Suppose a Beasthunter with Camouflage, attacks with Flamethrower in her active turn, applying Surprise Attack MODs. She places a template so that it could cover two enemy Troopers in its Area of Effect. Both of the enemies declare dodge as AROs. Enemy #1 is a Main Target of the attack, so it is clear that he has to apply -3 MOD to his Dodge roll, since Surprise Attack requires so. But what about the enemy #2? Here's my question: Does the enemy #2 have to apply -3 MOD to his Dodge roll? Is he 'the Target' of the attack? ---- These are some references regarding 'being the target' and 'being affected' by template weapons, from various sources(Template Weapons and Equipments, Direct & Impact Template Weapons...). When using a Template Weapon or Equipment, any Trooper whose base or Silhouette Template is in contact with the Template, or is partially or fully inside it, is affected by the Weapon or Equipment. It is obligatory to declare a valid Main Target, who must be in LoF when the Attack is declared, and who will be the reference to place the Circular Template. The center of the Circular Template (Blast Focus) must match the center of the underside of the Main Target's base. All other Troopers affected by the Circular Template suffer the Attack as well. In order to Dodge an Attack with an Impact Template Weapon, the Main Target or any other affected Trooper can make a Face to Face Roll with their PH (or PH-3 in the cases mentioned under Effects) against the attacker's Attack Roll. According to these, it seems like the Main Target is the only target of Template Attacks, and every other Trooper who are affected by AoE of Template just suffer the attack from being affected by Template. They get to do F2F rolls against the attacker, but this doesn't make them the Target of the attack. The only exception which consider several Troopers as Main Targets, is the latest FAQ from V. 1.3 regarding a reactive Template Attack: In ARO, any Active Trooper in the Area of Effect of the Template during the Order counts as a Main Target when checking whether the Template is cancelled. But this has to do nothing with Surprise Attack, so let's get back to the topic. One thing that gets me confused, is the text here in Area of Effect section: Area of Effect The Area of Effect of a Template is the area it covers with a single declaration of use. For example, if you declare an Attack using a Template Weapon, all Troopers or targets in Silhouette contact or inside the Area of Effect of the Template are affected by the Attack. This was before FAQ 1.3, so I thought 'so... is being affected by Template means also being the target of the Template Attack?'. Well, combined with FAQ 1.3, it now seems clear that the Main Target is the only target of the Template Attack, unless the attacker is Reactive. So my own answer to my own question would be: No. An Active surprise attack would impose Surprise Attack MOD only to the Main Target, not to other Troopers who are affected by the AoE / suffer from the attack / and roll F2F against the attacker, since they are not explicitly mentioned as 'the target'. What do you guys think? Let me know, if you please.
As far as my understanding goes template weapons impose the Surprise Attack modifier to all targets in Active turn. It was like that in N3 and propaply in N2. All the "main target" rule text is for things where you need to differentiate troopers under the template for what ever reason, and I would think that the Suprise attack rules clusterfuck you presented is a byproduct.
This Attack imposes an additional negative MOD, as shown in round brackets in the Unit Profile [Surprise Attack (-3), Surprise Attack (-6)...]. This MOD only applies to targets of the Attack, and applies to any Skill Roll that those targets perform in ARO.
In general the rules are written using target for several key interactions, such as being dealt damage and making saving rolls. Template weapons differentiates between these general targets and the Main Target because it is important to make this distinction. In short, the rules stop making sense if troopers affected by a template attacks are not also targets. It is very unfortunate that the terminology entry for "target" fails to make sense and is effectively useless.
The text in the original post just refers to circular impact templates and for that you have to have da Main target whete the circular template gets placed to determine who is additionally affected by the template. A direct templatd from a shotgun or chainrifle is simply placed as seen fit by the controlling Player my guess is thats all thats to read into this specific wording. All other effects like surprise attack will still occur.
