A ship includes all portions of the plastic base and the shield dials, unless otherwise specified. No?

During deployment ships must be "within" the deployment zone (or the ambush area).

Ergo, all parts of the ship, shields included, must be inside the area. No?

I've seen so many people (my self included) deploy with shields across the line.

But I do not think that's legal. Or have I overlooked something?

I would assume that it includes everything.

Man, more fool me for going to bed... This was a 3am question that I'm not getting to until 8am! And as always, its a biggie...

So here are the applicable rules:

Page 9, RRG, Range and Distance:

• The following terms are used when discussing range and distance:

◊ At: If any portion of a hull zone, base, or token is inside a specified band, that component is at that band.

◊ Beyond: If no portion of a hull zone, base, or token is inside a specified band or a band closer to the bottom of the ruler, that component is beyond the specified band.

◊ Within: If the entirety of a base or token is inside a specified band, that component is within that band.

Page 10, RRG, "Ship"

Ship

A ship consists of a ship base, a ship model, a ship token, and a ship card. All components must match the ship’s type, and the name on the ship card must match the name on the ship token.

There is no specific mention of shield dials unless, of course, you look at the overlapping rules:

Page 8, RRG "Overlapping"

• A ship’s shield dials and the plastic portions that frame them count as part of the ship’s base for the purposes of overlapping, but squadrons’ activation sliders are ignored.

And furtherL

Page 5, RRG, "Destroyed Ships and Squadrons"

A ship is destroyed when it has damage cards equaling or exceeding its hull value. A squadron is destroyed when it is reduced to zero hull points. Additionally, a ship or squadron is destroyed if a portion of its base is outside the play area.

• When determining if a squadron or ship is outside the play area, ignore the squadron’s activation slider and the ship’s shield dials and the plastic portions of the base that frame the shield dials.

So, what I take from this, is that the Ship Shield Dials are part of the base but you are told to specifically ignore them for the purposes of being outside of the play area .

What I follow this up with, is the strong suggestion that Setup Area does not equal Play Area. So you could theoretically place the ship at the very back of your setup Zone, facing forward, with your Rear hull Zones shield dial hanging off the play area... But if you were also in the corner of your Zone, your corresponding side could not overhang the edge.

Wether or not we need to be that specific , I do not know. I firmly believe that the intention is that shield dials are part of the ship, but they don't count for range measurement as we have determined that is card to card.

As a caveat, that would also mean that, measuring tractor beams would be from the shield dial as that is part of the base, unless there is a specific exception, let me check for that.

Ah, there is.

Page 7, RRG, "Measuring Fire Arc and Distance"

• When measuring firing arc, range, or distance, ignore squadrons’ activation sliders and ships’ shield dials and the plastic portions of the base that frame the shield dial.

Now, that being said, a LOT of people will measure their Deployment Zone as they are placing the ship down, and correspondingly, believe they are measuring distance, and thus, ignore the shield dial to place the ship as far forward as possible... Maybe even without thinking about it...

I believe this is incorrect, as the deployment zone is measured out previously by determining the setup area measurements.

I would extrapolate the ruling from "shield dial outside of play area" to the setup area. Mostly, because it's easy to press your ship base against the ruler, and slide it up to the 3-line. Having to allow for shields adds a fiddly bit, which I try to avoid.

This a question to ask FFg

I would extrapolate the ruling from "shield dial outside of play area" to the setup area. Mostly, because it's easy to press your ship base against the ruler, and slide it up to the 3-line. Having to allow for shields adds a fiddly bit, which I try to avoid.

Which is what I was mentioning - the setup Area is not the play area, and that's not how the rules say to measure it - But a lot of people DO