In the online version on the main site, when a ship loses its last hull, it surrenders and sinks, no longer blocking line of fire.
Actually, we make the distinction that they are, in fact, still afloat. This is from the online rules: They are still afloat, so other ships can collide with them and even foul. Which makes the whole "shoot through" thing even weirder.
I agree that rule was always hard to interpret. Although these are 30 year old memories, I don't remember a time when a struck ship was boarded, mainly due to the ambiguity in the rules. It's like, "I captured a struck ship -- so what?" You can't use it for anything.
So basically struck ships can be captured, but you can only use them as "platforms" from which your prize crew can melee.
That's a good interpretation.
Now the question is: what happens when you capture back your ship?
I'd go with your first interpretation (a liberating boarding party would merge with the original crew). The only benefit would be to prevent the capturing bonus points.
And there's also another question..
Rule IX.D.8 says: "At least one crew square of the prize crew is required for every six prisoner crew squares on a ship. If the numbers fall below this ratio, the prisoners immediately take over the ship, and the prize crew becomes prisoners."
So what happens if you capture an enemy struck ship and your prize crew suffers a crew hit and drops below the 1 to 6 ratio?
Heh, good question! Maybe just eliminate them, or they're forced to help bale water.
A (temporary?) house ruleStruck ships are so in danger of sinking that no-one would ever board them! They can still foul with your ship and you can still grapple them (if you want) but no boarding action against them is possible. Since this House Rule is better than the First Fix, I've coded it and it's into effect on this Beta site from.... now! 
I don't have a problem with this. It's not clearly stated in the rules and we've "improvised" before. Like I said, boarding a struck ship almost never happens anyway. I always interpretted it as something you could do after an engagement, like for a campaign game where extra points might matter. |
