Did autothrusters just get nerfed against turrets

By dherve10, in X-Wing Rules Questions

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Here's the data from the faq sheet:


"Autothrusters does not trigger if the ship equipped with Autothrusters is inside the attacker’s primary or auxiliary firing arc at Range 1–2.


If a ship with a turret weapon attacks a ship equipped with Autothrusters, first measure closest point to closest point to determine range, then use the printed firing arc on the attacker to determine whether the defender is in the attacker’s firing arc."


Does this mean that autothrusters only procs if the autothruster-equipped ship is at range 3?

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No. I think you are confused by what an auxiliary fire arc is.

Think the rear arc on the Firespray.

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The firing arc is the arc in front of, or in the case of a firespray, the arc in back of a ship. So even at range 1, if you are being shot by a turret weapon, but out of the actual firing arc, autothrusters kick in.

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Turrets don't have an arc. They can fire outside the ship's printed arc.

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They have a printed firing arc and yes they may fire outside it. :)

Edited by Keffisch
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They basically only clarified a limit case scenario. In the case of a turret ship, first determine if the ship is in the printed arc. Then, measure the range from closest point (and not the range from the closest point in arc).

This clarifies a limit case where the back of the enemy ship is in arc but at range 3 while the front is out of arc but at range 2. In this specific case (that does not happen too often), autothrusters fail to activate (because the ship is in arc and at range 2).

As for the auxiliary arc thing, only the Firespray has that (so far) and it worked against backstabber, outmaneuver, etc, in previous FAQ so it's nice to have spelled out for us, but it's not exactly new information. (It just minimises FAQ digging)

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I think it got a small clarification in extremely limited turret situations where the closest point is range 2 (you measure closest point first) but within arc you are range 3 (you check primary or aux arc second). I can see the logic of their FAQ based on a strict reading of the card. In the end, this is rare and doesn't affect my positive opinion of AT.

The aux arc clarification was a pretty obvious one I think. It is an arc, so you need to be out or at range 3.