Federation Commander

A question arose in a game yesterday about exactly when shields and transporters are used. Here was the situation.

A Kzinti frigate dropped a shield and immediately did a Hit & Run Raid. So far, so good.

Two impulses later when the shield could be raised again, the Kzinti wanted to do another Hit & Run Raid. Here is where the question came about.

Both of these actions occur within the same step during the sequence of play (Other Functions). The way they are printed on the SoP card (shields, transporters, tractors), it seems as if whatever the shields are going to do, they have to do before any transporter operations take place within that SoP step.

We agreed that if the Kzinti wanted to conduct a Hit & Run Raid on the same impulse that his shield was capable of being raised, he would have to delay raising the shield until the next impulse.

Was this the correct way to play it?

Yes. Even though the separate actions take place in the same sub-step of the Other Functions phase, they take place in the sequence listed...
first comes shield operations...
then transporter operations...
then tractor beam operations...

I also would argue that the logic of a hit and run raid would require the shield to be down for the full phase.

The marines have to beam over, attack their target, beam back. To be able to drop shields and conduct a raid is barely believable to me. To drop shields, beam marines over, hit the target, beam marines back, and re-raise shields is a bit too much to ask.

Further 1E2e and 3C2 state that a dropped shield may be raised after two impulses, both the dropping and the raising take place in the "Other Functions phase"

I need to add this to my list of "Frequently Overlooked Rules". If I can just memorize that list my FC play will improve greatly.

You all got it right. Shields is before transporters, even though they are in the same phase.