Federation Commander

We've just finished playing the scenario from Briefing #1, 'Who is the Mutineer?
Since this scenario involves using labs against real opponents [as opposed to monsters], several questions arose about when the information is actually gathered.

Firstly, when are 'probes fired for information' used? We played it as during the 'Other Functions' phase - it seemed like a 'logical' decision since it was an 'other' function not covered elsewhere.

Secondly, when are the lab points awarded for 'closest approach'? If the investigating ship reaches Range zero as it did in this case, should it receive the information points straight away, or does it have to wait until some other point in the impulse or turn, say the Other Functions phase or perhaps the end of turn phases? This was important as it influenced when the investigating ship would become cleared to fire - straight away, or later? We played it as that it got the info immediately, because he wasn't going to get any closer than zero hexes, no matter how long you wait.

Thirdly, although Labs have to have their 'target' designated at the start of the turn, can an [Information] Probe be fired at a different target than the Labs target, or do they all have to investigate the same thing - ie probes are only used in conjunction with a Lab effort.

Kang wrote:Firstly, when are 'probes fired for information' used? We played it as during the 'Other Functions' phase - it seemed like a 'logical' decision since it was an 'other' function not covered elsewhere.

Nope, it is the Direct Fire phase. Rule (1E2d) specifies this, though the RRB now includes a note in the Probe rules, too.

Secondly, when are the lab points awarded for 'closest approach'?

Rule (1E3b) specifies that lab information is gained during the Weapons Records phase during the End of Turn procedure.

Thirdly, although Labs have to have their 'target' designated at the start of the turn, can an [Information] Probe be fired at a different target than the Labs target, or do they all have to investigate the same thing - ie probes are only used in conjunction with a Lab effort.

A probe's target is designated at the moment of fire, and can be any target, irrespective of what the labs are investigating. Also, note that each lab box can have an independent target, if so desired. It is just that, for labs, this(ese) target(s) must be designated during Energy Allocation.

Excellent answers on all three points, Mike. I guess it's just a question of knowing where to look....

Thanks!

So the next time we played an information-gathering scenario, we had a ship which had four lab boxes. During the approach to the ship of interest, the investigating ship took damage, including damage to two lab boxes.

When calculating the information, we gave the two surviving lab boxes the correct points based on the point of closest approach; however, for the damaged boxes, we took the point of closest approach as being the point at which they were damaged and awarded points accordingly.

Was that correct, or does a lab box have to be 'active' [read: working, non-disabled] for the whole turn in order to be able to contribute its research?

You did it correctly. Disabled labs still provide information for the turn in which they were disabled.

Wait a sec...

That answer doesn't exactly answer the situation that was posed.

MJWest said the damaged labs still provide information for the turn in which they were damaged. Kang said that they allowed the labs to provide information based on their distance at the time they were damaged.

These could be two different things.

A more specific question would be: Do labs still provide information based on the point of their closest approach during a turn in which they are damaged? This would be regardless of when or where they were when they were damaged.

Sorry for not being clear.

Kang's procedure was correct. I then was trying to reinforce the general idea that labs still collect data in the turn they are disabled. I did not mean for that general concept to confuse the statement that Kang's procedure was correct.

Ok! Thanks for the clarification.