I have a troop on one side of the board, engaged in CC. An enemy hacker moves into range of a friendly repeater on the other side of the board. Can the engaged trooper declare dodge, thereby de-engaging? Requirements to declare dodge: REQUIREMENTS Troopers can only Dodge if at least one of these is true: ► They are the Active Trooper. ► In the Reactive Turn, they have a valid ARO. ► They are affected by a Template Weapon. By being a hacker, they have a valid ARO, via point 2. Dodge is also one of the allowed skills when engaged in CC.
It is a bit unclear at the moment because the example in the book is terrible and IJW's interim ruling is just that; interim and not fully complete. If your Engaged trooper is not a hacker, they will not gain an ARO unless they are attacked through the Repeater and can thus not ARO Dodge due to the enemy hacker's movement - even if the example in the book implies otherwise, but you can declare a Dodge in case the enemy validates your ARO with their second skill. If your Engaged trooper is a hacker, they gain an ARO, but IJW's ruling can be read in two ways; 1. You get an ARO. Dodge' requirements are fulfilled and valid even if IJW only mentioned Hacking and Reset as valid AROs. 2. You get an ARO, but this is strictly a Hacking ARO and you're only allowed to respond with Hacking or Reset - no Dodging. I'm personally suspecting the latter, given IJW's rather specific use of words https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threads/provisional-rules-answer-how-do-hacking-area-aros-work.38312/ Q: How do Hacking Area AROs work? A: Hacking Program AROs and Reset AROs are considered valid AROs for a Hacker if the Active Trooper is inside the Hacker’s Hacking Area.
The problem is, I don't see how you distinguish Dodge from Reset in terms of requirements. You basically need to specifically state that Dodge isn't valid because otherwise: if valid ARO exists, Dodge's requirements are met. And in N4 AROs are not valid based on their requirements being met, but rather based on: * An enemy Trooper activates within its Line of Fire (LoF). * An enemy Trooper activates within its Zone of Control (ZoC). * It has a Special Skill, weapon, or piece of Equipment allowing it to react to enemy actions without LoF. * It is affected by a Template Weapon, or is the target of a Hacking Program or other Comms Attack. This whole interaction would be *much* clearer if CB went with: The ARO declarations of a Hacker are considered valid when an enemy Trooper activates inside their Hacking Area. Note the requirements of the declared skill must still be met or the Hacker will perform an Idle. Then, if they don't want Dodge to work also say: The Requirements of Dodge to have a valid ARO can not be met by being a Hacker where an enemy Trooper activated inside their Hacking Area but not inside their LOF or ZOC.
