Command FireCon allows other ships, within 6 MU of the owning ship to fire as
if they had the same position as the ship with the Command FireCon.
They do NOT fire at the same time; they must wait to be activated as normal,
and may only fire with weapons that remain at the time of activation. The
other ships must use the same position for all fire that turn.
The ship with the Command FireCon must be activated before any other ships
that will make use of the system, and those ships must be announced when the
initial ship is activated.
4 MASS, 16 POINT COST
Symbol: A square about twice the size of a normal FireCon, with one larger dot
in the center, and four smaller dots, one in each corner.
Comments? Suggestions?
G'day Schoon,
> Comments? Suggestions?
What's the PSB our of interest... I can imagine at least one guy here who when
he got hold of this would immediate attempt to have one large ship sit 12" off
the target with a mass of class 1 only little guys sitting behind him at just
less than 6" (if he can manage it).
Cheers
Beth
--- Sean Bayan Schoonmaker <s_schoon@pacbell.net>
wrote:
> Command FireCon allows other ships, within 6 MU of
Just questions! 1) Is the secondary ship 'slaved' to the CFC for the complete
turn. 2) If slaved, does the loss of the CFC prevent the slaved ship from
firing due to the loss of the master FCS. 3) Does the CFC act as another FCS
for all ships within 6MU of the master. 4) What PSB will be used to justify
the increased range bands for beams, ect.
Bye for now,
> What's the PSB our of interest... I can imagine at least one guy
It started life as a way for smaller ships to "save" a FireCon by using the
targeting system of another ship, allowing them to fire at the same time and
same target as the Command ship, and then allowing them to fire remaining
weapons later using their own FireCons. Sort of like the Starfire Command
Datalink.
However, this was WAY too easily abused.
"So," thinks I, "how can I keep the spirit of FT, and yet have something
that's still sorta cool."
Looking over the ADFC rules, I figured that just allowing the other ship to
take advantage of the 6" rule in OFFENSIVE fire might be the trick.
Keep in mind that all those little Class 1s have to wait their turn to fire,
and meanwhile, since the Command ship has already made itself a big fat
target, everyone is going to focus their attention on it! It's also harder
than you think to get the maneuvering right so that happens!
Perhaps I should have added that if the ship mounting the CFC is destroyed,
the effect is cancelled.
Enjoy,
> Just questions!
Yes. All fire from the slaved ship is considered to originate at the Command
ship for the entire turn.
> 2) If slaved, does the loss of the CFC prevent
I'd be inclined to say "Yes" on this one.
> 3) Does the CFC act as another FCS for all ships
All ships within 6 MU specifically picked at the time the Command ship is
activated.
> 4) What PSB will be used to justify the increased
The Command ship is broadcasting its targeting solutions to nearby vessels,
who are able to slave their weapons for increased accuracy.
G'day Schoon,
All sounds very reasonable, only one thing. You said (well wrote) that:
> It started life as a way for smaller ships to "save" a FireCon by
And in reply to John you indicated that the slaved ship shouldn't be allowed
to fire at all that turn (sorry if I misunderstood).
So just for clarification to do they lose all fire (losing ability to use ANY
of their own FC if the CFC goes down)? Or do they just ignore the fact they
were slaved (i.e. whole slave thing
cancelled) Or is it only the fire they would've done via the CFC cancelled
(while this seems to fit the spirit of what you were trying to do I can see
unscrupulous joes saying "oh no that gun wasn't slaved only that gun was"
which in turn would force the original declarations to get a bit long winded).
While not exactly the same as what you're doing I have also thought about this
kind of thing, but I went the other way. One of my aliens in the GZGverse
sideshot I'm fiddling with has the following technology. It hasn't been played
enough to know for sure the numbers are right, but it hasn't
caused a meltdown as yet.
"Their ships can also display an unusual sensor array that allows them to lend
out FC to neighbouring ships (this appears to have been an incidental
technology accruing from their need to get around the problems of long range
communication). The array is 2 mass and costs 5xmass and allows the ship to
lend its FC to anyone ship (per functioning array) within 6". Obviously the
ship itself can not then use those FC to fire its own weapons."
Its probably not doing exactly what you want though. Just a thought.
Beth
> And in reply to John you indicated that the slaved ship shouldn't be
Heh-heh. Caught me. Actually I hadn't really given the destruction of
the system alot of thought until John brought it up. So I decided (on the fly,
so to speak) to go with the more harsh choice. I should help
rules-weenies to think twice before attempting to abuse the system.
So just for clarification, we could add that ships decide which weapons to
slave to the command ship. If the CFC is
destroyed/disabled those weapons may not fire. However, for
simplicity's sake, I'm going with the whole ship concept. Slave everything, if
the CFC goes, you loose it all!
> "Their ships can also display an unusual sensor array that allows
Cool. Not quite what I'm looking for here, but I do like the idea. What were
you developing it for? I'd like to see the rest.
--- Sean Bayan Schoonmaker <s_schoon@pacbell.net>
wrote:
...
> >4) What PSB will be used to justify the increased
I agree with the presentation of the answers to 1,2, and 3, but I have
reservations about number 4. I would suggest that the following: If the beam
weapons are beyond normal range an additional die may be thrown with a normal
'to hit' for a maximum of one damage point. EPT and similar weapons can get
half damage under this suggestion. (But limiting the use to just beams would
be better.)
I just have a problem with anything that 'increases' the maximum effective
range of weapon systems.
I would suggest that you have a basic 'CFC' with the provision to add 1 mass
for each additional ship the CFC can control.
Bye for now,
> I would suggest that you have a basic 'CFC'
Good idea. Perhaps MASS 3 (gives 1 ship) +1 MASS per additional ship?