Measuring firing arc before a barrel roll/boost has recently become an issue in my local play group.

Does a player get to check his enemies firing arc to see if the barrel roll/boost will get him out of the line of fire ?

No. I don't think you're technically allowed to measure your opponent's fire arc at all. And the rules say you can measure for range/fire arc before committing to the target of an attack, but that's during the combat phase, when it's your ship's turn to attack. You can check to see if you can legally barrel roll without hitting something (since if you can't do it without colliding you can't do it period) but that doesn't involve measuring fire arcs.

There's nothing (so far as I know) that prevents you eyeballing it, but pulling out the rulers is a no-no.

Yeah it's hard to enforce "no - don't even LOOK at it!" but you can't straight up measure it.

Now you can barrel roll along the length of your base as long as the template doesn't cross the plane of either edge of your ship's base... So I don't know that there's anything preventing you from adjusting your ship back and forth a bit and kind of eyeballing it to see if looks like there's a safe spot to land.

But you're also generally kind of committed (under the CPA, certainly) to executing the barrel roll at that point whether you find a safe spot or not. It's at the very least kind of dirty pool to measure out the barrel roll, decide you can't dodge the fire arc, and then put your ship back and use a focus or evade action or something.

I'm not sure if it's flat out illegal, but it's not cool.

I don't think you're technically allowed to measure your opponent's fire arc at all.

I would say that RAI at least, you should never measure range, arc, ect... other then when you are about to make an attack with that ship. At which point you can only measure arc, range, ect... with that ship only.

Expect of course when told to by the rules, such as for a TL.

Thanks for the help guys. Am I correct in the idea that measuring firing arc falls under measuring range?

Mostly? You can measure range at other times (such as when taking a target lock action and verifying a target is within range), other than just when checking the range on a shot you're about to take. But they're not unrelated.

There really aren't any rules for "measuring" firing arc. After all, you can always eyeball it from above, and as I said I can't see any reason to prohibit looking at the table from whatever angle you like. I do this to check for possible asteroid clearance, for example.

In general, though, I think that introducing any other tools to the game without some good reason to do so isn't allowed. This rather obviously applies to actual game components like the range ruler, but should also extend to other game aids like laser lines.

Agree with the Wookie.

I'd say that as a rule of thumb you should never check the arc on a ship you're not about to attack with, and even then only check it if there's a question. If you go by that, then you shouldn't have an issue.

There's no other case I can think of right now that firing arc would matter...

You can of course ask the other guy to check the arc on his ship when he's about to fire.

It's really very simple - checking range works a lot like taking off pants.

You should generally only do your own unless you get permission first, and it's not necessary to do so, it's generally considered inappropriate.

I'd say that as a rule of thumb you should never check the arc on a ship you're not about to attack with, and even then only check it if there's a question. If you go by that, then you shouldn't have an issue.

There's no other case I can think of right now that firing arc would matter...

The only exception I can think of to this is Backstabber.

Really, the universal standard for measuring should cover it though - check it when something requires you to check it, and not otherwise.

Yes and no.

Yes, someone can certain eyeball, or perhaps even gauge using other methods, where you opponent's firing arcs will be.

No. The only time you get to measure is when attacking or checking a TL.

To put it another way what's "in front" of another ship should be public knowledge and could be determined but the actual AREA of that ship's firing arc will be unknown.

I believe you could bring a laser line tool and figure out if rolling will leave you "in front" of another ship. It will NOT tell you what range that would leave you in.

The only exception I can think of to this is Backstabber.

Forgot about Backstabber. Yeah arc would matter there.

It's really very simple - checking range works a lot like taking off pants.

You should generally only do your own unless you get permission first, and it's not necessary to do so, it's generally considered inappropriate.

Fantastic, sir.

Here's what the rules say.

The player may measure to see if his ship can perform

a barrel roll before committing to this action. (Core pg. 8)

When performing a barrel roll action, the player

must frst declare from which side of the ship’s

base the action will be performed. Then, he

measures to see if the ship is able to perform

a barrel roll action from any legal area on the

declared side. If the ship can perform the barrel

roll action, it must do so. If the ship cannot

perform the barrel roll action, the player may

declare a different side from which to perform a

barrel roll, or he may declare a different action. (FAQ pg. 8)

The difference between the core rule and the FAQ rule is that the core rule might be construed to allow the player to change his mind even if the barrel roll is possible.

The player should only use the 1 Forward movement template to determine if the barrel roll is possible, not to measure arc.

This being said, if most of your group prefers lax measuring its fine to house rule it.