Shavastii aren't plasma users. I don't think any of their profiles have plasma. Now a mono filament grenade would be right up their alley.
I would like to see Shas get more biotech to represent their own gene mods and evolutionary aspects they go through. Immunities, poison, viral, climb+, super jump, metachem and the like. I think a heavier focus on recon tech would also help them, so MSV1 and 2, x visors, mimetism, ambush camo, smgs and so on. I think it would help their stuff stand out against the other two branches of CA better as their primary notable units are noctifiers, their infiltrators who trade up or down camo levels, sphinx and speculo. Those are all really unique inside of CA, but much of the rest is just rather meh internally against similar units and externally as they have extra costs associated with them.
I really just want Seeds of all types to have an interesting playstyle, while also bringing value to the list. Seeds are such an unique idea, and were one of the original draws for me to the army, other than that sweet frog style. Also, Speculo Agents, I need those ASAP
I think Seed Soldiers would be fine if all they do is change getting out of a Seed Embryo a "free" skill like getting up from prone. It still keeps the interesting pod but makes them usable in the first turn. As of now it's a short skill to "hatch" without any kind of movement, then the second half you can move or shoot or whatever. I think this would allow them to do surprise shot. Right now they need to "hatch" before they can shoot. It wouldn't hurt if they give it better armor too. They are described as "Heavily Armored" and they only have an ARM of 2. Then maybe they would be worth the points.
Seed wish list, if they aren't totally redoing the design of Seeds. Hatch becomes a Short Movement skill, so we can Hatch/Shoot if need be. Seeds with Limited Camo become S2 so we can do some shell games with our LT. Drop in points. 14 is very expensive. More special weapons and the ability to link again. I love the models, and the design behind them a lot. I just want more reasons to bring them to the table. Right now, I use them as shrouded.
Seed Embryo feels like a drawback, I am hoping it will make troops with it cheaper or they will have some other bonus to balance it out. But I do hope they keep it but it is cool and unique.
They can already use an order to Hatch-Shoot or Hatch-Move. They both suck. It should be a free move like getting up from prone. I'm hoping they they will separate the Embryo from the Seed soldier to make it optional like they did with Caliban. They could even have the all the Seed ones use Inferior Infiltration. I totally agree on pts. right now the Seed Embryo are a hindrance, not helpful at all. Camo or no camo and the "highly armored" is laughable. I'm not sure on this too, that they can't start the game as a link team either.
Hmm, I was under the impression that Hatch was just a short skill, and not a short movement skill, so you couldn't hatch/shoot. I'd love to see the clarification. Not that it really changes all that much, still not a profile I'm going to be including very often. For the link team comment I was referring to the Seed-Soldiers themselves. It would be interesting to have a defensive link team option for cheapish points in Shas.
Sorry I think you are correct. It only says Short Skill. But that makes it even worse. They can't shoot or even do surprise shot. I think the most useless figure in the game. Which sucks because they look cool!
Shasvastii rule is fantastic, in the Quadrant Control type missions. Other than that, meh. But in the Zone Domination missions you can place the infiltrators in tough to reach spots where they can harass the enemy if need be, but if they become unconscious, they are in a real tough spot to get to. On those missions your opponent sometimes has to spend orders to remove unconscious models, which can only be seen as a win.
Oh, I agree. But I was talking points-wise. CA regular line troops seem to be stuck at 14 points at a minimum (unless you're MAF and go for a Gaki Core). I'm assuming CB thought the seed-embryo shape was some kind of benefit when they costed them, since they are hot garbage stat-wise compared to vanguard or unidrons, so I was wondering what you thought the Shasvastii skill was worth to the army. Even without seed-embryo, it seems they'd need a point reduction or some stat boosts IMO.
Ahh, sorry I misunderstood what you were asking. That's actually a great question, that I'm not sure I have the answer to. The Shasvastii rule only benefitting specific ITS missions certainly bring it's worth down for me. I'd like to see it change in the future, but not sure in what way, but id like it to be more universally beneficial, though. I'd live to hear everyone else's ideas on it.
Looking at other Combined Army sectorials, I think they consider 14 points to be a price floor. Plan on having their utility come up to where it justifies the cost, not on having the cost go down.
That's a good point. I only play SEF at the moment so I wasn't really thinking about how it would affect Vanilla. I'm really interested to see how they rework the seeds. Wouldn't it be nice to have a cheap LT option in Shasvastii?