Start Atack Run!

[Democratus]

I'm looking at playing Drazi in our next campaign. I was wondering what others have made of the "Start Attack Run!" order.

In particular, how is it handled with beams? Do you roll for a beam, then reroll all hits (4+), then take remaining hits and roll again for exploding damage, then take these and reroll the ones that hit..? It seems a bit confusing.

 

[H]

I don't know specifically, but i'd consider, roll your first round, and confirm, then only roll continuing on those first ones that made their confirmation whoch is pretty much what you thought.

It's not too confusing really, it's just double dice rolling, maybe use different dice colours to keep it clear in your mind

 

[Burger]

I would roll all of the beam hits as normal, and then re-roll them needing 4+ to confirm. It seems fair; the idea is that it's the opposite of twin-linked, against 4+ it should halve the average number of hits. If you re-roll hits after the first beam round then you are going to end up with much less than half damage.

Actually I tell a lie, I wouldn't do that. I would use Track That Target instead. CQ is a little harder but the benefits are a lot better. No re-rolling hits, and no risk of crashing (unless that is the intent :lol

 

[H]

I would roll all of the beam hits as normal, and then re-roll them needing 4+ to confirm. It seems fair; the idea is that it's the opposite of twin-linked, against 4+ it should halve the average number of hits. If you re-roll hits after the first beam round then you are going to end up with much less than half damage.

Actually I tell a lie, I wouldn't do that. I would use Track That Target instead. CQ is a little harder but the benefits are a lot better. No re-rolling hits, and no risk of crashing (unless that is the intent :lol

you wouldn't nescesarily, but in terms of the mechanics of a beam roll, you are rolling secondary dice for a weapon that may have ended up missing the first time anyway, it just "feels" wrong, of course I think it's a valid question, maybe Matt will enter it despite the game no longer being supported

 

[Democratus]

Yeah. The damage will most likely be tiny. But with Drazi ships, you often find yourself having to fly over the enemy and then waste a turn while trying to come back around. Even with an Agile ship (2/45) you can't quite bring the FA back to bear if you were boresighting the enemy in the turn before.

This order would allow me to at least do a small amount of damage while I prepare for the next attack run.

With my smaller ships I consider the possibility of ramming a bonus, since the opponent won't even get an opposed crew quality roll. Maybe I've been playing Dilgar too long. :twisted:

As for "Track that Target!" orders...since this is a campaign I am going to work hard to get refits for my ships changing their weapons to FA. Assuming any of my ships survive combat, that is.

It's unreal how much more fun campaign play is to pick-up battles...

 

[locarno24]

Either you can:

1) Roll all the hits (rolling 4+ again, etc, etc) then reroll all of them, from each 'round' of rolling, as a job lot

2) Reroll to hit in the first volley only, before rolling 'follow-on' beam hits

Both are identical statistically, and work out as 1/2 of a hit per initial AD.

3) Reroll all hits at each stage

Generates significantly less - 1/3 of a hit per initial AD


Note that if you use any "alternate beam systems" this will significantly change the results!

 

[Burger]

But if you Attack Run, you can't Come About and it takes you another turn to come to bear, you can't CBD to help stay alive, and you can't APTE to get to safety...

Personally I think that if you have to reroll each beam round then the penalties are much too severe, inflicting 1 damage from a 4AD beam is not really worth it, better to Come About or CBD.

 

[Democratus]

Yeah. I think you're right, Burger.

The speacial action is a little too weak for much consideration. I think I'll just save it for when I'm certain a particular ship will not live to fire its weapon in the shooting phase...like when I've lost initiative and know the enemy will fire on that particular ship first.

Sad, though. I would prefer a harder CQ roll and better benefits.

 

[Burger]

Sad, though. I would prefer a harder CQ roll and better benefits.

Give Me Ramming Speed :lol:
That's the only special action real Drazi ever use, anyway :twisted:

 

[AdrianH]

Either you can:

1) Roll all the hits (rolling 4+ again, etc, etc) then reroll all of them, from each 'round' of rolling, as a job lot

2) Reroll to hit in the first volley only, before rolling 'follow-on' beam hits

Both are identical statistically, and work out as 1/2 of a hit per initial AD.

3) Reroll all hits at each stage

Generates significantly less - 1/3 of a hit per initial AD


Note that if you use any "alternate beam systems" this will significantly change the results!

It should not do. Option 3 is wrong, and options 1 and 2 both halve the number of total hits on one condition. Regardless of which beam system you use, roll 4+ to confirm hits!

Maths aside, I prefer option 1 because it's easier. If you use option 2 along with Triggy's beam system, for example, you either need to use a different set of dice for the re-rolls, or use the same dice for the original rolls and re-rolls while remembering which ones scored 5 or 6. I'd find it easier just to roll all the hits and continuations, then pick up all the dice which hit and roll them, keeping the ones which score 4+.

 

[Greg Smith]

The simplist way is to just take the AD of the beam weapon and halve it. Apply that number of hits.

Very, very average.