So I have been browsing the forums and thinking--I generally liked he idea to TTT as it was originally written, but also have liked the idea of Follow That Target, and now that Mongoose seems to have opened the door to shooting outside the movement step (see drazi attack run), I thought that a SA that allowed a ship to shoot at another ship in the movement step seemed like a good way to balance various competing interests: Initiative, initiative sinking etc...
Anyway My Idea
SA: Snap Shot ("SS")
The ship using this special action attempts to fire a single weapon system at a specific target as both ships are maneuvering. Making these split second shots is difficult and risky as the ship firing has not had time to properly lock its weapons on the target, but is trying to take advantage of a fleeting advantage in position.
Restrictions: The Ship using SS may not fire in the shooting phase
Crew Quality Check: 7; followed by an opposed check against the target (re-roll ties).
Procedure: The ship declaring SS must first pass the initial crew quality threshold at the start of its movement. It then moves normally, at the end of the movement phase it declares a single target, and declares what weapon system it is firing at the target. The firing Arcs of the ship are used as normal, but are based on the relative positions of the ships as they are after at the end fo the activated ships movement. The two ships then roll opposed crew quality checks (re-rolling ties).
1) If the targeted ship wins this roll, then Snap Shop completely misses (and counts as having been fired).
2) If the targeting ship wins the opposed roll, it may immediately fire (in the movement phase) the declared weapon system at the target with its full AD. However, due to the diminished targeting time necessitated by this snap firing, the targeting ship must re-roll any successful attacks. Any mechanism that would permit the ship to re-roll misses is ignored, however, the ship does not need to re-roll successful hits--(TL and CAF (if available due to special rule) ships do not re-roll hits or misses, but rather use the first roll). Since Scouting rolls have not occurred yet, the ship may not take advantage of scout abilities. Only the first to hit roll needs to be re-rolled (subsequent beam rolls are rolled as per normal rules)
3) If the targeted ship has previously declared a SA during this movement stage, it may benefit from that action, otherwise, it may not. If the ship was escorted by fighters providing interceptors last turn, it may benefit from those interceptors, otherwise, it may not have any additional interceptors transferred to it this turn, from any source.
Result: If successful (having passed both the initial crew quality threshold and the opposed crew quality); the ship using SS immediately fires a single weapon system at the target. Damage and effects are immediately applied--even if the target has not yet activated/moved.
The idea is to permit a ship to immediately fire a single weapons system in the movement phase. This is intended to partially address the initiative sink problem (and encourage large ships to be moved earlier) as well as to permit the tactical option of trying a risky maneuver to gain an advantage in the shooting step.
I think this is a potentially powerful SA (by allowing shooting in the movement step) so I think it should be require all three tests: a threshold to attempt, opposed roll and a re-rolled attack, however, I didn't want eh threshold to be to high and therefore limit its use to much.
Also, the idea was not merely to limit it to bore-sight dependant fleets, but to allow any fleet to use it (although admittedly the advantage to bore-sighted fleets is potentially greater).
I understand this is probably too much to include in P&P, but was wondering what people thought? Suggestions/comments/thoughts?
EDIT--fixed glaring typo in title
Anyway My Idea
SA: Snap Shot ("SS")
The ship using this special action attempts to fire a single weapon system at a specific target as both ships are maneuvering. Making these split second shots is difficult and risky as the ship firing has not had time to properly lock its weapons on the target, but is trying to take advantage of a fleeting advantage in position.
Restrictions: The Ship using SS may not fire in the shooting phase
Crew Quality Check: 7; followed by an opposed check against the target (re-roll ties).
Procedure: The ship declaring SS must first pass the initial crew quality threshold at the start of its movement. It then moves normally, at the end of the movement phase it declares a single target, and declares what weapon system it is firing at the target. The firing Arcs of the ship are used as normal, but are based on the relative positions of the ships as they are after at the end fo the activated ships movement. The two ships then roll opposed crew quality checks (re-rolling ties).
1) If the targeted ship wins this roll, then Snap Shop completely misses (and counts as having been fired).
2) If the targeting ship wins the opposed roll, it may immediately fire (in the movement phase) the declared weapon system at the target with its full AD. However, due to the diminished targeting time necessitated by this snap firing, the targeting ship must re-roll any successful attacks. Any mechanism that would permit the ship to re-roll misses is ignored, however, the ship does not need to re-roll successful hits--(TL and CAF (if available due to special rule) ships do not re-roll hits or misses, but rather use the first roll). Since Scouting rolls have not occurred yet, the ship may not take advantage of scout abilities. Only the first to hit roll needs to be re-rolled (subsequent beam rolls are rolled as per normal rules)
3) If the targeted ship has previously declared a SA during this movement stage, it may benefit from that action, otherwise, it may not. If the ship was escorted by fighters providing interceptors last turn, it may benefit from those interceptors, otherwise, it may not have any additional interceptors transferred to it this turn, from any source.
Result: If successful (having passed both the initial crew quality threshold and the opposed crew quality); the ship using SS immediately fires a single weapon system at the target. Damage and effects are immediately applied--even if the target has not yet activated/moved.
The idea is to permit a ship to immediately fire a single weapons system in the movement phase. This is intended to partially address the initiative sink problem (and encourage large ships to be moved earlier) as well as to permit the tactical option of trying a risky maneuver to gain an advantage in the shooting step.
I think this is a potentially powerful SA (by allowing shooting in the movement step) so I think it should be require all three tests: a threshold to attempt, opposed roll and a re-rolled attack, however, I didn't want eh threshold to be to high and therefore limit its use to much.
Also, the idea was not merely to limit it to bore-sight dependant fleets, but to allow any fleet to use it (although admittedly the advantage to bore-sighted fleets is potentially greater).
I understand this is probably too much to include in P&P, but was wondering what people thought? Suggestions/comments/thoughts?
EDIT--fixed glaring typo in title
