#1-04 - Cries from the Drift question

[Thom Colgan]

Greetings,

I am running this module and I have an issue.

During the duel in the asteroid field, my players did a turn and burn maneuver and is keeping their Aft section pointed at the Vesk vessel. As par of the rules of the Duel, the Aft sections of the ships were off limits to target/attack.

My quandary is, How do I combat this...as the Vesk? I've tried calling them names (trying to goad them into attacking front facing). I've tried flanking.

Just frustrating.

Thanks.

Thom

[Jhaeman]

That's actually one of the expected tactics (it shows the PCs were listening to the rules of the duel). If the vesk ship gets close enough, it might try a fly-by attack because then it can shoot at any side of the PC's ship. Another tactic is to aim for the exploding asteroids.

[bonebrah]

Jhaeman wrote:

That's actually one of the expected tactics (it shows the PCs were listening to the rules of the duel). If the vesk ship gets close enough, it might try a fly-by attack because then it can shoot at any side of the PC's ship. Another tactic is to aim for the exploding asteroids.

Maybe I'm missing something, but how is that an expected tactic? Either they weren't listening to the rules or they blatantly disregarded them. They broke the rules by not facing the enemy head on as stated in the same line that says no aft attacks.

Thus the encounter should play out/conclude:

Scenario Spoiler:

as the PC's not getting the cargo pod loot from the Vesk

It works itself out IMO, with Vesk options being flyby attacks or targeting asteroids as noted by Jhaeman.

[Freedom Snake]

Facing head on is a should. Not mandatory for the honorable conditions. The PCs only agreed to not intentionally target the rear arc. Preventing you from doing so didn’t violate that. The agreed that you “should” face head on, but did not agree that they would. Outsmarted the Vesk by taking advantage of a loophole in the terms of the agreement is well within their right. Exploiting an enemy’s weakness, (even their verbal ones) is kind of how many encounters are resolved.