ACTA:SF Attack definition

[Stumonster]

Hi,

I was looking for some clarification of the word 'Attack' in the rules. (Sounds a bit odd but let me explain.)

For example, the rules for evading seeking weapons say that there is an opposed crew roll made by the ship trying to evade. If the roll is made, then 'the seeking weapon attack is ignored'.

Another rule is that as long as Klingon ships have a shield score of more than 0 then any 'attack' against the forward arc have the number of hits halved, round up.

So, where my question comes is here: Is the entire fire of a single ship against a target considered an 'attack', or is each weapon TYPE fired considered an attack, or each ATTACK DIE considered an attack?

Looking at the first example, if a Romulan ship fires 2 each of type S, F, and D plasma torpedoes at a target, does the target ship roll 1 all or nothing evasion roll, or would they have to evade each type separately, or each and every torpedo separately?

For the second example, say a Klingon ship is hit from the front arc by 3 photon torpedoes. Normally, that would be 12 points of damage. The shields on the Klingon ship are at 2 points. Would the 12 points be reduced to 6 then applied (2 shields 4 internal), or would the first 4 point torpedo be halved to 2 and take out the shields, then the two others would impact for 4 each (8 internal) since the shield is at zero from the first torpedo? Or, say 3 phasers and two photons hit. The three phasers take the shields to 0. Are the torpedoes not reduced by 1/2 because the shields are at 0, or are all of the hits from all weapons tallied, then halved, then applied?

You can see that the definition of what an 'attack' is could make a big difference in the outcome of these situations.

Thanks in advance for your clarification.

 

[scoutdad]

Each separate Plasma Torpedo would be a separate attack, so you would make an opposed roll for each one separately.

the rules for Klingon shields states, "So long as the shield score is above 0 ...the number of hits is halved...", so in this case, the entire Photon battery would be considered an attack. You would reduce the damage to 6, then deduct 2 as the shield boxes were destroyed , and finally roll on the attack table for the final 4 hits.

 

[Iain McGhee]

What he said

It's worth pointing out that each entry on the weapons chart for a ship is considered a separate weapon system in ACTA (important when applying critical hits or when limited to firing a single weapons system). You should be resolving the results of each type fired at a target separately in the order you declared before rolling attack dice. Damage, criticals and any other effects are applied immediately as you resolve each weapon type's fire (so in the OP's third example, if you fired Phasers first and reduced the target's shields to zero the Photon Torpedo volley's damage wouldn't be halved).

Also, note that attack dice that bypass the forward shields of Klingon-type ships do not have their damage halved.

 

[Stumonster]

Thanks, guys!