Do Huge ships start with Energy? Like shields? Or start with 0 and build it up through manoeuvres?

The jury is still out on that one, there is no rule in the transport book that says they do or do not.

My assumption is they start with max energy.

So how have people been playing them?

The one Cinematic mission I've played the Transport started with no energy and got wiped off the mat on the second round by a tie swarm... Bad start for a new product.... Been reluctant to play it again...

I ran Evacuation of Hoth this past Saturday and my ruling was that huge ships started with full energy just like shields etc.

I ran Evacuation of Hoth this past Saturday and my ruling was that huge ships started with full energy just like shields etc.

How did that work out? Victory? Too easy? Or balanced?

Everythin I've seen has them starting with none. It makes sense that if they didn't start with adding a step to setup that they only get added when the rules say they would. We have a charge shields step after all.

I ran Evacuation of Hoth this past Saturday and my ruling was that huge ships started with full energy just like shields etc.

How did that work out? Victory? Too easy? Or balanced?

It was balanced imo, one table had imps doing very well and the other one (which I was a part of) had rebels doing well, I think it also matters as to how you build the transport.

I don't think it unbalances the Transport to start with full energy. If anything it makes it easier to play recklessly. Taking a couple turns to build energy slow playing it puts it right where it wants to be. The Tantive though. That lets it do an awful lot of gun charging early game.

I ran Evacuation of Hoth this past Saturday and my ruling was that huge ships started with full energy just like shields etc.

How did that work out? Victory? Too easy? Or balanced?

It was balanced imo, one table had imps doing very well and the other one (which I was a part of) had rebels doing well, I think it also matters as to how you build the transport.

My group recently play the campaign as well. The first mission was won by the Rebels. The second round was won by the Empire. The first two waves just worked on flanking the Transport and staying alive until the the 3rd and 4th waves arrived. The third wave was a decked out STS-321 and the 4th was a pair of loaded bombers. This destroyed the Transport in the 7th Round.

The first sentence in the Energy section in the rules state that "Huge ships can gain energy". That feels to me like it means they start with no energy.

So how have people been playing them?

The one Cinematic mission I've played the Transport started with no energy and got wiped off the mat on the second round by a tie swarm... Bad start for a new product.... Been reluctant to play it again...

We're you using a 6 x 3 play area?

I've not had the chance to use my Transport yet, but it would seem to me the reason for the long board is to give it time to charge some before engaging.

I'm curious to hear the tactics that worked for both sides.

Step 7 of the Setup rules is "Activate Shields" in which you are instructed to place a number of shield tokens on each ship that has any.

There is no such step for energy. So there's no real reason to assume they start off fully charged, because there's no rule that tells you to do so, there is however a rule that tells you to do that with shields.

IMO the absence of the rule is proof enough.

Which of course doesn't mean FFG won't rule otherwise...

I also assumed they did not start with energy. I read somewhere (though it was an FFG article) or in a vid bat rep of the transport heard someone saying the first few turns with the transport are slow to build up energy (slower movement on the dial gives more energy). Also someone else in the forums stated in a thread that they wanted to take the quantum storm next to help build energy faster. Obviously none of these are from the source though they led me to believe it started at 0...

The census is 0 energy at the start.

Is how I've been playing, but I find it really slow.

You have to move the transport 1 to gain 3 energy.

Also is you have the engine upgrade, you can't do this first turn. Kind of sucks not being able to get that extra boost off the start.

I wonder if ffg may have just thought "people will know it starts with full energy " or perhaps it was one of those things that they forgot to put into the instructions.

I noticed that when I downloaded their huge ship rules on my phone, that it has the "allocate enegy" step, but not in the rules for the transport.

I know it doesn't allocate evergy, but upgrades down the road could change that, and is something I thought should have been in there, seeing as how the energy rules are new, I would think that each ship should include all the rules in the instructions.

I thought what if that was left out by mistake, maybe like the "gain energy" phrase

So how have people been playing them?

The one Cinematic mission I've played the Transport started with no energy and got wiped off the mat on the second round by a tie swarm... Bad start for a new product.... Been reluctant to play it again...

We're you using a 6 x 3 play area?

I've not had the chance to use my Transport yet, but it would seem to me the reason for the long board is to give it time to charge some before engaging.

I'm curious to hear the tactics that worked for both sides.

The only small problem with that is players setup any where on the 6' side of the play area (not on the short "ends"). Thus in most cases your Huge ship is 3' away from the enemy, just like on normal 100pt play areas.

My opinion is Huge ships start with 0 energy.

In the downloadable huge ship rules, they state energy can be used to perform "special" actions.

Normal actions can still be performed.

Sort of a silly example but what about all the abilities that can spend a stress, focus, target locks etc does that mean each ship should start the game with a stress, focus. TL?

The only way the Transport rulebook outlines for gaining energy is through maneuvers. There's no additional setup step that assigns energy. The purple number on the card is referred to as the ship's "energy limit", as compared to the "shield value" of a small or Large ship.

I can sort of see why people might assume a Huge ship starts with a number of energy tokens equal to its energy limit, but there's nothing at all in the rules that indicates that would be the case.

I guess that part of my assumption that they start with full energy is because if all a ship is doing is flying when it enters an area, it hasn't done anything the expends energy, so it seems reasonable to start with full energy.

I await some official word on this, because I am very curious.

It would have been worth a clarification to state specifically in the rules that huge ships start with 0 energy.

It would have been worth a clarification to state specifically in the rules that huge ships start with 0 energy.

From a practical standpoint, the amount of confusion over this point demonstrates that you're probably right. But, for instance, the core rules don't specifically state that ships start with 0 damage cards assigned to them--do we need an explicit instruction for that, too?

It comes back to the (tired) issue of whether the rules tell you what you can do or what you can't do. My stance is the former, and accordingly if the only time the rules say to put energy tokens on your ship is when it executes a maneuver, that means you start the game with no energy tokens.

it hasn't done anything the expends energy, so it seems reasonable to start with full energy.

You're assuming that they're flying though hyperspace or normal space with their guns and other combat systems fully charged.

In ANH when the Falcon is escaping from the DS Han says...

Angle the deflector shields while I charge up the main guns!

So I assume that most ships don't fly though space with their guns and other systems fully charged until they know they're going into combat. FWIW I'd rather start fully charged, would mean getting the ships into the action sooner.

But the rules clearly don't support that IMO, and the fluff doesn't really either.

Should we bother to contact FFG? Seems like a big omission on their part no?

Should we bother to contact FFG? Seems like a big omission on their part no?

Getting in touch with them will probably result in an answer to your question, and will certainly result in helping bring it to their attention for future FAQ updates. There's no downside, IMO.

Well you would think they could have realized that either way, players would be undecided on this and included some brief mention in the rules.

For some it's just natural to look at the card. See it has 4 energy and like shields assume it started with full.

I sent the question to support. Let's see what happens.