Hello: With all this talk of needle beams (I never found much use for them
myself), I was inspired to bring up discussion on another rarely used system:
The Reflex Field. Last night, I played a 3000 point game at my local game
store. I used my points to construct a small fleet of SDN and CA all of them
sporting reflex screens. I found them very effective when going nose to
nose against a larger number of ships and defending damaged units. While
playing a few questions came to mind:
1. When should the field be activated?
2. What kind of ships would I install a reflex field.
3. How does the field effect fire from fighters? (There were none in this
game. But the question did come up.)
Later,
Date sent: 4-DEC-1996 19:01:51
> 2. What kind of ships would I install a reflex field.
A flying saucer with a Nova Cannon. 8-)
(Since your shields arn't active anyway, you may as well use a reflex field
when not firing).
> 3. How does the field effect fire from fighters? (There were none in
As each fighter can only take 1 point of damage...
> Mark Andrew Siefert writes:
@:) With all this talk of needle beams (I never found much use for @:) them
myself), I was inspired to bring up discussion on another @:) rarely used
system: The Reflex Field.
@:) 1. When should the field be activated?
If this is a rules question, you have to plot it with your movement at the
beginning of the turn. If it's a tactical question, then the field should be
activated when your opponent least expects it.
@:) 2. What kind of ships would I install a reflex field.
This depends on whether your opponent knows you have them or not. I played a
game some time ago in which one player came in with a few large ships and
several escorts. I opened up a withering fire with my AA batteries on one of
the escorts... and ended up eating the damage because they had reflex fields
up. After that, I ignored the escorts almost completely for fear of killing
myself (in fact that same ship, leaving the board with 1 damage box, one fire
control and one AA battery remaining, did later kill itself by taking a pot
shot at an escort that I was sure couldn't have its reflex fields up... but
did). So I would say that putting it on escorts is a good way to score some
early damage and prevent them from getting killed, but it's best if you have
surprise on your side. On bigger ships I'd be more worried about reducing my
rate of fire substantially. Then again, they are pretty big so maybe we have
finally discovered a purpose for light cruisers?
@:) 3. How does the field effect fire from fighters? (There were @:) none in
this game. But the question did come up.)
The rules say the field is activated when the ship is fired upon by "beam
weapons". I would tend to interpret this to mean that the field is only
effective against fire from beam weapons and not torpedoes, needle beams, rail
guns, fighters, etc. I guess this would mean that fighters are a good cure for
reflex fielded ships? I don't think it makes fighters any more powerful than
they already are, really.
I don't think the rules ever suggest that a ship using a reflex field cannot
simultaneously use normal screens. But what happens when the reflex field is
penetrated? Presumably the screens absorb damage normally... right?
> 3. How does the field effect fire from fighters? (There were none in
> this game. But the question did come up.)
The rules state that reflex fields influence beam fire. Hence, sub packs,
pulse torps, and missiles are immune to the effects of the field.
Since fighters are carrying what amounts to a 6" range 1-arc C battery,
I would assume that fighters are affected by the field. Torpedo fighters,
however, would not be affected by the field.
> joachim wrote:
I would think fighters are affected by the field since they attack with
C-batt level weapons and are reduced by shields.
> I don't think the rules ever suggest that a ship using a reflex
If they operate at the same time, this raises the question of the operating
envelope of the reflex field and shields. If the reflex field was below the
shields, it could trigger a pinball-like effect where the beam fire
could
pass through the shields twice - once defending the target ship, and
once outgoing towards the firing ship. If this was the case, the target ship's
shields would also work to protect the firing ship from the return fire.
It
might work if the reflex field was on the outside, except how could the ship
maintain two distinctly different energy fields layered on top of each other
at the same time? It seems more plausible to use one or the other.
The current discussions on needle beams and the reflex field prompted me to
think what happens if you attack a reflex field protected ship with a needle
beam (assuming at least some of the beam is reflected - if not then the
point is moot!) As the beam is targetted on a specific system I would think it
unlikely to hit anything on reflection but I suppose it is possible (maybe a
random system hit on the firing ship on a further roll of 6) Also if half of
the beam is reflected does the targetted ship lose the system or not?
> Mark Andrew Siefert writes:
> 2. What kind of ships would I install a reflex field.
Personally I find the field works well on ships which don't have a great deal
of direct offensive power such as area defense ships and carriers. They should
also work well on ships armed with multi turm arming weapons i.e. the wave gun
but personally I favour using a cloak in this case (I still remember the face
of one opponent when after plotting 5 turns of cloaked movement two
cruisers decloaked 1 inch away from his carrier - and that was before he
found out the hard way the were armed with fully charged wave guns!) If your
group allows them to be fitted to tugs go for it but in any case remember they
only affect beam weapons and not all the time ( after you have used them
expect to see more pulse torps coming against you)
> Craig Mitchell wrote:
Good point. I like the idea of a random roll to see if it might hit the
originating ship. If the needle beam gets reflected, it would seem the
reflected energy might not be as coherent as when it was fired by the needle
beam weapon. How about treating it as a single C-beam battery to hit
since it is a single weapon system and probably would be reduced in
effectiveness if its beam was dispersed.