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Old 07-23-2018, 09:07 PM   #4
weevis
 
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Default Re: [Spaceships] I'm closing on nothing, and 4 other confusions.

Thanks for your fast replies! So fast! And so helpful.

IS THERE “NON-BONUS” ACCELERATION THAT MATTERS?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mlangsdorf View Post
If you don't provide enough acceleration for long enough, your position doesn't change enough to matter.
I get that part, but I'm saying that in the book there are some passages that ask you to consider to whether your ship is "accelerating" or not. Then there are other passages that ask you to check whether it has earned an "acceleration bonus" or not. The latter (the bonus) I understand. But what are the former -- those "plain" acceleration passages -- doing? Are they trying to convey that non-significant (or what I called "non-bonus") acceleration counts for something?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mlangsdorf View Post
There are two conditions that let you choose the Retreat maneuver: you accelerate out of an an Evasive maneuver,
Yay! This helps so much -- I missed the "accelerate out of" (acceleration bonus required) part. So it seems to me that maybe there is no "non-bonus" acceleration to consider? That use of the word "bonus" is what confused me.

FAILED CLOSING MANEUVER?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mlangsdorf View Post
You're Neutral to everyone. See SS1 p 57. "Use this column to calculate range if your vessel failed to succeed with a Closing Maneuver this turn."
Ah, great. I obviously missed that. So the follow-up question would then be... when the rules ask you if a ship "performed Hold Course or a Closing maneuver on its last turn," (p. SS55) does that really mean "performed" and "Closing" or does it also mean to include "tried but failed to perform Closing" and therefore "neutral."

Since it has "Hold Course" in there I'd say it wants "neutral" too.

I’M GOING SO FAST I HAVE TO TAKE EVASIVE ACTION

Quote:
Originally Posted by mlangsdorf View Post
You're adding velocity and changing position a lot. You're either moving into engagement (Closing) or you're moving away from it (Evasive Action). There isn't an option where you go really fast in place.
OK that's what I was thinking. I guess I was hung up on the names. When I imagine telling the PCs with their superfast ship which is accelerating a lot "you can either evade or close" it seems like too few options -- but I understand the need to remove options to make things simpler.

CLOSING ON NOTHING

Quote:
Originally Posted by mlangsdorf View Post
Sure, what's the problem?
Just so I'm clear about the problem: This looks to me like it could be read to mean that you can close on nothing (an undetected ship). It could also be read to mean that the other ship is closing on a third party. So if closing on nothing makes no sense -- which sounds right -- I will put that reading out of my mind.

CRITICAL HITS DON’T AFFECT POINT DEFENSE?

Quote:
Originally Posted by mlangsdorf View Post
Point Defense is actually a Wait maneuver performed by the target vessel, not a defense.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
Point Defense is not an Active Defense
OK. Looks like we can call that case closed. This ineffectiveness of criticals vs. point defense seems too bad, but I said I didn't need any commentary on the rules so I won't go there. The *as usual* threw me.

Really appreciate the help.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred Brackin View Post
<sigh>
The posts on here about the Spaceships basic combat rules are so filled with wistfulness and disdain. I hope I am not learning this for nothing.
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