So I was playing the Senator's Shuttle mission from the core set using my shapeways mini. The shuttle's max speed is two. My opponent flew his firespray directly into the front of the shuttle and touched bases. Now, the shuttle moves at PS zero. It couldn't fly beyond the base of the firespray because its max speed is 2. My opponent kept selecting 1 forward for the firespray, which couldn't be executed because he wouldn't clear the shuttle. The result, shuttle and firespary were locked. Firespray had to be destroyed in order to move the shuttle.

I know there is nothing in the rules forbidding this, but is this unsportmanlike conduct or is it sacrificial strategy? What is you opinion??

I don't like it. It sounds technically legal but when you consider simulation of space flight, this would never happen without both ships exploding in an amazing 4th of July spectacle.

I would consider this unsportsmanlike conduct and ignores the spirit of the game.

I'm fine with it. It is a clever tactic, and I can certainly see this happening in-universe, without the 4th of July spectacle. It just used a grappling hook to attach itself to the shuttle

I have mixed emotions about this... it is annoying, I'll admit.

First it is a tactic to stop or slow a ship, working really well in this instance with the Firesprays base size stopping the movement completely. Had it been another ship you could have moved through it next turn.

Second, I have been wondering if there should be a revision of the overlapping rule. Perhaps instead of sliding back, leave the ships af they sit. Then in the case you described you could have moved on your next turn.. two ships shouldnt stop in flight just because their bases touch ..

Just thoughts..

This is a hard call. When the scenario first came out there were no large ships so this probably never occurred unless the Imperial player was setting multiple ships up in front of the Shuttle.

Now the good news is that if the Firespray chooses to tie up the Shuttle this way it also is not moving AND because of the overlaps it can't attack the shuttle. In some ways this is effectively an ionizing move (as in you know exactly where they will be) on TWO ships. The rebels should be able to use this time to go and lay waste to the rest of the Imperial squad, ideally before it destroys the shuttle. Speaking of squads what do the sides look like?

Is it my imagination or with the right damage cards on them wouldn't it actually be possible to set this up in a "real" game. I mean you could run two YT-1300s into each other to keep them from moving (or attacking each other) indefinitely if desired.

The scenario was written pre-large ships, so this is an unanticipated tactic. I don't think I'd allow large ships to be used when playing it. Really, this scenario seems to run into issues when you play with anything more than than the originally specified ships.

Want to get a Firespray in on an escort mission? Wait for the Rebel transport instead. They took care of blocking tactics against huge ships in a single simple rule.

I think it's fine. In-universe, it represents the Firespray docking with the shuttle and maybe trying to board. On the table, that Firespray is taking no actions as long as it does this, so it should be fairly easy to kill.

If you want to "update" the scenario you could use any of the "real" transport ships in place of the shuttle. By that I simply mean use the YT-1300 which is a Freighter, the HWK which is little more than a courier, or the actual Shuttle. Make the "senator" occupy a crew slot and you've got things covered.

Then again don't the Falcon and Lambda boxes both contain "escort" missions involving those cows? Those would be the updated escort scenarios.

If you have a Lambda Shuttle Dial kicking about you can use that as an alternative method of how the shuttle token moves.

Or just use a Lambda itself with PS0 and 0 attack.

But I'd have to agree with the the scenario wasn't written with large bases in mind. at the time the shuttle token was the largest base.

This is a hard call. When the scenario first came out there were no large ships so this probably never occurred unless the Imperial player was setting multiple ships up in front of the Shuttle.

Now the good news is that if the Firespray chooses to tie up the Shuttle this way it also is not moving AND because of the overlaps it can't attack the shuttle. In some ways this is effectively an ionizing move (as in you know exactly where they will be) on TWO ships. The rebels should be able to use this time to go and lay waste to the rest of the Imperial squad, ideally before it destroys the shuttle. Speaking of squads what do the sides look like?

I had Biggs, Rookie pilot, and two y-wings with ions. I keep the y-wings and Biggs in close to give evade actions. Rookie pilot acts as a diversion target, providing a tempting range 1 target to enemy forces.

Homeboy had the firespray and a bunch of academy ties.

After a few rounds, my friend mvoed his firespray off and the game continued as normal. I play with good guys. I wanted to bring the situation to you guys to see what you all thought.

Is it my imagination or with the right damage cards on them wouldn't it actually be possible to set this up in a "real" game. I mean you could run two YT-1300s into each other to keep them from moving (or attacking each other) indefinitely if desired.

I have heard of a tactic called "the Millenium Fortress" where you take two falcons and crash them into each other near the edge if the board and then sit there and shoot anything that comes close. Apparently it's not too hard to beat though if you play it right.

But you are referring to two opposing ships. I don't know about that one. Maybe if one is the Lambda Shuttle?

I know there is nothing in the rules forbidding this, but is this unsportmanlike conduct or is it sacrificial strategy? What is you opinion??

My personal house rule is that if ship A crashes into a ship (B) that crashed into it earlier in the round, then you move ship A to the opposite side of ship B. Simple, pretty realistic, and it takes care of weird situations like this pretty easily.

Is it my imagination or with the right damage cards on them wouldn't it actually be possible to set this up in a "real" game. I mean you could run two YT-1300s into each other to keep them from moving (or attacking each other) indefinitely if desired.

I have heard of a tactic called "the Millenium Fortress" where you take two falcons and crash them into each other near the edge if the board and then sit there and shoot anything that comes close. Apparently it's not too hard to beat though if you play it right.

But you are referring to two opposing ships. I don't know about that one. Maybe if one is the Lambda Shuttle?

There's a 3x Lambda build that does the same, and gets to maintain all actions.

My personal house rule is that if ship A crashes into a ship (B) that crashed into it earlier in the round, then you move ship A to the opposite side of ship B. Simple, pretty realistic, and it takes care of weird situations like this pretty easily.

I'd go with this, but as others have said, you can just focus on his other forces or the Slave and try to destroy it.

As long as it's legal I don't see a problem with it. At a minimum he loses the action on his Firespray every turn, so there's that.

As long as it's legal I don't see a problem with it. At a minimum he loses the action on his Firespray every turn, so there's that.

That's kind-of what I thought. He sacrificed his firespray attacks against the objective to delay the game. The shuttle couldn't move so the escorts were forced to break formation, but they were also free to attack the vulnerable firespray.

I can remember a game where every turn one of my Ties flew in front to block it. Blocking is definitely part of the tactics for this scenario. A Firespray costs far more than a Tie so I can't see it being a better choice.

As long as it's legal I don't see a problem with it. At a minimum he loses the action on his Firespray every turn, so there's that.

That's kind-of what I thought. He sacrificed his firespray attacks against the objective to delay the game. The shuttle couldn't move so the escorts were forced to break formation, but they were also free to attack the vulnerable firespray.

Yeah. I haven't played this scenario, actually. It sounds like losing the action on his part could certainly be worth delaying the game though.

Update the scenario to give the shuttle Anti-Pursuit Lasers, problem solved?

Parkin a Firespray reveals its sweet spots for every of your fighters.

Attack it from the sides and destroy it. Just K-turn back and forth.

I think its a risky strategy, but definitely legal. The defender may have been able to avoid the situation with how it moves in the previous rounds. But the firespray is giving up both actions and attacks on the shuttle, so the firespray is very vulnerable to attacks, especially from the flanks. Just destroy the firespray. problem solved.

I think its a risky strategy, but definitely legal. The defender may have been able to avoid the situation with how it moves in the previous rounds. But the firespray is giving up both actions and attacks on the shuttle, so the firespray is very vulnerable to attacks, especially from the flanks. Just destroy the firespray. problem solved.

TBH look at the scenario, just ignore the Firespray.. It can't attack the shuttle. kill the rest of his force, as you will now outnumber him in every other theatre. Then deal with the Firespray.

Of course the sick thing to do against that poor shuttle is to just bomb it death. You'll have a very good idea where it is going so placing bombs shouldn't be too challenging and when the damage ignores evasion its all that much harder to defend against.