I'd say we're staring into the abyss too much, but this is the forum, so I shouldn't be surprised. Anyway, as much as I'd like to see Bipandra rebalanced, I'd say SAA characters need it just as much.
Yeah. And while I know that Singh is perfectly playable, I'd like to get a combination of skills that works together, not against each other.
Konstantinos is really effective and quite cool. He's good in a firefight, he can complete the mission, he adds a lot to a link team or as a solo infiltrator. Bipandra sucks. She's just really inefficient and also dull.
If I was going to fix her, mind, I'd take a Fusilier, give it +1 BS, +1 PH, +1 WIP and +3 BTS to represent her superior training and experience, add a Light Shotgun, Doctor, V: Courage and Stealth, just because they're cheap and have a degree of flavour which makes her characterful, point that up and let her go. Now she adds a bit of short range firepower and flexible specialist quality to a Fusilier team, she is clearly some sort of cool special forces type who sneaks around completing dangerous missions, and she'll probably cost about the same as now, but with more utility and personality. And then for an alternative profile, Infiltration, SMG instead of Combi+LSg, Nimbus Grenades and a Panzerfaust. Hunter-killer Bipandra, punches above her weight.
Go here: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/forums/aleph.26/ You know, it started here: https://forum.corvusbelli.com/threads/dire-foes-rework-bipandra-and-konstantinos-pano-edition.1564/ But WIP14 is unique enough for PanO! Check how well it serves in KotHS! Oh wait.... What makes him good in Firefight ?o0 (or to be precise, what makes him better at firefight than other DF or even simple TOFOOS ?)
...MSV2, Mimetism, linkable? Like are you serious? No other dire foe gets that. Not even close. Tharysmedes gets ODD but no MSV, Lupe gets Mimetism. Konstantinos is a quality firefight guy.
Yeah, I don't get it too. Konstantinos is perfectly fine. Sure, he's no HI, but both linkable and infiltrating versions are good. And eciu, most of the time PanO is perfectly fine, if a bit boring. The biggest problems are with the few obviously underwhelming units, and the general overlap of HI roles in MO. And even there Hospitallers, Santiagos and Montesas are fine. Sepulchre, F-Ks and especially Teutons could use some changes.
Sorry, was thinking you are refering to infiltration version. Again, nowhere had I said than Koni is bad (only slightly expensive, and there's bit of redundancy between combi and assault pistol). Again, nowhere had I say that PanO in general is underperforming (my struggle with MO is quite different thing), but few of the things could be really spiced up (again it's not a wish for any kind of buff to Swiss or Fusilier/Regulars). You know what I write good enough probably ;) I thought that my thoughts in MO review (quite lengthy tbh and probably could use some better writing ;/) are exactly same.
I got the wrong impression from the post, then ;) I really hope they'll spice it up, as you say. I've stopped having fun with MO and vanilla to the point of starting to sell it off on DS. SAA on the other hand is still as fun to play as ever, even more after HSN3.
(For the lack of Comic Sans have some cursive Courier New. For anyone who wasn't around on the old forum, we used to take Comic Sans for that kind of thing, namely whenever someone felt the need to be a bit sarcastic.... but just a teeny-tiny bit.) With troops as outstanding in their field as the Akalis, the Blackfriar MSR, ... ...and the universally loved AVA1 Superstar of Engineering - none else than the glorious Machinist. Now even better thanks to the well received Tech Bee. There have been remarkably few complaints within the PanO community about specific Troops and Profiles. I mean take a look at the Tohaa, YJ and Aleph communities, you'll have a hard time not stepping on a complaint about yet another dead Profile there, ridiculous! But don't quote me on that, I might be suffering from a pretty severe case of distorted perception of reality. Not that it would matter, PanO was a mistake anyway. I'm sure CB overly bloated almost all Dire Foe Characters outside of PanO with distinctly useful and interesting equipment and Skills to prevent the WAAC guys from using these fluffy additions to the game. Now that we have established there are only a FEW obviously underwhelming PanO units, I'm inclined to agree that the adequatly gunned and lean Konstantinos is great stuff we should be thrilled to have in our collection of Mimetic Visor troops. Tune in next week to discuss why the ORC AHD is the greatest Specialist there ever was and how he singelhandedly makes the Orc Haris amazing! Good talk everyone, thanks for listening.
Don't forget that other factions have their own underperforming troops. Mobile Brigada (and especially the hacker), Patroclus (because holoechoes are ruled badly), Zanshis, Shanjis... funny enough except for Janissaries, all the counterparts of the ORCs in all factions are considered as bad designed and rarely used. And if I remember well, McGregor isn't played a lot too.
Patroclus is amazing though Isobel McGregor is also really good. She can complete hacker classifieds, she's inexpensive and she has either a T2 Rifle or an Assault Pistol, both of which are useful if you add her and a Highlander Grey HMG to a cheap Volunteer link (the Grey deals at long range, she kicks ass at closer range).
If I had understood correctly thats what Bostria said during LVO (I'm almost 100% positive on mission rework, and 80% positive on character rework). If I'm not mistaken it all will be part of 1 book (is it same book with some additional NA2 we don't know yet).
The Shang ji's problem is why would you ever take it when you have the option of Zuyong or Wu Ming. It's not bad, it's just Wu Ming and Zuyong are practically identical for fewer points. All it needs is an interesting Haris link option in IA to see the table. New model wouldn't hurt either.
Take into account the fact, that by now vanilla factions are incredibly bloated and there will be clearly better or worse units in there. Troops that are very good in sectorial might be underwhelming when compared to their counterpart from another one. What's more, some units are rebalanced more thoroughly than others. For example basic HIs are left mostly unchanged, but more specialized ones are getting a closer look. Shang Ji are perfectly playable and have their strenghts when compared to competitors - higher stats, common DTWs. Zu Yongs are simply cheaper. Wu Mings have multiple interesting and unique toys - they've got nicely rebalanced, after all. All in all I don't see comparing units in vanilla as useful. I much prefer comparing them in sectorials.
