Web caster question

[Kang]

Now, I don't mind if someone calls me pedantic on this one

Rule (4Q3a) in Tholian Attack says that: 'a four hex cast web may include two [sideslips]' - I am having difficulty in picturing this. Four are not enough hexes to show a correct two-sideslip pattern; you need five minimum. Or am I missing something?

[pinecone]

You'd have two on the first row and two on the second in a congo line pattern.

[Kang]

.....but that's only one sideslip....

[pinecone]

alright. but what about two no the Second row and two on the first?

Hex Hex (arrows representing sideslipps.)

[junior]

It may be that the rule is just in there to avoid obnoxious complaints from particularly argumentative rules lawyers. What looks like a four hex string with just one sideslip can arguably also be referred to as a four hex string with two sideslips. The question revolves around whether the first sideslip is in the second or third hex. You can change the orientation of the cast web by 60 degrees while putting web in the exact same number of hexes and it changes from one sideslip to two.

Pinecone - If you lay that arrangement out on the map, you'll see that in actuality there's only one sideslip. It sounds like two when you mentally run through where the web might be laid. But if you look at it you'll realize that there's only one sideslip... and the web is oriented 60 degrees differently than you thought it was.


It's hard to explain on paper (or forum), but it makes more sense if you lay it out on the map.

[pinecone]

Hex to is one and Hex to is two. I don't quite understand what your saying.

[junior]

Once again, lay it out on the map and then look at it from different angles.

The exact same web layout (i.e. web in the same four hexes) can have either one or two sideslips, depending on how the casting player declares it.

[mjwest]

junior is right.

Let's be specific. We have web counters in the following hexes (on a large-hex map): 33, 34, 44, 45.

If the casting ship is in, say, hex 47 facing A, then the web pattern has a single sideslip in the middle.

If the casting ship is in, say, hex 66 facing F, then the web pattern has two sideslips, one after the first web counter and the other before the last web counter.

In both cases, the web counters are in the exact same hexes.

[pinecone]

I see.

[mjwest]

Don't feel bad. I had to physically pull out the map panel and put down counters (or quarters, in my case) to see it.

That's why I could specify hex numbers.

[pinecone]

[Kang]

Also - thanks, everyone! I think Junior is right about the Rules Lawyers thing. Also the point-of-view argument makes sense too.

While on the subject of Web Casters, I note that [in Briefing #1] the chart has been declared as the correct version rather than the 4Q3a 'Each point of energy creates 10 "points" of web strength....' - how much of that paragraph 4Q3a is supposed to be ignored, please? I take it as the bits that contradict the chart....

[pinecone]

A thought just came up about the sideslip problem.

Who says a sideslip can't be backwards? Ships Can move in revrse you know.

[TJolley]

If you are moving in reverse at the time, I don't see anything prohibiting a 'reverse sideslip', but you can't do a backwards sideslip while moving forward, as the rules specifically prohibit combining forward and reverse movement in the same subpulse

[mjwest]

While on the subject of Web Casters, I note that [in Briefing #1] the chart has been declared as the correct version rather than the 4Q3a 'Each point of energy creates 10 "points" of web strength....' - how much of that paragraph 4Q3a is supposed to be ignored, please? I take it as the bits that contradict the chart....

Delete the first two sentences of that paragraph in (4Q3a). Note that this leaves half of the parenthetical comment, so you will need to delete the closing parenthesis. (The remaining sentence works just as it is.)

Oddly, even though the first two sentences are wrong, the examples in the rest of the paragraph are actually correct.