Explination of Burn Out and Double Burn

[Tankdriver]

Could someone give me an explination and example of how Burn Out and Double Burn work? Do weapons with these traits only drop the shields or do they drop shields AND do damage.

 

[Greg Smith]

Burn out reduces the shields. If it does sufficient damage to burn through the shields, it will do damage with the remaining.

Example:

A Li Halan Iskati frigate fires at a Hawkwood frigate (hull 4, 3 shields)

The attack: lasers - 5AD, accurate, precise, burn out.

Roll 5 AD. 1,3,3,4,5: 4 hits.

The first three burn out the shield. The last one rolls on the attack table to inflict damage.

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Double burn reduces the shields by two for each hit.

Example: a Decados Tupot'ka destroyer fires at a Hazat frigate (shields 3).

It scores 3 hits with its EM pulse guns.
The first hit will burn out 2 shields. The second hit would knock out two, but there is actually only one shield left. The third hit inflicts damage.

Now the destroyer can open up with its slug guns on an unshielded ship!

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Example 3, just for completeness.

The Tupok'ta fire at a frigate and misses compltely with its EM pulse. It then fires its slug guns - 6AD accurate multihit 3.

It gets 3 succesful rolls - for a total of 9 hits. The first 3 hits are stopped by the shields (which are not reduced), 6 hits are rolled on the attack table. The target is hurt, but is still shielded.

 

[Tankdriver]

So if, in the third example, the target ship is fired on again, the shields would still stop some of the damage, but in the other examples, subsequent shots hit and unshielded ship?

 

[Greg Smith]

Yes, shields remain burned out for the rest of the turn. They return to their starting level in the end phase (less critical effects).

The primary tactic of Noble Armada is ganging up. A single ship firing at a single target is probably not going to do much damage. The first ship often drops the shields while subsequent ships will do the damage.

 

[Bellicose]

On page 12 of the core rulebook it says that "slug guns are slow, short ranged and easily stopped by shields. For this reason, most ships armed with slug guns are also equipped with EM pulse guns to take down enemy shields.

The Vuldrok have developed a slightly different approach, utilizing warheads with explosives that burn out enemy shields."

I took that to mean that shielded ships took no damage from slug guns and that the shields were in no way effected. I also was curious on how the Vuldrok explosive shells worked. Also, and I know this sounds silly, but an Iskati-class Frigate has shields 3. Does that mean that it only has those 3 shields for that turn, or does each different ship have to fire through shield 3? Sorry for all of the questions, thank you.

 

[Greg Smith]

The shields remain in place, unless they are burned out. If they are burned out, they return in the end phase.

If a slug gun scores 4 hits against 3 shields, one hit will inflict damage. The shields are unaffected.

If a blaster scores 4 hits against 3 shields, one hit will inflict damage and the shields will be down until the end phase.

Weak weapons (point slug guns on fighters) do NOTHING against shields.

Explosive shells will be in the Fleets of the Fading Suns supplement. They trade multi-hit for burn out, IIRC.

Does that clear things up?