Hello,

I'm fairly new to the game and trying to learn the rules. The Transfer Action is really confusing me, though. It's not that the steps to doing a Transfer are confusing, but I can't grasp the purpose behind it. Can someone run a scenario when you would make use of the Transfer Action to your advantage as opposed to just making a Tactical Action? What can't you do in a tactical that you could do in a transfer?

The only scenario that comes to my mind is if I had fleets in systems A and B, and I wanted to redistribute the ships in each fleet. Like system A had 2 carriers and 2 destroyers, and system B had 2 cruisers and a 2 dreadnoughts. If I wanted to adjust it so that each fleet had 1 carrier, 1 destroyer, 1 cruiser, and 1 dreadnought each I would use the transfer action to spend 1 command counter to redistribute the fleets in each system.

Is there any other scenario that a Transfer Action would be useful?

Tee-fu said:

Another scenario is one that you COULD do with Tactical actions, but can be faster (and consume less Command Pool counters) using a Transfer action:

Lets say in System A you have some ships, and a Space Dock. In System B you have a ship or two. You could do a transfer action to move the ships from A to B, and then build as part of the transfer action in System A. You could do this with two tactical actions, yes, but in this way, it only takes 1 CC from your Command Pool (the other coming from reinforcements), and you are able to replenish your ships in System A without having to wait another round.

Transfer actions, in general, can be useful in specific situations; the most common use is the one you describe, to redistribute ships, or perhaps to redistribute Ground Forces and/or PDS on planets between two systems.

I'm new, but I've read through most of the posts here. Had my first game yesterdy and I came up with a Transfer Action question that wasn't clarified in the rulebook or FAQ - or at least we missed it.

Transfer action says that you can manufacture at one Space Dock that you have in one of the activated systems, with no mention of building new docks. Under the unit descriptions, for Space Docks it says you can build a new one during a Transfer action. So during a Transfer action can you manufacture in one system AND build a new Dock in the other, or only do one of those?

sirjonsnow said:

Off the top of my head I would say that you can only build in one system during a Transfer. So, for example, if you decided to build in a system with two planets, you could build an SD at one planet and then build other units at the other planet (which already had an SD). I would not allow the player to build an SD in one system and produce units in the other at an existing SD however.

The FAQ actually addresses that very question on Page 5:

Q: When taking a Transfer Action, can I build a new Space Dock in one or both of the activated systems, and if so, may I also still build units with preexisting Space Docks in those systems?

A: During a Transfer Action you may produce in only one of the two activated systems. All production must be in the same system and you may never produce units in one system and a Space Dock (or space mines in SHATTERED EMPIRE) in the other.

Thus, you can build a new space dock, but only in the system you are doing your other production in.