RB Installation Clarifications ("Can they be 'crippled?'")

Agree 100%

It's awesome to hear from him

Per RB's response, let's put MN's questions and RB's answers together.

Q: 1) Can Installations be damaged and crippled like Ships?
A: 1) Yes

Q: 2) If not, how is the process different?
A: 2) (see above)

Q: 3) Can Installations contest objectives?
A: 3) A guarded "yes" -- the HSB can't claim the objective because it can't ever move into that space, but I think it's okay that the enemy player can't do so either until he removes the HSB from the area. Go secure the other objectives if that's too much trouble.

Q: 4) Do they attack during the Surface Attack Phase?
A: 4) Wow, that's a surprising oversight on my part. Yes, it attacks in the surface attack phase.

Q: 5) How do special abilities that reference Ships (Excellent Spotting, Covering Fire, Press the Attack, etc.) interact with Installations?
A: 5) Some of the them probably ought to work, but for the purpose of clarity, I guess I'd say that they don't. Installations aren't Ships.

We're lucky we're not the Star Wars Armada forum, they don't consider PM's and emails from the games designer "official", they only accept official FaQ's from the game company as official.

So most of us have been playing installations correctly as ships? The rule against SA's is interesting though.

As I said before I understand why the HSB contests objectives and I'm willing to concede why a ANB would also do so but I still think the FAS should have "No Sea Control". But to keep it KISS this is a good outcome.

No reason to try to contact WoTC, they don't care anymore. RB's answers make sense, and I think we can consider them "errata" or "rules clarifications". We need to post these so that all know about them! Where would that be?

This is what I was thinking too. I have the original WotC Updates and Clarification document MS Word file that WotC_Huscarl and RB sent me when we worked on the Set 5 clarifications. We were about to work on the Set 6 updates when they were let go. Anyway, I can add an "Installation" section and remake the pdf and post it.

I am leaving for Origins for a week of WaS gaming tomorrow, so can someone summarize all the Installation clarifications for me? Then we can work out the format and I can add it to the document next week.

Off the top of my head.

Installations attack during the Surface Attack phase
Stacking limit of one Installation per sector
Installations do not block line of site
Installations can suffer the effects of "crippled"
Installations can contest objectives, but not capture them
SA's that specify unit types like "Ships", "Subs", etc do not affect Installations

What else? And how to write them neatly using WotC terminology?

Under Unit Clarifications:

Installations: Installations are not a ship type and SAs that allow interactions with Ships do not allow interactions with Installations. However, Installations attack and are damaged or crippled in the same manner as Ships. Installations have the No Sea Control ability. There is a one per sector stacking limit for Installations. Landing and Beach Landing are the two SAs that allow an attempt to invade an installation (Secret Cargo, Vital Cargo, Tokyo Express, and Evacuate do not). A unit can score VP from its Landing or Beach Landing SA and 'invade' the Installation on the same turn. The presence of an installation in a sea sector (if it can’t be placed in an island sector) doesn't affect line of sight into, out of, or through that sector.

The first three sentences are new but the last three are from the official clarifications from Wizards.