Federation Commander

Has anyone run a scenario where web casters are used near a black hole? We did one on a whim, so we didn't really study all the implications, but it seems like a cool way to drag an enemy into the black hole.

I don't have the rules in front of me from SFB, but I thought firing weapons across a blackhole was impossible. I might be wrong on that.

You can't draw LOS through a black hole hex; fire through hexes near the hole have a (4A4) modifier to accuracy.

The interaction between black holes and webs are stated in (5G3h).

So, yes, if you can somehow get a web cast on the side of a ship (or ships) opposite to the black hole, the web could theoretically "sweep" the ship (or ships) into the black hole. In fact, even a relatively weak web could slow a ship down enough to doom it.

I imagine it would be incredibly difficult to set up, but if you do get it set up, it could be extremely nasty!

The ship casting the web and the ship struggling to get away from the black hole were on the same side of the black hole. There was no line of sight issue, and the web was cast at a range allowable by the rules. The tactic came up on a whim, and believe me it bogged the game down when we all opened up the rules

I admit I was going to poo-poo the chances of it working. And it is still a pretty specific trick. But, if the enemy is close to the black hole like that, and you can get the web into place within 15 hexes, then it should last long enough to sweep the ship into more trouble. And if the ship is struggling within 10 hexes, and you set the web at 11, you can pretty much kill the ship.

Write that sucker up as a Command Note!

send the command note to

Rules@StarFleetGames.com

BTW, it's pretty much a 99.99% chance of getting published in CL#50

Yeah, well I don't get the whole command note thing. I think I tried it once but there are too many computers in the world that can't talk to each other.
If someone else wants to do it, that's fine with me.

Please PM me your name and I will write it up and credit you. (Since your group are the ones who thought of it.)

Here's a first pass of the write-up:

If, for whatever reason, you happen to find yourself fighting in a ship that has a web caster while in the presence of a black hole, be on the lookout for the opportunity to use this nasty trick. If the opponent is too close to the black hole (ideally inside 10 hexes, but at least inside 12 or so), cast a long web on the opposite side of the ship as the black hole. Once it solidifies, it will be dragged into the black hole (6G3h) and will sweep up the enemy ship as it does so. The beauty of this is that, even with a low strength, it will still take too long for the enemy ship to punch through it before it all gets sucked into the black hole. If nothing else, it will occupy the enemy ship's attention for a few impulses, giving you a tactical advantage you can exploit. In a fleet situation, you could end up bagging more than one ship!
Granted there are some limitations to this. First, of course, you have to be fighting around a black hole, and have to have a ship with a web caster. Also, the enemy ship has to get close to the black hole, and no part of the web may be within 10 hexes of the black hole. Finally, you have to be on the correct side of the black hole, as you cannot fire a direct fire weapon through a black hole (6G3d). Despite these limitations, the look on the face of your opponent is probably worth pulling it off!

Just in case you guys are curious about this topic concerning SFC. There were many battles fought with Blackhole scenarios on the internet a few years back.

I know for a fact that SFC allowed firing across Blackhole hexes because a lot of people used the sidefiring Fed Photon CFS cruiser in just this kind of scenario. I even told people that it was not legal in SFB but most just ignored me.

There are no Tholian weapons in SFC so I never experienced the above example.