Stellar Debris and other such Questions

[Captain Jonah]

Stellar Debris

A few questions that I have come with Terrain and hiding from Drones etc.


Dust cloud. Does the +2 stealth effect of a dust cloud apply to seeking weapons fired into, through or out of a dust cloud since the cloud is described as making it difficult to target weapons? IE do Drones get a 5+ stealth save against defensive fire in a Dust cloud

Asteroids. What is the effect of firing seeking weapons through Asteroid fields. Are they treated as shuttles (1D6 + 6). Drones would be destroyed but what impact does it have on Plasmas since the AD of an asteroid impact is based on speed. Would this be the distance through the Asteroids that the plasma moved so a 6” thick Asteroid field would have 6AD against a plasma?


Yes I know I am looking at this from an SFB angle :wink: ; it comes from many years of both SFB and playing with some devious gamers. :roll: I cannot see where the rules cover these points and if not me then someone else will come up with them when a player hides behind a Dust Cloud or Asteroid field and the other person tries to fire through it.

 

[Greg Smith]

You cannot fire through stellar debris.

Dust cloud. Does the +2 stealth effect of a dust cloud apply to seeking weapons fired into, {snip} or out of a dust cloud since the cloud is described as making it difficult to target weapons?

Yes. The same applies to asteroids.

IE do Drones get a 5+ stealth save against defensive fire in a Dust cloud

That is a good question.

 

[hermitbob]

Asteroid Fields:"A ship may...Shuttles will instead..."
Doesn't appear to affect drones OR Plasma, as neither are ships or shuttles. Even if they had to test for hits they lack to addendum to calculate the Crew Quality check like shuttles. However ships in an asteroid field gain +2 stealth.

Dust Clouds:"If attacked while with a dust cloud, a ship...If a ship in a dust cloud attacks another vessel..."
Again doesn't appear to affect drones OR Plasma, but clarification on what constitutes a vessel might help. Again, ships in a dust cloud gain +2 stealth.

It looks like drones and Plasma get no benefit from being fired into, or out of, Stellar Debris.

Note: Shuttles are treated as ships unless otherwise mentioned.

 

[Da Boss]

They should not get any actual benefits

As Greg says you can't fire through stellar debris at all (p21)

Ships will get a 5+ save against weapons fired against them (pr +2 if already have stealth) from out of or into a dust cloud/asteroid field

It does make sense for drones/plasma to get a 5+ save - butI don't know if that was the intent.

 

[MongooseMatt]

IE do Drones get a 5+ stealth save against defensive fire in a Dust cloud

Umm... What?

Let me turn that question around. What do you think?

Yes I know I am looking at this from an SFB angle

I think that might be where the issues start appearing...

 

[Iron Domokun]

Another principle from SFB is, "If it doesn't explicitly say they do, then they don't." There is, apparently, no rule saying that drones and plasma get any bonus (STILL have not got preorders here in Australia, darn it) so they don't.

Tactical implication is that hiding in a dust cloud or asteroid field will help stop drone damage without affecting Defensive Fire.

 

[Clanger]

Stealth is a hit save. I would say that the Plasma / Drones work as normal but the hits get a Stealth save. I would think this would be 2 way.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Stealth is a hit save. I would say that the Plasma / Drones work as normal but the hits get a Stealth save. I would think this would be 2 way.

A weapon cannot have a ship trait...

 

[Captain Jonah]

Let me turn that question around. What do you think?

Well as you asked and in the spirit of keeping it simple. :lol:

Any situation where the attacker/firer or target is fully inside a dust cloud gives the +2 stealth bonus to the target of the attack, in the case of any target lacking stealth the hit misses on a 5-6 on 1D6

You can hide in a dust cloud to avoid attacks but your return fire, all of your return fire suffers in turn. Balance the benefit with a hindrance. Those seeking weapons have a harder time hitting you but you have a harder time shooting them down as well.

With asteroids.

Any situation where the attacker or target is fully inside an Asteroid field all seeking weapon fire is reduced by 1AD for every full 1" if asteroids the attack passes through

Drones therefore become useless through even a single inch of asteroid field but plasmas become reduced. A plasma R can reach several inches into a field and still do damage but the asteroid filed provides good protection from the smaller plasmas and all drones, the downside being the chance of hitting something yourself. Again maintaining the balance.

Well you did ask what I thought :roll: :lol:

 

[MongooseMatt]

Well you did ask what I thought :roll: :lol:

Fair point, I did ask for it

However... What you are quoting, is _not_ what is written in the Stellar Debris chapter. Instead, it has this;

'If attacked while within an asteroid field, a _ship_ will gain the Stealth 5+ trait.'

Same wording on dust clouds.