A couple questions regarding cover

[Hackjob]

Hey everyone, I played my first game with the official: IO rules (yay!) this week and some questions came up during play.

First, can frames claim cover when attached to the enemy ship? I think I remember a rule on this in previous versions, but was unable to find any mention of it in the new rules. I think the old rule went something like this- Frame squadrons can choose to use a ship they are attached to as cover, if they have been spotted, the ship does not take damage.

The second question has to do with the , effect in :IO. If using the "Ball of Death" tactic you have one or more , ship (or the blue ace)in the center of a fleet and it provides cover for the ships around it. In this instance you could target the center ship 1 (providing cover) while shooting through ship 2 it is protecting (in cover) forcing ship 2 to act as cover for ship 1. This is a unique situation to :IO due to the "sphere of influence" from double blue, as opposed to :RA when the double blue frame has to actaully act as cover for another frame. How is damage resolved? We made no decisions while playing, but it occurs to me that a good solution might be that in this situation any damaging shots that get through the "cover" could be allocated to the targeted ship (providing cover and in it) or the one forced to provide cover(also in cover). This would allow you to cause the "shoot through" damage without messing with the double blue effect too much.

I took some pics of the battle, Ill try and post em soon.

[Hackjob]

Hey I'm bumping this topic in the hopes to get some feedback on this issue.

I plan on using the "house rule" I proposed above as a solution, that is, any 6's rolled from point defence and support, and any 5 or 6 rolled for assault can then be allocated to either ship by the attacker.

[Mantisking]

Hey everyone, I played my first game with the official: IO rules (yay!) this week and some questions came up during play.

First, can frames claim cover when attached to the enemy ship? I think I remember a rule on this in previous versions, but was unable to find any mention of it in the new rules. I think the old rule went something like this- Frame squadrons can choose to use a ship they are attached to as cover, if they have been spotted, the ship does not take damage.

Cover from what? Frame Squads can only be targeted by other Frame Squads and Point Defense weapons. So which are we talking about?

The second question has to do with the , effect in :IO. If using the "Ball of Death" tactic you have one or more , ship (or the blue ace)in the center of a fleet and it provides cover for the ships around it. In this instance you could target the center ship 1 (providing cover) while shooting through ship 2 it is protecting (in cover) forcing ship 2 to act as cover for ship 1. This is a unique situation to :IO due to the "sphere of influence" from double blue, as opposed to :RA when the double blue frame has to actaully act as cover for another frame. How is damage resolved? We made no decisions while playing, but it occurs to me that a good solution might be that in this situation any damaging shots that get through the "cover" could be allocated to the targeted ship (providing cover and in it) or the one forced to provide cover(also in cover). This would allow you to cause the "shoot through" damage without messing with the double blue effect too much.

I'm not sure. I don't think we've had the issue come up at all in our games.

[Hackjob]

Cover from what? Frame Squads can only be targeted by other Frame Squads and Point Defense weapons. So which are we talking about?

Both,

Example: 2 Frame Companies fighting each other while attached to a ship could be taking cover behind superstructures, turrents, and bulkheads while shooting it out, picture modern infantry fighting on the deck of a container ship. I actually had a game where an enemy Frame Squaron boarded my Carrier and claimed cover from/on it, while my Frame Squadrons had to boldly stand in the open to avoid the mothership being damaged by them using it as cover! It was a really rough position to be in. Also ships can target Frame Fquadrons at Frame range by using their white dice (representing onboard Frames) I would argue Frame Companies could take cover from this fire as well.

Another example could be a freindly ship firing Point Defence weapons at a Frame Company boarding another vessel, I don't see why they couldn't take cover in the nooks and crannies and airlock doors and such from that type of fire. Or even a ship with its own Point Defense weapons firing on a Frame Squadron boarding it.


To, me this keeps with the flavor, and I feel that is sorta how things would really go down. However, I can see some arguments for not allowing frames to claim cover in these instances. The main reason being that Frame Squadrons are already the hardest TA to kill (can only be damaged at limited ranges, can take as many hits as a Cruiser). This would obviously make them even more difficult to destroy. I guess it would also make the game a little more complicated and slow it down a smidge.

[Mantisking]

Cover from what? Frame Squads can only be targeted by other Frame Squads and Point Defense weapons. So which are we talking about?

Both,

Example: 2 Frame Companies fighting each other while attached to a ship could be taking cover behind superstructures, turrents, and bulkheads while shooting it out, picture modern infantry fighting on the deck of a container ship. I actually had a game where an enemy Frame Squaron boarded my Carrier and claimed cover from/on it, while my Frame Squadrons had to boldly stand in the open to avoid the mothership being damaged by them using it as cover! It was a really rough position to be in. Also ships can target Frame Fquadrons at Frame range by using their white dice (representing onboard Frames) I would argue Frame Companies could take cover from this fire as well.

Another example could be a freindly ship firing Point Defence weapons at a Frame Company boarding another vessel, I don't see why they couldn't take cover in the nooks and crannies and airlock doors and such from that type of fire. Or even a ship with its own Point Defense weapons firing on a Frame Squadron boarding it.

So you're asking if a Frame Squadron is in cover by simply being "on" a ship. I'm gonna say no. If it's in cover in the regular sense by having something between it and the Attacker, then yes.

To, me this keeps with the flavor, and I feel that is sorta how things would really go down. However, I can see some arguments for not allowing frames to claim cover in these instances. The main reason being that Frame Squadrons are already the hardest TA to kill (can only be damaged at limited ranges, can take as many hits as a Cruiser). This would obviously make them even more difficult to destroy. I guess it would also make the game a little more complicated and slow it down a smidge.

Considering Frame Squads are already broken enough, I don't think they need any help being harder to hit.

[Hackjob]

I don't think they need any help being harder to hit.

I think that pretty much sums it up.