Tactica Tuesday - ARO Advice

Infinity is a game of options.  Whether you're deciding what to do on your active turn or how to counter your opponent, you have to stop and consider the possibilities - and their repercussions on your later actions.

I've always held that AROs don't exist for you to "play on your opponent's turn".  Like Tevesh, I believe that's just a friendly-sounding lie.  It's never "always your turn".  As much as the game uses that particular rhetoric, that's not what AROs are for.  Not really.  No, what they're really for is to burn through your opponent's time.

The best reaction shot I could find.

As a player on the Reactive Turn, you have a lot of different options - but, for the most part, they're limited by the situation.  For instance, you can't Activate an object if you're not in base-to-base contact with one, and you can't Alert if you don't have Line of Fire to your enemy.  This isn't an article that's going to teach you all the ARO options; rather, we're going to look at what AROs are recommended and when you might want to make them.

When should I Change Facing?
You should only take this ARO if you absolutely have to (you suspect a move-move and your opponent is going to be in a much better position next order), or if it's your only option i.e. your enemy is out of LoF but within your Zone of Control.  On the plus side, N3 Change Facing allows you to act as if you were Dodging (but you must stay on the spot, only pivoting) with a -3 PH roll.

When should I Discover?
You should only take this ARO if you expect your opponent's marker to make a Move-Move i.e. it will be in a position to kill better/multiple models if it can get there.  Since Combat Camo in N3 is no longer unopposed ("Surprise Shot"), there's an even smaller incentive to ARO with Discover if you think your enemy will be firing.

When should I Dodge?
You should take this ARO if you're trying to save a model rather than anticipating making future AROs.  In effect, you're Dodging to backpedal and waste more time, hoping your opponent is either willing or unable to spend the orders to reach the model.  Dodging Prone is a variation on this, where you're chiefly trying to save your model.

You should also take this ARO if your odds of success are much higher.  Needing a 3 to hit your target with Shoot is vastly inferior to needing a 12 to Dodge.  If you have roughly equal chances to succeed with both a BS attack and Dodge, though, take the BS attack unless your opponent has more than one Wound.   At that point, you might want to weigh survival VS knocking him/her down a wound, making it hard to push later.

When should I use Direct Templates?
You should use this ARO if you're anticipating your model ending up dead, no matter what.  It's better to put some hurt on the enemy than try for a long-shot ARO, because that will alter their tempo and their willingness to keep putting that model into harm's way.

Direct Template AROs are now also fantastic to use when your attacker is in Cover, but that doesn't change when you should use them.

When should I Alert?
You should use this ARO if a model (i.e. AD troop or something quick) surprises you and everyone else is facing away.  Expect to lose the AROing model, but at the very least you'll be able to punish the attacker for its deeds.

Remember that you should not face all models directly towards the new attacker, because a smart opponent will just take advantage of your new blind spots to use other models to their advantage.

When should I Engage?
You should engage if you believe CC will stop your opponent's rampage with that model.  CC evens out Burst values (especially if you have Martial Arts), so you have a better chance of winning face-to-face rolls.

You also do not set off Deployable Weapons/Equipment within range if you successfully Engage, so you may want to use this ARO if your opponent has trapped you with Mines, E/Maulers, and the like.

An appropriate reaction to some things in Infinity...

Things to Remember
The difference between a BS ARO and a Dodge ARO is that one grants the ability to kill an enemy model, while the other forces your opponent to spend more orders.

You must always declare which ammunition type you are using in ARO before you shoot.

You don't need LoF to declare a CC ARO, but you do need it to declare a Dodge in CC ARO.

In an Engage, the active player always decides where to put the Engaging troop.

Reset is always an option to negate a Hacking/Comms attack, even Hacking from out of ZoC.

"Should", in this article, is always a suggestion.  It's a guide to help processing and play time, not to dictate what you must do at all times.  Infinity is, after all, a game of options - and options mean you need to stay fluid.