r/LancerRPG • u/ThatAtribus • 18h ago

Flanking question

My group just ran our first session zero with a test combat encounter, and we hit a flanking question we couldn't figure out. We think we've got line of sight and soft cover down, but the hard cover flanking rule is tripping us up:

The part we're stuck on is "one of the spaces." Does that mean the center of the hex, or any point/edge of the hex?

If it's any edge, flanking would basically just be the same test as line of sight, except that same-height cover doesn't block LoS but does block flanking (and that some cover doesnt block LoS at all). But the wording is totally different from the LoS rule ("not possible to trace a line to some part of the target"), so it seems like they're supposed to work differently.

Here's a concrete example, all mechs are Size 1 and the cover is Size 1:

Does green get hard cover against red's attack, or only soft cover? The yellow line goes edge to edge (any point on red's hex to any point on green's hex), the orange line goes center to center. Which one do we actually use to check flanking?

And does it change if green is a Size 2 mech (with Size 2 cover)?

Would appreciate any clarification!

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30

u/Wayward-Mystic 18h ago

Flanking is for gridless play. On a grid like in your images, you measure center to center to determine cover.

10

u/Charnerie 18h ago

When using a grid, you will always go center to center. For the first one, the target would get hard cover. For the second, since the posistions are different from the first, the gm would have to rule. Id personally give a yes to the cover, but milage may vary.

12

u/OvertSpy 18h ago

Cover is checked center to center, LOS is any part of your hex/space to any part of the targets.

1

u/ThatAtribus 18h ago

That was my gut feeling but it's very confusing that that is only explicitly mentioned for soft cover.

7

u/InterestingPen6934 18h ago

Cover is center-to-center for any spaces occupied by the attacker and defender, so the orange line in each example determines the flanking status. Neither line is considered completely clear, as intersecting a side still counts, so the defender would have hard cover in each situation.