Hey everyone, quick question regarding assassin rules. Say I take over an outpost that has an enemy specialist and I now hold his specialist captive. If I send an assassin I control to that outpost, and my enemy sends more drillers to that outpost. Does my assassin still kill the captive specialist since combat occurred?
Thank you ahead of time!

Yes, they will die, assuming a few circumstances. Here I'm assuming you have some number of drillers, some number of captive specialists, and your own Assassin sitting at an outpost before an enemy sub arrives.

The order will be:

1. All specialists at the outpost with priority < 6 have their effects trigger (including your enemies').
2. You assassin kills all specialists at the outpost which aren't yours (assuming no enemy Revered Elders).
3. All specialists with priority > 6 have their effects trigger (if they haven't been killed yet).
4. Shields are applied.
5. Driller combat ensues.
6. Outpost ownership is determined.

Note that if the specialist you have captive has a priority < 6, it may be a good idea to release them so that they aren't in combat at that outpost and have to wait a return trip to be useful to your opponent. For example, if the specialist is a Thief or Infiltrator, it could mean the difference between holding, or losing control of the outpost.

While combat is happening, ownership of an outpost is being contested, and all present specialists are considered.

Thank you for your reply! So to clarify, if I'm holding his general and have an assassin at the outpost and he attacks again, his general dies? Thank you again!

I don't actually think it does work that way. The problem is that the captive specialist (the general) isn't actually participating in the combat. And the assassin kills all specialists "in combat".

Maybe I'm wrong. If someone gets the opportunity, could they simulate it in the time machine?

captured specialists are safe until freed or martyred i believe.

roadkiehl wrote:I don't actually think it does work that way. The problem is that the captive specialist (the general) isn't actually participating in the combat. And the assassin kills all specialists "in combat".

Maybe I'm wrong. If someone gets the opportunity, could they simulate it in the time machine?

The Assassin rules state:

Kills all enemy specialists present when participating in combat.

I read this as, when the Assassin participates in combat, all enemy specialists present are killed. Even though the General doesn't participate, he is present. I would expect him to die.

So really the question is: Is it "kills all specialists present" or "kills all specialists present in combat"?
I read it as the second, but I can see how you could be right.

Bump.
Does anybody have any empirical data on this? Has anyone tried it?

In my case, I'm about to hire a diplomat to get some of my captured specialists back. I'm concerned my opponent may intercept the captured specialist sub with a pirate or helmsman and assassinate them instead. I do realize that this seems unlikely to be possible because they're coming back on his own sub, but this game has trained me to expect the unexpected.

Yes, they will still be captive, under his sub, until they reach your base. If it is the same opponent, he will not be able to assassinate the specialists

mathwhiz9 wrote:Yes, they will still be captive, under his sub, until they reach your base. If it is the same opponent, he will not be able to assassinate the specialists

Id like to add to this. If two of the same players subs hit each other, they do not interact. So no, he can't assassins your specs that way.