Federation Commander

Steve Cole wrote:(3G5a) FUNCTION: The Andromedan player might deactivate one bank of his power absorbers (perhaps to allow non-Andromedan transporters to work....

(3G7b) TRANSPORTERS: Transporters cannot penetrate power absorber panels, at least not on the way in. Andromedan ships can use their transporters to send boarding parties and satellite ships out, and can recover them without dropping panels.

What about hit and run, if they are physical boxes that are hit on drones, does that mean that unlike shields they can actually be the target of hit and run ( if you ever actually get the chance to transport over whilst a bank is deactivated).


Also just out of interest, given that battery power is critical to andros, does that mean you actually have to track it seperately, or like other ships is all power just 'power'.
ie. On a fictitious ship with 30 warp and 4 super batteries (50 max power), do I assume that if I currently have 30 power then I have 20 spare battery space even though 20 of that 30 power might just have been dumped from PAs into batteries? Or would I have a battery track that will now be full of 20 power after that dump and I therefore have no spare batteries?

I believe that, yes, you can target PA panel boxes with marine raids. However, transporters don't work through raised PA panels, the poor marines just get absorbed without adding any power to the panel (it's too small to matter). If the panels were dropped, then you could. Or of course if all the PA panels in that bank were disabled. But in that case, the Andro's in big trouble anyway. I believe you can hit a forward panel from the rear arc, just as you can hit any box on the ship from any arc.

The prototype ship cards that SVC posted on the other forum had special tracks for keeping track of battery power, similar to drone ammo tracks.

How much power is in an Andromedan ship's batteries at start? Galactics start with them full, which could be a problem for Andros. IIRC in SFB the Andro can choose how much power is in batteries at start. Edit: answered, thanks Gary.

Also, can TR beams be pre-loaded (4C2c) like other heavy weapons? If so, does this have any effect on the amount of power in the batteries?

Edit: Also am I correct in assuming that any power left over at the end of the turn MUST be saved in batteries, unlike a Galactic ship, which simply loses any excess that cannot be saved?

From earlier in the thread:

(5V3a4) An Andromedan ship may begin the scenario with any amount of power (up to the maximum allowed) in its batteries. Andromedan captains should gain some experience before assuming that full batteries is always the best idea.

(4s2a7) TR beams can be pre-armed at the start of the scenario with no effect on the amount of power in an Andromedan ship’s batteries.

I take it that Low/High Power settings for PAs has been eliminated and only operate at full power ----

I assume (1E3a) is still in effect for andros that you MAY transfer unused power at end of turn to battery but you don't have to? I suspect most andros won't.

I also suspect they will be paying to accelerate once and decelerate at least once every impulse. That's just pure waste power, +1/-1, and an improved turn mode because of it (since the decel counts for turn mode count). Since you are probably going 24 you probably didn't need that accelerate anyhow and you probably did need the better turn mode.

Did anyone in playtesting go into accel/decel waste mode? Did it end up being an issue?

Kang wrote:

Steve Cole wrote:Any unused HETs cost no power.

Could this be like the Stingers catch, where they could have declared HET at the start of every sub-pulse, where eventually we got the ruling that Stingers didn't have to declare the HET. Could this happen with the Andromedans too?

The rule could go the other direction as well to avoid this issue. They still have to declare, they still have to pay, but they MUST do the HET, no cancelling.

The new hex facing they choose for the HET can still be the direction they are currently moving...but they did a HET. That's their one free one for this fight.

storeylf wrote:What about hit and run, if they are physical boxes that are hit on drones, does that mean that unlike shields they can actually be the target of hit and run ( if you ever actually get the chance to transport over whilst a bank is deactivated).

Heh, we cross-posted on that one. Great minds....

DirkSJ wrote:The rule could go the other direction as well to avoid this issue. They still have to declare, they still have to pay, but they MUST do the HET, no cancelling.

The new hex facing they choose for the HET can still be the direction they are currently moving...but they did a HET. That's their one free one for this fight.

I just logged back on in order to post the same suggestion. That for whatever techno babble reasoning, but primarily just to keep the game streamlined, just say that Andros can't cancel a HET. If you allow them to cancel a HET you will start to get into extra rules for when they get the energy back, woud they pay for it, then cancel and then use it to decel, or would they not be able to decel with the energy they got back, or would they not even pay for it in the first place (which the person might not know at the time of declaration and payment)?

Smattering of answers:

- Yes, you can do a H&R raid against a PA panel. But the facing bank of PA panels must be down. You can't transport through PA panels, even if they are completely full.

- If an Andromedan cancels an HET, it uses no power. (Thank you for finding that loophole for us.)

- As can be seen on the demo ship cards that Steve posted a little while ago, batteries are indeed tracked separately.

- PA panels only operate at the equivalent of SFB's "reinforced" level.

- I see no problem with doing accel/decel "waste mode". It is a legitimate tactic with tactical implications for doing so.

storeylf wrote:

DirkSJ wrote:The rule could go the other direction as well to avoid this issue. They still have to declare, they still have to pay, but they MUST do the HET, no cancelling.

The new hex facing they choose for the HET can still be the direction they are currently moving...but they did a HET. That's their one free one for this fight.

I just logged back on in order to post the same suggestion. That for whatever techno babble reasoning, but primarily just to keep the game streamlined, just say that Andros can't cancel a HET. If you allow them to cancel a HET you will start to get into extra rules for when they get the energy back, woud they pay for it, then cancel and then use it to decel, or would they not be able to decel with the energy they got back, or would they not even pay for it in the first place?

That's exactly what I was worried about, yes. You pay when you announce. So under the current tweak the andro pays for the HET, then cancels...where does the energy return to? battery? Do you have to track where you took the energy from and put it back in the same place(s)? Does the energy come back before or after your move step? Since there is no down side do andros just announce every subpulse of ever impulse like stingers did before the stinger ruling?

It just seems simpler to attack it from the other side. Andros can't cancel HETs. They can choose not to actually change facing but they still paid and they still are considered to have done a HET and they could break down if it's not their first.

The power for a canceled HET returns to whence it came.

mjwest wrote:The power for a canceled HET returns to whence it came.

Are they getting a special "don't need to announce" exception like stingers then to improve game flow?

DirkSJ wrote:

mjwest wrote:The power for a canceled HET returns to whence it came.

Are they getting a special "don't need to announce" exception like stingers then to improve game flow?

For sanities sake I think you'd have to play like that even if the rule wasn't there. There would usually be no tactical reason not to declare and keep your options open given the lack of penalty, but the hassle of cnnstantly declaring HET and shuffling energy around woud slow things down to much.

What woud be the timing of the refund in terms of decels though. If energy is getting low it might be vital to know whether you would get the refund before or after having to pay for a decel. I imagine as turn is before move that the refund would be before decel?

Shouldn't Particle Cannons get the same rule (1 leak per 10 damage) as disrupters vs PAs? They have the same issues in delivering crunch power.

Incidentally, Orions can be devastating vs Andromedans if they choose 1 disrupter and lots of high damage weapons in their option mounts since you only need 1 disrupter to activate the enhanced leak rules...

mojo jojo wrote:Shouldn't Particle Cannons get the same rule (1 leak per 10 damage) as disrupters vs PAs? They have the same issues in delivering crunch power.

Well they are rarer, and they do get a double fire a turn, that might make it little more awkward deactivating or shifting power around when they have a short cycle time that can catch an andro out.

Not really rules related, but between a 'reliance' on shield crackers and boarding actions and low crunch PCs I can see Selts being the toughest race to play against Andros.

As written shield crackers would currently be ineffective. Or would they get a PA-cracker style amendment? (I'm not that bothered whether they do or don't, but I could see an argument to say whatever energy they use to knacker shields/web effects PA)