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As a note: I'm going to start referring to my proposed upgrade as CLP/Relay, to differentiate it from normal CLP function
Yeah, I meant not that a CLP/Relay would grant "indirect" in any capacity anymore, it would instead, allow LOS to be drawn from the friendly titans (i think the warhound is a little restrictive, perhaps "LOS from Scout Titans, or Battle Titans, though the target would need to be within 30 or 45cm of the battle titan, while the warhound can be wherever it can see)
by framing it as a LOS ability, it no longer needs to follow the Indirect rules at all. It can be shot "on the move" and doesnt grant extended range. this means that a warlord can still bomb the enemy lines on turn 1, but not without advancing and careful deployment.
Personally, I think that the ranges of the Quake and especially the AML would become insufficient, they're sorta balanced around the idea of being able to double them
I'd kinda like to see them increased, though perhaps not doubled. perhaps the CLP/Relay rule should be: "When Firing BP weapons, this titan may ignore the Line Of Sight restrictions so long as its target is within the Line Of Sight of any friendly scout titan, or within LOS and 30cm of a friendly Battle Titan. In addition, any BP weapons fired in this manner will have their maximum and minimum range increased by 30cm"
Doing this would mean that compared to its absence the CLP/Relay gives a slight boost to the Quake (a Quakelord can still hit targets 150cm away if it's willing to double, but maximum range is still 30cm less and effective table coverage is reduced) but a slighlty more sizable one to the AML (who we have been discussing as underperforming. certainly in these cases the temptation to take a AMLord instead of a Quakelord is more significant, 90cm range, no MW, 150points cheaper. especially with the increased need for warhounds)
of course, compared to the regular CLP, its still a hit
it also brings a minimum range in, which mightnt matter if they can just switch the CLP/Relay off, but thats another discussion.
problems with this solution: Firstly, the new reliance on warhounds will greatly restrict the composition of forces. it will also encourage the use of singletons, for more LOS options
the +1 to sustain is of much greater importance to barrage, due to the way the barrage table stops increasing to-hit values so quickly. (i've done some thorough testing with the BP values of bombers for this reason) so the Arty titan will still sustain whenever possible. in my experience, using TLOS, a quakelord sustains all the time, not because of LOS restrictions (which are limited, though in one game I got to hide behind a church and pound away) but for the +1 to hit, and the increased range. this modification allows some increased range, and the LOS, but without a way to improve the to hit values, Sustaining will still be a big motivator for Arty titans.
If i was to try to tweak the 3.20 titan list to achieve what you seem to want to achieve, I'd make the following changes:
Increase Gatling Blaster shots to 6
Change CLP to CLP/Relay, meaning it provides LOS from Warhounds, allow battle titans to Paint targets, and increase min and max range by 30cm as covered above
Move CLP/Relay to "upgrades" at 25 points (maybe need to increase it but for now, i'd try it at 25)
Remove the "Titan Weapons" (single weapon surcharge) rule
change God Machines to: "Titans are used to attack the enemy with overwhelming power. When their advance stalls, they find themselves quickly outmaneuvered and bogged down. To represent this, when calculating VP, a titan who is on it's controlling players half of the table gives half VP, or Full VP if broken or below half strength. Titans on their opponents side of the table grant VP in the usual way"
this would mostly cause the following potential problems:
triplequake reaver is back! but at reduced range. it wont be as bad as before, but it will be a much more tempting arty-titan than the warlord currently is. it's 825 (current quakelord is 975, new quakelord would be 1075, or 1000 with a free weapon upgrade) which means it's less painful to lose it's halfVP, though it is easier to break, or kill. it also frees up points for the warhounds one needs for this style to work. the other problem with the QuakeReaver, is that it has increased speed. a quake cannon on a warlord with the CLP/Relay rule has a maximum total range of 150+templates while a quake cannon on a reaver is 160cm+templates.
speed of 20 also allows it to get across the table in a potential draw situation easier.
arty reavers (of either variety) become much better value, probably outshining warlords (though the potential for a 12BP titan may outweigh this, likewise, the fact that titans are more likely to get "stuck in" at some point encourages a mixed weapon type for arty titans, so the temptation to take a VMB or TLD or newly improved gattling blaster on the final slot will probably go some ways towards encouraging doublequake reavers and triplequake warlords rather than the full hog.
increased reliance on warhounds is kinda annoying to the listbuilder in me, restricts build options.
The "battle titans at close range" option is somewhat inelegant, but helps reduce it. it certainly reduces the potential of an early turn barrage, while still allowing a late turn barrage strategy on a warhoundless build. noting of course that a barrage in the late turn is usually of less value than an early one.
alternate options would be to allow the CLP/Relay to use battle titans LOS only in those battle titans front arc, while scout titans would use all round LOS, or to allow battle titans to provide LOS only if the target already been fired upon by a friendly battle titan this turn (at which point, after a reaver "paints" a formation, the opponent will often have opportunity to move that formation out of range, due to it not activating yet, or if it breaks)
personally, I think the range one is probably the simplest, though there's something about friendly titans "tagging" formations for later barrage use
the other potential problem that I had not originally forseen is the inferno gun, in particular, the "increase min and max range by 30cm" effect. this means an inferno gun using this would have a minimum range of 30cm (previously its max) and a max of 60cm.
a Reaver with 3 inferno guns and a CLP/Relay has effectively doubled it's guns range, and gives it an effective 100cm+templates threat for a 9BP Ignore Cover attack, at the cost of 600 points (albiet with a -1 to hit)
combined with the fact that the reaver is easily going to cross the frontline, this build might be too potent for its price.
Maybe not though, remembering that the CLP/Relay only allows the extra range if you're using another titan as LOS. the likelyhood of an infernogun reaver getting in the way of its own LOS provider is much greater than that of the longer ranged BP weapons. the idea of a reaver standing in its own way kinda tickles me.
anyway, thats how i'd do it.
the Cross the table thing really does work. I've never won a game on VP with that rule in place, and running the numbers on the games that didnt go to VP tend not to go in my favour unless i'm quite solidly beating my opponents. I hadnt been running the numbers on AMTL games using the same rule, but when i think back, I don't think I have had any game that ran to VPs where I would have felt comfortable declaring as a win for the AMTL. Admittedly, I do my best not to have a drawn game anyway, but I really do believe it's the best solution i've found to the "fight for a draw" problem that the titan lists supposedly have.
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~Every Tool Is A Weapon, If You Hold It Right~
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