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Tau vs Infantry

 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:24 pm 
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Quote: (Honda @ 23 Jul. 2009, 14:45 )

Who cares about those unbalanced nonsense tournaments anyway?

40k is designed to be played by kids in a relaxed environment, not by adults in a tournament setting. The game simply isn't balanced (or tactically complex) enough for that.


I guess I'm a little surprised at this statement. I know you have played 40K (at least in the past), so to pass off 40K as something for children and non-competitive seems to be ignoring or denying what 40K does bring to the table.

Not only that, I was intervewed to be a games designer for Warhammer 40,000... and I firmly believe that it is primarily (if not exclusively) designed to be played by children, at homes on their kitchen tabletops.

It's not designed for use by adults in a tournament... that usage of the rules is a re-purposing of the game for something not intended by the design process.


Reading the Taros Campaign gives a good demonstration of the Tau way of war. Not once are Anti-Personel missiles mentioned, TRC's right in that such a thing would be far too indescriminate for the Tau way of war.

I strongly agree with the first statement. The second not as much. Although there is no mention of Seekers being used specifically as AP weapons, my interpretation of that is that the Seeker is just a very good weapon that can have multiple uses.

I would content that that is unverifiable conjecture, at best.

It takes out a marine just fine.
So does a Lascannon ; like a Lascannon it is a precision weapon.

It will kill a normal person quite well.
So will a Lascannon.


If all AP were removed from GM, that would infer that SM tactical troopers could stand up and give a ML/GM unit the "raspberry" without fearing any retribution. That would not be an accurate representation.
Space Marines don't fear Lascannons in Epic either, yet fear them in Warhammer 40,000.

Jervis says somewhere in the FAQ (I think) that a weapon or unit is defined as much by what it cannot do as what it can do... and a single Guided Missile cannot kill 5 Space Marines, just as a single Lascannon cannot kill 5 Space Marines.

The Guided Missile has become a Mary Sue.

So, although I acknowledge we may be light on some specifics, that doesn't preclude them from performing this role. Now, having said that, if the ML synergy solution created a compensating need to "focus" the GM attacks, then I would say that should be open for discussion.
Indeed, if ML's were allowed to synergise with Fire Warriors (thereby making Fire Warriors an attractive, useful, and integral list choice), then the non-canon AP Markerlight could probably be removed as redundant.

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:36 pm 
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Quote: (The_Real_Chris @ 24 Jul. 2009, 01:18 )

Yeah, thinks seem to have dragged on a bit. Really the damn things should be a core, if not the best, Epic army.

With the various non-canon hole-filling units/weapons removed, I am certain that this list could be balanced and finished inside of a few months... done and dusted after all these years of tweaking units and weapons that don't mesh properly with the Tau way of war.

The Tau are supposed to be a highly mobile force with Fire Warriors at their core, but the presence of the non-canon AP missiles (and previously, skimming Titans) has meant that the most effective list style is one focused on tanks and war engines that lob AP missiles (previously reinforced with those aforementioned skimming Titans).

Remove those AP missiles (and give the Fire Warriors their long-overdue power boost, in whatever form) and the most popular list styles will look like the Tau armies found in the background.

That was what the famous Peer Review called for.
That's what many here have called for.

====

Bite the bullet, make the hard choices, and the core Tau list can be *finished* within months. Not just pushed to the next round of testing, but *completed*

Then things can move on to task 2, to creating an 'armour' themed army list for the non-canon units that have been removed, like the Moray.




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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 4:44 pm 
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I agree, I'm keen on starting a Tau force but I don't want to start it until the list gets more stable. So far I've seen a lot of suggestions, but no one seems to want to test them to see if they work. Worst case it fails and the list goes to another revision adding the AP GM back.

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 6:45 pm 
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First off, let's all take a step back and breathe on this thread. It's starting to wind up a bit and that isn't going to help solve issues.

Second of all, it's easy to say it's simple to solve. People have been stating that for years now along with all the simple fixes that would "solve" all of our problems. Evidence is to the contrary, otherwise it would have been done.

It's also very easy to claim to want the hard choices to be made, but in reality those kinds of comments only hold up when the hard decision is something you approve of.

And I will state this for the last time, I am open to hearing about how we are going to fix the AP GM issue and Fire Warriors. I asked earlier for you guys to come up with a couple of builds that you could support. Continuing to carry on the discussion about whether or not you like 40K, who is supposed to play it, whose fault it is that we're in this mess, why you're not happy with the state of the union, etc. isn't going to fix a single thing.

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:00 pm 
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Quote: (Honda @ 24 Jul. 2009, 18:45 )

Second of all, it's easy to say it's simple to solve. People have been stating that for years now along with all the simple fixes that would "solve" all of our problems. Evidence is to the contrary, otherwise it would have been done.

Its not constructive, but I have to say - they really haven't. Progress on lots of things has been glacially slow. And lots of stuff simply hasn't been done (for good or ill). For instance has anyone gone and removed the AP GM to see the effect on list composition? It - and other things - have been unassailable regardless of the effect they have. The worse was the insistence for playtest reports fr stuff that was obviously broken which showed a lack of experience with EpicA more than anything else. As for fix quite quick - yes it could have been done 2-3 years ago on the old forums, its just the fix was unpalatable for people as part of it was dependant on axing certain units. As it is at this rate it will get overtaken by the EpicUK project which I will be very surprised uses anything that can't be brought and doesn't need to be scratch built. (Early thought seem to be here http://www.tacticalwargames.net/forums....299153)

Now I'd prefer to get this one nailed down instead and have this become the accepted standard, but to do that I beleive some fundemental things will have to change - or you bring out an army that is balanced and works, but isn't much of a Tau one (instead being a skimmer tank force with support).

Anyway - being constructive.
If people think the way to nirvana is more ML effects (and I'm not convinced) you need to ensure that formations that stand to benefit either  can't have ml's in them, or cannot benefit from any ml's already attached to them (going with the whole supporting fire concept and assuming we want a tactical not list building effect). I think the latter is better as it means the army list doesn't need a lot of rejigging to account for such additions. On the downside those upgrades lose most of their rational. Skyrays still make sense but pathfinders and stuff are now better in their own formations. Would this be okay?
As for the synergy I'd say calculate what you want the things to do (say make to hit rolls get +1 on ML'ed targets) then cost the units fr the increase in ability, adding half what you normally would. Leaves something which is then rewarding if used and hampering if not.

Prob restrict the effect to certain weapon systems so a non ml force (say an armour based force) is still viable.

SO what benefit should such a synergy grant? And to who?




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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:08 pm 
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Quote: (The_Real_Chris @ 24 Jul. 2009, 19:00 )

Anyway - being constructive.
If people think the way to nirvana is more ML effects (and I'm not convinced) you need to ensure that formations that stand to benefit either  can't have ml's in them, or cannot benefit from any ml's already attached to them (going with the whole supporting fire concept and assuming we want a tactical not list building effect). I think the latter is better as it means the army list doesn't need a lot of rejigging to account for such additions. On the downside those upgrades lose most of their rational. Skyrays still make sense but pathfinders and stuff are now better in their own formations. Would this be okay?
As for the synergy I'd say calculate what you want the things to do (say make to hit rolls get +1 on ML'ed targets) then cost the units fr the increase in ability, adding half what you normally would. Leaves something which is then rewarding if used and hampering if not.

Prob restrict the effect to certain weapon systems so a non ml force (say an armour based force) is still viable.

SO what benefit should such a synergy grant? And to who?

I think the cadres could stand to have some harder limits on what upgrades are available. But as you say the ML upgrade would need to be applied universally then.


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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 7:29 pm 
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Quote: (Honda @ 24 Jul. 2009, 18:45 )

I asked earlier for you guys to come up with a couple of builds that you could support.

I asked before, and I ask again:

What does that actually mean? What are you asking us to do?

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:12 pm 
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What does that actually mean? What are you asking us to do?


Sorry, maybe I am stuck in my corporate jargon.

Build = Solution

So, let's say we follow TRC's suggestion. What would that look like? What are the detailed changes that would need to take place?

E.g. Synergy is...

ML lit units are +1 easier to hit for XXX (where XXX could be AP hits)

This modification to the ML rule would cause the following units cost to change:

FW's were 9999 points, they are now 9999 points
Tetra's were 9999 points, they are now 9999 points

In addition, the following units have Seekers removed from their weapons listing:

1. Formation 1
2. Formation 2
3. Formation 3

The following formation need ML's added/removed from their abilities:

1. Formation 1 - Add
2. Formation 2 - Delete
3. Formation 3 - Leave

Something like that so that we can see what the concrete changes entail. It's the only way to understand the overall impact of the proposal.

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Fri Jul 24, 2009 10:15 pm 
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So you want a detailed proposal, not just isolated concepts. Fine, I'll post something tomorrow.

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 12:55 pm 
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@Mephiston

I think the cadres could stand to have some harder limits on what upgrades are available. But as you say the ML upgrade would need to be applied universally then.


Please provide a list of recommendations where you think trimming is necessary and why.

Thanx!

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 2:37 pm 
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Proposal posted here: http://www.tacticalwargames.net/forums/ ... 23;t=16235




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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 11:38 pm 
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After reading E&C's idea here a general note for this thread culled from the bottom.

Maybe there are two things Honda should be looking at. His core mechanic change and ideas for re-doing the list around it if nessecery.

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 2:57 am 
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I Have infantry in guard armies to hold ground, the Tau don't need expensive FW for that, they are better with high armour being aggressive mobile troops, taking the fight to the enemy, but while there are better options at that, that aren't as risky, I am better off using them. And the Tau list is supposed to have a daring, short ranged, mobility based play style - at least thats what I've always thought.


And that's where they play(ed) in 4e 40k.  They no longer work that way in 5e.  Is it a fun list?  You bet.  Is that where I think we should go with the Epic list?  yes.

I don't have anyone to play against, and vassal doesn't want to cooperate on my computer (since I'm not the admin, I can't make it work).  I'd be more than happy to test the effect of removing the APGM.  Just remember that when you cut units that exist to fill specific army weaknesses, you are cutting all the Aux, not just APGMs.

Kroot are the forward-deployed CC specialists.
Vespid are fast, FF/CC jump troops
Human Aux are the guys to HOLD ground while the Fire Warriors take it (or remove the enemy from it).

All of those exist to fill a hole in the Tau list, either at the 40k or the Epic level.  If we're going to remove units that don't fit the army 'vision,' expect to see a possibly unplayable list because it has so many holes in the design.

=====
Did I miss a revision to the Tau list?  my PDF of the 5.1 rough has Tetras at AP5+.  As a single Light Vehicle, they should be AP6+.  I'd accept AP5+ if they were treated as bikes or cavalry, not LV.  Where'd this Tetra AP4+ come from?

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 Post subject: Tau vs Infantry
PostPosted: Wed Jul 29, 2009 4:18 pm 
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Yes the Tetra has only a single Twin Pulse Rifle. AP6+ should be the maximum for it.

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