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Joined: Tue Sep 27, 2005 9:52 am
Posts: 876
Location: Brest - France
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Hi,
I've just started painting my new AMTL force (Legio Gryphonicus) and since I have an Imperator Titan, I've taken an interest in the rules for this beast.
POINT 1
I've read most of the proposed rules for splitting the Imperator into several WE, and while they are the result of some impressive thinking, to be honest I feel they way too complicated for Epic Armageddon. Their main merit is to avoid creating a special rule for splitting fire, but to me it's a bit like going around the house to enter by the back door when the front door is wide open. In other words, I believe the Imperator is worth its own special rule.
POINT 2
I played with the Imperator back in the days of SM2/TL, and what I remembered was a Titan that could hold its own against a whole army, a huge machine bristling with powerful weapons.
Now, looking at its stats in E:A, I can't help but feel disappointed : it looks kind of weak, especially when compared to the Mega-Gargant. While the Ork machine is laden with MW and TK weapons, the poor Imperator has "D3x Volcano Cannon" and "3D6 BP"  . I mean, come on, these are stats for Orks weapons and hardly fitting the Imperium's best of the best.
So I dug up (almost literally) my copies of TL and E40K books and did a little comparison on an Excel file (I have no way to upload it on the Net but am willing to send it to anybody who's interested). I won't go into details, but it shows that the Imperator Titan has gone down in power (although it was at an all-time low during E40K), while the Mega-Gargant is rather more powerful now than it used to be.
OK, enough ranting, on to my proposed rules. Modifications to existing rules are in bold font.
IMPERATOR TITAN
Type: War Engine
Speed: 15 cm
Armour: 4+
CC: 3+
FF: 3+
Weapons (Firing arcs are unchanged)
- Plasma Annihilator
? 90cm / 4x MW2+ / TK(D3), Slow-firing
- Hellstorm Cannon
? 75 cm / 12 BP / Ignore cover
- Main Battery (replaces Demolisher Cannon)
? 90 cm / 6 BP / Ignore Cover
- Defence Laser
? 90 cm/ MW2+/AA4+ / TK(D3)
- 2x Lascannon
? 45 cm / AT5+/AA5+
- 4x Battle Cannon
? 75 cm / AP4+/AT4+
- 10x Heavy Bolter
? 30cm / AP5+
Notes: Supreme Commander, Inspiring, Fearless, Reinforced Armour, Walker, Sensorium Dome. May step over units and impassable terrain that is lower than the Titan's knees and up to 2cm wide.
Damage Capacity 18
Void Shields 8
Critical hit:
The Imperator's Sensorium Dome is smashed. It may no longer split fire. Any further critical hit damages the Imperator's plasma reactor. Roll a D6 in the end phase, etc.
Special Rule: Sensorium Dome
The Imperator is so huge that it is crewed by a vast number of servants, etc. which allows the Titan to fire at several targets at once.
As long as the Sensorium Dome is intact, the following special rule apply to the Imperator Titan:
When taking a Sustained Fire action, The Imperator may split fire between two target formations (range and LOS limitations apply normally). However, when doing so, none of the Imperator's weapons gain the usual +1 bonus for taking a Sustained Fire action.
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OK, this is it.
The splitting fire rule is, I think, Ilushia's (I can't find the corresponding thread, but I'm very good at stealing other people's ideas). I just renamed it "Sensorium Dome" and tied the rule to a critical. It makes more sense and that way we don't need a universal rule, it only applies to Imperator Titans.
The Plasma Annihilator is now a Slow-firing weapon, meaning you can either unload all its power in one go or fire smaller bursts each turn, just like it used to be in Titan Legion (TL). Also, this is essentially a powered-up version of the Plasma Destructor, which is only fitting in my opinion.
The Hellstorm Cannon now looks more like the terrifying weapon it is supposed to be, not some water gun that will fire a 3BP barrage on a bad day. I upped its range because it used to be 100 cm in TL.
I replaced the Demolisher Cannon by the Main Battery. Not only was the Demolished Cannon a ridiculous thing on such a huge WE, but the actual weapon is much bigger than a Demolisher Cannon. It used to be D6+3 BP, 200 cm, -3 save mod. back in TL, so I turned it into a 6BP, 90 cm weapon and added Ignore Cover to make it fit with the Hellstorm Cannon.
Finally, I upped the number of Heavy Bolters to make the Titan looks more menacing at close range (just like it should be).
Pointswise, I reckon this beast is well worth 2250 points.
What do you think? ?
EDIT: added Supreme Commander.
EDIT 2: added Inspiring as well, and modified the estimated points cost (see on page 2 for the detailed calculation).
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But I thought I would actually play with the Imperator to see if it needs more protection of not.
) and revised the points cost at 2250 instead of 2000.