YMMV, MOV 6-4 is actually pretty useful, if Peacemaker gets a chance to move. I liked its offensive potential, it doesn't need to be static. It is, however fragile af, and PanO definitely could use a STR 2 Remote in the vein of Rudra or Stormbot
I mean realistically the Vostok should've been a Pan-O heavy Bulleteer but nope that wound up in Nomads for reasons.
I definitely like the idea of EVOs creating dangerous "do not hack" areas. EVOs need to be used more.
However, I'd support that effect not propagating through all friendly repeaters. Or very quickly we'd have to deal with entire no-hack tables. And that in turn would completely invalidate hackers.
As far as Vostok goes, why not Nomads? if nothing else they have as extensive remotes program as PanOceania to bolster their numbers.
I'd say they were already well-served with Lunokhods (yes, Lunokhods do require an update IMO, but that's a spearate thing) and Tsyklons. Not to mention thir Zond complement, inc. pretty unique Meteor. STR 2 S 4 REM - this class has, to my memory, two entries - Aleph's Rudra and Nomad Vostok. Does PanO have anything comparable?
Stormbot is the 3rd entry on that list. And no, PanO doesn't have anything comparable. @psychoticstorm I'm perfectly fine with Nomads getting good Remotes. And looking at Tsyklons, Lunokhods, and Meteors, I'm pretty sure they have some. At ARM 3 and BTS 6 the first two are more durable than Armbots. Both have longer equipment and weaponry list, making them far more toolboxy than their barebones PanO counterparts. Meteors might not be useful 100% of the time, but they are an interesting option to deliver Sensor anywhere. They also get shotgun version for good measure. Stempler and Reaktion Zonds have Climbing+; only two other factions' standard Remotes have it - O-12 and Aleph. Vostok feels like a PanO unit, because it is a pure fire superiority piece. Fast, durable, hard-hitting. And let's not forget, that at its introduction it was even stronger and with more options, which tells things about balance betatesting. It does exactly the same thing as Gator does, gives Nomads in general and CJC in particular a direct action heavy hitter. I have two remarks about that: First, almost two years ago you've said of Gator, that CJC needed a mainline TAG. I disagreed with it then, and I disagree with it now. Not every faction needs access to every type of tool, and not every tool they have needs to be of excellent quality. Having weaknesses to work around is just as interesting for a faction as having strenghts to capitalise on. And two, I can accept that the game changes, and with it factions' strenghts and weaknesses. Let's say that Nomads indeed got a justified straight up combat boost to make up for them not being stellar in this area. Why other factions, particularly PanO, can't get the same treatment? There's a lot of ideas how to make them more well-rounded and interesting, they were floated around for years. I also have a question, if PanO can't manage to fund better Remotes, then how Nomads do it? Please don't say it's because they have a smaller military force, that's just cheating :P One faction's fluff strengths are not represented, and another faction's fluff weaknesses are ignored. It's unfair, leaves a bitter feeling, and this is why we're "whining" about it so repeatedly. Bottom line: it's ok that Nomads get good Remotes. I'd just like to see a similar level of consideration shown to PanO (and other factions).
Out of curiosity, what are those - I've tried looking into what the N3 programs were, but other than U-Turn that's been a difficult search. But if it's something like a Neurocentics/TR Trinity then yeah that's probably the right track for DZ security. Peacemaker is weird because I find the mobility is great sometimes. But not as much as on the bulleteer. If we're wishlisting, I'd basically want two profiles, one of which just clogs midfield with auxbots for cheap (maybe an FD Auxilia with some changes), and one which looks like the current one. That's not unreasonable, as much as my gut response is that it seems about as fair as no-hackable tables. However, this ties into a larger problem I've tried to mention before, which is the lack of "terrain" in hacking - there is very little stopping everyone's best infowar assets into each other. An Anathematic Hacker walks up to an enemy repeater (maybe with a slaveBot on hand) and blasts the best killer hacker with its internet machine gun, repairs Isolated it if took that, and then kills at least one enemy hacker per order until they're all dead. If you are laying down your own repeaters to do this, it takes a couple more orders, but two repeater tokens cover a gigantic area. There are a lot of things that stop e.g. Achilles from doing the same thing, not the least that he has to spend time walking around your DZ or going back to heal while he's in ur base killing all ur dudes. You can't fail a guts roll to turn off your wifi. If hacking engagments had more friction then taking hacking that isn't the best would have more to recommend it, but that might be more a question for the CA mirror than PanO. Because then we're back to them being good at everything - they have good TAGs (Slamamdrza, Stigmatron), good power armor (Kritza Borat, Cenobite), along with the best tech. I'd agree that it makes more sense for them to have lightweight REMs than heavies, especially considering that they they live in an environment without raw materials and they have to pay delta-V for everything they take with them as part of their normal lifestyle.
And I stand by that, if a sub faction of Nomads should have a mainline TAG it is the one that has the bulk of military involvement, the muscle, Corregidor, it is not necessary a weakness Corregidor had, but definitely an odd omission, of course it has not lit the world on fire or made Corregidor any better, but I am more than happy it exists than if it did not. I do not think you can say that PanOceania has not been boosted with the units added with SWF, MO and the reinforcements integration, they are all great additions to the sectorials and generic list. Well you can ignore the entirety of the fluff, I would not, mind you I am not against having 2 STR remotes in PanOceania. They are not good at everything though, outside of this been a meme, and people constantly complaining at profiles and units that most actual players do not take and practical experience show they are not the amazing must take things the internet makes them to be, keeping at it just unfairly undermines ones position.
The concept of 2W REMs for Nomads is fine, the problem is when CB runs into their usual of issue of Nomads staying in their lane and not just being given everything, which in fairness is something that affects most main factions except Pan-O for some reason, but it's grossly most apparent in Nomads. The Vostok's current iteration is raw fire superiority. It's designed to roll face first into things and BRRT it into submission. I remind you that there used to be many other Vostok profiles, the Albedo ones, that were designed to operate on their own which were very interesting toolbox units and very much on theme for Nomads. Unfortunately those clever scalpel profiles were completely overshadowed by the highly effective blunt instrument that was the gunfighting mimetic FTO profile. This profile is a very, very, very, stupid profile. It causes immense internal balance for Nomads, so much so CB just straight up deleted all the Vostok profiles because they were pointless. There are many design choices that CB could have gone for a 2W REM for Nomads. A Stigmata like option, Camouflage, a wildcard tinbot, the Albedo they had before, an upgraded version of their unique Meteor REM, just to name a few off the top of my head. Instead CB put in something that looks like an upgraded Bulleteer and you as usual try to play coy about it when everyone, as they have for years now, point out the Mimetic -6 gunfighting profile and ask why the fuck do Nomads have that Pan-O looking thing? Why? Probably because CB had to make sure the damn thing sold because it was the first batch of bloody terrible siocast nobody wanted. Another reason it's probably in every single sectorial and wildcard to boot.
They were highly-damaging anti-Hacker programs with a negative WIP modifier for the opponent, including a full -6 in Lightning's case. It made them very powerful in ARO, arguably to the detriment of Hacking overall outside the very best players, but this also effectively dissuaded overly-aggressive play as normal Hacking Programs tended to have poor face-to-face performance against them.
Hey, I like the fluff. I'm just with Stiopa in that it leaves a bitter feeling when the alleged fluff advantages of a faction are utterly ignored while due consideration is given to others. I think the last PanO fluff anyone got genuinely excited about was the Boyg, a prototype using reverse-engineered VoodooTech that wound up just being a fatter ORC in gameplay.
Regarding hacking, I think I already mentioned it, but I'd like to see something like a software version of Nullifier. Working like White Noise, dropping a circular template within hacking area. Within that template hacking is impossible and Comms Equipment does not work. It wouldn't damage hackers, but would allow to shut them down until they could maneuver out of the zone
A lot to unpack, while the other options were interesting, having Albedo was pointless, I do not see it as a Bulleteer equivalent, a bad but more resilient copy maybe, but not equaling the offensive power of a Bulleteer, I have no comment about the last part except it is assumptions on your part. I was more excited for the Vargars and Karhu, and hoping that VoodooTech storyline continues especially given raveneye shows MO are looking deeply into such artefacts. I am not sure how that would be implemented, especially without giving advantage to already good at hacking factions, but alternatively it does sound like an "Albedo (Hacking)" skill.
Easy, by making it an Upgrade program and spreading it with precision. Factions good at hacking would get it sparingly and not on popular units; they don't want to stop hacking anyway, they want the field as accessible as possible. Factions that would like to defend themselves against superior tactical hackers should have easier time deploying it. In case of PanO first obvious candidates would be Mulebots, for reasons stated earlier in this thread. Really. Comparing with Spitfire Bulleteer. For 18 points - a hefty price, I admit, but kinda mitigated by 0 SWC cost - it gets: +1 CC +2 ARM +3 BTS +1 STR Climbing+ Immunity (AP) -1 Burst +2 DAM If this is a bad copy, I'd like to hear what constitutes a good one.
NCA has. The blade is nice for Bolt fireteams, I guess, and he Squalo Mk. II sits at a place on the value curve where you might want your TAG to be if you have an alternative plan to deal with armor. But no one has received a groundbreaking change like that stupid linkable pitcher + hacker korean in WBA. If they'd done something like Nomads and handed out Zellenkarens to 2/3 of the Sectorials (inc. Tunguska, which has historically wanted for cheap shit), then there would be more ground to say the army was boosted, but adding an extra order to you Bolt fireteam for about the cost of a mulebot over taking the machinist instead is tinkering. And the blocker is also there. So it's wrong to say that NCA hasn't been boosted, but it doesn't seem like it's a significant degree.
The idea of something like a plasma CCW or more widespread K1 ammo (Knights of Justice) would be a nice addition. Or more widespread Breaker as an idea.
