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I'd link the conversation, but the mods of the group deleted the thread. Basically, a player was saying mines were useless. Any good player will simply use a hard left or right or sensor echo away from mines. I pointed out that only a few ships have a hard left or right maneuver, and only ships that can cloak can sensor echo. He replied that there is a ship that can sensor echo without being cloaked. I then said if all you are doing is using mines to damage an enemy ship, you are not using mines effectively. Players use mines to deny areas of the map to opponents, and during OP's with a fixed object, mining that area of the map is VERY effective.

He replied that an unnammed shuttle or small ship can just sweep through and get rid of the mines, so they are useless.



Turns out his group plays mines as one shot- as in, once a ship moves within range and the mines attack, the mine token is removed from the game.

I replied that there is nothing in the game right now that removes a mine token from the board once it's placed; if it was removed after one shot, I'd agree 100% that mines are basically useless, but that's not how they are played, so mines are VERY effective. I then said every meta is different, and mine is shifting to Fighters. He laughed, saying Fighters are as useless as Mines...

At this point, I lost total interest in the thread. This morning, the group mods removed the thread.

Anyone else come across a player/group that plays with different rules, or misinterpreted rules like that? It was a bit surprising. I know I make mistakes- mistakes of ignorance of an FAQ or WORF. But to outright play like that? It's like did they even read the rulebook?

I haven't run into that too much. The only thing close I have seen is one place only plays 2 rounds if they have less than 5 players and they don't retire resources. That's about it. I could see how wild rule interpretations could get annoying though. I don't understand why someone would argue about it online though, but the world is full of strangeness. I'm completely cool with places doing house rules, just make sure everyone knows it going in.

We follow the rules, Gentleman's agreement for faction pure ships (not fleets) or thematic builds, and do not retire resources. so, we're pretty different.

The group I play with is faction pure or penalty pure with up to two factions per fleet, no retired resources. It keeps things fun.