Apart from their aesthetics, the selling point of Vargars for me was their 'secret voodo tech' feeling, wich include their uniqueness in being the sole Albedo link in the game, at least up to my knowledge. If the opponent does not have MSVs of course the compulsion of taking the most of Albedo is not there, but if they have at least one MVS I can't stop making the feel that I am being rushed to do as much as I can with them in turn 1 as possible. I would ask the new player if they like to play with what is essentially an 'Infantry Tank' army. Yes, any other armies can play with TAGs. And yes, those armies may even have quite the selection of TAGs (Nomads). And yes, there are other armies who can be solely centered on a single TAG unit to which is fate it would depend if they win or lose (CA). But I feel that Pano has an edge on the archetype where a TAG is providing the opening for the rest of their surrounding infantry to perform their tasks. All of their TAGs have a little bit of an edge when compared to other faction TAGs to do so. Be it that they have Camo/HD and MIM, or quite unasailable ARM, or excelent vertical mobility along MIM, or simply an HRMC. That coupled with high BS, Remote Presence and some extra quirks on all of them. So those TAGs, along with cheap but efficient and high BS linemen and specialists with high-tech loadouts, make the usual 'Infantry Tank' archetype work quite well for Pano. Edit: Mandatory Valkyria Chronicles 'Infantry Tank' Squadron with Pano Color Scheme
The thing is, PanO has had WIP 13 doctors for a really long time. And Vanilla PanO now got access to a WIP 13 Engineer. On the topic of PanO WIP, I am surprised how much WIP 12 just feels bad. Statistically, it is only 5% worse in normal rolls than WIP 13. It also feels that current trend in ITS missions is to give big bonuses to mitigate bad WIP if you use the right specialist. It feels like the variety of specialists that PanO has gotten access to has also increased over this time. This definitely looks planned. As for the KoS, it is still available in a Duo in both Vanilla and a wildcard in MO. Also, it is still a good solo piece with unique kit. From an outsider's perspective, I am just surprised that it is not more popular. Of course, for me, it is probably the "grass is greener on the other side" effect. Like I super envied the PanO Locust, but when we got the Shujae, I immediately ignored it.
TAGs, shooting, Bolts, Bagh Mari, Karhu, Vargar, Kamau, Echo Bravos, Zulu Cobras, all the flavors of Knights. It's what I like, and despite dabbling in pretty much every other faction, it's the one I always come back to.
I've been the opposite, ever since N4 I've branched out and while PanO is still my first faction and I want to like it; after sampling O-12, Aleph, Haqq, and some NA2 it just feels...off. This is coming from someone who has close to every PanO model in the range fully painted already, I'm pretty invested in PanO. For most tournaments and game nights I'll put together a list that suits whatever mission we're going to play. I'll start with a PanO list, realize it is falling short in some area then build say an O-12 list, and most of the time the O-12 list is just better suited to the mission, can bring more tools for more problems all without sacrificing the firepower advantage I'd get as PanO.
I mentioned last night, while I was trying to make MO list, that this sectorial lost usual engineer. Only pricy religious version of MO Curators remained. Is it mistake in a builder or when it happened? I am not insultet. Just looking for understanding, when it happened and if it is not a mistake. *Added after some time* So, question is solved, asked different sources. We HAD that option only in the past. (Sometime return to the faction after updates in confusing)
It's because they're not good enough. Compare them to the toys Nomads get and it's just... not enough.
Yes, HMG Kamau is amazing, it should cost more than the Bulletteer. Bulletteer has the downsides of hackable, fatter base, worse BS, etc. *and* its gun is generally not as good.
Except perhaps MO, there is no point in playing PanO because O12 is like PanO just better. I said that when O12 released. They even got nicer shade of blue.
PanO has a lot more variety within the design space it covers. O12 profiles are almost universally better, but tend to have specific and narrow capabilities. This makes them very good as a starter faction, but PanO does have a few capabilities advanced players may appreciate- Acon brings versatile toolboxes and plentiful board control, NCA has some shooters with an edge over O12 and more option for Hidden Deployment shenanigans, Sval brings the big Jotum and flexible Fireteams, MO does its own thing and Vanilla brings it all together with Mercenary access filling some further gaps.
Used to like PanO Sectorials. Varuna was great in N3, so was SAA. At least Vanilla is doing well instead nowadays, shame about the Sectorials though. Why are there 5 of them again?
Yes. Pano has still amazing profiles. Acontecimento is really funny to play, I can't argue with that. I love it. But still, smells old. It has the same tools as always had. Winter, of course, is really really fun to play with fireteams, you have to plan what do you want to do, how do you will configure your deployment... this dimension for me is great to have. But all that amazing advanced playability goes to trash with a single template... Once we are over the playtable, we faced the issues Pano has, you can't play to trades because most of your midfield troupes will be more expensive than the ones for the rival, we could say we had an unit which was more or less good at it (peacemaker) but not anymore... So, our expendable units (axilias) will have to run over the whole table until a position where they can do some harm. So, probably they would perish going to... Yes, we have amazing tags... But one lucky Panzerfaust or ML can easily end with your main attack piece. So, yes, in winter you can do a lot of fireteams, but all of then, with maybe not the expensive ones will perish relatively easy against a camo profile equipped with light shotgun, and fort those not so killable for lightshotgun, still is worthy for the rival to try... if get lucky you probably will lose double or triple of points, if not, you will loose probably someone in the fireteams, loosing bonuses, so making you easy to kill for the "lower BS factions" by simple burst. So, Pano right now is not for new players, neither for veterans players. When I mean Pano I have mostly Vainilla in mind, but too SSA, Varuna or Winter. This not mean that you can't win with Pano, neither you can't have easy victories. Of course. The problem is not so easy to spot. If were the case I think we weren't having this conversation.
So just to stir the pot some more I went back over some point comparisons and I noticed that had overlooked during the N4 change the Armbot's opposites in Yu Jing and Nomads went up in cost, meanwhile the Armbots came down in cost. Post "nerf" when you pull the upgrade pieces, the MSV2 off a Rui Shi and the FD+8 off a Peacemaker (spitfires), they come out to costing 18 vs 19 points respectively. That to me points towards the answer for all this is CB fucked up during the edition change and Armbots should have had a price increase too back then but managed to slip through the cracks. This may not exactly be a nerf its just someone has noticed Armbots were costed incorrectly for ages.
No it didn't, it had mechanised deployment which is different as that made multi peacemaker lists not particularly viable.
