Good morning citizens of the Human Sphere! As you may know this upcoming september we have an huge update to the army and rules bringing the Spec-Ops mode to the game! But my 'Bluecoatsenses' is tingling in the sense that this update will be purely focused on getting the Spec-Ops mode fully rounded up... and sadly that will surely imply no significant balance pass for our boys in blue risking their cubes daily to make the circulars and space safe for all the human sphere citizens. So here is my own take on how I would make our beloved naval police up to maybe not New Wave or OSS standards, but just N5 base line. Assumptions of this theorical Balance Pass - Freeing up design space by removing those profiles that never have a model. This have the additional effect of removing profiles bloat - Reinforce the model and troop identity whenever is possible - Focus on making unused troops useful, not making what currently works better - This balance pass is solely centered on those units that are 'Starmada', without touching anything that belongs to either Torchlight Brigade or Vanilla O12. Gladius Team is therefore included in this revision. Bluecoats - Boarding Shotgun and Redfury profiles removed - Sixth Sense removed. - New costs: 11 points for the base line Bluecoat. 14 points for the submachine gun or Discoballer option. Logic: Sixth sense is one of those skills that are iconocally attached to the Bluecoat to fulfill its 'ever vigilant police officer' but in game reality is not doing much to a troop that is not intended to be use as a Hard Aro nor that is a hacker, and that really is performing a duty of corner guard for its base line profile. Removing Sixth sense bloat allow the troop to have a significant point drop cost, allowing it at last to become the 'to go' option for cheap linking, and making breathing space for list composition. Nyoka - Nyoka FO MR parachutist option removed - Nyoka RF Parachutist gaing FO and flash pulse. - Flash Pulse added to the FO FTO option - Mov changed to 6-2 - Shock CC weapon downgraded to CC weapon. - BS Attack (SR -1) removed. - Sekudroid added to the Nyoka Fireteam with the (Nyoka) Tag. - Hector removed from the Nyoka Fireteam - New Costs: 17 Points for the HRL FTO option, 20 Points for the FO option, 27 Points for the Red Fury Parachutist Option. Logic: Nyokas problem is that they're lagging behind a problem of being too expensive for a light infantry without them feeling premium at all. We are solving this with just removing the bloat enough to justify a 2 point cost reduction, and making their MOV matches their Bronze, along with sanitizing the Fireteam Options. Psi-cops - Biometric Visor option removed - KHD and Hacker options fused in a new profile: Psi-Cop (Hacker) with Combi Rifle, Nanopulser (+1B), Discoballer, Heavy Pistol, CC weapons, Equiptment Hacking Device with UPGRADE (Trinity) for 26 points. Logic: Psicops are mostly fine as they're, but it felt extremely torn of having to choose betweeen having a combat instict Hacker or Discoball option. Fusing the KHD and HD profiles into one makes them extremely slot efficient, although costly. Crushers - LRL profile removed - E/M CC Weapon downgraded to CC Weapon. - Deployable Cover and Minelayer added to all non combat jump profiles. - New Costs: SMG option 21 points, Combat Jump profile 23 points, MR option 27 points. Logic: The E/M CC weapon bloat has been lagging down the Crushers since its inception. The capacity of having MI NWI specialists midtable for the Forward Deployment options have been always double hit by this bloat, along no innate marker state. We are now keeping the non marker state, but adding an interesting 'siege/demolitionist' capacity of being able to have their own cover no matter where are they deployed due to the minelayer deployable cover. Making them being able to see the combat field with new eyes. Lawkeepers - Special case of no removing any profile due the current pistol miniature being the proxy of all of them by intention. - Climbing Plus added to all profiles, including the sidebots. - Dodge (Reroll) added - MULTI pistol downgraded to Kobra pistol. - Costs remain the same for all profiles. Logic: It feels extremely bad that the natural teammates (OKO, Roadbots) of the lawkeeper had climbing plus, when they don't have it themselves. And roadbots mobility form have proved that Starmada knows how to make bike tires that holds onto any surface! N5 Climbing plus implies, along the bike rule, that they can only use the MOVE unto Vertical surfaces as horizontal surfaces part of Climbing Plus, as they're still unable to declare CLIMB with a bike. But now they can finally push buttons and accomplish missions on buildings, so the specialist operative part doesn't feel like bloat. This, along with Dodge (Reroll), which is a rule that in my own opinion all 'neurokinetica' bikes should have, opens up their intended game line of Move + Dodge as a first order to get into a favorable position for the upcoming Move + Shoot order. Jackboots - Paramedic option removed - HMG option removed (as the spitfire model is more aligned to the Thunderbolt one) - NWI added to all profiles - BS Attack (SR -1) removed - Costs remain the same for all profiles Logic: Making them a resiliant 1.5 troop, by trading up their lethality, feels much better for their kit: combat instict, religious troop, Inmunnity (Enhanced). And now they can perform much better their role as premium ARO with an possible active duty option. Bronzes - HSG and HMG option removed - E/M CC weapons removed. - NWI added. - Warhorse added. - Heavy Riotstopper added to Red Fury profile. - (Bronze) tag added to Knight of Santiago FTO for the Bronze Fireteams. - Costs remain the same for all profiles. Logic: Making the Bronzes literally jackboots on steroids, by putting them on 2.5 wounds and warhorse on top of that, reinforces their role as tanks, compensating their mediocre BS for a HI and no visual mods. Are they costy? indeed. But they become extremely reliable and hard to remove. Sarko - Boarding pistol added to all profiles - Decoy (1) added to all profiles - Boarding Shotgun swapped to submachine gun in all profiles. - Costs remain the same for all profiles. Logic: The N5 changes of Boarding shotgun left all the sarkos without their needed direct template forks. We are recovering this, along with a very well needed extra layer of uncertainty with decoy (1) for increase survival and mid table control. Casanova - SMG upgraded to AP SMG - Martial Arts upgraded to L3 - Costs remain the same for all profiles Logic: Casanova is almost perfect as it is in its current incarnation. We are just giving it back some teeth that he lost on the SMG change of N5, and making his already good melee capacity into really scary by pumping his MA just enough so he gains a +1SD. And thats it! I will make a Vanilla o12 Balance Pass further in the future. And who knows... maybe there is a real balance pass upcoming and maybe I was right on my predictions!
Not sure I agree with the lack of point changes for improvements, but I generally agree. My only big disagreement would be removing the multi-pistols from the Lawkeeper. They are iconic and sell the "Not" Judge Dread vibe. And I feel Dodge (+ 1 SD) is cleaner than Dodge (reroll). They are great fast Specialists that excel at Civevac.
The lack of point changes, or even point reduction, is that we are taking away bloat, or swapping bloat for usefulness, or just literally giving back power that was taken away in N5 changes and once compared to other armies similar profiles it feels like no more thought was given on how to make them on par. But hey, I do not have the point cost fomula neither the ways to adjust it and make it interesting of the CB developer team! I am just a dude . Now talking about Lawkeepers multipistols specifically. N5 pistols change make them bloat and have no real use case other than extremely extremely fringe ones. On N4 it was clear that it was intended the Lawkeeper would use the multipistol on close combat, along with his PARA weapon, taking advantage of his sidebots to obtain several dice. Damn it, I even use the lawkeeper a lot to deal with those ITS missions that required you to have some kind of Antimaterial CC capacity. On N5? No pistol other than Kobra pistol may be used in close combat, and there are LOTS of profiles in the game that are suffering bloat due to this as they were given 'CC pistols' such as multipistols on N4. Like Sonya LaCroix for example. She is paying for a Multi Pistol when already having a Multi Rifle as a loadout? Why? Because the Multi Pistol was intended to be use as a Close Combat Weapon in N4 for her. Can she do it anymore? No. Is she still paying for it in points? I am absolutely certain she is doing so.
Thanks for posting this—I’ve actually been holding off on writing a thread myself. I was trying to avoid people going, "Hey! It’s that guy complaining about O-12 again." Most of the points you raised are really solid, though there are a few places where my opinion differs from yours. I don't agree with removing Sixth Sense. Bluecoat is a vigilant police officer, so it makes sense that he can perceive the actions of criminals. Instead, I think the focus should be on improving the value of having Sixth Sense. Currently, his PH is only 10, so even with Sixth Sense, his Dodge success rate is still relatively low. If he were given Dodge (Reroll) or Dodge (+3), he could make the opponent take on more risk when attempting to Dodge without Line of Fire. As for his cost, I think he should simply be set at 12 points, the same as Kappa. As for the Discoball, I think it should only be worth 2 points. At 3 points, it feels slightly overpriced. For example, Haqqislam's Odalisques get Discoball for only 2 points. Additionally, in N5, Bluecoat has become relatively weaker against strong melee specialists. Perhaps upgrading his Para CC to -9 could help address this. The ideas are all great. However, Hector feels a bit strange in every aspect at the moment, so I think he should be discussed separately. Regarding the idea that the Biometric Visor option should be removed, I think instead of cutting it, CB should actually make it more effective. This isn't really a Psi-Corps-specific issue—it affects any unit with a similar loadout, which simply never gets picked. I’d still like to keep the LRL loadout. Giving it +1 SD would make it much more of a threat. It's pretty unlikely motorcycles will get Climbing Plus, given that the rules explicitly state motorcycles can't climb. Plus, even if the motorcycle itself could climb walls, there is still a person riding it. Ultimately, though, whether this could make sense would probably come down to the lore. I don't agree with removing the E/M CCW. It's a defining part of his identity as riot police.—it lets him inflict both Imm-A and Imm-B at the same time, completely immobilizing the opponent. Also, just like with the Bluecoat, I think his Para CC should be upgraded to -9 as well. Also, I'd like to add my thoughts on some of the other Starmada units that haven't been discussed yet. 1. Hector Suggested Changes Movement changed to 6-2 Non-Lieutenant profiles gain Chain of Command (non-specialist) BS increased to 14 ARM increased to 6 Spitfire gains AP Ammo CC reduced from 24 to 23 Points cost remains unchanged Design Rationale Hector is clearly a unit that hasn't been properly optimized. Giving him Tinbot Firewall (-3) only on specific profiles, rather than as general equipment, feels redundant. Aside from a small 3–6 point reduction, he received very little meaningful improvement in N5, with no new Special Skills to compensate. Meanwhile, other high-cost units received substantial upgrades, leaving Hector noticeably behind. I think his profile should receive stat improvements that better justify his current point cost. The CC reduction would also reflect his inferior martial prowess compared to Achilles. 2. Cyberghost Suggested Changes Gains UPGRADE: Firewall (-3) Pitcher changed to Pitcher (+3 BS) Design Rationale As a hacker unable to join a Fireteam, the Cyberghost is far too vulnerable. Its resistance against incoming hack attacks needs to be strengthened. Furthermore, its current Pitcher can hardly be considered a viable tactical option; using it feels more like wasting Order points. Adding +3 BS restores its usability to roughly N4 standards, while its success rate would still naturally be lower than that of Pitcher users who can join Fireteams. 3. Cho Suggested Changes Chain of Command (CoC) profile reduced by 2 points Lieutenant profile reduced by 3 points Design Rationale Cho's abilities and point costs remained entirely untouched in N5. The CoC profile lacks price competitiveness when compared to the Ment Agent. Meanwhile, the Lieutenant profile feels practically useless, especially considering the option to field two Raven-Eyes instead. 4. Raptor Suggested Changes Remove Forward Observer (FO) profile Panzerfaust on Heavy Shotgun (HSG) profile gains +1 SD KHD profile cost reduced from 41 to 38 points Spitfire profile cost reduced from 39 to 36 points Design Rationale The point reduction was minimal to begin with, and downgrading the Flamethrower to a Boarding Pistol hurts its viability. This unit deserves a better cost-to-performance ratio. As for the FO profile, it attracts almost zero player interest—nobody will miss it if removed. 5. Parvati Suggested Changes Point cost reduced from 36 to 34 points SMG trait changed from +1 B to +1 SD Gains Pulzar weapon Design Rationale Parvati excels in most areas, but her main drawback is her heavy point cost. With the AP trait removed, her SMG feels much weaker; however, Parvati isn't expected to serve as an active turn main attacker anyway. Instead, she is more likely to hold defensive positions after completing objectives, making defensive-oriented weapons and tools a better fit for her role.
