Borka wrote:
Saukopfblende wrote:
There seems to be a misunderstanding here: Targets can only be markerlighted by unit with markerlight and a line of fire, which means they have to be seen.
I think what they are reffering to is that when one unit is seen by markerlights then that units whole formation is considered affected by markerlights. Not only the particular unit.
This means that units can be markerlit even if they are not seen by and in range of a markerlight, as long as at least one other unit from the same formation is.
Indeed yes. And to provide my take on answer to DK's question:
Firstly many things in Epic are abstracted - hit allocation is very loosely especially in assaults. The less counting and drawing lines the better. It is one of the most important feature of Epic, to stop it bogging down like 1st and 2nd ed.
Also, markerlights affects to hit values, so if units were marked individually you would still have the issue of units firing normal weapons on units they can see, only some of which are marked. You don't roll to hit specific units, so you'd be getting +1 to hit unmarked units. Which is equally illogical as guided missiles hitting units that aren't marked. Either that or, like cover, you can only hit the marked ones if you take the modifier, which makes it not very useful or potentially exploitable for sniping depending on the situation.
This, only needing 1 markerlight unit to mark a formation greatly expands the chances you get to use it, and makes it more important for your opponent to deal with them. If it worked by marking units individually, you would need more markerlights, and to put them in more dangerous positions, which would significantly reduce its impact and therefore diminish its contribution to the feel of the Tau in play. Tau are poor in assault, in an assault oriented game. The markerlights just about make them good.
But yeah, it's one of the many things in Epic that are a bit weird if you spend some time thinking on them.