Drones - What are they (no rulebook yet)

[Nerroth]

and one of the reasons I am put off ACTA:SF - my klingons have never been hit with plasma in FC (and rarely with drones) but can rarely avoid seeking weapons here.

That is perhaps more of an issue with how plasma has been panning out in FC than how it's working in ACtA:SF; it has been argued by many of the players over on the FC forum that plasma doesn't work in that game as well as it should (at least compared to SFB, where acceleration limits make it harder to always be able to run one down).

 

[AdmiralGrafSpee]

and one of the reasons I am put off ACTA:SF - my klingons have never been hit with plasma in FC (and rarely with drones) but can rarely avoid seeking weapons here.

That is perhaps more of an issue with how plasma has been panning out in FC than how it's working in ACtA:SF; it has been argued by many of the players over on the FC forum that plasma doesn't work in that game as well as it should (at least compared to SFB, where acceleration limits make it harder to always be able to run one down).

Can you pull off a romulan/gorn anchor in ACTASF? I realize there are no wild weasels, which was IMHO the major benefit to the anchor, but it seems to me that if you can slow the ship down in ACTASF then the "evasion" doesn't work. Of course I don't know what evasion I'm even talking about - but presumably the one that lets them dodge plasmas/drones.

-Tim

 

[GalagaGalaxian]

Two ways to evade Seeking weapons (drones/plasma):

1) Evasive Action special ability makes some shots miss (also evades other weapons)
2) Move faster than 12" (requires a special action for every ship that doesn't have the Fast trait (most ships)) and position the enemy ship launching seeking weapons OUT of your front arc. It then becomes a Crew Quality vs Crew Quality roll to see if the shot is "outrun"/dodged.

That sounds convoluted, so here is a hastily drawn picture to clarify. If the Federation CA moves over 12" it can try to dodge Plasma Torpedo(es) from Battlehawk A, which is out of its front arc but not Battle Hawk B.

Move order
1. Battle Hawk A uncloaks in firing position.
2. Fed-CA uses All Power to Engines special action and moves 16", turning to try to "Dodge" Battle Hawk A's attack in the attack phase.
3. Battle Hawk B uncloaks, positioning itself in the CA's front arc so it has no chance to dodge torpedoes from Battle Hawk B.

 

[Iain McGhee]

@AdmiralGrafSpee: Yes. If you tractor a ship before it moves and it fails to break away it can't evade through speed. Technically you could still use the "Take Evasive Action" special action, but I don't think that should be possible either if you can't move (whether tractored or adrift, not disallowed by RAW in either case at present).