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Honda, as the AC, how do you - personally - prove/adjudicate a formation's abilities through testing if no one uses that formation type and you never receive feedback? It seems there's a lot of theorhetical feedback, but I notice people still aren't using Gun drones for example. I'm finding batreps aren't really providing imperical data to determine a formations abilitites. e.g When you changed the crisis suits to 2+ initiative, what did you base that decision on? Was there any data that showed from batreps that it was a necessary design? Thanks!
Dobbsy, it's a fair question and fairly asked. I guess at this point, I look at drones from this perspective:
1) Is anyone using drones to win in a cheeky manner?
2) Do they provide an advantage under normal circumstances that bears looking into?
In regards to #1 & #2, the answer appears to be "no". In fact the opposite statement could be made.
I think it is significant to note that that they are not extensively used, but I do not necessarily consider that a bad thing or an item that causes the list to be broken. As stated earlier, I do not subscribe to the belief that all units in a list must be equally attractive. I just don't think that is a realistic perspective. Every list has it's "dogs" and I don't think the focus of testing should be in trying to arrive at some list utopia.
It would also be one thing if out of all the other lists, the Tau were unique in this aspect, but they are not. There are plenty of units in other lists that are less attractive than others. Those lists seem to play Ok in spite of this fact.
So although this issue may trouble some, I am not overly concerned about it as it relates to the overall list balance. At this point, drones do not unbalance the list and for the next cut, I am Ok with that.
Other topics:
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- Crisis Suit initiative ratings
This is a work in progress to be addressed before the list is fixed at the end of the year.
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- Pathfinder weapon stats
As stated earlier, I will support a Sniper upgrade for one unit, ala SM Scouts, but do not feel all stands getting Sniper is justified. If you look at how the Pathfinders behave with Rail Rifles in 40K, the Tau Rail Rifle allows units fielding it tobe more likely to cause casualties because of it's hitting power. It does not grant any true sniper ability. So I am remaining firm on this. Give me some sort of cost for the unit upgrade and we can give it a shot, but that's about as far as I am willing to go.
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- Orca bomber instead of multiple tigersharks
I won't be doing this for a couple of reasons. As stated in the "Breaking the logjam" thread, bombs in and of themselves do not fit with the Tau concept of precision weaponry. Also, the comment regarding the Orca bomber is associated with an unconfirmed rumor vs. the statement that seeker armed Tigershark variants do exist. As stated before, it comes down to rumor vs. confirmed existence.
I also find it rather ironic that all the time I was defending the existence of the Scorpionfish based on the same rumor (because it was believed to have bombs and missiles), that that claim wasn't valid enough for the vehicle. Now that the Scorpionfish is gone, the same revelation is suddenly justification for an Orca bomber. If nothing else, we will strive to be consistent in our observations and assertions.
So, we are staying with the multiple versions of the Tigershark.
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- Do something with Drones
I don't see this as a burning platform kind of issue. If something comes up in testing, I'll be glad to discuss, but as it stands now, I don't see it as a critical issue.
