That presumes, it gets a mode to shoot with BS. If thats the case, its not pointless for sure. But right now, it only has the template mode and thats going to be a Direct Template.
It makes zero sense to assume that “right now, it only has the template mode and thats going to be a Direct Template”. Either it is going to have the same general mode as BSG with BSG also having AP mode much like today or something else that we simply do not know.
Or the chorus got what they wanted. Streamlining weapons by eliminating chain colts. :D We know even less about shotguns than we did about the availability of discontinued sectorial play.
I am happy that my AP rifle toting, Arm 4 Janissary Akbar Doctor will get a slight boost with the crit change. It is still a great HI specialist.
And even better, because he receives a DTW with LSG. I would hope so too...but I have little of it, because they missed the train with the Hakim and the Hortlaks. The little hope I have lasts on the complete reinventing of some units roles. On the other hand. Akbar might even be ditched, because its a special rule on a single unit in the game:(
From watching the Kaldstrom previews, I'm really curious what is coming down the line for Haqq. When I started playing waaaaay back, Haqq's identity was "the fast, aggressive guys who punish mistakes, but who use cheap guns to do it." We had motorcycles, we had superjump, we had mobilized deployment, we had impersonation, we had particularly aggressive AD Combat Jump troops, our TAG could carry soldiers up field... we didn't have the ONLY copies of most of these (for some we did!), but almost no one else had these skills. Now motorcycles are much more common, superjump is much more common, infiltration and forward deployment are more common, impersonation is still mostly ours, our AD troops aren't as uniquely aggressive (Dogged is kind of like +1 wound, and several other factions have similar units), and our TAG's trick has been improved and given away to all fireteams in every sectorial list. This last one has been HUGE, because just being able to deliver a team of five guys from your deployment zone to the center line of the map for the same order cost as delivering one guy is the equivalent of a massive speed boost in a lot of respects. Heavy Infantry appear to be getting a standard speed of 6/2. Which is fine, but... it kind of turns us into the slow army list? Presumably something will change to account for this. Maybe our identity will shift. Or maybe we will see a boost to our genetically engineered soldiers movement speeds. Or maybe we won't get anything, but everyone else will pay a point cost for the change, turning us into more of the horde army described in our fluff? Who knows.
But that is exactly the point, effendi: we do not know. We're seeing some C1 profiles for PanO and YJ. We know nothing how our, for example, Heavy Infantry, are going to look like. Janissaries were always pretty run off the mill for the HI, so if ORCs (who are basically the standard benchmark HI for PanO) are now MOV 6-2, why would you expect our Janissaries to be any slower...? Just because you have seen the C1 profile for a "faster" ORC? We have no data on N4 Haqq. Null. Zero. Nilch. Nada. Which makes speculating baseless.
I'm not worried about Haqq in N4 yet. I wouldn't be crazy about them moving to a horde army despite the fluff noting Haqq has the largest standing army - especially because that would leave Ariadna as a super horde. And even if most HI are MOV 6-2, I think that is fine. Let the enemy HI come that much closer to our jammers, flamethrowers, shotguns, etc.
I wasn't expecting our HI to be slower. It used to be that being the "light infantry" guys, plus having a few unique or nearly unique skills and equipment options, made us the fast faction. MI was 4/2, and HI was 4/2... it was a different world. Now it looks like HI is 6/2, which is better than the standard for the formerly "fast moving" LI. We're a primarily LI faction, so, having everyone's standard HI get Namurr speed makes us comparatively slower. Presumably some things will change. Namurr in particular will probably change, given that 6/2 was supposed to make them special and now loads of people look to be getting it. Speculation and discussion is kind of the point of the thread and all...
@Cadfan17 LI being able to move at HI speed is pretty special ;) Makes one wonder how Fidays and Al-Djabel will fare...
I still expect Haqqislam to have a lot of asymmetrical trading in N4. If the previews for PanO en YJ are any indication, I expect Haqq to get a lot of dope new stuff in N4 as well. Do mind that everything shown so far, other than the army lists for White Banner and Svalarheima, are for Code One. It's still too early to draw conclusions.
At some point we will probably see pointless labels for what they are and thus see that sturdy-ish active turn model moving at the speed of sturdy-ish active turn model isn't that special...