At full strength is it 3 MD hitting on three's and 2 MD hitting on four's?
It's just as printed, a 5*. So, all five crewmen hit on a three or better.
Combined Hull Points 3. Any chance of making it 4? It'll make the RD a little more survivable and hee hee simplifies the math when splitting. The mystery hull point continues to fog up my math skills. Is it a remainder that gets carried over or is it some kind of variable? In all seriousness comparing the RD to other 65 point ships may help justify a fourth hull point. Perhaps using the medium turn template for the combined vessel will address some of the concerns that a 4 hull point frigate generates. Although it can take a crit and is only hit on 5's and 6's by capitals it still carries the typical frigate DR and CR, unheard of any other 65 point ship that I'm aware of.
No chance of 4 hull. The Raven Destroyer is a Destroyer. I realize this may seem strange at first because right now it's the only Destroyer, but soon there will be seven more of them and it won't feel like the odd man out anymore with a bunch of other 3-hull ships around. I think you're over-thinking it. It's a ship with 3 hull. If it splits and has 1 damage on it, that damage goes to the back end. If it splits and has 2 damage on it, each end gets 1. If it has 3 damage and succeeds at Desperate Ram, the back end sinks and the front end has a special rule that it lives for one more turn to ram something. Because of Desperate Ram, it's probably fair to say that the overall ship has about 3.25 hull if that doesn't provoke another math freakout
Actually, that doesn't count the extra durability of being hit on 5's either.
This is as good a place as any to mention this point. More Destroyers are coming fairly soon, and they will be their own class. They are not Frigates, even though they are also a Small sized ship and share the property that Capital models only hit them on a 5+. Destroyers will have their own squad sizes, but will have rules allowing them to be attached to a Frigate squad. The Raven is more special than a typical Destroyer, with the large elite crew and special effects, so it will cost more than the others do. It will also be able to fielded in mixed squads with the other Elf Destroyer when that comes out.
Re-Link. You've brought this rule a lot closer to being clear and playable, thanks. However I think it may be better to drop it altogether in favor of making the assault ship a one shot special attack. Perhaps blending the concept of the Desperate Ram rule with the Desperate Assault I suggested in my thread will make for an even more playable ship. I believe there would be nothing in addition to the regular ramming and boarding rules to keep track of.
This is something that we're open to. If other players feel that they'd rather have the front end as a one-shot weapon and drop the relinking rules please comment on this thread to that effect. The way things work now (in case it's not clear) is that the two ends have to touch (in any orientation), and they can't attack while doing it. There are some issues with the Desperate Assault idea from your other thread to mention though. So, the way average joe described this the front end automatically sinks when it rams, but performs the boarding action anyway. The odd part is, what happens if they win the boarding action? There is no ship to go back to. They cannot prize the enemy ship either, they have no way to take any valuables home. The Elf crewmen can do nothing else, so essentially they just disappear, fall over dead for no reason, or however else you like to rationalize it. Anyway, it's something that can be considered non-intuitive. I'm interested to hear what everyone prefers in this respect.
I play my RD's in mixed squadrons. May any of my frigates even those that initially were not Raven Destroyers re-link with an assault ship? I'm assuming yes, but just wanting to know for sure.
Yes. That's what the "Any Raven Frigate from the same squadron may re-link with the Assault Ship" sentence does. So if you lost your original back-end Frigate you can still link with one of your other squadmates.
I can't think of a good clean way to do re-linking. Having to align your ships front to aft is so fiddly. You should be able to relink with any frigate - or you'd have to paint your carring frigates with special markings on (which our player hasn't). I've already said I'd take this rule out. Or make it really simple like "At the end of its movement, any raven frigate in base to base contact with an assault pod re-links." - make the linking frigate unable to shoot or something.
That's fairly close to how it works now, you do not have to align - any touch will allow a re-link. But, you can only re-link with your own squad and neither end can shoot. I'm not sure that special markings are necessary, the rest of their squad is typically close by and telling them apart from another Frigate squad is not much different from telling any two Frigate squads apart.
I can't think of a good clean way to do re-linking. Having to align your ships front
One point - Does the new elf heavy cruiser make this model outmoded?
Any specialized model will have its fans and those who are not fans. The Heavy Cruiser is a tank, something that the Elves have been needing. The Assault Destroyer is a little faster and more maneuverable with some special effects. It's better at killing other small models and has the elite crew. Between the two, the HC is overall the stronger model in general so it costs more. It's also worth noting that they come out of different "budgets" when constructing a list. The HC is a Variant, so the number you take is limited by how many normal Cruisers you have. The Assault Destroyer is a Special, they don't count against or depend on your Cruiser loadout. At a certain point you can take no more HC's but you may be able to add Ravens.
December 11, 2009, 04:42:10 pm
