Can I use my Xenotech Engineer to nullify AROs from Missile Launchers and DTWs? For example, say the xenotech is synced to my ARO sniper who is shot at by a Missile Launcher - does the F2F roll still happen and if my sniper loses the F2F roll - does the Missile Launcher shot just get nullified. What if the Missile Launcher didn't have sight of the Xenotech Engineer - do troops in Infinity just have some sort of spidey sense that they know they're about to blow up a civvie and just decide to hold fire?
Yes, that is how the Civilian rules are written. Then automatically negate any templated attack that would affect them. This includes mines. For precisely when the attack is negated... I'll come back. EDIT - it reads as, as soon as it is determined they would be affected. Ie, your opponent declares ARO shoot with missile on blast mode. You place template to determine who is affected. Template touches Civvie, attack is negated. So I imagine it would mean unopposed rolls. (unless there's some other faq response or similar somewhere) Also of note, it blocks things like the Explode skill on Gaki that fall unconscious, per the example in the Civilian rules.
Shots that affect a Civilian are cancelled (considered null), in terms of timing they'd be cancelled as soon as you determine if the Civilian is affected. For a template weapon it would be upon declaration of the attack as that's when the template is put down. For a Mine it would be when the mine is triggered. Either way it's before rolls are made.
Me too, but at least my opponents in Infinity tend to not consist of bits and bytes. And I consider it as basic gaming etiquette to tell my opponent that his action will be nullified because of his lack rule insight. (And if you have that kind of insight advantage you will probably win anyway without resorting to such shennanigans.)
Honestly, this is far and away from the MSV exploit. I won't have a problem with anyone doing this to me. It generally only neuters cheap Chain Rifle warbands and mines during that player's active turn. Most other units with templates have side arms or other guns to turn to. EDIT - in the current climate, I would also confirm my opponent's understanding of this interaction at the beginning of any game involving a Xenotech. I do not like catching people out on rules interactions they were completely unaware of. I do enjoy, however, catching people out with rules they should be aware of- like what E/M does.
*pat myself on the back for having high-level insights* (jk) In friendly games and bringing in new people, my take is that you give a friendly reminder that "hey - probs don't use the blast mode on your HRL or ML b/c of this rules interaction." However in tournament games or amongst your regular crew - I don't see anything wrong with a "gotcha" moment like this. Off-topic anecdote - the funniest gotcha moment that my Tohaa mate did to me was that in the last turn of Hunting party - all the symbio-armored specialists I had glued just shrugged off their armor and just legged it. Pepehands.
Especially in tournaments it is really cheap to resort to that kind of behaviour IMO. The game is even more about fun when people drive or fly hundreds of kilometers to just play 3 to 6 games in a row. And before that comes up, yes I play at least one tournament per month since starting Infinity and people who use that kind of stuff tend to end on most TO's shitlists. My regular crew would also mock me for months for even trying that shit. But in the end it comes down to one thing: Infinity is a gentleman's game (at least here in germany), behave like it. And on a more basic level I will just add: It's much more satisfying to win by outsmarting your opponent instead of outsmarting the rules. Then I will phrase my response in a clearer way: I see no point in arguing about such stuff because my view point is the complete opposite of yours and I found your original response rather unqualified. BUT on the other hand I don't know you and your rooting in Infinity at all, so I wanted to cut off your any further discussion before it had a chance to escalate.
Personal thoughts is both rules wise it is totally legal to block templates with the omni defense of a civilian and etiquette wise it is acceptable as well. I would hate to do it to someone who didn't know it was legal, but hopefully before I did it, I explained as such or take backsies would be allowed. Great tricks are wonderful, gotcha's because they didn't know a rule is not.
Don't fall in love too much with you new exploit-bae. Word on the street is CB are looking into changing the xenotech rules to prevent this.
Hardly. HellLois' statement was that they were looking to stop them generating AROs. The Human Shield mechanic is completely separate to this.
Mines are slightly different to Template attacks. Mines never Trigger if they would affect a Neutral or Friendly Trooper. This is applied retroactively, so the mine remains on the table.
There is nothing to stop your opponent from using Hit mode on those Impact Template weapons either. Sure you get a net boost of 2 armor (Usually +1 Damage, but cover is in play), but that's not the end of the world. Direct templates can almost always be placed in a way to only hit one unit. The only time I can think of would be one where the Civilian is directly between the template user and the recipient, so not really a big deal. I wouldn't stress about it myself.
Guided Missiles don't have a Hit mode and can't Spec Fire to off centre their Template. Ariadna doesn't have this problem.
Correct me if I'm wrong - but don't Templates count as occupying the space for the whole duration of the order? So if you ARO fire a template at my model, I can do a second move and have the civvie run a circle around my model in a circle - or run directly at the AROing model to deny the shot. Or, with impact templates with no other option, ie LSGs, I just walk the civvie in lock step with my active model directly oppsite to where the shooting model is firing from.
It's easier than that. The Template is placed at Declaration. So you just declare Move as your second declaration and move the Civvie to touch the Template. Template is cancelled. It's still not that big a deal. But it is something that you need to consider.
