I hate when I forget to read the card.

Bwah, ha ha ha ha!!!

Yeah, I've been caught out like this before as well. You pour over the rules, figure you have it all straight, then someone says "But the card says..."

Page 11 - Learn to Play: "To acquire a target lock, the player chooses an enemy ship at Range 1–3."

And there I go thinking that the Rules Reference is going to contain the same rules that the Learn To Play book does. That bit of rules is straight forward. The way that the Rules Reference reads makes it seem that the Acquire Target Lock action is what is restricted in range so things like Thread Tracers could provide a target lock even if the recipient was outside of range 3.

I hate when I forget to read the card.

Bwah, ha ha ha ha!!!

Yeah, I've been caught out like this before as well. You pour over the rules, figure you have it all straight, then someone says "But the card says..."

And the whole time you are digging through the rules you are thinking "Why have I never noticed this before?".

Page 11 - Learn to Play: "To acquire a target lock, the player chooses an enemy ship at Range 1–3."

And there I go thinking that the Rules Reference is going to contain the same rules that the Learn To Play book does. That bit of rules is straight forward. The way that the Rules Reference reads makes it seem that the Acquire Target Lock action is what is restricted in range so things like Thread Tracers could provide a target lock even if the recipient was outside of range 3.

I must admit there's been some ups and downs with the new rules and the new layout. There are things in the LtP that are abbreviated or even missing in the RR. And I have noticed the more veteran players have simply chucked the LtP book aside, as they already know how to play. But I think you'll find that FFG have intended for both books to be referenced when playing. I've found this recently as I've started playing Armada, and find it's sometimes easier to look something up in the LtP book, as it's more fully explained. The RR gives you the defined rules, but sometimes lacks an explanation that you'll find in the LtP.

That being said, the new format does make it easier to find what you're looking for, as long as you know what that is to start with.