Federation Commander

Our Tholian player is asking the following question:

Can a player prepay for the Tholian pinwheel and use it in a subsequent turn? For example, the player chooses to prepay for it and then use it in Turn 3?

No.

To even form a pinwheel in the first place, it requires that three eligible and compatible ships have already arranged themselves in the proper configuration by the start of a turn. (I.e. they must end the prior turn in the proper configuration.) Then, during Energy Allocation three points of energy are spent to create the pinwheel. This power must be paid during Energy Allocation at the start of every turn in which the pinwheel is to be maintained. (Note that this three points of power is for the pinwheel as a whole. It can be paid by any ship in the pinwheel as long as that ship has a functioning web generator.)

There is no way to "save up" for the three points of power. The power must be present and available during Energy Allocation. This power may be either generated (from warp power, impulse power, or reactor power), from batteries, or from any combination of the two.

(Also, the "three points of power" is for squadron scale. In fleet scale it is one and a half points of power.)

Does that answer the question?

yes, sir.

Hi MJ,

What about this question:

I have to convert shuttles to web anchors cost 6 points. Want to know if I can pay the 6 points on turn one and then carry them until needed say turn turn 3 4 etc. says in rules shuttles converted to ancholrs cannot change back to a shuttle thus want to convert to anchor and carry them with me for future turn would save lots of

Well, (5M2j-1) specifically states that the shuttle must be launched with the power paid at the "time of launch". So, no, there is no way to pre-pay to convert a shuttle into a web anchor buoy. You must do it when you launch the shuttle to serve as such.

Also, it doesn't look like the conversion is irrevocable. Rule (5M2j-3) says it can be recovered (once the web goes away) and then reused as a web anchor buoy again, or "as a shuttle". While the rule does talk about the situation where the web anchor buoy was used with a web that has atrophied away, the same situation would presumably apply even if no web had ever been used.

Thanks, MJ. Makes sense as suicide shuttles are paid when launched.