End of Turn Rule for Batteries

[Czuhars]

In rule 1E3 - End of Turn Procedure, 1E3a specifically, it talks about, transferring any unexpended power to batteries (up to the limits of the battery capacity).
Could someone explain this a little further? Is this in case a battery or batteries are destroyed by weapons previously in the turn? Otherwise, I don't understand the purpose of this rule. Don't batteries automatically stay charged the start of the turn if all energy hasn't been used previously?

Thanks.
Chris

[Scoutdad]

basically, it's stating that if you have unexpended power at the end of Turn 1, you may use 1 point of that power to charge each of your your batteries for the next turn.

For an example, let's take the Federation Heavy Cruiser:
30 Warp
4 Impulse
2 Reactor
4 Batteries
For a total of 36 + 2 available power if undamaged.

Turn #1, being like 92.3% of all Federation players, you elect to start the game with your photons pre-loaded... leaving you 36 power
(no power in batteries as they were expended during the hypothetical Turn #0 to pre-load the 4 Photon torpedoes.
During the turn, you complete arming photons (8 points) 28 remaining
Plot a base speed of 16 (16 points) 12 remaining
You then accelerate each of the 8 impulses (8 points) 4 remaining

At the end of the Turn, you are 10 hexes from your opponent. you now have a decision to make. If you expend those 4 points to fire 4 phasers, you end the turn with 0 energy remaining. this means no power will be transferred to the batteries (as none is available); so your total power available during Energy Allocation of Turn #2 is 36 points.
Or, you could choose not to fire the phasers and transfer that power into the battereis during end of turn activities and have 40 power avaiable on Turn #2.


To continue the example, later in the game the Klingon p[layer has made mincemeat of the Heavy Cruiser. you now have (undisabled):
19 Warp
1 Impulse
0 reactor
2 Batteries
22 points power total
No Photons remaining and only the FH phasers and a Phaser-3 left.

You plot base speed 16 (16 points) 6 remaining
You accelerate 2 impulses (to outdistance a drone wave, but not to get too far from the rest of your squadron) [2 points) 4 remain.
As the enemy is behind you and no weapons bear - you end the turn with 4 points of power.
Now you only have 2 batteries remaining, so you transfer 2 poinbts to the batteries and the other two are lost.

[Dal Downing]

Chris, yes Batteries stay "charged" until destroyed. What you have to remember is that during energy allocations you get all the power from any source all at once, to use as you see fit. Since this is sometimes refered to as Tokens or Chits all it is saying is at the end of your turn you can put any remaining power back into the Battery just like it was never used.

Edit: DARN YOU SCOUTDAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Scoutdad]

type faster, Dal... faster.

[Kang]

Another way of looking at it is this.

Ignore the idea of 'charging batteries' for the moment.

If you have any 'leftover' power at the end of the turn, you can save it - carry it over, if you will - until next turn, but no more such power than you have undestroyed batteries.

Then at the start of the next turn, you get your fresh energy chits/tokens/paperclips, whatever, and you place last turn's leftover power in the pile of tokens. These are all treated the same, and all the tokens can be used for any purpose. Whether the power is 'in' batteries or from engines is irrelevant; it's all the same once you have your pile of tokens.

Think of the batteries simply as a number limiting the power you can carry over from one turn to the next, and you won't go far wrong.

Andromedans are quite different, though, with the way they use their batteries; the main thing being that they do differentiate between battery and engine power for various reasons.

But the basic battery rules for the non-Andromedan empires are performed pretty much as I and other forum members have said.

[Kang]

being like 92.3% of all Federation players, you elect to start the game with your photons pre-loaded...

**Taken from statistics from Scoutdad's legendarily huge gaming group, where 77 of the 1000 members polled indicated a preference not to arm their torpedoes when playing as the Federation.

[Scoutdad]

...
Then at the start of the next turn, you get your fresh energy chits/tokens/paperclips, whatever, and you place last turn's leftover power in the pile of tokens. These are all treated the same, and all the tokens can be used for any purpose. Whether the power is 'in' batteries or from engines is irrelevant; it's all the same once you have your pile of tokens...

This is why I spelled out the example in such detail. I have encounters players who, during Energy Allocation count the number of undamaged "blue" box and use that as their available power total (including undamaged batteries because; they start turn 1 with power, ergo they must start every turn with power) - whether they actually had leftver power to allocate to said batteries atthe end ofthe previous turn or not [most often, NOT!]

**Taken from statistics from Scoutdad's legendarily huge gaming group, where 77 of the 1000 members polled indicated a preference not to arm their torpedoes when playing as the Federation.

I'm willing to bet you'd be surprised at the number of times one of our groups Federation players starts a game w/o pre-arming Photon Torpedoes.
I could probably write up a Command Note on the advantages to not pre-arming photons, but I think all the reasons are pretty much common sense by now - and I think Commodore Doyle probably has dibs on this one anyway.

[Czuhars]

Thanks all for the clarification.
Yes, I believed too that if you were to use all of your power tokens by the end of Turn 1, that everything would be recharged and good to go on Turn 2.
But what you are saying (in particular ScoutDad) is that at the end of (say) Turn 7, you've used all of your available power, which includes batteries, then at the start of Turn 8, you only have your warp, impulse and reactor power available. Batteries do not automatically get recharged. If at the end of Turn 8 you have 2 available power tokens, you can charge those two batteries and have ALL of the power available at the start of Turn 9.

I think this is the same problem I was running into with SFB. Makes sense now.
If I *still* don't have it correct, please let me know. When I evangelize to new players, I want to make darned sure I know the rules - whys and hows.

[Scoutdad]

Thanks all for the clarification.
Yes, I believed too that if you were to use all of your power tokens by the end of Turn 1, that everything would be recharged and good to go on Turn 2.
But what you are saying (in particular ScoutDad) is that at the end of (say) Turn 7, you've used all of your available power, which includes batteries, then at the start of Turn 8, you only have your warp, impulse and reactor power available. Batteries do not automatically get recharged. If at the end of Turn 8 you have 2 available power tokens, you can charge those two batteries and have ALL of the power available at the start of Turn 9.

I think this is the same problem I was running into with SFB. Makes sense now.
If I *still* don't have it correct, please let me know. When I evangelize to new players, I want to make darned sure I know the rules - whys and hows.

I think you have it.

[storeylf]

As noted above, batteries don't generate energy, they just store unused energy from one turn to the next.


Even though I vaguely remembered SFB from years ago, I still had to re-read the section on power (and other sections) several times when I first got FC in order to work out what it was saying.

"Power boxes are shaded blue to make battery power easy to find."
"You get get one energy token for each point of power (i.e for each un-disabled power box)."

Does sound like those blue boxes labeled battery are power boxes and generate a token each turn. There are a few hints thats batteries are somehow different and will be talked about later - but I've just been badly confused now and want to know now.

It would have been better if they had provided a clearly definitive list of power generating systems, rather than saying they are the blue boxes, especially as power and batteries are both 'blue'. The Fed CA example does actually list them, but because it is just an example you can't be sure that it is the full definitive list.

[Mike]

From my experience with our gamers around here, the inclusion of the batteries on the power track is what throws off new players with the battery issue.

In SFB you have the Energy Allocation Chart where it is very clear that batteries do not generate energy. Players get used to the fact that an old Fed CA has 30 warp and 4 impulse for a total of 34 power. The fact that it has 4 batteries isn't considered because they are thought of as energy storage units.

In FC you have the power track and even though it is in two colors, batteries can be confused for regular power.