Having read through the rules for scouts there are a few things I am unclear on so I thought I'd whack them up here and see what is what.
If you counter jam on a friendly ship which has no stealth does it do anything? do they gain a 6+ stealth or do you have to have a stealth score to improve upon already?
It has been asked already but I will put it there as well how many times can a ship be counter jammed or illuminated? Once per turn or many times?
I see that you must declare what scout functions a scout is using before they move. When do you declare their targets of the functions? As several of them appear to be reaction to fire effects declaring targets at the start of the scouts move seems a little odd.
With the range limited functions, does the range count only for the declaration or for when the effect occours - normally the shooting phase. the target may be in range when the function is declared, then at the time shooting is done both ships could then be more than 36" apart as both will(scout) or may (target) still be yet to move that turn. Obviously an uncommon occourance, but it could happen!
The following is my thought on the tactics if you declare targets at the same time as functions.
Jamming an enemy ship - fine. Jamming a friendly they will probably pick another target. It does protect that ship in that it may not get shot, but will not help in that it will not reduce the effect of any actual hits against your fleet, just target choice.
Counter jamming vs other scouts- only works if the enemy scout has moved first otherwise there is nothing to counter jam. In a fleet where you have less ships then the enemy they can always move their scout last, but this may mean they don't leave their big shooty ship until last? Mexican stand off with scouts!
Counter jamming with friendly ships - romulans will love this. Keep a good scout back out of range, and counter jam all of your ships as they recloak, improving their stealth. cool!
Counter drone - the biggie! Do you keep this as an ace in the hole and whack it down to stop a shot when it happens, or do you pre counter a ship in the movement phase before it has shot? if you do then it will simply become a matter of course to stop the big ships from firing the most drones.
Drone control - presumably this only takes effect at the point you fire the scout and is directed against the scout that does the firing, not the target of the extra shot?
Reconnaissance - easy, does what it says on the tin!
Illumination - you would tend to use this on ships that had moved and not decloacked as a ship that has yet to move may decloak and lose the cloak effect completely anyway!
Geoff
