per turn, during any impulse, or can you do it up to each impulse?

Thanks

Sar

terryoc · Captain Joined: 07 Oct 2006 Posts: 1386

Yes. HETs are declared (and paid for) at the beginning of the sub-pulse in which they are to be performed. Then the HET is performed when the ship would normally move according to the order of precedence. (Even if the ship does not normally move on that sub-pulse.) Just looked at the rulebook and it's not actually clear in the rules that this is how it works, but that's been the ruling.

HETs multiple times in a turn: yes I think so, but note the breakdown provisions. Each time after the first, a ship has a 50% chance of taking damage and stopping dead in space and facing a random direction!

Tactical maneuvers once per turn, second paragraph of (2D1). The reason it's this way is to prevent so-called "star castling" in which a ship stops to get lots of energy for weapons and shield reinforcement.
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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

Kang · Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 11:48 am Post subject:

If you really, really want to get your ship to turn in place in the same hex, there is a power-hungry method you can use.

All you need to do is to decelerate away every movement point; these do count for your Turn Mode hex count and eventually you will build up enough to turn one hex facing.

Better: if you are going Speed Zero, you can accelerate and then cancel each acceleration, thus turning in place more or less once per Impulse. This is not the same thing as a Tactical Maneuver.

But it is power-hungry, like I said, so you probably won't be doing it all that often Smile

If you really get hooked on performing this, you can always perform an emergency decel in the last Impulse of the turn, then you can perform a Tac maneuver for just the one energy point. In a frigate, of course, this may not be as power-effective as doing the accel/decel trick.
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mjwest

DirkSJ · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 08 Jun 2010 Posts: 239

Kang

mjwest · Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 8:27 pm Post subject:

The "Low Energy Turn" tactic does require Speed Zero. The reason is because the tactic depends on the turn mode of 1, which only happens at Speed Zero.

Yes, you can use deceleration rule to shorten the distance it takes to make a turn, but only Speed Zero lets you turn every impulse like that without moving. (Yes, there are exceptions both ways, but the general principle holds.)
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DirkSJ · Lieutenant Commander Joined: 08 Jun 2010 Posts: 239

Savedfromwhat · Commander Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 657

Mike · Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 9:30 pm Post subject:

Now wait a sec...

If a ship with a turn mode of 1 moves with a baseline speed of 8 and decels in each impulse, it can turn in place one hexside each impulse.

If a ship with a turn mode of 2 moves with a baseline speed of 16 and decels twice in each impulse, it can turn in place one hexside each impulse. Or if its turn mode is 3 (speed 16) and it accels and decels three times it can turn in place during an impulse.

Granted, that is grinding out a lot of energy just to turn and would not be a "low energy" turn, but it is still turning in place without moving out of a hex.
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Savedfromwhat · Commander Joined: 23 Aug 2007 Posts: 657

shooting a Phaser 1 and hitting for 4 points of damage and shooting a phaser 3 and hitting for 4 damage have the same effect, but not the same name.

mjwest · Posted: Wed Jul 21, 2010 9:51 pm Post subject:

I said there were exceptions each way. Ships with extremely good turn modes can turn each impulse at higher speeds. As such, they can accomplish the same effect as a "Low Energy Turn". But it isn't the "Low Energy Turn" tactic.

(The exception the other way is that there are some circumstances where you can't make the turn for one impulse [e.g. if you were Stopped before moving].)

[EDIT: It took me so long to respond that two others beat me to it. So, now it looks like I am piling on. Sorry about that.]
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