The Commander Series Forum

The Terrain movement summary table (p21) shows a dash (-) = no penalty for Grav moving over all wet terrain.

My understanding is that Grav vehicles can end their movement over water and then carry on moving on the next successful order. Grav recce using a relocation would make successive moves over any wet terrain. There is no problem with ending a move above water and hovering there.

Is this correct ?

There are dissenters in our campaign and I would appreciate a ruling.

[The same would apply to Hover and on-table Airborne]

Correct

Hmmm ... me thinks that the question is not 100% clear here Big Walker.

"Grav can end it's movement over water and then carry on moving on the next successful order" - yes - ok - but if the player using the Grav vehicles then fails his command roll that turn are we saying that the Grav/hover/airborne unit is just left over the water until the controlling players next bound & if so does it count as a Ground target or an aerial one?

I can see that this might be the case for Hover (which is about moving over a solid(ish) surface) or for Airborne (flying regardless of the need for a solid surface beneath it) but surely Grav is based upon the presumption that it is using a Grav Field/Tank/Projector (or similar) of some sort against the solid mass of the planet - hence it is Gravity deffying. This using Grav over an ocean (for example) means that the ocean bed might be many miles, fathoms down, so this now means that Grav vehicles are effectively the equivalent of flying?

If that is the case, then I can see no difference between Grav & Air in the lists as far as movement might be concerned - other than Grav becoming a cheaper & less vulnereable form of Air?

Now I know this is all hyperthetical but ... if we have the differences between Hover, Grav & Air I'd suggest it would be a good thing to make them distinctively different.

My own view is that Air & Hover over water seems fine. But I think Grav is suspect and should ideally start & end it's move on 'solid' ground?

Mark,

Not according to the rules, it's quite clear in there on pages 18(grav), 19(Water obstacles), 20(Wet terrain) and 21 (Movement summary table).

Grav can stop over water.

Confusion may be arrising over jump packs which must land on solid terrain. (Note positioned islands around San Francisco to allow jump packs alternative access - nothing if not fair )

Yes, I can see the rules are clear Steve ... just debating the validity of allowing 'Grav' to sit a few millimetres above the surface level of a moving sea, with a 10 fathom deep oceanic floor beneath it

But rules's is rules's ... no San Fran excuses required - they was wapped good 'un fair

Depends on how your definition of 'Grav' works, I guess - I subscribe to the Traveller-esq idea, so a Grav vee could happily achieve low orbit or better (albeit with limited speed/acceleration/manoeuvre capacity). A drive over the sea is no problem. And if it gets too awkward just dive under

I'd suggest you need to buy Amphibious capability then Tox

Thanks Pete, thats what I thought.

It's not really an amphib tho - it's way beyond that! They just float over the water using grav movement, and also happens to be a fully enclosed small spaceship (effectively).

That's more an out of game issue from the fluff, but if you wanted to 'go submerged' on the table top I guess paying some points isn't unreasonable

Well, you could use something similar to the fluff in the RL universe. The Grav Drives in that system manipulate the gravity field of the planet changing its direction in respect to the vehicle. In other words the Grav tank is "falling" parallel to the planet instead of toward it's center. That way they can stop and "hover" over just about any terrain, and achieve low altitude flight, etc.

That's as good a use of applied phlebtonium as any