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Joined: Wed Jul 06, 2005 7:20 pm
Posts: 1216
Location: Norfolk VA USA
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(Ginger @ Feb. 11 2008,05:29)
QUOTE Finally, please remember that we are principly dealing in statistics here and the existing rules are sufficiently flexible to provide a number of solutions - so "power weapons" might be given 'Sniper' or one or more extra attacks to provide greater chances of penetrating "infantry" armour, while MW and Lance should be reserved for units capable of ?penetrating "Heavy" armour. Argh, people aren't listening to what I've been saying. I warned you, here come the stats.
One of the obvious consensus views on here seems to be "MW is too good against heavy armour, so give it Sniper instead". Bah, wrong, as I'll show you in a second, but I can tell you this from experience of using Sniper in assaults with Deathwatch. It's really nasty.
The other solution is to give them CC2+ or more attacks. Again, the principle that this makes them better is true - but it also makes them better against heavy armour too. Don't forget that with CC3+ as they are the Banshees are pretty good against tanks like Land Raiders as they are. So let's not cry "they shouldn't be able to kill tanks with their power weapons!" too much, they already can.
So before I get down to the number-crunching, let's lay out what we (or I, at least) want.
1) Banshees should not be as good at killing horde troops as Scorpions.
2) Banshees should be able to butcher heavy-armour units like tactical marines like a hot knife through butter.
3) Banshees should be okay against very heavy-armour units like Terminators, but not too good that they become the ultimate anti-titan weapon.
Okay, here come the stats. The options I've selected are:
CC3+ (as they are, generally agreed to be a bit rubbish)
CC2+
MW5+
CC5+ and power weapons (+1EA, MW)
CC4+ and Sniper (if you're suggesting CC3+ and Sniper, you're crazy if you think that'd be balanced).
CC4+ (+1EA) i.e. Scorpions (as a comparison)
In all cases I'm working out a discrete probability of at least one kill inflicted on the target unit. (Probabilities are from 0-1, you can multiply it by 100 to get a percentage)
Against 4+ Reinforced Armour
(Terminators, Leman Russ, Battle Titans)
CC3+, p=0.17
CC2+, p=0.21
MW5+, p=0.17
CC5+ power weapon, p=0.236
CC4+, sniper, p=0.28
CC4+ extra attack, p=0.234
Against 4+
(Tactical Space Marines, Dark Reapers, Predator tanks)
CC3+, p=0.333
CC2+, p=0.417
MW5+, p=0.333
CC5+ power weapon, p=0.444
CC4+, sniper, p=0.333
CC4+ extra attack, p=0.44
Against "no armour"
(Guard, grots)
CC3+, p=0.667
CC2+, p=0.833
MW5+, p=0.333
CC5+ power weapon, p=0.556
CC4+, sniper, p=0.5
CC4+ extra attack, p=0.75
Okay, so what conclusions can we take away from this?
1) Sniper is a lousy idea. It'll make Banshees perfectly vicious against titans and heavy tanks, not what we're going for here.
2) CC2+ isn't such a great idea either. It makes Banshees better than Scorpions at killing unarmoured grunts, but worse than Scorpions at killing armoured or very heavily armoured infantry. Which isn't right.
3) CC5+ and power weapons still looks the best solution.
- It gives them "power weapons" on their profile, which is what they should have
- It makes them almost exactly equivalent to Striking Scorpions versus very heavy infantry, titans and tanks (not too unreasonable, they should arguably be better!)
- They are supremely able to destroy heavy infantry like marines or light tanks. (That's exactly what we want them to be able to do), although they really aren't better at this than the Scorpions either
- They are okay at killing light infantry, but not nearly as good as the Scorpions.
So there you go. Oh, no, another Macro Weapon!? It really doesn't make them overpowered compared with Scorpions, and really defines the feel of the unit. They are one of the very few units in the game all armed with power weapons, after all.
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