I'm hoping for a new NA2 army for this year. Especially an all alien non-CA mercenary company. But I really need another Lt. option for my Ikari!
An "Exrah Bug Men" heavy Mercenary Aliens Sectorial would be pretty rad. . . Loosely based on the "Multicultural" Merchant Federation of Star Wars would be YET well immersed in the Fluff without so much problems. . . "Iskallers" were Assault Parachute specialists ("Winged Prawn-Men" most used Stats were very similar to A.D. Tiger Warriors with Combishotguns); "Vektors" ("Mantis Men") were stealth T.O. Camo troops that excelled in the Roles of "Forward Lieutenant" and Hacker, "Void Operators" (the UGLIEST of the Exrah Miniatures, considered the culprit for the "Sectorial" disaffection by Playerbase and its subsequent "40.000 Squat" disappearance, but that I found endearing in its "Kamen Rider / Guyver Zoanoid with Bone-Bayonet" appearance) were relatively decent Attack Pieces, quite aggressive. . . The infamous "Kaskuda" ("Giant Scarab Bugman" powerful, big and heavy as a Guijia T.A.G.) had the "Piece Of Contnetion" of being "Bomb A.D. Mechas" that were launched directly on Enemy Troops with a "Explosion Circular Template"; that Rule, often badly interpreted was ANOTHER "Bone Of Contention" that led to the decision by C.B. Staff to disappear the line. . . It could be soved easily by saying that Mercenary Exrah have NO MORE the "Biotech Manifacture" capabilities to build "Orbital Impact Capable" exoshell frames that have ALSO more fragile chitinous Armour; they will have now the SAME Stats of Mercs O.K. Tactical Armoured Gears like the Anacondans or the Ramhorn Exoframe of Scarface & Druzes. . . To further flesh out the "Sectorial" known "Alien Mercs" like LeMuet, Cube Jagers, Krakot Renegades of the Morats and MAYBE Aida Swanson would be useful to add on. . . What I would REALLY insert is some sort of "Reskin" of Troopers of the Bakunin Nomad Sectorial that are "More Beasts Than Human" like Chimera Uberfallkommandos and Pupniks (to represent a sort of "Predators Nautjia" Bounty Hunter with Mastiff Pets) and the MORE monstruous of the Morlocks to represent some sort of "Crazed Metachem Alien Pirate Crew" (maybe, JUST maybe "Spiced Up" by a Daktari Catgirl that is REALLY coming form a Feline Zo-Anthropoid Race, rather than cosmetically altered Humans !!). . . These last options, while colourful and interesting, could be VERY difficult to insert in a well-balanced manner. . . . .
Not quite. Vectors were the MSV2, mimetism equipped, super jumping, shooting through Datz smoke assholes. They were basically super jumping Nisses with access to smoke... Bringing back the Exrah, even in a merc roll for the CA or as an NA2 force, would be nice and something I would even look into for playing.
Huzzah, the Human Sphere wiki does have the Exrah unit pics! I think the biggest problem with the Exrah as originally designed was that the four units didn't look like they were even the same species. Void Op, Iskaller, and Caskuda all are upright bipeds. Vector Op is a hunchback: (And to put things in perspective, the center of the crater under the Caskuda is 40mm across, I'm pretty sure that particular model is on a ~120mm base. That beast is also the height of an old Guijia, and the Caskuda is taking a knee, doing the superhero landing pose.) This meant that people weren't as likely to buy them. Add sculpting that was hard on the molds, reducing lifespan per-mold, and you have a perfect storm of 'nobody buys them and they cost more to make!' that lead to their discontinuation. The idea of the race is excellent. Ruthless capitalists whose word for 'contacted system' translates to 'no more assets to be found.' Even the fluff reason they were 'squatted' was perfectly in character: The EI caught that Exrah company selling EI tech to the humans!
While I love the Exrah, the problem with them fluff-wise is that they all hand cubes and under the thumb of the Combined Army. I think it's almost impossible to rebel when the EI can just in habit your cube and make you turn back. Now if they have no Cube, then it's possible because the CA have not control of them. I'd also like new aliens as well.
Exrah's Fluff divide them into "Corporate Entities" that are ALSO some sort of "Subracial Hive" (maybe with an immensely, grotesquely "Hive Queen" Organism acting ALSO as "Defacto C.E.O."); is MORE like the Aliens Enemies of "Independence Day" but RATHER Capitalistic Opportunistics instead of "Genocidal Invaders". . . They are NOT "Mindless Swarms of Bug Drones" like 40.000 Tyranids or "Inferior Subraces" of the Zergs from Starcraft; I believe that the intention of Corvus Belli was to represent them more as the "Rapacious Merchant Federation" of Star Wars instead of "Faceless / Soulless Minion Hordes". . . In fact the "Foot Soldiers" were called "Ephemeras" (a greek word meaning "Very Short Lived") as they were VERY vulnerable outside their Biotech Gene-Engineered Exoshells (an explanation why they varied so much; REAL Exrahs' aspect was of "Larva-Like Humanoid-Slugs" inside a specialized Exoframe with whome they were Symbiotically bonded. . .remove the "Exoshell Carapace2 and the Exrah die quickly and messily !!) and were commanded by far rarer, long-lived "Command Caste" that were LOOSELY described as "Humanoid Mantis / Crickets wearing Fancy Robes befitting an Haqqislamite Merchant Prince". . . . . . . . The "Corporate Hive" called "Concordat" was the one attached to the Paradiso Expeditionary Forces and, after a rather SPECTACULAR presentation (a "Meteor Rain" of Kaskuda Heavy Exoframes from Orbit was what made Ravensbrucke, Pan-O Megacity on Paradiso Equator, capitolate so soon !!!) lagged a little. . . They decided that was "Cool & Hip" to sell LESSER versions of Plasma Guns to gullible human dupes to have them UNDERSELL precious Human Secret (a sort of vibe to "American Native Braves bought-off by Wasp Colonists with cheap Musket Guns"); the plan backfired RATHER BADLY when they did not realize Humans had a Artificial Intelligence on its own and "Reverse Engineered" Plasma Guns tech, Hector of the Homeridae was IN FACT gifted by A.L.E.P.H. the very FIRST Human-Made functional, reliable Plasma Gun. . .!! ALSO "Red Fury" Guns were HINT-RUMORED to be engineered by reverese Exrah Plasma Rifles, but now they are essentially REFLUFFED as "Spitfires with Weird Ammo". . . . . . . . When E.I. understood of the debacle "Demoted" the Concordat (A.K.A. stripped that PARTICULAR Hive-Corp of privileges, assets, whatever is that Exrah gains from "Strip-Mining WHOLE Planets" !!) and sent them away, in exile, in another corner of the Galaxy. . . Another Hive-Corporate Entity, the "Consortium" (historical rivals of the "Concordat"), was tasked to FORCIBLY remove the hidden smuggler caches and dead-drops for their Human Accomplishes, and their OWN "Armed Security" (THEIR Kaskudas, Vektors, Iskallers and Void Operators) had to secure ANY "Consortium's Assetts" still existing in the "Human Sphere Borderlands". . . JUST TO BE SURE the Evolved Intelligence has EXPLICITLY prohibited the Consortium Armed Forces to partecipate in OFFENSIVE Ops on the Human Sphere (just like to avoid the "Temptation" to m ake Humans an "Offer They Can't Refuse") but they REMAIN as "Onboard Security" on many Xeno Starship on the Human Sphere fronts (the Combined Army Freighter that PIERCED the "Wotan's Gate" Blockade was an OLD VINTAGE SURPLUS Exrah Merchant Vessel that was quickly repurposed as "Cheap Expendable Troop Transport" !!!). . . . . . . . The Exrah are NOT DISAPPEARED from the Game Background (so "Offed Away" like Warhammer 40.000 Squats). . .they are simply "Off Screen" STILL doing their things. . .!! . . . . . Is for this that a peculiarly DESPERATE Exrah Concordat Security Detachement COULD POSSIBLY found some "Exile Fortune" working as Mercs for the Human Sphere. . . . . After all the Krakot Renegades of the Morats are "Escaped Convicts" that would be SHOOT ON SIGHT by Morat Vanguard Troopers even if NOT prompted by their "Umbra Commissars" (as for the "Soviet Red Army Morale Boosters" of the 40.000 Imperial Guard !!!). . . . . . . . I PERSONALLY think that the cutthroat "Criminal Loan-Shark" atmosphere of the Nomads' Mothership Tunguska will PECULIARLY appeal to Concordat Renegades on the run. . . . .!!!
The only thing I see wrong about bringing back Exrah is that I would no longer be able to use them as Hungries!
I had an idea for a new Merc unit in my head for a while now, an anti scenery unit, like an explosive expert in a bomb suit. No idea if the pricing is right ;), and maybe giving him the Engineer ability to remotly explode D-Charges.
Well, there are many possibilities for someone to return back...EI seeks a mysterious Templar relic, they say? What if some combat mercs, hired hackers, security specialists, indiscriminate corporate AI specialists will take their days off and move to Paradiso – just by accident simultaneously... All fit, all quantronic warfare trained and combat ready, all with vague past and moving like men trained to wear power armour suits...Have no idea who they are :-D
The Demobot could be more like the Wild Parrot or Fast Panda by beign something that moves out 8in and then explodes on the scenery. Edit: Also make it able to Duo with the 8pt. baggage REM.
I was totally thinking that myself after reading 3rd Offensive. Definitely feels like some Shas are not too happy about their situation in the CA...
Shasvaasti are already too ingrained into Onyx and Vanilla to do a full JSA style split. Wild Wild Speculation: Triumvirate will include disaffected Shasvaasti.
It's kinda hard to revolt when you have a cube in you. However, Shasvastii could starting having troops without the cube. The fluff says there's two factions within Shasvastii race. One believes that sticking with the EI is the way to ensure their survival. The other doesn't necessarily dislike the EI, they just think they shouldn't depend on them. This might mean they do things without EI approval. But that doesn't mean revolt. Pissing off the EI is playing with total eradication again. They know the EI can and will do it.
The RPG talks about 3 Arc-Ships of the Shasvastii that came to our milky way. And that they have lost contact with each other when they left their galaxy. So maybe another Arc-Ship joint forces with the Triumvirate to free their brethren or fight a potential thread to their race.
But don't the Tohaa see the Shasvastii as their main enemy? I remembers somethign about them really hating Shas over all other EI races. Just to note: The races we've seen so far as a part of the Combined Army are just the tip of the iceberg of races under it's control. These are just the ones that can survive on these planets! They probably have races that do nothing but go to liquid methane planets to fight!
The Tohaa do in general. But the Triumvirate have no scruples. They'll work with anyone, and use anyone, if they deem it necessary for the survival of the Tohaa. I can totally see them hiring anyone willing to sell their services who can't be traced back to them for their dirty, dirty activities. And what better than a rogue Shas seed vessel? Shasvastii will always be blamed by humans and other Tohaa as CA operators, perfect deniable agents! That'd be a very cool thing for a Triumvirate Sectoral tbh. Maybe just 1-2 troops, doing the camo infiltrator role, nothing too elite, but showing the forces the Triumvirate can get hold of to cover their tracks and do their nasty deeds.
