I was playing a friendly match tonight and had a disagreement with how asteroids work.

My opponent landed Horton on a rock. He rolled no damage, lost his action and his shot, which we both agree is the correct reading of the rules.

The following turn, to get off the rock the movement template had to again touch the rock. It was my understanding that this means he again has to roll damage and lose his action. He said that he'd already resolved that asteroid overlap last turn.

I can't seem to find a disambiguation in the rules, which is why I think I'm right. Each turn you just follow the rules as printed, nothing carries over as far as previous collisions.

You're right, your friend is wrong.

Page 20 of the Core Rule Book.

If you overlap more than one asteroid in one move you only suffer one asteroid effect (roll damage, lose action and shot if on it).

But if you start on an asteroid you have the possibility of having to repeat the overlap of the asteroid if your template overlays the asteroid again or you have to backtrack from overlapping a ship and your base lands on the asteroid again. You would suffer the effects again in these cases.

When the turn starts ignore the asteroid directly beneath the ship. While you ignore the asteroid DIRECTLY beneath the ship the rest of that asteroid is still in play and if some of it is in front of your ship you're almost certainly going to hit it when you try getting off the rock.

Thanks

When the turn starts ignore the asteroid directly beneath the ship. While you ignore the asteroid DIRECTLY beneath the ship the rest of that asteroid is still in play and if some of it is in front of your ship you're almost certainly going to hit it when you try getting off the rock.

I don't really like this way of putting it. You don't ignore an asteroid, ever, or even part of it.

There are two conditions for hitting an obstacle: When a ship executes a maneuver in which either the maneuver template or the ship’s base physically overlaps an obstacle token... The ship's base overlapping during a maneuver is only checked at the end of the maneuver, not constantly. So the asteroid is still there, it just doesn't matter that it's there.

You check one of those two conditions when you execute a maneuver: Did your template overlap the obstacle, or did your ship overlap the obstacle (i.e. did you land on it at the end of your maneuver). That's all that matters. The position of the ship/obstacle before the maneuver is irrelevant.

This leads to the results described - if you're far enough forward that your template won't touch the obstacle, you're fine. If the template overlaps when you try to execute the maneuver, then you'll hit it again.

I can see why you may not like my description of ignoring the part of the asteroid directly beneath a ship at the start of the turn but it IS accurate EXCEPT in the case where overlaps would put you right back there. Of course then I'd just say you ignored it at the start of the turn but you still need to consider the whole thing at the end of your turn.

If you weren't far enough forward on an Asteroid you could still "hit" the part that is still in front of you when you try to move.

I think the simplest explanation is this:

“When performing a manoeuvre, if either your template or your ships final position overlap an asteroid, skip your action and roll for damage etc.”

Basically what your ship was doing before the manoeuvre doesn’t matter, only where it's going and where it ends up matter (for this turn).

I can see why you may not like my description of ignoring the part of the asteroid directly beneath a ship at the start of the turn but it IS accurate EXCEPT in the case where overlaps would put you right back there. Of course then I'd just say you ignored it at the start of the turn but you still need to consider the whole thing at the end of your turn.

If you weren't far enough forward on an Asteroid you could still "hit" the part that is still in front of you when you try to move.

Sorry, but it's not accurate. You never ignore it. You might find it a convenient shorthand, and it may (with enough special cases and caveats and exceptions) match what the actual rules do. But it's not the actual rules.

So if you want to think of it as ignoring the base-shaped part of the obstacle which lies directly under your ship, but only for the beginning of your turn and not once the maneuver starts, well, whatever works for you. But it's an inaccurate description of the rules that you really shouldn't be using as a basis for explaining anything.