Get back in order! Also I do not gt why you assume Montesa just mass migrated to Varuna, you understand there are more than a few members of Montesa and they can have multiple postings like most other orders right?
Oh thanks, forgot to mention why Cover is enabled/disabled in each situation. If the Montesa leaves Cover to get into CC (without Assault) you can usually move right next to the target and catch it outside of Cover. You also might have the option to keep using cover yourself while doing that. Using the same spot you would usually be in when you go for CC neither party has cover though. For the Montesa against the Croc in SF you'll have to assume to be within 4" but behind Total Cover for CC to be anywhere close to viable in that situation. Being that close means you can use the Chaincolt from Partial Cover and that would probably be the ideal way to handle the situation. Alternatively catching the SF guy out of Cover while in Cover yourself gives you the option to make it a FTF. Not a great one, but still better than CC. Staying in Cover with a Chaincolt might also cause the Croc to Dodge in which case you can oppose with your higher Burst. Moving into CC, you'll eat the SF without the defensive layer of Cover, you can still use the Chaincolt but you could have done that from Cover to begin with. Using the Chaincolt from Cover in exchange for a 47% to take a wound (and a 9% to take 2) would probably be the ideal course of action as it has the highest odds to get rid of the Croc or SF(Dodge/Guts) if you have to face him frontally for some reason. That is if moving outside of ZOC to use Cautious Move past the Crocs front Arc and shooting him in the back or outranging SF is impossible. Point is you're pretty fucking desperate in the one case where CC with a Montesa against a TO/ODD in Cover and SF is your best option. It has to be very close, but you can't negate it's cover, sneak past it or outrange it while also not being able to use the Chaincolt. None of those examples even had the -3 for Assault included. With that the Knight would be even worse off. I don't blame Assault for the Montesa being bad at CC, his whole CC utility is just questionable next to BS14 and the Chaincolt to begin with. You only get a better FTF in one niche situation you should be able to solve in a better way, I'd rather save the points. Now if he had MA1 that whole situation is different. Not because you get a better FTF in CC though. Instead you'd take Stealh's feature to use Cautious Move in ZOC to move in the Croc's back and shoot him against a Change Facing. Proper CC is great if it gives you a massive advantage in a favourable situation. For reference running a CC troop frontally frontally into a Croc in SF isn't favourable. 3 dice in ARO against you or often worse, a Mine in case of a Croc, isn't great. Using Smoke, Recloak, ZOC Cautious Move/Marker State Move-Move into the back arc.... if the Montesa was actually good at CC he could do any of those on top of having a decent FTF. CC isn't just about the raw MODs. How a CC troop handles SF might even be a good indicatior on if it's any good at it's job as a rule of thumb.
I don't think Knights fit with the background of PanO overall, but I've made my peace with it. CB says that PanO's MO are hugely significant and okay. HI Bikes, with CC ability, are something unique and cool that I think will be awesome for Varuna and PanO overall though.
I think that Montesas on bikes is indeed a strange choice, while, as many of you have stated, there are more Orders that could benefit from then, or more fitting units that also are more in tune with the theme of the Varuna, I'm thinking Santiagos and Guardas. Really, Guardas on AI motorcycles seem like the natural evolution of the Guarda de Assalto, that would compensate the loss of their speed bump due to N3 while manteining their flavour. AI Bike could substitute the less than reliable auxbot and still feel at home in a rapid response army. That said, I can't wait to see what PanO Bikes look like and what are going to be the shortcomings of a sectorial that, at the moment, seems to have it all.
Swearing is just a bad habit and second nature in English. My apologies. Mentioning that the Chaincolt and the requirement for CC to be in 4" are part of the calculations wouldn't have hurt either. Now that that is out of the way, do you really maintain facing TO/ODD in SF is a situation where the Montesa can expect to get good use out of his CC over the Chaincolt? For some more perspective a Swiss Guard going for CC with Surprise Attack outperforms the Montesa in the same situation. Yes he is slightly better off using CC over a BS Attack FTF under the worst possible circumstances in a bad situation. TO in SF and Cover 4" away without a chance to flank while still claiming cover. Great. As far as I am concerned that sounds a lot like an edge case where you're out of choices. Rather than what is good you pick the least terrible choice, which probably still is the Chaincolt. Even for bloat that is quite terrible utility.
My theory craft for knight bikes 6-4 or 8-2(slightly slower than normal bikes due to being heavier) CC 24 BS 14 PH 13 WIP 13 arm 3 BTS 3 w 2 S2 ava 3 mimitism or even ODD, assault (honestly id buff assault in general to just needing ZoC, its rare to have zoc-line of sight-not dying to the ARO trying to set it up), extreme impetuous (deus vult charge), multi terrain (hover bike so has some sense using it in varuna and jungle) loadouts eclipse smoke grenade launcher, combi rifle, chain colt 2x chain colts red fury CC weapon- Explosive (lances) so basically slightly raise his CC, or buff the assault to beserk so he can use +6 if he wants
there is no hover tech in Infinity in my knowledge, for the bike it might be the ALEPH one with little modifications
I remember Astartes used to have hover bikes then the Horus Heresy happened. The Dark Angels have the last operable one I believe. I'd be surprised and a bit happy if the bike does indeed hover about.
The Meteor might work off hovertech, but we do have hoverbikes IRL. Sort of. That tech is a good 8000-20,000 years ahead of Infinity. Inb4 some pointy-eared guys swoop in with hoverbikes everywhere.
Why in hell do you speak about spesss marinn ^^ ALEPH have the best tech and PanO build it so imo we cant expect having better toy in PanO than ALEPH
Hover-tech as in hovercraft? I'm damn sure it does exist. Whether it is practical in a motorbike application, is another matter. I guess not: hovercraft lack any contact with the surface, so you maneuver them much like air vehicles. Meaning, they can't count on drag and the like to make sudden direction changes. Which, in turn, means they're not agile at all. Nope. The trick is - the top-end PanO-made gear that Aleph does use is far too expensive for PanO to equip their own army with. Aleph, by contrast, uses very, very few pieces of said high-end gear, so they can afford that.
Those are just jet bikes, at least they use jet engines for propulsion, no real explanation on how they hover, maybe more jets, maybe magic ? Some of the sm stuff supposedly uses magnetic repulsion vs the planets magnetic core, which is ridiculous
Personally I hate having to pay for CC skills on knights. I just accepted it as a flavor tax. The real advantage and use of assult imo is for closing distance with a ftf and getting something out of the way for the turn.
I really really hope that the bikes are choppers like the Kum or Pinup Penny. While the sleek cyberpunk bikes are great for Aragotos and Aleph, I feel like Knights on crotch rockets would look real strange. Having them all hunched forward doesn’t seem comfortable in power armor, I’d rather them be leaning back on a chopper style bike.
