I was playing some Fear Itself warbot stacks last night and a few questions came up.

1. Do you check to if the opposing characters are in range or line of fire before or after you half the range for pulse wave?

2. Do you check for the opposing characters before the running shot?

(I guess I am just trying to better understand the order of things here)


3. If you do check for opposing characters before you half the range for pulse wave wont there be occurences where you check, get pulse wave and then half the range when you use it and can no longer hit your target?


If someone could help me clarify exactly when the check happens, and then how the action continues from there I would really appreciate it.


Also on a side note, this came up in our game as well. Pulse Wave vs. Midnight Sons ATA and stealth. How does that play out???

Thanks So Much!

Doom

Horde: Surpressing Fire: If (S) is greater than the number of opposing characters within range and line of fire, Warbot (Machine Gun) can use Pulse Wave.

You would check before, you are not actually using Pulse Wave yet. You check at the time you would want to be able to use Pulse Wave. So it would be after the movement of Running Shot. Correct. This just is seeing if you can use it. Pulse Wave would ignore game effects for LoF, The ATA or Stealth will be ignored and the character would be a target.

1. You check before determining the area of effect, which is half of your range. Your range does not actually change at all.

2. No. You check when you are trying to give the ranged combat action.

3. Even normal PW requires that you hit an opposing character with it, so if there are no opposing characters within your area of effect, you can't use PW.

When PW draws lines of fire to characters within the area of effect, it ignores all game effects (except for walls, blocking terrain and elevated terrain), so Stealth or the ATA will not offer any protection.

Something to keep in mind is that the rules allow you to check range and line of fire at any time, and you actually can't commit to the action if it's not possible to actually take the action.
To use Pulse Wave at least one opposing character has to be in the Area of Effect when the attack is made. So before you give the action you're going to need to insure that you have characters that will be within the half range and LOF, remembering that the LOF is only blocked by elevated and blocking terrain.
For Running Shot you need to know where you will end the movement. If you want to make an attack (remember it's optional with Running Shot), you ought to make sure there's a target in range and LOF available from the square where you plan to stop.

The LOF for Pulse Wave is only blocked by elevated and blocking terrain. And PW ignores all game effects used or possessed by the targeted characters. So Stealth and other effects that would prevent LOF won't.

edit: double ninja'd. That's what I get for pausing to get the dog fresh water.

Thanks so much guys!!!

Ok just so I am clear. If I want to used this ability correct then I should:

1. Determine where I will end my running shot before I move.
2. Check to see If there are the proper amount of opposing characters in range and LOF to allow me to activiate pulse wave based on my full range from the chosen square.
3. ALSO be sure that the target(s) I want to hit will be within the area of effect once I activate pulse wave.
4. Use running shot to get to the chosen square.
5. Activate pulse wave from the ranged combat action.
6. Roll my attack roll.

Does this look right?

Using pulse wave this way just seems to be a bit more tactical and strategic than normal pulse wave given the criteria of the ability. I just want to use it properly.

That looks to be correct.

Pulse Wave is indeed usually better when paired with running shot for the obvious reason of mobility and having more control over your area of effect.

Your order looks pretty good
1)yes
2)the proper amount of opposing only needs to be 1. Remember that this hits everyone (with a few exceptions) in the area of effect including friendlies.
3)yes, if numerically possible
4)yes
5)yes
6)yes

Side note; most of the time this won't matter but when Pulse Wave tells you to determine half of the range, this is not a replacement like most instances of halving. This usually won't make a difference but with some pieces like lotr208 Sauron and pieces with minimum range it is good to remember that Pulse Waves area of effect is not a replacement value.

Awesome! Thanks again guys!

Jtallday Thank you for the side note. I never thought of something like that. But you are correct that I need to remember the difference between the area of effect and a replacement value for pulse wave.

Yeah it makes a difference with all of the hammers floating around. Glad to help.

It is a little confusing so this thread may offer clarity if you aren't sure.

http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=484691

Wait, what? Why would you be checking for who is within the full range if you intend to use Pulse Wave?

Because:

Surpressing Fire: If (S) is greater than the number of opposing characters within range and line of fire, Warbot (Machine Gun) can use Pulse Wave.

<smacks head>
Thanks, I'm just thinking about Pulse Wave and forgetting the special requirement there.

I thought to see if you were able to use pulse wave you first had to check to see if (s) was greater than the number of opposing characters within range and line of fire. So since you arent using pulse wave yet you would have to check for this using your full range. Is that not correct?


edit: ninja'd

That is why I had so much trouble last night...I was trying to just running shot pulsewave straight up. But I got really confused trying to figure out how to position my guy so that I could still hit my target but not have other guys in line of fire...it was a mess...

I'm not sure if all this trouble is even worth playing them lol

Just to clarify, you only count characters that are within your range and line of fire, you do not count the number of characters that are within your range and the number of characters within your line of fire and sum the values, correct?