Hello board,

the rules on firing torpedoes on pg.6 and 7 of BFK aren't entirely clear to me. It is clear that on most ships they can only be fired into the Fore Arc. OK. Got that. But on pg. 7 it is written that "upon firing and in each subsequent turn a salvo travels directly forward". Does this mean that a torpedo is fired out of the prow in a straight line or that it fires in a straight line out of the Fore Arc?

If I combine the latter with a grid overlay I run into problems. A ship might well be within the fore arc (and even within range to be hit in the same round) but using a grid I won't be able to draw a straight line from the firing ship to the target. The use of a grid would severely disadvantage torpedoes as there would only be two possible trajectories: Either straight ahead or in a 45° angle to the right or the left. If "directly forward" were to be interpreted that it can only be fired straight ahead from the prow it would make it difficult to line up a good shot with a light cruiser or heavier and make a frigate a much better choice for a torpedo boat.

What do you think? I have no problem with any ruling, though the "you can fire straight ahead or at a 45° degree angle" ruling when using a grid seems silly.

Another completely unrelated question: What are the modifiers for the Upkeep/Acquisition test to check if your squadrons are replenished? Do I use the availability modifier given in the vehicle annex?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Just off the top of my head: light cruisers and heavier ships can fire in to the fore, port and starboard arc with prow weapons. So if you use one of those you could fire up to 270 degrees around you making them far more viable torpedo ships then frigates imo.

as for the problem with grids, can't help there as we don't use them like that in my group. Though it seems to me the problem isn't so much in the mechanics of torpedoes as in your use of a grid. Logically speaking, even on a grid if you can draw a straight line between the attacking ship and the target, which is within the allowed firing arc, then you ought to be able to fire torpedoes that way. If it crosses multiple squares/hexagons in your grid then i'd say the torpedoes occupy up the squares through which the line passes and when there is doubt it occupies both but only at half the amount of torpedoes fired.

Badlapje said:

In the case of torpedoes "Grand Cruisers and smaller", i.e. all the hulls we know of, can fire into the fore arc only. The reasoning ifor this is pretty crap, but this is 40K so I have stopped caring long ago

as for the problem with grids, can't help there as we don't use them like that in my group. Though it seems to me the problem isn't so much in the mechanics of torpedoes as in your use of a grid. Logically speaking, even on a grid if you can draw a straight line between the attacking ship and the target, which is within the allowed firing arc, then you ought to be able to fire torpedoes that way. If it crosses multiple squares/hexagons in your grid then i'd say the torpedoes occupy up the squares through which the line passes and when there is doubt it occupies both but only at half the amount of torpedoes fired.

I guess this makes sense. I had ruled until now that if the salvo hits the same turn we don't care about the grids as in 99% of the cases the torp either hit this round or never at all and will be out of range the next round. Especially adapting the rules for "wide salvoes" when in doubt makes sense to me. Thanks!

When in doubt, get a template! If you're not sure, a template is just a short hand for an area of effect. If you're using a 1 inch grid, a ruler makes a really good template for torpedoes. Then you just move them along the template until they run out of fuel.

Badlapje said:

Torpedoes NEVER fire in any other arc than the Prow on any hull below a Grand Cruiser.