Are there any official rules for using starship macroweapons and lances to try and shoot down approaching attack craft, particulatily bombers, before they make thier attack runs? Conventional wisdom would dictate that it would be niegh impossible to target agile, 50m long fighters with cannon shells 3 times thier size and that laser weapons and lances would give off energy emissions that even fighters could pick up  and therefore know when to scatter. So i assume that shooting at bombers and assault boats with ship board weapons is pointless but does anyone know otherwise?

truedragon5374 said:

You summed it up - only turrets on starships can attempt to intercept strike craft squadrons attacking your ship, and if they stay at range then only your own strike craft can counter them.

Here's an older post by N0-1_H3r3 on the topic, from this thread: http://www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efid=161&efcid=46&efidt=466402 

I could have sworn I wrote a rule for that…

Yes… yes I did. There was a sidebar about the matter which must've been cut for some reason.

Obviously, I can't speak for FFG on this one, so this is a houserule unless someone more important than me says otherwise, but here's what my manuscript for my part of that chapter had to say on the matter:

Big Guns, Small Targets
While the guns of fighters and defensive turrets are well-suited to stopping incoming bombers, assault boats and torpedoes, these weapons do have their limitations, namely range. At times, it may be desirable to stop incoming ordnance long before fighters or turrets can deal with it, turning macrobatteries and lances against such small targets.

Firing at torpedoes or attack craft with normal weapons is difficult, so small and quick are the targets, but they can seldom stand up to weapons that tear other starships asunder. Against torpedoes and attack craft, normal weapons suffer an additional –20 penalty to hit. However, every hit caused immediately defeats either a single squadron of attack craft or a single torpedo.

Iku Rex said:

This makes perfect sense for macrobatteries. I'm a little dubious of a lance sweeping a dozen small craft from space, but it might function more like the beam from the Shadows in B5 than as a single 'pulse' of energy as I had envisioned them.

Or you could adapt the holofield rules. That would take lances/macrobattery differences into account.

There's an Eldar ship with the specific special feature "This Raider is so small it can actually engage attack craft with its weapons!" which suggests that it's normally impossible.

I'm going to go with the Dev's manuscript here and agree that a significant penalty should do it. Of course, that's a huuuuge nerf to assault craft, but assault craft get brutally good if they can only be stopped by assault craft.