Shuttles and Attack Squadrons

 *bzzt* Incoming transmission from a Federation starship *bzzt*

Welcome back Star Trek: Attack Wing players.  Today we’re going to provide an overview of the changes to Capital Ships, Shuttlecrafts, and Attack Squadron rules in the new rulebook!

CAPITAL SHIPS

 Let’s start out by talking about Capital Ships! A Capital Ship is any ship with 4+ Hull Value. A player must have one Capital Ship in their fleet per Shuttlecraft, Attack Squadron, or Borg Support Vehicle. Simply put, you need one Capital Ship for each game element in your fleet that requires one. This means if you’re running a Shuttlecraft and an Attack Squadron, you’ll need at least two Capital Ships in your fleet. Similarly, you cannot have one Capital Ship count for both a Shuttlecraft and an Attack Squadron, it can only count for one or the other. With this understanding, now we’ll take a look at how Shuttlecrafts and Attack Squadrons have changed under the new rulebook!

SHUTTLECRAFTS

 Most of the rules that apply to Shuttlecrafts have not changed:  You will still need a Capital Ship for each Shuttlecraft in your fleet, they can still dock, you can move cards back and forth with an action from your Capital Ship once docked, and they still exit your Capital Ship during the Planning Phase.

However, there are a few substantive changes.  For constructing your fleet, the major change is that cards that cost more than 3 SP can no longer be equipped to Shuttlecrafts.  This rule does not apply to just upgrades, but to Captains and Admirals as well.

The Action to dock a Shuttlecraft can now only be taken by a Shuttlecraft. Additionally, when overlapping a friendly ship, the Shuttlecraft never takes damage, regardless of whether or not it uses the Action to dock. The Capital Ship still receives an Auxiliary Power Token when a Shuttlecraft docks on it.  The biggest change to docking is that while the upgrades on your Shuttlecraft cannot be used as before; they can now be affected by your opponent. Previously, if a card was on your Shuttlecraft while it was docked, it was largely immune to your opponents’ abilities. Now, they can be affected like any other card equipped to the Capital Ship the Shuttlecraft is docked on.

To launch the Shuttlecraft, instead of placing the Shuttlecraft anywhere within Range 1 of the Capital Ship, you select a maneuver on your Shuttlecraft’s Maneuver Dial, place one end of the corresponding maneuver template anywhere on any edge of the Capital Ship’s base (without any edge of the template extending beyond the base), and perform that maneuver. Both the Shuttlecraft and the Capital Ship receive an Auxiliary Power Token when a Shuttlecraft launches. Additionally, the Shuttlecraft may not move normally the turn it launches from a Capital Ship.

ATTACK SQUADRONS

The rules for Attack Squadrons have not changed much. They now officially require a Capital Ship per the rulebook. Additionally, they previously did not count as ships with regards to you or your opponent’s actions or card abilities. Now, they can be affected by your opponent’s cards, but not your own. So, Captain Donatra will still not give your Attack Squadron a +1 attack die, but if your opponent is running Matt Decker as a Captain, or an Admiral, they can use his ability to do one point of damage to the Attack Squadron’s Hull to remove an Attack Squadron Token. All in all, this isn’t a huge change but serves to bring Attack Squadrons down a peg.

That’s all for today! Stay tuned for our next transmission which will cover the new icons, ship restrictions, and card anatomy!