A few questions easily answered

[greedo]

Hello,
Bought the rules, and love 'em. Have read over them several times to make
sure I understand before demoing to the rest of my group.

Still a few lingering questions though:
I didn't see answers to these though I'm sure they've come up, so sorry to
repeat.

1) British 1st and 2nd rate ships get +2/+1 crew for having the "fleets admiral
on board". Does that mean an ACTUAL admiral (as opposed to post captain/rear
admiral), or just the commander of the fleet?

2) You fight fires on the turn that they started correct? (i.e. roll on the fire
damage table) since fire damage takes place AFTER shooting.

3) Squadrons: The leader has Cmd+1. As long as all ships are within 14" of this
ship, do they ALL have Cmd+1? What if one of the non cmd ships wants to tack?
Does it use its own cmd value, or the commanders? I was a little unclear. Also,
if they go out of 14", they are at -2, so that's just -2 period, and they don't
benefit from a +1 from their leader AT ALL?

4) I'm afraid I'm very unclear on how collsions are handled. Is there place
with diagrams, or colliding, fending off, grappling, entangled, various 3cm
movements and turning?

5) The test for broken masts in irons. Making sure I understand how this goes.
I'm assuming there are two cases: 1) where I want to tack/boxhaul, 2) where the
wind changed and I am facing into the wind by mistake.
In the first case, I turn until I am *just* in irons, and then make a command
roll. If I pass, then I tack over using a steep turn. If I fail, then I roll on
the taken aback table.

In the second case, where I'm in irons whether I meant to or not, I just roll on
the taken aback table. Is this correct?

6) "Crippled" = no low hit points left, "Captured" = no crew left (and has not been
recrewed by the end of the game). Is this correct?

thanks,
Chris

[scrivs]

I've had a few games

1) British 1st and 2nd rate ships get +2/+1 crew for having the "fleets admiral on board". Does that mean an ACTUAL admiral (as opposed to post captain/rear
admiral), or just the commander of the fleet?

I'd say it has to be a Rear Admiral/Admiral at the appropriate points cost

2) You fight fires on the turn that they started correct? (i.e. roll on the fire damage table) since fire damage takes place AFTER shooting.

Yes, the end phase occurs after the gunnery phase, you don't roll for the fires effect in the gunnery phase.

3) Squadrons: The leader has Cmd+1. As long as all ships are within 14" of this ship, do they ALL have Cmd+1? What if one of the non cmd ships wants to tack? Does it use its own cmd value, or the commanders? I was a little unclear. Also, if they go out of 14", they are at -2, so that's just -2 period, and they don't benefit from a +1 from their leader AT ALL?

It says all checks so if they are within 14cm they get the benefit of +1. So a Frigate is normally a 3, but is a 4 if within 14cm of the Squadron leader or a 1 if over 14cm.

4) I'm afraid I'm very unclear on how collsions are handled. Is there place with diagrams, or colliding, fending off, grappling, entangled, various 3cm movements and turning?

It's a very poorly written rule. I've started playing that if a ship passes a Command Check then it avoids any damage from a collision.
As written it makes you wonder why they bothered with guns at all, when they could use the ships more effectively if like Ancient Galleys "RAMMING SPEED MR PELLOW"

5) The test for broken masts in irons. Making sure I understand how this goes. I'm assuming there are two cases: 1) where I want to tack/boxhaul, 2) where the wind changed and I am facing into the wind by mistake. In the first case, I turn until I am *just* in irons, and then make a command
roll. If I pass, then I tack over using a steep turn. If I fail, then I roll on the taken aback table.

In the second case, where I'm in irons whether I meant to or not, I just roll on the taken aback table. Is this correct?

That is how I play it

6) "Crippled" = no low hit points left, "Captured" = no crew left (and has not been recrewed by the end of the game). Is this correct?

We looked at this very one during our game last week. I reckon they only count as captured if the losers fleet is broken. If neither fleet is broken it's a drawn game and they count as crippled on teh Victory Points table.

[greedo]

Awesome! Thank you for the answers. I asked them on the yahoo group to no reply, and was worried I was asking stupid questions
First game will be tomorrow night, so I'm sure I'll have more.

[Bosun]

IMHO if you buy a 1st rate then go for the Admiral, take the crew and the command bonus.
Check out the 'Brace for impact' rule to avoid collisions.

[greedo]

See, its the brace for impact in addition to making command checks to avoid collision, not even mentioning INTENTIONAL collisions for boarding that confuses me. Does that mean that you HAVE to crash into another ship to board, or make successful CC to avoid the crash, but you still get to board?

The turning 90 degrees, when to stop, moving up to 3cm etc. to avoid collisions I think is the most confusing thing, and when exactly to make the cc check.

I agree, the admiral (or post admiral) should get a Command bonus, AND the crew bonus.

[Bosun]

As far as I can see you can only grapple, you get to re-roll your D6 in the boarding action if you do, when you are side on to your target. So you are better off not crashing in at, say 45%, as you can't grapple but you can still board. If you do avoid the crash I would assume you can't board.
As I read the rules the Captain ofa 3rd rate has a command value of 4, so you automatically get the command bonus for buying an Admiral as well as the crew bonus.