So, I've slowly been branching out from Onyx to Shasvastii and I must admit a lot of Shasvastii rules are completely alien to me (ba-dum-tish). So after a grand total of 2 games of me trying to play Shasvastti, I have a couple of questions I was hoping for people to help me clarify: Seed Soldiers have Surprise Attack in their Seed Embryo form, so if I perform Move + BS Attack to 'hatch' my Seed Soldier, do I get to apply the MOD against my opponent? Can my opponent run up to a mine that detonates, put a Chain Rifle on top of the detonating mine and hit my camo units? Or does the mine disappear immediately when triggered? Can a Caliban use a D-Charge with Protheion and apply Protheion for each unsaved wound from the EXP ammo? If I remember correctly, no matter how many successful Discover Rolls my opponent succeds in an ARO, my Impersonation can only drop 1 level at a time, right? I was much more sure before, but now that I actually use a Speculo I'm suddenly in doubt. Thank you before hand for the answers.
This is still a bit of obscure, but i would go with yes. As any other Camo, when the mine detonates, it lose Camo for the entire order. So it can a valid target for a DTW. Yes, but remember that the maximum number of sucked up wounds is the W value + 1 (from unconscious to dead) no matter how many saves a model fails. You remember correctly.
1. Seed Embryo has Camo. You need Marker State (or Hidden Deployment) to trigger Surprise Attack. "Hatching doesn't trigger it, starting the Order in Camo does. The Seed Soldier's Developed Shape Profile doesn't have Surprise Attack. Since that Profile is going to be used for the entire Order if you hatch he can't use Surprise Attack. Currently you can only trigger it with the Seed Embryo Chest Mines. 2. Mines don't declare AROs and trigger and disappear outside of the regular Order sequence which is always a bit tricky (the trooper on the receiving end rolls Dodge/makes ARM rolls during the regular sequence though). Mines also don't reveal through triggering. A triggered Mine stays in Camo and can't be targeted unless it was also discovered already in basically every case (sole exception I can thing of being an Impersonator using Discover+Shoot on the Mine from within the trigger area). Mines aren't Troopers and never declare a BS Attack to satisfy any of the possible cancellation conditions for Camoflage. 3&4 as @Aspect Graviton said.
Yeah okay, so logic is that he started in Camo but like the Libertos, just because you have Camo doesn't mean you get Surprise Attack, so while the Seed Soldier meets the criteria to activate Surprise Attack, he can't do so because the Developed Form doesn't have the Surprise Attack skill to use. Regarding mines, I reached the same conclussion with the wording of 'trigger' as a mine does not actually ARO but you formulated it much better than me. Thank you all for the answers!
So you are saying that a Mine that a mine that triggers, doesn't declare an Attack (cancellation clause of Camouflaged state)?
I don't think the answer here is 'Yes' because otherwise this sentence wouldn't make sense to me: "Once on the game table, Mines must trigger when an enemy Model or Marker declares or executes a Skill or ARO inside their Trigger Area, checking it at that moment by placing the Small Teardrop Template. If it is determined that the Model or Marker is not within the Trigger Area, the Mine will neither detonate nor be revealed." This part implies that once a mine triggers, it simultaneously places a template and reveals itself. My own reason to doubt that you can shoot a mine that triggers is a combination of that quote above added to this part: "Once a Mine triggers, it is removed from play." My understanding is once it triggers and places the template, it's immediately removed as placing the template 'expends' the mine That's not a hill I'm willing to die on though.
IJW has previously confirmed that mines were specifically written as not Declaring an attack so they don't reveal when triggered. This was almost entirely to stop them being used as bouncing points for template weapons.
But this part clearly states (by opposite situation) that a mine that triggers DOES detonate and IS revealed... Anyway, i didn't remember this. If it is the case I clearly stand corrected.
They're also not Troopers and Trigger Areas work on their Active turn. On someone else's activation. Mines can't declare anything and if they could their whole mechanics would fall apart. That's interpretation at best. Counterpoint why that clause is there: Normally if you were a trooper and you fail to execute an Order you would Idle and get revealed. Mines, unlike a trooper, don't declare anything, get completely cancelled and don't Idle, which is different from what we're used to see when things fail involving Camo, hence the calling out of not revealing.
3. Can a Caliban use a D-Charge with Protheion and apply Protheion for each unsaved wound from the EXP ammo? Yes but: The Wounds Attribute cannot be more than two higher than its original value.
As a minor point; if a Mine Marker did declare an attack, they, in turn, would trigger enemy mines. They'd also be unable to trigger versus AROs declared at step 5 because there would be no further steps in the sequence to declare skills in. So no, mines don't declare anything :)