Captain Jonah
Mongoose
This is a compilation of all the Rules Rulings from Matt that I can remember or find. I have tidied them up and will print them off as needed. The ACTAs topics go back thousands of posts now and its getting very hard to find a lot of these.
Matt can you have a look and say if I have remembered these correctly or not. Also if there are any missing please let me know and I'll add them in. Thanks
ACTA – SF
The rules as stated By Matthew Sprange on the Mongoose Forum
Cloaks
• A cloaked ship can make one 45 degree turn when executing a De-cloak special action; if that ship is AGILE it may make a 90 degree turn.
• When executing a De-cloak the ship may reposition itself within 6”. This move ignores any intervening terrain (for example it can be used to “Jump” across an asteroid belt of less than 6”).
• A cloaked ship that enters a Dust Cloud or Asteroid Field loses its 2+ save as its cloak is negated by that terrain type (but does gain the 5+ save), however the cloak is negated not cancelled so the ship remains under all limitations of being cloaked until such time as it uses the De-Cloak special action or loses its Cloak trait due to damage.
Stealth
• Stealth saves are applied to damage that has hit, not to the “To Hit” Rolls. For example a Photon has Multihit 4. If a Photon rolls to hit a ship with stealth it will cause 4 damage. Each point of damage is then subject to a stealth roll. Multihit weapons are more likely to cause at least some damage to stealthy ships.
• Natural to hit rolls of 6 which would penetrate shields roll stealth for each point of damage as normal, any that bypass stealth strike the ships hull.
• Seeking weapons roll for total damage then apply the stealth roll for each point inflicted. For example 4 Drones hit a Romulan ship that is cloaking. Roll 4D6 (say 14 damage), then roll the 4+ stealth save 14 times (once per point of damage). The remaining damage is then applied as normal.
• The stealth save caused as a result of being inside an Asteroid Field or Dust Cloud is treated in all ways as normal stealth. An Orion ship with stealth 6+ gains +2 stealth while within those terrain types.
Anti Drone Devices
• It is the defenders choice in which order Defensive fire is made, Drones, ADDs or Phasers may be fired in any order as long as any weapons of that type are fired together. Only Tractors are automatically done last since they are the final defence. For example firing 2 AD of Phaser-1 and 1 AD of Phaser-3 these are all Phasers and must be fired before or after ADDs or Drones, you cannot hold back the Phaser 3 for use later against the same attack though it can be held for use against another attack.
• Roll as many dice as there are drones in the attacking wave (all Drones fired by one ship at one target make up the wave), if one or more of those dice are ones then the ADD rating is reduced by ONE. Every drone is automatically stopped in that wave regardless of rolling any ones.
• Ships with multiple ADD racks simply have a higher ADD rating, each time one or more ones are rolled against a Drone wave then the rating is reduced by one. When it hits zero the ADD racks are empty and can no longer be used.
Fed Combined Drone Racks
• The Fed Combined Drone Rack may only fire in ADD mode if the ship has fired NO Drones that turn. Whem used in ADD mode it functions exactly as an ADD
• The ADD rating is based on the Drone rating at the beginning of that turn. For example a Fresh BCh with Drone 4 will start with ADD4.
• Any Ammo used on the ADD reduces the Drone rating at the end of the turn. For example the BCH uses its ADD and rolls one or more ones during a single attack reducing its ADD to 3, next turn it has Drone 3.
• A ship which has lost its Drones due to Critical hits may not use its ADDs.
• A Federation ship under Power Drain that elects to use Phasers cannot use its Combined Racks as ADDs. It can only use the ADDs if it selects its Drones as the one weapon system it can use and may then use them as ADDs under the Federation G-Rack rules. The Federation use of the Combined Drone Racks as an ADD acts in all ways as the Trait ADD but is not a trait, it is a weapon type (Drones) and may be lost or limited in use as Drones can be.
Multi hits weapons on shields
• A weapon with the multi hit trait which rolls a natural 6 on its to hit roll penetrates the shield and the entire damage is then rolled on the hull hit table, for example a photon with multi hit 4 rolling a natural 6 to hit will roll 4 times on the hull hit table.
• Seeking weapons with the Multi Hit D6 trait do NOT roll to hit and cannot penetrate the shields on a natural 6. Roll 1D6 of damage for every AD of seeking weapon, total it and apply it to the targets shield.
• Multi hit weapons striking the Front arc of a Klingon shield do not halve damage if the hit penetrates the shield as a result of a natural 6 on the to hit roll.
Tractor beams
• Each tractor beam can be used once per turn, multiple tractors can be used against a single drone, roll them all together and if one or more roll 4+ the Drone is destroyed. Tractors are the final line of defence against Drones and are used last in any defensive fire against them.
• A ship may only be held by a single tractor beam at any time. However it is possible for multiple ships to attempt to tractor the same target during the movement phase. The first to win the Tractor roll holds the target and any other ships can no longer attempt a tractor log.
Weapon Systems, Weapon Types.
• A weapon system is a single line on the ship sheet, for example a single plasma torpedo, a bank of Phasers or the PH Phaser 1s.
• A weapon Type is PHASERS, DISRUPTORS, PLASMAS, DRONES and any other new weapons to be introduced.
• As a result of a power drain a ship may fire all Phasers or a single weapon system, The weapon system is a single line so under power drain a ship could elect to fire Photon 4AD if that is a single line weapon but could only fire a single Plasma as all plasmas have separate lines for each one.
• The Scout affects a weapon System, for example a scout could lock onto a target and give re rolls to all PHOTONS if they are on the same line but not all Phasers if they are on different lines. Multiple scouts can give the re roll to separate systems.
• When allocating Phasers to Offensive or Defensive fire entire weapon systems must be so allocated. You cannot for example use 1AD from a Phaser-1 3AD against a Drone then use the others against a ship. A single weapon system is used in its entirety Offensively OR Defensively.
• A weapon system is fired once and is then used for the turn even if some of the Attack Dice were not fired for some reason. This applies to both Offensive AND Defensive fire. For example firing a Phaser-1 3AD at two Drones uses the entire weapon system.
Critical Hits
• A critical hit takes effect as soon as it has happened. The damage and effects from an attack are worked out and applied as part of that attack. For example a ship takes a weapon critical and has a penalty to hit, this is applied at once and if that ship fires later in the turn the penalty is in effect.
• A critical hit or Crippled condition that results in the loss of a Trait is applied at once. A ship under cloak that is crippled and loses the Cloak trait does not get the free reposition allowed under the De Cloak special action.
• Critical hits apply when the damage is rolled and will apply to any additional weapons firing as part of that attack. For example a ship fires Phasers, one hit penetrates the shield, causes a critical and drops the ships shield. Any following fire from that ship, Say Disruptors or Photons will directly strike the hull since the shield is down.
• Critical hits apply as written equally to all ships. For example a Fast cruiser (speed 14) is still reduced to speed 10 as a result of that particular critical hit.
• If a critical hit or damage prevents a special action, firing of a weapon, use of a Trait etc these are all lost immediately. For example a ship attempting to use the Maximum warp special action takes hits and is crippled it immediately loses the ability to make that special action.
• In cases where the Critical lists a specific effect apply that effect as it is stated. For example an Impulse Drive critical that reduces the ships speed to 10 will have the same effect on a normal ship (speed 12) and a Fast ship (speed 14). Both are reduced to speed 10.
Order of weapons
• Group the weapons from a firing ship and fire them in any order that the attacker wishes. For example A Gorn could fire Phasers first to weaken the shield then fire Plasmas against the weakened shield looking to do more damaging criticals because of the Devastating trait. Or A Klingon could fire Disruptors first to take down a shield then fire Phasers hoping for more criticals with the Precise Trait.
• While individual weapon systems can be fired in any order all weapons of the same type must be fired before the next weapon system is fired. For Example if you are firing Phasers then Photons ALL Phasers must be fired THEN the Photons are fired. You can fire the Phasers weapon system by weapon system but all Phasers being fired offensively must be fired at that time.
Transporting of Marines
• Marines transported as part of a hit and run are moved to the enemy ship and the hit and run is carried out after the initiating ship has finished its move. Any criticals caused are therefore caused during the movement phase before the attacking phase begins.
Traits and special actions
• Suicide Shuttle. A SINGLE shuttle is charged and launched. The Quick Launch trait allows two shuttles to be launched but only one of them can be a Suicide Shuttle and the identity of the Suicide Shuttle is known to the enemy.
Klingon Front Shields
• ALL weapons in a single salvo count as doing half damage even if they do enough to drop the shield part way through. A single salvo is a single weapon system being fired from the attacker against the Klingon Front Shield. This does mean that a single point of Klingon Front shield will half the damage of a Plasma R or photon salvo which would inflict more than enough to destroy the shield. Once the shield is gone then any subsequent salvos are treated as normal.
Matt can you have a look and say if I have remembered these correctly or not. Also if there are any missing please let me know and I'll add them in. Thanks
ACTA – SF
The rules as stated By Matthew Sprange on the Mongoose Forum
Cloaks
• A cloaked ship can make one 45 degree turn when executing a De-cloak special action; if that ship is AGILE it may make a 90 degree turn.
• When executing a De-cloak the ship may reposition itself within 6”. This move ignores any intervening terrain (for example it can be used to “Jump” across an asteroid belt of less than 6”).
• A cloaked ship that enters a Dust Cloud or Asteroid Field loses its 2+ save as its cloak is negated by that terrain type (but does gain the 5+ save), however the cloak is negated not cancelled so the ship remains under all limitations of being cloaked until such time as it uses the De-Cloak special action or loses its Cloak trait due to damage.
Stealth
• Stealth saves are applied to damage that has hit, not to the “To Hit” Rolls. For example a Photon has Multihit 4. If a Photon rolls to hit a ship with stealth it will cause 4 damage. Each point of damage is then subject to a stealth roll. Multihit weapons are more likely to cause at least some damage to stealthy ships.
• Natural to hit rolls of 6 which would penetrate shields roll stealth for each point of damage as normal, any that bypass stealth strike the ships hull.
• Seeking weapons roll for total damage then apply the stealth roll for each point inflicted. For example 4 Drones hit a Romulan ship that is cloaking. Roll 4D6 (say 14 damage), then roll the 4+ stealth save 14 times (once per point of damage). The remaining damage is then applied as normal.
• The stealth save caused as a result of being inside an Asteroid Field or Dust Cloud is treated in all ways as normal stealth. An Orion ship with stealth 6+ gains +2 stealth while within those terrain types.
Anti Drone Devices
• It is the defenders choice in which order Defensive fire is made, Drones, ADDs or Phasers may be fired in any order as long as any weapons of that type are fired together. Only Tractors are automatically done last since they are the final defence. For example firing 2 AD of Phaser-1 and 1 AD of Phaser-3 these are all Phasers and must be fired before or after ADDs or Drones, you cannot hold back the Phaser 3 for use later against the same attack though it can be held for use against another attack.
• Roll as many dice as there are drones in the attacking wave (all Drones fired by one ship at one target make up the wave), if one or more of those dice are ones then the ADD rating is reduced by ONE. Every drone is automatically stopped in that wave regardless of rolling any ones.
• Ships with multiple ADD racks simply have a higher ADD rating, each time one or more ones are rolled against a Drone wave then the rating is reduced by one. When it hits zero the ADD racks are empty and can no longer be used.
Fed Combined Drone Racks
• The Fed Combined Drone Rack may only fire in ADD mode if the ship has fired NO Drones that turn. Whem used in ADD mode it functions exactly as an ADD
• The ADD rating is based on the Drone rating at the beginning of that turn. For example a Fresh BCh with Drone 4 will start with ADD4.
• Any Ammo used on the ADD reduces the Drone rating at the end of the turn. For example the BCH uses its ADD and rolls one or more ones during a single attack reducing its ADD to 3, next turn it has Drone 3.
• A ship which has lost its Drones due to Critical hits may not use its ADDs.
• A Federation ship under Power Drain that elects to use Phasers cannot use its Combined Racks as ADDs. It can only use the ADDs if it selects its Drones as the one weapon system it can use and may then use them as ADDs under the Federation G-Rack rules. The Federation use of the Combined Drone Racks as an ADD acts in all ways as the Trait ADD but is not a trait, it is a weapon type (Drones) and may be lost or limited in use as Drones can be.
Multi hits weapons on shields
• A weapon with the multi hit trait which rolls a natural 6 on its to hit roll penetrates the shield and the entire damage is then rolled on the hull hit table, for example a photon with multi hit 4 rolling a natural 6 to hit will roll 4 times on the hull hit table.
• Seeking weapons with the Multi Hit D6 trait do NOT roll to hit and cannot penetrate the shields on a natural 6. Roll 1D6 of damage for every AD of seeking weapon, total it and apply it to the targets shield.
• Multi hit weapons striking the Front arc of a Klingon shield do not halve damage if the hit penetrates the shield as a result of a natural 6 on the to hit roll.
Tractor beams
• Each tractor beam can be used once per turn, multiple tractors can be used against a single drone, roll them all together and if one or more roll 4+ the Drone is destroyed. Tractors are the final line of defence against Drones and are used last in any defensive fire against them.
• A ship may only be held by a single tractor beam at any time. However it is possible for multiple ships to attempt to tractor the same target during the movement phase. The first to win the Tractor roll holds the target and any other ships can no longer attempt a tractor log.
Weapon Systems, Weapon Types.
• A weapon system is a single line on the ship sheet, for example a single plasma torpedo, a bank of Phasers or the PH Phaser 1s.
• A weapon Type is PHASERS, DISRUPTORS, PLASMAS, DRONES and any other new weapons to be introduced.
• As a result of a power drain a ship may fire all Phasers or a single weapon system, The weapon system is a single line so under power drain a ship could elect to fire Photon 4AD if that is a single line weapon but could only fire a single Plasma as all plasmas have separate lines for each one.
• The Scout affects a weapon System, for example a scout could lock onto a target and give re rolls to all PHOTONS if they are on the same line but not all Phasers if they are on different lines. Multiple scouts can give the re roll to separate systems.
• When allocating Phasers to Offensive or Defensive fire entire weapon systems must be so allocated. You cannot for example use 1AD from a Phaser-1 3AD against a Drone then use the others against a ship. A single weapon system is used in its entirety Offensively OR Defensively.
• A weapon system is fired once and is then used for the turn even if some of the Attack Dice were not fired for some reason. This applies to both Offensive AND Defensive fire. For example firing a Phaser-1 3AD at two Drones uses the entire weapon system.
Critical Hits
• A critical hit takes effect as soon as it has happened. The damage and effects from an attack are worked out and applied as part of that attack. For example a ship takes a weapon critical and has a penalty to hit, this is applied at once and if that ship fires later in the turn the penalty is in effect.
• A critical hit or Crippled condition that results in the loss of a Trait is applied at once. A ship under cloak that is crippled and loses the Cloak trait does not get the free reposition allowed under the De Cloak special action.
• Critical hits apply when the damage is rolled and will apply to any additional weapons firing as part of that attack. For example a ship fires Phasers, one hit penetrates the shield, causes a critical and drops the ships shield. Any following fire from that ship, Say Disruptors or Photons will directly strike the hull since the shield is down.
• Critical hits apply as written equally to all ships. For example a Fast cruiser (speed 14) is still reduced to speed 10 as a result of that particular critical hit.
• If a critical hit or damage prevents a special action, firing of a weapon, use of a Trait etc these are all lost immediately. For example a ship attempting to use the Maximum warp special action takes hits and is crippled it immediately loses the ability to make that special action.
• In cases where the Critical lists a specific effect apply that effect as it is stated. For example an Impulse Drive critical that reduces the ships speed to 10 will have the same effect on a normal ship (speed 12) and a Fast ship (speed 14). Both are reduced to speed 10.
Order of weapons
• Group the weapons from a firing ship and fire them in any order that the attacker wishes. For example A Gorn could fire Phasers first to weaken the shield then fire Plasmas against the weakened shield looking to do more damaging criticals because of the Devastating trait. Or A Klingon could fire Disruptors first to take down a shield then fire Phasers hoping for more criticals with the Precise Trait.
• While individual weapon systems can be fired in any order all weapons of the same type must be fired before the next weapon system is fired. For Example if you are firing Phasers then Photons ALL Phasers must be fired THEN the Photons are fired. You can fire the Phasers weapon system by weapon system but all Phasers being fired offensively must be fired at that time.
Transporting of Marines
• Marines transported as part of a hit and run are moved to the enemy ship and the hit and run is carried out after the initiating ship has finished its move. Any criticals caused are therefore caused during the movement phase before the attacking phase begins.
Traits and special actions
• Suicide Shuttle. A SINGLE shuttle is charged and launched. The Quick Launch trait allows two shuttles to be launched but only one of them can be a Suicide Shuttle and the identity of the Suicide Shuttle is known to the enemy.
Klingon Front Shields
• ALL weapons in a single salvo count as doing half damage even if they do enough to drop the shield part way through. A single salvo is a single weapon system being fired from the attacker against the Klingon Front Shield. This does mean that a single point of Klingon Front shield will half the damage of a Plasma R or photon salvo which would inflict more than enough to destroy the shield. Once the shield is gone then any subsequent salvos are treated as normal.
