Not meaning to dogpile - just trying to clarify: by "free" I meant "without spending a skill or order". Move-move is the only skill combo I can think of that you might want to use to exit camo that won't; if I'm overlooking something else I'm happy to be corrected.
It also has significant effects on Hacking. Previously you could reveal that you're a Hacker on the first order giving Hidden Deployed / Marker state KHDs an ARO. Whereas now they won't get an ARO until after the second Short Skill. You can no longer reliably draw out marker state KHDs .
Can’t I just move as a camo marker without stealth and their KHD that are in range have to declare delay ARO or lose it?
Sure, but then they're able to delay their ARO. You used to, with most people's understanding of the rules, be able to drop your marker state, move, see what AROs came up, and then declare your second skill in response, whilst still benefiting from surprise shot. This is no longer possible.
Camo vs. camo is always a really weird set of interactions. I still think I'm probably ok with this, although I can definitely see how it significantly alters mid-field camo shenanigans. Between marker states and stealth you still have a lot of control as the active player, and I've never really been happy with the practice of dropping camo to force AROs but then still claiming surprise shot.
This may all be a moot point if Season 10 has less or no objectives a model needs to be a model and not a marker to claim. Do that bit and a lot of this goes away.
It's true; that's a very scenario-dependent interaction. That being said, I think it's a good rule overall. Anything with a -6 to hit modifier is already hard to dislodge from an objective, and if you have to discover it first, it's even more order intensive for the opponent to deal with.
It's a cute idea, but it makes no sense to break Camo by 'activating' Mimetism. Mimetism is Automatic, Obligatory and NFB. In fact, in any circumstance where you might be able to use Mimetism, you must use Mimetism. For it to be possible to override the Camo or TO skills with Mimetism, it would happen uncontrollably every time you activated a trooper with either skill! The NFB on Mimetism is there to make it clear that you don't get to stack the -3s from the different Camo & Hiding skills together as well as to affect its interactions with other skills & equipment.
This was originally proposed by other rules folks as a possibility to drop the camo state vs using the undefined optional label and ultimately I am still curious where that idea went. Not being "cute"... regardless of your opinion of my intent.
By 'cute' I mean that it's a reading of the current rules that seems to want to create a new function for automatic skills without changing any text. From where I sit, I assumed you knew that would cause a lot of unintended consequences and that you were asking about it with your tongue in your cheek. If that's not the case, my apologies.
Assuming you cannot chose which level you want, because they are not optional, then you can not benefit from -6 TO because you already are benefiting from -3 Camo. As if you apply the skill in the order they are written, first you apply the mimetism benefit because you have that skill. I mean, there is nothing in the rule that says when two non-optional NFB contradict each other you have to go with the highest level first or last. So the only way to play it is that the player can chose which level he wants to be in effect. It makes it similar to another case we already know that works like that. A REM cannot benefit from multiple support and if there are multiple support that exist you can pick which one to use. It was believed (by some, including me) that the 1st bullet effect of CH:2 is you can deploy in camo state and that the second bullet effect is that you can exist in camo state during the game, and 3rd bullet is the -3 MOD. But from this FAQ we now know that "is allowed to be in camo state" is actually unnecessary as anyone in camo state are always "allowed to be in camo state" even if they lose access to the CH:2 skill. So the 2nd bullet effect more likely meant "During the game, you are allowed to use this skill to reacquire the camo state." The cute trick was that infinity is a permissive ruleset, CH:2 "allows you to be in camo state" therefore if you only have CH:1 then you are not allowed anymore to be in that state. So even if you didn't trigger the cancellation clause, the ruleset doesn't allow you to be in camo state hence it is effectively forbidding you to be in camo state. Which means reverting to being in normal state. for reference : EFFECTS During the Deployment Phase, allows the user to deploy in the Camouflaged state. During the game, allows the user to be in the Camouflaged state. Additionally, any BS Attacks against the user of CH: Camouflage suffer a -3 MOD to the relevant Attribute (BS, PH, WIP...).
