(Answered) New to Battletech/AGoAC, Weapon Attack Phase clarification please?

[winterborne1]

I'm looking for a bit of clarification as to what the correct order of operations is for the Weapon Attack phase.  I think it's one of the following options, but I don't know which it is...

Option A:
1) All attacks are declared for all weapons from all mechs
2) All To-Hit rolls (using GATOR) are made for all weapons that were declared
3) All Hit Location rolls are made for all successful To-Hit rolls
4) Damage is recorded onto the sheet
(In Option A, each and every step in the process is done individually as a sub-phase, so that all weapons from all mechs go through each individual roll before the next step in the process begins. The Attack Declaration is separate from the GATOR roll, which itself is separate from the Hit Location roll, which is separate from Damage getting recorded, so that there are 4 separate, distinct sub-phases)

Option B:
1) All attacks are declared for all weapons from all mechs
2) All GATOR rolls are made, and with each successful hit immediately comes a Hit Location roll.
3) Damage is recorded onto the sheet
(In Option B, the GATOR roll isn't part of "Attack Declaration" sub-phase, but is instead paired with Hit Location rolls in their own "Making Attacks" sub-phase. Damage being recorded onto the sheet is the final sub-phase.)

Option C:
1) All attacks are declared for all weapons from all mechs, and each attack declaration is immediately followed by a GATOR roll
2) After all attack declarations+GATOR rolls are made, Hit Location rolls are then made, immediately followed by damage being recorded
(In Option C, GATOR rolls are considered part of the Attack Declaration sub-phase and are rolled before the next weapon attack is declared, and Hit Location rolls are paired with damage recording in the same "Damage Resolution" sub-phase.)

Option D:
1) All attacks are declared for all weapons from all mechs
2) All GATOR rolls are made for all declared weapons
3) All Hit Location rolls are made, with each roll immediately followed by damage being recorded.
(In Option D, there are three sub-phases.  The Attack Declarations sub-phase, followed by the GATOR sub-phase once all attacks are declared, and then after all GATOR rolls have been made, the Hit Location rolls will be made, with damage being recorded onto the sheets after each Hit Location roll)

Which of these is the closest to being accurate? Is there another option I haven't listed?

[Xotl]

Resolution in brief is laid on page 6 of AGOAC.  In short:

1) All players check for LOS to line up shots
2) All players declare attacks
3) Players resolve attacks.  Formally the player that lost initiative resolves one of their mechs first, and then so on in initiative order, but this is largely academic as all declared attacks get to be made, even if a mech that declared an attack winds up being destroyed that phase before getting to go.  As such, players often resolve multiple mechs at once at this point.
4) This is where I think you're wandering a bit afield.  Resolve all attacks from one mech at a time.  For that single mech, each weapon is resolved one at a time, entirely -- that is, roll to hit, allocate damage, check for crits, resolve crits.  Only then do you move to its next weapon.  The attacker chooses the weapon resolution order: weapons that hit multiple locations (i.e. cluster weapons) are often held until last, because this is good tactics.  Record and resolve damage as you go (e.g. gun blows off arm, next weapon hits side torso, and so on), but again, a mech isn't actually formally damaged or destroyed until the end of the phase (the point of this is that if you blow off a mech's arm or whatever, weapons in that location that were declared as firing still get to fire).
5) All attacks from all mechs are complete.  Consciousness Rolls and Piloting Skill Rolls are made and destroyed mechs are removed from the board.  The next phase then begins.

GATOR isn't really a step or a roll in and of itself: it's just a memorization tool to help you juggle the modifiers that apply as part of the attack roll.

If you have any further questions or that isn't quite clear, feel free to let me know.

[winterborne1]

Thanks for responding!

Page 6 of AGoAC definitely supports your response.

After all attacks have been declared, players resolve weapons fire one 'Mech at a time.

That line definitely seems to suggest that there is no waiting between after you make your To-Hit roll and before you make your Hit Location roll. Certainly going by this process would speed up the game.

However, the part in the AGoAC rulebook that really screws me up and seems to contradict Page 6 is on Page 30 right before the Damage Resolution paragraph:

It is very important to remember that all attacks in a phase must be declared and made before any of the hit locations and damage from those attacks is resolved. Rather than attacking with and resolving damage for for one weapon or one 'Mech at a time, damage resolution comes after all attacks by all 'Mechs in a given phase.

The bit that says "must be declared and made" led me to believe that attack declaration wasn't the only thing that all 'Mechs would have to do before the Hit Location rolls and Damage Resolution begins. I had to look into what constitutes an attack being "made".

On Page 15, the section called "Making The Attack" suggests that the To-Hit roll (using GATOR) is how an attack is "made". So this would lead me to believe that all To-Hit rolls from all weapons and all 'Mechs are rolled before any of the Hit Location rolls and Damage Resolution steps.

To further add to the confusion, on Page 30 in the Resolution Order section:

If resolving multiple hits on a single 'Mech, be sure that everyone is aware of what order the hits are being resolved. The attacker chooses the order in which they determine hit locations (and resolve damage) for each of their 'Mech's successful attacks.

That bit would further support the notion that the Hit Location roll is in a separate sub-phase from the To-Hit rolls. It suggests that all the hits have been rolled (otherwise they wouldn't be considered "hits" yet) before a single Hit Location roll is made.

It's important to understand that I'm not in any way denying or refuting your claim. I'm just explaining where my confusion comes from, and I hope you can provide some insight as to why the rulebook says what it says. Certainly, the game is a lot easier to play if your assertion is followed. I really don't want to have to record or try to remember which of all my weapon attacks were hits before I start making my Hit Location rolls.

Thanks so much for your help.

[Xotl]

Ah, you have one of the first two printings of the box.  The passage on page 30 was changed in the 3rd printing and later, as it was confusing people.  Now it just says:

Remember that damage comes after attacks: all attacks by all ’Mechs in a phase must be declared before you start resolving any of them.  Don’t bounce back and forth between declaring and resolving for each weapon or each ’Mech.

So don't worry about what your rulebook says there.  Check out the errata document on the main website to see all corrections:

https://bg.battletech.com/errata/

[winterborne1]

Thank you so much!