I've been thinking about this for a little while and I'd like to drop it on the team and see what they think:

Proposal:

1. Eliminate the Stingray
2. Enhance the firepower of individual Skyrays (possibly 3 x AP5+ or 4 x AP5+)
3. Only allow the Skyray as an upgrade to cadres, one or two per cadre
4. Points to be worked out

Thoughts?

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Honda

"Remember Taros? We do"

- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

I would be hesitant to do that.  Primarily as the Skyray is an important AA asset for the Tau.  What you have proposed would be a serious increase in the Skyrays firepower which would have to come with a point jump.  That would make it tough on the players that just want to add some AA capability to their force.

But, I am all for reducing units, etc so the idea has merit in that light.

From this Thread http://www.tacticalwargames.net/forums/ ... 23;t=13810

Apocalypse has this as a formation:
Skysweep Missile Defence Wing:
2-4 Skyrays and one Devilfish. All have Networked Mrkerlights which are connected to AA-Systems.

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4 is ott. 3 is more reasonable.
And what is the purpose of the vehicle? Long range AT fire and AA cover? Yes but then you should have noticed that the Tau don't have long range (45cm+) AP fire (other than the Railgun's submunition and Ion Cannon).
It seems Tau rely on geting up and personal (ie get under 45cm range in Epic or ca 18-48" in Wh40k) with the enemy to deal with Infantry.

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Would Slow Firing even apply to AA shots?

Why?
It would then only fire at any other aircraft formation per turn.
1st formation in range: shoot
2nd formation in range: pass
3rd formation in range: shoot
etc

Or:
1st turn:
1st formation in range: shoot
2nd, 3rd, etc: pass
2nd turn: pass all
3rd turn:
1st formation in range: shoot
2nd, 3rd, etc: pass
Obvioulsy you can chose to pass the 1st formation of aircrafts and then be able to shoot at the 2nd, etc.

And 3x 75cm AA5+ shots per SkyRay is nothing to laugh about even if it can fire only once per turn at aircrafts.

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Very true Hena,  Slow-Firing and AA would not be a good combination on the table.

@Hena, why did you focus on 4 shots? I said it could be 3 or 4. It could also be 2. It was just a point to start the discussion.

@BL: I would not be in favor of Slow Firing. I also don't see where the justification for this comes from.

I do think though that the Skysweeper Apoc formation has merit. I didn't even think of that one, so good show.

So, this is what I was thinking about:

1. Reduce units

2. In 40K, the Skyray is a much more flexible firing platform than it is in Epic

3. Given #2, then why not just enhance the Skyray to provide similar capabilities (i.e. in 40K, the Seeker missile can fire on infantry, armor, and aircraft quite effectively)

4. The point I am really trying to explore is whether the idea has merit. If it does bear exploring, I'd propose to quickly work up stats, kick it around for a day or so, and if it still looks good, then test it in a game.

If everyone thinks the idea is barf, then I'll just drop it. I was just trying to leverage an existing unit and potential reduce the inventory.

Cheers,

_________________
Honda

"Remember Taros? We do"

- 23rd Elysian Drop Regiment

The SkyRay has 6 one-shot Seeker Missiles in Wh40k
The Manticore as 4 one-shot Manticore Missiles in Wh40k
The Manticore is slow-firing in Epic, so the SkyRay is a prime candidate for slow-firing too.

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If it's got "3 x" the weapon that's slow-firing, then each instance of it can be used/waiting; the unit doesn't have to fire all three at once.

It's like it's got three actual missiles (or pairs of missile) to fire.

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Now living in Boston... any EPIC players want to meet up?

This is apparently asking for a special rule that would allow AA to only shoot at one aircraft unit per turn. Either bite the bullet and add that, or don't bother with slow-firing at all.