Federation Commander

Can Def Sats be set up round other static points besides planets? i.e. bases. This would make up to some extent the lack of mine fields in F.C and give a cheap up grade option for bases in a campaign.

Defense satelites have to be "in-play" at the beginning of the scenario. They cannot be installed during the scenario.

Would that interfere with your using as mines like your post mentions?

I cannot think of a reason not to put defsats around bases (if you pay for the point value) but then, I've been shown to be wrong before.

I wasn’t looking at installing them during a scenario but rather as a quick and cheep up graded to a base in a campaign situation, so it would not interfere with using them as a kind of directly player controlled captor mine. Also I was wondering how far out they can be placed? I take it is 2 hexes as with normal deployment round a planet.

I once thought that DefSats would work as a way to give bases their minefields without forcing the addition of minefields from SFB. Maybe a max of 3 for an BS, 5 for a BATS and 10 for a SB, non moving.

Do note that deploying DefSats around non-astronomical bodies is strictly forbidden in SFB. I would not be surprised to see that percolate down to Federation Commander.

mjwest wrote:Do note that deploying DefSats around non-astronomical bodies is strictly forbidden in SFB.

Mike can you remember the reason for this, was it background/scientific or a rules mechanic? If scientific what are the relative masses of a def sat and a base?

One reason for only allowing DefSats around planets or moons would be the gravity needed to keep them in orbit. Bases of any kind simply would not have enough mass to do that. A DefSat is more of a "put it and forget it" weapon as far as its position is concerned. It is a weapons platform with the necessary electronics and power generators to arm, launch/fire, and control whatever weapons it has.

Though, on second thought, some kind of positional stabilizers would seem to be required to fire phasers, photons, or disruptors. Perhaps those would be simply for aiming and not for stabilizing the position of the entire satellite in space.

If mines can stay in one place then defense sats can too.

But how many shots do mines get? Or do they just explode?

DefSats are much larger and need to target their weapons turn after turn.

Explosive mines in SFB go boom once; captor mines may have multiple shots, but not as many weapons as DefSats.

DefSats orbit around the planet, whereas mines cannot move (while I think the rules do allow minefields around planets, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me, because the planet is moving in its own orbit). Mines can be swept but DefSats cannot be tractored. And so on. So mines and DefSats are clearly different beasts.

I think DefSats should probably be limited to around planets in FC. Argument anti is that bases are pretty vulnerable in FC and this should beef them up. Also it may be creeping SFB-ism, which we want to avoid. Pro is that they're very cheap, and giving them effectively 360-degree arcs of fire without any blind spots makes them pretty darn good. And they're defense SATELLITES, not mines. They have to orbit something, and a base just doesn't have the mass.

I'm with Terry on this one.

Def Sats will comlicate FC, an undesirable goal. They weren't intended to protect anyting but a planet or other similarly large mass. Def Sats require detection rules (labs) as they use hidden placement.

Just provide escort class ships (or some type of attrition unit) for patrol and base protection. You don't need Def Sats.

Actually DefSats (with simplified rules) are already in FC; it's MINES I don't want. Given that DefSats are already here, I think they should be planets only. Like monitors.

I tend to think since Defence Satalites are already here and it is becoming easier and easier to crack bases (with nothing keeping ships out of Range 1-2 Overload Volleys). We might as well let Defence Stalites stand in for minefields and just get on with it. Otherwise we will sooner or later see simplified Mine and Mine Sweeper Rules and I think most people would be aginst that.

Just my 2 coppers worth.

rulesjd wrote:Def Sats will comlicate FC, an undesirable goal. They weren't intended to protect anyting but a planet or other similarly large mass. Def Sats require detection rules (labs) as they use hidden placement.

Actually there is no hidden deployment rules in FC. You know right where the DefSats are (they are already placed on the board) you just can't fire on them until they fire on you.

I hate to say this, but I agree. The verbiage is defense SATELITE, not defense platform.

So are we going to get defense platforms soon?