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Emperor Stats

 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 12:05 pm 
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I'll try and get a game in soon with the 3 target option. I think the 3 option gives the titan the chance to unload and do a fair amount of damage when the right targets present themselves, but i imagine most of the time it will only be able to make use of some weapons like normal titans.

Also as others have suggested, i'd imagine the titan would struggle to find too many targets since most will be making use of cover and terain to shield themselves.

What do you guys think of having the hellstorm and main bat. as MWs?


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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 12:58 pm 
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(ortron @ Aug. 08 2006,12:05)
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What do you guys think of having the hellstorm and main bat. as MWs?

I think it's a) too powerful and b) too... I don't know, too "easy" perhaps.

MW are all over the place already, I just think that "Ignore Cover" gives the Imperator some more "personality". It's all very subjective, I know, but hey.

8+BP MW barrages from the Ordinatus Golgotha (for example) are already seriously powerful, but at least they come from one-shot weapons. I really think giving MW to the Hellstorm and Main Battery would be too powerful. Giving MW to just one of those weapons, on the other hand, would be useless unless they can fire separately.

Finally, if this split fire system is still deemed too good, let's not forget Ilushia's original suggestion : the Imperator may select two different target formations when on Sustain Fire orders BUT does not receive the +1 bonus to hit.


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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 1:15 pm 
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I've actually very rarely had times when my titans wasted shots unless fighting an extremely infantry-heavy or tank-heavy force... Of course, I tend to build purpose-focused titans. One titan to kill tanks (2x TLDs, 2x Volcano Cannons Warlord), one to kill infantry (2x VMB, 1x Inferno Gun Reaver), one for Fire Fights (2x Melta-Cannon, 1x Laser Burner Reaver), etc. So I rarely run into times when I can't find something to point said titans at between their very long range and a double-move... I had flip-flopped between making the Hellstorm MW or not... It doesn't feel good enough being just Ignore Cover (Disrupt might be better, I think, then Ignore Cover is. After all this thing is dropping huge shells, surely any enemy hit by it will be scrambling in every direction to avoid being vaporized!), but making it MW felt too powerful. As it stands though, the weapon is unlikely to do more then place blast-markers unless the titan is sustaining fire, for the most part. Doubling with it is hitting on 5+/6+. Even with 3 templates it's STILL hard to see more then 6-9 guys under all of them together... Aagainst infantry that averages what, 4-6 hits? And tanks it's 1-1.5 hits? Not a great rate of hitting especially when the enemy gets armor saves against all of them... That was my problem with the other Imperator rules I saw too. The Plasma Annihilator is awesome god-like fist-of-the-emperor instant-death, and  the Hellstorm Cannon is just kindof... There... Placing anywhere from 1 to 4 bonus Blast Markers and rarely killing more then 1-2 bases, if that... Which is also part of why I wanted to separate them. So that the Hellstorm Cannon could fire at targets it might actually be able to kill (like infantry) while the Plasma Annihilator did it's thing and blew away tanks.


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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:01 pm 
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(Ilushia @ Aug. 08 2006,13:15)
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As it stands though, the weapon is unlikely to do more then place blast-markers unless the titan is sustaining fire, for the most part. Doubling with it is hitting on 5+/6+. Even with 3 templates it's STILL hard to see more then 6-9 guys under all of them together... Aagainst infantry that averages what, 4-6 hits? And tanks it's 1-1.5 hits? Not a great rate of hitting especially when the enemy gets armor saves against all of them... That was my problem with the other Imperator rules I saw too. The Plasma Annihilator is awesome god-like fist-of-the-emperor instant-death, and ?the Hellstorm Cannon is just kindof... There... Placing anywhere from 1 to 4 bonus Blast Markers and rarely killing more then 1-2 bases, if that... Which is also part of why I wanted to separate them. So that the Hellstorm Cannon could fire at targets it might actually be able to kill (like infantry) while the Plasma Annihilator did it's thing and blew away tanks.

That's actually quite true... Barrages weapons tend to be not-so-impressive unless they are MW or Disrupt. It's also strange to think that 18 BP hasn't got a better chance to hit than 4 BP. It just hits more.

How about making the Hellstorm 10x or 12x say, AP3+/AP4+? Now surely that would be almost as good as the Plasma Annihilator, but would fit a totally different role.


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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 7:59 pm 
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(Hojyn @ Aug. 08 2006,19:01)
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How about making the Hellstorm 10x or 12x say, AP3+/AP4+? Now surely that would be almost as good as the Plasma Annihilator, but would fit a totally different role.

damn you, I was going to p;ost something aling these lines.  Then I got distracted on the way home (I pass a GW!) then dawn of war winter assault wanted finishing.

Well enough moaning.  What my thought was, on the way home, is that the imp doesn't have a decent way of taking down shields.  The plasma thingy is designed to destroy things, not knock down shield.  So I thought that the hellstorm could have 12ish AT3+/AP4+ shots.

I also believe (not knowing the history of the imp) that the main batteries should be used to keep the enemy away from the titan, so I thought that they could be disrupt, to represent the huge amount of sod off fire they put out, with the heavy bolters and las cannons being used to take down anything that survived the batteries.

Another option I thought of (It is a long walk) is that the hell storm has two profiles.  One for solid slugs, which would be the AP/AT one.  Then another one for air burst fragmentation rounds, a normal barrage.

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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:10 pm 
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I know I'm wading in way over my head here, but I'm going to try anyway.

I agree that titans are different than other units and at least some should have the ability to split fire. ?However, this will also give something like the Imp the ability to basically decimate an opponent in 1 turn. ?

Since giving the Imp the ability to split fire is basically new territory, I think it needs a WHOLE NEW limiting factor.

Each section of the titan that can split fire must roll a seperate activation and alternate activations with the opponent. ?Basically treating it's weapon groups like diff. formations. ?

The seperate activation rolls would be justified by diff. weapon groups being manned by diff crews. ?Just because one does what they are supposed to doesn't mean a diff crew won't screw up.

One weapon gourp would prob. need to be designated the "main" system and if it fails, then the Imp as a whole must hold etc., but periferal weapon systems may still fire if their activation roles succeed.

Failed activations on periferal systems ONLY affect that system, not the titan as a whole.

Just a suggestion. ?Hope it helps.





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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:20 pm 
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This idea has been suggested before and, I believe, play-tested. I'm not sure I like the idea of separate activations, but it would prevent the carnage an Imperator could inflict at the beginning of the game.

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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 9:29 pm 
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(Dwarf Supreme @ Aug. 08 2006,16:20)
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This idea has been suggested before and, I believe, play-tested. I'm not sure I like the idea of separate activations, but it would prevent the carnage an Imperator could inflict at the beginning of the game.

Well, game mechanics aren't really my area of expertise, but I just had to stick my nose in anyway.  :;):

Even if each "weapon group" didn't have seperate activation rolls, just making them alternate activations with the opponent would go a long way (I think  :p  ).

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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Tue Aug 08, 2006 10:05 pm 
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The problem with having it as a group of activations is that it looks like a group of formations. ?Though if I read you're suggestion correctly consectari, you don't have this in mind. ?Rather it must pass extra activations to be able to shoot at several formation, though it still remains a single formation.

One problem I still see with this is that it will look odd. ?The main guns fire and it waddles forwards. ?It waits a bit then the next load of guns fire, and so on.

An idea I just had, which I'm sure must of been suggested before, is that for every extra formation it wants to shoot at it suffers a -1 modifer to its activation roll.

So (assuming no other modifiers) fire at 1 formation is on a 1+
2 formations on a 2+
3 formations on a 3+
4 formations on a 4+
5 formations on a 5+

This can easily represent how difficult it is for the princep to organise all the gun crews firing at different targets.

If we were really adventurous we could have a table to see what happens if the roll fails, with gun crews getting the wrong targeting information, or none at all.

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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 3:02 pm 
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The problem with having it as a group of activations is that it looks like a group of formations.  Though if I read you're suggestion correctly consectari, you don't have this in mind.  Rather it must pass extra activations to be able to shoot at several formation, though it still remains a single formation.

That's right,  it would behave like multiple formations, but would still count as 1 formation.

What is being done here with split fire is giving the Imp certain aspects of multiple formations and I thought the solution might be to give it some of the drawbacks of multiple formations (i.e. more activations and waiting in turns).

I think titan scale is only half what the rest of epic is.   So if the Imp were scaled correctly, it would be like 12 inches/30cm.  It's bigger than most buildings even at it's current size.  It would stand to reason that at that size, things going on at the left side would be like a completely different battle from what's going on at the right side!  This is both an argument for split fire and for multiple alternating activations.

ragnarok: One problem I still see with this is that it will look odd.  The main guns fire and it waddles forwards.  It waits a bit then the next load of guns fire, and so on.

It will if you only look in game terms.  If you try to envision it the way it would "really" happen, it makes more sense.

Everything that happens in a turn is more or less going on at the same time.  In the game, one person goes first, then the other goes, but your opponent isn't really waiting while you shoot at them.  They were just a fraction behind you in reacting, that's why your activation comes first.    

It's no different than your other formations that are sitting there waiting for their turn.  In "real" terms, they aren't sitting there doing nothing, they are acting more or less at the same time as the first formation.  

Same for the Imp.  

The next weapons group has to wait their turn to activate, but you can't think of it as going on at a significantly later time.  In "real" terms, they are still all firing just a fraction behind one another.

I hope my explanation didn't make my suggestion even more unclear.

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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Wed Aug 09, 2006 9:48 pm 
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According to False Gods, the Emperor-class Titan 'Dies Irae' ("Dee-ays Eeray," Day of Wrath) is 43 meters tall.  That's it.  If we assume that 6mm=2m is our figure scale, that puts an Emperor-class Titan 129mm tall, just over 5" tall.  FW says that Warhounds are 14m tall, 42mm in Epic scale.  I haven't seen any 'Real-World' stats for Reavers or Warlords, but they aren't that big, maybe 55-60mm for a Reaver, and 85-90mm for a Warlord.

Maybe sometime next year, when the Apocalypse codex comes out (it's rumored to have rules for very large games of 40k, and possibly the plastic Baneblade release), or Imperial Armour 5 and 6 (rumored to be major Siege-related books), we'll be able to see the FW stats for the bigger stuff.

I'd like to see Emperor-class titans have some kind of split-fire capability (even though JJ has said NO to the smaller titans having that ability).  They need something to make them half-way usable at under 6k points.  At 2700/3k, you're playing OGRE, but you don't have the ability to kill multiple targets (well, multiple formations) to make it survivable (which an OGRE does have, and that makes it a very close battle).

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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 6:09 am 
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Titans are 1/600th scale, roughly half the scale of Epic, give or take a little. A Warhound, 14 meters at rest, is 25mm high which is 15m tall at 1/600th scale. Warlords are twice this height at 50mm in the old-school warlord (Around 55mm for the new warlords). The Emperor is even larger, the defense-laser tower is about twice the height of a Warlord off the ground. So would stand something around 60 meters to the top of the defense-laser, or around 45 meters to the top of the sensorium dome, which as it happens lines up with the fluff material almost perfectly!

There are several problems with the multiple-activations bit. Failing activations: What happens here exactly? Clearly the activations are not 'normal' activations, are they? Independent pieces cannot move, and you wouldn't want it to be able to sustain fire (I can just imagine that 'My torso marches, all my other weapons sustain fire!') and failing an activation normally would do almost nothing to a warlord's secondary weapons (Oh. I failed. I fire anyway at no penalty. Go me!) so you'd need a slew of special rules JUST dealing with how to activate and resolve each independent weapon-system. Can independent weapons fire while marching? What about gaining sustain bonuses if the core body-part is on Sustain fire? Does failing their activations add BMs to the main Titan body? Can they be suppressed by adding damage to the main titan? If the core titan is Broken, can they continue to fire? And more, beyond this. The reason I avoided that was to make it a little easier to deal with. And to be honest, I'm fine with it being exceedingly powerful. I like the idea of the Hellstorm becoming an AP/AT weapon... I'd go for 12x 4+/4+ (essentially a really really big nasty version of a Gatling Blaster) if anything. That'd let it tear through lighter armored targets, but leave the Plasma Annihilator to destroy big targets. I'm really tempted to move the Plasma Annihilator down to TK(1). It's not as good at killing Titans as the Volcano Cannon is (Or at least it's not SUPPOSED to be), and nowhere near as good as the Nova Cannon. But it gets more shots then either such weapons do. So maybe 6x MW 3+ TK(1) instead. Slightly less reliable, comperable over-all damage (Better then a Volcano Cannon by sheer weight of fire, worse then a Nova Cannon), and much better at smashing smaller formations, but less accurate then the Volcano Cannon (Again, fitting in with it's stats under SM2).

One possibility I could add in is 'If the Emperor chooses to fire at more then 1 target formation then all shots suffer a -1 to hit' which would effectively make all the weapons worse, when firing at multiple formations, but still capable of doing so... But I suspect this would quickly stack up to making it almost worthless (FOr instance, on a double with that rule the alternate stats for the Hellstorm would be 6+/6+! Firing into cover it'd be 7+/7+. Even with 12 shots that's not a very intimidating or lethal weapon... The Plasma Annihilator would be 4+ to hit currently, 5+ under my suggestion. And worse against things in cover!) Weapons in Epic really have a very limited scale of hit-rate. A single point change makes a HUGE difference with just a D6 to hit on.

At 2500 points or so, I think this would be very interesting to field. You'd essentially be playing just one guy against a huge horde of enemies. It would more or less be like playing Ogre or GEV. Winning from a 'do damage' standpoint is easy. From an 'accomplish goals' standpoint is MUCH harder. If anyone has any other suggestions on what to do with this monster, keep them coming. I'll post updated stats when I get home and have my other data infront of me.


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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 9:56 am 
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It seems people are very worried that the emperor will decimate an opponent on turn 1 if allowed to split fire. However its only 1 model and should be fairly easy to hide from/maneouver around on a table. It really needs playtesting, but i believe on a table with a decent amount of terrain the majority of the titans weapons can be ignored.





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 Post subject: Emperor Stats
PostPosted: Thu Aug 10, 2006 12:17 pm 
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(ortron @ Aug. 10 2006,09:56)
QUOTE
It seems people are very worried that the emperor will decimate an opponent on turn 1 if allowed to split fire. However its only 1 model and should be fairly easy to hide from/maneouver around on a table. It really needs playtesting, but i believe on a table with a decent amount of terrain the majority of the titans weapons can be ignored.

My opinion exactly.

Even with 5 different weapons locations, the Imperator will hardly annihilate an entire army in one turn.

There are several things to keep in mind :

- its cost : at 2250 or 2500 points, it costs almost as much as an entire army. It SHOULD be able to defeat a 2500 points army, otherwise what's the point?

- Like Ortron said, it's only 1 model, meaning it will only be able to control 1 objective (2 if you're lucky). That's a HUGE flaw in my opinion, and should be compensated (by tremendous firepower, for example).

- Honestly, how often do you think an Imperator will be in a position to destroy/break the whole opposing army in one go? Unless you're playing with no cover at all or you're playing against a suicidal opponent, the answer is "very rarely". Like all other Titans, it will seldom have more than 2 or 3 targets.

- As I pointed out previously, some weapons have a short range (Lascannons, Heavy Bolters) and will hardly ever be used. Granted, they are not the most powerful weapons of the Imperator, but still, that's another restricting factor.

- Finally, for those who fear that the Imperator will destroy/break 4 or 5 formations with just one activation, please keep in mind that Eldar can do a triple activation and that Necrons can easily break 3 or 4 formations with an intermingled assault (I know, I've done it often).

I think Ilushia's rules are fine and that all we need to do now is tweak the weapons stats a bit and agree on a points cost.

Weapons stats :

Hellstorm >>> 12x 4+/4+? Sounds nice and not owerpowered.

Plasma Annihilitor >>> Ilushia, 6x MW3+ TK(1) is VERY powerful. Sure, it's less useful against titans, but against AVs or infantry, it way too powerful. Now you can break a Leman Russ formation in one shot, with one weapon... I'd rather keep the 4x MW2+ (TKD3), and I'd even keep Slow-Firing.

Main Battery >>> Can't remember who suggested this, but if we change the Hellstorm, having 6BP MW on the Main Battery is OK, I think.

Defense Laser >>> This one is a bit problematic IMO. Does it really deserve a "weapon location"? On the other hand, where should it go if it doesn't? One possible solution would be to make it an AA weapon only.
Either give it 90cm, 1x AA3+ (TKD3) or 75cm, 2x AA4+ (TKD3) (I like the first option best). Then it could be associated with any "weapon location" and wouldn't be redundant with the Plasma Annihilator. This also removes one weapon location.

Carapace >>> I'd get rid of the Battle Cannons and go for 6x Lascannons on each fire arc. This would reduce the range of the carapace weapons to 45 cm.

Body >>> 16 Heavy Bolters sounds good to me.


The new stats would be something like this:

Speed: 15 cm
Type: War Engine
Armor: 4+
CC: 3+
FF: 3+

WEAPONS

Right arm
Plasma Annihilator 90cm 4x MW2+ TK(D3), Slow-Firing, Forward Arc.

Left arm
Hellstorm Cannon 75cm, 12x AP4+/AT4+, Forward Arc.

Tower
Main Battery 120cm 6BP MW, Fixed Forward Arc.
Defense Laser 90cm AA3+ TK(D3).

Carapace
6x Lascannon 45cm AT5+, Right Arc.
6x Lascannon 45cm AT5+, Left Arc.

Body
16x Heavy Bolters 30cm AP5+

CRITICAL

DC18. Critical: Sensorium Dome has been damaged, roll a D6 in the end-phase:
- On a 1 the dome explodes dramatically, badly damaging the titan in the process. The titan takes D6 DC in damage, the dome is, of course, no longer operable.
- On a 2-3 the dome remains offline another turn.
- On a 4-6 it repairs and can be used again at full effectiveness.
Any criticals caused while the dome is damaged or after the dome explodes instead deal an extra DC of damage.

I added "while the dome is damaged."

NOTES

Notes: 12 Void Shields, Reinforced Armor, Thick Rear Armor, Supreme Commander, Inspiring, Walker (May step over any piece of terrain up to 2cm wide and as high as the titan's knees), Transport (The Imperator titan may carry up to 16 of the following: Skitarii, Praetorians, Skitarii Tribune. 8 are carried in each leg. In the assault these troops may fight the enemies attacking the Imperator without disembarking. Add their attacks as Firefight or Close Combat, owning player's choice, to the assault. No more then 2 may fight in close-combat for each enemy stand in base-to-base with the Imperator), Sensorium Dome.

Since Skitarri only come in formations of 6 with 3 Chimeras, perhaps we should add an upgrade in the (future) army list entry for the Imperator: "7 Skitarii + 1 Skitarii Tribune for 150 points, 8 Praetorians for 300 points (+1 Electro-Priest for +50 points)."

SENSORIUM DOME

Sensorium Dome: The Imperator carries ancient and powerful long-range scanners. These scanners use warp augurs and a massive bank of computing apparatus to calculate firing trajectories at lightning speeds. For each separate weapon-location (Left Arm, Right Arm, Tower, Carapace and Body) choose an enemy formation in range and Line of Sight. All weapons mounted on that portion of the vehicle fire into that target.

--------------------------------

OK, that's it. One last thing: I'd up the price to 2500 for the moment.






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