Corvus Belli are currently on vacation and will look at these issues in detail when they return. With that in mind: ARO Declaration and Validity - Intended Mechanic In N4, AROs are not triggered by specific events and situations like they were in N3. Instead, you declare your AROs, and later on you find out if they were/became valid. Implications - concepts like a distinct 'Zone of Control ARO' don't exist in the way they did in N3. There are just 'generic' AROs which are either: Were valid because during the Order the Active Trooper is/was in your ZoC, you got hit by a template etc, Not become valid, and the ARO becomes an Idle. Skill Requirements - Intended Mechanic In a similar way, N4 Skill Requirements are not preconditions for declaring a Skill. Instead, they are checked during the Resolution step. Implications - Skills are not restricted by the situation when the Skill is declared, so a Skill declaration can either: Be fulfilled during the Order when you check the Requirements in the Resolution step, Not be fulfilled, and the Skill becomes an Idle. ‘ARO Baiting’, Silhouette Contact Requirements - Temporary Ruling The FAQ places a restriction on Line of Fire Skills, saying that their Requirements must be fulfilled when declaring the Skill. This has led to an unintentional interaction allowing a CC-Move Order to bypass reactive shooting. As a TEMPORARY RULING: ***Silhouette contact Requirements must be fulfilled when declaring Skills.*** A Personal Note When I discuss these things, I'm not making rules changes unless it’s marked as a rules change/provisional ruling. I'm presenting the implications of the N4 rules and how they changed from N3. So don't shoot the messenger. ;-)
Cheers for all of this man! Also, sorry to be a bother but can this be placed in the provisional ruling section of the rules forum?
I've asked if a shadow copy can be put there, as moving the original post there will stop anyone from being able to reply.
I haven't thought through all the implications, but at least at first glance, this seems like a good rule from a consistency and clarity perspective. I like it. I would phrase it as: - Requirements which can be checked at declaration, must be checked at declaration. This includes LoF and s2s Requirements. - ZoC and hacking area Requirements can't be checked at declaration (due to the rule against premeasuring), therefore they're checked at Resolution. In any case, regardless of my personal opinion of the temporary rule, thank you as always @ijw !
*sigh* Sorry @ijw but I've already seen claims this ruling prevents a trooper moving out to touch an objective then back into cover with their first skill, then Declaring Activate with their second skill. My understanding is that this would be allowed by the All At Once rule (because the trooper is considered to everywhere along it's movement at once).
It works fine with the All At Once rule, just like moving across a hallway and firing (or being fired at) half-way through. That just sounds like someone trying to be pedantic.
We can’t punish the guilty if you can’t identify them. >-:) If you declare Move first, then you can declare a silhouette-contact along your movement path. What you can’t do is declare it the other way around (it’s not 2nd edition for Exrah’s sake).
I am questioning here, I assume the objective is one that needs to be destroyed with CC attack? does the engaged state apply to such objectives?
I think the objectives here are antennas and using the "Activate Communication Antenna" Short Skill in ITS missions.
*sigh* Just for my confirmation; I'm a JSA player in reactive turn and have Mushashi turn facing down my opponent's Andromeda. Andromeda moves to within my Mushashi's LOF and probable ZOC. Mushashi cannot declare CC attack because he is not in silhouette contact and no precondition has been met to allow him to declare a CC attack otherwise, so he declares another skill (dodge, BS attack, etc). Andromeda then declares Guard, after Mushashi is forced to give up his chance to declare a CC attack that might have dissuaded her from doing so. Correct?
The guard rules themselves correct the issue: Both the user and the target can perform Skills and apply MODs and CC Special Skills that require Silhouette Contact. EDIT: Re-read what you're saying. You appear to be correct, Mushashi cannot CC attack for his ARO.
Not the end of the world, since CC attack as a speculative ARO would usually just attract a volley of SMG fire, but useful to know.
