Can't say I'm hugely keen on the idea of uncontrolled nids rampaging around the board in a predetermined fashion. It seems like it takes a lot of the tacical side of the game out, as well as not being hugely background representative, as most nids are more likely to stay in one place rather than charge. It would also require a huge amount of wording in a list that's already very overstuffed with special rules.

As a wild idea, how about something like "Formations without synapse creatures may only take the Engage or Hold order". It's essentially an extreme version of the initiative penalty, and gets rid of that tactical flexability you were worried about.

That is part of the reason I took the job of AC, to fix this. The special rules have gotten way out of hand and must be reigned in with something easier to both write and impliment on the gaming table.



An excellent suggestion. Maybe an Engage order toward the nearest enemy, or if that is not possible, a Double Move toward the nearest enemy?



I do not know if I would agree with this statement, having already used the idea on the gaming table. The tactical issues aren't lost, nor do they go away, they simply change. Yes the out of control formation is pretty much fixed into what it is going to do, but the rest of the Nid Army now has to change their tactics to take that into account. Tactical imperatives wouldn't change because of the fixed action swarm, instead a smart Nid player would build the rest of the armies tactics around what it is going to do. Like I had said it can become both good or bad.

As to the background, well depends on which codex you read really. Some say the Gaunts become mindless killers who continue to destroy and reak havoc, while others say they go to ground attacking only what comes near them. Some turn the bio-artillery into nesting platforms that fire at anything near them, while later versions have them moving to engage targets with fire. Depends really. Myself I want one mechanic to cover everything.

What I want is for the Nids to suffer some punishment for loss of synapse, but not to the extreme of losing the entire swarm outright. I also want Nid opponents to gain some reward for taking the synapse out, but it has to be worth the effort and another swarm simply pulling them back into control doesn't make the effort worth it.

As a side note Zombocom, I have a tendency to write very 'wordy' rules form the start in an attempt to make sure my intent gets across to the playtesters. In the end they always get paired down to something more reasonable.

Again very good suggestion Zombocom I like it, cheers
Jaldon

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I like the instinctive behaviour thingy. But i would use it in addition to the initiative penalty and not allow an auto-pass of the action test.
This would represent somekindof Herd Instinct. Sometimes the more agressive creatures run towards some food (Engage, Double, March) and the shooty creatures are inclined to follow them. Sometimes the shooty creatures stay where they are and the other creatures continue to just stay around near them (Advance, Sustain).
Sometimes there is an equilibrium between them and they just stay where they are or wander slowly in some common direction without actually attacking anything (Hold, Marshal).


Edit: See below

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I think the direction the community would like to see the list taking with regards to merge mechanics and other special rules is clear from the polls, just divided on what implementation to use in most cases.

The proverbial cage has already been turned upside down with the special rule tweaks from the variant lists, I don't think we need to do it again to vet another round of ideas. The reason being that the variants have already seen some form of playtesting and if we are to start anew it seems all the earlier shaking was for naught.

I'd rather a mechanic be chosen from one of the variant lists or 9.2.1 where the polls were divided then start trying to implement something completely new that hasn't seen any testing.

I can't answer for the others but Onachus has seen over 25 playtests at this point with its flavor of the special rules. They're not perfect but a lot of the loop holes have been noted in the past two/three weeks thanks to all this discussion and can be addressed. I'm sure Z and A feel the same way about their lists.

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@AoC: Hmph. I got the examples a bit mixed up. I shouldn't write while i want to got to bed.

Here the correct posting:

I like the instinctive behaviour thingy. But i would use it in addition to the initiative penalty and not allow an auto-pass of the action test.
This would represent somekind of Herd Instinct. Sometimes the more agressive creatures run towards some food (successful Action Test: Engage, Double) and the shooty creatures are inclined to follow them possibly causing some confusing (failed Action Test: Hold with Move). Sometimes the shooty creatures stay where they are which would confuse the more agressive creatures but the Herd Instinct would keep them around (failed Action Test: Hold with Shooting).
Sometimes there is an equilibrium between them and they just stay where they are without actually attacking anything (failed Action Test: Hold with removing Blastmarker).

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Welli don't know what Instinctive Behaviour would have to do with Merging as it is a totally different subject.

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I would like to see Instinctive Behaviour together with Merge (wich should be part of a Marshal action of a Synapse-led Swarm).

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No. The Swarm with Synapses has to carry out the Marshal action in order to pick up the Instictive Swarm.
The Instinctive Swarm can do nothing than trying to Engage or Double if nothing is in range.

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I would say: pass action test for Marshal -> Move/Shoot -> Merge -> Remove Blastmarkers

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