Hello!

I have a question about jumping, can the admiral command a jump from anywhere on the ship? Or does the Admiral need to be in the FTL control to do it?

Can any character command a jump from the FTL drive, even if the admiral is against it?

What happens if somebody is out in a viper and the ship jumps?

Gravnos said:

1. Depends, auto jump means auto jump and the admiral decides the location. Of course he may also activate the FTL location and jump by that route.

2. Yes, their action so their choice.

3. Viper is returned to the reserves and the pilot goes to sickbay.

Barim said:

Incorrect

The viper is returned to reserves and the pilot goes to the hangar bay. They only go to sickbay if their viper is shot down.

Sorthlador said:

I stand corrected, just checked the rulebook and realized we've been doing this thing wrong from day 1. In my playgroup we always sent the pilots to sickbay.

Ouch. At least you know the humans will feel a little stronger in the next game you play. All the more for the Cylons to crush them with!

Thanks alot for your help everyone!

New question - Can a player (most likely a secret cylon.....or a player that REALLY thinks another pilot is a cylon) shoot another viper out of the sky?

Ex. Player 1 is Starbuck, Player 2 is Helo.

Starbuck is in a viper but is really a cylon (or a human, that thinks Helo is a Cylon and wants to get rid of them) could they turn their viper around and shoot him out of the sky?

Also could a character use Galactica's guns to shoot a viper out of the sky?

The former would be a decent cylon strategy to get a player in the sick bay, AND kill a few extra viper's.

Gravnos said:

No, and no.

It specifically states on page 10 of the rules under Actions - "Activate his Viper: If a player is piloting a Viper, he may activate it to move or attack a Cylon ship" (emphasis mine.

Likewise, the location to activate Galactica's guns specifically states that you use it to attack Cylon ships.

Yes, it is technically impermissible for a viper pilot to attack another viper (or Galactica) or for the Galactica's weapons to be used to attack vipers.

If your group isn't averse to house rules, however, it might be a reasonable option to introduce. It would give an extra option and a minor advantage to the cylon players; but I doubt the effects would be in any way game-breaking.

The rules would be simple enough to create since most of what you need is already in the existing combat rules. If you're legitimately interested in adding such rules, I would suggest the following:

An unmanned viper cannot be activated to attack another viper or Galactica. (The same as the official rule.)

A player piloting a viper may activate his viper to attack another viper (piloted or unmanned) or Galactica. "Maximum Firepower", "Evasive Maneuvers", and "Strategic Planning" cards may be played by any players as usual as regards this combat. Relevant character abilities may likewise affect this combat as usual. A viper attacked by another viper is damaged on a roll of 5-7 and destroyed on a roll of 8 (as usual). If a piloted viper is damaged or destroyed, the pilot is moved to Sickbay (as usual). If Galactica is attacked by a viper, it is damaged only on a roll of 8.

A player on the "Weapons Control" location may use an action to attack a viper (piloted or unmanned) with Galactica's weapons. As above, this attack may be affected by any relevant cards or character abilities as usual. As above, the target viper will be damaged on a roll of 5-7 and destroyed on a roll of 8. As above, a pilot will be moved to Sickbay if his viper is damaged or destroyed in this way.

Human fleet "infighting" of this kind has no effect on the behaviour of cylon ships. For example, if a cylon player uses his viper to attack another viper, this will have no effect on how cyclon ships react to the cylon player. The cylon player's viper will be attacked as usual by cylon raiders, for instance.

OverMatt said:

That sounds some what reasonable, but allowing vipers or galactica to attack other vipers with putting civilan ships on the target block. I for one as a cylon Apollo have loved to take out a number of helpless civilian with a maximum firepower

I'm not entirely sure what you're saying; but it sounds like you're wondering about using vipers to attack civilian ships. If so, I would say that isn't permitted.

Civilian ships aren't even really "ships" in any meaningful sense. They don't behave in any way like other ships and basically only serve as board features that indicate the locations of cylon raider objectives. Likewise, they're all but invulnerable and are totally ignored by every ship save cylon raiders. Even a basestar alone in a space section with a civilian ship does not pose any threat to that civilian ship. The basestar will behave as if the civilian ship isn't even there.

Mechanically speaking, civilian ships are not legitimate targets for attacks. Indeed, they can't be "targeted" at all and are mostly ignored during combat. The only time they are in any way involved in combat is when cylon raiders (and only cyclon raiders) "destroy" them. And even this isn't really an "attack" in any mechanical sense. It's simply an action that a cylon raider will perform automatically (no roll involved) if it is activated at a time when a civilian ship is present in its space and no vipers are present in that space. "Destroy unprotected civilian ship" is, essentially, a unique special ability exclusive to cylon raiders.

So, in a nutshell, even if vipers are permitted to attack other vipers and Galactica, they probably shouldn't be permitted to attack civilian ships since civilian ships can't even be "attacked" in the first place (merely "destroyed" under certain highly specific conditions).

Of course, you could always let the Cylons shoot the pilot down for you, possibly aided by a "strategic planning" card on the roll.

Which prompts me to ask; is there any specific order you are supposed to follow for determining which vipers get attacked by the Cylons (if there is a mix of piloted and NPC vipers in the same area) ?

Cylons go for PC vipers first? NPC vipers first? Current player's choice? Pilot's choice? Does each viper have to be shot at once before stacking hits, or no?

IIRC it is unmanned, then manned, then civilian ships, but I know it is spelled out in the rulebook. If there is more than one manned viper in that area I believe the current player gets to decide who the raiders shoot at. The raiders can spread their fire out or pile on a single ship as long that restriction is observed.

awp832 said:

UNmanned get attacked first - no need to differentiate as one unmaned is the same as another. THen Manned Vipers get attacked - current player choice on target.

Thanks, but can I get a reference please?

on a random note. I hate the term 'unmanned vipers'. They're not out there on autopilot, they just aren't currently occupied by a pilot character.

awp832 said:

Basic structure is p.22, top right corner - Point 1 - 'Attack a viper'

Throughout that section everywhere there is a choice and it says who chooses its current player choice, so that is the apparent default in the rules. This was clarifiedand confirmed as correct in the FAQ - page 2, right hand column, miscellaneous section - second question (thats the edition that is up today).