Defensive fire.

[The Legend]

Does Defensive fire also count with the Killzone trait?

i.e. if you are performing defensive fire with Phasers from a ship inside your killzone does each hit gain Multihit?

 

[scoutdad]

No. see "Defensive Fire, paragraph 2..."
Traits such as Accurate apply as normal but Kill Zone will not as drones are engaged beyond this range.

 

[The Legend]

No. see "Defensive Fire, paragraph 2..."
Traits such as Accurate apply as normal but Kill Zone will not as drones are engaged beyond this range.

What if the firing ship is within the killzone range? The drones cannot be engaged beyond this range.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Rather than saying Kill zone does or doesn't apply it just means that a Phaser that hits takes out 1 AD of the incoming. Since plasmas are generally fired inside the Kill zone of Phaser 1s giving them the kill zone effect turns Plasma's in to pretty light shows and killing a Drone is killing a Drone.

Basically 1 AD of Phaser stops 1AD of incoming, that’s it.

 

[Nretnimoc]

On the topic of Defensive Fire, a couple of questions.

1. A ship that has not gone in the turn sequence and therefore has not set any weapon systems on defensive, can not fire Phasers as a Defensive Weapon. Correct?

1a. Does this affect Federation Drones? Their Drone weapon systems count as a Anti-Drone #AD. Do they have to be set to operate as an Defensive weapon, or can you just use them as Anti-Drones and therefore, deny yourself them as a weapon system during normal fire?

2. Tractor Beams as Defensive Fire - Can these be used at any time when Defensive Fire has been exhuasted or can you only use them when you have used the Special Order "Engage Tractor Beams".

2a. Also, in relation to Federation Drones. If I plan to use my Drones Offensively, can I skip them and go straight to Tractor Beam Use?

2b. Finally, if I have not been able to activate a ship during the shooting phase of the turn and therefore, have been unable to set weapon systems to defensive fire, can I use the Tractor Beam immediately?


or...am I over thinking Defensive Fire/Defensive Weapon systems all together?

 

[Greg Smith]

1. A ship that has not gone in the turn sequence and therefore has not set any weapon systems on defensive, can not fire Phasers as a Defensive Weapon. Correct?

No. Simply declare which weapons are being used for defensive fire. Just remember you can't then use them for offensive fire later on in the turn.

2. Tractor Beams as Defensive Fire - Can these be used at any time when Defensive Fire has been exhuasted or can you only use them when you have used the Special Order "Engage Tractor Beams".

Any time.

2a. Also, in relation to Federation Drones. If I plan to use my Drones Offensively, can I skip them and go straight to Tractor Beam Use?

If you wish.

or...am I over thinking Defensive Fire/Defensive Weapon systems all together?

Looks like it.

 

[Nretnimoc]

Thank you very much!

 

[Centurion]

Here's a couple more Defensive Fire questions for you all.

1. What range are drones fired at exactly? The range to the launching ship, range 0 just prior to impact or something in between. I.e. How do I know what my To-Hit number really is on drones launched from some distance away?

2. I know it says the launching ship must be in the arc of the phaser being used for defensive fire, which makes sense, but what about with the special action "Intensify Defensive Fire" when your covering an ally ship? Do you use the arc where the launching ship is or the arc where the target ship your covering is? Again, what range do I use? launching ship, target ship, closest theoritical approach?

If they are answers in the rulebook that I missed please let me know where to look. Otherwise any help at all would be greatly appreciated as I just started into a Klingon vs Kzinti game and it came to a screeching halt as soon as we tried using the "Intensify Defensive Fire" special action.

Thanks!

 

[McKinstry]

We use the range from IDF ship to ship being targeted by the drones measuring stem to stem. Thus a phaser 3 has to be within 6" to fire in IDF support and a Phaser 1, 18".

 

[gord314]

I don't have access to the book at the moment, but I'm fairly confident in these answers.

Here's a couple more Defensive Fire questions for you all.

1. What range are drones fired at exactly? The range to the launching ship, range 0 just prior to impact or something in between. I.e. How do I know what my To-Hit number really is on drones launched from some distance away?

If the ship performing defensive fire is the target, assume the drone is at range 0 (for to hit numbers only, you never get a bonus for being in kill zone with defensive fire). If a ship is using IDF, the range is the range to the ship being targeted with a -1 penalty for over half range as normal.

2. I know it says the launching ship must be in the arc of the phaser being used for defensive fire, which makes sense, but what about with the special action "Intensify Defensive Fire" when your covering an ally ship? Do you use the arc where the launching ship is or the arc where the target ship your covering is? Again, what range do I use? launching ship, target ship, closest theoritical approach?

The ship being covered by IDF must be in the arc of the weapon being used for defensive fire, and again range is based on the range from the ship using IDF to the ship being covered. This means that Klingons can us their A,P,S arc phasers to cover other ships while they defend themselves with their forward phasers, it works out quite well actually.

 

[Centurion]

Thanks guys! Gord314, your answers sound logical and easily adopted. So logical in fact that I wonder if these weren't dumb questions to begin with! <slaps forehead> Thanks very much for the assist!!

 

[scoutdad]

We have usedthe same logic as Gord since we began play testing ACTASF, so it seems right to me as well.