Federation Commander

Is the fighter launch / land rate for the BoM Federation CVS, Klingon D7V and Kzinti CVS still ONE LAUNCH OR LAND per impulse? Or do they have some sort of accelerated rate? I didn't see any explicit mention of rates so I was assuming the default rules (which means a full 1.5 turns to fully launch fighters).

Are the BPVs balanced to always start the scenario with fighters on the carrier (e.g. CL37 Ambush of the Yamato)?

Or can the scenario start with all fighters launched? Or would this make the ships unbalanced? (Especially in the case where only 1 side had fighters.)

I was also assuming that the Kzinti CVS was reusing the Klingon Z-Y specs for its fighters based upon the BPV and specs on the Kzinti SSD.

It is best to be sure to have the playtest fighter rules before trying this.

Rule (5QM1b) provides the launch rate for the Feds and Klingons. Since the Kzintis just use these rules, it applies to them, too. Basically, a carrier can launch four fighters (two in fleet scale) per impulse AND can land or launch one fighter or shuttle. So, the four/two fighter launch is a "launch bonus" above the standard shuttle launch rate.

The Kzinti fighters are identical to Klingon Z-Y fighters. Just use them.

Simply using fighters at all is likely unbalancing. How much so is what we would like playtest reports to tell us.

Thanks!

I must have been blind, I own a copy of CL#37 and I must have overlooked that rule several times. Thanks for pointing it out.

My regular opponent was keen to try a carrier strike with direct fire drones, we were planning it for next week so I might have some comments by then. At the time we planned the game I was going to play Andros (I've been trying them out a bit lately), but I might try something more standard to get a better feel.

One thing my opponent was wondering is whether the target of direct fire drones (fired from range 5+) can use his own seekers to take them down during defensive fire, as he would have been able to normally launch against them before being hit.

No. As it is "direct-fire" it needs to be stopped by direct fire weapons.

That said, this is a playtest rule. Give it a shot and let us know what happens both ways.