A new edition of the Infinity rules is available now, and all veteran Infinity players are wondering what changes have been made with respect to the N4 rules that you were so familiar with. For your convenience, and to help you navigate your way through the new rules, we’ve put together this brief overview of the most important modifications to the rules.
BASIC RULES
One of the key changes of this new edition is in the Order structure. Now, unless a Long Skill is being used, Basic Short Skills must always be declared first. In addition to this, Movement Skills have been renamed Basic Short Skills, and Entire Order Skills are now called Long Skills.
Also, the old Wounds Attribute is replaced by Vitality (VITA). The reason behind it is that it seems more natural to add damage to an Attribute, than to subtract the damage to an Attribute.
Similarly, Damage has been replaced by Possibility of Survival (PS). This is not just a name change, since this modification is intended to standardize the way die rolls work by making all successful rolls require a result that is equal to or lower than the Success Value. This way, Armor rolls will not require a result higher than the Attack Damage to be successful.
Because of this change, the Damage values of all Weapons have been modified to have a PS value, and CC Weapons do not rely on the PH Attribute of their wielder anymore. This does not imply that the PS value will not change depending on who is using the weapon, because a Fusilier will never be as strong as a Dog-Warrior.
On another note, N5 brings us a new Trooper type: Vehicles (VH), which are set to revolutionize our games. Featuring the Aerial Special Skill, these flying vehicles cannot come into Silhouette contact.
We also have a new type of Order: the Tactical Order. Instead of granting an Irregular Order, Troopers with the Tactical Awareness Special Skill now grant a Tactical Order, which will simplify the way certain rules interact.
A Silhouette 0 has been added so as to differentiate it from Silhouette X. This way, the volume of Prone Troopers is better defined and differentiated from that of Deployable Weapons or Equipment.
MOVEMENT MODULE
Movement rules in N5 have been modified with the goal of creating a smoother game experience. In this new edition, a Trooper may switch to or from Prone State at the beginning or at the end of its Movement.
When performing a Cautious Movement, Hackable Troopers need to be mindful of Hacking Zones.
Trooper may now Climb and Jump a fixed distance of 6 inches, and it does not depend on the Movement Attribute anymore. Some Troopers may have MODs to those distances.
The last edition already allowed a Trooper to peek over the edge of an obstacle, but now this rule has been revised to make it easier to understand and apply. The movement after a Guts Roll has also been revised to make it easier.
COMBAT MODULE
The way to achieve a Critical success with an Attribute higher than 20 has been modified, and now the amount over 20 indicates the possible results on the die roll that, in addition to a 20, will give a Critical success. We believe this improves the game experience and it will prevent our CC specialists from losing a close combat just because of a low result in a roll.
We now have the +1 Special Die (+1 SD). It is intended to increase the probability of success, without increasing the lethality. It basically grants the player an extra die for the Burst, but then the lower result will need to be discarded.
The BS Attack (Guided) has been modified and does not automatically have a +6 anymore, but it is affected by Range Mods. In addition, this type of Attack can also be countered with Reset, and not only with Dodge.
Now, Spotlight has Burst 2 and AP Ammunition, but a successful Saving Roll is required to apply its effects.
WEAPONRY AND EQUIPMENT
We have new Weapons and Equipment available, such as Artillery Turrets, Deployable Cover, the DiscoBall with its DiscoBallers, the Thunderbolt, and the Kobra and Boarding Pistols.
Pistols do not have a CC mode anymore, except for the Kobra Pistol.
Shotguns do not use Direct Templates anymore.
The Range Mods of the Smoke Grenades, the E/Mitter, the Katyusha MRL, and the Pitcher have been changed.
The CC Mode of the D-Charges have the Improvised Trait now, which means that those who use then them will suffer a CC-6 MOD.
Cybermines now make their targets go into Stunned State, and, if they are Hackable, they will go into Immobilized-B State too.
N5 brings us a new feature: Speedballs. By using a Command Token, we will be able to request “assistance dropping down from the sky” to have some extra help during our game.
Albedo has been rewritten and it is always active now, it does not work only in the States Phase, and it also affects Troopers with the Marksmanship Skill.
In this new edition, Baggage allows you to cancel the Unloaded State during the States Phase.
The Bangbomb is a new piece of equipment that allows a Trooper to dodge Attacks that are not made with Template Weapons.
The Nanoscreen no longer provides Partial Cover. It now grants a BS -3 MOD and a +3 to Saving Rolls. Thus, all Troopers with a Nanoscreen have the No Cover Special Skill.
The Biometric Visor has been upgraded and it Discovers directly when succeeding the WIP Roll, ignoring now the Impersonation-2 State.
Now, a Trooper with a Multispectral Visor Level 3 ignores Surprise Attacks and may open fire on Camouflage Markers, adding all applicable negative mods.
There is no actual change in the game, but Shock Ammunition affects only Troopers with VITA 1. Therefore, Troopers with STR and VITA 2 do not need to have the Immunity (Shock) Special Skill. However, Troopers with VITA 2 still have it at the moment, to ease the transition to veteran players.
Stun Ammunition now causes the target to be made a single Saving Roll instead of two.
SKILLS
Some skills have been modified, just like the Movement Skills. For instance, Berserk does not require a Normal Roll anymore, but a Face to Face Roll. This reduces the number of situations in which a player has no possibility of defense, and the game experience is improved because it was frustrating for players to feel powerless.
An Attack with Triangulated Fire doesn’t apply any other MOD than the Burst ones.
When the Booty and MetaChemistry Special Skills are used, the rolls on the corresponding charts must be made when the miniature is placed on the game table and not when the Trooper is deployed.
Reload is a Short Skill and an ARO now. This makes it more convenient to use this Skill, since using it seemed to be too big of an “investment” before.
Sixth Sense no longer has any Requirements. This Skill allows a Trooper to ignore all negative MODs when using Dodge or Reset, but it can no longer ignore Surprise Attacks. This has resulted in the addition of Combat Instinct, which allows a Trooper to ignore the MODs of Surprise Attacks, as well as the Stealth of enemy Troopers.
The Impetuous Skill does not specify anymore that such Troopers cannot benefit from Cover, and the new No Cover Skill is created. Also, with the new Limited Cover Skill, enemy BS Attacks will not need to apply a negative MOD, but we will be able to obtain ARM MODs.
Immunity has been modified to make it easier to understand how it works and how it interacts with the Non-Lethal Trait, and it has been expanded to include new types of Immunity.
Martial Arts has been redesigned and some levels have gained a +1SD.
Furthermore, Natural Born Warrior does not completely nullify Martial Arts now, but all the negative MODs applied to the CC Face to Face Roll can be ignored. And we mean all of them, from Surprise Attack to a PARA (-3) weapon.
The removal of the rules for Mounting and Dismounting means that Motorcycle riders and TAG pilots will no longer be able to leave their “vehicles”. But the Pilot rule is also gone, and we are going to begin to see TAG Support Pilots with the TAGCom Skill running around the game table. This Skill looks familiar because it is like the RemDriver Skill, but for TAGs. Replacing the old Pilots, we are also going to see Ancillary Remote Units with the new Peripheral (Ancillary) Skill, which enables our TAGs to deploy a small Remote as a synchronized unit that will perform Specialist Trooper tasks.
We also have a new variant of the Super-Jump: Super-Jump (Jet Propulsion), which allows Troopers to jump in one direction and turn back and change trajectory in mid-air. This Skill will be available for Troopers with Combat Jump and Aerial Vehicles.
Transmutation has been extensively rewritten, and new types of Transmutation have been included, such as Transmutation (Escape System-X), Transmutation (Hatching), or Transmutation (WIP). This way, they share the same mechanics while retaining their peculiarities.
Warhorse has replaced Veteran so as to avoid any mix-up with the Trooper classification, and it has become the Skill that counteracts the BS Attack (-3) Skill.
The new FT Master Skill has been created to make it easier to identify which profiles can be part of a Fireteam, and it also turns its members into Regular Troopers.
FIRETEAMS
Speaking of Fireteams, the bonuses they obtained and the way to get them have been considerably modified. The two charts that listed these bonuses have been combined into a single one that lists the different levels of the Fireteams. Bonuses are also available to Fireteams Duo now, because they enjoyed no enhancements in the previous edition.
In addition, Fireteams do not ignore the Impetuous Skill anymore. So, should any Trooper be activated in the Impetuous Phase, they will automatically cease to be part of the Fireteam.
STATES
In N5, the MOD to Discover a Trooper in Impersonation-1 State is -3 instead of -6.
Also, being in a Targeted State prevents a Trooper from performing a Cautious Movement or using the Stealth Special Skill.
TRAITS
The Silent Trait applies a MOD to Dodge Rolls when an Attack is made within the Zone of Control but without LoF, and it will be added to the rest of the applicable MODs.
The Reflective Trait now also affects Troopers with the Marksmanship Special Skill.
And this concludes our overview of the main changes that N5 is bringing, modifications that are aimed at improving the gaming experience, and which update the meta without altering the spirit of Infinity. With these new rules, we will soon celebrate the twentieth anniversary of our favorite wargame, and we hope to celebrate with you all at the game tables!
