HI

I think all HI, save for Ariadna since they're already unhackable, should have Mov 6-2 as basic, dedicated gun platforms like the Yan Hou could then have Mov 4-4.

The rules for HI are already schizophrenic as they are, you just need to look at PanO for this.

The ORCs have MOV 6-2 while the Knights of Santiago who have a worse base profile have MOV 4-4.

Jean d'Arc in mobility armour has MOV 6-2 and ARM 3. Compare that to the Knight of Justice who also has MOV 6-2 and an ARM of 5. The only edges Mobility Armour has over the KoJ is +2" Dodge and Terrain (Total) rather than Terrain (Mountain). 2 ARM for that seems like a bad trade.

There's no consistency between what determines the MOV of a HI.
- Is it ARM 3 or less? Nope, some models have MOV 6-2 and still have ARM 4 or higher, while some HI also have ARM 4 and higher only have MOV 4-4.
- Is it the size, perhaps S2 or lower? Nope, some S5 HI has MOV 6-2 while other HI also with S5 have MOV 4-4.

Back in N2 HI has a decisive edge over MI in that MI had MOV 4-2 and HI had MOV 4-4. In N3 MI was given MOV 4-4 and this closed the gap between MI and HI considerably. It also gave a massive edge to factions with good MI and nothing to factions that relied on HI to be the heavy hitters. I see the majority of HI as just MI+, they have a few advantages in that they typically have +1 BS, +1-2 ARM, and +1 W or pseudo-wound, and even then something like Yadu from O.S.S. is a mobile HI in everything save category, and hackability,

If HI had MOV 6-2 as a base it would improve their functionality on the battlefield a lot since their Order efficiency would improve significantly. Torchlight Brigade is evidence of this where a lot of the profiles shown, even their heavy hitters have MOV 6-2. This means that on four Orders they can move 24" while doing a Move-Shoot on every one of them. A MOV 4-4 would only be able to move 16" on the same number and combination of Orders, and it would need six Orders to do the same as a MOV 6-2.

 

A category implies there's some sort of consistency by which you can categorise the subject with. There's no category for "fast HI." The KoJ looks less mobile than the Jean d'Arc Mobility armour, yet is just as fast. The Hsien and Hac Tao looks similar to their counter parts of Aquila Guard and Swiss, yet is MOV 6-2 despite their armour being bulkier. The Silverstar Prowler from the shots seems to have a similar bulk to the Knight of the Holy Sepulchre yet is a "Fast HI."

If there's a category then it's supposed to make sense, there are supposed to be some common traits that allow something to be placed in that category or else common categorisation would cease to work.

To give an example from a field where there are a lot of categories, biology. The full category name of homo sapiens is homo sapiens sapiens. The first homo sapiens is the category or genus, and the second is the exact sub-category or sub-genus name. To categorise as a homo sapiens some traits need to be inherent, else a pan troglodyte (chimpanzee) could be put into the homo sapiens category "just because."

If they were sleeker and rules-wise had less ARM than their peers then it would make sense. Without it, HI is sorted into the "Fast HI" category "because I said so," and that's bad reasoning.

HI was special compared to MI before in their Order efficiency and now they are the same, except, there's this category that used to mean something where you gave up ARM in favour of a different MOV profile. It's meaningless now, HI gives up nothing to have a different MOV profile compared to seemingly arbitrarily chosen "normal" HI.

As I gave an example of. If you compare ORC Troopers to Knights of Santiago they have almost the same basic profile, KoS +7 WS, and trade 1 PH for 1 WIP, except the ORCs have better Order Efficiency, you know, where it actually counts. The KoS would probably be similarly priced for the cheapest if the HD and TinBot were removed. The supposed speed of the KoS is represented by the +1" Dodge.

KoS lore-wise protect pilgrimage ships. On ships, due to the cramped space things you can dodge behind are quite close to each other, or should be. These things are low so while they're close together for dodging purposes and for moving purposes fast moving would be beneficial since if something happens in space you need to react quickly since the situation can quickly escalate.

If you modify the ORC by giving it 360 visors it would be a lot more useful to the KoS than their own power armour. This is lore-wise.

Rules-wise the difference in their basic profile is negligible yet the ORCs are "Fast HI" whereas the KoS is a normal HI because? There's nothing in the rules that justifies that one is better at efficiency than the other when they have close to the same basic profile.

 

The category of "Fast HI" makes no sense nor does it have rhyme or reason. Before the ability to form a Harris with other MOV 6-X models, the Asura was MOV 4-4, now it's 6-2, and the only justification seems to be "because we said so." There's literally no other justification other than it would rules-wise be a brick hindering the rest of the Harris otherwise.

 

I think armies that have HI would take a dump on their Faction identity if it meant their elite status actually meant something :p

 

They're MI and they have the old MI movement. They also have 0 BTS and with the increased amount of weapons that affect BTS, I have no issue with them being this cheap as they come with perks and tradeoffs compared to other MI.

The issue is that HI only has a slight durability perk these days over MI when they used to have both a slight durability perk and an Order efficiency perk over MI.

 

That argumentation is utterly useless when CB has shown that MOV 6-2 is given to HI seemingly at random with models of the more durable armour having the same MOV as those of the less durable armour and with models even spontaneously getting it because it was expedient. For year the Asura had MOV 4-4 then all of a sudden it was 6-2 because keeping 4-4 would have made them the odd one out in the Harris they're named after.

ORCs and Mobile Brigada never had MOV 6-2 either until they suddenly had in N4. In every previous edition, it was 4-4

That's an incredibly bad argument since I can take either Varuna or Winterfor and suddenly they're a lot faster than KoS in Aquatic/Jungle or Mountain and come with respectively Stealth or Climbing Plus.

The only point I see here is that models are faster in their preferred terrain. What a shocker and dazzling tactical insight that no one could have ever spotted. /s

If you had said that the KoS is almost always some kind of specialist and they're by default better specialists than ORCs that would have been a real argument, and the standard ORC specialists would still have been more versatile unless you know that you'll play in Zero-G conditions.

If it's one of the Quantum Zones then it'll be around 6" from your deployment zone the ORC can walk up to it and the Movement will end if it's difficult terrain. Then they can still move 6" through compared to 9" for the KoS, 3" is a loss I can live with. Since a lot of button terrain is on a large base 5" is enough to reach the button and push it, so the ORC can still do that, The KoS can also move 5" and, unless it went full throttle, is only able to reach the button because it's Zero-G terrain. They have both used two Orders to push the button. If there's no difficult terrain the ORC can move 6" while shooting, use a new Order, and then Move-Use. If the KoS does the same if it does a Move-Move and then uses an Order more for Move-Use. Both have used two Orders and you get a lot more bang for your buck with the ORC than the KoS.

On top of that, if it's a Varuna ORC it also has Stealth, and Stealth on a hacker is quite good as you can just walk through the ZoC of other hackers and they can only ARO if they have LoF to you.

As a Ballistic killing peace, the ORC is far superior since it can get in position more easily. As a specialist the KoS has a small edge with WIP 13, instead of 12, and even then the ORC, especially if Varuna, is by far more Versatile.