A few questions...

[RCgothic]

Btw the absence of rules prohibiting firing at cap is not in itself permissive of firing at cap.

True, but the presence of rules stating that you can fire at ordnance is.

QFT

[Belshazzar]

This was the question I was answering. If the ship takes a crit which causes damage and after it is resolved the ship has 0 hits left then roll on the catastrophic damage table. So an 8 hit cruiser with 3 hits left loses a boarding action by 4 taking it down to zero hits. Normally this would result in it being a drifting hulk but it also takes a crit which happens to be an engine room damage result, causing another hit. Roll on the catastrophic damage table.

Ah now I understand what you are meaning. Is it really that way? The rule says "if a ship is reduced to zero damage by a critical hit, roll for catastrophic damage as normal." So you've only got to test if the last damage point is taken by a crit? If it has already zero hits left before the crit applies, there is nothing to reduce anymore for the crit. Like, in your example, the fourth damage point taken during the boarding action it will have no effect. You can't reduce anymore. So theoretically, in this situation, the crit still applies but since you cannot apply the extra damage, only the result of the crit (engine room damaged: no turns) would superfluously apply. Isn't this what the rule is saying?

[Sigoroth]

Ah now I understand what you are meaning. Is it really that way? The rule says "if a ship is reduced to zero damage by a critical hit, roll for catastrophic damage as normal." So you've only got to test if the last damage point is taken by a crit? If it has already zero hits left before the crit applies, there is nothing to reduce anymore for the crit. Like, in your example, the fourth damage point taken during the boarding action it will have no effect. You can't reduce anymore. So theoretically, in this situation, the crit still applies but since you cannot apply the extra damage, only the result of the crit (engine room damaged: no turns) would superfluously apply. Isn't this what the rule is saying?

Any damage done to a drifting or blazing hulk will result in a roll on the catastrophic damage table. So if the ship is reduced to 0 hits by the boarding action, making it a drifting hulk, but the crit causes a point of damage then this will cause a roll on the catastrophic damage table just as if it had been shot at or hit with bombers or torps.

[Belshazzar]

Right, but I think the ship is not a hulk when it takes the damage from the crit.
If you're shooting at a ship and reduce it to zero hits only by shooting itself, and inflict in addition to it a crit that causes extra damage, you still roll only once for catastrophic damage, not twice, because it's not a hulk when it takes the extra damage but still a badly damaged ship. Excessive damage taken by a ship expires. It's basically the same situation as in a boardnig action.

[Sigoroth]

Right, but I think the ship is not a hulk when it takes the damage from the crit.
If you're shooting at a ship and reduce it to zero hits only by shooting itself, and inflict in addition to it a crit that causes extra damage, you still roll only once for catastrophic damage, not twice, because it's not a hulk when it takes the extra damage but still a badly damaged ship. Excessive damage taken by a ship expires. It's basically the same situation as in a boardnig action.

You only roll once on the catastrophic table per incidence of incoming fire , regardless of the number of hits caused.  So if a ship takes 10 damage in excess of what is necessary to hulk it from 1 burst of incoming fire you roll once. If a hulk takes 10 hits from 10 different sources then you roll on the catastrophic damage table 10 times. So damage from crits over and above what is necessary to hulk the vessel has no additional effect.

In the case of boarding however, if the ship is taken to 0 hits by the boarding action it automatically becomes a drifting hulk (as stated explicitly) and so any damage from a crit is actually damage done to a hulk. Even if this was not the case though, and the crit damage was considered to come simultaneously, then it would still cause a roll on the catastrophic damage table since the ship took at least 1 point of damage that doesn't ignore the normal rules.

[horizon]

Where is it exactly written that when a drifting hulk is hit that you roll on the catastrophic damage table immediatelly?

[Sigoroth]

Last paragraph, middle column on pg 13 of 2010 FAQ under Catastrophic Damage section.

[Belshazzar]

So your're meaning that damage taken by the boarding action and the crit may come simultaneously, so you cannot say which damage actually took the last hit point and it might be the crit who does as well, so you have to roll for catastrophic damage as the rule says? Hmm.... okay this way I can live with it.
Thanks for the discussion!^^