Reaction Fire

Overview

Current Reaction Score = (Reactions Stat) × (Current TUs / Max TUs) 

Your reaction score, also known as your initiative, is your reaction stat multiplied by the percentage of your remaining TUs.

As you spend time units on any actions, your initiative weakens by a percentage of how many remaining time units you have left.

For example, if you have 50 Reactions and have spent 50% of your TUs, you will only be able to use 25 points out of your 50 Reaction points to defend against reaction fire.

A soldier who decides to ended the turn without spending any time units will often have a much higher initiative level than one that has run out of time units running across the field. This means the less time units spent, the higher your initiave will remain.

When and how is it used?

You can think of reactions as having two inherently identical but different roles: defensive and offensive.

Defensive use of reactions occurs during your turn, while offensive reaction is used during the enemy movement phase.

Visualise every units on the field as having a place in an action queue based on their initiative level. All units currently making the turn will slowly drop their position in the queue as they spend their time units performing actions.

The side making the move can move any unit at any point in the queue as they please.

As soon as any unit on the waiting side jumps up in the queue above any unit on the moving side it will counter with a reaction shot as long as it meets all the necessary requirements. This action drops the reacting unit's place in the queue.

This whole process keeps going until the end of the turn, the whole thing continues with positions swapped, and then the whole process starts over again.

Using Reactions Defensively

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Tip

Use the Mind Probe to determine if an alien is in fact out of Time Units. This can give you a good indication of whether or not the alien will be able to react should you need to shoot, capture or approach the alien to strike it with the stun rod.

The side making the current move will use their intiative levels to defend against the waiting side.

During your turn, when your soldiers are given orders that can trigger reaction fire, the unit's current reaction score is directly compared against the current reaction level of any alien that can see the unit. Naturally, if the enemy is looking the other way or there are obstructions, it will not be able to react even if it has the greater reaction level. The same applie if it doesn't have enough time units to perform an attack.

As long as your initiative is higher, you will be able to make any move you wish. The moment the enemy has a higher score, it will be able to interrupt you with an attack of opportunity - or reaction shot - if it has enough remaining time units to shoot.

In this sense, you are using your reactions to defend against enemy opportunity fire.

Note that AI controlled units are allowed to react with auto or snap shots.

Using Reactions Offensively

At the end of your turn, your roles are reversed. Your units will now wait and open fire on any enemy units that are within their line of vision that have failed their initiative.

The waiting side is always on what's known as Overwatch mode, where they will attack the moving side as long as they meet several necessary conditions. This being that the moving side performs an action that brings its unit into visual range of a waiting unit. Also it must perform an that can trigger reaction fire and the defender must have sufficient time units to perform an attack.

Player controlled units will only react with snap shots.

A Working Example

This short example will follow two opposing units that have spotted each other. For the sake of this example, they will be called Werner Okamoto and Generic Nasty Alien Shaped Thing (GNAST). Both units will have the following stats at the end of the turn.

Werner Okamoto

Time Units: 60/60

Reactions: 30

Weapon: Laser Rifle (Snapshots cost Werner 15 TUs)

GNAST

Time Units: 25/50

Reactions: 70

Weapon: Heavy Plasma (snapshots cost GNAST 20 TUs)

The human turn is ended. The aliens now get to choose what to do. Naturally, since the alien can see the soldier, it will attempt to attack.

This example uses the assumption that the AI will only use snap shots in this exchange, and that both units are unable to kill each other throughout the exchange.

Move 1

Werner = 30 * (60 / 60) = 30 * 1 = 30

GNAST = 70 * (25 / 50) = 70 * 0.5 = 35   

The above listed numbers represent the reaction level of each unit during each stage of this exchange. In this move, because the alien has the higher initiative, it takes a shot. This deducts 20TUs and leaves it with 5 TUs.

Move 2

Werner = 30 

GNAST = 70 * (5 / 50) = 70 * 0.1 = 7

Not only does the alien not have any time units left for the shot, it has lost the initiative. Werner takes the shot. His TUs at the end of this move is 45.

Move 3

Werner = 30 * (45 / 60) = 30 * 0.75 = 22  

GNAST = 7

Werner shoots again, spending 15 more TUs.

Move 4

Werner = 30 * (30 / 60) = 30 * 0.5 = 15  

GNAST = 7

Werner shoots again, spending another 15 TUs.

Move 5

Werner = 30 * (15 / 60) = 30 * 0.25 = 7

GNAST = 7  

Although equal, Werner can still make his 15TU shot while the alien cannot fire back. Werner takes one last shot. As this exhausts Werner's TUs, the exchange of shots end. The alien is now free to spend the remaining 5 TUs in whatever actions that it fancies.

See Also

• Reactions
• Reaction fire triggers
• Reaction Fire Weapon Preference
• Laser Pistol Gifts