ACtA - Etiquette

[Kronos]

Hi All,

I've just started playing and I was wondering what is the etiquette? Do you have to announce special actions to your opponents or can you write it down and let them guess when hopefully it's too late?

 

[McKinstry]

Since some of the special actions require a crew quality check and you normally place a counter/chit/marker next to the ship indicating the action, I would say you announce what/if the special action is before each ship is moved.

That's the way we've always played it.

 

[Rambler]

Special Actions are declared and attempted before a unit moves. That part is in the rulebook. You only have to declare and attempt for the unit you are currently moving.

 

[Greg Smith]

There is nothing secret in ACTA.

 

[Kronos]

Thanks for clearing that up. I guess my sneaky Klingon fleet will have to find other ways to be sneaky

 

[gord314]

Since pre-measuring is specifically allowed our group allows people to move a ship say 6" to see what that looks like before deciding if they want to take a power drain, or even move 12" before deciding if they want to all power to engines or do something else. Though technically this is against the rules, it saves a lot of time messing around with empty bases to see where a ship would end up.

What's other people's opinions on this? How lenient are your gaming groups?

 

[AdrianH]

The main snag I can see is that, if you move the ship and then decide you want to do something different, you need to put it back exactly where it started or you risk accidentally giving yourself some extra movement or turning. (Or, for that matter, not being able to move the ship as far forward or turn as far in the direction you want - it's an honest mistake and could go either way.)

You have a lot of dice which aren't doing anything at least until the ship has moved and needs to make a CQ check for a special action. Use them to mark where you are thinking of moving the ship and leave the actual model where it is until you're ready to commit it to a move.

 

[billclo]

The main snag I can see is that, if you move the ship and then decide you want to do something different, you need to put it back exactly where it started or you risk accidentally giving yourself some extra movement or turning. (Or, for that matter, not being able to move the ship as far forward or turn as far in the direction you want - it's an honest mistake and could go either way.)

You have a lot of dice which aren't doing anything at least until the ship has moved and needs to make a CQ check for a special action. Use them to mark where you are thinking of moving the ship and leave the actual model where it is until you're ready to commit it to a move.

This is what I do.

Also, as part of etiquette, it's good practice to inform your opponent when you have centerlined a ship of his with one of yours. Same with setting up an attack on the border between Fore and Port/Starboard where both fire arcs can hit a target (known in SFB as an RX attack). We have little slips of laminated paper that we can write on who is centerlining/RX'ing what ship. Helps avoid disputes.

 

[McKinstry]

We also expect that any time you are centerlining a ship it gets announced at the end of the moving ships move and both ships get marked.

 

[Arch Lector Petrovski]

Ditto, it stops confusion or disagreement when you get round to the shoot phase and ensures that everyone knows what is going on. On a 'background' note, the pre-measuring is allowed because of the advanced sensors which would also warn you if you were not only in range but in a particularly dangerous arc, be it broadside or boresight (though that's more B5). As for the pre-moving thing I agree with AdrianH, some guys at the club I attended before moving would even mark out the ranges of enemy ship's weapons before they moved too close to try and avoid devestating long-ranged attacks. But yes, definitely don't move the piece first, unlike chess the direction being faced is as important as where the model was and with no neat little squares its original point might be difficult to regain.

 

[archon96]

when premeasuring i use a proxy base, this is so i dont touch the actual mini until im ready to move.

 

[Da Boss]

We play the same way - declaring boresights and often working out movement (and weapon arcs) with dice before moving the ship

 

[Spence]

when premeasuring i use a proxy base, this is so i dont touch the actual mini until im ready to move.

I like this.

I shall now shamelessly steal this idea for my games :mrgreen:

 

[archon96]

good on ya then. "Cry Havoc and slip loose the dogs of war, just dont move the ship until where sure which direction were going"