The thing about the Hackable trait of the Echoes, their ability to use Stealth or not and the ODD thing with Patroclus. You had already a topic in the Rules part and it popped that thing could be way clearier than it is now. Maybe it is easy to understand for spanish speakers but as I play with the english and french set of the rules, those really lack precision for those language.
Ah, so just the Hackability of Holo1? Stealth and ODD aren't ambiguous as far as the rules are concerned - the decoy Holoechoes don't have Stealth so will trigger ZoC AROs, and ODD MODs will be found out in the Resolution step of the Order, by which time you already have a very good idea if the targeted Holoecho is Patroclus based on whether he reacted or not.
No, Hackable and Holo2. Holo1 is very clear but nothing about Holo2 except two examples that let me only guess that maybe Stealth can't be replicated by Echoes while the Hackable trait is, this time, replicated. As for Patroclus, sorry but there is a need of an FAQ. In the french logical language, the same sentences could be used to say both ODD is replicated and not...
I can't remember if I mentioned this but I'd take Jammers off the 5pt Ghazi. They're stupidly overpowered with them. Hell I probably wouldn't allow a WB profile to have Jammers+DTWs period.
Finally reading the thread on KHD+(insert other HD here)... would it break the game to change the way hacking works? Instead of declaring a certain program as a skill, have it more like a weapon where you declare the use of the particular HD and then choose from a program like ammo? Seems to me that would be more logical, more in line with how the rest of the game works, and shouldn't really change how coordinated hacking would work that much. While we're at it, change all deployable equipment to be under one skill unless there's some compelling reason to not allow coordinated mine drops of different types of mines...
While we are on topic of markers and stuff, I would like to see some changes making sure less private info is revealed as long as whatever causes that info to be private is still in play (markers, off-table deployment etc.). Granted, for me it was never a problem to have a third party around for a such thing to be doable, but it could be a problem otherwise. Giving them Jammer/EMarat Odalisque style could be a start. The only problem with changing them heavily is that I think HB relies on them a bit too much for things others cannot do reasonably well.
Interesting, could you provide a few examples of what you mean? One would argue that if they rely so much on having large number of Jammers, then they would fall apart in some other situations (such as facing Druze Bayram or Morat Agression, the latter whom their Fiday perform worse against). Maybe that's a sign that other parts of the sectorial needs to be strengthened elsewhere? It would be interesting to see what would happen if Muttas Chain Rifle profile were to suddenly go extinct, leaving them with the BSG profile only.
Then you would have no one else to play with. If they would remove sectoral they could quit the game. Think about that.
Not that it does anything in practical terms. We're touching another relevant topic here, btw: mostly redundant classification of units and also nested rules which could use some situational "de-nesting". Well, some players seem to agree with the notion that HB is a mix of few exceptional units (like Ghazis or Fidays) mixed with pretty average stuff that can adequately fill certain roles but that's it. On Ghazis, I wouldn't say they are completely negated by Isolation immunity. Being smoke-throwing running E/Maulers / Mines is already good enough for their points. Whether HB as a whole fares well in those MUs, I don't really now. Isn't MAF considered a "struggle army" itself in the first place? You'll probably see HB with about 1-2 orders less, I think :D On a side note, on units like Ghazis (low BS, Impetuous) BS is almost a worse weapon than CR even before we consider point costs.
May I ask why? Actually, that's my entire issue with them. They are NOT Warbands! Warbands usually have high CC and PH, often with either Smoke Grenades or Chain Rifles almost always some level of Fury. The Ghazi just doesn't fit into that category, he fits more into the category of a Kuang Shi, who's essentially an Extremely Impetuous Caledonian Volunteer. To me, the Ghazi became vomit-inducingly broken when they gave them Smoke Grenades for no apparent reason! Which isn't justified at all, because they do not fit the formula of a Warband that tosses smoke.
We played with that for a time, i'm not sure i want to see it again ... Yes, DA CCW are antimaterial, but so are missile launchers. "first order: i destroy that wall, second order i destroy the one who was hidding behind it" is not really fun when you're on the receiving side.
Yes, but it would still be interesting to see how much some 20 or so less points per list would affect whether people take more than 1 or 2. Come on, BS 11 isn't that low. That's average BS for non-Haqq, non-Pan-O basic troopers. It's not like the BS 9 Shaolin (who have several Combi AND BSG profiles) :p
You're not counting Impetuous, I'm afraid. That extra +3 to enemy rolls when you decide to use Ghazi as if it was some line trooper means your BSG turns basically into pistol for the purpose of winning FtF. Given that your dice have huge weight in Infinity, that might as well work... You're still only B2 though. That's before we start comparing with CR profile as a whole. Then you lose somewhat in terms of ability to trade with the piece which has trading as one of their selling points, as well as this hurts your anti-camo ability (something HB otherwise struggle with, btw; granted, ghazis are pretty stupid as anti-camo right now). Funny thing, the literal 100% cost increase combined with Ghazis mostly being useful for the rest of their kit (so, aside from their gun) are probably only things that keep me from saying "You could swap BSG and CR costs around and people would still take CR" with a completely straight face.
I'd like to see the cost calculator be revamped with knowledge gained over years of playtesting. It feels to me right now that the people that divined the original values of skills and attributes aren't the people designing new units. It feels the new approach to unit design is 'what is the most power I can squeeze out of this calculator?' which fundamentally breaks the costings for profiles. It feels like a shift in design philosophy, or maybe all the generic 'allrounder' units that can be made have been made, and now we're only left with options to min max stats in interesting ways? Camo, Dogged, Jammer, Impetutous, ARM and BS statistics, there aren't many instances in this game where it feels like the calculator is spitting out kind of weird values if you push the profiles far enough. Take a unit concept, min expensive stats then give it abilities and equipment that don't use that stat as for it not to be a drawback, max the one stat you want it to actually use, make it impetuous for a hefty points reduction, maybe irregular on an attack piece so you don't care about it, and suddenly you have a dirt cheap units that warp the game around them. I'd like to see the calculator be more intelligent, not use a static cost for all abilities and for some game defining abilities start to do clever adjustments based on the presence of other skills on a unit or overall unit cost.
