Even more Drone questions it never stops!

[MarkDawg]

Okay here we go again with these dam drones.

1. My ship is fired on by 4d6 worth of drones
2. I shoot down 2 with Phasers
3. I decide to use my anti drone device to shoot down the remaining 2 drones how many die do I roll?
A. Do I roll 4 because 4 attack drones were fired?
B. Do I roll 2 die because that's how many incoming drones there are?

 

[billclo]

Okay here we go again with these dam drones.

1. My ship is fired on by 4d6 worth of drones
2. I shoot down 2 with Phasers
3. I decide to use my anti drone device to shoot down the remaining 2 drones how many die do I roll?
A. Do I roll 4 because 4 attack drones were fired?
B. Do I roll 2 die because that's how many incoming drones there are?

You roll 2. Both drones are automatically destroyed, however if either die is a "1", then you reduce your ADD/Combined Drone rating by 1. If you rolled both "1"s, it's still only reduces your ADD/Combined drone rack by 1.

 

[archon96]

id always use the add first, save the phasers for offensive fire, or a last chance defense.

 

[Myrm]

Hmm, not that simple - fine for a big wave but if its only a couple, then the ADD risks being reduced for those little attacks, and Phaser may be the way to go.

 

[AdmiralGrafSpee]

I thought if you wanted to use ADD you had to use it BEFORE phasers. No?

-Tim

 

[storeylf]

As above, if you think you are going to be hit by multiple waves of drones then think twice about ADDing to start with. I'd even consider accepting a couple of drone hits rather than risk running out before the last 6AD attack.

Barring super lucky rolling from the drone ship, I'd hardly ever use ADDs beyond range 18", my phasers are effectively spare, so I can use them to shoot stuff down and ensure that when I get close and things get much hotter my ADDs are still full.

 

[Rambler]

The RAW says, " Roll a die for every Attack Die of drones attacking a ship with the Anti-Drone trait." It does not say for each remaining AD roll a d6. Defencive Fire is all simultaneous so the Anti-Drones still targets every incoming drone wither you use phaser to reduce the attacking drones or not. It still fires on a destroyed drone. Thats why if you choose to use the Anti-Drone you might as well save all other Defencive Fire Actions for the next volley.

Edit: The only dictated order is Tractor Beams last. Everything else is rolled in the order you chose but, is still simultaneous.

 

[Greg Smith]

Defencive Fire is all simultaneous so the Anti-Drones still targets every incoming drone wither you use phaser to reduce the attacking drones or not.

No it isn't. See page 45.

With the exception of tractor beams (which are very short-ranged
and really are a last-ditch effort), the defending ship may choose
which order its various defences may be used.

The RAW says, " Roll a die for every Attack Die of drones attacking a ship with the Anti-Drone trait."

Personally, I'd say any drone that has been shot down by phaser fire is no longer attacking the ship.

 

[billclo]

delete

 

[billclo]

Page 44, not 45.

With the exception of tractor beams (which are very short-ranged
and really are a last-ditch effort), the defending ship may choose
which order its various defences may be used.

The RAW says, " Roll a die for every Attack Die of drones attacking a ship with the Anti-Drone trait."

Personally, I'd say any drone that has been shot down by phaser fire is no longer attacking the ship.

This is the way we've been playing it; you declare all weapons fire first. If you declared phasers first, then the ADD would engage any survivors. The rationale being that the phasers engaged/destroyed drones beyond ADD range, and the ADD polices up the survivors. I presume the computers are smart enough to not engage already destroyed targets, or targets until they enter effective ADD range. If a drone is destroyed before reaching ADD range it makes no sense for the ADD to try to engage it. Heck, our current warships are probably that smart, so why not a warship 300+ years in the future?

 

[Rambler]

Okay here is where I am coming from...

On Jan 22, 2012 (Funny how this keeps coming up.)

Is there an order for defensive fire? We played our first game yesterday and had a situation where Kzinti drones were attacking Klingon ships from outside of range 18. In this situation, we wanted to use phasers rather than anti-drones, but were unsure of we could do this.

Do here are the questions:
1. Do ADDs fire first, simultaneously, or player option?
a. As an example, 6 drones are coming in on a D5. Ideally, you want to use 2 drones as a counter to reduce it to 4, then use 4 phasers (3 hits) to reduce it to 1, then the ADD to take out the final one. Is this legal?
b. In the rules section Matthew said to roll all dice at once. So in the example above if you had 6 drones coming in and had 1 add, and rolled 1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, would you take out all 6 drones (with the runout affection the next phase) or would 5 drones be shot down with 1 remaining?

To which Mathew replied.

1. Defenders choice - do what is most efficient!

2. Yes.

3. If you have ADD 1 and 6 drones coming in, you don't roll one dice. To quote the rulebook;
'Roll a die for _every_ Attack Die of drones...'

Not sure where this roll dice on their own came from - I think it may be a hold out people have from playing Babylon 5, but we designed this game to be quick. Roll all dice together!

And to anticipate the next question, you are rolling against each drone _attack_. So, yes, an ADD 1 will roll 6 dice against 6 AD of drones. However, if you roll a 1 during that attack, you will have nothing to defend against the 1 AD of drones you might face when the next enemy ship attacks.

So 6AD of Drones are coming in you use 2AD of Drones reducing the total to 4AD then you roll 6d6 for Anti-Drone.

Am I missing something here?

 

[Iain McGhee]

I don't think the last paragraph of the reply is referencing the example, merely stating that ADD 1 rolls a die for every drone it is defending against to clarify how ADD is resolved.

I'd agree with Greg's interpretation above given how ACTA normally works when resolving ship fire (i.e. a phaser strike could drop a ship's shield so the torpedoes fired from the same ship in the same activation would hit the hull directly) and the first two answers Matthew gave which I'd say confirms defensive fire works in the same manner.

 

[Asguard101]

Well, In Matt's answer he never mention any of the incomeing drones being shot down, before the ADD went to work. So it sounds like it will need to be clairfied, but I think the answer will be any drones are left after the phasers and Def Drones are rolled for.

 

[Greg Smith]

Okay here is where I am coming from...

.....

Am I missing something here?

I don't think question b refers to the 1 drone left after the other defences in question a.

I think the most significant answer is to question one.

Also, If you still had roll 6 dice of ADD when phasers and drones had shot down 5AD, why would you ever do those other defences first? There would be absolutely no reason.

 

[Rambler]

Also, If you still had roll 6 dice of ADD when phasers and drones had shot down 5AD, why would you ever do those other defences first? There would be absolutely no reason.

Absolutely agree. I believe that is what i said.

 

[McKinstry]

Also, If you still had roll 6 dice of ADD when phasers and drones had shot down 5AD, why would you ever do those other defences first? There would be absolutely no reason.

Absolutely agree. I believe that is what i said.

Agree. We've played it that the ADD rolls only for the drones left after other fire. Obviously if tractors are going to be used against a wave, ADD would not be involved since tractors always go last and ADD always kills the wave first.

 

[seattledv8]

Tactically it would be silly to fire the ADD after the defensive fire, but that wasn't the question.

ADD is triggered by the number of drones shot at the ship.
" Roll a die for every Attack Die of drones attacking a ship with the Anti-Drone trait."
It doesn't say 'the number of drones that survive'
and as Mathew said, you roll a die for -every- attack dice of drone.

If I fire 4 attack die you should roll 4 die for ADD.
Reducing the ADD roll makes the trait a bit too strong against drones.(ie a much smaller chance of running empty)

 

[Greg Smith]

Tactically it would be silly to fire the ADD after the defensive fire, but that wasn't the question.

ADD is triggered by the number of drones shot at the ship.
" Roll a die for every Attack Die of drones attacking a ship with the Anti-Drone trait."
It doesn't say 'the number of drones that survive'
and as Mathew said, you roll a die for -every- attack dice of drone.

If I fire 4 attack die you should roll 4 die for ADD.
Reducing the ADD roll makes the trait a bit too strong against drones.(ie a much smaller chance of running empty)

If that was the case, why would you ever fire other stuff?

If the chance of running empty is the same, you would never fire phasers and drones then fire ADD. In the answers to the questions above, Matt says "do what is most efficient." Firing drones then phasers then ADD would certainly not be 'most efficient', since you would have the same chance of using up ammo because you are rolling 6 dice.

 

[Rambler]

Tactically it would be silly to fire the ADD after the defensive fire, but that wasn't the question.

ADD is triggered by the number of drones shot at the ship.
" Roll a die for every Attack Die of drones attacking a ship with the Anti-Drone trait."
It doesn't say 'the number of drones that survive'
and as Mathew said, you roll a die for -every- attack dice of drone.

If I fire 4 attack die you should roll 4 die for ADD.
Reducing the ADD roll makes the trait a bit too strong against drones.(ie a much smaller chance of running empty)

If that was the case, why would you ever fire other stuff?

If the chance of running empty is the same, you would never fire phasers and drones then fire ADD. In the answers to the questions above, Matt says "do what is most efficient." Firing drones then phasers then ADD would certainly not be 'most efficient', since you would have the same chance of using up ammo because you are rolling 6 dice.

Because it gives you options. Okay I have a single Drone coming in do I use the Anti-Drone risking losing it over one Drone or do use a Phaser-3 backed up by a Tractor Beam? Same Question if a wave of 2 Drones came in risk the Anti-Drone now or use a Drone a phaser-3 and a Tarctor Beam. The question is do you use the Anti-Drone because you can or do you wait for that 4 or 6 Drone Wave to come in? Different play styles I guess. /shrug

 

[McKinstry]

I believe now would be a good time for Matt to way in with a very specific answer on for example, a six drone wave.

Phaser 3's fire and kill 2.
Phaser 1's fire and kill 2
ADD's fire and kill the remaining 2. (For this example tractors were used on an earlier 2 drone wave)

How many dice get rolled for the ADD? - 2 or 6?