Stealth

[Garydee]

In the B5 rulebook it says, "An additional –1 penalty is applied if any other ship in the same fleet has successfully attacked the target in the same turn". Is this bonus accumulative? If three ships hit do you get a -3 modifier?

 

[AdrianH]

No, you only get a total of +1 regardless of how many ships have spotted the target. What you do get is redundancy. If one ship has spotted the target and is then destroyed, you don't get the bonus any more - at least, not until another ship spots it. If two ships have spotted the target and one is destroyed, you still get the +1 bonus because the second ship is providing it. Note that "successfully attacked" does not require an actual hit. So long as one of your ships has successfully rolled to beat the enemy's stealth, that counts as a successful attack for the purposes of bonuses to other ships.

Likewise, you only get +1 bonus regardless of how many ships have successfully rolled their Scout trait. But the Scout bonus does stack with the bonus for a ship having attacked the target. So if at least one of your scouts has used its trait then the first ship to attack the target gets +1, and if it successfully rolls against the target's stealth then the next ship to attack that target gets +2.

 

[Garydee]

No, you only get a total of +1 regardless of how many ships have spotted the target. What you do get is redundancy. If one ship has spotted the target and is then destroyed, you don't get the bonus any more - at least, not until another ship spots it. If two ships have spotted the target and one is destroyed, you still get the +1 bonus because the second ship is providing it. Note that "successfully attacked" does not require an actual hit. So long as one of your ships has successfully rolled to beat the enemy's stealth, that counts as a successful attack for the purposes of bonuses to other ships.

Likewise, you only get +1 bonus regardless of how many ships have successfully rolled their Scout trait. But the Scout bonus does stack with the bonus for a ship having attacked the target. So if at least one of your scouts has used its trait then the first ship to attack the target gets +1, and if it successfully rolls against the target's stealth then the next ship to attack that target gets +2.

Thanks! Those Minbari are freaking tough. I was hoping the modifiers accumulated.

 

[AdrianH]

The best race to play against the Minbari are the Shadows. They're practically made for each other as each exploits the other's weaknesses. Shadows get a +1 bonus to break stealth due to ancient technology, and they have plenty of scouts as it's their only low level ship - which, incidentally, can only attack from within 8" range so it has a very good chance of spotting the Minbari ship, then providing that +1 bonus to all other Shadows attacking the same target. Going the other way, Shadows are vulnerable to a powerful beam attack and the Minbari use lots of beams, while the Minbaris' own scout doesn't just help beat stealth, it practically destroys stealth.