I am curious how valuable/balanced other Pano players think a "Deployment ( Suppressive Fire)" skill would be. How much, if anything would you pay for it on a profile? Does it need to be coupled with x-visor or MSV profiles to get good value or is that too much? As I see it, our go-to corner guards are flame throwers and shotguns, which is common but ignores our "theme" in my opinion. I would aim this proposal to give units like Fusiliers, Orcs or Black friar Multi-Rifle a role in defense but ideally as a side-grade not an upgrade in defense (per cost). Concerns I have with my own idea: Fireteams and Active pieces would get minimal value. Anything with a combi is more more expensive than a flash pulse and may be better off hiding. Finally, the many options for pressuring a non-shoot ARO, including just being a camo token would impact it, but I'm optimistic that just means the price would not be too high?
I'm not sure if it'd even require an additional skill. It could be done with selectively adding some Neurocinetics and/or Total Reaction loadouts on units with short range weapons. It doesn't need to be anything flashy; even Fusilier or Auxilia would do. There's also a Mulebot version with Combi and TR, but I have a feeling it gets overlooked.
Clearly Pano is stuck in some sort of political limbo where it is too regressive to allow Helots to join Orcs and the Aquila Guard, but not so regressive as to forcibly convert the Helots into SPACE Christianity so they can show up in MO or as Knights of justice. /end bad history joke On the scale of value and point investment I think Deployment (Suppressive Fire) < Neurocinetics < Total Reaction. Though corner case profiles could make T1 Suppressive better. I'd still think of it along the lines of MSV1 < MSV2 < MSV3 where the existence of one competes without eliminating the value of the others. At 1 point, would you take Deployment (suppressive fire) on a Fusilier LT and the 2nd Fusilier you take as a decoy? Or is your argument about TR and Neurocinetics that you wouldn't really see use for the deployment skill unless it's better (namely one of those)? I do confess to having NEVER used the TR Mulebot but I'd argue that's why the price/value proposition is the real question here. I guess 19 points for a bs 11 combi guard might be over my threshold of cost/value.
I quite like the idea. It would give pano a temporary fixture of defence that they struggle achieve through deployment options, impetuous troops and repeater networks. All without sacrificing their active turn potential like neurokinetics nor allowing them a constant safeguard from approaching enemies like total reaction. It would certainly create more thoughtful, chess like manoeuvres.
I think OP had intended it to be a limited PanO ability than a rule change. At least that’s my interpretation of it.
I did.... but I acknowledge that technically it would be a rule and probably be shared with other factions. In the same line of thinking, you could have other states such as Deployment (Cybermask) so that a killer hacker could deploy with Cybermask active.
