Hey

Been contemplating ways to counter some of the lists mentioned at worlds lately and I had a question regarding the interaction of RLB with reikan.

My understanding is that normally if a ship equipped with rapid launch bays is destroyed WHILE it still has fighters inside it/ not deployed yet, that those squadrons are considered destroyed and not placed on the board.

Now with reikan if you destroy that same ship are those squadrons allowed to be placed I'd that destroyed ship gets to activate still before the end of the turn? My gut says yes as that is it just continuing its normal move.

My real question is what happens to those squadrons that were placed at the end of the turn? To me they were destroyed when the carrier was destroyed, so they should be removed from play and treated as destroyed at the end of the round.

Just wanted to see if I was reading that right or if im missing something.

The problem with this, is it makes a lot of assumptions... Assumptions on rules that we have no direct guidance thereof.

For Example:

"My understanding is that normally if a ship equipped with rapid launch bays is destroyed WHILE it still has fighters inside it/ not deployed yet, that those squadrons are considered destroyed and not placed on the board. "

Not... Exactly.

Nowhere do we have a rule in the Rapid Launch upgrade that says those squadrons are destroyed at ANY time. If the Ship is Destroyed, those Squadrons are still Alive. They're just off the board... Its an assumption they are destroyed. It doesn't say though. So you're still alive.... Becuase you're not Destroyed... But of course, obviously, if your carrier is destroyed - you're not launch-able, as the Upgrade Card required is deactivated by the destruction of the ship, in normal cases.

... So now we have to go hunting for when they could or might be destroyed....

On that note, The closest associated rule is in Hyperspace Assault , which states that if you are off the board when the game Ends, you are considered destroyed.... Which makes sense. You didn't turn up and you didn't have an effect on the battle... So you count as casualties... But even then, that won't apply until you're ending the Game.... So in the meantime, (for Hyperspace assault, and thus, by extension, our off-board little rapid launch squadrons), are Alive.

"Now with reikan if you destroy that same ship are those squadrons allowed to be placed I'd that destroyed ship gets to activate still before the end of the turn? My gut says yes as that is it just continuing its normal move.

My real question is what happens to those squadrons that were placed at the end of the turn? To me they were destroyed when the carrier was destroyed, so they should be removed from play and treated as destroyed at the end of the round."

Given that above precedent and lack of any statement that the squadrons are destroyed at any time, I would believe that Rieekan Zombie Carrier is not only capable of launching Squadrons, but those squadrons are PERFECTLY HEALTHY AND NOT DESTROYED if you were to do so....

It may seem Un-Thematic to some.... But just because the Ship is currently being held together with Duct Tape, Spit, Bailing Wire and Happy Thoughts, doesn't necessarily mean the Squadrons were Destroyed in the meantime...

Once you're Launched, Normal Rules on Play and Destruction - Rieekan modified or not - Kick in... In which case, you're alive until you're Dead by the ways that make you dead.

The only other precedent we have for this is hyperspace assault, and the ruling on that is:

"If all of a player’s ships in the play area are destroyed, his ships and squadrons that are set aside are also destroyed. If the game goes to time, or the end of the sixth round, his ships and squadrons that are set aside are destroyed."

Essentially, if the game ends while the squadrons are still set aside, they are destroyed. It would be reasonable to extrapolate this to apply to squadrons set aside for RLB as well, but it's not specified anywhere.

I think it would be harder to make a rules case that squadrons are immediately destroyed because the ship they were on has taken enough damage to be destroyed, though. Under Rieekan, the ship is not destroyed until the end of the round--if you can get the squadrons launched before then, there's no reason you shouldn't be able to.

I can live with that and that's how I'll play it for now but it would sure be nice if they had actually clarified things a bit more lol (or a lot more in some cases).

I still feel they should be destroyed but I absolutely see both sides of it. I just wanted to see if there was a ruling before I go into a small tournament this weekend.

37 minutes ago, Drakkars said:

Hey

Been contemplating ways to counter some of the lists mentioned at worlds lately and I had a question regarding the interaction of RLB with reikan.

My understanding is that normally if a ship equipped with rapid launch bays is destroyed WHILE it still has fighters inside it/ not deployed yet, that those squadrons are considered destroyed and not placed on the board.

Now with reikan if you destroy that same ship are those squadrons allowed to be placed I'd that destroyed ship gets to activate still before the end of the turn? My gut says yes as that is it just continuing its normal move.

My real question is what happens to those squadrons that were placed at the end of the turn? To me they were destroyed when the carrier was destroyed, so they should be removed from play and treated as destroyed at the end of the round.

Just wanted to see if I was reading that right or if im missing something.

With Rieekan, the ship is not destroyed until the end of the status phase.

If a non-Rieekan ship is destroyed, the ship and any squadrons set aside are immediately removed from the game.

However, if a Rieekan ship is destroyed, it can still release those squadrons before the end of the status phase, and so those squadrons live.

TLDR

If it is true that non-Rieekan RLB ship squadrons are destroyed immediately when the ship is destroyed, then Rieekan squadrons can live if they are deployed before the end of the status phase in which that ship was destroyed.

Edit:

Also, good question.

To OP:

You can launch squadrons as long as you activate the ship. No problem. With Rieekan the destruction is delayed, but it doesn't interfere with ship functions. Imagine that fighters are escaping from exploding ship in Indiana Jones style. Once deployed, the squadrons are not bound to the ship in any means and function separately just like any other squadrons.

If a ship is destroyed with squadrons on board (no Rieekan here), then it cannot launch squadrons (duh).