The rules are read, now for the questions!!

[Ogre44]

After a trial game at my gaming club last month I acquired the pocket sized rulebook, specifically the Gorn/Kzinti edition and it seems that this is not a complete version of the rulebook, is this correct?

I've read through the rules that are in the book and have a couple of questions regarding Plasma Torpedoes.

1) Plasma Torpedoes are seeking weapons and are therefore fired and defended against like drones, correct?

2) For the purposes of the Anti-Drone trait, does the defender roll against every torpedo declared against them at once, or do they roll for each class of torpedo one at a time? I ask because it may be plausible to swamp the AD fire via the wave method, whereas the all at once method automatically destroys all the torpedoes, rendering them useless.

3) Aside for flavor, why are the torpedoes split into different classes? They seem to all have the same stats, aside from fire arcs the only difference seems to be the F torpedo's ability to do a Carronade and the D torpedo's use to gain the Anti-Drone trait.

4) For Plasma Torpedoes that do hit, they do 1d6 of hits of EACH attack dice that makes it through defensive fire, correct?

 

[storeylf]

1) sort of, you get phaser defensive fire, and you can outrun them if you are moving >12". You can't split a plasma attack up, so you always use the full attack dice in a single attack.

2) ADDs are not used against plasma, they are anti drones devices.

3) They are what seperate because of the game they come from, but there is a difference because of the way they are affected by range etc. You choose to use a torpedo, so when you use an F you are launching a 2AD attack, that is 1AD after a range 8 and of no use beyond range 12. An R is 7AD and can hurt even at max range.

4) Yes.

 

[Captain Jonah]

Welcome to a new Plasma user. Welcome to ACTA-SF.

Will you be joining the ranks of the Mighty Gorn. :wink:

Are you a nasty sneaky Romulan. :roll:

Perhaps you are waiting for the fleets of the Do-Gooder ISC.

Or are you one of those worthless cowardly Drone users runing around and attacking people frrom long range and you only want to understand Plasmas to fight against us. :lol:

 

[Greg Smith]

There is a complete hardback rulebook, with fleet lists for Federation, Klingon, Romulan, Kzinti, Gorn, and small Orion, Tholian and civilian lists.

The rules are the same. There are more scenarios in the main book, as well as background, modelling tips and colour photos.

 

[Myrm]

I've read through the rules that are in the book and have a couple of questions regarding Plasma Torpedoes.

1) Plasma Torpedoes are seeking weapons and are therefore fired and defended against like drones, correct?

Broadly as the mechanisms are the same as is the timing - but several details differ. You cannot split the plasma torpedo up between targets like the AD of drones. Also Phasers and speed are defences against plasma but drones, Anti-drone trait and tractors do not work on plasma.

2) For the purposes of the Anti-Drone trait, does the defender roll against every torpedo

See above - its a not applicable...

3) Aside for flavor, why are the torpedoes split into different classes? They seem to all have the same stats, aside from fire arcs the only difference seems to be the F torpedo's ability to do a Carronade and the D torpedo's use to gain the Anti-Drone trait.

History - these ships are all derived directly from existing ships in previous games set in the universe - so they have to match. In ACTA, this provides flavour for the R, S and G to some extent but it divides up the total plasma load into fixed packages which does have an effect on defensive fire -as the defender has to make their defensive fire decisions based on whats incoming and also damage to the shooter taking out weapon systems all have material effects on the game and range affects them very differently with energy bleed...and alters their boltability.

4) For Plasma Torpedoes that do hit, they do 1d6 of hits of EACH attack dice that makes it through defensive fire, correct?

Yes thats multihit for you - like drones...

 

[locarno24]

A couple of follow-on questions from our games:

Federation ships have a unique defensive option on their drone racks. How exactly does this work?

I get how Anti-drone X works. But....

...If I lose a point of Anti-drone to one or more salvoes, but not enough to exhaust the trait completely (a dreadnought, for example), do I keep the full AD of the drone rack? And does this mean the Anti-drone trait will reset every turn? If so, this makes a Federation-class dreadnought immune to drone fire - you can only attack it with three salvoes in one turn, so it can only ever lose 3 of the 4 points of the trait.

....Can it take a 'random trait' critical to Anti-Drone whilst using the racks defensively? If so, does this disable the rack in subsequent turns?

...Can it take a 'random weapon' critical to the drone racks whilst using the racks defensively, If so, does this disable the anti-drone trait immediately, or only in subsequent turns (i.e. the next time you would have declared you were using them defensively)?

...At what point does the weapon switch to the trait? If I use a 'power drain' action and take 'phasers only' I obviously can't fire the drones offensively but are they still available to stop incoming drone fire?



If the maximum warp now! order has already been declared, do you lose the order if you subsequently take an engine crit, or do you only need intact engines and reactor to initiate the jump to warp?

 

[Rambler]

A couple of follow-on questions from our games:

Federation ships have a unique defensive option on their drone racks. How exactly does this work?

I get how Anti-drone X works. But....

...If I lose a point of Anti-drone to one or more salvoes, but not enough to exhaust the trait completely (a dreadnought, for example), do I keep the full AD of the drone rack? And does this mean the Anti-drone trait will reset every turn? If so, this makes a Federation-class dreadnought immune to drone fire - you can only attack it with three salvoes in one turn, so it can only ever lose 3 of the 4 points of the trait.

No as you lose Anti Drones Traits you also lose that Drone Rack and there is no way to get them back. They are hopelessly jammed. So in your Dreadnought (DNG) example you roll 5 1s on the first salvo and you Anti Drone/Drone Rating goes down by 1 so the Drone Attack Dice also drop from 4 to 3 for the rest of the game. After rolling a 1 on any 4 salvos your Dreadnought is now not only out of AntiDrones but Drones as well.

....Can it take a 'random trait' critical to Anti-Drone whilst using the racks defensively? If so, does this disable the rack in subsequent turns?

No, the Fed Anti Drone Rule allows you to use your Drone Racks as a Anti Drone Trait but, this does not add the "Trait" to the Ship Card so you can not lose it except by the "Lose a random Weapon System."

...Can it take a 'random weapon' critical to the drone racks whilst using the racks defensively, If so, does this disable the anti-drone trait immediately, or only in subsequent turns (i.e. the next time you would have declared you were using them defensively)?

Yes, immediately, once the Drone Racks are taken out you lose the Anti Drone trait at that moment for the rest of the game..

...At what point does the weapon switch to the trait? If I use a 'power drain' action and take 'phasers only' I obviously can't fire the drones offensively but are they still available to stop incoming drone fire?

No, becasue even though the Drone Racks are acting as a Anti Drone Trait they are still Weapon Systems. Taking the Phaser Only option means no Anti Drones four joo.

If the maximum warp now! order has already been declared, do you lose the order if you subsequently take an engine crit, or do you only need intact engines and reactor to initiate the jump to warp?

Yes if you take a Critical Hit that drops the Max Speed of you ship your Special Action Fails at that point and since Maximum Warp Now takes place in the End Phase you are going nowhere. Been there done that and yes, it really does suck.