September>December 2024: Nuclear winter has struck, leaving room for the N5

Star Co going under Nomads makes sense. Some of the others are a little harder.

White Company is almost 60/40 of PanO and YJ.

Dashat is mostly Haqq but some major YJ troops.

I think Ikari would go under JSA.

Foreign Company is I guess PanO mostly.

 

If the issue is having too many factions (43), I fail to see how putting StarCo or Ikari in Nomads or JSA helps reducing this number. Except if it merges with some existing sectorials... And I have to say that if this is the plan, I'm scared AF.

 

It sounds like 43 factions is too much. Im not sure NA2 will just become an additional sectoral in existing armies. That doesn't address the fact they think they have too many factions.

I don't know how it would be done, but maybe they scrap ikari, Druze, and Dashat for a generic submondo force. Im not necessarily advocating this, as I play ikari and druze. I know that if they do drop NA2, then my Ikari will become a traitorous JSA clan that works with unscrupulous mercs.

 

Good points. That's just moving them. Well, not sure then. I know Bostria mentioned ISS at Gencon but I can still see them taking it out. It's been ignored for a long time and I think less popular than IA or WB. Maybe mostly in vanilla? I think they could merge Druze with QK, Ikari, and Dashat.

 

I hope all the mercenaries in the faction armies are taxed and restricted like Soldiers of Fortune are currently. And that all the super cheap mercs will share their AVA (like Cameronians, Devil Dogs and Dog Warriors in Ariada).

 

I really like the idea that there will be more troops that are only available in sectorials so that "vanilla" isnt just all of the things but a more specific force thus closing the gab between sectorial an non sectorial and also making everything a more distinct flavour.

 

If they cut off NA2, it will be the first time they left unplayable some factions. That will be first time for CB. And i dont think (and hope) they do that also with main sectorials, even the OOP ones.

If they manage find a way where mers sectorial get integrated in existant factions, maybe with exclusive fireteam charts, could lead to interesting diferenciations to existing sectorials with own lists, like Anarchist bakunin and Observance Bakunin, without separating in 2 different armies.

Or at least left merc companies as CBL with 3 or 4 list options.

JSA and Druzes make sense to exist on their own. Ikari is a bit in the limits... But all that crazy faction mixes... even if their name are in the fluff since N1, White Company makes no sense, for example. They must be a kaplan centric sectorial, not a PanO Yujing mix. White Company should exist, but not in the actual form.

 

That needs a bit of context, what he says is the development team always wants more time to finetune and finetune the rules to be better and better, while the company needs to have deadlines and that is what happens, he also mentions that with online rules and army lists they can update the rules and lists later if it is needed.

 

It looks like maybe they have made the time and delayed the N5 launch.
Season 16 will now be divided in two parts, one to be played with N4 using a similar ITS format to what we know and then later the second part of the season will be using N5.

Notably all Satellite events must be before June so which has me wondering if that's now when they intend N5 to launch.

 

Only it wouldn't. It happened the same with N4's release, leaving some factions outside from the Army for some time (Tohaa, I think?).

While I appreciate the idea, I feel it would be a mess, and leaving it as a thematic choice for the players sits kinda well with me. Even "AVA Sharing" (the way Achilles' profiles do, for example) can be confusing for some, imagine adding to all Observance entries "if you pick this unit you can't pick PUNK units" and the other way around. They would be, in effect, two separate sectorials, just under the same folder in the army, and sharing a few troops (which all sectorials do, at least with the common remotes).

Can you provide the actual citation or full conversation for that context you claim? If it's just your idea of what he must have been saying, well, we'll be disagreeing as usual.
I heard talks about N5 in september 2022 and how CB was aware of the need for a more accesible game (as in, attractive to younger audiences, which I find the 6 models box may be a huge hit, but if the Operations boxes and regular models keep scaling costs, it will remain there...), but so far I've only seen cosmetic changes that, facilitating as they may seem, are at the surface (like the vaunted "improved fireteam rules" became a new set of cumbersome tables, it seems there are some nostalgic RoleMaster players in CB's payroll).

Personally I would launch the small 6-models box in october-november with the full rules for N5, but hold the Operations box until February or so, to try and avoid a launch in a competitive money-frame (christmas and january), and use those months to tweak the rulebook (as in, pay REALLY close attention to the community and react fast, for once, and instead of a FAQ, release a final rulebook with the Operation), kinda like an extended beta. IF the JSA part won't discard the existing boxes besides Neko and the Domarus (but seriously, the new neko is so... uninspired. The old one was such a callback to Ruroni Kenshin, while the new is just there).

June? If so, then it would be coherent with having an Interplanetario and sending the invites to the winners. If you meant JANUARY, then no, we would probably be talking about a end-of-the-month november release at the latest, so people have December to digest the rulebook and January to recover from the festivities hangover and start revving for the new part of the ITS.

Also, it may be just a narrative issue, making the first half a run for the new planet and the second half consolidating the position, splitting the ITS in two halves being the best solution to not drag it for two years while at the same time having a two-stage event.

 

Enjoy

You really could find it yourself here as it was what started the conversation.

 

That 2nd one looks very yujingy...paint scheme and everything.

 

That's some lovely artwork. Air canisters always look cool on the model.

 

For some reason, I can almost never see any images posted here. Most of the time it just displays

 

They both look fantastic. The Silver Snakes guy looks White Banner due the fur lined skirt. They look MI and has a Marksman Rifle of some sort. The AIR I can't tell if PanO or O-12. Is that a PanO BSG?

 

The AIR's got the jacketed armour of a Winterfor Fusilier or Locust, but the Bolt antennae, and is carrying a PanO SMG. The helmet design and blue does look more O-12, though, I agree with that. Looks like they'll have Terrain (Zero-G). I'm into the design, though. I'm one of those filthy heathens who loves the look of jackets/clothes over armour.

 

Silver Snakes - Hsien light for WB