We are talking about a complex set of options here:
The cadmus seed gets placed during an AD:CJ during the CA player's turn and...
1. You land outside of the ZC and nobody has
LOF, so nobody can react to it, duh. Hatch it, leave it, do whatever you want. Consumes at least one extra order, doesn't make use of the mine and is thus not very crafty, but it could be worse.
2. You land outside of the enemy model's ZC, but in
LOF: You will take shots. If you survive you can hatch, but that will get you another round of
AROs, before you can actually do anything. Worst case scenario.
3. You land inside of the ZC (and therefore probably in mine range), but in
LOF: The reactive player's models get
AROs. This first
ARO is unopposed as the Cadmus can do nothing (after having spent his order to land) and the mine will not go off either (since a mine never goes off on the same order it is placed by, in this case landing).
4. You land inside of the ZC, but not in
LOF: The only possible
ARO (discounting sepsitor and other exotic stuff) will be change facing (That also holds true for link teams as they cannot make use of
SS lvl2 since they are not being attacked
Shoving a cadmus up a full links arse must be Shasvastii heaven.).
If the opponent doesn't
CF and has no other
AROs you're basically in situation 1., but you can use the seed to discourage reactions to your other model's shots.
If he does, there are at least two options:
a) Assuming the opponent's miniature changed facing and is looking at the seed now, you could hatch it, luring the opponent into a reaction and thus triggering the mine. If he doesn't react, the seed and its internal mine are gone and you are free to move the Cadmus with your next order facing normal
AROs of course. This isn't necessarily the best way to do it in my opinion. It costs an extra order and the seed either takes an unopposed shot, while the mine goes off or it hatches unopposed and the mine is gone. Might be ok, but not worthy of a cunning Shasvastii commander.
b) As an alternative to forced hatching you could leave the seed alone for now and instead shoot the enemy in the back with something else. If he reacts in any way the mine goes off, if he doesn't he will take unopposed shots until he's dead anyway. Now that's how we roll!
The only chance to ever hatch via
ARO is in your enemy's turn of course. You cannot
ARO in your active turn. So no matter what, the Cadmus will not hatch unless you spend an order or wait till next turn (yours [automatically] or your opponent's [possibly in
ARO]).
ZC+
LOF=Mine+Hatch
LOF=Hatch
Again this is not ideal, in his turn your opponent can easily prevent the mine from going off and make sure to destroy the seed before it can do anything. The only likely positive outcome is letting the opponent burn some orders. And even if the Cadmus lives long enough to hatch, it's just one
ARO.
