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Joined: Sat Jan 03, 2004 6:07 pm
Posts: 489
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Hi,
Was thinking about this a bit more last night, trying to think of which method of play would be both representative of the current E:A rules and remain flowing gameplay-wise. Here are my musings, I don't want to start any arguments or discussions over specifics, I just wanted to put the method I was considering into writing. Enjoy:
* Pop-up attacks are exactly that, they are not flying attacks. The skimmer unit pops-up, fires, and drops back to ground level all within the period of one turn. ie: it must pop up every turn if it wants to fire over the terrain, it cannot "float" hundreds of feet up in the air. (although some skimmers represent helicopters which should be able to do so; to help game flow, all skimmers are regarded as ground-level "hover-ers".)
* A pop-up attack is a special action that can be chosen in the action phase. (ie: rather than an advance, engage, etc.) Units popping-up must therefore take an action test and are affected by the -1 for retaining initiative, etc as per normal.
* Units that pop-up don't receive a sustained-fire bonus for remaining still, the pop-up advantage cancels it out.
* Units that pop-up trigger Overwatching enemy units the moment they pop-up. Resolve overwatch fire before resolving fire from the unit popping-up.
* Shooting:
The shooting player draws a line from his up-popping unit to the intended target (shortest line possible between the two formations). The shooter may then fire along that line disregarding any terrain that starts within 15cm of his position along this line. Therefore any terrain that is between the two units that doesn't start within 15cm of the shooter is treated as normal (NO MATTER HOW TALL IT IS).
EXAMPLE: An infantry formation stood partially in cover of a low ridge is targetted by a skimmer unit 30 cms away, however the skimmer is directly behind a building. The attacking player announces a pop-up attack and measures the range from his position to that of the infantry formation. He is within range and can therefore fire.
As the building is within 15cm of the skimmer making the pop-up move (and directly between the two formations), the skimmer may disregard it (and it's LOS-blocking properties) to fire at the infantry freely. (It would NOT matter how close either formation was to the terrain piece being popped-over, as long as the firing unit is within 15cm. This will avoid the problem of out-of-scale terrain and "terrain shadows", etc. May not be realistic, but is quick, easy and keeps the game flowing.)
However, the ridge that is partially covering the infantry unit begins 25 cm away from the skimmer. Therefore, even though the ridge is physically shorter than the building being popped-up over, the infantry still receive the cover save it would normally. (Unless the skimmer chooses to only target those troops not in partial cover.)
* If the skimmer rules are to remain fluid and easy to follow, you MUST consider terrain, etc in a slightly abstract manner. Putting too much detail into the physical dimensions of shooting will simply slow down play and annoy people. If a complex rule is introduced, I can see people using a house-rule in it's place. This should be the other way around. A simple rule such as this should be used, and anyone who wants a "technically-correct" version can use their own house rules (as with the current E:A rules). This would also keep tournament games flowing to retain their time limit. Although I don't play tourney rules most of the time, I know a lot of people do, and these rules help them.
* These rules remove not only the problems inherent with "terrain shadows" and varying scale terrain (including flat terrain), but also remove the need for "pop-up" markers.
*I see pop-up attacks as a tactical decision rather than a "sit behind a wall and fire from safety turn after turn" thing. Pop-up attacks need to be planned and considered just like every other move, and so should have some disadvantages to mirror it's advantages.
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These are just my musings from last night, so don't read too much into it. I simply wanted to explain how I think it should work (more for my own benefit than others  ), and was wondering how others would 'like' to see it done.
Cheers,
Freshmetal
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