Post by skarg on Sept 13, 2016 13:30:05 GMT -5
I am trying to learn the rules, but it seems to me that they do not fully explain themselves. Like some of the other rules sections, they seem to be written as short-cut quick-reference reminders, and in some cases do not fully detail all of what is to be done or not done. Reading the forum replies, I see players are invited to fill in the rules as they deem best, but it seems to me that in some places it's unclear what the rules mean, and the Dog Fight rules seem particularly unclear to me. I wonder if maybe they are based on some other game, which if I knew that, I could fill in the blanks from that game.
Having read through the rules several times, and reading the rules again from start to end, I follow well enough up until the Resolving Maneuver section. The maneuver list seems not to explain all the choices and conditions. If I read them literally, all ships start out disengaged, and so their only maneuver option is to attempt Pursuit, or to Exit. Pursuit is only shown as leading to Pursuit, unless there is a tie on the attempt of a Disengaged ship to Pursue another (I infer, after many re-readings, from "If disengaged foes tie", since it seems to be the only choice for a Disengaged ship to do to another ship?), in which case it leads to Turning. Turning can lead to Disengaged, or Pursuit. Nothing says how anyone can get into Fleeing. Are we supposed to infer that when one ship succeeds in Pursuing an enemy, that the enemy is forced into Fleeing state? Is Fleeing just the receiving state you get it when someone Pursues you?
Then we get to "Only one craft can pursue a fleeing foe." So, if Pursuing a ship makes that ship be "Fleeing" you, there is never a way to have two ships Pursuing another ship, yes?
A "tailing foe" means a foe with Pursuit status on the ship, yes?
The Unopposed Maneuver rule seems like it should probably have exceptions, or an option to ignore engagement, as I start to imagine an unarmed minimal ship engaging an enemy just so a ship with weapons can automatically get pursuit on the same target. Seems like there should be an option to keep attention on the real threat. This point also gets me re-confused by the Engagement rule, which is worded in a way that could be read as Engagement only applies to the ship doing the engaging, not necessarily to the ship it engages. Relative Positions does say Fleeing is an "Engaged position", but that also leads me to question my idea that Pursuit puts the target in Fleeing. I imagine trying to GM this and having players say "We don't flee the ship with hardly any weapons." Seems like this should all be much more clearly spelled out somewhere, but at the minimum, there needs to be a rule for what if a ship elects not to resist being pursued by an enemy, in order to be able to resist being forced into Engaged-Fleeing status and thus have no resistance to being Pursued by another enemy.
Now the Firing section. It doesn't explain what the sub-sections are. Are they options, or maneuver states? Because when I read the first sentence: "A craft can only fire on a target he is pursuing, or a target on a firing run." - that sounds very much like "a target on a firing run" is a state of some sort. But nothing seems to describe what puts a ship into that state. The first section is Pursuit, which IS a maneuver state, so that seems clear. But the next two sections are "Firing Run" and "Forward Firing Run", which were never mentioned in the preceding sections on Dog Fights and Maneuver.
Firing Run says in an indirect way that Disengaged seems to be the state which allows this firing option. Does that mean that all Disengaged ships are "on a firing run" for purposes of the "A craft can only fire on a target he is pursuing, or a target on a firing run" rule? Does it mean that if I am being Pursued, I can fire on all other ships in the area that I am not engaged with, instead of doing anything to the ship who has me in Pursuit? Sounds like, except the last sentence on Firing Run reads, "Afterwards,
craft are disengaged from one other." Or is that just to say they remain Disengaged, since Disengaged was the required state to do a Firing Run in the first place?
Facing Firing Run is interesting. Based on my current assumptions, it seems to be a firing option only available on the first turn. It seems to apply to ships which start and end the fire action Disengaged. I assume this is a firing option as opposed to a maneuver, and so it doesn't involve any maneuver roll or any choice by the target. So essentially it means that on the first turn of combat (only), a ship can choose to do this and fire at 3d6, with the trade-off that the enemy also gets to fire at 3d6, with damage applied simultaneously (i.e. both ships get to fire before effects of damage could reduce their firepower).
In theory, the opponent could also choose that option, with the result that those ships would each fire twice at each other before the second set of turns - or maybe not - the Initiative section says the player who wins Initiative has the first turn - maybe this is meant to be literally applied so that the player who loses initiative has his first turn be considered the second turn of the battle? Hmm, in that case, only the player who wins initiative could do a Facing Firing Run, but then the player who lost initiative could choose to Exit on his first turn with any ship which isn't engaged. So, it's pretty vital to know what "first turn" means in all rules that use the term - is the first turn of the player who lost initiative the first turn or the second turn, for purposes of these rules that limit actions to only/not on the first turn?
"The attacker may inflict fewer damage points than he rolled, preserving craft sections." So the attacker can always choose not to destroy an enemy ship, and any destroyed ship was a choice to blow it up rather than leave a wreck?
Having read through the rules several times, and reading the rules again from start to end, I follow well enough up until the Resolving Maneuver section. The maneuver list seems not to explain all the choices and conditions. If I read them literally, all ships start out disengaged, and so their only maneuver option is to attempt Pursuit, or to Exit. Pursuit is only shown as leading to Pursuit, unless there is a tie on the attempt of a Disengaged ship to Pursue another (I infer, after many re-readings, from "If disengaged foes tie", since it seems to be the only choice for a Disengaged ship to do to another ship?), in which case it leads to Turning. Turning can lead to Disengaged, or Pursuit. Nothing says how anyone can get into Fleeing. Are we supposed to infer that when one ship succeeds in Pursuing an enemy, that the enemy is forced into Fleeing state? Is Fleeing just the receiving state you get it when someone Pursues you?
Then we get to "Only one craft can pursue a fleeing foe." So, if Pursuing a ship makes that ship be "Fleeing" you, there is never a way to have two ships Pursuing another ship, yes?
A "tailing foe" means a foe with Pursuit status on the ship, yes?
The Unopposed Maneuver rule seems like it should probably have exceptions, or an option to ignore engagement, as I start to imagine an unarmed minimal ship engaging an enemy just so a ship with weapons can automatically get pursuit on the same target. Seems like there should be an option to keep attention on the real threat. This point also gets me re-confused by the Engagement rule, which is worded in a way that could be read as Engagement only applies to the ship doing the engaging, not necessarily to the ship it engages. Relative Positions does say Fleeing is an "Engaged position", but that also leads me to question my idea that Pursuit puts the target in Fleeing. I imagine trying to GM this and having players say "We don't flee the ship with hardly any weapons." Seems like this should all be much more clearly spelled out somewhere, but at the minimum, there needs to be a rule for what if a ship elects not to resist being pursued by an enemy, in order to be able to resist being forced into Engaged-Fleeing status and thus have no resistance to being Pursued by another enemy.
Now the Firing section. It doesn't explain what the sub-sections are. Are they options, or maneuver states? Because when I read the first sentence: "A craft can only fire on a target he is pursuing, or a target on a firing run." - that sounds very much like "a target on a firing run" is a state of some sort. But nothing seems to describe what puts a ship into that state. The first section is Pursuit, which IS a maneuver state, so that seems clear. But the next two sections are "Firing Run" and "Forward Firing Run", which were never mentioned in the preceding sections on Dog Fights and Maneuver.
Firing Run says in an indirect way that Disengaged seems to be the state which allows this firing option. Does that mean that all Disengaged ships are "on a firing run" for purposes of the "A craft can only fire on a target he is pursuing, or a target on a firing run" rule? Does it mean that if I am being Pursued, I can fire on all other ships in the area that I am not engaged with, instead of doing anything to the ship who has me in Pursuit? Sounds like, except the last sentence on Firing Run reads, "Afterwards,
craft are disengaged from one other." Or is that just to say they remain Disengaged, since Disengaged was the required state to do a Firing Run in the first place?
Facing Firing Run is interesting. Based on my current assumptions, it seems to be a firing option only available on the first turn. It seems to apply to ships which start and end the fire action Disengaged. I assume this is a firing option as opposed to a maneuver, and so it doesn't involve any maneuver roll or any choice by the target. So essentially it means that on the first turn of combat (only), a ship can choose to do this and fire at 3d6, with the trade-off that the enemy also gets to fire at 3d6, with damage applied simultaneously (i.e. both ships get to fire before effects of damage could reduce their firepower).
In theory, the opponent could also choose that option, with the result that those ships would each fire twice at each other before the second set of turns - or maybe not - the Initiative section says the player who wins Initiative has the first turn - maybe this is meant to be literally applied so that the player who loses initiative has his first turn be considered the second turn of the battle? Hmm, in that case, only the player who wins initiative could do a Facing Firing Run, but then the player who lost initiative could choose to Exit on his first turn with any ship which isn't engaged. So, it's pretty vital to know what "first turn" means in all rules that use the term - is the first turn of the player who lost initiative the first turn or the second turn, for purposes of these rules that limit actions to only/not on the first turn?
"The attacker may inflict fewer damage points than he rolled, preserving craft sections." So the attacker can always choose not to destroy an enemy ship, and any destroyed ship was a choice to blow it up rather than leave a wreck?