CB are also pretty much allergic to anything that would undercut retailers stores and local game shops, digital minis seem unlikely for the same reason they don't sell OOP models via their direct only, they're not trying to compete with resellers.
Or at the very least - do not make using your products, or even accessing them, overtly difficult or annoying. When the TV series boom started for good, with large budget productions in the late 90s / early 00s, people were fenced off from them by lack of access to cable TV, high cost of that, or even living in the "wrong" country or continent. Same for DVD releases of cinematic movies being released with a ridiculously staggered schedule between the US and the rest of the world, EU in particular, sometimes taking a year or longer or not showing up at all - even when there was no theatrical release. That's why people started ripping movies (and music) in the first place, while still buying cinema and concert tickets. What was accessible and had high value, was purchased, what was inaccessible, had low price to cost ratio or effort to value ratio, was pirated. As it turned out from decades of sociological investigation and research, the "get everything for free" crowd was a definite minority. As an example, as soon as streaming platforms arose and were accessible, priced affordably and low effort, they've gained immediate and immense popularity. Still, platforms that were not accessible even for the willing, like Hulu in EU for example, had their stuff pirated. Nowadays, we see the trend reverse due to high market segmentation (not only too many platforms, but incredible situations where I can watch seasos 04-06 of Good Fight on one platform, but 01-03 are locked out because another platform holds license), constantly rising price brackets, customer unfriendly actions, killing off TV series as soon as people get attached to them, etc. The lesson to be learned is - you can easily thrive in the digital market, as long as you know your customer base, do not inconvenience it, do not price customers out and do not engage in bad business practices. Convenience, quality, price to value ratio and accessibility are the selling points. When CB sells low quality rules (writing, proofing, testing, Wiki and Army upkeep), doesn't keep promises (Defiance FAQ?), low quality minis (the incredible Siocast issues nobody else seems to have), locks minis out behind Kickstarters, then releases almost identical retail versions before KS ships, releases sets that force people to buy old miniatures they already have / do not want to buy (double packs with old / new minis, or the recent Moran pack with ton of old koalas, etc), kills off entire armies on a whim and doesn't make the legacy miniature sets playable without immense Forum uproar (Tohaa, MRRF, etc.) - why do people wonder their Kickstarters stagger to the finish line, people on the Forum complain and in general the company is much less successful than it should reasonably be with the rule concepts, miniature design and market potential it has?
They seem to recognize that they are simply part of the gaming ecosystem, and while not putting themselves last, and having made missteps along the way, they look to try and keep the different parts as healthy as possible.
Yet they still manage to have the best minis and rules in the market. Which is of course my opinion, just like what you say is your opinion.
It's also worth noting that different levels of expectation and flexibility have an effect on how folks might view a situation. Having extremely high expectations (rightly or wrongly) together with extremely low flexibility might result in more frequent and greater disappointment.
I am not sure how the discussion managed to take that turn, can you please go back into been roughly in topic? (no red text was intentional)
Another action pack for PanO... Really?! Plus it would be hospitaller. Another knights! What a grate decision! (NO) I said once, when CB showed their road map, that they have some kind of consistency of their plan. Now I can’t feel that again. This resources could be spend to cover other holes is sectorials and so on. There are lots of things to do. And it is not a PanO, at my taste. But ok... ok. At least try not to miss some moments from with CodeOne road map. Ok, sorry for this little token of rage) there are more serious problems in the world. Anyway, it is good, that other work is going well. Nomads getting their reworks. And so on. I’ve got new hassassins not long time ago. Waiting for their new stuff
It's not a new action pack, just new packaging for the existing 300 point box (that hasn't been 300 points for a couple of years now) like when JSA got converted from an army box to action pack, and what looks like will be happening to the USARF box.
It's one of the best selling boxes. is a logic move to update to the new box format and keep it in stock
Same. I was worried it’d be new Hospitallers. I’d have to get them and my current ones would be annoyed as they’ve only had a few games of N4. Edit: Just thought; it may be good for conversion work for those that already have the minis.
Hahah. They'll just bloat it again with redundant stuff. That might sound 2012-ish, but wouldn't it be better to move generic koalas, goatbots, tinbots and servants into separate blisters, freeing up other boxes?
That's the point of SKU reduction, free up slots for new releases. As for tinbots/perimeter weapons, they're all tokens now in N4 so having actual minis is just an aesthetic/legacy thing. They don't need minis any more than a Mine or Deployable Repeater. Servant bots are Troopers and were one of the first examples of SKU reduction (separate doctor, engineer, and servant blisters being rolled into Support Packs) creating separate blisters/boxes for them all would increase the number of SKUs.
There's an Ikadron/Imetron blister isn't there? The Internet tells me that Netrods are pointless now, so presumably they're not an issue now.
Miniatures are too old. Ikadrons and imetrons especially are very ugly. Why does an Aleph player need to take an old sophotects mini to get netrods if he wants to buy. And also same issue here. They are old and not revised since old times. I tried to say this and i am mature enough to not get in useless discussions with people like you. I have never said netrods are useless. I think they need to be 5pts instead of 6pts. Thats all. And i dont even play aleph now. I will try to not use words like even 'net' 'rod' by thinking to not alert your internet in the future.
When you throw around things like "need" for existing products it's hard to take you too seriously and I admittedly tend to react to hyperbole with the same. I actually think the Ikadrons look really cool, and they fit well with the other 'drons in the Combined Army range (and they are CAD minis, despite their age). The Imetrons are at least visually more interesting than a simple antenna or beacon and reflect the techno-organic substrates used by a lot of the EI's technology. I always envisioned the main pod crashing down and then growing like some terrible tree and unfurling the antennae at the top. I can't speak for ease of assembly though. Netrods are actually no longer technically bundled with the Sophotect and Yudbots, because they're no longer in production. New minis would be nice for both Sophie and the netrods, in fact a set of Siocast Netrods like the antennas in the objectives pack would probably a cheaper and more robust solution, though probably not viable as a product by themselves so maybe bundled with a new Sophie or something else like they did with Fiddler and her Jackbots. Antennas are a hard concept to make visually interesting though, and they're practically just a token in gameplay terms.
Well... I'd love it if they were pointless ;) My regular opponent is playing Aleph, and these are one of his go-to choices. Sure, current cost at 6 points is a 50% increase over the former cost of 4 points. Sure, Netrods can't actually do anything. But then, they provide inexpensive Regular Orders in three armies who rely on rather expensive models. They do it even in LoL (being Veteran). And they no longer risk dropping off-table due to Dispersion rules no longer being a thing.
Maybe some people still use Netrods a lot. But after the point rise, most people seem to not use them anymore or in smaler numbers. Take away Veteran, make them cheaper. Or give back the fluffy storage function for Posthumans. A lot of my lists not worked after the update (too much points). Or in some rare cases I just upgrade the netrod to a Lahmed. At the moment I use them not or only in rare cases. And in SP even less.
