Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

I was just reading about interceptor when it hit me, why does it function the way that it does? The whole principle is that you've got some kind of sensor, right, that let's you know when an enemy unit is coming? Like you have a sensor that detects the shift in warp energy before termies teleport in. Or when a unit is dropping from space you have something telling you "Hey, they're going to land here!"

So answer me this.... why doesn't interceptor work when my units use jump packs to fly in next to you? Or tell you that my bikes are coming at you from the side? Instead of them only firing when a unit deep strikes, why don't they fire every time any unit moves? Are your sensors that specific that they only detect guys dropping from orbit and tell you their precise landing location, but don't tell you that the guys on the other side of the battlefield are about to be up in your face? I'm just.... kind of irked by it. Seems really dumb that they don't know the guy standing 10 feet away is about to charge them.

(Whatever you do, don't interpret this as saying that tau need a buff or something like that. This is just me realizing something that seems dumb. As for rules, I know it'd be broken if they got to shoot at any unit that comes into view immediately).

Fluff reasons for why rules work the way they do are usually shoddy at best. Unfortunate, but it is the way it is.

As for why Interceptor works the way it does, my personal opinion is this. A player turn in 40k, in real time, would span about 10 seconds, max. Basically your models run to a new position, shoot their guns, and charge and hit stuff. That doesn't take long. The reason Interceptor doesn't work on jump infantry or bikes is because you already know they are there, they're just moving around. The sensors something like Tau would use basically alert the pilot saying "Hey! This scary thing just popped up out of nowhere/arrived in firing range!" and so the model can take a pot shot at it before the arriving unit can react.

A turn based game does not lend itself well to real world thinking. In reality both sides would be firing at each other fairly continuously, and the rolls we are making are just an abstract, or at best simply the shots that actually hit their target.

Flying under the radar is more than a phrase for keeping your head down (which is more than just a phrase for being discrete)


I imagine things with interceptor are to be geared specifically for fast moving high flying/orbital objects.

Also give credit to your jet infantry to know well enough to fly under an AA battery's fire arc before busting it up

I think the biggest thing that always bothers me is that my terminator fluff (DA) is that they're firing their guns literally AS they teleport in, hence them getting twin linked. So why do your guys get to shoot before my guys, when there's less than a second between my guys arriving and shooting?

 kingbobbito wrote:
I think the biggest thing that always bothers me is that my terminator fluff (DA) is that they're firing their guns literally AS they teleport in, hence them getting twin linked. So why do your guys get to shoot before my guys, when there's less than a second between my guys arriving and shooting?

At the end of the day, it's gameplay mechanics, so there really won't be a satisfying fluff reasoning.

Perhaps my Early Warning Override sensors can detect the slight opening in the Warp as your Terminators teleport in, and so can target your location before you even fully arrive? Honestly EWO is never explained all that well in Tau fluff. Also, you said your fluff states your Terminators are firing as they teleport. Wouldn't that mean that your guys are firing without a target? So they are basically just firing blindly when they show up, then see their target, and finally aim to hit? Once again, it boils down to your shooting phase and dice rolling in general being an abstraction, not representing every single shot your models fire, but rather a small part of them or just all the shots that were on target/effective.

Most of the rules around DS are stupid when you think too much about it.

You appear from nowhere but I can shoot at you just fine. The guys that have been here the whole battle start running towards me and I'm so terrified that I can only snap shoot my gun at them.

Actually you can probably apply that to most of the rules. Tanks "turbo boosting" at ~30km/hr. Skimmers barely managing 50km/hr.

I cant speak for Tau, but as far as imperial fortifications with it go I bet they use similar signatures for teleporting and logic engines tracking down other imperial things would probably not be super hard to do. but I agree with Mars, Deep striking is dumb.

My power armored and highly trained warriors cannot ride in a vehicle they ride in often to hit planet and for some reason are to shell shocked to punch you in the face, but ill shoot ya just fine

With Interceptor, you are suppose to have seen the arriving unit miles away, so have time to plot a spot to aim at as the unit gets closer. No idea why it works versus Deep Striking teleportation, because it does not versus teleportation Shunts nor Gates of Infinity, although versus Deep Striking Drop Pods it does make sense. Should not work versus troops deploying from Drop Pods or Flyers, but it does.

SJ

 jeffersonian000 wrote:
With Interceptor, you are suppose to have seen the arriving unit miles away, so have time to plot a spot to aim at as the unit gets closer. No idea why it works versus Deep Striking teleportation, because it does not versus teleportation Shunts nor Gates of Infinity, although versus Deep Striking Drop Pods it does make sense. Should not work versus troops deploying from Drop Pods or Flyers, but it does.

SJ

yeah absicly the rules are written on the assumption deep striking units are arriving like jump infantry (where it's presumed they're jumping out the back of a high flying thunderhawk or something) or drop pods etc. something appering from out of teleportation? it makes zero sense. but... that's just one of the little cases where the game and the fluff don't perfectly line up

It's a clumsy attempt to fix one problem with the awful IGOUGO turn structure instead of removing IGOUGO entirely in favor of something that doesn't suck. Interceptor doesn't make any sense at all fluff-wise.