Defensive Fire

[Digger]

Here's a quick question with regards to defensive fire against drones.

In the rulebook it states when conducting defensive fire against shuttles, they get a -1 to hit due to their small size.

Would this also apply to drones, which I would suggest would be considerably smaller than shuttles?

 

[Builder]

Here's a quick question with regards to defensive fire against drones.

In the rulebook it states when conducting defensive fire against shuttles, they get a -1 to hit due to their small size.

Would this also apply to drones, which I would suggest would be considerably smaller than shuttles?

In the section on defensive fire against drones there isn't a penalty listed, that just seems to apply to shuttles.

 

[scoutdad]

I asked the same question during playtesting and no changes were made so I'm just guessing that the increased energy signature of the much faster (albeit smaller) drone generates enough of a sensor signal to enable more accurate targetting of the inbound warhead. 8)

 

[Rambler]

Or it could be drone have a minimalist frame and fly a straight path where as, shuttles have a degree of electronic warfare built in the and tend to bob and weave more.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Or it could be drone have a minimalist frame and fly a straight path where as, shuttles have a degree of electronic warfare built in the and tend to bob and weave more.

That is about right - the flight path of a drone is (relatively) easier to predict, whereas a shuttle is directly controlled from the ship that launched it.

That's the 'background' reason.

The game balance reason is that drones get to a target quickly whereas you are going to have several opportunities to nail most shuttles (though they do seem to have a tendency to be forgotten if launched early on!).

 

[starbreaker]

That is about right - the flight path of a drone is (relatively) easier to predict, whereas a shuttle is directly controlled from the ship that launched it.

That's the 'background' reason.

SFB and FedCom unmanned shuttles are not directly controlled by any ship, they're either seeking weapons (suicides) or following a pre-programmed course (weasels) or a sort of combination of both (scatpacks).

If you want a canonically accurate reason, shuttles are simply tougher to kill than most drones are - more damage points, and in SFB/FC phasers can't even manage an auto-kill on drones, and a lone Ph-3 could never one-shot a shuttle. Giving them a -1 to be hit mod in ACTA is a fair way to represent that added toughness.