B5 ACTA Starter Set Questions

[GiorgioX]

Hello All,

I just bought the B5 ACTA starter set and I am getting ready to run my first game with some friends, and I have a few questions I could use help on:

1-When moving your ships the rules says you can not end your movement “on top” of another ship, but I didn’t find anything about moving ‘threw” a ship. Can one ship go ‘threw” the space occupied by another ship (be it friend or foe) as long as it clears the space completely? Considering that it’s a 3D space game on a 2D board I’d say yes, but I’d like to know the correct answer.

2- On page 8 it says “A roll of 1 on an Attack Dice is always a miss and a roll of 6 is always a hit, regardless of the targets Hull score.”, and on page 17 under weapon traits is says of the Weak trait: “Deduct 1 from the results of all Attack Dice rolled for this weapon”, does that mean if I roll a 6 on an attack die with a weak weapon it can hit a target with a hull 6 score?

For example if a Rongoth Destroyer fires its Twin Particle Array (Rng 8, Arc F, AD 8, Twin-Linked, Weak) at an Altarian Destroyer (Hull 6) and he hits it by rolling a six on one or more of his attack dice, will he have hit it (roll of 6 is an automatic hit) or not (6-1 for weak trait = 5 to hit, not enough to equal or beat the Hull 6 rating)?

3-On page 8 under Crew Threshold it says a ship with a skeleton crew receives a -2 penalty on all Damage Control checks, while on page 9 under Damage Control its says that on a roll of 5 or 6 one “previous turn critical hit” can be repaired. Combining both these rules together means that a ship with a skeleton crew can never repair a critical hit, as (6-2= 4 or 5-2= 3, min repair roll is a 5 or 6) they can never meet the minimum number to do a successful repair.

Why not just state that a ship with a Skeleton Crew can never conduct Damage Control? Is there something in the full rules that allows a situation that allows such a thing to happen (perhaps some bonus modifiers or technology)?

4-On which of the forums can I post my After Action Report from my first battles if I get a chance to write them?

5-If I buy the Revised Edition box set, do I also have to buy the Armageddon rules supplement to stay up to date on the rules, or is this optional? And will the material from this supplement be included in the 2nd Edition Rules when they come out next month?

Thanks in advance,
George

 

[LaranosTZ]

1. Aye, you can move a ship through another ship, you just cannot end with bases overlapping. The exception of this rule is fighter bases, as fighters have repetedly been classified not as ships. They may overlap ship bases for the purposes of defending, or attacking.

2. Weak as a trait has been ruled that it effectively increases the hull of a ship by 1. The phrasing in the base rulebook is flawed, weak weapons can hit a hull 6 ship on a 6.

3. Again, another phrasing problem with the rules. Damage Control checks are supposed to be a Crew Quality check with a target number of 9, normally in most circumstances this means you need a 5 or 6 in order to repair a critical, (since most games are played at CQ 4.) Since in campaigns you may have a CQ above 4, and ISA all have a CQ 5 base, the -2 multiplier comes into play then.

4. There is a Babylon 5, A Call to Arms forum right down the page, please make yourself at home. We love battle reports, comments, stories, pics, anything you'd like.

5. 2nd Edition will supplant all previous rulesets. For 1st edition though, to be completely current you need the Revised Ruleset, Sky Full of Stars, and Armageddon.

 

[Greg Smith]

LaranosTZ has it right.

I believe Crew Quality and Fighters don't appear in the Starter book.

When you've played and enjoyed some games with the starter book, the second edition will be well worth investing in.

 

[GiorgioX]

Thank you for the replies, as soon as I play my first few games I'll try to post how they went. I look forward to blowing stuff up!

George

 

[GiorgioX]

First game went well, played the first scenario and we had a blast. One Altarian destroyer is easily worth at least three G’Karith Patrol Cruisers! Poor Narns didn’t stand a chance….

Some things that came up during the game:

1-Does the box set have markers for “crippled” “skeleton crew” and “destroyed” ships status?

We had to make our own as we realized how important this would be once we had more ships on the table.

2-Once a destroyed ship is on a path that directs it away from the battle and has little possibility of hitting something, is there a point to having to keep moving it at the beginning of each turn?

We did so for three turns, then just took it off the table.
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3-Does the boxed set have rules for stopping a ship or putting it in reverse? Both of those options would have been useful in our fist battle.

Looking forward to scenario #2 next Saturday…

George

 

[LaranosTZ]

1. Unfortunately there are no critical or SA markers in the basic rulebook. I do know that Gale Force 9 does make a pretty good set of counters for ACTA, though some will be out of date when the new edition comes out.

2. Generally speaking, you can remove destroyed or burnt out hulks as soon as you determine that they are destroyed, as they cannot break LOS, they cannot be shot anymore, etc.

3. There is no 'revese' in A Call to Arms, but there is the 'All Stop' special order, or the 'All Stop and Turn' Special order that can be used after you spend a turn on the 'All Stop' order.

 

[Greg Smith]

1. Gale Force Nine's targeting and status counters include crippled and skeleton crewed counters.

2. Destroyed ships are usually removed. They do however have an effect when using Raiders or pak'ma'ra fleets.

 

[Burger]

2. Technically they should be kept on the table, since they cause a navigational hazard. The base of your other ships still can't overlap that of a burnt-out ship. But in practice most people just remove them because it's too much hassle.

 

[GiorgioX]

Thanks for the replies!

Just finished playing scenario #2, and these rules question came up:

When a ship firing an Energy Mines hits two or more enemy ships at the same time (all within the 3” blast radius), does the attacking player:

A) Roll the attack dice and damage dice once and apply it to ALL ships within the blast range (for example: 3 Hits for a total of +3 damage/+3 crew to each vessel);

B) Roll the attack dice and damage dice separately for EACH ship within the blast range (for example: Roll 6 AD for each ship, apply damage individually)?

We both interpreted the rules differently, so some guidance is welcome.

Also, regardless of the answer above, where we correct to apply any damage done to each enemy ship individually on the damage allocation table? (for example if two ships where hit by the energy mine for 2 points of damage, each ship rolls twice on the damage allocation chart)?

George

 

[Burger]

B) is correct, each ship is attacked totally independently of the others.

 

[LaranosTZ]

Emines also have a slightly different damage style, that is clarified in armageddon/SFOS.

You roll your hits as usual, then roll on the damage chart, however emines cannot cause critical hits, so emines generally work like this;

1: No damage

2-6: 1 damage.