Friestman Wiki

This is an old revision of the document!

Ferrum Drone Base

Introduced in Reconquest: Phase 1

The Ferrum Class Drone Base is one of the most titanic ground vehicles ever produced by the UCM. It is only manufactured on the world from which it acquired its name, the industrial powerhouse of Ferrum. Like many UCM vehicles it is a recent development and has only just entered frontline service with the Colonial Armoured Corps.

The Ferrum has a single purpose on the battlefield, to deploy and control Starsprite drone squadrons. A single Ferrum can control a squadron of up to eight drones at any one time, and can replenish the swarm from its voluminous internal hangar should any losses be sustained.

Despite their small size, Starsprite UAV's carry the latest in UCM optical hardware coupled to a compact but lethal payload of UM-110 'Golden Arrow' missiles. While this weapon individually lacks the punch of its larger cousin, it can be employed to lethal effect when a group of drones act in concert. By constantly sharing targeting data, multiple munitions can be brought to bear on vulnerable areas with mechanical precision. Starsprites can also turn their missiles on other loitering aircraft, making them a lethal and ever present threat to almost everything on the battlefield.

Since AI's of all kinds are susceptible to hacking on the modern battlefield, the Starsprites are only semi-autonomous and rely on intensely powerful local command signals and human input from the Ferrum itself. This control system is difficult to hack due to its potency, since the Starspirites will effectively ignore all input from weaker sources. However, the downside of such a system is that the Ferrum itself must remain in relatively close proximity to its Starsprites, making its presence on the battlefield essential. Like almost all UCM vehicles, the Ferrum can be deployed from the air direct to the frontline, in this case by an Albatross Heavy Dropship.

Current Stats & Rules (v2.4 2020-10-02)

Name	Mv	CM	A	Dp	Type	Category	Squad	T	Pts	Special
Ferrum Drone Base	3“	A	12	5	Tank	Support	1	a18¹⁾	155	Rare²⁾, Large³⁾

Weapons	M&F	Arc	R(F)	R(C)	Sh	Ac	E	Special
Twin Gatling (Left)	3”	F/S(Left)	24“	12”	4	4+	3	-
Twin Gatling (Right)	3“	F/S(Right)	24”	12“	4	4+	3	-
Point Defense Launchers	3”	F/S/R	36“	9”	2	3+	6	AA-2⁴⁾, Penetrative⁵⁾

Command Centre: This unit may add a Command Centre and therefore house a Commander for an additional 10 points.

Drone Base: At any point during this units activation it may launch 4 Starsprite Drones . The resulting number of Starsprite Drones are placed in a squad on the board, following disembarking rules as if this unit were their Transport. The Drone Base can do this each turn, with each new squad of Starsprite Drones operating individually, as part of this unit's Battlegroup. However, no more than 2 squads of Starsprite Drones may be in play at any time for each Ferrum Drone Base on the board.

Name	Mv	CM	A	Dp	Type	Category	Squad	T	Pts	Special
Starsprite Drone	30“	A	8	1	Aircraft-S	Scout	-	-	-	-

Weapons	M&F	Arc	R(F)	R(C)	Sh	Ac	E	Special
Golden Arrow	15”	F	24“	6”	1	3+	6	AA-2, Focus-3⁶⁾

This units Focus ability can be used to combine shots from it’s whole squad

Self Destruct: At any time during this units activation, this squads owner may choose to remove the entire squad from the board. This doesn't give Kill Points for the enemy.

Short Range Drones: Squads of Starsprite Drones cannot be bought with points, instead only being used as part of a Ferrum Drone Base. Starsprite Drones may not Reaction Fire, and may not use the Focus special rule against Aircraft in the air. Starsprite Drones count as Scout units.

Version History

Experimental Rules v1.0 (2013-03-27)

Name	Mv	CM	A	Dp	Type	Category	S+C	Pts	Special
Ferrum Drone Base	3“	A	7	5	Vehicle	Support	1	160	Drone Base

Weapons	M&F	Arc	R(F)	R(C)	Sh	Ac	E	Special
Twin Gatling (Left)	3”	F/S(Left)	24“	12”	4	4+	3	-
Twin Gatling (Right)	3“	F/S(Right)	24”	12“	4	4+	3	-
Point Defense Launchers	3”	F/S/R	36“	9”	2	3+	7	AA⁷⁾, SC⁸⁾

Transport: 1x Albatross Heavy Dropship (1 unit only)

Drone Base: A Ferrum Class Drone Base may deploy a squad of up to eight Starsprite Drones (the normal rules for transports apply). However, if the Ferrum is destroyed then all Drones onboard and those deployed by it are instantly destroyed as well. During its activation, the Ferrum may replenish any losses from the Drone Squadron by deploying new ones (it may deploy an unlimited number throughout the game, but only eight may be in the air at any one time). The newly deployed Drones do NOT have to fly into coherency with previously deployed Dones.

Name	Mv	CM	A	Dp	LZ	Type	Category	S+C	Pts	Special
Starsprite Drone	30“	A	3	1	*	Aircraft	Scout	8	-	Cloud Formation, Tiny

Weapons	M&F	Arc	R(F)	R(C)	Sh	Ac	E	Special
Golden Arrow	15”	F	24“	6”	1	3+	6	Focus-4⁹⁾, AA (May not Reaction Fire)

Cloud Formation: Starsprites fly in tight, close formation in order to combine fire and share targeting information. Any AA weapon with multiple shots firing against a squadron of Starsprite drones in coherency may allocate each shot to separate targets within the squadron. Normal rules for range and line ofsight still apply.

Tiny: A Starsprite always counts as ‘Destroyed in the Air’ if destroyed, since it’s too small to make a big impact if it crashes! As such they do not need an LZ value.

Experimental Rules v1.1 (2013-12-06)

Point Defense Launchers Energy decreased from 7 to 6

Drone Base rewritten as below, changes underlined
During its first activation a Ferrum Class Drone Base may deploy a squad of up to eight Starsprite Drones (the normal rules for transports apply). However, if the Ferrum is destroyed then all Drones onboard and those deployed by it are instantly destroyed as well. In subsequent activations, the Ferrum may replenish up to four losses from the Drone Squadron by deploying new ones at the start of its activation, before existing Starsprite Drones activate. It may deploy an unlimited number throughout the game, but only eight may be in the air at any one time. The newly deployed Drones do NOT have to fly into coherency with previously deployed Drones.

—-

Reconquest: Phase 1 (2014-08-30)

Ferrum Drone Base cost increased from 160 to 165pts

Ferrum Drone Base gained Rare

Starsprite replaces Tiny special rule with LZ - Tiny

Reconquest: Phase 1 v1.1 Errata (2017-01-01)

Golden Arrow Focus reduced from Focus-4 to Focus-3

Beta v2.5.7 (Adepticon 2019)

Ferrum Drone Base cost decreased from 165 to 155pts

Starsprite gained the following additional rules
This weapon cannot use its Focus fire against Aircraft Units while they are in the air due to its inaccuracy and the coordinated effort need for shooting flying units. However, Aircraft units that have landed are fair game.

Battle for Earth v2.0 (2019-06-17)

Ferrum Drone Base gained Large

Ferrum Drone Base gained the following special rule:
Command Centre: This unit may add a Command Centre and therefore house a Commander for an additional 10 points.

Drone Base rewritten as below
At the start of this unit's activation, you may roll 2D3. The resulting number of Starsprite Drones are placed in a squad on the board, following disembarking rules as if this unit were their Transport. The Drone Base can do this each turn, with each new squad of Starsprite Drones operating individually, as part of this unit's Battlegroup. However, no more than 8 Starsprite Drones may be in play at any time for each Ferrum Drone Base on the board. Any extra generated are lost.

Cloud Formation renamed Short Range Drones and rewritten as below
Squads of Starsprite Drones cannot be bought with points, instead only being used as part of a Ferrum Drone Base. Starsprite Drones may not Reaction Fire, and may not use the Focus special rule against Aircraft in the air.

Standard BfE Changes Not Detailed

Balance Pass v2.1 (2019-09-19)

Starsprite Drones gained the following special rule:
This units Focus ability can be used to combine shots from it’s whole squad

Balance Pass v2.3 (2020-09-25)

Drone Base rewritten as below, changes underlined
At any point during this units activation it may launch 4 Starsprite Drones . The resulting number of Starsprite Drones are placed in a squad on the board, following disembarking rules as if this unit were their Transport. The Drone Base can do this each turn, with each new squad of Starsprite Drones operating individually, as part of this unit's Battlegroup. However, no more than 2 squads of Starsprite Drones may be in play at any time for each Ferrum Drone Base on the board.

Starsprite Drones gained the following special rule:
Self Destruct: At any time during this units activation, this squads owner may choose to remove the entire squad from the board. This doesn't give Kill Points for the enemy.

¹⁾

Size: 18 Tank

²⁾

You may take a maximum of 1 squad of this type in a Skirmish, 2 squads in a Clash, and 3 squads in a Battle.

³⁾

This unit cannot be Hull Down.

⁴⁾

Anti-Air X - An AA weapon may target aircraft. It reduces the Evasion CM of the target by the X value. It may also Reaction Fire against aircraft at a +2 Acc penalty.

⁵⁾

Penetrative weapons always do damage to targets on a damage roll of 6.

⁶⁾

After rolling to hit, you can choose to discard any number of hits from a single Focus weapon and add the X number to the Energy value of one or more of the remaining shots.

⁷⁾

Anti-Air - An AA weapon may target aircraft. It may also Reaction Fire against aircraft at a +2 Acc penalty.

⁸⁾

Shaped Charge - A Shaped Charge shot will always cause 1 point of damage on a roll of 6+ if it would not normally be powerful enough to inflict damage (roll to hit first as usual).

⁹⁾

Multiple hits against the same Vehicle from identical Focus Fire weapons fired by a single Squad in Coherency may Focus Fire. One or more Hits may be discarded, and the Focus Fire value (e.g. Focus-4) of each discarded hit may be added to the Energy value of another hit (up to a maximum of E-13).