Well, it happened. I had a boring Sunday and wanted a break from making Megalopolis terrain, so I went through every Tactics Rules post on the forums and compiled the answers into a Tactics FAQ.
Since rulings are hardly ever actually confirmed by designers anymore (with the exception of Luther's stalwart participation), this FAQ has to be different than my SotM FAQ. The Tactics FAQ is full of stuff the playtesters said, with a green star next to anything which was confirmed by Luther or Christopher. I figure since the playtesters mostly know stuff since they asked all the same questions of Luther and Christopher during playtesting, it would still be helpful to see the answers, and as long as it's clearly stated what's official and what's not, there shouldn't be any harm.
I still need to clean the doc up before I post a link to it on my site, but I wanted to post a direct link to it here so that people could check to make sure I didn't screw things up too badly or miss something important. If you get a chance to look it over, please let me know if you find problems.
It may take a while, but I'll go through this and note anything that's incorrect or partially correct, if you want more green stars. Right off I see a reference to Devestating Aurora checking line of sight and range like any other attack, when it's not an attack at all.
That's just the kind of double-checking I'm looking for, thanks.
When I was combing through the posts, I came across this thread. It has a lot of good questions in it, but many of the answers are contradictory, with different playtesters having different opinions of how to handle things. It might be helpful if you took a look at the questions and helped settle the answers, Luther.
This section is wrong. Radius, like origin, deals in hexes. From the lovely Page 9.
A radius of 2 An Origin 2 Radius 2 attack would originate from a Hex up to 2 Hexes awy from the source of the attack and hit every Hex within Radius 2 of the origin.
The attack still checks range from the origin point, and so the actual attack still counts elevation for range, but radius ignores it.
I believe that Approaching Zero will affect Impaling Structure damage. That seems pretty clear from other comments in that thread. Will need official word on it though.
Hypersonic assault has an error, it says "including the last one if she ends her turn in a hazard space." Turn should be move in that sentence.
We need the Traps can all go in one space to be verified, it would be pretty easy to set up that trap and then use push to throw an opponent onto it for massive damage. Omnitron-Ambuscade could make great use of this in a skirmish since Omni can push targets within radius 2 of him 2 hexes, he could make sure the radius damage hit allies as well.
Okay. Wall of text incoming! Please feel free to fix any formatting/weirdness, or correct me if I use old terms; the words I use aren't necessarily the words that ended up in the rulebook. :) Some of these may just be quick notes for clarification; these should probably be rewritten in some sort of actual english. I'll also just copy and paste anything that looks right to me, for completeness (so you're not wondering if I just missed an entry.
“active” powers
//An "active" ability is any ability printed on your character panel (in the "innate powers"), or any ability printed on a Power Card that is in play. Abilities printed on Power Cards in your hand aren't active (even if something like Turret Mode lets you activate them).
sprint/aim/dodge
can any target use these abilities, even non-characters? yes, those are actions which all targets may take unless otherwise specified. //note that the target has to be able to take actions in the first place; Baron Blade's turrets don't ever aim because they don't ever have actions.
companions
can companions damage the character which created them? yes. even though character’s powers cannot damage themselves, companions created by a character can damage that character. //Right, because they're different targets.
“destroyed” doesn’t mean you can never use them again. //Right
companion rules from “uprising”. //These are right if they're straight from the rulebook
does incapacitating a companion earn you a skirmish/scenario point?
no, you’ve got to take out the actual character to earn a scenario point or an incap for a skirmish. //Right
things created by power cards
if I play a card as a starting power, when does the thing it creates come into play?
if you play ra’s “blazing tornado” power card (for example) as a starting power, the tornado is created immediately and will start the game on the board. the same applies to other things created by power cards in play when the game begins. //If it ever matters (Ra needs to place tornado and unity needs to place bots, who goes first?), go in turn order, starting with 1.
if a card which creates something is removed from play, immediately remove the thing it created. //Right
can you stack created things on top of other things? //Basically the only thing that makes a space "occupied" is a target, and unless it says otherwise, other things can go in occupied spaces.
can you decide to make created things go away if you want? //Right
how long do character-created hazards last? //Right
when do hazard spaces activate? //Right on all 4 sections
line of sight, range, and elevation matter when making hazard attacks. unless otherwise noted, hazard attacks require line of sight to the target which activated the hazard space. //Hazard attacks may be generated by non-targets (Like lava, automated hunter, rigged explosives), so "targets" here is technically incorrect.
overlapping hazards in a single space. //Right
triggering hazards only trigger for the one what triggered ‘em. //Right
how long does the effect of a movement reduction last? //Basically, there's two things: Your Movement (that tells you what dice to roll and which to keep), and your Move Value (the result of the kept die). Adhesive Foam Pellets and co. reduce your Move Value, not your Movement. The Operative's poison I forget the name of affects your Movement, not your Move Value. Note that the Citizens and some other non-Character targets have "Move Value" printed directly on the card, because they don't roll dice.
movement reduction only affects normal movement. //Abilities which use your Move Value (Like Hypersonic Assault or Overwhelm) do use your reduced Move Value. Abilities that don't reference your Move Value aren't affected by your Move Value changing.
can a push be a pull? //Right
being pushed can trigger hazard spaces. //Right
push is not the same as movement. //Pushing is a kind of movement, but not all movement is pushing. Kusarigama isn't pushing, right.
who’s making the attack? Attacks are made by targets, //or the environment. Lava again. The rest is correct though.
what is an attack? //Right
line of sight needed for area attacks? //Right
radius does not ignore elevation. //This isn't correct. A Radius 2 attack can potentially hit any target within two hexes, as long as the dice make range.
check range for an area attack from the attack’s origin. //Right
reach and area attacks //Right. Reach does help the dice make range from the origin, but doesn't affect where you can place the origin or the radius.
do characters have line of sight to themselves? //Characters do have line of sight to themselves, as long as they're on the map. (Ambuscade doesn't have line of sight to himself when he has Cloaking Device and is off the map.)
line of sight cannot cross gaps in the map. //Right
you check range for melee attacks even though the target is adjacent. //Right
reach //All 5 Sections right
vertex attacks //effected in line 2 should be "affected". :P
using effect tokens against multiple targets //Right
can I really put any characters on any team and have a balanced fight? //Right
are there other kinds of skirmishes besides just deathmatches?
does incapacitating a companion earn you a skirmish/scenario point? //Only characters count -- basically if you have a turn order token, you're fair game
the penalty for getting incapacitated seems kinda weak… //Might note scenario bonuses here. The real penalty is that the other team gets the bonus.
can you buff/debuff incapacitated characters while they’re down? //Right. They're not targets, they're nothing. They just kinda lay there until they get up. They do still occupy the space though.
incapacitation wipes everything. //Right
scenario powers //Right. They're also "active" if it matters.
impulsion turret infinite loops //Right
scenario #1: can you get two successes in one turn? //Right
scenario #2: how do you win? //Right
drones //Drone Deployment gives the drone a full turn, not just one action.
token limit //Let me get back to you on this one.
allies //Right. The glossary should say "another character or target".
Going to start a new post for the Character Specific stuff.
Tokens that go on the map, like Impaling Structure and Blazing Tornado, are counter limited. Tokens that go on character sheets or anywhere else, like Aim and Dodge, Attack and Defense +1 and -1, and Health Tokens, aren't counter limited -- if you run out, mock some up, or use a die to indicate the quantity.
“approaching zero” //This is incorrect. Absolute Zero is both making the attack and dealing the damage. The Impaling Structure is a reference point for where the hazard spaces are and where the origin of the attack is. The Move Value (not movement) is reduced if damage is dealt.
“impaling structure” //Right
“fueled freeze” //Right
"automated hunter" //Right
“cloaking device” //Right. Looks like the second paragraph should be under Rigged Explosives though.
"rigged explosives" //All looks correct
“cloaking device” and “rigged explosives” //Right
“feedback plating” //Right
“devious disruption” //Right
“displacing teleporter” //Right
“devastating aurora” //Right. Basically a skirmish has the scenario bonus of award victory point. Also, Devastating Aurora isn't an attack, so the second paragraph is erroneous.
“return with the dawn” //All looks right.
“occular beams” //Right
omnitron, area attacks, and hazard spaces //If I remember correctly, the way Omnitron ended up moving is you pick one hex, count hexes from there like any other character, then the final hex has to be one of the three that he ends up in. So while actually moving, he's only really in one space at any given time. I know this made it in the rulebook somewhere, but I don't have it in front of me.
“omni-reaper” //RIght
poisons //Right
proletariat and area attacks //Right. He's a single character, but multiple targets.
“overwhelm” and “duplicate” //When you use overwhelm, you tell all Proletariats on the map "hey, do this action". Since they want to do something simultaneously, the active player chooses the order. Then they all do it. The new spawns weren't around when overwhelm was used, and don't get retroactively added to the queue.
“blazing tornado” //Right
“fire blast” and “flame spike” //Right. He also gets to flame spike every time someone triggers Blazing Tornado (if both are active of course).
“living pyre” //RIght
“the staff of ra” //Right
“hypersonic assault” //Right. Another note: this ability uses her "move value", so if it's increased or reduced, use the modified value. This ability doesn't inherently ignore elevation.
“hud goggles” //Right
“synaptic interruption” //Right
“unrelenting momentum” //RIght
bots are only in play as long as their card is //Right
bot incapacitation //Right
“go bots!” innate power //Right
tricky bot swapping //Right. Maybe mention that the reason you can't pick up and put down the same bot is because of the general rule about power cards?
Just want clarification that all traps can all go on one space.
It may seem to be a bad idea, but when you team Ambuscade, Operative and another character that can move enemy characters (say Proletariat?) it becomes a great way to blow someone up. I've caught 2 heroes in the blast, they don't often survive, and with Operative-Proletariat it is easy to pull off.
Hero A ends their turn.
Ambuscade drops every trap next to them.
Hero B does stuff.
Operative pulls Hero 2 next to the traps.
Hero C does stuff.
Proletariat knocks either A or B into the traps, both get blown up.
Hero 1 stands up, and you repeat.
If the second hero runs far enough that Operative can't push him over you don't worry about it and just have Prole knock hero 1 into the traps.
It is a nasty thing to face in scenario 4 of uprising, and the only way to stop it is to win scenario 2. In skirmishes it is broken. If this is legal for tournaments it is going to stink.
Rules-wise, this all checks out. As written, all the trap tokens can go in one space.
Strategy-wise (for a skirmish), you have Hero C who can't get caught in this because of where their turn falls. Hero B can only get caught up in it if they stay where the Operative can make range to them from next to the explosives. If all three villians coordinate in this way, they get a bunch of attacks on Hero A, and that's good, but what about B and C? If Ambuscade gets incapacitated before Proletariat's turn, or he loses the Rigged Explosives power another way, the setup is wasted.
Like any balance discussion, it's possible that it is in fact over the line of acceptable power level. But I think there's more that can be done in response than is being acknowledged.
Running just frees up operative to fight normally, while often Hero B is taking themselves out of the fight by staying out of LoS or range.
Ambuscade takes a card in play and an action to set traps when it is time, other than that he's doing his normal stuff.
Proletariat needs one copy within range, and we were often able to get attacks on other heroes besides just the push.
It didn't work every round, but the other team had to stay away from each other and be aware of where Proletariat and operative were in order to avoid it. In trying to avoid it they really took themselves out of the match and let the villains dictate the flow, and they still got caught in it several times.
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