I think that they would be far more dangerous as REMs: Assisted Fire, Enhanced Reaction, non-possessable and just a -3 to Dodge.
Didn't the Batroids also belong to those who got to pay for TacAware? So if so, also slightly cheaper.
But it does have higher armor than normal infantry while those arms are exposed. I don't really get the point that something called Tactical Armored Gear is not about the armor. It is about the combination of speed and armor. That's kind of the troop type description. It is the tankiest thing we have in the skirmish battlefields. Why compare it to something that does not exist in the game? What's next HMGs not being heavy guns because bigger things exist on spaceships?
Actually while we're on the subject of problematic tech descriptions, I've never liked that HMGs are called HMGs. How can they be "heavy" if a line trooper can carry one around without even slowing down? According to wikipedia, a machine gun that's carried around by infantry is called a light machine gun. A big-ass vehicle-mounted machine gun is a heavy machine gun. And that makes sense! What we call HMGs in Infinity should really be LMGs. HMG should refer to TAG weapons like the multi-HMG and HRMC. Like, they're heavy, so only a TAG can lift them.
Anathematic is S6 and isn't a TAG. Karakuris are more durable. I think it just comes down to TAGs being memetically good (when actually they were often suboptimal). I'd be fine with them being S6 REMS w/o Fatality L1 and Tactical Awareness. It'd make them interesting and unique, and fit the "biomechanical death" theme of OCF.
It should be well known by now: the issue seems to come from the translation. In Spanish it is just Ametralladora, Machine Gun, no "weight" adjective. Why English has Heavy and there is no other one? No idea.
English also had a "light" and "general purpose" appellations for machine guns. "Light/medium and heavy" were descriptors based off the AMMUNITION size used, not the physical mass of the weapon. "Heavy" machine guns tended to be of .50cal or larger. Those (light machine guns) tended to also get used as the SAWs for the units carrying them (like the minimi or the m-60), though - with the HMGs left for the stuff that pretty much had to be tripod or vehicle mounted (Ma Deuce, I'm looking at you.).
So does Spanish (or at least they do not sound weird and Wikipedia has articles for light, medium, heavy and general purpose, just like English... not a weapon expert). The question is why "undetermined" became "heavy".
Because someone messed up the original Spanish-to-English translation of Infinity. The Spanish rules (and Army Builder, and so on) have "ametralladora", a general term for a "machinegun". Not "ametralladora pesada" which would be Spanish for "heavy machinegun". Therefore I can see no logical explaination for how a Spanish "machinegun" became "heavy machine gun" in the English rules besides: Someone had a brainfart while translating, or Someone decided that "it will sound way more cool that way". Tertium non datur. And since CB haven't decided to fix it, we have to bear with it. Side notes: German edition of the rules has Maschinengewehr ("machinegun") French edition has Mitrailleuse ("machinegun") Italian edition had Mitragliatrice ("machinegun") Though they all have their English equivalents (HMG in this case) in braces, to make sure there's no error in using the rules with players peaking different language, I guess. Still, only English got messed up with their "Heavy Machine Gun". No-one else has any mention about it being "heavy". The Russian edition quick-start rules doesn't go that deep into weapons, but I'm pretty sure it would have a Пулемёт (machinegun), without further detail. In Russian, apparently, the detail there is that a machinegun can be either ручной ("hand", i.e. portable), or станковый ("stationary / mounted" - one requiring a tripod mount / wheeled mount / vehicle mount, what the WW2-era terminology used to call "heavy machine gun"), or единый пулемёт ("one / sole machinegun", defined as a weapon that can be used both as man-portable, and as tripod-mounted, i.e. what we call "universal machinegun" in English). Крупнокалиберный пулемёт ("large calibre machinegun", defined as a machinegun of 12-16mm calibre - i.e. what modern English terminology would call a "heavy machinegun") is an entirely separate beast...
Not surprising, really. There were a bunch of translation issues going back to 1st ed infinity in the rulebooks. Some stuff just didn't get translated, others got more than needed. English lacks the nuances that most of the "romance" languages have in their language, as well (but it IS a language cobbled together from the bastard sons of a thousand maniacs.
Pretty much bang on. GPMGs and LMGs are individual weapons tending to operate 7.62mm belt/drum fed ammunition. The HMG is .50cal belt fed platform mounted (tripod, vehicle, airframe). Technically we class it as man portable, but anyone who's had to carry an extra 75kg of barrels, receiver, tripod, and ammunition spread across their 3 man team on top of all other kit knows that's a masochistic wish. Interesting considering the mechanical reflection of HMGs. The step up between the effect of 7.62 and .50 is insane. Best reflection would be DAM14 N to 15 AP+Shock Anti-material. We use it to blow out engine blocks, walls, and take out helicopters. .50 wrecks face. The range bands also seem to reflect how in real life they've been used effectively semi-automatic as sniper rifles. None of this takes into account the modernisation and miniaturisation that's occurred in infinity fluff. Back to the original quezzie: I love the miniature arm aesthetic but can see in-game arguments for and against them. Sorry for the diversion!
Jumping off that weapons discussion, i know it's a bit off topic, and it's just hypothetical, but wouldn't it make more sense that larger TAGs be firing 20-25mm autocannons? Even a .50 HMG would be kinda a toy gun in the hands of a Gujia or a any S7 TAG, no? Not that i particularily want TAGs to be firing B4 Dam15 AP+DA+Shock weapons as hilarious as it would be.
You mean one of these (but with the auto-loader still attached, so at higher burst): http://wiki.infinitythegame.com/en/Portable_Autocannon
Yeah probably, like those mounted on gunships and IFVs, so probably same stats but more burst. Thinking of it, would it really be that bad if TAGs got a weaponry update? I mean, i guess it would make them more expensive unfortunately? But sometime i feel like those expensive models are more of a liability than anything in general. I guess that's a discussion for another topic.
1) Fatality level 1 represents the fact TAG weapons are larger and fire heavier calibre munitions. 2) Multi-HMGs that are used by most MBTs can fire heavy explosive shells in addition to their normal AP and Shock rounds. This gives them roughly the firepower of a Bradley or Scimitar AFV with both an Autocannon (EXP) and GPMG/HMG. Infinity also has a pretty weird damage scale that doesn't really map to real life, for example pistol vs assault pistol.
Things I regularly wonder about: If the Yu Jing weapons industry is capable of making heavy infantry equipped with dual missile launchers or a HRMC, why doesn’t the Guijia have alternate loadouts that offer those as options? The Yan Huo HRMC is obviously much more compact than the schoolbus that Szalamandras tote around. I’m just saying... Some variety in the handheld weapon loadouts of the game’s TAG lineup would be appreciated.
