I'm not sure that they realise the extent to which this is true. There are a lot of us who will be pretty heavily influenced by what happens with Varuna. In my case it'd be really easy to put my time and effort into Aristeia! and the RPG rather than a wargame that isn't supporting the faction I am interested in playing.
But you are a Warcor, shouldn't u have a way to communicate with CB directly and translate some feedback to them?
I can be a WarCor for Aristeia! just as well (and it's a hell of a lot easier). But, yeah, don't worry that the WarCors haven't been providing feedback directly.
You were a Warcor before Aristeia released iirc :) So, correct me if i'm wrong: Warcors warned CB about PanO's problems but without any result?
Well, we got one profile totally re-written prior to release which was good. But a lot is riding on Varuna. Either our feedback has been taken to heart, or it hasn't. So we will see! I can't say that there's been a result yet, but it's also too soon to say that there's been no result.
Well, if I remember well what happened for the Tech-Bee, CB listened the PanO warcors. @barakiel said that she was worse than what we have now when she was revealed to the Warcors. Yes, she could be so much more than what she is but atleast CB can hear sometimes what is said. I'm waiting for Varuna to see if things are going to change. In any case, I won't stop to play PanO because I love this faction too much to do so but this will demonstrate if PanO is just the real faction that everyone likes to hate or not.
I've just realised that I haven't made a PanO purchase since Beyond Icestorm, after previously being a pretty voracious collector. It wasn't a conscious decision, just seems to have happened. I guess I'm in the "waiting for Varuna" boat too.
I'm also very interested in Varuna, but I don't know if it'll help older sectorials as well. Unless CB will get to them later on.
For me Beyond was my last purchase for PanO and in general. Now I might break with Vedic, but Im too very, very curious how Varuna will end up. (also bit curious if CB will even bother with resculping other MO stuff than ones which can be directly assosiated with Hospitaller Knights).
Give regulars some new profiles maybe? A.) Limited camo + infiltration version of the FO (same swc tax?) (and a KHD option maybe?) B.) Limited camo + infiltration version of minelayer option with drop bears (1SWC) C.) Limited camo + infiltration boarding shotgun regular w/ antipersonnel mines Maybe make it a new Acon unit altogether? PANO IS SAVED!
Hmm, a limited version of TO might be interesting (like limited Camo). Maybe on something with Forward Deployment rather than Infiltrate to restrict it's overall potential. To the Varuna speculation thread!
As I see it, what PanO lacks in skills it makes up for in equipment and weapons. I would love to have that design space expanded. Maybe the troops themselves are pretty meh... but the equipment they bring can make them shine. For example, the humble auxilia has little going for it but it sees a TON of play because it's a great platform for auxbots. More of that kind of stuff would be fun to see and not just in Varuna.
One can only hope at this moment. It would be shocking if they didn't. CB got the Joan, Fersen, Hospitallers & Magisters done which just leaves Santiagos to be resculpted since they are the other big link in MO. Montessa & Father Knights should be expanded next due to them being the Duo links of the sectorial. Agreed. The problem is that CB hasn't provided the tools/loadouts to bring that ideal across on the tabletop. Auxbots seem to be a great platform to bring many of these missing options to life. I hope they will listen to their WarCor's then. Otherwise why have the WarCor's give feedback if CB doesn't use or consider most of it? Considering what the Tech-Bee became I'm both grateful to the WarCors and a bit shocked at CB. To think they were going to release her as a worse unit then what we got is disconcerning to say the least. I'm now seeing how important Varuna is going to be to the faction as a whole. Didn't realize that this upcoming sectorial was a "make or break" moment for many of PanO's player base but looking at the whole picture has opened my eyes to Varuna's importance. Here is hoping for a great birthday present CB, in an exciting sectorial for the Big Blue.
For what it's worth, the Tech-Bee came out of playtesting as a 4pt Warcor/Tohaa Delegate-style unit, which had almost universally been liked by PanO players in several different metas, mainly as another cheap Flash Pulse ARO, Regular Order via Joan and a disposable button-pusher. The Warcor reception was somewhat... different. Personally I still prefer the original version, as I'm not a fan of Remote Assistance as a rule type.
@Golem2God Well, I remember a thread in the old forum which was from HSN2. I wouldn't even thought that PanO was the today Tunguska or OSS. At that time, Mech deployement was Haqq only and ODD the Nomad thing, while Yu-Jing was the only one to have a lot of HI choices. Then MO came with a lot of HI from whom there was specialists (and a Doctor to add to the pain) and mech deployed ones. And our Armbots were there too with ODD or Mech deployment. Suddenly all that was the exclusive possession of a faction shifted here and there. Now, with N3 and HSN3, CB seemed to chill itself about infuse a lot of power just by updating some sectorials. A lot of PanO players on this forum just don't stop to cry over Black Friar and Locust but they are both the example of CB giving us what @xammy said PanO should be : soldiers with a ton of equipment and few skills instead of few equipments and a ton of skills. But we'll never reach the sillyness of CA, Aleph or Nomads. Just because we are supposed to have an army with soldiers relying on each other instead of a bunch of guys that are the Armory room themselves (look at Hector...). And to be honest, I find both Black Friar and Locusts excellent. They are not instabuy units and that's what I want from CB. Units strong but not obviously OP. @ijw : the thing is, that's not what we wanted from a unit with a fluff centered about maintenance and reparation. Remote Assistance is a bad idea, but the original one is even worse. If a technician specialized in reparation isn't even able to do something about it, what is the purpose?
Meh. I enjoy what PanO is and don't kill myself over what it isn't. I'll enjoy Varuna, and can understand if folks feel otherwise.
I think the techbee has great value for those 5 points. She can be a cheap ARO, a cheap specialist for when you need a lot of them, gives some improvement to the machinist (not a lot... But hey 5% is not so bad, I was happy to have her on some 13s I had), and that irregular order can be useful through command tokens or Joanne. But the miniature and concept... I still can't justify her presence in a battlefield. I just don't get it.
If the Black Friar and Locust are CB idea of patching the holes in Pano then thats just sad. If you want a high tech army, play another faction. Pano at best feels middle of the road just like Yu Jing. I'd prefer Black Frair with a Marksmen rifle over a Sniper Rifle. Without defensive mods its just better to use the unit on the active turn. But Pano doesn't get weapon diversity despite being the faction most focused on shooting.
