Tyranids and their spores

[sunnyside]

Alright, I want to make sure I've got this right. Even with FAQ 2010 things are confusing.

So spores (in addition to their turret role) are supposed to work like shields. So the bit about them regenerating at the start of the turn isn't accurate, the regenerate when the ship moves off of any blast markers/gas clouds/etc.

So if a squadron of six escorts goes all ahead full through a typicall battleship the first four would leave blast markers, knocking down its shields, and the next two would score automatic hits. Eldar, necrons, or enemy kracken would just take automatic hits and make their saves for all six, but would NOT have blast markers put down.

In either case, if the tyranid escorts move beyond the enemy ship then they would no longer be touching blast markers and thus their spore cloud is once again at full strenght right? So in principle if they then go over a cruiser behind the battleship they'd put another world of hurt down, and if they still had movement, would once again be at full strength once they got clear and be ready to gun down some torps they run into on a 4+ and be ready to get shot on the opponents turn.

Also it just happens once per contact. For exampe a hypothetical squad of six tyranid cruisers would do the exact same things as the escorts as far as spores go.

[andrewchristlieb]

Alright, I want to make sure I've got this right. Even with FAQ 2010 things are confusing.

So spores (in addition to their turret role) are supposed to work like shields. So the bit about them regenerating at the start of the turn isn't accurate, the regenerate when the ship moves off of any blast markers/gas clouds/etc.

Correct

So if a squadron of six escorts goes all ahead full through a typicall battleship the first four would leave blast markers, knocking down its shields, and the next two would score automatic hits. Eldar, necrons, or enemy kracken would just take automatic hits and make their saves for all six, but would NOT have blast markers put down.

not quite. against a ship with shileds even shields that are overloaded you always just add a blast marker, these ships never take an automatic hit. Originally (see Armada below) ships without shields at all took an auto hit, this was changed in the FAQ2010 to taking a hit on a d6 roll of 6 and you only have to test once per turn just like blast markers so down to one hit now (FAQ2010 below)

In either case, if the tyranid escorts move beyond the enemy ship then they would no longer be touching blast markers and thus their spore cloud is once again at full strenght right? So in principle if they then go over a cruiser behind the battleship they'd put another world of hurt down, and if they still had movement, would once again be at full strength once they got clear and be ready to gun down some torps they run into on a 4+ and be ready to get shot on the opponents turn.

Yes, but remember if you hit an enemy ship and place a blast marker your ships are slowed by 5cm and most of the nids are really slow already...

Also it just happens once per contact. For exampe a hypothetical squad of six tyranid cruisers would do the exact same things as the escorts as far as spores go.

Yes

If an enemy ship gets in base contact with
a Tyranid vessel it will suffer spore impacts, a
blast marker is placed in contact with the two
ships’ bases before any other effects are
calculated (effectively knocking down one spore
shield on the Tyranid ship.) Unshielded vessels
(including those only protected by holofields)
suffer an automatic hit instead (ie, don’t roll a
dice), the spore automatically causes one hit
(with the normal chance of critical damage). Armada pg 86

Spore impacts from moving in base contact with Tyranid vessels effect enemy ship movement, meaning enemy vessels lose -5cm speed and ships with zero shields (such as Eldar and ships with Shields Collapsed critical damage) have to roll a D6 against receiving damage on a 6. However, this test (if required) only needs to be done once per movement phase, regardless of how many Tyranid ships make base contact. The ship only counts as having blast markers in base contact if it ends its movement in base contact with a Tyranid vessel. FAQ2010

[sunnyside]

Wait, I thought the FAQ2010 thing wasn't eliminating the armada rules, but clarifying what happens in addition to the armada effects if the impact happens in the non-tyranid player's movement phase. Hence why that paragraph is mentioning the non-tyranid ships movement at the beginning and end of the paragraph.

[andrewchristlieb]

Hum, my question then would be why would it be different if the tyranid ship is moving into an enemy instead of the enemy moving into them?

[sunnyside]

Hum, my question then would be why would it be different if the tyranid ship is moving into an enemy instead of the enemy moving into them?

Well (as I understood it) the difference is which ship is moving, and the FAQ seems to be saying that you have to deal with the blast marker effects as normal.

So if an imperial cruiser moves through a tyranid ship with spores you place the blast marker, and the imperial cruiser loses 5 cm of movement. Apparently it still counts as having the blast marker in base contact if its movement isn't enough to get clear of the tyranid ship.

If an eldar ship zips through a bunch it takes the autohit from each, but also has to make a single blast marker type test as it's moving through them.

If it were the tyranid player's turn and they were moving ships over the eldar vessel there would be an autohit for each ship, but you wouldn't do the d6 roll.