HotE Into a Corner: did the IP misinterpret or was it a stroke of genius?

By Mr Licorice, in Imperial Assault Campaign

Posted at

We play a French version, so maybe some of the issue is due to translation. We had a heated argument with the IP on whether a mission rule interpretation was legit:

The first time the door opens or the rebel set foot in the bar (cafeteria?), there is a trigger for the IP. Then:

When the door opens, IP gains 7 threat.

This is what happened: As rebels we went through the bar (fell for the chest bait) and triggered the deployment of E-troopers. A few rounds later, the IP spawns a death trooper near the entrance, and uses that trooper to open the door, granting 7 threat!

As rebels we felt very frustrated by this. We argued that it was not the rules as intended. Only one trigger (E-troopers or 7 threat) could happen depending on the path taken by the rebels). But maybe we were just jealous that the IP had thought of such a clever move.

Rebels won in the end, with lucky dice roll, so no harm, but still, I got to know:

Was it legit?

Posted at

As far as I know the event should only trigger once. Yes, the condition is written in a slightly ambiguous way even in the English version.

"The first time a Rebel figure enters the Diner or the door opens:"

I read it as "The first time (a Rebel figure enters the Diner or the door opens)". Note that there is no comma before "or". Having ",or" would associate "the first time" to only the "a Rebel figure enters the Diner", but that's not the case here.

Edited by a1bert
Posted at

Only trigger once.

Posted at

I'd agree with a1's interpretation. RAI it makes sense, and I think that's how I'd read it RAW as well.

It's definitely not the optimal way to word that, though. I'd say it could be pretty heavily clarified. It's totally even possible that in translation, this was screwed up though.

Posted at

I had a discussion about this a few months ago, and I agree with everyone above that the trigger only happens once. Interestingly, though, I couldn't actually come up with a less ambiguous way of wording it without adding something clunky like "whichever happens first" or "(only trigger this once)" to the end of the sentence (neither of which is very good). It's actually a pretty tough - curious if anybody can think of a better way

Posted at

The first time "either" the door...

Posted at
11 hours ago, ManateeX said:

I had a discussion about this a few months ago, and I agree with everyone above that the trigger only happens once. Interestingly, though, I couldn't actually come up with a less ambiguous way of wording it without adding something clunky like "whichever happens first" or "(only trigger this once)" to the end of the sentence (neither of which is very good). It's actually a pretty tough - curious if anybody can think of a better way

You're not wrong. I guess with stuff like this, though, clunky is sometimes all right as long as it's clear. I wonder if there's a similar trigger in IA that works a little better.