This keeps happening to me, and I can't rule it out with RAW.

Blaise attacks a door, uses interrogate, steals my command cards before our forces ever engage.

This can't be intended... can it?

It is valid by the rules as written, and FFG has ruled it as valid rules by rules as written .

Whether it is intended, annoying, or the map is rotating out soon is not really relevant.

Please direct me to where FFG has ruled it as valid? Was there a specific rules email or FAQ issued? I certainly can't find one.

It seems... downright absurd.

Matches with RAW, but really, really chafes to be punished because a map has doors.

It's just as absurd as recover, leia's ability, kayn's ability, focus, hidden, etc.

Various figures have ways to take advantage of it, and that is just part of those figure's abilities that make up how useful they are.

They're still taking an action to do it. Sure it's good if you can use it, but you're not getting the effect for free. Are people getting upset at the balance of it, or the thematic issues?

Please direct me to where FFG has ruled it as valid? Was there a specific rules email or FAQ issued?

Maybe I wrote it a little strongly. By default things by RAW are valid and in this case there is no question about the validity of using Interrogate with any attack, whether the target is a figure or an object.

FFG has ruled on related things without ruling against using Interrogate with objects. One I specifically remember is a question about whether only locked doors can be attacked in a mission where all doors have Health. (I think the most offending mission, but I don't play skirmish, so someone can step in.) The response was that because all doors have Health, all doors can be attacked.

You can send a question to verify.

In the campaign Blaise can spend a surge for Menace to increase threat by attacking objects as well...

The response was that because all doors have Health, all doors can be attacked.

This ruling is from the Nelvaanian Warzone from the Leia Organa Ally Pack. The mission rules state: 'Doors can be attacked' or something like that so that even the 2 doors that are unlocked and can be opened with an Interact Action can still be shot at. This is useful for some figures to gain conditions like Focus. I guess you could Interrogate them too since the ability is worded such that you just look at your opponent's hand.

Would be relevant for a 4-player free-for-all game too, because if I'm interpreting things correctly you could shoot one opponent's figure then spend your surge to interrogate a different opponent.

Seems like this deserves an errata so that you can only Interrogate the owner of figure you targeted with the attack.

It only deserves an errata if they feel like they need to nerf Blaise a little bit.

I really hope they don't make changes to 1v1 skirmish balance just because something is weirdly worded for 4p skirmish.

All they have to do to solve ALL of these problems is say you can't trigger special abilities like this (or focus) from attacking objects. Pretty simple. You could make an exception for blast and cleave if you really want to, but I wouldn't bother.

I'd love to see an end to Blaise interrogating the Dianoga, and Trandos getting focused from doors. Not just from a fluff/common sense point of view but just from a game balance point of view.

The only way these abilities DO make sense is if you consider them thematically completely separate from the attack. Do attack, spend a surge, THEN do some unrelated activity like interrogate or order someone else or give out focuses or recover.

It's a bit easier to accept when you look at it this way.
The recover isn't physically done while shooting.... it's just using a surge (which may reduce the power of the attack) to sit down and put a bandage on afterwards.

The theory is that you sacrifice some offensive power, to do something like focus for later or interrogate. Of course, some units have enough surges to do everything, in which case, there's no sacrifice and it just happens all the time.

Of course, some units have enough surges to do everything, in which case, there's no sacrifice and it just happens all the time.

Like those that roll a pair of yellows every time.

I don't even have an issue with the part of Blaise's ability that lets you discard, it's the fact that, on ANY map with a door, any opponent who has paid 6 points for Blaise (A freaking steal, holy crap, why do I run Kayn Somos, again?) WILL get to look at my hand of command cards without fail, any turn he chooses starting with turn 1, whether he chooses to utilize the discard or not.

Knowing everything in your opponent's hand is a very powerful ability that can and does swing entire games.

Yeah that's my problem with it... (and focus and other similar abilities). In theory they make sense. You attack and you use an ability. But in practice they screw with balance. Some maps have doors, some don't. Some have objects that can be attacked and some don't.

I don't mind having different types of maps (that's actually really important). Some maps will favor a faster list, some will favor a slower and tougher list etc.... that's good in a competitive setting and it keeps things fresh. But the maps should drive list decisions. Everything should be a sacrifice. I can take a faster unit, but I'll be weaker overall. Or I can take a strong tough ATST but struggle to reach terminals and objectives.

With Blaise, you don't have that sacrifice. He almost always rolls enough surges so he doesn't have to sacrifice damage to use Interrogate, and any map that lets him do that off doors or objects is a huge benefit for no extra sacrifice.

Same with Focus. It's all about setting up for your next attack... except when you can guarantee it on the first turn by shooting a door. A door that can't dodge or mitigate damage or surges. That's what annoys me most about these rules.

In reality it probably all comes out in the wash, and focus isn't as ridiculously amazing as some people think, but it does make a difference and it can often be quite unfair/unbalanced more often than not.

Your reasoning is somewhat contradictory.

Some figures can focus themselves, but aren't very good otherwise (ie. elite snowtroopers). Having them be good on some maps and not others is exactly what you're talking about with fast/slow units, etc.

Elite ISBs are decent, but much stronger when hidden. Having them on maps with attackable doors is a good benefit, but they might not be as useful on maps without them.

And on most maps, Blaise can usually make a shot he's guaranteed to miss and get interrogate that way, so there isn't going to be that much of a difference either way.

Well, he is a 'master' interrogator. He water boards the bejezus out of those doors

This is a universe without railings on it's infinite fall walkways. They also must run all the security camera feeds through every door too.

Your reasoning is somewhat contradictory.

Some figures can focus themselves, but aren't very good otherwise (ie. elite snowtroopers). Having them be good on some maps and not others is exactly what you're talking about with fast/slow units, etc.

Elite ISBs are decent, but much stronger when hidden. Having them on maps with attackable doors is a good benefit, but they might not be as useful on maps without them.

And on most maps, Blaise can usually make a shot he's guaranteed to miss and get interrogate that way, so there isn't going to be that much of a difference either way.

The difference is that there's no compromise. A fast unit is weaker (health or damage), so on a map where speed is not important, they are weaker overall. Thus the compromise.

Units that get the benefit of focus or other abilities do so on all maps. But with attackable doors/objects they get to become more powerful without putting themselves in danger. They get free bonuses from shooting doors that no one else gets.

Normally you have to make the choice - do I self focus or do I do a few more damage? Do I give out a focus token or to I shoot? If they have enough surges all the time to always self focus, then they may as well just have a focus all the time.

It removes the decision making. It removes the risk. Usually those units would have to engage in combat and thus put themselves at risk, to use those abilities. That's what makes it balanced. You get to do more damage later, at the cost of less damage now and/or putting yourself in a more dangerous position. You don't have that risk against doors. Doors can't dodge or evade either. You also don't waste actions becoming focused because you want to shoot the door anyway.

Other units like Rebel Troopers or Gideon or Command Cards, require the use of an action to focus.

There's literally no downside.

Units that have a self focus capability or abilities like Interrogate, Military Efficiency etc weren't designed and balanced around the ability to attack doors and objects. There are 7 missions that have attackable doors and 4 with attackable objects out of 64 missions. They would have been balanced around a regular map. Therefore, any map with attackable doors/objects is a pure and free advantage.

It's also partially due to the fact that out of the 7 missions that have attackable doors, we've had 3 of them in the last map rotation and 4 of them in the current one. They have been over represented in the last few map cycles.

Blaise making a shot out of range is actually fine. He's using an action and he's sacrificing damage to use interrogate. That's a compromise and that makes a huge difference.

Sometime you don't want to damage the door, because you don't want it to come down so soon. So in that case you are using an action to become focused or Interrogate.

And you don't "always have enough surges to self-focus all the time". You're rolling dice. Sometimes you'll get enough surges to do it all, and other times you won't.

You might shoot at a door, intending to deal 0 damage an interrogate, and instead you roll all damage and enough range and knock the door down for your opponent to come in and kill you. Or sometimes you'll shoot a door to self-focus when the better move would have been to run to an objective. These units aren't getting something for nothing, and there is the risk of downsides to what they're doing. Yes, it's nice for them that they have the option to do it, but it's not free. It's only "free" when it's the right move and you get the right die rolls - and under those two conditions, everything is "free".

Your examples are very rare. The only time you want to shoot a door and not kill it is to focus yourself and as many friendly units as you can before the door dies. Anything else is literally wasting actions. That's the whole problem and wouldn't exist if the rule was changed.

The surges example was just a comment on the fact that Blaise statistically rolls a lot of surges. Most other units have to be careful with how they spend surges, he usually gets lots (and that's before hidden).

The very fact that there is a situation where you want to shoot at a door and do 0 damage is exactly the problem we're talking about. It's a stupid situation and shouldn't exist.

Why do you say they didn't balance these abilities around the maps they're selecting for tournament play?

Your examples are very rare. The only time you want to shoot a door and not kill it is to focus yourself and as many friendly units as you can before the door dies. Anything else is literally wasting actions. That's the whole problem and wouldn't exist if the rule was changed.

The surges example was just a comment on the fact that Blaise statistically rolls a lot of surges. Most other units have to be careful with how they spend surges, he usually gets lots (and that's before hidden).

The very fact that there is a situation where you want to shoot at a door and do 0 damage is exactly the problem we're talking about. It's a stupid situation and shouldn't exist.

So are you saying that the mechanic is to powerful, or that it doesn't make sense thematically, or that it's gimmicky? Or something else?

Your examples are very rare. The only time you want to shoot a door and not kill it is to focus yourself and as many friendly units as you can before the door dies. Anything else is literally wasting actions. That's the whole problem and wouldn't exist if the rule was changed.

The surges example was just a comment on the fact that Blaise statistically rolls a lot of surges. Most other units have to be careful with how they spend surges, he usually gets lots (and that's before hidden).

The very fact that there is a situation where you want to shoot at a door and do 0 damage is exactly the problem we're talking about. It's a stupid situation and shouldn't exist.

So are you saying that the mechanic is to powerful, or that it doesn't make sense thematically, or that it's gimmicky? Or something else?

All of the above to some extent. Really the issue is that it's clunky and simply not fair that a door greatly benefits one side and not the other. An attackable door creates a power spike. It's significant enough to not ignore, but it only happens on a few maps which makes it unpredictable.

But like I said a few times. The biggest issue is that it's an advantage with no downside. It's simply more powerful in certain situations, and never weaker. That's bad balance even on a theoretical level, even if the actual unit is or isn't super competitive.

I've come to terms with the thematic stupidity of interrogating doors.

Bottom line in, a simple "you can only use +dmg or +pierce abilities when attacking doors/objects" would be a good thing for the game.

That or simply remove attackable doors.... maybe have some doors take 2 actions to open instead. I prefer the first option.

It's also just not fun to play against. I'm not saying that Trandos and Snowtroopers are the best units in the game (they aren't) but it's annoying when on some maps, certain units basically get to start with a free focus, or when your opponent can start screwing with your command cards before any combat has even started. Or when Sorin can focus up 4 HKs and 2 Elite Probe droids on the first turn with no risk to any of them. It's even easier with those guys coz they all have rerolls so they can minimize their damage against the door to focus as many as possible.

Why do you say they didn't balance these abilities around the maps they're selecting for tournament play?

Because that's not how balance works. You don't balance units for less than 15% of the maps. They don't change the balance of units depending on the current map rotation. You balance them against as much of your game as possible. Don't forget that most of these units also take part in the Campaign game which does affect their costs too (especially some of the earlier units before Skirmish became more popular). That's why we're seeing different campaign and skirmish version of heroes now.

I think it's highly unlikely they sat down and said "self focusing units are weak right now, so lets give them lots of maps with attackable doors to even it out".

You do pick the maps based on what you think is fair in a tournament setting.

I doubt they sat down and said "This self focusing stuff is too good, let's pick more maps with attackable doors for tournament play."

I still don't really see the difference between:

A) Elite Echo Base troopers have Efficient travel, so they're better on maps with difficult terrain.

and

B) Elite ISBs can hide themselves, so they're better on maps with attackable doors.

You wouldn't argue that it is not fair difficult terrain affects one side and not the other. The doors are part of the map just as much as the terrain. The ability to focus/hide yourself is an ability on the card, just like Efficient Travel, and that figure has been balanced with the idea that they can get focused/hidden in mind.

There also is a downside, in that you're spending actions attacking a door, when you could be moving into a potentially better position, depending on the map. You also might enable your opponent to open the door earlier than you would like by having attacked it. You can also not roll surges, then you've really wasted your action.

Not all of these come into play all the time, of course, but they do exist.

My ISB's seem to have taken matters into their own hands anyway. I seem to regularly shot all 4 of them at a door and end up with no surges and a very blown up door

Love how he can interrogate a door but the ISB cant figure out how to use their radios to coordinate a raid on a stationary door...

You can totally interrogate a door... Just don't believe them.

You can totally interrogate a door... Just don't believe them.

You sir, win