Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Finally got round to playing a few games of FA and have to say I'm lovin it. I think what's appealing to me most is the randomness of using the cards and the critical hits. Me and gaming buddy have basically got a starter fleet each, plus a Carrier, x2 Heavy Cruisers, x2 R&D's, & x6 Escorts with the Dreadnought / Destroyers on the painting tables. Currently we've not played any rules for Wings, they are the next game. We've a Terran and Directorate fleet.

The last game we had x6 12 results on the Critical hit table, 2 of which we're both our Battleships on the first time they'd been hit! But there is a rule we're having difficulty with, so I thought I'd throw it open here........

Linked Fire. It says you half the number of dice when linking fire for the second weapon system. But which is the 2nd weapon system? E.g, My Terran Battleship at RB2 fires Starboard Broadside (8) and links in its Turrets (12). Which one do I half, the turrets or the Broadsides? We've been playing whichever weapon system is the lowest gets halved (rounding down). Can I then link in my Torpedos (6) into this same attack, to add another 3?

Another question on Linked Fire, say I have x2 Cruisers at Range Band 2 Firing Broadsides (7). I want to link fire thier Broadsides to give me 10 (7 plus 3 linked). Can i then link in their Torpedoes (3 from one and 1 from the other) into this same attack to give me a total of 13? Or do the Torpedoes have to then be a seperate attack?

Any help is appreciated, there's no arguments, just confusion. We normally work the rules to whatever is the more generous, so at the moment we are linking as many weapon systems as we can get into 1 attack.

I don't play FA, but as I understand it, all of Spartan's game systems use a very similar core ruleset.

In Dystopian Wars, weapon systems can only link with similar weapon systems. Usually turrets are primary weapons and broadsides or port/starboard guns are secondary. You link secondaries with other secondaries and primaries with other primaries. Torpedoes go with other torpedoes and so on.

So I'd look at that.

Spellbound wrote:I don't play FA, but as I understand it, all of Spartan's game systems use a very similar core ruleset.

In Dystopian Wars, weapon systems can only link with similar weapon systems. Usually turrets are primary weapons and broadsides or port/starboard guns are secondary. You link secondaries with other secondaries and primaries with other primaries. Torpedoes go with other torpedoes and so on.

So I'd look at that.

You are close; FA does not have primary or secondary weapons systems, however. Broadsides and turrets can link; the player chooses which system is leading the attack. So, per the OP's example, the Terran BB can either link it's broadsides with its turrets for 16 dice or link it's turrets with its broadsides for 14 dice. I'd know which I'd pick .

Torpedoes, however, can not link with broadsides or turrets. So, for your both of your examples, you would have to roll the torp dice as separate attacks.

New rules query. Having re read the linked fire and the posts above we have that one sorted. We tried out the new Dreadnought Models....................

The rules as we have read them say you reduce each broadsides AD by 1 for the highest type damage points you've recieved (but if reduced to 0, you always get 1AD). So if you'd lost 3HP and 2 CP, you'd reduce your AD by 3. Does this still apply for dreadnoughts?

I ask because they have such a high HP value compared to their AD values. E.g., The Directorate Dreadnought has a HP of 11 whilst at RB1 its highest AD is 9 of its weapon system. So if its lost 8 or more HP, its AD is reduced to just 1 which renders it a bit useless. In the game we played it still had 4HP left but its weapons and PD was basically rendered useless due to it loosing 8AD. For such a large ship just didn't seem to play right.

Anyone out there have any thoughts on the above or experienced the same????

I haven't seen anything that states that dreads are not subject to the same damage rules as any other ship so you're still going to be losing attack dice as you take damage.

I really have no problem with this when it comes to dreads. Just because the ship hasn't exploded doesn't mean it's in any condition to fight. If you're to the point where your guns are reduced to a single die from damage it's time to leave (and save yourself some VP.). In theory, you could have an almost pristine ship but if you've lost all your crew it doesn't really matter. Cut your losses and save the taxpayers some money. Fix the ship, don't replace it.

I understand the theory and where you are coming from. But in game terms what's the point of such a high HP compared to a lower AD of broadsides as when its 50% damaged, its relatively usless.

I think its an 'each to their own' where we are looking at a house rule that allows 25% damage before loosing AD or a minimum of 25% of AD rather than the 1 stated in the rule book.

Your big guns on a Directorate Dread are not your port/stbd guns but your forward firing cannons. Even at 10pts of damage you can still throw 4 (or is it 5?) dice by linking fire at range band 2 from the front (and 2 dice to each side.) Unless you're slugging it out with another dread that's still not bad. Plus, you get to double dip on your crits because of your disruption cannons which is quite nice.

By comparison, my Sorylian dread will only need to take 7pts of damage and will only be throwing a 1 die attack forward (although my broadsides will still be at 10 dice and 1 die but that's where Sorylians excel is in their port/stbd fire arcs.)

Dindrenzi suffer even more since they need to split their gun racks to each side AND they have no shields at all. At 10 hits they are only throwing 1 die to either their port or stbd side (not both) and 5 dice forward on a link.

The point of high hit points is not to preserve your fighting capacity but to make it hard for your opponent to take those VPs away.

Not to mention the ship will stay alive longer to use any torpedoes, which aren't affected by damage. Boarding too, although that can be affected by criticals so it is not such a good example.