Federation Commander

Just been playing Juggernaut, from Klingon Attack, and have a few rules questions about the Juggernaut's defences.

1) When do you pay for the energy cost of the rotating shield - is it 1 or more points as required as the shield takes damage, or do you give it as many points as you want in Energy Allocation and that's your lot? Given FC's 'all reserve power' system, I'd assume the former, pay-as-you-go system, which was what we used.

2) The shield rotates towards any volley of 40 points of damage. a)i. Does it rotate before the damage hits the armor [and therefore absorb some or all the damage] or does it snap there after the damage has hit the armor? a)2. or does does it absorb damage from its old position and then snap there c) If more than one volley of 40 points arrive simultaneously from different directions, which one does it rotate to face? The biggest, or defender's choice?

3) Is the rotating shield subject to burnthrough, and if so, does the burnthrough avoid the armor layer as normal burnthrough does?

4) If the shield snaps to a new direction because of a 40+ - point damage volley, it 'stays there for the rest of the impulse' which means it can't be moved to another direction in the Other Functions phase. But because the shield can be moved only in the 'other functions' phase in the Impulse Procedure, this means that it cannot be moved back to cover the engines [or whatever] until after the direct fire phase of the next impulse. That's therefore more than one impulse it has to stay there. Am I correct in this interpretation?

5) We assume there is no burnthrough on the electrostatic armor as it's armor, not a shield. Is that right?

1) The rules say nothing about energy allocation. It is "pay as you go".

2-a) Before damage hits. The volley will hit the rotating shield.

2-b) Only the new position. The old position will take it on the armor.

2-c) Heh. I don't think the scenario author considered the possibility that it would suffer two 40+ point volleys. In this case, I will go with defender's choice.

3) It doesn't say. I am going to say no burn through. (Which is the easy out that doesn't require additional rulings.)

4) You caught on. Yes, the shield may only change during the Other Functions Phase, so by being locked for the rest of the impulse, it is prevented from moving until the Other Functions Phase of the following impulse. This does indeed allow for a "free" shot during the Direct Fire Phase that preceeds that Other Functions Phase.

5) No burn through.

Cool. Thanks Mike.

In view of the 'locked' shield position, it leads me to another Juggernaut question - there is no mention of the Juggernaut being allowed more than one HET bonus. We assumed last night that the Juggernaut is therefore subject to normal 50% breakdown rolls after its first, unlike some other 'machine' monsters. Are we correct?

That is my interpretation as well.

Further question on the rotationg shield; does the shield damage have to be repaired via the normal rules, or does the Juggernaught receive a fresh, shiny and complete energy shield every turn?

It's a fresh shield, at least if you play it according to the original CL#1 scenario.

but what did it mean when it said "each point of power in the sheild stops ten damage"?

pinecone wrote:but what did it mean when it said "each point of power in the sheild stops ten damage"?

Pretty much exactly what it says.

So, if you apply a single point of power to the rotating shield, it will stop 10 points of damage that turn. The other boxes on the shield are ignored and will not stop damage. If you apply 2 points of power, then it will stop 20 points of damage that turn. And so on until 10 points of power which will fully power the rotating shield and allow you to use all 100 boxes that turn.

Kang,

That's what I thought, but then I had another thought (wow - 2 in the same day ) that I might be allowing a bit of SFB-creep into my interpretation.

Oops, missed this one ...

Sneaky Scot wrote:Does the shield damage have to be repaired via the normal rules, or does the Juggernaught receive a fresh, shiny and complete energy shield every turn?

Kang is absolutely correct. It is a fresh, shiny new shield each turn (as long as it is powered).

Ohh, now I get it.

A fresh shield every turn is nasty! Well at least it requires power.

Yup.

The "full strength shield every turn" feature of the Juggernaut is why there's so much emphasis on getting the shield to rotate away. If it weren't for that, then it wouldn't be too difficult to just blow the shield down over a couple of turns (the Fed Cruiser alone can do 64 points of damage just with Photons) and then hammer away at the engines without the Juggernaut being able to do a thing about it.

The rule that specifies that all damage coming in from the #4 direction hits the engines is a real killer for the Juggernaut, and a real bonus for the Galactic players [for want of a better term]. One good hit through that rear arc and you don't have the power to get away and repair [even though the Juggernaut has an excellent repair capability], especially once they have smelled blood! So the Galactic players have essentially one real challenge [aside from avioding being hit by those phaser-4's] - co-ordinate their efforts sufficiently to hit him just that once with the shield turned away. For the Juggernaut player, it's even worth using your HET to get that rear arc turned away. In my game I failed to do that and got clobbered good and proper.

But that's really for a Tactics thread......