• Registered: 2006-01-17
  • Posts: 740

Topic: What happens to seekers when their target Cloaks ?

Hello everyone!
Most of my nephew's ships have cloaking devices.  So far, I have been using strikers to simulate missles such as Sea Dart, Harpoons, Terriers, etc.  I was thinking about using seekers to simulate torpedoes such as DDs or PT boats would cary.  I almost always have more escorts than BBs, and was contemplating using seekers on some of them. 8)
However, many of my freinds' ships have cloaking devices, especially my nephew's ships... 
What happens to launched seekers when the target they are homing in on cloaks? 
Another question is, can seekers be used to target fighters or strikers?
Thanxs

  • Registered: 2005-03-28
  • Posts: 158

Re: What happens to seekers when their target Cloaks ?

Since seeing this post, I have been pouring over the rules to see if I can gleen anything from them. Nothing definitive. So... based on this, I would rule the following:

    [*]The Seekers will first continue to move toward the "last known" location of the cloaked ship.
    [*]Once the seekers reach the "last known" location, they will continue to move in a straight line until they either {a} leave the map, {b} enter a hex containing other enemy targets, or {c} the cloaked ship uncloaks.
    [*]If the cloaked ship uncloaks (either before or after the seekers reach the "last known" location), the seekers will automatically regain their lock on the cloaked ship and will continue in their mission to attack that target.
    [*]If a seeker, having lost its target because it cloaked, finds itself having moved a fixed number of hexes from the "last known" location without having found an enemy to attack (ie: 15 hexes or the board-edge would be conservative; 30 hexes would be liberal; 45 or more hexes would be downright generous), then the seeker self-destructs or otherwise becomes inert.
    [*]I would apply the same rules as above to seekers that lost their target because the target was destroyed before they could reach it.

Those are my thoughts. Anyone else want to weigh in?

As far as using Seekers to attack Fighters/Strikers -- sure. You could even, if you wanted, use Seekers to attack other Seekers. That would, actually, be kinda cool... smile

  • From: Denver, CO
  • Registered: 2005-03-27
  • Posts: 3,578

Re: What happens to seekers when their target Cloaks ?

My first inclination is to say that seekers that lose their "lock" (due to cloaking or the destruction of their target) are immediately removed from the board. Nothing says you can't have more complex rules such as KDL's proposal, but I wouldn't make it the standard.

Seekers may be used to attack fighter flights. Technically, a seeker flight could target another seeker flight... smile

Daniel Kast
Majestic Twelve Games
cricket@mj12games.com

mj12games's Website

  • Registered: 2006-01-17
  • Posts: 740

Re: What happens to seekers when their target Cloaks ?

Wow,
Thanx for the replies.  Both ideas are good ones.  8) 
Perhaps I will just use seekers on either:
Ships that don't cloak ;
Or as a shorter-ranged anti-fighter missile, such as Tartar missiles were in the 1960s.