Space combat, turret reactions

[andrea ganrel]

Hi i've started a campaign and we had our first space combat. We had a doubt
the turret description says that a turret can fir with any or all of the weapons but may only fire once per round... reaction does count?
if a turret fire in combat phase; it cannot use sand or point defense?
and even if he can he can only use sand or point defense the same turn?

 

[Xerxeskingofking]

1)the turret description says that a turret can fire with any or all of the weapons but may only fire once per round... reaction does count?

2) if a turret fire in combat phase; it cannot use sand or point defense?

3)and even if he can, he can only use sand or point defense the same turn?

1) I think each gunner gets one action per round, which is either "fire", or "react". he can choose to hold fire and react to incoming threats, or fire at the attackers, but not both in the same round.

2) as far as i know, yes. If you shoot, you cannot use that same laser for point defense. since you can only fire each turret once a turn, it makes sense to fire all weapons on a turret at once.

3) I think that it's either/or.

 

[aramis]

1) I think each gunner gets one action per round, which is either "fire", or "react". he can choose to hold fire and react to incoming threats, or fire at the attackers, but not both in the same round.

2) as far as i know, yes. If you shoot, you cannot use that same laser for point defense. since you can only fire each turret once a turn, it makes sense to fire all weapons on a turret at once.

3) I think that it's either/or.

That's how I read it, too.

 

[andrea ganrel]

thank you

 

[D. Foxx]

I was looking at the Point Defense rules on pg 149 of the rule book and it states "A gunner may keep making Gunner checks against missiles until he misses an attack..." This implies that the turret may be fired more then once. Each attack suffers a cumulative -1 penalty. Perhaps they intended space combat to be similar to personnal combat with a dynamic initiative and reactions impacting attack actions?

 

[aramis]

I was looking at the Point Defense rules on pg 149 of the rule book and it states "A gunner may keep making Gunner checks against missiles until he misses an attack..." This implies that the turret may be fired more then once. Each attack suffers a cumulative -1 penalty. Perhaps they intended space combat to be similar to personnal combat with a dynamic initiative and reactions impacting attack actions?

In draft 3.2, it was... However, what they published for personal and ship combat bears only limited resemblance to that draft. Different task mechanics, and very different combat mechanics because of it.

The way I interpret it is a turret can fire either offensively or defensively; offense is all those shots going down range, defense is all at stuff coming in.

 

[D. Foxx]

In draft 3.2, it was... However, what they published for personal and ship combat bears only limited resemblance to that draft. Different task mechanics, and very different combat mechanics because of it.

So the Pocket Rule Book published in 2008 was a draft? o:

 

[aramis]

So the Pocket Rule Book published in 2008 was a draft? o:

No. I was in on the public playtest, and between the last public draft and the released early 2008 hardcover, they altered the combat mechanics and task system to something unlike what was playtested.

The hardcover and PDF (which are the editions I have) are FAR less action-point oriented. (literally, the draft was an action point mechanic.)

 

[D. Foxx]

No. I was in on the public playtest, and between the last public draft and the released early 2008 hardcover, they altered the combat mechanics and task system to something unlike what was playtested.

The hardcover and PDF (which are the editions I have) are FAR less action-point oriented. (literally, the draft was an action point mechanic.)

The rule I quoted was in the pocket rules and the PDF copy of the hardback rulebook, so maybe the rule didn't change as much as you think?

 

[aramis]

The rule I quoted was in the pocket rules and the PDF copy of the hardback rulebook, so maybe the rule didn't change as much as you think?

1: the smiley is offensive, because It's patronizing. If it were aimed at anyone else, it'd draw a warning, reading "SMILEYS DO NOT MAKE SNARK ACCEPTABLE."

2: nothing in the current rules explicitly permits both offensive and defensive fire in the same turn.

In fact, it's noted under "Firing Beam Weapons" that:
"A gunner may fire any or all of the weapons in his turret or bay but each turret or bay may only fire once per round." p.147. It doesn't specify offense versus defense.

The only wiggle room is that the point defense section doesn't say "fire"... but it uses the similar meaning "attack".

A gunner, however, can clearly point defense fire at multiple targets with multiple weapons.

3: unless you've looked at the playtest, you can't even begin to comment validly on how much it has changed. The entire task system was different, and the combat systems use almost no matching text, because they are very different in almost all respects.

There was no multi-defense penalty in the playtest. It was 1 AP (plus power per the weapon's power requirement) per defense fire. You earned 2 AP per turn, and had to have 6 AP to fire offensively (and could never have 7+ AP). So, it was inherently limited. An offense fire action resulted in 1d6 AP remaining... one of the two d6 thrown for the to hit; the other determined the damage. And weapons had to spend power points to fire.

 

[D. Foxx]

1: the smiley is offensive, because It's patronizing. If it were aimed at anyone else, it'd draw a warning, reading "SMILEYS DO NOT MAKE SNARK ACCEPTABLE."

I apologize if you took that remark as snarky and if the smiley face made it worse. That was not my intent. I was merely trying defuse what seemed to me to be a bit of a harsh response from you.

No. I was in on the public playtest, and between the last public draft and the released early 2008 hardcover, they altered the combat mechanics and task system to something unlike what was playtested.

2: nothing in the current rules explicitly permits both offensive and defensive fire in the same turn.

In fact, it's noted under "Firing Beam Weapons" that:
"A gunner may fire any or all of the weapons in his turret or bay but each turret or bay may only fire once per round." p.147. It doesn't specify offense versus defense.

The only wiggle room is that the point defense section doesn't say "fire"... but it uses the similar meaning "attack".

A gunner, however, can clearly point defense fire at multiple targets with multiple weapons.

You are correct that nothing explicitly permits both offensive and defensive fire in the same turn. However the point defense rule does not mention anything about firing multiple weapons. It only states that the gunner may continue to fire until he misses. That implies multiple attacks from a single turret.

I believe the bottom line here is that the rules leave some of this up to interpretation and that no one is necessarily wrong or right. Time for a house rule.

 

[McPerth]

I'm not sure if this question should be on this thread, but as is about MGT combt rules, I'll post it here:

The rules say that fire control software may be used to control a weapon per level of the program.

Does that mean that a triple turret needs a fire control 3 program to be run by the computer (if human controled, a character with gunnery 3 can control all three weapons with skill 3...)?

 

[HG_B]

I'm not sure if this question should be on this thread, but as is about MGT combt rules, I'll post it here:

The rules say that fire control software may be used to control a weapon per level of the program.

Does that mean that a triple turret needs a fire control 3 program to be run by the computer (if human controled, a character with gunnery 3 can control all three weapons with skill 3...)?

No, "per weapon" is number of turrets rather than number of weapons per turret.
So, F/C-3 is needed for firing 3 turrets/round. Or, can fire 1 turret with a 3 mod.

As far as the defensive fire goes, the rule could be read either way but, it makes no mention of multiple turrets in order to qual for multiple defensive shots, with cumulative -1 to hit.