Newbish n00b questions, MkII

[stubby]

134. So once a unit has spent a turn using Divert All Power, it's completely immobile on all subsequent turns until it fires?

134. Sure it can move, but it loses Divert All Power and has to start over.

[Battlegrinder]

134. So once a unit has spent a turn using Divert All Power, it's completely immobile on all subsequent turns until it fires?

134. Sure it can move, but it loses Divert All Power and has to start over.

135. Are there any rules against creating an anti-missile weapon system (something like a programmed half-mind slaved to a small gun)?

[IVhorseman]

Any unit with an open action can attempt to shoot down a rocket as a response action, although since a rocket is moving quickly and is usually quite small, it's a difficult shot. A half-mind slaved to a gun meets this prerequisite.

[Battlegrinder]

Any unit with an open action can attempt to shoot down a rocket as a response action, although since a rocket is moving quickly and is usually quite small, it's a difficult shot. A half-mind slaved to a gun meets this prerequisite.

136. If the anti-missile system is mounted on the missiles target, would the penalty for targeting fast moving objects be negated like it is for minifigs with the charging rules?

[Gungnir]

137. If I stat a grappling arm as a launcher, could I throw my opponent's units into each other? And if so, how much damage would the unwilling payload take?

[IVhorseman]

136. If the anti-missile system is mounted on the missiles target, would the penalty for targeting fast moving objects be negated like it is for minifigs with the charging rules?

136. Actually, I think so! Good catch.

137. If I stat a grappling arm as a launcher, could I throw my opponent's units into each other? And if so, how much damage would the unwilling payload take?

137. Yyyyes. Yes? Yes. Treat damage as a collision for a charge of whatever distance it is.

[IVhorseman]

Hey I have a stupid n00b question:

What happens when I've got a squad full of heavily armored dudes? If I have 4 guys in heavy armor, does that mean that the whole squad of 10 gets to ignore 4 dice worth of damage? I can tell that static damage of +1s from all the rifles would add up to the point where an armored guy would die (and if you chose to include armor resistance in the damage roll then you'd be forced to target an armored dude), but it feels like there's something super broken that I'm forgetting about that could be abused.

[stubby]

Hey I have a stupid n00b question:

What happens when I've got a squad full of heavily armored dudes? If I have 4 guys in heavy armor, does that mean that the whole squad of 10 gets to ignore 4 dice worth of damage? I can tell that static damage of +1s from all the rifles would add up to the point where an armored guy would die (and if you chose to include armor resistance in the damage roll then you'd be forced to target an armored dude), but it feels like there's something super broken that I'm forgetting about that could be abused.

I'm not sure I understand the question here. Normally you're applying damage to a squad one dude at a time, although you get to pick which order the dudes get hit.

If the first dude in line has armor, then he gets to ignore a die of whatever damage hits him personally.

If the next dude in line has armor, then he gets to do the same.

Now if you're talking about some type of damage that affects the whole squad at once, like an explosion, then the full explosion damage hits each squaddie in its radius. The ones wearing armor take that amount of damage minus one die.

[IVhorseman]

Whether or not you understood it, that clears it up.

Let's say that there's a squad with 4 armored figs and 16 regular figs. The squad gets targeted with a weapon that dishes out 4d6 damage total. My fear was that since the squad had 4 suits of armor, it would negate all of the damage, but thankfully that's not the case.

[Vason]

151:

Now if you're talking about some type of damage that affects the whole squad at once, like an explosion, then the full explosion damage hits each squaddie in its radius. The ones wearing armor take that amount of damage minus one die.

How does one choose which die to remove from the explosion damage pool?  Choose the highest die and remove it?  Lowest?  Reroll the damage total, less one die?

152: Similar question, with Overkill: say I fire my size 3 gun at a line of minifigs, the first one unshielded, the second one shielded, the rest behind unshielded, and roll 6, 5, 4, 4(bonus). The total is 19, which kills the first, but how do I handle the second?  Remove the highest die from the roll, subtract 5 due to the first minifig, giving a total of 8?  Remove the lowest, subtract 5, get 10, and kill the one behind it as well?

[stubby]

shit, these are good questions

[Rev. Sylvanus]

152: Similar question, with Overkill: say I fire my size 3 gun at a line of minifigs, the first one unshielded, the second one shielded, the rest behind unshielded, and roll 6, 5, 4, 4(bonus). The total is 19, which kills the first, but how do I handle the second?  Remove the highest die from the roll, subtract 5 due to the first minifig, giving a total of 8?  Remove the lowest, subtract 5, get 10, and kill the one behind it as well?

This is merely my interpretation of the rules, but my gut says--in terms of sequences like this--treat a complicated process like this from highest to lowest. With a spread of 6 5 4 4, 19 damage overkills by 14 damage, but we'll go through the process die-by-die for the sake of the guy with the shield. I would assign minifig one (unshielded) the highest damage die (6) first. This overkills the fig by +1, so I'll apply that as a bonus to the next die. Fig number two now faces a spread of 5 4 4 +1. For his shield, I'll remove the highest die roll (5), meaning the spread he now faces is 4 4 +1 (or 9 damage). Shielded guy bites the dust with overkill damage now at 4, not enough to go through anyone else. This also assumes everyone is within the weapon's range. If the damage is proceeding beyond the range of the weapon, you'll also have to start taking account of -1 damage per inch.

Like I said, just my interpretation of things or how I would   myself.

[Lord Mercat]

How does one choose which die to remove from the explosion damage pool? Choose the highest die and remove it? Lowest? Reroll the damage total, less one die?

From what I've always understood, you would reroll the damage total, minus one die (usually I roll damage separately for each unit anyway, unless its a huge battle). If you roll the die first, even it it were to get removed, you then run into the problem of which die to remove- not to mention, what if you rolled a critical? That adds an extra die that may not even have been there at all had you just removed the die to start with. So if its a size one explosion, armored guys take no damage. At least that's how I usually play.

[Vason]

From what I've always understood, you would reroll the damage total, minus one die (usually I roll damage separately for each unit anyway, unless its a huge battle). If you roll the die first, even it it were to get removed, you then run into the problem of which die to remove- not to mention, what if you rolled a critical? That adds an extra die that may not even have been there at all had you just removed the die to start with. So if its a size one explosion, armored guys take no damage.

This has been an issue with my group, a simple solution would be to say that Shielded removes one die of each size from the total dice roll.  This would allow for critical damage rolls to still happen, and make my earlier questions a little simpler to resolve.

In the interest of simplicity, fewer dice rolls, and maximum destruction   , I would say in both of my earlier situations to roll the damage only once per attack, and to remove the lowest die.

[stubby]

There's two separate problems here: 6, the attack that hits a bunch of people at once (like an Explosion), when some of them are Shielded and some of them aren't, and 7, the attack that hits a bunch of people one after another (like Overkill), when some of them are Shielded and some of them aren't.

For #6 there, the ideal thing would be to recognize that your explosion is going to hit some Shielded dudes, and roll one die separately as the die that doesn't affect the Shielded guys. If that die gets Bonus Dice, too bad! Those don't affect the Shielded guys either.

#7 is trickier, since you don't always know when Overkill is about to happen and you've got to play it by ear. I want to say, once you make a big roll that's going to have Overkill, save all those die rolls! Each time the attack hits a Shielded guy, remove the lowest die roll and subtract it from the Overkill damage. If you remove a Critical Hit die, also remove all the Bonus Dice that went with it.

Hopefully this stuff doesn't come up too often in actual play.