Here is some more info from the comment section in case you missed it.
Quote:
It was James Hewitt I chatted to and he was willing to divulge quite a lot of information and was clearly excited on the topic (as was I!). I'm still recalling things as I managed to collar him for nearly 30 minutes! Allow me to expand a few points. Be advised that he was describing early playtest rules. He's only played it internally with 3 man team. He's currently frantically printing out paper models for an expanded playtest across GW. So bear that in mind:
Like previous Epic versions, it's currently an alternative activation system instead of UGOIGO
The plasma tracker
The plasma tracker was very interesting. Each Titan will have a certain amount of power they generate per turn. They then use the power to move, fire weapons, do damage control and repair voids. There's currently an overload mechanic whereby you can increase the power they generate to do additional actions. However, overtaxing the reactor carries risks, though he didn't expand on the risks.
Titan Datasheets
He described each Titan as having its own unit card with stats (move, turns etc.), plasma power tracker, damage track and weapon hard points. He seemed to be describing a hybrid of 1st Edition (weapon hard points, stats and refits) and 2nd Edition Titan datasheets (hit location and critical damage tables).
An expanded description of his playtest
He described a typical Warlord as having 4 inch movement and a single 90 degree turn. Warhounds having an 8 inch movement and could make two 90 degree turns. In his playtest, he described the final turn with only 1 Warlord facing off against 2 Warhounds, with everything else disabled or destroyed. One Warhound distracted him to the front, and took down the Warlords last remaining Voids. The Warlord then returned fire and blew it away. But, crucially, failed his reactor overload and was not able to take an additional turn to face the other, hidden, Warhound with his thicker frontal armour. This left his rear, and the vulnerable reactor housing, exposed and unshielded. On the Warhound’s turn, it moved out and fired on the rear of an unshielded Warlord and breached its reactor!
Machine Spirit Personalities
This is something that, as he described, was hinted at in the background but something that he'd like to explore within the game. I think ideas are still being developed, but he wanted to give Titan's their own personalities, for example the close-combat equipped Titan turning into a berserker. The idea being that you try to issue the Titan an order but the Machine Spirit, feeling more than a little rage as a result of doing far too much close combat and not having any rest, starts exerting its influencing on the Princeps! He mentioned that during campaigns, you'll want to rest Titans as they become mentally burnt out and start developing undesirable personalities.
Game types
He described the default game as Campaign games and used Necromunda as an example - you have a roster and for a game, you choose entries from your roster. Between games, you can apply for refits and your crews gain experience. Ejecting heads were mooted as an example of the Princeps and Moderatii being able to survive the destruction of their Titan. He described that, similar to Age of Sigmar, they're also planning to have an open play and competitive play option as well for those who just want to plop down some Titans and just have at it.
Background
He really wants to codify Titans. He's currently been scouring archives and has got a lot of material including Jes Goodwin’s ancient sketches.
The future
He got very excited when I mentioned Psi-Titans!
Imperator Titans would only appear if the game proves to be popular.
I asked about Banelord Titans and vehicles. Again, it's all about popularity.
However, he is writing the rules engine so that they are able to add in vehicles or infantry without requiring a whole new set of rules to be written. He described the jarring effect of Titans and Infantry needing two sets of rules in previous games and it's something that he definitely wants to avoid.
Personally, I'd feel better if FFG were writing the rules, but so far everything sounds like an evolution of the original Titanicus and it was a fun game to play! Also, Forge World does great work with mini designs, so updated miniatures is great news in my books. I am excited about this release and looking forward to seeing if it will be any good. I am a little worried that the rules will be a little clunky or unbalanced however.
For me buying in will hinge on the rules and minis. IF both are good I'm in. If one or the other sucks I'm out.
