High Fleet Activations and Cluttered Ambush zones

By GIWillys, in Star Wars: Armada Rules Questions

During a game last night, a question came up about fleet ambush, where, after reading carefully the ambush zone was discovered to be distance 4 of deployment zones and not the players edges. The card specifies that no ships may be deployed on obstacles but doesn't specify what to do with ships that cannot be deployed in the zone. In a very particular scenario where the ambush zone had all obstacles set up in the zone, and the first player has a large list of activations, it would be possible to run out of room in the ambush zone. In this case- what happens to the ships? Are they considered destroyed?

Granted, the odds of this happening are very slim, as the first player would willingly have to place the obstacles along with the second player in the ambush zone, as well as have a list and deployments that force them into this spot. But the possibility and question remain.

The way I read fleet ambush, it says distance 5 of all edges....and only the odd deployments would be placed. first, third, and 5th ship. If they have 7 ships, you have more issues than obstacles...lol.

The "Setup Area" is designated in the Rulebook... It is, effectively, The Portion of the Battlefield that is not within Distance 5 of the Side edges... Ergo, it is is to say that it is a 3x4 portion oin the middle of the Battlefield.... It goes from Player Edge to Player Edge...

The Ambush Zone, is thus any portion of that which is not within Distance 5 of its edge...

This narrows the Ambush Zone to a 1' x 2' Portion of the Battlefield... It really is very small... From the Center Point of the Battlefield, it extends only 6" towards each Players Edge, and 12" towards each Short Edge...

It can be very cramped, especially since on top of that , you cannot deploy on Obstacles... But that being said, if you have maximum Activations, they're generally of the smaller size overall - although you could try to squeeze your one or two larger ones in there...

And it is only half of the activations (rounding up)... So I don't see it becoming a problem. You might have to squeeze 4-5 ships in it, but they'll be tiny - they won't be in optimal positions... But they will be there, in some odd configurations if need be... They can be in any orientation after all, even sub-optimal ones.

But there is no official ruling of what would happen... Mostly because, I don't think we've actually hit that possibility yet...

Edited by Drasnighta
But there is no official ruling of what would happen... Mostly because, I don't think we've actually hit that possibility yet...

I play with GIWillys and this came up in a recent game involving Fleet Ambush, which is why he was curious about it. We all realized that it seemed extremely unlikely, but it is possible with some combination of obstacle placement (from both players, likely), large number of ship deployments (flotilla spam, let's say), and bad ship deployments (taking up as much space as possible between obstacles) that player 1 could run out of legal room to deploy his ships in the ambush zone. We couldn't figure out what to do if that ever happened, as there is no "if this is impossible, do X" clause on the card.

I freely admit this seems very far-fetched, but on the off-chance it ever happens we'd like to have some idea as to what to do. If even Dras doesn't know for sure I have to assume we'd need an FAQ from FFG on the matter...

but on the off-chance it ever happens we'd like to have some idea as to what to do.

Totally Agreed.

Unfortunately, I've had 0 / 5 responses on Objective-Related Shenanigans so far...... (I still want to know what happens when I'm Player 2, my Objective is Hyperspace Assault, and I only have 2 MC80s in my Fleet for Ships, but want to Hyperspace some B-Wings by themselves....)

But agian, no answer on that since November...

Is it even possible? Even with 8 activations you only deploy 4 in the Zone.

Is it even possible? Even with 8 activations you only deploy 4 in the Zone.

I would do it myself, but Vassal and my system don't talk well...

... But we could ask someone to attempt a few builds (and even a few of the more ludicrous ones, like all-gozantis) to see if there's any way you can shove all of the Obstacles in the Ambush ZOne in such a configuration that "x" amount of Ships can't fit...

I do agree, on the face of it, it doesn't seem possible to block - but we'd like to know...

... and honestly, I feel its a better question than the Hyperspace FAQ one that was answered.... In that it was assumed you only had one ship, and was put into Hyperspace...

Is it even possible? Even with 8 activations you only deploy 4 in the Zone.

You can hypothetically get 16 Gozanti Cruisers in a 400 point list, which would be 8 deployments in a 1 foot by 2 foot box that player 2 is doing his best to clog up with terrain. This assumes player 1 is also not terribly smart about it and may contribute to the terrain clogging himself and/or deploy poorly (as I mentioned above).

So yes, I believe it is possible. It seems extremely unlikely but "eh it won't ever happen" is a comforting answer up until somehow it DOES happen and if I'm called upon to arbitrate it I'd like to know what to do rather than just make something up and hope it doesn't mess up the game.

I don't think it'll ever happen. I just fit 5 ISDs in an ambush zone with all of the obstacles in it. I then tried small bases and got 20 in there.

I don't think it'll ever happen. I just fit 5 ISDs in an ambush zone with all of the obstacles in it. I then tried small bases and got 20 in there.

That's somewhat reassuring, but were you trying to make everything fit? Because I don't doubt that with effort to ensure everything fits you'd be fine. It's the new players accidentally hosing themselves that I'm worried about.

By which I mean were the obstacles and ships themselves placed as inconveniently as possible?

Interesting. First of all, I really don't think this can happen, but I'll look at it tonight when I get my stuff out to play. However, if it were to happen, I would say you lose the ships. I think this is a cannot > the rules situation.

RRG 10 - Setup

6. Deploy Ships: Starting with the first player, the players take turns deploying their forces into the setup area. A single deployment turn consists of placing one ship or two squadrons.

Fleet Ambush

...

The first player must deploy ships within the ambush zone on his odd-numbered deployment turn, starting with his first turn. He cannot deploy ships or squadrons overlapping obstacles in the ambush zone.


There is no mention of a requirement that both players deploy all of their ships that I can see.

I dunno, it's definitely fuzzy if it is in fact possible , and if it is in fact possible , I think it warrants an FAQ. I'm just not quite convinced that it's possible. But again, I'll try it tonight and see. :)

I don't think it'll ever happen. I just fit 5 ISDs in an ambush zone with all of the obstacles in it. I then tried small bases and got 20 in there.

That's somewhat reassuring, but were you trying to make everything fit? Because I don't doubt that with effort to ensure everything fits you'd be fine. It's the new players accidentally hosing themselves that I'm worried about.

By which I mean were the obstacles and ships themselves placed as inconveniently as possible?

Take a step back there Snipe.

Max 2 ISDs

Or max 10 Gozanti in the deployment zone.

Even if youre not trying you will manage it. Unless you have somehoe managed to fit 40 Flotillas in 400pts.

Take a step back there Snipe.

For the record, I didn't intend for my response to come across as hostile. It's not. Primarily this is an apocalyptic "worst case scenario" question, I just wanted to make sure the scenario is as worst as possible ;) .

Interesting. First of all, I really don't think this can happen, but I'll look at it tonight when I get my stuff out to play. However, if it were to happen, I would say you lose the ships. I think this is a cannot > the rules situation.

RRG 10 - Setup

6. Deploy Ships: Starting with the first player, the players take turns deploying their forces into the setup area. A single deployment turn consists of placing one ship or two squadrons.

Fleet Ambush

...

The first player must deploy ships within the ambush zone on his odd-numbered deployment turn, starting with his first turn. He cannot deploy ships or squadrons overlapping obstacles in the ambush zone.

There is no mention of a requirement that both players deploy all of their ships that I can see.

I dunno, it's definitely fuzzy if it is in fact possible , and if it is in fact possible , I think it warrants an FAQ. I'm just not quite convinced that it's possible. But again, I'll try it tonight and see. :)

(responding to bolded portion, attempts to clip down the quote met with failure due to sometimes-weird FFG forum)

I'm 100% in the same boat. That's why I asked.

Edited by Snipafist

I mean...that's a lot of room:

SLlbzbT.png


Mostly to see if I still remember how to post a pic

Edited by CaribbeanNinja

I mean...that's a lot of room:

SLlbzbT.png

Mostly to see if I still remember how to post a pic

Well I'm convinced.

I for one can live with the uncertainty :D

Ok, I now have to demonstrate my ignorance... How does one post a pic?

Host it somewhere else (Facebook, Imgur, Photobucket)

Then find the actual image link... Encase the link in [ img] and [ /img ] tags.

You can't post them direct to the forums, only links to images.

Thanks. Thought I'd tried that. I'll try again.

Especially with imgur and facebook, make sure you have the whole image link... ending in the .jpg .tga, etc...

imgur is notorious for just giving you a link that ends with nothing

And Facebook wants to append a whole bunch of crap to the end of that link that you'll want to delete...


...

This is mostly why I use Photobucket, since when I view my upload, it gives me a "one click to clipboard" of the link WITH the Image Tags already attached.

So the follow up question: What happens if you can't fit all your ships in the deployment zone.

After all some one is going to try and get all 20+ Flotillas into his setup zone.

Distance 3 is how many Inches? I think its more than Half off the top of my head, but assuming its Half the range ruler...

That'd be Two Square Feet (0.5 x 4 vs 1 x 2) - so it is exactly the same area , and does not have obstacles to block the Pathway... Even if you do have obstacles in your zone (potentially due to Minefields)... You're not prevented from starting on them...

I figure they will fit. All of them. But you could maybe start putting them down to maximise space utilised without it being used efficiently... In which case, I'm all about them being counted as Destroyed, as its your own fault in the first place :D

So...you can easily place half of 30 Gozantis in the ambush zone. That's a 690 point fleet.

I was just slapping them in there. I wasn't even trying to make them neat.

dMNEZuW.png

Edited by CaribbeanNinja

So...you can easily place half of 30 Gozantis in the ambush zone.

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="dMNEZuW"><a href="//imgur.com/dMNEZuW">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Dang. Thats some nice Codework there, Ninja... :D

So...you can easily place half of 30 Gozantis in the ambush zone.

<blockquote class="imgur-embed-pub" lang="en" data-id="dMNEZuW"><a href="//imgur.com/dMNEZuW">View post on imgur.com</a></blockquote><script async src="//s.imgur.com/min/embed.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Dang. Thats some nice Codework there, Ninja... :D

Yeah as you can see above, it ALWAYS takes me two or three tries to post a damned pic.