Apologies if this has been asked, but...
is there a limit on how many times per turn AZ can use Thermal Shockwave, as long as he has the health to pay for it?
Without a limit, it seems kind of... meta-ey. Like, "It's my last turn of the scenario before time runs out, I'll attack again... and again... and again... until I'm down to 1 Health."
But since it's not an action, it doesn't seem bound by limits.
Thanks!
Even if it doesn't cost an action, it's still an "action", it's not unlimited, thus once per turn.
Thermal is once per turn, it is not an action, and so far no character makes a health cost action uimited.
For example Lightspeed Barrage is not unlimited, and Tachyon makes all her actions unlimited.
I don't believe this is true. Tachyon can use Lightspeed Barrage, then attack, then use Lightspeed Barrage again, then attack again in the same round. Abilities that use health are not unlimited unless they have the keyword. And Tachyon gives them that keyword. The only power that goes against this is Push the Limits, which is returned during the power up phase of your next turn when used.
from page 3 rulebook:
Each ability may only be used once per turn, unless they are unlimited.
An ability can be ongoing, an action or a health ability.
Hud goggles:
All of Tachyon's actions are unlimited.
If that was meat to include Lightspeed Barrage it would have said abilities not actions, since an action is a seperate type of ability from a health ability.
It does not seem to be how it has played out even in the tournaments. I am pretty sure people have used multiple Lightspeed Barrages in one round with Tachyon on one of the Twitch games.
If they used the second Ligthspeed Barrage it was on their following turn from Pushing the Limits. If they did it twice on the same turn then it was missed.
I think it's just sloppy wording on Ability vs Action (which we should have caught) being 2 terms for the same thing (And distinct from an Action, which is a whole other matter).
Thanks!
We seem to be using the word action to refer to two different things: Abilities that require a cost AND the cost most often required.
Though perhaps I'm wrong. Perhaps an action is an ability with a cost and action POINTS are what characters most often use to invoke actions.
Yes, we are. We really should have caught that in playtesting, it is what I hate most about games, using the same term to mean 2 different things.
Actions, as in the number on a Character Card is simply the number of actions a character gets to use in a turn.
Actions are a type of ability.
Other ability types are Health abilities, Ongoin abilities, innate abilities (which will also be ongoing, or actions, etc.) and Omni-cannon which triggers using tokens.
When you use an action you aren't consuming an action, you are using up one of the actions you get that turn.
Tachyon gets 3 actions each turn, if she uses an action, she only has 2 actions left. Which is just easier than saying:
Tachyon may use 3 action abilities each turn, when she uses an action ability it will count toward her limit of three action abilities per turn, reducing the number of action abilities she can still use this turn by 1, leaving her with the option of using up to 2 more action abilities this turn, before she will have reached her limit and thus will be unable to use any more action abilities this turn.
The second is what is actually going on, we just shorten the explanation.
The wording on HUD goggles is sloppy to the point of being wrong, and needs to be erratad. All of Tachyon's *abilities* should gain "Unlimited", not just her Actions (action abilities).
Thanks.
Is there a collective term for the various abilities that require a cost, be it an action, health point, or Attack+1 tokens? I think of them as 'triggered' abilities as opposed to 'ongoing' or 'always on' abilities.
Just so I'm clear this means Lightspeed Barrage could be used multiple times in the same turn so long as Tachyon is still standing after the health cost to activate.
Wow, that is a big boost to Tachyon.
My notes from the original design call them "Activated Abilities", as opposed to "Ongoing Abilities". Activated abilities require a cost to activate (usually an action, but sometimes a health, or something else), and you can only activate them once a turn unless they're Unlimited. Other things can cause them to be activated more than once in a turn, but you can only manually activate them once per turn by default.
Not sure if there's an official term in the printed rules, though.
Thanks Luther.
I see a couple minor issues with the word Activated, though I don't think these are a big deal:
Activated is pretty close to Action, which I think could lead to mistakenly inferring that Activated Abilities only refer to Abilities activated with an Action.
I can also imagine a slight confusion between Activated Abilities referring to Abilities that can be Activated versus referring to those Abilites that have been Activated. A more precise term, though it sounds clunky to me, might be Activatable Abilities.
On the very back of the Flame Of Freedom book everything is called an Ability, and is denoted by the icon in front of it. I think that's the best way to do it. So, currently in the game we have:
Ongoing Abilities
Action Abilities
Health Abilities
Attack +1 Token Abilities
Then, like Paul said, just pretend/errata HUD Goggles reading "Abilities" instead of "Actions"
Phantaskippy made this point, too, and I agree.