Federation Commander

My confusion is, how many times can a single ship fire ADD per turn at incoming drone waves?

Scenario 1:

My ship has 2 ADD. My assumption is I can fire at two incoming drone waves per turn in defensive fire. Rolling 1 D6 for each drone, on a 1 I lose 1 ADD (per wave).

Or do I have this wrong, and no matter how many ADD I have this weapon can only be fired once per turn?

Scenario 2:

With Fed combined racks, If I have Drone 4, I can fire at 4 incoming drone waves, or 1 drone wave and 3 offensively fired drones (or any combination that equals 4), any ones per incoming wave reduces me by 1 drone rack per defensive fire? Or can I only fire at one wave per turn defensively per turn and none offensively, which means all 4 fired that turn?

I understand regular drones firing defensively, 1 drone equals 1 AD on incoming drones that are destroyed.

When I played my first game, we understood the rules and the chatter on the forums to mean, If I have ADD 2, I roll d6 for number of incoming Drone AD, any 1's reduce me by 1 ADD. Because I sarted the turn as 2 ADD however, I can engage a second incoming wave rolling d6 for each incoming AD of drones.

But then gets more complicated with the Federation Combined racks, can they not be split between offensive and defensive fire? And if they can be, what is the argument against a second defensive fire when you have ADD 2.

lincolnlog wrote:My confusion is, how many times can a single ship fire ADD per turn at incoming drone waves?

Scenario 1:

My ship has 2 ADD. My assumption is I can fire at two incoming drone waves per turn in defensive fire. Rolling 1 D6 for each drone, on a 1 I lose 1 ADD (per wave).

Or do I have this wrong, and no matter how many ADD I have this weapon can only be fired once per turn?

No, you got it wrong.
As long as you have ADD left, you can fire at dornes.
For example: Your ship has ADD 2 and you have 6AD of drones coming in from a Kzinti DN. You roll 6 die. All drones in this wave are stopped, but if you roll any "1's" then you are reduced to Anti-Drone 1... no "1's", you're still at ADD2. Next Kzinti ship activates and fires 4 AD of drones at you. You roll 4d6 and all four incoming drones are stopped. Again, if you roll any "1's" then your anti-drone trait is reduced by 1. When it hits zero - it's gone. Unitlthen, you can continue to use it to defend against incoming drone waves. If you're lucky, it can stave off the entire Kzinti fleets drone launches in a single turn.
But remember, it was built by the lowest bidder, so you may lose it on the first defense opportunity as well.

Scenario 2:

With Fed combined racks, If I have Drone 4, I can fire at 4 incoming drone waves, or 1 drone wave and 3 offensively fired drones (or any combination that equals 4), any ones per incoming wave reduces me by 1 drone rack per defensive fire? Or can I only fire at one wave per turn defensively per turn and none offensively, which means all 4 fired that turn?

If you have 4AD of drones, you have the equivalent of anti-drone 4. You cna fire at as mnay incoming drone waves as your ADD launchers will last. As above, for each wave you roll a D6 for each incoming AD of drones. As long as you still have anti-drones, all incoming drones in that wave are stopped, but if roll any "1s" the anti-drone trait is reduced by 1. At 0, the drone rack has run dry and can not be used for the rest of the game.
Here's the magic of the Federation G-Rack of Never Ending Drones though. You never lose your offensive AD of drones and your anti-drone trait is based on the offensive AD at the start of the turn. That means that as long as your Kirov is not reduced to anti-drone 0 during the previous turn, you start the next turn with anti-drone 4 all over again.
Weird, huh?
So the new tactic with the Kirovs and the Fed DWD is to use the drone racks defensively until you're at anti-drone 1. Then use phasers and tractors (if possible) to save the anti-drones. Next turn, you've got the equivalent of anti-drone 4 again and it's lather, rinse, repeat.

I understand regular drones firing defensively, 1 drone equals 1 AD on incoming drones that are destroyed.

Correct - but you can not use them in both modes during the same turn.

When I played my first game, we understood the rules and the chatter on the forums to mean, If I have ADD 2, I roll d6 for number of incoming Drone AD, any 1's reduce me by 1 ADD. Because I sarted the turn as 2 ADD however, I can engage a second incoming wave rolling d6 for each incoming AD of drones.

See above.
You can defend against incoming drones for as long as you have ADD remaining.

But then gets more complicated with the Federation Combined racks, can they not be split between offensive and defensive fire? And if they can be, what is the argument against a second defensive fire when you have ADD 2.

No, they can not be split between the two modes. Just as in SFB or FEd Comm - you either fire a standard drone from the G-rack offensive, or you fire ADDs from it defensively. But not both.
Now it is true that in either SFB or Fed Comm, if you had 2 G-Racks you could use one offensively and one defensively. But ACTA is not SFB/FC (to quote another forum poster!). While you can split weapons fire among different target, you can;t split the same "system" among offensive and defensive fire.

Thanks, that helps.