Federation Commander

Is Orion engine doubling done secretly and simultaneously, or is it subject to 'me, too' decisions?

Nothing is done in Secret with FC ---

After speeds are announced, everything is known by your opponent - --
All they need to do is ask to see the ship chart ----

To expand on what Mark said... no. It's not secret... your sensors can detect the sudden "plume" on it's sensors as the opponents power generation spikes...

While it's never come up in one of our games, I can't see why you couldn't "me too!" the engine doubling if both sides have Orion ships.

picture this:
Way out on the fontier, two opposing Orion captains both are going after the same supply ship. The more experienced of the two knows that he must get in, grab her, and get out fast! so the turn set-up goes thusly...

Hod K'el: <thinking> hmmm... I have one shot at this. I need to grab the Wayward Child quickly, or the Federation patrol will be here and I'll be in trouble. Wait, what's that - another Raider Cruiser at Bearing 230, Mark 27 - Perfect!

Orion N'oob: <thinking> Oh man... my first command, my first raid, and there's someone else coming from the other direction... I think I'm in over my head...

Hod K'el, "Engine room! We need power and we need it now! Run the engines to 200% output! We'll deal with the damage later!"

N'oob, "He's doing what! Why is he doing that? It's only a convoy of freighters, there's not even a Police Escort. Well... maybe he knows something we don't. Prepare to double the engines.

then Energy Allocation continues...

This situation came up in a game Ben and I played recently. We each had Orion ships and were fighting over a freighter. We wondered about the engine doubling and whether it was "Me, too!" and decided that energy allocation was one place where "Me, too!" did not apply.

We must think a lot alike because every time one of us doubled, the other did, too.

Let me guess...I gave the freighter captain a choice of surrendering to me or I would kill them all? Then I dropped two PL-G to give the Noob something to think about, then a PL-D to drop the shields on the freighter, since he did not surrender, then boarded the freighter.

I retained three PL-D to keep the Noob at bay until I took the freighter. I killed all the men, took the women as slaves (only the good looking ones), placed a prize crew onboard and guarded the freighter against the Noob as we made our escape, all while launching PL-D's at the Noob.

Close?

Thanks for the replies, folks. This is still an interesting question; Bolo, yes, I know what you mean but as you say, '...after speeds are announced, everything is known...' but that's part of the point. Speeds are announced after engine doubling takes place.

I am happy to have it as 'me, too', Tony's example and mini-story [get it published, lad!] are feasible and to the point; Mike, you thought the same way as I did until I thought about it some more and now I just don't know!

Hod K'el - that's what I was trying to do

I have always viewed the declaration of engine doubling as completely distinct from the declaration of baseline speed. Engine doubling happens in the first paragraph of (1E1) (as demonstrated in (1D1)), where as selection of baseline speed is in the second paragraph. Therefore, engine doubling is not "secret and simultaneous". Since it isn't S&S, that makes it eligible for "me-too".

Then Orion engine doubling needs a sentence to indicate that it is a "Me, too!" event that occurs before selection of baseline speed.

Perhaps in the 6th revision of the rules...

As an aside, how many revisions did the SFB rules go through?

There was the pocket version, the designer's edition, the commander's edition, and the captain's edition.

Mike wrote:As an aside, how many revisions did the SFB rules go through?

There was the pocket version, the designer's edition, the commander's edition, and the captain's edition.

Do you mean "revisions" or "editions". You have just listed off the various editions. However, at least for the second two editions, there were multiple revisions.

The Commander's Edition had two massive updates called (oddly enough) Update #1 and Update #2. (Some elements of Update #2 is the only portion of my old Commander's Edition rules I still have ...)

The Captain's Edition has had at least three or four revisions (1991, 1994, 1999/2000, and MRB I believe).

So, I guess the best answer is "several".

Hod K'el wrote: I killed all the men

Nope. You keep the men alive. If you're feeling charitable, then you release them. If you're not, then you ask their employer for a ransom payment.

junior wrote:[You keep the men alive. If you're feeling charitable, then you release them. If you're not, then you ask their employer for a ransom payment.

And if the employer is feeling charitable, they will pay the ransom....