this would be my point as well. If you read any of the Onachus playtests, you'll see that tag teaming 2 swarms (double, fire, retain, assault, support) is something Dave does alot and I don't remember reading a failed activation affecting his doing this.

That combo and setting up for the following turn are pretty critical to 'nids, especially in the Onachus list. With SR1 getting strategy is always an uphill battle, you need to setup multiple threats for the next turn otherwise your opponent will just deal with you before you can come in. Also, without the 1/2 gaunts rule as a crutch the 'nid player definitely needs to prep assaults and go in with support otherwise the lack of armor saves is going to murder them in the assault resolution.

I agree with Zombo on the +1 thing, and the poll is definitely showing a trend for a 1+ initiative (with the different bonuses after that all over the place, granted).

In the fluff the Shadow of the Warp (their comms system) drowns everything out. I think the Hive Mind should have player-level view of the battlefield. It's getting real-time information from millions of sources and communicating with them just as quick. Its control of the battlefield seems to mimic a gamer playing an RTS to me.

Re: my failed activations. They do happen, they're usually glossed over in the reps however because I'm going by pictures of what happened instead of a written report.

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Squats 2019-10-17

Actually, I would suggest that the Nids ought to be more like IG:- grinding forward in huge numbers rather than having the finesse to set up 'clipping assaults' etc.

The point is that while it may have a wider grasp of the overall strategic position, the hive mind is generally commanding swarms to move to locations while the bonuses are there to represent more instinctive reactions to local situations (engage). The bonus on Rally is there to ensure the 'wall' of Nids effect and no other.

Consequently I would much prefer the +2 bonus approach on a 2+ Init (or even possibly +3 bonus on 3+ init) with a rule that Nids do not get a BM for failing their initiative test.

I don't doubt this is true, but it begs the question of whether that should be true. I don't know how it feels in play, but if the goal is a horde, attrition force then requiring coordinating multi-pronged attacks doesn't sound like it would fit.

When you put it like that, then yes, I agree it doesn't fit. But what if you spin it as the bugs are everywhere? Hordes are moving up in mass, the closest to the enemy are tearing into them while those not so close are laying as much fire as they can. That's a description just as plausible for the double/support/assault combo.

A 1+ initiative can just as easily be abstracted to represent two formations in a huge army acting as a single formation, as it can troop training and quality.

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Squats 2019-10-17

Agreed. The question is how it feels in play.

Care to give the variant a spin or two then to get the feel for it?

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Squats 2019-10-17

I've done lots of slow, multi-formation coordinated assaults and never felt like it was one big formation.

I'll try to get a game or two in this weekend but I'm also doing a first pass edit on the recently-converted army compendia so I might not get to it.

So...

60% favor a 1+ base of some kind with no clear preference among those choices.
40% favor the 9.2.1 2+ base.

I think that's close enough that it needs an AC to make the call.

Well, I still really like the 1+ init, the "shooting incentive" effect should IMHO be dealt with at swarm composition / units statline level.
The tyranid are not supposed to have anything against shooting, they just usually ain't that well developed /good at it. The very high init, specially combined with a high penalty for synapse-less swarm (I think I voted -3) look like a simple and effective way of representing things. (the all-seing conscience of the hive mind). Keep in mind that while tyranid are supposed to fight as horde, they also are depicted as showing, specially on a global level, acute awareness of the battlefield and an uncanny ability to act as a perfectly coordinated unrelenting force.

Having a base init, penalty/bonuses depending on the action, then again another system to manage synapseless and such effects would be cumbersome, and really the bonus/malus system is starting to be used in half the list and I don't think it's that good of a system. I am confident that the simpler 1+ init / synapse less penalty is worth play-testing.

Wouldn't it sound like a good development principle to test the simplest rule first ?