Skill Level Questions

http://infinitythewiki.com/en/Special_Skills#Special_Skill_Levels

Some Special Skills are divided into Levels of expertise with distinct effects and uses.

Unless otherwise stated, any numerical Level of a Special Skill automatically grants all lower Levels of the same Skill. For example, a Level 3 also grants Levels 1 and 2.

Conversely, alphabetical Levels such as Level X state whether they grant any other Levels of the Skill or not.

 

If a trooper has a skill that has a numeric level (like some of Camouflage and Hiding skills do), that trooper has the lower levels as well. If there isn't a factor preventing it, you can benefit from all of them at once.

One of the things that will prevent you benefiting from multiple levels at once is the NFB (Negative Feedback) tag on skills.

When a TO Camo unit pops out of camo, it doesn't benefit from mimetism. It benefits from whatever level of Camouflage and Hiding it's currently using. (You'll note that CH:1 through 3 each duplicate the bullet point that grants the user the defensive BS Attack MOD.)

 

If you wanted to? Yes.

 

Why would you want to? TO imposes a -6 MOD whether or not you are in a marker state. Indeed, you can ONLY be shot at to impose that -6 if you are NOT in a marker state (though there is also a -6 MOD to discovering while still in the marker state).

To your second question, yes. You can upgrade and downgrade your skill. You don't lose access to a skill if you've temporarily decided to use a lower level of it.

 

NFB doesn't dictate when skills do or do not stack. This is left up to the skills themselves

 

To why to tarn to as normal camos between mines etc

 

True, but what I was referring to was downgrading to mimetism.

 

Please note also that camo and TO are fire sensitive and are reduced to mimetism when burnt. They also downgrade when you’re in retreat.

 

I didn't know this. Any idea where that rule is on the wiki? All I can find is an FAQ referring to it on the retreat page.

 

It took me some time but I found it : the answer is in the camouflaged state, in the cancellation clause (http://infinitythewiki.com/en/Camouflaged) :
The Camouflaged trooper becomes Impetuous (due to the Frenzy Characteristic or any other effect) or enters Retreat! state In either case, the trooper's CH Level is downgraded to CH: Mimetism. The trooper recovers his original CH Level when the Retreat! situation is canceled. However, the trooper does not revert to the Camouflaged state. To regain the Camouflaged state, the trooper must follow the Activation rules.

 

so i have to wonder if that hidden effect would apply if you were not in the camo state. How would you know to apply a camo state cancellation effect in retreat situation to a model that is not in camo state ?

edit: or how would you know to apply it to a model turning impetuous who was not even in camo state ?

2nd edit: ok, at least the rule is in Frenzy :

• When a trooper with Frenzy becomes Impetuous, it loses the advantages provided by Special Skills like CH: Camouflage, CH: TO Camouflage (both are reduced to CH: Mimetism), Impersonation, Holoprojector (see Infinity. Human Sphere), etc.

And the camo/imp cancellation clause says it equally applies to turning Retreat (which is kind of a form of impetuous order) or becoming impetuous from any other rules (due to the Frenzy Characteristic or any other effect)

 

Well, for Camo there is no difference (both Camo and Mimetism give a -3) if you are not in the marker state.

 

Thanks, I was looking in the camo & hiding page, not the camo state page.

 

Yes but TO camouflage has the same clause :
The TO Camouflaged trooper becomes Impetuous (due to the Frenzy Characteristic or any other effect) or enters Retreat! state In either case, the trooper's CH Level is downgraded to CH: Mimetism. The trooper recovers his original CH Level when the Retreat! situation is canceled. However, the trooper does not revert to the TO Camouflaged state. To regain the TO Camouflaged state, the trooper must follow the Activation rules.