Stealth Bot says "Allies adjacent to Stealth Bot gain cover". Does this have any consequences other than that said allies will not be in line of sight to someone who is not adjacent to them?
In particular, would such allies block line of sight by creating cover on their space?
I would take this to mean that allies adjacent to stealth bot are only targettable by someone who is adjacent to them. I don't think that it alters the map in any way (ie creates cover on the hex,) it just puts the person on the hex "into cover," therefore not blocking line of sight through the hex.
That's just my take on it though.
A Hex that provides cover also blocks line of sight.
The rules for Cover are a little confusing.
From the rules an elevation 1 hex of cover would block line of sight for two characters at elevation 4+ trying to shoot at each other. It weems wierd that the volcano is shorter than the trees.
Stealth Bot adds to the confusion by providing cover for allies, not creating cover on adjacent hexes. I have no clue if that works the same as trees, or if the intent is to ignore that part of cover and only grant the part of cover that makes a target unseen unless youa re adjacent to them.
How I have been doing it:
I treat Stealth Bot as creating cover on any hex adjacent to itself that holds an ally (obviously not itself) Those hexes count as containing cover, like the Insula Primalis woods.
I then house-rule Cover Hexes to work as if they were 1 hex higher when shooting past them, so a target behind a hex of cover that is the same height as the cover, that cover blocks line of sight, but 2 targets both at higher elevation shooting past a hex of cover will not be blocked.
This of course, is not official and is just my way of dealing with it.
How this would work:
Tachyon is next to stealth bot, Tachyon is at Elevation 1, Stealth Bot is at elevation 2, Unity is at elevation 2 as is Baron Blade, Unity and Baron Blade are on opposite sides of Tachyon with line of sight having to go through their hexes, no other hexes of elevation 2 are between Tachyon and Baron Blade. Ra is at Elevation 1, in front of Unity and on the same line of sight path as the others. Tachyon is the only one receiving Cover from Stealth Bot.
Stealth Bot(2)
Unity(2) - Ra(1) - Tachyon(1) - Blade(2)
Tachyon can see Baron Blade, Baron Blade cannot see Tachyon, because Tachyon has cover. Baron Blade can see Stealth Bot, Stealth Bot can se Baron. Ra and Baron cannot see Each other because a hex of cover exists between them. Unity and Baron Blade cannot see each other because a hex of cover exists between them.
In my house rules Unity and Baron would be able to see each other, because I think that makes sense.
If Tachyon and Blade are adjacent, cover or not, they have LoS to eachother
I play Stealth Bot such that she grants cover without making the hex cover. Nobody can see the people she's next to unless they're adjacent to them, but the space itself does not give off cover, and can be seen through.
In the case of the trees, and cover in general I suppose, I'd say it represents a space that is obstructed of a height much taller than the elevation the space has. You can't look over the trees at say height 3, but the space doesn't count as elevation 3 because you walk through it at elevation 1 or on the ground level. I agree that there's a point where it shouldn't be an issue though. Unless we're assuming all the cover spaces count as height 5 objects, and that things like the trees are so tall that you can't see over them from on top of a volcano, which I think is a bit ridiculous.
If it were playtesting still, and the official version weren't out, I might suggest something like a "Cover Height". The White circles would represent the elevation one needs to be to walk through it, whereas green circles, or something like that, would represent the height one needs to be to see over the cover. This way you could make the trees in the forest height 3, allowing you to see over it if you stand on a similarly high area, and also quantifying how it blocks line of sight for people not standing in the square. This way, "Having Cover" would work exactly the same, but trying to attack someone on the other side of a cover square would make more sense.
Yeah, I understood it that if you are adjacent to someone in cover, you can see them regardless of elevation. So basically the cover is disregarded for that attack when you are adjacent to someone.
Yeah, other than Tachyon Stealth bot that example was not supposed to have any adjacent characters. I just have no clue how to pull off a diagram like that in a text based forum.
Draw a picture, host it somewhere, link to it.