Played a game recently in a club. Where player was positive that phantoms started cloaked. Having never played phantoms, I wasnt sure. We played that they didnt, but just wanted to check.,

No, they do not.

No, as Sithborg points out, they don't. The cloaking rules are quite clear on this. Cloaking is an action and no one can take actions until the activation phase.

Would be awfully nice if they could though. And it definitely "feels" like they should be able to.

But no.

Thats what I thought. But I couldnt find anywhere in the rules or FAQ that I could point to confirm this

Thats what I thought. But I couldnt find anywhere in the rules or FAQ that I could point to confirm this

Yeah, it's a case of "Do what the rules say, and don't do what they don't say." The rules don't tell you to start out with a cloak token (any more than ships with the focus icon in their action bar start with a focus token), but they don't further clarify or elaborate on that assumption.

In these types of cases (in which a player thinks something is what it isn't) which seem to be more prevalent, ask the player to point out exactly where these rules are written.

There is another thread where one player told a newer player that with predator he can reroll two dice if the ps difference is two or more.

Cloaking is a action.

So I'm this case how could you start cloaked?

Nobody had a action yet.

I'm glad to see new players out there coming to these boards for clarification.

Good job.

Though the amount of people here is only a small fraction of the players playing.

Unfortunately that likely means there are a lot out there where nobody maybe questioning them.

Don't be afraid to voice your concern with an experienced player if you feel something is wrong.

There are many who feel the more experienced player is right even though their gut feeling is telling them otherwise.

So just ask.

Where does it specifically say that?

If they can't find it then just say well for now we'll play as you can't and if you point it out then we'll know for next game.

If they refuse, then that's probably a good sign right there this isn't the type of person you want to be playing with.

I always like the players that say "I've played this game dozens of times so I know what I'm talking about." and when you find out they're wrong, you can tell them "Well the rulebook says otherwise, so clearly you don't!"

It doesn't happen often, but it's fun when it does.

But in this case, your best defence is reading the rulebook to get a better understanding of the game. I have no idea how many times I've read the rulebook, but it can never be enough as far as I'm concerned. Plus you'll always find out more by playing things through. And the default with this game is do what the rules say, not what they don't say. There's not a lot of grey areas within these rules, which is good, so there's not a lot of speculative interpretation required. Unlike some other games I've played in the past, where assumptions are the norm and you're left scratching your head wondering what the rules author is actually on about.