Trooper Activation
Game Elements | Open and Private Information | Labels and Traits | Armies | Unit Profile | Game States | Army List | Orders and the Order Pool | Trooper Activation | Initiative and Deployment | Game Sequence | Loss of Lieutenant | Silhouettes | Line of Fire | Zone of Control | Zones, Bases and Silhouettes | Coherency | Distances and Measurements | Replacing Models and Markers | Rolls
Structure of an Order
Players use Orders to activate Troopers and have them perform actions in the form of Skills (Move, Jump, CC Attack…). Depending on their complexity and the in-game time taken, Skills are divided into:
Short Movement Skills: Can be declared twice, or be combined with a different Short Movement Skill in the same Order. For instance, you could use an Order to Move and Discover. They can also be combined with a Short Skill.
Short Skills: Can only be combined within the same Order with a Short Movement Skill. Cannot be declared twice or be combined with other Short Skills.
Entire Order Skills (or just Entire Order for short): These Skills employ one whole Order and cannot be combined in any way.
In other words, the expenditure of an Order allows the activated Trooper to declare one of the following combinations of Skills:
- Any one Entire Order Skill.
- Any one Short Movement Skill plus any one Short Movement Skill.
- Any one Short Movement Skill plus any one Short Skill (and vice versa).
Even if declared one after the other, both Skills in a single Order are performed simultaneously. For example, if you declare Move plus BS Attack, (the Short Skill that Troopers use to fire their weapons), you can make the BS Attack at any point during the declared movement route, and not necessarily at the end of that route.
ARO: Automatic Reaction Order
In Infinity games, thanks to the Automatic Reaction Order (ARO) mechanic, the action and decision-making never stops. Even during their opponent's Active Turn, a player’s Models and Markers can react each time the opponent activates one of his Troopers with an Order.
The ARO declarations of the Reactive Player’s Troopers are considered valid in the following situations:
- An enemy Trooper activates within its Line of Fire (LoF).
- An enemy Trooper activates within its Zone of Control (ZoC).
- It has a Special Skill, weapon, or piece of Equipment allowing it to react to enemy actions without LoF.
- It is affected by a Template Weapon, or is the target of a Hacking Program or other Comms Attack.
The Reactive Player must declare AROs for all eligible Models or Markers immediately after the Active Player declares his Entire Order or the first Short Skill of his Order (see: Order Expenditure Sequence). Troopers that fail to do so lose their ARO against that Order. If, by declaring the second Short Skill of its Order, the active Trooper gives an ARO to enemy Troopers that did not have ARO against the first Short Skill, then those enemy Troopers can declare their AROs.
Each time the Active Player activates a Trooper by spending an Order, each eligible enemy gets one single ARO, regardless of the number of Skills the Active Player declares during that Order.
AROs must choose one of the Troopers activated by the Order as their target.
Troopers cannot react to AROs, since only the Active Player's Orders give AROs and only the Reactive Player can declare AROs.
There is no limit to the number of Troopers that can react to the activation of a single enemy Trooper.
Using an ARO, the Reactive Player can only declare Skills that specifically state they are usable in ARO (check the Summary Chart).
Unless a Special Skill, Equipment or scenario rule states otherwise, AROs always have Burst B1. In such a situation, if the Reactive Trooper has a Burst value higher than one in ARO, they cannot split it amongst different targets.
All at Once
In Infinity, Orders and AROs are simultaneous regardless of the Skills declared.
For example, if an activated Trooper declares Move + BS Attack and chooses to shoot from its starting position (to take advantage of a favorable Range), and its target reacts with a BS Attack, choosing to shoot at the end of the Movement (again, for Range purposes), then both actions are still considered to be simultaneous for all game purposes.
All AROs are also simultaneous. This means that, if a Camouflage Marker declares a Move, the opponent can declare Discover with Troopers that have LoF to it, but they cannot declare Discover with one of the Troopers and BS Attack with the rest, waiting for the Discover Roll to be successful (see: Camouflaged State).
Order Expenditure Sequence
Each time the Active Player decides to use an Order (of whatever type) to activate a Trooper, follow these steps:
1. Activation: The Active Player declares which Trooper will activate.
- 1.1 Order expenditure: The Active Player removes from the table, or otherwise marks as spent, the Order he uses to activate the Trooper.
- 1.2 Declaration of the First Skill: The Active Player declares the first Short Skill of the Order, or the Entire Order he wants to use.
- If movements are declared, the player measures where the Trooper can move, chooses the route, and places the Trooper at the final point of its movement.
2. Declaration of AROs: The Reactive Player checks Lines of Fire to the Active Trooper, and declares AROs. Troopers are not forced to declare the AROs, but if a Trooper can declare an ARO and fails to do so, the chance to declare an ARO is lost.
3. Declaration of the Second Skill: The Active Player declares the second Short Skill of the Order, if applicable. If movements are declared, the player measures where the Trooper can move, chooses the route, and places the Trooper at the final point of its movement.
4. Declaration of AROs: The Reactive Player checks Lines of Fire to the Active Trooper from those Troopers who didn’t declare an ARO before, and can declare any new AROs that are available.
5. Resolution: Check that the declared Skills, Special Skills, and pieces of Equipment meet their respective Requirements, measure all distances and Zones of Control, determine MODs, and make Rolls. If any Skill, Special Skill, or piece of Equipment does not meet its Requirements, the Trooper is considered to have declared an Idle.
- 5.1. Effects: Players apply all effects of successful Skills, Special Skills, and pieces of Equipment, and make Saving Rolls, any Dodge movement or Alert.
- 5.2. Conclusion: End of the Order.
5. ARO Check: Check that each Trooper that declared an ARO has been in one of the situations that makes their ARO declaration valid. If they have not, they are considered to have declared an Idle.
6. Resolution: Check that the declared Skills, Special Skills, and pieces of Equipment meet their respective Requirements, measure all distances and Zones of Control, determine MODs, and make Rolls. If any Skill, Special Skill, or piece of Equipment does not meet its Requirements, the Trooper is considered to have declared an Idle. (See FAQs & Errata. LoF Requirements are checked when declaring the Skill.)
- 6.1. Effects: Players apply all effects of successful Skills, Special Skills, and pieces of Equipment, and make Saving Rolls, any Dodge movement or Alert.
- 6.2. Conclusion: If necessary, players make Guts Rolls and apply their effects. End of the Order.
All details and choices related to the execution of a Short Skill, Short Movement Skill, Entire Order Skill or ARO must be specified when it is declared. (See FAQs & Errata.)
For instance, if you declare a movement, specify the entire route; if you declare a BS Attack, specify which Weapon will be used, who the targets are, where the Trooper shoots from, how the Burst is divided, etc.
If the Player declares a Skill and, during the Resolution step, he realizes the Requirements are not met, then the Skill is cancelled and the Trooper is considered to have performed an Idle, so they still generate AROs, and lose the ammunition or equipment used, if they declared the use of a Disposable weapon or piece of Equipment. (See FAQs & Errata. LoF Requirements are checked when declaring the Skill.)
Checking all the Requirements may sometimes seem like a long and difficult process. To accelerate the game, the opposing player can help the Active Player with measurements, LoF checks and the like, thus making the game more dynamic and fun. Since it is the base of a good gaming environment, both players stand to win with a clean game.
FAQs & Errata
Q: How do LoF and ZoC Skill Requirements work?
A: LoF Requirements must be fulfilled when declaring Skills. ZoC Requirements must be fulfilled during the Resolution step.
Q: Do you need to specify all details of a Skill when declaring it? For example where the target is for a BS Attack, or where the template is being placed for White Noise?
A: Yes, with the exception of the target’s position, which is chosen in the Resolution step, before measuring Ranges. If the order of declaration is important, the active player chooses who declares first.
Related Pages: BS Attack, Trooper Activation, White NoiseGame Elements | Open and Private Information | Labels and Traits | Armies | Unit Profile | Game States | Army List | Orders and the Order Pool | Trooper Activation | Initiative and Deployment | Game Sequence | Loss of Lieutenant | Silhouettes | Line of Fire | Zone of Control | Zones, Bases and Silhouettes | Coherency | Distances and Measurements | Replacing Models and Markers | Rolls