Having reached this point, considering the fate that has befallen the two factions, wouldn't it be better to unite them both into a single faction? Just keeping the fireteams and limitations and everything else from both factions. I think everyone would benefit from this merger: CB would have one less discontinued faction and the the favor of Tohaa and Spiral players, and Tohaa and Spiral players would finally get something new after years, and could free themselves from the monotony present for too long. A simple and quick job for the CB with great advantages for everyone. @Koni
I rather like Spiral as a multi-species mercenary company, with Tohaa being alien special forces. There should be design space for both, even if the're not super popular. The Tohaa broader theme is bioweapons and letting others do the dying, so perhaps lean into that and make the various genetically engineered creatures more a focus for the core Tohaa, while Spiral gets more unscrupulous mercenaries (both Human and Exrah, perhaps)?
I know their backgrounds are different, but now they are abandoned. it is clear that neither spiral nor tohaa will have any more updates and will remain so forever. Isn't it better, at this point, to have a faction with more choices? Then, everyone plays as them like want.
I'm not sure that this union you suggest will have chances of become a reality. BTW, I understand your pov and why you ask for it.
Uh, my dude, we have recently seen the Exrah return and Merovingians become the Reinforcements for Ariadna with new upgraded profiles. It is definitely not clear that Tohaa and/or Spiral will not return. I'd give it a couple years, but I'll be Tohaa end up getting a full reboot sooner rather than later.
I hope that Onyx' departure (if true) will leave space for a sectorial of Tohaa aligned with the CA like the Fraacta and Maakrep... Combined Army weapons and tech, maybe 1-2 tohaa tame stuff, lots of Transmutation, and designs being a mix of CA and Tohaa, possibly making an interesting option. Of course, I hope without much bleedout to vanilla.
Heh. Having worked in the games industry in Europe, then switching back to the US and seeing what my games industry friends are required to do here (Wizards, Privateer, indie publishers... burnout city here)... I'm cool with waiting for mañana so we don't burn the creative team out. Now rules patching, -that- could definitely move faster... but the level of problem presented by existing issue is also not super-on-fire so whatever. We all know what we signed up for here (rewarding depth but challenging complexity; intricate design but slow-ass release).
I haven't bought Endsong because I don't yet know if someone will ask me to translate it for free and I'll read it then and then buy the book in french, but given the evolution of the Spiral Corps story that Marduck gave in his french video and the story there is for ITS 15, I don't see how the Spiral could stay now that it's clear to the Sphere that there's a big problem with them, much bigger than with the Druze or the Dashat, who are barely tolerated. Like the former ambassador, all the tohaa must suspect something by now, even if they're led by the Triumvirate that controls the Spiral. I don't see the Spiral Corps remaining in the game, the direction of Gutier's story doesn't fit in, and its elimination will be necessary because I don't see what narrative twist could allow them to remain a mercenary company (the returning exrah aren't themselves the same exrah from the first version, it's a different company). If the Tohaa are kept in N5, a faction fusion will be necessary to follow the new story, which can only lead to the death of the Spiral by the tohaa, to allow the tohaa to regain their virginity in the sphere. But there's already a presence of spiral profiles in tohaa, so apart from changing the availability and changing the skills and weapons of existing profiles, I don't see what can be changed, adding human mercenary profiles isn't RP with the tohaa story.
The Tohaa main faction do not have the same profiles as spiral tohaa choices. No Smoke Grande Launcher for Kriigel, No Tri-Core Taagma, No Viral Sniper and MSV Taagma, No Paramedic Sentinel, Kiiutan and Jaan have different AVAs. Big change in terms of gameplay. Like I said, it's a very quick and easy way to add a great change to spiral and tohaa players.
Nah. They're out of production, out of sight and a tiny problem in the grand scheme of things. Lore wise there's a good argument that spiral actually saved humanity from total collapse and subjugation by the EI. There's room in the lore for a redemption arc for sure. In the current era of detente that the sphere finds itself in, a force that's good at hunting shas infiltrators, has knowledge of subjugated races (sygmaa for example) and alien tech will continue to be of use to the strategically minded folk of the sphere.
