Re: SMLs, fire control & arcs

Nathan wrote:

> First of all my apologies if this has come up at all
> recently (and I have a suspicion that it has). I've
> checked my folder of adjudications, skimmed
> every on-line FAQ I could find and cleared my
> list backlog looking wisdom, without success.
> I even tried reading the rulebooks...
>
> The question is: How many FireCons are needed
> to launch SLMs and SRMs?

Odd that you couldn't find it. I quote the FT FAQ at
http://www.geocities.com/Area51/Station/3565/faq-index.html:

In the More Thrust section:

"Do missiles require a Firecon?
Yes, one firecon must be allocated during the missile launch phase. The
firecon can be used again for direct fire weapons in the same turn,
this is to prevent the need to track which firecons have been used."

In the FB1 section:

"Do SML's require a Firecon?
The /official/ ruling is that the ship needs to have an operating
firecon available during the SML launch phase of the turn (just one
irrespective of how many salvoes are fired), but that firecon can then
also be used during the main fire phase of the same turn to fire other
weapons. This is simply a rule mechanism to avoid having to remember or
record which firecons have been used up from phase to phase. A ship
that has lost all Firecon capability cannot fire SLMs (or any other
weapons)."

It has also been discussed on-list several times, latest was early
January. (Not sure if the January archives are up yet though.)

>FireCons aren't really discussed after FT2 and MT missiles get
>by with none at all, unless you play the house rule that the vessel
>must have at least one working fire control in order to launch any.

Both the FAQ entries quoted above come from St^3 Jon himself (even
though he only emphasized "/official/" in the SM entry), so they are
somewhat more official than plain house rule status :-/

>Presumably SM arcs can be other than those shown in FB1. >(FP/P/AP for
example.)

If you use the (P) and (S) houserule arcs from Chan Faunce's home page,
yes. Otherwise the (P) and (S) arcs don't exist.

>Could these weapons potentially cover the aft arc?

Sure. You can't launch through the (A) arc unless you use the "Optional
Rule: Aft-Arc Fire" on FB1 p.4, but there's no reason why the launcher
couldn't point that way.

Note that your "FP/P/AP" arc stretching from straight ahead to straight
aft would get its "AP" arc truncated since it overlaps the normal (A)
arc.

Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."