Ultron Drones Activation Timing

[BarrelChestedBrad]

Assuming normal grunt rules, say an Ultron Metal Tyrant has just activated with no grunts in play. Ultron then uses "Kinetic Field Generator" to throw a piece of terrain into an enemy. Using "I Will Create a Better Age" he makes a grunt with a stagger token. As Ultron is in the middle of his activation, the grunts will not be able to activate, and as such will gain an activated token once the rest of your squad finishes activating / is dazed or KO'd. 

Correct?

[Oscorp HR]

I understand how Ultron Drones come into play via "I Will Create A Better Age" and that it can theoretically happen on any turn in a round as long as the conditions are met.

I also understand that "If at the start of a player’s turn all non-Grunt characters that player controls have Activated tokens, all Grunt characters they control gain an Activated token."

So, if the Ultron Drones spawn after Ultron has already activated in a round, they will not get an activated token until the above criteria are met. 

My question is if gaining an activated token counts as activating the drones for the sake of the priority rules, which state, "If the player that activated the last character of the Activation Phase has the Priority token, they pass it to their opponent."

 

In short, if I have priority in a round, and my Ultron Drones are given an activated token after my opponent has activated all of their models, do I lose the priority token for the next round?

[Mattomattick]

Do the grunts count for determining priority then? If a player has unactivated Ultron grunts alive but Ultron has already activated they functionally lose priority?

[Moonlighter]

So we were discussing how new Ultrons grunts can spawn in after Ultron has been activated. Do the grunts automatically come in with an activated status since the parent character has an activated token or will they be able to activate once since they only have a stagger? Furthermore, how will that effect priority and potential for passing on turn?

we decided to rule it as “If a grunt character belonging to a non-grunt character (parent character) already has an activated token upon the grunts spawn, the grim character will also be considered activated since grunts can only activate on the parent characters activation as part of the paren character’s activation.”

does that seem about right? If not there are some things that get broken since all characters must activate and grunts can only activate on the parents turn means you’ll have a character (the grunt) that will be unable to activate causing the game to stalemate based on current rules as written. 

[Negoldar]

On 9/2/2023 at 11:52 AM, BarrelChestedBrad said:

Assuming normal grunt rules, say an Ultron Metal Tyrant has just activated with no grunts in play. Ultron then uses "Kinetic Field Generator" to throw a piece of terrain into an enemy. Using "I Will Create a Better Age" he makes a grunt with a stagger token. As Ultron is in the middle of his activation, the grunts will not be able to activate, and as such will gain an activated token once the rest of your squad finishes activating / is dazed or KO'd. 

Correct?

Correct. 

On 10/19/2023 at 1:28 AM, Mattomattick said:

Do the grunts count for determining priority then? If a player has unactivated Ultron grunts alive but Ultron has already activated they functionally lose priority?

Grunts count for determining how many characters are left to activate. The Ultron Grunts cannot activate unless Ultron, Metal Tyrant is selected to activate so they will not be able to affect priority. 

On 10/27/2023 at 3:35 PM, Moonlighter said:

So we were discussing how new Ultrons grunts can spawn in after Ultron has been activated. Do the grunts automatically come in with an activated status since the parent character has an activated token or will they be able to activate once since they only have a stagger? Furthermore, how will that effect priority and potential for passing on turn?

we decided to rule it as “If a grunt character belonging to a non-grunt character (parent character) already has an activated token upon the grunts spawn, the grim character will also be considered activated since grunts can only activate on the parent characters activation as part of the paren character’s activation.”

does that seem about right? If not there are some things that get broken since all characters must activate and grunts can only activate on the parents turn means you’ll have a character (the grunt) that will be unable to activate causing the game to stalemate based on current rules as written. 

Your interpretation is not correct. They do not have an Activated token when they come into the battlefield.

Nothing breaks as Appendix G covers the possibility of Grunts not having an Activated token when their parent characters do. They cannot activate without their parent. If they are the only allied character without an Activated token at the start of a player’s turn, they gain an Activated token. 

They do not activate so they will have no effect on priority. 

[firbison]

In conjuction with grunts counting towards affecting priority, if they don't get an activates token because there parent character has activated and threw the course of the turn I daze there last character that hasn't activated yet when I end my turn would it then check to see that all opponents characters have activated and then put the token on them and I would get/keep priority 

[Negoldar]

On 11/26/2023 at 2:18 PM, firbison said:

In conjuction with grunts counting towards affecting priority, if they don't get an activates token because there parent character has activated and threw the course of the turn I daze there last character that hasn't activated yet when I end my turn would it then check to see that all opponents characters have activated and then put the token on them and I would get/keep priority 

No. The last character your opponent has without an Activated or Dazed token is a Grunt in this case. At the beginning of their turn the Grunt will gain an Activated token without activating. 

In your scenario, you activated the last character so Priority will move to your opponent next Round.