How does the Dark Angels' Sustained Suppression work? The rules for overwatch, how long it lasts, and what actions are required to enter it are a bit murky. Could someone post an example of how a trio of Dark Angels would utilize this ability include actions spent?

DAs go to shopping. They check to see if they've got their wallets, keys, and set overwatch as a half-action: One forward, two overlapping forward and to each flank, and one to the rear. They leave the house and set off in a diamond formation, stopping to wave to the mailman on the way. On the way, they are ambushed. BANG! The overwatch goes off.

That's the main use as far as I can see. The team can set overwatch between combat, then move forward, gun levelled and ready for anything.

They need to spend a full action for overwatch though.

What DAs can do is announce sth like this:

1st turn: "My PC goes into Overwatch and covers the door to the right."
Next turn: "I invoke Sustained Suppression which is a free action and continue to try to crack the cogitators login with my left hand only, keeping my plasma rifle in the right hand."

Later Orks appear in both the door to the right and in the front, the DA notices. It immediately triggers his Overwatch and he usesit to blast the Ork in the door to the right with plasma. Then the game goes into initiative which the DA wins by taking 10 due to fate. He puts the Plasma Rifle to maximum mode and fires the remaining Ork into Oblibion. Later that turn another Ork appears in the door to the right. The DA cannot fire at him because he has lost the overwatch last round and would have needed to spend another Full Action to go into Overwatch again. Also his Plasma Rifle needs to recharge. Guess he'll need to duke it out in close combat because the Ork is going to charge WAAGH! on him.

Multiple DAs can sustain multiple overlapping fields of fire, magnifying the effect enormously. Add a Lead by Example Ultramarine Tactical and you got a challenge for the GM.

Alex

So Sustained Suppression eliminates the "before the character's next turn' requirement? Once a DA uses this to go into Overwatch, he stays in it until it's triggered (regardless of what he does with his other actions), right? Then he has to spend another Full Action to go back into overwatch which again lasts until it's triggered?

HappyDaze said:

What it directly does eliminate is the necessity to keep spending a full action to remain in overwatch. Without it, a PC who wants to cover the door cannot do anything else. Note how in my example the DA resumed working on the cogitator after triggering sustained suppression. Impossible without the squad mode ability.

Other than that you got it right. It's one of the very powerful squad mode abilities imho opinion.

Alex

You could use this to go into overwatch to keep the option of shooting at a sniper when he goes to take a shot while still firing away at the sniper's squad-mates with your regular actions, right?

Overwatch never improves RoF beyond what it can do in a turn. With sustaind supression, you must still spend a full round to enter overwatch, and immediately attack the first visible target. Overwatch is exited after the attack, and takes a new full action to enter again. Overwatch is intended more for use outside of immediate combat, and this ability gives more options to the user.

KommissarK said:

It says that when you enter Overwatch, you specify the conditions that will trigger it. This means that you don't have to shoot at the first target that pops up. You could spend your Full Action to go onto overwatch with the trigger of "when I see a Hulking or larger Tyranid" and then blaze away at hormaguants. When a Tyranid warrior appears, you then lay into it with the overwatch shot you had waiting. Is this correct usage?

The only difference is that Sustained Suppression lets you sustain overwatch while taking other actions (including shooting) without dropping overwatch. This is abviously useless in the round that overwatch is initiated (since it's a full action), so it must allow overwatch to continue beyond the next turn (overwatch normally ends whn your next turn comes up).

HappyDaze said:

Yes, if you notice him coming out cover while shooting his buddies. That's where the GM can keep stuff from coming over-powered. And as per RAW it can of course "increase" ROF. If the sniper goes faster than you, you spray him in his turn. If he survives and it's your turn later that round, you can shoot at him again. But then again you didn't shoot last turn and the ROF rules are not realistic anyway.

Alex

Sorry: Full action, not half. Didn't have rules nearby. But the main thing is that you can just spend that action out of combat, and then get on with doing stuff while having overwatch up.

HappyDaze said:

Yes.

I don't see anywhere in the rules where it does prevent firing 'in excess' of the RoF. I could be wrong, but as far as I can see there's nothing wrong with firing off a burst when your target comes into view, and then taking a 'normal' shot on your turn (or re-setting over-watch if it's dead...)