ACTA:SF Power-Drain SAs questions

[Nomad]

Insomnia, possibly overthinking stuff. A couple of questions occurred to me.

1) Power Drain gives you the option of using all available weapons but only moving 6". But a level one Impulse critical reduces your speed, and now you have to choose between only your Phasers or only one weapon system, the 6" move restriction can no longer be taken.

Say you choose a Power Drain SA (Overload Weapons!, for example) and move 6" preparing to kick out Phaser and Photon badness. Before your ship activates, an enemy hits you and you get an Impulse crit...can you still count the 6" move, or do you now have to choose between your Phasers and your (overloaded) Photons?

2) On most ships that carry them, Anti-Drones are a Trait, and may only be lost by running out of ammunition or when the ship becomes crippled.

However, on Federation ships, Anti-drones are a function of the ship's Drone racks.

So, if a Federation ship uses a Power Drain-causing SA and chooses to move 12" and fire only her Phasers, since her Drone racks cannot now fire, does that mean her Anti-drones stop working for that turn too?

3) Another thing. When do crits take effect? Is it after each weapon fires, or after each enemy ship's activation?

For example, a Klingon D7 is under fire from a Federation Frigate. The Frigate fires her Phasers first, rolling '6's to bypass the Klingon's shields and causing crits that deprive the Klingon of it's remaining shields.

Then the Frigate fires her Photons. Do the Klingon's shields go down before the Photons hit?

 

[MongooseMatt]

1. Count the 6" - you have already paid your dues, so to speak.

2. No Anti-Drone for the Fed ship, so be careful when choosing this option!

3. Counted _immediatly_ so yes, the shields will be down for the photon strike. The order you fire your weapons can be very important.

 

[billclo]

I have to wonder why drones cannot be fired, since they require no power to use, other than an active sensor (which is needed for any weapons fire).

Drones/ADD should always be able to fire, IMHO.

 

[Nomad]

Thanks, Matt!

Billclo - I can see your point, but I guess that's just the way this game works.

 

[katadder]

I have to wonder why drones cannot be fired, since they require no power to use, other than an active sensor (which is needed for any weapons fire).

Drones/ADD should always be able to fire, IMHO.

but then you also have drones that dont need to reload every 4 shots or whatever at a set energy cost so works in roundabouts. some stuff benefits drones, others dont.

 

[hdan]

That confused me too - the Fed writeup implies that you can run out of drones, but I don't see any ammo listing. What am I missing?

 

[Greg Smith]

If you roll a 1 when using the Anti-drone trait, it uses up ammo. Page 14.

 

[Rambler]

The Federation not being able to use thier Drones as a Anti Drone Trait seems a little harsh unless all races lose the ability to fire Anti Drones Racks while suffereing from Power drains. I can unders stand from a game mechanic point of view restricting the use of anti ship weapons but the differance between a Fed Drone Rack and a true Anti Drone rack is just a matter of size of the ammo.

hdan - Page 74 - Combined Drone Rack - It states that the Drone rack runs out of Ammo only if it is used as a Anti Drone trait and rolls a 1 but, once the Anti Drone runs out of ammo so does the Drone rack. This seems to be the only way a drone rack can runn out of ammo in the game.

 

[hdan]

Thanks guys. Maybe on my second read-through (while not under the influence of cold medicine) I'll notice more details like that.

But to msprange's clarifications:

1. Count the 6" - you have already paid your dues, so to speak.

Does that mean you can still take the 6" move option after receiving the crit?

 

[Sgt_G]

If you roll a 1 when using the Anti-drone trait, it uses up ammo. Page 14.

What?!? I can fire ONE shot and suddenly be out of ammo??? Now that makes no sense at all, no matter what game engine we're playing under!!!!

 

[Greg Smith]

Yep.

It is a fairly common game mechanic in systems where ammo isn't tracked.

 

[Nomad]

If you roll a 1 when using the Anti-drone trait, it uses up ammo. Page 14.

What?!? I can fire ONE shot and suddenly be out of ammo??? Now that makes no sense at all, no matter what game engine we're playing under!!!!

Ouch, the crunching of mental gears...

I had several moments just like that one when shifting from Babylon 5 Wars to ACTA:B5 back in '05. It can be disconcerting that systems you're familiar with in one game work very differently in another, and it's entirely natural to think "that's just wrong!".

I'd suggest giving it a try. ACTA is a 'big battle' ruleset, and individual ships don't have the durability or survivability they have in FC or SFB. The good news is that the same applies to the ships on the other side of the table.

It *does* take a bit of getting used to. My personal flagship won't be making an appearance in any ACTA game, simply because I know how hacked off I'd get when she blew up, and in ACTA there may be no way to prevent that happening (unlike, say, FC, where if things seriously go south you can generally leg it and live to fight another day).

Perhaps rationalise the ADD thing by saying that it's a powerful but unreliable system that's prone to breaking down at inopportune moments? (cf the SeaWolf missile system on HMS Broadsword failing and allowing Argentine aircraft to sink HMS Coventry in the Falklands war).

 

[Iain McGhee]

If you roll a 1 when using the Anti-drone trait, it uses up ammo. Page 14.

What?!? I can fire ONE shot and suddenly be out of ammo??? Now that makes no sense at all, no matter what game engine we're playing under!!!!

You're not really firing one shot, you're firing as many as it takes to bring down that incoming drone volley. You're guaranteed to shoot down every drone fired at you from one source, but it might empty the rack. Reasonable approximation of FC results IMO (for non-FC players: ADD has 4 or 8 missiles per rack and can reload but only has a 4 in 6 chance of hitting). You just have to be more picky about when you choose to use it.

Something I'm not entirely clear on: Do you only lose a maximum of 1 ADD no matter how many ones come up or do you lose a point of ADD for every roll of one made against a single attack ?

Also, can you elect to use less than your full ADD rating against a drone attack or is it all or nothing ?

 

[MongooseMatt]

What?!? I can fire ONE shot and suddenly be out of ammo??? Now that makes no sense at all, no matter what game engine we're playing under!!!!

You are assuming your ships arrive on the battlefield fresh from the factory. Who is to say they haven't already engaged in several battles already, without a chance to resupply?

Also, as someone else points out, you aren't just firing one anti-drone for every incoming target. When drones start swarming in, I don't think it unreasonable for a crew to keep their finger on the ADD button until all threats have been eliminated.

 

[Builder]

If you roll a 1 when using the Anti-drone trait, it uses up ammo. Page 14.

What?!? I can fire ONE shot and suddenly be out of ammo??? Now that makes no sense at all, no matter what game engine we're playing under!!!!

It is the same under a lot of game engines and it does streamline things nicely and avoids a lot of complicated rules for jamming, clearling and reloding. Which are fine in some games but not in a game that wants to be quick and streamlined so you can do fleet battles in reasonable amount of time.