Are you allowed to measure range to enemy ships that are not possible targets (i.e. outside of arcs for arc based ships)?

Literally, yes. Effectively, maybe don't. Confused? I'm sure. Read on...

The very first step of your combat activation involves checking range and arc. Literally, the Declare Target step starts with (from the Rules Reference Guide):

Quote

Declare Target: The attacker may measure range to any number of enemy ships and check which enemy ships are inside his firing arc. Then the attacker chooses one of his weapons to attack with. Then he chooses one enemy ship to be the target and pays any costs required for the attack.

The permission to check range and arc are separate clauses, meaning you have permission to check any range you wish, or any of your firing arcs, independent of the other check. To that end, it's 100% supported by the rules and allowable in tournament play. That said , if you very clearly don't have a shot, some players may take offense at gaining information for the future that's not directly related to the attack... such as what range an incoming enemy shot from behind will be, to determine whether or not you'll want to spend a focus token. I know several players who would consider it unsportsmanlike (even though it's really not prohibited) to do so.

So basically... yeah, you can, but make sure your opponent isn't the kind who'll flip their lid over you doing it, before you do it too much. Just because you're right in doing so, doesn't mean people will like you for doing it.

8 hours ago, emeraldbeacon said:

I know several players who would consider it unsportsmanlike (even though it's really not prohibited) to do so.

This - This - This I have TO'd many events and this comes up more than you'd thing. It has been a stalling tactic or they are trying to gain some other bit of information for a future move.

You can measure range to any ship when picking a target, but just be careful how you go about doing it.

The rules say you can check any ship, so strictly speaking you can. They could have written something like "check any ship that you might reasonably be able to attack" but then you just open the door for arguments over "reasonably" so best to just leave it blanket.

Having said that though, measuring range to a ship directly behind your ship with only a forward facing arc feels pretty cheaty even if it's not technically against the rules. Just try not to he a jerk and don't abuse rule phrasings that are necessary in this type of game.

My thought on this is while I don't measure range to ships that are obviously out of arc, it is in the rules to be able to do so.

So I wouldn't have a problem with anyone doing it. Because while it gives them info, it also gives me info.

Here's a wacky question along the same vein. Are you allowed to bring your epic ruler along and measure if a ship is at range 4-5, if it's out of normal firing range (but, for argument's sake, still in arc)?

20 minutes ago, emeraldbeacon said:

Here's a wacky question along the same vein. Are you allowed to bring your epic ruler along and measure if a ship is at range 4-5, if it's out of normal firing range (but, for argument's sake, still in arc)?

I'm going out on a limb and saying the "epic rule" is only for "Epic" games. Is there anything in the standard game that requires measuring for that?

When it comes to measuring a Seismic Torpedo can be an interesting choice. Declare its use and pick targets to measure range and arc to which you're pretty sure aren't valid yet it's still a perfectly legal use.