Changes to the Crit mechanic may add a lot more staying power to knights also. N4 might change the value of a lot of units, not just in terms of point cost, but in terms of rule interaction as well.
Considering there might be a junior Hospitaller with a possible close range weapon in some form similar, but not identical to Magisters, I think the area denial options might be decent. Simply spreading the link in a good way and covering corners, as you say backed by fusiliers, is miles better than what MO has right now. Especially if the low rank Hospitallers get the ability to function as a generalist link, with some kind of long range ARO.
N4 can change everything or nothing at this point we can say that ... we know nothing ... and it's very frustrating ^^
The knight of justice in the box appears to have a full tabbard unlike the current magister sculpt, so it is at least something different from them.
Throwing a smoke grenade, and then promptly slicing you in CC inside said smoke is very just and fair.
If CB bows to pressure of people complaining about ZoC aro issues, then knights are absolutley hosed for CC unless they get smoke.
*giggles We getting a knight of justice. lol How cheesy sounding, but hey at least its based on real life rankings.
Biggest concern about Sval so far is that we will see the N4 Orc and updated Crit Mechanics for the first time. That doesn't look like much, but I'm inclined to claim we'll see right there if CB agrees that big blocks of stats are underperforming or if a whole class of troops will continue to perform poorly throughout N4. Stats and costs of weapons related to HI - especially Rifles. Cost of a PH14, BS14, ARM4 trooper with no further synergy enhancing those stats, compared to a similar Hospitaler. Linkability will most likely not be in C1, so will have to wait for N4 to see how links change and if Wildcards and mixed Link options got a bit more sane. Fairly pessimistic about CB getting everything right to be honest, but that part would be pretty important to fix in my book. We'll see, hope dies last or so they say. There's going to be a lot of interesting stuff to play around with in either case. Wouldn't interpret too much into that. Santiago's are Wildcards and can join them. They can link without Teutons. They used to be able to link with Hospitalers and CB retconned that for some reason (probably because the old Hospitaler+Magister Link cast a shadow on any other choice) They only count as Teutons in game terms. Fluff says all Orders have Magisters, official colour scheme is Hospitaler Order etc.
Rumours say that N4 will not have all factions on release, leaving them completely unavailable for play. I'm certain that I will not be getting into Sval if the sectorials I already own and play get axed. From my perspective as a customer it's an unacceptable move. Will wait until N4 before buying, although I was expecting to even preorder Kaldstorm.
And why would you take such a rumor seriously? We know nothing about N4, so I'm not sure where this rumor comes from except player fears.
