Just for the sake of discussion, I guess... What would you suggest as an example? I would argue that over-optimization is one of the major pitfalls when it comes to wargames as it often leads to lacking diversity. I see what you mean, but those are very strong pieces of gear. Due to how their rules are, they also lead to some non-interaction. It's okay as a selling point on some special units, but otherwise can be dangerous to Infinity's basic premise. On the other hand, I'd argue that armor is often not good enough in the first place. Although I'd call out that cover design leading to templates encroaching onto AP niche. As someone with Haqq army I obviously wouldn't mind a better healing, but I can't imagine any way to improve it per se. There are 3 aspects I would like to point out though: 1) Shock and viral; the former being to-go ammo type in pretty much any list with combat rems can be very annoying. 2) Most factions simply don't have reliable doctors. For them it's a gamble no better than trying to squeeze value out of automedkits, except the latter at least always present where you need them... On the other hand there's Haqq with amazing doctors and lack of troopers worth healing. Less of a problem because: 3) Longer games may increase value of doctors as they are. When you don't have to rush objectives right now!!! you can afford to patch up some models and expect order investment to be very well worth it. So playing scenarios other than ITS may open something up for you.
Ariadna full marker list Agreed , but you don't have to add useless overcosts to make different troops. Hac Tao is different of Swiss with useful stuff, but Kirpal or Pheasant are almost useless and too expensive. Smoke gr is powerful and has No target label, grenades are R1 and speculative modifier is -6, even if you have LoS where you throw it, that ain't strong. Maybe , but the fact is an ARM 5 under cover vs AP ammo just reduces their ARM roll from +8 to +6, while the cheapest weapon in the game, the chain rifle, already gets a -3, that makes no sense at all Healing isn't order efficient , improving the chances you wouldn't risk so much orders and tokens , you could choose if troops coming back from unconscious do it prone or stand up.. that kind of stuff
So, related: Automedkit and Regeneration? Maybe allow us to spend a command token for a reroll on a trooper with a Cube, just like using the Doctor skill? That would drastically increase those skills' usefulness. Right now, I only risk an order on those if I'm (1) desperate, or (2) so far ahead in the game that I won't miss it.
Well, I was under impression that's fairly intentional. Granted, it does create some very polarizing matchup charts, I think. Yeah, there are fine lines all over the place. There's a possibility, however, that sometimes CB does not want certain combination to be cheap, so they add bloat knowing full well that it is bloat. Chances are, sometimes their idea of cost barrier to access certain things is proven wrong eventually, if that's the case, I'm afraid their method of adding costly stuff instead of just adding costs directly is not exactly a source of the problem... Some units can speculative on 13 without extra bonuses. Due to range that's not exactly HGL army-wiping level of screw-you, but pretty solid in certain situations. You can of course give grenades to less ideal units, but will it change much for them, or turn into more bloat? The main problem with such things is dreaded non-interaction with targets. And if given to competent units, it will also work. I can agree that templates are pretty stupid in this regard, like I said. But I think the problem is with them, not AP ammo. For example, AP HMG is twice as effective against MBT in cover than regular HMG. Some indirect means to improve it is something I don't mind, although like I said, order efficiency strongly depends on what you heal and in a match with what turn count (ITS are all the same here ofc, but people don't just play ITS). It is indeed mostly a waste in most armies... As for optional standing patients up upon receiving heals... Well, I guess it's a good buff to non-throwaway ARO units... Which may be a good thing, but it's hard to estimate without talking particular units.
My personal preferred 'fix' for Automedkits / Regen is that the model continues generating Irregular orders that can only be used for Automedkit / Regen. This would probably need a balance pass (and might be a decent way to differentiate Automedkits from Regen other than just +Shock Immune) but it'd see the skill actually get use.
So do I, but I disagree with that. You need a little clue about what is going on on the table, game is supposed to be funny for both players. I guess, and again I disagree . They don't want cheap Strategos 3 for YJ, so they did Sun Tze with a ton of stuff. Ok, but it isn't bloat, if they want pheasant around 30 points that's fine, but give him a purpose. Imagine Tarik throwing a speculative grenade to a Zanshi at the other side of a wall , or at the other side of a corner(optimal range, +3). Looks like easy on my mind , but actually there is a 26'5% chance to inflict a wound , I don't think that works at all . The problem is that is literally the only case where AP becomes significant , and ARM roll still would be +7
I can add another thing now, actually. Things I don't like: * My local game group putting Infinity on ice for the time being because of disapproval of the handling of YJ during the uprising event. So now I don't get to play unless I organize game groups with randoms. Boo.
Long time player, been out of the loop for a while, so nice to have a chance to bitch about things talk about what feels good and bad about Infinity at the current time. The Good - The setting is top notch, it feels very rich and detailed. - The new sculpts and particularly the new model scale are fantastic. Normally I'd be pissed at having to re-buy models but I have no issues with gradually replacing my old collection with newer stuff. - In most instances the game feels like it gives a huge degree of player agency and that there are many different choices in army composition and strategy. In this game more than any other game I feel like what I choose to do determines success or failure on the table, rather than just taking the "best shit" for the auto-win (though the game is not totally exempt from that). - In most cases the core rules and unit skills are quite simple, and unit construction is also simple. - NAA Factions are well implemented and a great way to get extra mileage out of models, to have a home for models replaced by a resculpt, or to extend one army into another that sees overlap within a mercenary faction. - Rules fixes, while sometimes painfully slow or painfully absent, are generally occuring and generally making the game better. - Story Progression / "ITS Seasons". It's not perfect but I genuinely like this idea. Bad - Not a fan of ITS. Flavourless missions that are often very similar, often heavily weighted to second turn, worded in a very clunky fashion. Yes it has gradually improved over time but its still crap. I would swap to 20x20 or YAMS in a second if people weren't fixated on ITS around here. -Implementation of camouflage skills, mimetism etc. Shooting a Bulleteer on huge penalties even at close range makes it feel like a forcefield rather than concealment. Leads to weird situations like gunslingers being crappier at direct engagement and shootouts than some chump with camouflage. -Fiday-esk alpha strike pieces. Aside from a few unbalanced units I feel this is the element that most detracts from player agency. -AVA in generic factions often too high. For example, vanilla haqqislam having as many Ghazzi as Hasassins, or having access to 1 Fiday + Fiday character whilst Hassassins gets a whopping 2 Fidays + Fiday character. Noctifier in vanilla vs Shasvasti is an example of AVA done correctly. -The "choices" presented in many hacking programs, martial arts etc, where there is almost always one optimal choice. If there are to be different forms of attack here make them meaningfully different, EG a martial artist could boost their own stats to increase kill chance or drastically boost their defense only to tarpit. - Rules Bloat. Similar weapons, bogus choices in levelled skills, similar profiles, useless sub-profiles. The game doesn't need to get bigger for the sake of being bigger. - Critical Hits are far too swingy. - The interaction between smoke and visors is uninteresting, very potent, and largely unprecedented through the rest of the game - this is not primarily a game of buff stacking. Ugly - Fucking Ghazi Muttawiah. A few other balance issues (Kuang Shi, Posthumans, Pokemon trainers) but honestly mainly this thing. Jammers are far and away the most broken and poorly designed piece of equipment in this game. The playerbase is pretty unified in this opinion, so I don't understand why this continues to be a thing. - Classifieds system is shallow and random, still refuse to buy a deck for this. - Stealth + hacker shenanigans and change facing shenanigans (though the first can be undone through somewhat dubious interpretation of the rules). Feels like an absolute glitch in the game rules and really disappointed that they are still present.
@WiT? I generally agree with what you say here, with the small change that, in descending order of problematic balance issues, I'd put things at 1. Symbiomate Kaeltars 2. Ghazi 3. Posthumans 4. Shock ammo/submachine guns
Problem is... you never see full AVA use of those Noctifers. Same with 4 Geckos in Corregidor Vs 2 in generic, then the Kriza AVA 1 in generic with Duo... XD It is, indeed, a game to stack Negative Mods and make the enemy to fail his roll. Specially on your reactive turn. Can't agree more.
I've just realized that the most famous posthumous character of Infinity was G:RP operator. That is a chilling realization.
You can use it to kill Su Jians in NWI, which is nice, I guess. And Unidrons in Dogged in the mirror.
I've used it to flush a Cutter down the toilet, that's quite funny when they're trying to rush the Machinist next turn to get to it. :V
Typically I agree about increased AVA, but I almost always run 3 Noctifiers in any Shas list I make. They're really really good, right up there with 2 Q Drones which thanks to hacker shenanigans are one of the best units in the SEF. Modifiers and "buffs" aren't the same thing. Buffs require another unit doing some ability to make the first unit much stronger. Other examples in the game would be Tinbots in link teams, link bonuses, hacker auto-aim for bots and fairy dust. Yeah those things exist but they're a small portion of the game, unlike things like warmachine or 40k which are more about "who has the most mathematically efficient army due to buff synergies" Modifiers on the other hand are indeed the focus of the game, but are primarily achieved by positioning and certain unit skills (camo - aka the bulletproof shield). That focus on model placement and order expenditure is what defines infinity from other games and makes it so good.
Another thing I'm really liking is the granting of additional equipment to certain profiles to make them more viable when compared to competitors, i.e. the Kamau Sniper vs. the Kamau HMG. I hope they keep making some non-optimal options more viable compared to their rivals through either special skills or equipment on that profile.
