As long as the seed is S0 there are no real mind games, it would be nice if they could be mixed with mines.
Apparently this was fixed I'm all for more mindgames, but what would be the benefit over Minelayer? Assuming of course that I'm interpreting the rules correctly and that Seeds under Camo are now standard S2
I’d think the Cadmus needs just a few changes. First off, Morphoscan, while a cool unique alien skill, it’s not fun. It’s nice that’s it’s apparently cheap. But it takes too many orders and exact placement, and just happen to be playing against a force that has something good to scan. I suggest changing it for a Unique Meta-Chemistry skill. Meaning it has things on the list that are different from the regular MC skill. It’s more fun because you are guaranteed to get something usable, good, or great. Right now, you almost always get nothing. Then you have a horrible WIP12 hacker, a good CC weapon with not good CC skill. Decoy Needs to go back to 2. It’s been only one for a long time and it sucks. They can bring the AVA back down then. The addition of the +1 B, and Continuous to the Chest Mines are good. The addition of Pulzar is great.
Pls no total regeneration for shas instead of current rule. While playing shasvastii (its my main sectorial during n5) there is one thing a want to minimise - rolling one dice with 50/50 chance of success. Current rule work always and without any rolls (with exception of shock ammo), so I can predict for example, if going second and this is my third turn, that I can fail one FtF and ARM roll vs normal ammo and still gain points for scoring some zone. With regeneration on models with PH 10-11 en masse I would roll a lot of dices with 50% success chance instead, so it may be fun and such, but way less predictable.
It's an interesting observation, I don't actually know which would be more efficient over the course of a game. The problem I do have with the current rule is it only works on a few missions otherwise it's useless. There's also such a prolific amount of shock and multi wound ammo that it's rare even to have seeds left over in my experience.Its worth noting the profiles that would generally be in scoring zones have decent ph so more like 60-65% pass rate. I do get your point though. Shas is already such a 50/50 faction. Does the noctifer missile land does the speculo kill the tag etc. those rolls usually effect the outcome of the game.
Something the current iteration of Shasvastii rule has been discussed is how infrequent is used on missions, iirc about 40% if one includes resilience ops and not count them as a separate entry and how negatively impacts missions it does not have impact, for example preventing Retreat!
Regeneration isn't something to plan your strategy around. It's an opportunity to make a comeback after a failed first attempt. Most of the units on which it matters have PH12+, so a 60%+ chance. It's optional, so it doesn't have to be used right away, it can be left as a potential threat the opponent might need to take into account when playing their turn - Spawn-Embryos aren't a threat and allow opponent to deal with them on their own timing. It's no worse than current version against Shock and multi-would ammo. And finally, with the current way skills are described there's nothing that prevents having Regeneration (+3) on some units. That aside, Shas are designed as a glass cannon faction that struggles with the cannon part in current enviroment, and an army that feels like it should excel at battlefield manipulation to make choosing their battles easier to compensate for on average low stats. I'd argue that what they need is increased mobility, battlefield manipulation, and misdirection tools. They should still have average stats, but it should be easier for them to lure opponent into a misstep, maneuver around, and make surgical strikes. They also should still individually fold like wet tissue when getting into pitched battle, so they'd need to avoid it most of the time. To balance all this their units should be really specialized.
Regen at least is already on 4 troops. It's still more than Haqq. Haqq added it to Zhayedan. The Z has Regeneration (PH=12). This is something they could do for Shasvasti. Malignos, Shrouded, and Speculo are already 12. But as mentioned there's so much shock now that this skill and the regular Shas skill as it is, hardly comes into play. If anything more shas should be immune to shock.
I feel like the problem for Shas is that their meta is based around surprise attacks. But the fact is that army composition and deployment is largely a "solved" problem for most players between 300pts., 15 models and table design. So while it should be a surprise missile launcher and Dukash, the fact is it goes more like, "Hmm... you're missing ~60pts. and have 13 models... so there's a Noctifer out there... probably one top of that one tall building in your DZ, and I'll face these three guys backwards for a DZ drop troop... Ok go ahead." The tricks don't work when everyone knows how they're done
That's why they need a few more options to make it easier to shuffle tricks around. Those missing points might not be a Noctifier, they might be a Malignos, a Haiduk masquerading as an R-Drone, a Cadmus or some new Parachutist option, or those camo markers might not be Calibans but Seeds with Minelayer with Sphinx hidden behind them. And Jayths, Gwailos, and other direct combat troops should be tweaked to present a viable right hook to go with different hidden threats
The fact you know a wild Noctifier, or two, exist in the table should not be a issue for a competent Shasvastii player, frankly Noctifiers are one of the few elements that work as people expect them to work.
You mean, they come out, roll 16-20 then die?) That works everytime. While spitfire noctifier is great, missile ARO noctifier is one of "roll single high-risk dice at cost of order and 1.5 swc" units. It cool that everyone are afraid of it, but that cool thing works even (and aspacially) if you dont pick it into list ))
To put it another way, ML Noctifier is an incredibly swingy piece when considered on its own merits. It gets better when used in tandem with other units, for example to surprise opponent who was expecting to shoot at Haiduk or Q-Drone, and now has to deal with double AROs instead. But that means concentrating available assets in one part of the table, and given the cost of SEF units it's not easy to fill the gaps elsewhere. I don't think Shas need much to shine, but I am looking forward to them getting a balance pass.
Taigha's should be the gap fillers, as passive ARO options, they just need forward deploy to make them useful. Camo would be great too. They don't even need the chain colt back if they had those 2 skills. It would also make them a pretty unique unit.
I’d like to see some hacker upgrade: White Noise. There’s only Victor with it. Camo/Mim is Shasvstii’s greatest advantage but it’s increasingly nullified by the added MSV1 and sensor troops. I’d also like to see some that have Surprise Attack -6. I think, as of now, the only troop with that is the Ayyar. It makes sense for THE camo army to have this.
