I think this might be in reference to the fact that CA is basically the big bad against humanity and thus gets more toys than many human factions because it’s fighting all the human sphere. Game balance not withstanding.
Combined army represents the conglomerate of many species, unified under the UR hegemony, comparing how many TAGs they have available is equal to comparing the entirety of the Human Sphere, fluff wise at least.
Ok that I understand and it does make sense. But it still sucks to only have two TAGs to choose from for Yu Jing. Both are good but I'd like some variety.
I love this forum. There is nothing more than a picture and a name to a modell we don´t now rules about, neither the rules-expantion that it comes with, and our only reference are N2 rules from anno 1736. And there is already talk about how crappy it seems to will be :-D I know what you mean. For my point, I would have liked an even more alien design. I love it when aliens look....well... as alien as possible: nothing humanoid left (i remember the alien from "Love,Death & Robots" shortfilm "beyond the Aquali rift". That´s some disturbing shit). That said: I like the design, it fits to the actual design from the CA. I think it´s fitting, but still outstanding enough. yessss. Insectoids should have build in Bioweapons. Just some acid pus spitter or stuff like that. Or at least exoscelleton-attached guns. It think the closest we get are the old Modell designs, and there the Iskaller, which looked like a combinadtion of a Power-puff-girl Villian and a Dragonfly on steroids. But I cannot recall a non-armored Exrah so far. Maybe the RPG books have some, but I doubt. I realy feel alike; I am not a fan of shoehorning Aristeiaos...? Aristos?....sci-fi gladiators into infinity. That makes kinda sense with someone like Major Luna or Parvati, but Maximus did not give me the vibe of a battlefield- or covert-ops unit. I hope his rules will make him more like a lovers choice than a staple, like a freaking tanky braweler with not realy overwhelming offensive skills. More like a roadblock in the most true meaning of the word.
Oh no! It seems that Maximus got "Blackjack syndrome"! Even best doctors in Human Sphere couldn't save his arms! Oh, the humanity... Ugh. Why can't CB sculptors make anatomically accurate big dudes???
They have made them utterly critical to the capabilities of most factions that have them so far and I am terrified my NCA isn't going to get the attention it sorely needs without digging into semi-retired sportsmen. I greatly envy the Combined Army for the difficulty of shoehorning it into crossovers, thereby allowing it to maintain a consistent theme despite a company seemingly obsessed with using its flagship product's development space primarily to hawk side projects.
Which has absolutely nothing to do with game design and the breadth of tools available for different factions. Unless you want to argue players who chose to play CA have the right to have more stuff (also, all the stuff, along with Nomads) than losers who chose YJ or whatever other non-Nomad main faction.
About Aristos, I wonder how Hulk Hogan never got involved on wetwork operations in Guatemala and stuff back in the 80s. Sorry about the double post, hit the wrong button
Yes, I cannot undersdand that either.. Shona in NCA feels so much out-of-place hot it can get. Special weaponmaster trainer for the aquali guard is exactly the level of shoehonring i ment. (especially: how shitty as a Melee-Combat-trainer can you be? Aquilas have CC15! Maybe she should spent more time teaching and less time beeing part of NCA) Spoiler: behold: sarcasm ahead Maybe Yu Jing should stop loosing whole subfactions then :-D It did need nearly 50 posts in a threat about CA and Aleph releases in the Combined army subforum. You are right, this one defenetly lacked some hate towards nomads. And while we´re at it: did I mention that h3xx3r should become a nomad hacking character? I think about some rules that make Jazz look like an pretty balanced pick for dreamers that don´t want to win. Edit: I mean, I can understand that, in some kind of way. If you have different projekts in one universe some crossover can be both fun and worthwhile. Crossovers are not a new invention, just look at all the big franchises: Superhero-Comics, Alien/Predator, old 80´s actionstars, video game companies with Mobas/CardGames/netflix-Series,... In a reasonable amount I am the last person speaking against a well done crossover. It links the seperate projects to another and can make a universe feel more... lively. There is sports in the infinity universe, with Aristeia, REM-racers,...There are special missions seperated from the usual orchestra of war, like the Defiance. There is a working-space environment like mining-planets with companies and their mining gear,....and so on. Everything fine: bring ex-soldiers back from retirement. Use special equiptment, if needed. Hire Bounty- and Beast-Hunters. But please do in a reasenable amount...
World building has a lot to do with game design, a faction that bought wholesale the entire old PanO line of TAGs can be expected to have quite the variance of TAG types.
Oh, I can understand and even appreciate mixing in characterful additions from other properties in the same universe. I think the initial addition of Lunah into Infinity and Massacre into Aristeia! was actually great. The issue here is that the crossovers occupy core design space now; they're not a fun addition but come instead of new releases and updated rules for their parent factions. Shona and Uma existing fills the anti-materiel and scoring niches that the Locust should have been updated for years ago. Jazz is the entirety of Corregidor's Hacking support options. Dart and Fiddler dominate the aggressive midfield attack pieces of every faction they're dropped into. And now, seemingly PanO gets another damned Aristo in a window that could have been a valuable and thematic TAG. That's my problem.
I agree for the factions I play. I'm incredibly happy to have Fiddler in Tunguska, because she can link with the Vostok and make that a dream team. But I would be even happier if she were a Tunguska profile and not an Aristeia character that's also in my Bakunin (where she also plays a critical role) and my RTF. I would be okay with it if the Aristeia profiles were vanity picks, but the fact that they have become must-takes for competitive games for many factions irks me.
So that implies that the frequently complaint of 'ex-aristos' being included in infinity is not a 'sneaky business' practice of CB to promote the 2017 board game. But a built-in feature and part of the game since the very start of it at 2005.
At the moment my headcanon is that Max has been non-stop upgrading and tinkering with his Lhost and armour in the couple of decades between Aristeia! and N4 slowly adding and replacing parts until he's a grotesquely proportioned cyber-freak. Proportions don't have to be "correct" when the technology exists to completely reshape your body.
The thing about that is, it was literally only Musashi until the release of Aristeia!. Since the board game released, we have: Lunah Dart Taowu Shona Carano Parvati Lei Gong Bixie Fiddler Wild Bill and upcoming Maximus. And I'm not even sure that's all of them, or including Musashi and Senor Massacre since they were already established Infinity personalities. This is an insane amount of representation by tabletop standards. It's more than many entire Sectorials can claim in unique units (excepting support REMs, generic Docs/Engis etc.). To my knowledge I myself am the biggest complainer on this topic, but it would be nice to get away from these personalities appearing in almost every game. Makes the setting feel too small.
