Federation Commander

The Briefing #1 Rules sticky thread says that, "(8B2b) If two non-allied players each score damage on a target ship, divide the points received for damaging, crippling, or destroying the ship (or forcing it to disengage) by the number of points of internal damage each player scored. Ignore any of these points which were subsequently repaired. However, if one player captures a ship, he gets all of the points for that capture, and the other player gets zero."

However there is a rules interpretation in Communique #26 that says, "In the case of a ship which disengaged without being crippled, divide the points equally between the two competing players."

Which is it, please?

Not that this is a statement of which rule is correct, but you would have thought that it would be the end result of the battle that counts for both allies. For example, if two allied players both want the same result such as the same enemy ship damaged/destroyed etc., then both allies would score the same amount of victory points regardless of who scored the most damage to the enemy ship, since in terms of the end result of the battle the consequences have the same effect for both allies. This doesn't factor in situations such as if one ally gets crippled but the other emerges unscathed, but then the victory conditions in FC generally do not account for things like this.

Obviously in the case of one ally capturing an enemy ship, the capturing race might well benefit more from this as they could potentially use the ship that they have captured in their own service - in this case an uneven spilt of victory points could make sense.

Anyone any idea on the answer to my original question, please?

Communique 26 was released before Briefing #1 was. It clearly states in that Communique that Briefing #1 will be released soon (and has a specific date).

Ergo, Briefing #1 takes precedence over Communique #26.

And there you have it. Touché...

Duh. Why didn't I think of that? Thanks, Junior!