Defensive fire

[Keeper Nilbog]

Confusion over 'split' weapon AD is down to the Basic/Advance rules.

In basic, you can't split, so each entry on the ships fires ALL AD from that entry.

In advanced, each AD in the entry can be fired at targets individually within the fire arc, so you could save an AD from a 2AD battery, only firing an AD. What you target is up to you - ship or drone (as i read it)

 

[AdmiralGrafSpee]

I'm definitely using advanced rules, so splitting is okay.

I have no issue with splitting phasers - however my understanding is that you had to fire the whole system at one time, splitting how you choose. This is not an issue for offensive fire, but it is for defensive where it can be rather inefficient.

 

[Iain McGhee]

I'm pretty sure it's just like previous versions of ACTA in that you can split a weapons system's AD between targets but you either fire it or you don't so you can't keep a few AD back from a single weapons system for later in the turn. Also, while it mentions splitting offensive fire and splitting defensive fire there's nothing about allowing you to split a single weapons system between the two.

I don't think it's that much of a problem for defensive fire since only a few of the dreadnoughts have more than a couple of phaser-3s in one weapons system and if it gets to the point where you're assigning phaser-1s and -2s then you probably are getting hit with enough AD of seekers that you'll be using most or all of them in defence anyway.

 

[Rambler]

Where does it say that Iain. If you couldn't split torpedoes over 2 turns then the New Jersey is a incredible stupid choice. The only thing I remember being said is you can not do Rolling Thunder with overloads. Because you would have to keep rolling the Reload Action and if you ever did go to overload 2 of you tubes would not get reloaded for the next turn.

 

[Iain McGhee]

Yeah, I remembered later that my original example was wrong since weapons with Reload (other than plasma) are stated as the only types that can split AD over turns. It's past midnight and I've been up since dawn

BTW, the New Jersey's torpedoes are probably split over two weapons systems (one of 4AD, one of 2AD since separate mounts get a separate entry, just like the Bismarck's Plasma) so you can fire both sets overloaded if you want over two turns.

 

[Rambler]

Yes you can fire 2 turns of overloads but then your stuck with 1 turns worth of reloading which brings Rolling Thunder to a stand still every 3rd turn.

 

[GalagaGalaxian]

Well if you don't mind moving slowly and not overloading you could always just fire and reload every turn.

T1: Fire Tubes A-C
T2: Reload Tubes A-C, Fire Tubes D-F
T3: Reload Tubes D-F, Fire Tubes A-C
T4: Reload Tubes A-C, Fire Tubes D-F
T5: Reload Tubes D-F, Fire Tubes A-C
etc

 

[Sgt_G]

And with a turn mode of 6, you're making only once 45-deg turn while the Klingons are flying circles around you moving 12 and making three turns with a mode of 4. Four different playtesters have told me the game is "well balanced" ... I need to play a few games, but as of right now I'm not seeing it.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Actually playing game usually helps to see its balance...

 

[Sgt_G]

And I do plan on doing just that. My work hours are screwy, and the few other players in the area I've contacted via e-mail also have real-life issues. Hopefully we can get together soon and test this thing out. Don't take what I said the worng way; I really want this game to work, but in my head I just can't see how everything fits together yet.

 

[Iain McGhee]

You have to remember you're playing in a fleet environment with an alternate move sequence. That makes Klingon ships' agility a lot less powerful than you'd think if the opposition takes care to cover his heavier ships and optimises his movement order. They're even easier to counter if they go for overloaded Disruptor shots.

Phaser-1s are also a bit more effective in this game (decent chance of burn-through, particularly for the fed's capital ships which can typically bring 6+ to bear on any one target, good chance of causing criticals which can mount up pretty quickly if you've a few ships concentrating on one target), so Feds aren't as reliant on their torpedoes to win games. Not that taking out a D7's engines with a couple of well-aimed torpedoes isn't welcome

 

[Da Boss]

I'm pretty sure it's just like previous versions of ACTA in that you can split a weapons system's AD between targets but you either fire it or you don't so you can't keep a few AD back from a single weapons system for later in the turn. Also, while it mentions splitting offensive fire and splitting defensive fire there's nothing about allowing you to split a single weapons system between the two..

There was not really anything like defensive fire in ACTA before - you had interceptors and Anti-fighter - then only thing I can think of close to this is the Shadows ability to switch the beam into Anti-fighter mode?

I'd allow saving odd dice against me - they may not even get to use them if I don;t fire at that ship which is handy......