ACTA: Campaign of Terror

[Mean Mutton]

A few questions on the Campaign of Terror as described in the Powers and Principalities book:

1) Does the defending (non-Raider) player get any RR for the strategic objectives he owns or does he just get the flat 10/15/20 RRs?
2) Do the Raiders still get their allied ships?
3) Do the Raiders have to pay for the Modules on their secret base, or are those already included in the cost?

The scenario looks like it would be a fun one so I'm excited to try it out. Thank you in advance!

 

[AdrianH]

1: Just the flat 10/15/20 points from central government. (The defender might get the bonus effects from those strategic targets, though.)

2: I would imagine so. Since Raiders get 1 FAP's worth of allied ships and they start the campaign with 1 Raid point, they could presumably start with only allied ships...

3: I don't think you pay for modules anyway. You pay for the core, then add your choice of modules up to the hardpoint limit. In this case the Raiders get their secret base, a Border station, for free, and can then add up to 12 hardpoints' worth of modules.

 

[Mean Mutton]

1: Just the flat 10/15/20 points from central government. (The defender might get the bonus effects from those strategic targets, though.)

2: I would imagine so. Since Raiders get 1 FAP's worth of allied ships and they start the campaign with 1 Raid point, they could presumably start with only allied ships...

3: I don't think you pay for modules anyway. You pay for the core, then add your choice of modules up to the hardpoint limit. In this case the Raiders get their secret base, a Border station, for free, and can then add up to 12 hardpoints' worth of modules.

The modules are free? WOW, we've been doing that wrong.

Thank you much!!!

 

[AdrianH]

I admit that I don't have much experience with stations, so I checked the rules again. I can't find any mention of costs for modules, with one exception which won't apply to a Campaign of Terror. If a station is captured, any modules which can't be used by the new owners are removed, leaving some free hardpoints to which new modules can be attached. These replacement modules cost RR points. However, if the Raiders' secret base falls then the game is over anyway!

 

[omega731]

This discussion has me interested in starting a Cot as well!

but reading P&P i noticed something.

doesn't a border station have only 9 Hardpoints or was there an FAQ i missed?

 

[Mean Mutton]

This discussion has me interested in starting a Cot as well!

but reading P&P i noticed something.

doesn't a border station have only 9 Hardpoints or was there an FAQ i missed?

Yes, it's a border station with 9 hardpoints. Although, there are special rules for outfitting the base with some extra abilities in the Campaign of Terror.

We're playing our first session tonight, Narn against Raiders. I'll update everyone how it goes.

 

[Mean Mutton]

One more CoT question -- if a Raider does capture an enemy ship, does it get refits added to it? If so, how many? Appropriate rules appear to be on page 39 and page 7 of Powers and Principalities. From my reading of these, it looks like the Raiders do get to keep them plus they get to put two customizations on them.

Also, what about civilian ships? Do you get to use civilian ships you capture?

 

[AdrianH]

The rules about customisation contradict themselves on the same page. Under "Allied League Ships" it says that allied League ships only get one customisation; a few paragraphs later, under "Custom Ships", it says that all ships including allies get two customisations. This was raised before on the forum, and if I remember correctly, the consensus was that allied ships should only get one customisation. Originally Raider ships were designed to be weaker than their equivalents at the same priority levels in other fleets, so the customisation rules made up for this by allowing a Raider player to enhance his ships. Allied ships are already balanced, so even giving them one customisation makes them obviously more powerful than the same ship in its own League fleet.

Under that logic, I would say that if a captured ship is allowed customisations at all then it only gets one. Alternatively, you normally only apply customisations when you first buy the ship; since the captured ship had none when it was first bought, it still has none and you use it as it is.

As for captured civilian ships, I would say that as with any other ship, if you board them and win the scenario then you get to keep them. If you really want to use one at a cost of 1 Patrol Point in a scenario, your opponent will probably not object - they are not all that wonderful in a fight.

 

[Mean Mutton]

The rules about customisation contradict themselves on the same page. Under "Allied League Ships" it says that allied League ships only get one customisation; a few paragraphs later, under "Custom Ships", it says that all ships including allies get two customisations. This was raised before on the forum, and if I remember correctly, the consensus was that allied ships should only get one customisation. Originally Raider ships were designed to be weaker than their equivalents at the same priority levels in other fleets, so the customisation rules made up for this by allowing a Raider player to enhance his ships. Allied ships are already balanced, so even giving them one customisation makes them obviously more powerful than the same ship in its own League fleet.

Under that logic, I would say that if a captured ship is allowed customisations at all then it only gets one. Alternatively, you normally only apply customisations when you first buy the ship; since the captured ship had none when it was first bought, it still has none and you use it as it is.

As for captured civilian ships, I would say that as with any other ship, if you board them and win the scenario then you get to keep them. If you really want to use one at a cost of 1 Patrol Point in a scenario, your opponent will probably not object - they are not all that wonderful in a fight.

In a Campaign of Terror, Raiders always get to use all the ships in their fleet. So, yeah, they're horrible fighters but they can still ram, can still initiative sink, and if you get a good roll on your CQ check then they can squadron together with your scout.

 

[AdrianH]

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that Raiders in Campaign of Terror are allowed to use everything they own. In that case you can indeed use the freighter as an init sink. It's not much use for anything else.

Good luck ramming something with a lumbering ship that has a base speed of 4. (One of my ambitions in B5:ACTA is one day to actually manage to ram something with an Explorer. :twisted Since it can't turn except at the end of its movement, a lumbering ship needs to be pointed right at its target before it moves, which means you probably want to declare boresight on the target during the previous turn - and then hope the other player doesn't figure out what you want to do and simply move out of the way.

I'm not sure why you need a CQ check to form squadron with a scout, or anything else - I thought you form a squadron just by declaring it when deploying the fleet? It also means you don't get to use the freighter as an init sink.

 

[Mean Mutton]

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that Raiders in Campaign of Terror are allowed to use everything they own. In that case you can indeed use the freighter as an init sink. It's not much use for anything else.

Good luck ramming something with a lumbering ship that has a base speed of 4. (One of my ambitions in B5:ACTA is one day to actually manage to ram something with an Explorer. :twisted Since it can't turn except at the end of its movement, a lumbering ship needs to be pointed right at its target before it moves, which means you probably want to declare boresight on the target during the previous turn - and then hope the other player doesn't figure out what you want to do and simply move out of the way.

I'm not sure why you need a CQ check to form squadron with a scout, or anything else - I thought you form a squadron just by declaring it when deploying the fleet? It also means you don't get to use the freighter as an init sink.

Good point regarding ramming. Not going to bother with that, then.

When you are in a squadron, every ship uses the CQ of the ship with the highest CQ. So, if you have a scout with a bad CQ (and as a Raider you get precious few scouts), you can squadron them with a ship with a good CQ so you get more successes on your scout rolls.

 

[AdrianH]

Good point regarding ramming. Not going to bother with that, then.

On the other hand, declare boresight with the freighter and tell your opponent why. If he reacts next turn, you get to enjoy the spectacle of his front-line warship running away from a poxy freighter. The amusement value of this alone may make it worth doing. :lol: