Re: [Epic] Re: week old stuff

From: Brett Hollindale <agro_at_...>
Date: Sat, 12 Apr 1997 16:40:14 GMT

At 10:06 AM 11/4/97 +0200, Renaud wrote:

>>Agro wrote...
>>Well, actually we interpret "pop up" as a movement action, not as a shooting
>>action and thus we assume that units pop up in the movement phase not in the
>>FF phase. (Titan Legions supports this contention by putting the rules on
>>pop up in the movement section with the other exceptions to normal movement
>>- transports, flyers and snapfire weapons.)
>
>Movement action? However:
>
>1. according to the rules, units pop up during the fire phase and they are
>targeted by enemies firing back during the fire phase.


Agreed that the word "back" appears in the rules. I don't see anywhere in
the rules that it states that "units pop up during the fire phase".


>2. they pop up because they want to fire, not for anything else.


Well, the truth is that they also give units wishing to fire indirectly line
of sight, but I would agree that firing is their main priority...


>3. even if the pop up rules are in the movement section of the TL rulebook
>(it was probably not intented), I think that this is a very "liberal"
>interpretation of the rules.


It's also in the base rule set under "movement" and I don't think that it's
an accident (that is "unintentional"). I also don't agree that it is a
particularly "liberal" interpretation of the rules to suggest that things
that are mentioned in the movement section pertain to movement...


>4. The pop up rules emphazise the element of surprise.


Where? I haven't seen anything of the sort...

>
>>No house rule, no warlocks, just looking at pop ups as movement...
>
>This IS definitely a house rule. I think most of the people on this list
>would agree on that.


They certainly seem to, but it doesn't (necessarily) make them right...

I find it very odd that on the one hand they insist that yours is the only
valid interpretation of pop ups, while on the other hand they insist that
the sequence for FF has to be ammended to alleviate this enormous hole in
the rules, when if pop ups were considered a movement action, the game works
fine with no house rules to cover this particularly poorly thought out
situation.

(See my reply to Jervis's letter for further comment...)


> And for the soldiers not being Warlocks, even if
>pop-up is occuring in the movement phase, it remains that enemy units must
>predict the appearance of skimmers to shoot at them before they can fire.
>Not very realistic, admit it...


I don't think I will admit anything of the kind. The position of the
vehicles is well known. (Battlefield radar, spotters or whatever...) If
they don't move, it is highly likely that they will be popping up, it
doesn't take precognitive ability to predict that they will be popping up
directly above their known position...

And if the pop ups happen in the movement phase, it is no different
targeting a skimmer popping up than any other unit that moves...

What you are suggesting in the assertion that it is impossible to target a
skimmer (on pop up) until after the skimmer shoots is that the skimmer can
pop up, choose a target and fire before anyone else can react to the
skimmers movement. Are the skimmer pilots (gunners really) all psychic so
that they can aim at an enemy that they can't see before they pop up?

Isn't it just a case of who reacts first, the skimmer who pops up or the
unit that wants to shoot it? And isn't who reacts first determined by who
fires first in the FF phase?


>
>>Do you allow snapfire weapons to target skimmers on pop up?
>
>You mean "before the skimmers can shoot", I guess? Then, no. But wait a
>minute: if pop-up does really occur during the movement phase, only the
>snap-fire units can target them :-) !


You are correct that "before they shoot" _is_ what I meant. I pressume that
the smiley indicates that you realise that although the rules do not state
explicitly when you pop up, they do state explicitly when you pop down...


>
>>Do you require Warlocks to take line of sight for their psychic powers from
>>the ground since they don't pop up in the movement phase?
>
>Yes.
>


Well, at least that is consistant with the way you interpret pop ups...



>>Agro
>>
>
>Renaud
>
>
>
Received on Sat Apr 12 1997 - 16:40:14 UTC