I bought my new classified deck yesterday and I discover quite a few thing : - the new classified deck is in 2 part : a 20 cards deck "standard" and a 20 cards deck "extreme" (same illustration but the background color changes) - as a result, each new objectives appears only once (vs 4 times in the previous one) - as the result, the numerical value of the objectives (for intelcom is some mission) now only goes up to 20 (vs 40 previously) I think it changes how important specialist will be regarding classified objectives, all moving from 8 cards (2 objectives) out of 40 to 3 cards (3 objectives) out of 20. So on a 1 classified mission, you have a little less luck that your specialist will be useful but in exchange others will be able to do classified.It should be good for army that lack multiple different specialist (Ariadna FO army). And you, what's your opinion about these new classified ? PS : small question : in mission without datatracker, are you allowed to choose one to do the nanoespionnage classified ?
I think the Extreme mode favors high order count armies because the rolls are harder, which I'm generally not a fan of. It also favors random luck.
for me it's quite hard to tell, as I always struggled completing classifieds before as Morat, now, when classified scenario are even more complex, I think I'll have even less chances of completing them. Don't even want to get into the extreme territory.
I'm quite baffled with the "Extreme Mode". Calling it a "do it twice for it t count once" would have been simpler, cleaner... and save 20 cards.
Extreme mode strikes me as something made for shits and giggles casual play, not to be taken seriously. I like the new classifieds overall. IMO having 20 unique cards is alot better, and limiting the points value to 20 and making some cards worth multiple points makes intelcom much much less of a no brainer on certain missions which is a huge improvement.
I'm not a huge fan of the Extreme mode. More orders for the same amount of OP?! Seems not worth it. Plus, the "X-TREMEEEE" Mode is just do something one more time than normal. Kinda lame. Like Mapping... I would have Touch one building then make Base 2 Base contact with your HVT. Make a WiP+3 roll to "transfer data". As for the scoring, I would make ALL Extreme Mode +1 OP if you are not already at 10 OP. I like the amount of single Missions, just not a fan of Extreme Mode.
It definitely shifts the importance of certain types of specialists, particularly for those players who like to build smaller lists with more individually powerful units. In particular, when you compare specialists by the number of classifieds a single trooper can complete there are some surprising new stand-outs. Zoe is still top of the heap (she can complete 16 out of 20 by herself), and you might guess that old standbys Dr. Worm and Sophie would be right behind her, but right behind Zoe at 14/20 are actually HI/MI hackers that are veteran or elite or have visors: Asura, Father Knight for HI, and for MI troops like Yaogat, Druze, Djanbazan, Nisse, BaghMari, Intruder. Combined with the deployment bonuses for MI, they become very attractive all-around specialists. 4 out of the 20 can be completed by anyone, which is double the previous percentage. I'm not a statistics expert (@Chronowraith ) but my gut tells me that drawing 1 card from a pool of 20 vs drawing 1 card from a pool of 10 is going to have impact on how you ought to build lists, but Im not sure how to go about measuring it. Neat stuff.
Extreme is not my favourite, but in general? Seems pretty cool. I used to build my lists to be able to complete any classified and I probably need to reconsider whether that's necessary or indeed what it might require these days. For example, do I really need a Najjarun in Hassassins if I have no REMs?
I tend to go for a more relaxed approach to classifieds. If you factor Secure into the mix you are pretty likely to get one you can do with any old list in a 2 classified mission. In a single classified situation you gain that extra redundancy, but I frequently don't worry to hard on the classified then unless I am obviously going to lose and want to salvage as much as possible.
Secure hvt is extremely easy in my mind on top of there are normally actions that can get me a lot more points. So outside of highly classified where that is the actual point, I pick specialists because I want them to actually do that job (like hackers or engineers in a heavy rem list, or doctors with important models with wounds). Or I pick specialists to push buttons and dont ever really care that they can accomplish classified XYZ. I don't want a forward observer in most cases to forward observer anything, just push that button that gives me 6 objective points. So the new classified deck had made this easier as there are more cards that I can accomplish without a specific type of specialist, i wasn't bringing anyways.
