Infinity - Code One - Quickstart!

welcome to the future of infinity!

Code One is a new way to play in the Infinity universe. It's specifically intended to be a "stripped down" experience for new players, as an introduction and a taster for Infinity N4, or a less complex version of the game for players who don't want to invest the considerable time and effort into playing Infinity in a satisfying way.

To see what we're talking about you should head across to the new "Infinity Universe" page and check out the "Learn to Play" section:

https://infinitytheuniverse.com/games/codeone/how-to-play

Or to go straight into the Quick Start PDF then you can simply go here:

Quick Start Rules

After a run through introduction to, what CB have been referring to (internally at least) as, "The Chosen Four" armies which are in the initial release of Code One:

• PanOceania
• Yu Jing
• O-12
• Combined Army

Obviously PanOceania and Yu Jing are part of the new Kaldstrom pack, and what was the (now discontinued) Wildfire and Beyond Wildfire packs are becoming a new kind of army starter, the "Action Pack":

These are all going to be good access points, and pretty good value introductions to Corvus Belli models, but that doesn't tell us much about the rules! 

Let's take a look, starting with the Unit Profile Description for the Fusiliers:

Just at a glance it's clear that not much is changing in terms of the Unit Profile Description. As this is the very first "learning mission" we only have our BS Weapon here, but we know from other looks at Unit Profile Descriptions elsewhere that all Code One units have "Close Combat Weapons" rather than the Knives we see in N3.

Now, let's take a look at the Zhanshi:

One thing leaps out here, which is the bump to CC. If a Zhanshi gets 2 points of CC in return for 1pt (assuming they stay at 11pts, which is far from certain, but seems likely) then that has interesting implications for the cost of units across the board (and likely a significant reduction for many Yu Jing units on the "CC Tax" they "pay").

There's nothing changed in "Distances and Measurements" but Line of Fire is worth considering here. We see that the criteria for LoF is now:

• The target must be totally or partially within the Trooper’s front 180º arc.

• The Trooper must be able to see part of the volume of its target, with a minimum size of 3x3mm.

• LoF can be drawn from the Trooper to any point in the target’s volume without being obstructed by any pieces of scenery or Troopers (friendly or enemy).

This hasn't changed substantially, but the language has been cleaned up and allows for the more recent FAQ interpretations to be integrated easily without change for N4.

The Structure of an Order is being made nice and clear, which is great to see, and the important concepts of Automatic Response Orders and simultaneous resolution are explained well and in simple language.

The Common Skills of Move, Ballistic Skill Attack and Dodge are all introduced in clean and simple language. There is also a detailed breakdown of the Order Expenditure Sequence, with a special focus on the way this interacts with AROs.

The attributes for weapons are introduced here, with the Combi Rifle being the only relevant weapon for this initial engagement of three Fusiliers vs three Zhanshi. This, once again hasn't really changed but looks good and clean.

One of the most interesting CHANGES which may be a tip for N4 (on the logic that anything changed in Code One will also be in N4... after all you don't want to teach new players "wrong") comes when we look at Cover.

In this case it's probably best to simply snip out the relevant passage:

We can talk about the calculation of Damage and thus the function of Saving Rolls in a minute, as it's not changing in anything except how it's explained, but note here the removal of any requirement for 1/3rd cover in order to gain the bonus. This could be a significant change, and will make a lot of older terrain (think of all those railings) much more playable.

Initiative and Deployment are explained well, especially Keeping Initiative (to select turn order) or Keeping Deployment (to select deployment zone and while player deploys first) for whichever player wins the Lieutenant roll off. There are some good play examples, which are good to see, which explain Face to Face rolls well.

It's noticeable that there are no Critical Hits at this early stage ('though we know that a Critical Hit in Code One will be +1 save rather than an automatic wound, in addition to automatically winning the F2F). As to that change in armour calculation, you subtract armour and cover from damage before rolling to beat your target number (rather than the N3 model of adding armour and cover to your roll to beat the damage), which seems like a slightly more intuitive way of explaining things.

So that's our first real taste of Code One!

We are getting pretty excited.

What do you think?