Good morning citizens of the Human Sphere! As you may know this upcoming september we have an huge update to the army and rules bringing the Spec-Ops mode to the game! But my 'Bluecoatsenses' is tingling in the sense that this update will be purely focused on getting the Spec-Ops mode fully rounded up... and sadly that will surely imply no significant balance pass for our boys in blue risking their cubes daily to make the circulars and space safe for all the human sphere citizens. So here is my own take on how I would make our beloved naval police up to maybe not New Wave or OSS standards, but just N5 base line. Assumptions of this theorical Balance Pass - Freeing up design space by removing those profiles that never have a model. This have the additional effect of removing profiles bloat - Reinforce the model and troop identity whenever is possible - Focus on making unused troops useful, not making what currently works better - This balance pass is solely centered on those units that are 'Starmada', without touching anything that belongs to either Torchlight Brigade or Vanilla O12. Gladius Team is therefore included in this revision. Bluecoats - Boarding Shotgun and Redfury profiles removed - Sixth Sense removed. - New costs: 11 points for the base line Bluecoat. 14 points for the submachine gun or Discoballer option. Logic: Sixth sense is one of those skills that are iconocally attached to the Bluecoat to fulfill its 'ever vigilant police officer' but in game reality is not doing much to a troop that is not intended to be use as a Hard Aro nor that is a hacker, and that really is performing a duty of corner guard for its base line profile. Removing Sixth sense bloat allow the troop to have a significant point drop cost, allowing it at last to become the 'to go' option for cheap linking, and making breathing space for list composition. Nyoka - Nyoka FO MR parachutist option removed - Nyoka RF Parachutist gaing FO and flash pulse. - Flash Pulse added to the FO FTO option - Mov changed to 6-2 - Shock CC weapon downgraded to CC weapon. - BS Attack (SR -1) removed. - Sekudroid added to the Nyoka Fireteam with the (Nyoka) Tag. - Hector removed from the Nyoka Fireteam - New Costs: 17 Points for the HRL FTO option, 20 Points for the FO option, 27 Points for the Red Fury Parachutist Option. Logic: Nyokas problem is that they're lagging behind a problem of being too expensive for a light infantry without them feeling premium at all. We are solving this with just removing the bloat enough to justify a 2 point cost reduction, and making their MOV matches their Bronze, along with sanitizing the Fireteam Options. Psi-cops - Biometric Visor option removed - KHD and Hacker options fused in a new profile: Psi-Cop (Hacker) with Combi Rifle, Nanopulser (+1B), Discoballer, Heavy Pistol, CC weapons, Equiptment Hacking Device with UPGRADE (Trinity) for 26 points. Logic: Psicops are mostly fine as they're, but it felt extremely torn of having to choose betweeen having a combat instict Hacker or Discoball option. Fusing the KHD and HD profiles into one makes them extremely slot efficient, although costly. Crushers - LRL profile removed - E/M CC Weapon downgraded to CC Weapon. - Deployable Cover and Minelayer added to all non combat jump profiles. - New Costs: SMG option 21 points, Combat Jump profile 23 points, MR option 27 points. Logic: The E/M CC weapon bloat has been lagging down the Crushers since its inception. The capacity of having MI NWI specialists midtable for the Forward Deployment options have been always double hit by this bloat, along no innate marker state. We are now keeping the non marker state, but adding an interesting 'siege/demolitionist' capacity of being able to have their own cover no matter where are they deployed due to the minelayer deployable cover. Making them being able to see the combat field with new eyes. Lawkeepers - Special case of no removing any profile due the current pistol miniature being the proxy of all of them by intention. - Climbing Plus added to all profiles, including the sidebots. - Dodge (Reroll) added - MULTI pistol downgraded to Kobra pistol. - Costs remain the same for all profiles. Logic: It feels extremely bad that the natural teammates (OKO, Roadbots) of the lawkeeper had climbing plus, when they don't have it themselves. And roadbots mobility form have proved that Starmada knows how to make bike tires that holds onto any surface! N5 Climbing plus implies, along the bike rule, that they can only use the MOVE unto Vertical surfaces as horizontal surfaces part of Climbing Plus, as they're still unable to declare CLIMB with a bike. But now they can finally push buttons and accomplish missions on buildings, so the specialist operative part doesn't feel like bloat. This, along with Dodge (Reroll), which is a rule that in my own opinion all 'neurokinetica' bikes should have, opens up their intended game line of Move + Dodge as a first order to get into a favorable position for the upcoming Move + Shoot order. Jackboots - Paramedic option removed - HMG option removed (as the spitfire model is more aligned to the Thunderbolt one) - NWI added to all profiles - BS Attack (SR -1) removed - Costs remain the same for all profiles Logic: Making them a resiliant 1.5 troop, by trading up their lethality, feels much better for their kit: combat instict, religious troop, Inmunnity (Enhanced). And now they can perform much better their role as premium ARO with an possible active duty option. Bronzes - HSG and HMG option removed - NWI added. - Warhorse added. - Heavy Riotstopper added to Red Fury profile. - (Bronze) tag added to Knight of Santiago FTO for the Bronze Fireteams. - Costs remain the same for all profiles. Logic: Making the Bronzes literally jackboots on steroids, by putting them on 2.5 wounds and warhorse on top of that, reinforces their role as tanks, compensating their mediocre BS for a HI and no visual mods. Are they costy? indeed. But they become extremely reliable and hard to remove. Sarko - Boarding pistol added to all profiles - Decoy (1) added to all profiles - Boarding Shotgun swapped to submachine gun in all profiles. - Costs remain the same for all profiles. Logic: The N5 changes of Boarding shotgun left all the sarkos without their needed direct template forks. We are recovering this, along with a very well needed extra layer of uncertainty with decoy (1) for increase survival and mid table control. Casanova - SMG upgraded to AP SMG - Martial Arts upgraded to L3 - Costs remain the same for all profiles Logic: Casanova is almost perfect as it is in its current incarnation. We are just giving it back some teeth that he lost on the SMG change of N5, and making his already good melee capacity into really scary by pumping his MA just enough so he gains a +1SD. And thats it! I will make a Vanilla o12 Balance Pass further in the future. And who knows... maybe there is a real balance pass upcoming and maybe I was right on my predictions!
