Rules

A mission is a turn-based fight on a grid. The squad moves, then the enemy does. Every rule here is the game's own, and the numbers come from the same tables the game reads. The rules core is deterministic: the same mission seed and the same actions always play out the same way.

In this section

• Turns and actionsRounds and action points in Messalith: moving, dashing, what ends an exile's turn, moving past mates and into hidden enemies, and when pods wake.
• Sight and fog of warWhat the squad can see, how line of sight works over hills and boulders, how pods wake, and the ways to reveal what hides in the fog.
• CoverHalf and full cover in Messalith: which way a piece faces, flanking and its crit bonus, cover and height, what ignores cover and what can break it.
• Height and terrainRaised ground, cliffs and ramps in Messalith: the high-ground Aim bonus, sight from height, and what each kind of terrain and land does in a fight.
• Attacks and damageHow a hit chance is built in Messalith, term by term: range, high ground, spotting, cover and Defence, then crits, damage, conduction and every weapon.
• OverwatchOverwatch in Messalith: watching ground instead of shooting now, the Aim penalty, the Seer's Long Watch, and when the enemy sets overwatch of its own.
• WillThe one number behind every psychic power and every exile's nerve. Spending it, getting it back, and the Dirge that drains it.
• Panic and griefPanic and grief in Messalith: the roll a mate makes when a friend goes down, what a panicked exile loses, how a Mend brings them back, and grief's cost.
• Downed and bleeding outDowned and bleeding out in Messalith: what happens at zero HP, how many turns a fallen exile has, who can revive them, and the wounds they carry home.
• Experience and ranksExperience and ranks in Messalith: XP for deeds, the ranks from Glimmer to Zenith, what training adds, what caps a power, and branch choices.
• Crowns, conduction and gearPrimitive weapons against future salvage, how a crown feeds its wearer's weapons, and the power cells that keep the one rifle firing.
• Missions and ironmanMissions and ironman in Messalith: every objective and how it is won, the break-out, the size of an enemy force, and why there is no second try.
• Weather and time of dayRain, dust, salt haze and snow, dawn to night. All of it changes how a battle looks, and none of it changes how it plays.