Hey guys, does anyone know how the dismounted zondnautica moves while in impetuous? This scenario came up in a game earlier this week: The zondnaut(rider) is to the right of the zondmate(bike) His impetuous movement states that he must run forward, but his quickest route is jumping on the bike. This leads to question one: Does he try to run towards the bike, or does he run forward? If he was a normal biker I guess it would be the bike. However: Because the zondmate(bike) is also impetuous, it must move forward as well. So I assume the bike drives towards the nearest model, leaving the poor rider bikeless because, for the bike, picking him up would increase the number of orders it takes to reach the target? Assuming the rider runs towards the bike, at which point during the movement does the rider move towards the bike? If the bike is initially behind him, say, but moves in front with it's impetuous movement, does the rider run backwards or forwards? I also assume it's possible for the bike to move outwith the 8" ZoC of the rider and disconnect itself? I'm planning on taking the bikes to a tournament and I really want to be clued up on how to do this movement before I go.
I've generally played it that an dusmounted impetuous biker ignores the bike for the purpose of the impetuous move. It's far too easy to game if you always consider mounting up to be the fastest route. Because it's almost always the better short term option.
If mounting the bike takes less orders then it is the shortest route. If you're not in B2B this means that it can only be the shortest route if the target is at least 4 orders away (1 order moving to bike and getting into position to mount, 3 orders moving vs 4 orders moving = 36 vs 32"). Which means that if an enemy is inside 32" (or the bike has a less direct path than the Zondnaught) it'll be shorter to run straight at them. Equally though: if dismounting takes less orders then it's the shortest option.
The only reason this would change is if you consider the Zondmate's movement. We don't otherwise consider units in motion so I see no reason why your would. Also note that doing this is a great way to lose coherency with the Zondmate. It moves 8-4 whereas the Zondnaught moves 4-4.
Thankfully they're only normal Impetuous so if it gets too confusing you can opt not to use the extra order.
