New Eldar Codex = New Eldar Questions

[Pssyche]

Ok, but why exactly..?
It just says "in the shooting phase" and not "when you shoot, roll a d6...."
RAW i should be able to roll for all the serpents at the beginning of the shooting phase and see how many shots they get before shooting.
Is there any rule that counters this?

It does not say
"In THE Shooting Phase, the Wave Serpent can deactivate its Shields to shoot..."

It says
"In ITS Shooting Phase, the Wave Serpent can deactivate its Shields to shoot..."


Also, I don't know what you would hope to achieve by rolling for everything at once.
Let's follow your example even though the point is now moot...
Four Wave Serpents.
All deactivate their shields and roll for number of shots.
The first three Serpents shoot and destroy their imperative targets.
The fourth Serpent's shots now become somewhat redundant.
You take them anyhow, but it may have been more prudent to switch them off one at a time until targets are destroyed and then leave on the unused one.

[DarkLink]

Ok, but why exactly..?
It just says "in the shooting phase" and not "when you shoot, roll a d6...."
RAW i should be able to roll for all the serpents at the beginning of the shooting phase and see how many shots they get before shooting.
Is there any rule that counters this?

Plus, "when you shoot" actually means "when you shoot", not "all at once before you shoot, and you can chance your mind if you don't like the roll".

You shoot one unit at a time, always. So when you're playing, you have to declare "this serpent is shooting, I'll roll for its Serpent Shield. I got a 3+1, so 4 shots, I roll to hit, wound, etc". Then, you move on to the second Serpent, and do the same thing there. Then the third, then the fourth, and so on. That is how the shooting phase works.

[Hal]

It says
"In ITS Shooting Phase, the Wave Serpent can deactivate its Shields to shoot..."

There is only one shooting phase per rulebook.. It says "its shooting phase" to make sure you don't shoot it in the opponents shooting phase (I guess).

Also, I don't know what you would hope to achieve by rolling for everything at once.
Let's follow your example even though the point is now moot...

The point is simple actually.. I want to designate adequate targets for the "shootier" and "less shooty" serpents for maximum effect.

Plus, "when you shoot" actually means "when you shoot", not "all at once before you shoot, and you can chance your mind if you don't like the roll".

But it doesn't say "when you shoot...", it says "In its Shooting Phase, the Wave Serpent can deactivate its Shields to shoot..."
If i decide to deactivate all the shields in the serpents' shooting phase but before any shooting happens, all the serpents should be treated as equipped with a weapon whose profile includes Assault D6+1. At that point I would roll all the D6's to see the exact profile of each serpents "shield weapon".. After that, I shoot with one unit at a time as DarkLink suggested.

I know this sounds a bit far fetched but I haven't found anything that prohibits rolling for the number of shots of a weapon before actually shooting the weapon?

Just to be clear, I'm not trying to be an a**hole, and I would never demand playing it this way if my opponent doesn't agree with it.. I just want to see what others think of this since the rules are not strictly ruling this option out.

[DarkLink]

If it says 'in its shooting phase', then, yes, you can roll earlier. But that roll is still tied to a particular Serpent, and once you deactivate your shield to shoot then you don't get your shield anymore, so you shouldn't normally go back on that decision. But that does lead to a question: Can you deactivate the shield to shoot, but decide to Flat Out if you roll poorly? Or does deactivating the shield require you to shoot and thus prevent you from sacrificing your shooting in order to move Flat Out?

[Hal]

If it says 'in its shooting phase', then, yes, you can roll earlier. But that roll is still tied to a particular Serpent, and once you deactivate your shield to shoot then you don't get your shield anymore, so you shouldn't normally go back on that decision.

I completely agree, that was never my intention though. If you deactivate it once, you can not benefit from the shield until the start of your next turn per the rules.

But that does lead to a question: Can you deactivate the shield to shoot, but decide to Flat Out if you roll poorly? Or does deactivating the shield require you to shoot and thus prevent you from sacrificing your shooting in order to move Flat Out?

I think you should be able to move flat out even if you deactivated your shields. It's just like being equipped with an extra gun you're not willing to shoot but want to flat out instead (but of course as mentioned above, in that case you can not benefit from the shields protective effect since you deactivated it.)
But that wasn't my intention either..

I just want to use the serpents with more shots to target heavier AV vechicles and the less shooty ones to target lower AV vechicles. That's all

[Asuryan]

I feel that you need to pick a unit to fire at before rolling for the number of shots, you can deactivate your shield in the shooting phase but when you decide to fire it you need to first pick a unit as said in the BRB. this is mostly based off the lootas, but i don't know their exact wording so you should compare the rules between those 2 and see how they work.