Kat just got a helluva lot better.

stacking strategic planning with hotshot is naughty.

Melonball said:

We just noticed this typo on the FAQ and are fixing it. For the record, she CANNOT use strategic planning or calculations with her ability.

Thanks for playing!

I'm more than a little disappointed she can't escort civilians anymore!

If she ends up beginning her turn in an area of space occupied by civilians and raiders - either because someone executive ordered her in there, or due to additional setup - she is no longer able to fly bodyguard. The original wording would have allowed her to move out and back in again at the cost of her action.

With new piloting cards diluting the number of Maximum Firepower cards available and the climactic space battle grouping the civilian ships over New Caprica, it seems to me that the errata has changed her downside into something that's rarely going to come up and only truely matter if the chips are really down while in all other situations won't pose any limitation to the character.

Kama said:

You could say it's quite thematic. Instead of Kat sitting around guarding civilian ships, she wants to take the fight to the raiders.

Bleached Lizard said:

By taking the one course of action guaranteed to remove her from the area of space with the cylon attackers? I feel her once per game ability already covers this and does a better job of it.

What was more thematic was the original wording! Kat couldn't launch herself at the start of the game, because she wasn't a viper pilot at the start of the series!

I think I agree with Kama, actually. The errata has probably neutered Kat quite considerably as she can no longer sit on civvies to take hits for them. With the original wording, you could at least move out, then move back in with your action to stay with the ships. Her downside was significant but you could choose to roll with if you wanted at the cost of an action.

With the drawback enhanced like this, I worry that Kat isn't feasable as a character unless she's taken as the group's second pilot and she's in a game where she is not required to evade for the civvies.

I do worry that the errata was made soley because of the "can't launch on first turn" issue, which I find silly. Mainly because a) it's rarely critical to launch first turn anyway, and b) as Kama points out, it's actually quite thematic for a character who couldn't pilot at the start of the series anyway.

And even if people do believe that not being able to launch first turn is a major problem for the character, surely just changing her start location is a better solution than upping her disadvantage?

If she does, in fact, need to stay in the same area of space for an entire round (doesn't happen THAT often), an exec directly before or after her turn will allow her to move up, shoot some guys, and then move back.

Terpoma said:

No. The original version of her disadvantage actively prevented her from taking actions. If she was in Pegasus CIC one turn, she couldn't use it the next. The current version of the disadvantage is far less severe.

With the drawback enhanced like this, I worry that Kat isn't feasable as a character unless she's taken as the group's second pilot and she's in a game where she is not required to evade for the civvies.

Between her once per game ability, the Main Batteries location, and Maximum Firepower, Kat should generally be able to blow the hell out of any Raiders who are foolish enough to be in her space at the start of her turn. For subsequent turns, there's always Executive Order.

Also, the fact that Strategic Planning and Calculations can't be used with Hotshot makes it more reliable. How annoying would it be if you ditched a 5 value card to kill a Centurion or jump FTL at -3, only to have someone play Calculations and cause your action to fail? Or alternatively, if someone played Strategic Planning to foil your damage Pegasus with Pegasus CIC action.

Oh totally - Executive Order, being as useful as it always is can get around the downside, though it's probably also likely to cause the issue in the first place. Basically it's a lot more useful after Kat's turn that before it.

To summerize the issue as I see it, when Kat starts in an area of space with raiders:

Original wording - move out, action back if it's needed (or full throttle in you've got one).

Errata - Take a shot and go to sickbay, or do something useful, but much less "piloty" eg. move to Pegasus, hotshot with the batteries.

Having played Kat for myself and knowing that the initial Cylon setup isn't a serious a threat to Galactica, I can not for the life of me think why a player would even want Kat in space on her first turn. Not when you could move her to Pegasus and solve the problem much more decisively. Or if in doubt launch a scout or throwing around executive orders herself.