Evade + high TMM and sometimes spotting?

[shadow5606]

Hey guys, a few questions about handling some rules.

My play group has been struggling with high TMM, low skill, evading units... i.e. TMM 4, skill 2, w/ evade is a 12 to hit from an average skill pilot even at close range. At medium they are untouchable.

When coupled with powerful SPAs or spotting the fast, hard to hit units have no reason to do anything but evade because their purpose is to trigger SPAs or to spot.

So, to confirm a couple of things... the rules state that a unit may not attack if evading or sprinting... Are we playing correct when we allow a unit to spot while evading or sprinting?

Is there any way to manage the high TMM, low skill, evading units that are essentially impossible to hit, aside from removing those optional advanced movement modes? 

Trying to avoid house rules and make the game fun for all parties.

[nckestrel]

I thought there was a rules forum question about this, and spotting was not allowed while evading. The evading unit shouldn’t be able to activate anything or target anything. I’m not sure we actually had a final ruling or not though.

[Crackerb0x]

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=36840.0

The official answer is that, according to Xotl, spotting counts as an attack action, which is not allowed while evading. Or at least is what I surmise from the following thread, since it is directly named as such.

Edit: After going through the rule books and errata, however, I can't seem to find anything close to describing this in them.

[shadow5606]

Gotcha, so it sounds like the same limitation applies to sprinting? If sprinting then a unit could not spot?

[Tai Dai Cultist]

You can't do two things that both require forfeiting an attack.

[shadow5606]

And regarding that TMM4, skill 2, + evade (+4), that's a correct combo? I guess there's not much to do about that except send more skilled pilots into battle and hope for the best? And learning what I have about that unit not being able to spot while evading then I guess the unhittable unit wouldn't be worth much except triggering SPAs?

[Tai Dai Cultist]

And regarding that TMM4, skill 2, + evade (+4), that's a correct combo? I guess there's not much to do about that except send more skilled pilots into battle and hope for the best? And learning what I have about that unit not being able to spot while evading then I guess the unhittable unit wouldn't be worth much except triggering SPAs?

Artillery.

Better still, Direct Fire Artillery.  Kill 'em dead on 7s or 8s on 2d6, ignoring TMMs and Evasion.

Also keep in mind the PVs were semi-recently re-tuned.  Double check the MUL that people are properly paying the full PV for those high-TMM annoyances.

[shadow5606]

Artillery.

Better still, Direct Fire Artillery.  Kill 'em dead on 7s or 8s on 2d6, ignoring TMMs and Evasion.

Also keep in mind the PVs were semi-recently re-tuned.  Double check the MUL that people are properly paying the full PV for those high-TMM annoyances.

Thanks for the feedback guys. This has been a week of much learning!

[Tai Dai Cultist]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the target's skill doesn't affect the TN to hit.  Skill only affects the firing unit... so an evading, high-TMM unit doesn't matter if it's high skill or low skill.  In fact the munchiest thing to do for a spotter is crank its skill way high (bad value, not good skill) and get the PV discount.  You'll probably want to think about house-ruling against skill level 6 and 7 spotters :D

NM, forgot that skill does actually factor in on Evasion, heh.

[Weirdo]

Artillery.

Better still, Direct Fire Artillery.  Kill 'em dead on 7s or 8s on 2d6, ignoring TMMs and Evasion.

Seconded. As I said in another thread. A force in Alpha Strike that doesn't bring any kind of area-effect damage at all deserves every bit of hurt it suffers during that game.

There's way too many kinds of attacks that ignore movement for anyone to have any excuse in this department.

[Crackerb0x]

I'd so like to submit the following Answers that are related also, since I'm affected by this, too.

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=35534.0

https://bg.battletech.com/forums/index.php?topic=38545.0

I wish errata directly addressing advanced movement's interaction with spotting or other actions. But that's just my opinion and that's okay.