Just my personal feelings about Spiral, and my journey playing them. After getting into the game at the N3 to N4 cange, played corgy, because it was easy, and after a while started to look at what I would like to play. Stumbled onto Spiral with Tohaa and the mercenaries, and thought, here is a proper challenge faction for me, they don't even run a HMG. Took some time to decide, if I wanted to play Spiral or Tohaa proper, but figured that the mercenary aspect was fun, and Tohaa had been out of print for a while, but Spiral was awailable, surely Spiral will stay around if something gets dropped XD When N5 came, and the factions got removed from the roster, I did take a long break, because I knew, if I force myself to play, while not getting to play my favorite faction, I will probably burn myself out on the game for good. Started to buy Tohaa at some point, and played them, but there were so many things I liked in Spiral, that Tohaa didn't have, that I also got some Ikari to supplement my mercs. Then it got teased, that old factions that were dropped, will be returning, and the powerpoint I saw even had the Spiral logo on it, so I was really looking forward to getting to play them again. As we all know, without any explanation, at least right away, Spiral (and Foreight company?) didn't come back, and Tohaa got some Spiral units instead, felt really truly horrible at the time. As I understand it, lore reasons was pointed to for this, which in a way I can get, but Spiral was more unique than some other factions that did come back, and also, how likely is it that no tohaa ever used mercs again? If that was the issue, you could have made a Tohaa sectorial called Deras Kaar or something, and ported it there. Just as a side note here, what ever CB does to the rules to this game, is very unlikely to make me stop playing this game, but this thing has already made me come close, and every tournamet I plan for, the first thought is: I can't take my favorite faction, because it does not exist right now. I do know, that atleast a part of this is the autism traits, that make me fixate on the one thing, and that is how I enjoy the game the most, and it does really suck, that basically every one else got their project back, if they lost it, but I can't play this game how I like it. As Spiral was close to the bottom of the barrel, it would seem likely, power level was not the reason, and most likely, as stated, lore reasons are to blame, but as a player, that does not really follow the lore that deeply, it does feel unjustified. Infinity is one of the best, if not the best, game I have played, but there is a non-zero chanse I will stop playing because of this, because the irritation comes in waves sometimes, and makes enjoying the games I do play harder.
Spiral could be returned to the game as a Tohaa sectorial, perhaps under the name Deras Kaar, with little to no changes realistically (although for my money, Pheroboosters and TRICore do not need to exist) If Tohaa will keep about as it is, and Spiral is not ever returning in any shape or form, I would like to have some more Spiral stuff added to Tohaa, my personal favorites were the Kriigel Smoke, especially the Lieutenant, and Kaauri paramedics with Kiel'Saans and Draal. Also as playing Tohaa right now, it is annoying to remember that Taagma and Draal are not keyworded in the Triad fireteam :P
Thought of a really good analog to my feelings Going to a festival, being told all of the old bangers are back, finding out when you get there, that your favorite band is not there, no explanation, but you have a couple of similar-ish options to choose from, but you feel like turning back, and going home.
It sucks not having your faction return after the mass removal. I think CB did not explain clearly their intent. In hindsight, CB may have removed the factions to give them a thorough rework before re-releasing during the N5 transition. That said, Tohaa which is a lesser played faction, SpiralCorp probably an even lesser played Sectorial, (my opinion only), is hard to justify continuing to produce miniatures for, from a tabletop company that has a niche market within the larger market. It seems CB are on the cusp of breaking out as a niche game, and their marketing decisions this year reflect that. Warcrow appears to be doing well. So, maybe it is hard for Infinity (the original game) to draw in new players. Time will tell obviously. But the plan to reduce bloat and de-nest and streamline rules is now going into reverse. Infinity did not need new profiles and new rules, just more miniatures with weapon options, and miniatures for trooper profiles that do not have any (in my opinion). Corvus Belli is a company at the end of the day, and they need to sell to make money. If not, then Infinity will no longer exist. Except for us who keep the .pdf rules and documents
I do understand that you need to make money, but using printable miniatures as a reason is a bit questionable, because we do have rules for tohaa, which are out of print, where as Spiral has almost half of its' roster still in production, on the count of them being mercs. Also, uploading rules to army comes at a relatively small cost, and people like me would still buy stuff for their army, making some return on investment. I do realize that this is mostly a me problem, but wanted to voice my thoughts, as a lover of the game, and I do agree with some of the new profiles being hard to internalize because of all the rules and weapons they have.
