Along with the release of the new battle pack, a major game overhaul is highly anticipated. Here is my personal wishlist: 1. Reworking the Pitcher Currently, Pitchers equipped with X Visors carry far too little risk. The developers should straight up cap the maximum range at 24 inches. Affecting enemies up to 24 + 8 = 32" inches away is already more than enough. 2. Reworking the Discoballer While smoke was nerfed, they introduced an even stronger tool for blocking line of sight (LoS) with this unit, which even comes with a +3 range modifier. This +3 modifier shouldn't exist in the first place, and it would honestly be much more reasonable if it didn't benefit from the +1SD bonus either. The risk involved in throwing it is just way too low. 3. Readjusting Fireteams (FT) Because the +1 SD from DUO is so outstanding, it makes larger Fireteams much less appealing. 4. New Skills & Equipment Most of the newly released content lately is just a rehash of old stuff. I hope to see more cool, unique skills or equipment to increase faction diversity—like new deployment options. 5. Rebalancing Hand in hand with point #3, I'd like to see buffs for underperforming factions and nerfs for the overperforming, top-tier ones. 6. Rule Clarifications We need clearer rulings on specific interactions, such as measuring for jumps, Pitcher measurements, and mine triggers. 7. The "Ruby Monday" Lag This seriously deserves its own dedicated thread. It’s unbelievable that it’s been left broken for six months without a fix.
Since when Duo fireteams get shock damage as bonus? And +1 Burst is not really that way, is +1 special dice, yeah, you roll +1 dice, but you only apply your original burst value, so is more reliable in ARO, but less lethal than previous FT rules.
Yes, pitchers are placed too easy. 8" +3 - until 16" 0 - up to 24" -3 would be a good tone down. There are other ways to get a repeater near the target. Discoballer also should be restricted in range. Here I would suggest no +3 range and a also max of 24". Same goes for Mine Dispencers. It seems you mixed something up. FT are getting a Special Dice (SD). At the moment it is good like it is . Some Fireteams prevent the dou by simply not allowing it. For example Kuang Shi are core only. So you have to give up a haris slot for a duo. Duos are new green. Its nice to add some and there more or less easy to break. What bother me and my meta is the impact template rule. Why have the victim that was cought under the tempel to make a ftf? Simple give them a D-3, thats hard enough for the most basic dudes.
Sorry for the misunderstanding here. English isn't my native language, so I used an AI translator and didn't proofread the output, which caused the mix-up regarding the +1 SD explanation. What I meant to say is that a 4-5 model Core Fireteam currently has very low appeal. If a faction has a strong enough Duo, players usually won't even bother running a Haris. Nowadays, if a list can take a Duo, most people will just go for it. If you look at the currently dominant factions, it is very obvious that they all have access to powerful Duos. For example:NW、White Company、NCA。
For wishlisting, I'd like to see a re-working of N3/N4-style line infantry. I'm thinking of troops like Fusiliers, Kappa, Senku, etc., who have basic weapons and equipment. I don't want them to become more powerful, just more fun. Picking from Fennecs is a joy, picking from Fusiliers is painful.
There are three ways this is being done on some units, with units being noticeably better when getting two of those: Some additional skill on SWC weapons so they could work as a cheap alternatives to the more kitted out units (Vanguard HMG is an obvious example). Some cost-lowering tweaks, like SMG or BSG here or there. Hackers getting SMGs can by itself make them a more appealing backup choice. Some additional unique weapon/equipment choices, like Fennecs access to Disco, TBolt, FastPanda, SMG/LRL loadout. Would be nice indeed to see such changes across the board making the overlooked tools in any given army more viable.
I disagree with the discoball. Military Orders only have two troopers with, and it is the only vision control for the faction. Making it less reliable only makes things worse. I would like grenades and their different types have the +3 in the 0 to 8 range band, but grenades are Disposable (2). With grenade launchers similar to discoballs. Same range band but disposable. This makes the whole shtick of smoke shooting not the first and only tactical gameplay. And it is not such a nerf because baggage allows for automatic reloading at the end of a turn. It just reduces the frequency of smoke-shooting. The Fireteams changes are a blessing. No more powering a single trooper with plebs. A player can still use a 5 trooper Core FT, it is just not as powerful as it once was. Just another game mechanic to add to a player's tactics. For example, a full Core Crosier FT gives the Sixth Sense rule, allowing my Sniper and Rocket Launcher to at least defend against smoke-shooting opponent. Freeing me to spend points and SWC on other troopers. Also, fighting against a full Fireteam does not feel like a heavy walk uphill. I agree with pitcher changes from Archon. Mine dispensers could also be disposable. It limits the frequency and dependency on a tactic that has little opponent interaction. For example, just shooting down mines in front of an opponent's deployment zone and letting them deal with destroying them is such a strong tactic in wasting orders, it becomes a negative play experience.
First of all, MO is by no means weak. There is a fundamental difference between Smoke and Eclipse. Eclipse is incredibly difficult to counter — once deployed, certain unhackable units only need to worry about mines. Against some factions, this creates very dull gameplay with almost no meaningful interaction. Furthermore, in N5 the range modifiers for Smoke have already been adjusted. Without the +1SD modifier, the failure rate is around 30–40%. I think it’s currently in a pretty good spot. As for the proposed changes to the Mine Dispenser, I have to disagree as well. That mechanic is tied directly to the core identity and tactics of several factions. Looking at the discussion so far, I believe allowing +1SD to affect already-fired deployable weapons might be too strong. Compared to N4, you now only need a Duo to maintain similar success rates. For example, a smoke grenade that originally had a 60% success rate would jump straight to 84%. That’s significantly more powerful than a +3 range modifier. If CB ruled that already-deployed weapons (like smoke grenades or mines) cannot benefit from the +1SD modifier, that could be a reasonable compromise. What do you think?
1) I think fireteam bonuses need to be looked at and rebalanced, because +1 SD is the most significant one, while being the easiest to get. Sixth Sense is second most significant, but it's almost never worth building a 5-level core ft for it. On the other hand reworking those bonuses, for example starting with moving +1 SD to 3-level team, would have a giant impact on how all the armies play, particularly on their defensive firepower. It's not something to do lightly. But assuming that this could be done, imagine ft tiers like this: Level 1 - no change Level 2 - +1 BS Level 3 - +1 SD Level 4 - Sixth Sense Level 5 - Marksmanship This would 1) make all the levels having better cost/benefit ratio, and 2) given that Level 5 would most likely be achieved by linking five basic troopers (or five really expensive ones), it'd help balancing them against other choices. 2) It might be worth it to finally introduce tools to look through Eclipse. My favourite option would be to allow Biometric Visors to look through Eclipse/Albedo, maybe with some minuses. MSV3 would be another option (instead of allowing them to shoot through Camo), but these are expensive, few and far between, and adding more of them would affect balance in other places.
I agree on most of the OP but not #3. I don’t mind the smaller fire teams at all. Also a special die is not as bad as a full burst. But, they could make it a little better that some troops can’t be in Duos. Like some should be Haris or core only. I would add a rule called Captured. Troops that are Immobilized and/or Isolated at the end of the game count as dead for the purpose of VP. This would help those armies that have a lot of non-lethal weapons. It’s not much, since many can get out of those states on their own, unlike unconscious troops needs a Doc/Medic.
Strongly disagree with MMS on fireteams - this will lead to the same powerhouses in 4th as you can put an Orc with (Fusiler Keyword) in a five strong team wich now shoots on 18 at non-visual-mod-targets. Its too much. Besides teams with MMS already can not use it. At the moment I am quite happy with FT rules. Like @Space Ranger wrote you can fine tuning by altering the composition of FT. I would like to the thematic boni to certain fireteams.Like giving Combat Instict if you take a haris of Shang Ji for example. @Space Ranger it happens that I played the same ISS list two times (and third will follow, bc I run out of time to build a new one for the next mission) and EM turns out to be very helpful. Yeah you have to spare extra orders to finish something up (here it was very important because the REM was in the special zone of AoI. In the second game I glued a Kamou HRL with the Feiquan and burn him to crisp with my own HRL (WuMing).
In missions that need dead bodies I don't think it's powerful. In others yes. Sure you can immobilize something but then it takes another order to kill it. If you have a weapon that can do it. I've had a game where 5 enemy troops were immobile and/or Isolated and none of them counted as dead. They even counted for the area they were in. I didn't have the orders to kill them.
I agree that there's a noticeable difference between +1B and +1SD , but I still don't think +1SD is a particularly healthy or reasonable buff for DUO fireteams. Also, +1B is not universally superior to +1SD. With Disposable weapons like Panzerfausts or Pitchers, the interaction between Burst and Special Dice becomes a very different discussion entirely. Restricting certain units from forming Duos could probably solve some specific combo problems, as you suggested. However, I don't think it addresses the larger issue that 4–5 man fireteams still lack meaningful incentives and remain relatively unattractive to run. As for the Captured rule, I don't think it would be reasonable. Non-lethal weapons already have several extremely powerful characteristics: They bypass Wounds/STR entirely. States like Isolated or Immobilized can completely shut down a unit offensively. Their saving rolls are often significantly harder to pass than normal ammunition: Para commonly forces PH-6 rolls. E/M requires two BTS saves at half BTS. In reactive play, this becomes especially powerful. A single unlucky roll can immediately disable a 2W or 3W attack piece and effectively end its active-turn momentum. By comparison, lethal weapons often fail to fully stop an attacker even after successful hits, and their saving rolls are generally easier to pass. Because of this, non-lethal weapons are fundamentally stronger as defensive tools than offensive ones. And that's important, because scoring objectives and earning VP should primarily reward proactive, active-turn play. If a player can: reactively neutralize a high-VP threat, do so with reliability that is already arguably higher than lethal weapons, and then also gain VP for it, that starts becoming excessive rather than balanced, in my opinion.
You're probably right, though this could be controlled by tweaking sectorial team composition. But I'd be just as happy with another bonus there, as long as it would make building a level 5 core worth the cost.
They already are: Also Pitchers with max. 24" range is a decent idea. Damn, I was right with a change once but forgot to post it yesterday
Are, yes. I forgot. The only mine dispenser I have come across was from the Maggie. Inherent Baggage allows for constant mine dispensing. Sorry.
