All Stop and Pivot

[Harry Lonsdale]

So long as the ship used the All Stop! Special Action or otherwise did not move in its last turn...

Can you All Stop and Pivot on consecutive turns, or does the pivot itself count as moving for these purposes?

If a ship is reduced to speed 0 by some combination of crippling and critical hits it can still ASaP? We've never used this SA but I'd always figured that a ship at speed 0 couldn't do anything but hope someone wandered into arc (this may just be a 2e change that I'm not used to yet).

 

[Burger]

They all come under "otherwise did not move", so yes you can do it.

 

[Banichi]

If a ship is reduced to speed 0 by some combination of crippling and critical hits it can still ASaP? We've never used this SA but I'd always figured that a ship at speed 0 couldn't do anything but hope someone wandered into arc (this may just be a 2e change that I'm not used to yet).

I don't think a ship can be reduced to speed 0 any more, it was one of the changes made with 2e. Instead of speed 0, ships now drift 4 inches in the end phase automatically. The only way to come to a complete halt now is to use the all stop SA.

 

[H]

Almost correct, however a Ka'Bin'Tak for example, can be reduced to an appearance of speed zero with a -4 speed hit. This is a weakness on the speed 4 ships, heck the kaBinTak did need a weakness or two ;-)

 

[Banichi]

I can't find anything in the book to say an adrift ship can't all stop. It says on page 9 that if you have an active crew on board a ship that is running adrift you can select it in the movement phase to perform a SA. Does that mean that if you got 1-6 then a 6-3 critical you could still have a bit of control (slowy) over where your ship goes.

 

[Burger]

Also ships of speed 8 or less are reduced to speed 0 when they are crippled and suffer a -4 speed crit.

If someone playing me tried to All Stop or Come About with an adrift ship, they'd get a good slap with a piece of Wensleydale! I don't know if it's technically going against the letter of the rules or not, but it most certainly is extemely cheesey and not how the game is intended!!!

 

[Banichi]

I don't know if it's technically going against the letter of the rules or not, but it most certainly is extemely cheesey and not how the game is intended!!!

True, it has the feel of something omitted by accident. What would have been cool is if you could all stop when adrift, but only after passing a hard CC test. It would have the feel of a crew desparatly trying to stop their ship by using docking thrusters, or the like. Useful for those adrift ships heading towards planets, or asteroids. I had one game were one of my mates ships was drifting towards a planet, and all he could do to stop it crashing was open a jump point, and coast into it next turn.

 

[Iain McGhee]

I've had adrift ships that have had to open jump points to avoid drifting off the enemy's table edge before (my two biggest ships in the fleet in the same game ! ). I'd think that adrift ships couldn't perform any SA that needed engine power, otherwise you could even use full power to engines to add half again to your drift rate ! Even if they still had docking thrusters or somesuch I'd not expect them to have that much effect on, for example, a nearly 2km long Omega without main engines. Certainly not enough to stop it in it's tracks in a single turn.

I'd suggest that any ship that has to move in the End Phase couldn't use any form of manouvre SA whether adrift or not as they are supposed to be moved at half current speed in the compulsory movement phase rather than in the normal movement sequence (even although they can be activated normally to perform an SA).

Banichi, unless I've misread or missed something (not without precedent) ships don't move at speed 4 automatically, it's half current speed. Which would mean that a speed 4 ship with a fuel rupture (-4 speed) crit wouldn't move at all rather than drift. If you know better point me at the page where it says otherwise please

 

[Greg Smith]

I can't find anything in the book to say an adrift ship can't all stop.

Adrift is described as compulsory movement on page 12, "moved in a certain way with no choice on the part of the player."

 

[Ryueokami]

I can't find anything in the book to say an adrift ship can't all stop.

Adrift is described as compulsory movement on page 12, "moved in a certain way with no choice on the part of the player."

Not only that, but the all stop command, does only affect the movement in the "movement" phase (at least as far as I understand that command), so even if the special rule for adrift (above) wouldn't be in place, i would count the all stop command as a SA that does absolutely nothing for adrift ships (because the adrift movement isn't in the movement phase, but in the end phase!)

But I must say the second part of the thread question itself is also interesting for me: Could a ship that is adrift, turn? (with the appropriate SA).

Because for "that" I'm not sure if drifting counts as movement?
And also for the case that it's possible, does the turning then affect the direction of the drifting movement in any way?

 

[Banichi]

I'd suggest that any ship that has to move in the End Phase couldn't use any form of manouvre SA

This is probably the best rule of thumb to play by, it keeps things nice and simple. It is a pity this line wasn't included in the book, it would have made a gray area less so.

 

[Greg Smith]

I think 'no choice on the part of the player' makes it pretty clear that you cannot turn.

 

[Banichi]

True, but it also says a ship that is running adrift can be selected in the movement phase to perform a SA. But it gives no restrictions. Thats what I mean by saying the extra sentence would have been nice. I'm not saying I'd try it, as Burger said, it is a bit cheesy.

 

[tschuma]

What about a ship that is adrift that still has it's Jump Engines, could it open a Jump Point and drift into it?

We had this happen in a game and we allowed it since the Jump Engines were not affected and the Jump Point was placed within the distance it was going to drift.

 

[Burger]

What about a ship that is adrift that still has it's Jump Engines, could it open a Jump Point and drift into it?

Yes, nothing wrong with that. The enemy can even open a jump point in front of an adrift ship to force it off the table (another cheesy one!)

 

[Banichi]

What about a ship that is adrift that still has it's Jump Engines, could it open a Jump Point and drift into it?

Yes, nothing wrong with that. The enemy can even open a jump point in front of an adrift ship to force it off the table (another cheesy one!)

According to the fluff it would be a death sentence for the adrift ship. As with no engines it couldn't keep a lock on to any beakon and would drift away into hyperspace, lost forever. (Oh dear, that sounds a little melodramatic)

 

[LaranosTZ]

So legal, just not smart.

 

[Ripple]

Greg's quote above doesn't really deal with the idea of pivoting or other issues. It is simply telling you that the movement in question, ie that happening in the end phase, has no options. A bit like gravity well movement for lumbering ships that have made a turn.

That said most turns would be prohibited by not being able to move enough to get minimum distance.

Just being legalistic here... and without a rulebook handy...

Ripple

 

[Burger]

What about a ship that is adrift that still has it's Jump Engines, could it open a Jump Point and drift into it?

Yes, nothing wrong with that. The enemy can even open a jump point in front of an adrift ship to force it off the table (another cheesy one!)

According to the fluff it would be a death sentence for the adrift ship. As with no engines it couldn't keep a lock on to any beakon and would drift away into hyperspace, lost forever. (Oh dear, that sounds a little melodramatic)

Possibly... but possibly not. It depends how far they drift before fixing the engines, friends come to rescue them, etc.

In ACTA you can pretty much fix anything within a few game turns using All Hands On Deck. A few game turns is probably only a few minutes (based on the time taken to recharge jump engines... this is a few minutes in the show but more than 10 turns in game therefore each game turn is one minute max). So a ship drifting into hyperspace would drift for no more than a few minutes before fixing its engines.

Now that may be long enough for the hyperspace currents to drag it too far away from the beacons, or maybe not... I can't remember how long the Cortez was drifting for before getting lost but I think it was a pretty long time.

 

[Harry Lonsdale]

And even a hit to Vital Systems may be able to be repaired outside of combat, so if you drift into hyperspace with no damage control you may still be able to jury-rig something together to get out.