Why does the Caskuda have a worse loadout than the 22 points Exos, did they got confused in the drop pod and swapped weapons? Lmao. The Squalo's pistol is better than the Caskuda's loadout. And they have a AP Spitfire sidearm and a Grenade Launcher. Haha. Can't wait to see the Lizard version, but it seems like the super hyped TAG is actually the worst reinforcement TAG, by a significant amount.
Honestly, the biggest disappointment about the Caskuda is how it's the posterchild for the reinforcements. Reinforcements are stuff that comes from the sky to help mid battle. Caskuda's entire identity is dropping from the sky to help mid battle and explode. But the profile just falls so flat in the reinforcement version. It's a mediocre trooper with a combi that doesn't get to do anything that its design wants to do. I think there is a massive missed opportunity to have deployment skill work in the deployment phase of reinforcement. Explode, Minelayer (especially with how it was reworked to not be able to include troopers in their trigger area), etc. It just feels very bland.
Then put it into the larger 250pt group that doesn't follow the Reinforcement rule. I'm guessing this will at least be available to Vanilla. But I thought I heard Onyx too.
That version has even bigger issues tbh. You're kinda forced into taking an EVO, because if you fail the drop on that profice, it's completely worthless and you just wasted 1/3 of your list on a DZ combi. If they have any hacker presence (nobody plays those right?), it's incredibly mediocre at actually attacking the DZ. If they don't have hackers, and you make your roll, it's going to be game-ending oppressive. Being essentially a mega impersonator. None of these sounds like a fun game experience lol.
That’s very sad to me. I am very excited about the Exrah coming back aside from the reinforcement rule. So if I have to play the new rule in order to play with the bugs (which I’m totally excited about as well but likely not every game will be using) that’s as you said, disappointing. Especially since the general rule sounds like most other armies will have non reinforcement profiles for their new stuff. Time will tell I guess. On a side note, I love the art and the profiles look really interesting. I think the only things I would’ve liked better, is the Void op could’ve been bs 13 heavy with 2 W, and I would’ve loved a CC Exrah with praying mantis claws like smaller new casukuda arms that was actually good at cc. But otherwise very hyped for cool new bugs. And I really hope they eventually get regular army profiles. XD
Nids are a different proposition though as GW is huuuuuge Vs CB, a better metric would be comparing nids Vs the other xenos and then again Vs marines
Tyranids are hardly "starfish" they draw from the fame and recognition other IP brought in the design and individualized it to make it their own, likewise first generation Hungries and second Generation Hungries are not fitting in the same category, the latter been a more safe and recognizable design.
You know it was Blizzard who took from GW and not the other way around? So if someone drew from the fame and recognition of another OP it was certainly not GW
They all drew inspiration from H.R. Giger and crosspollinated it, but more or less this is what I said, the current era Tyranids are recognizable shapes from Aliens and Starcraft, people are familiar with this form from other successful franchises and they cannot be considered "starfish"
Current era Tyranids are modern takes of pre-Starcraft Tyranids. Gants, Carnifex and Genestealers (arguably the most recognizable Tyranids) haven't changed the basics of their designs since they came out. So if you recognize Starcraft shapes in them is because Blizzard took Tyranids as the base for the Zerg, same as they did with Terran/Marines and Protoss/Eldar (tho in this case is more an inspiration than a copy like with Terran and Zerg). They are not starfish, but saying GW copied Blizzard is at best blissful ignorance when it's known it's the other way around.
I know all that I game since the ends of Rogue trader, I thought not to bother everybody with a history lesson and the rumors about the failed Blizzard GW collaboration that eventually became starcraft and the theories that Blizzard borrowed the GW Tyranid aesthetics and then GW (after starcrafts massive success) borrowed the Zerg aesthetics back in the line changing it drastically. In the end I know how Tyranids looked, how they evolved in design how drastically they changed when they raised in popularity, it matters not, what matters is the "biomechanical" design GW used is a safe design that is familiar and recognizable, this makes them not "starfish aliens". The previous incarnation of Exrah was a starfish alien design, each operator was a unique specimen, there were no recognizable weaponry or familiar physiology, the new design is a safe design, weapons are recognizable, form is recognizable so is what is and is not armor.
I think the lack of cohesive design was a bigger impact than them being starfish aliens. If each model looks too unique to be even recognized as the same species/army, then it's way, way bigger an issue than them being starfish aliens. Honestly, I think Tyranids being sucessful has more to do with the size of the warhammer playerbase. I don't have the sales figures, but I'll wager they sell less than Imperials. However, the playerbase is large enough that even if they sell half what the imperials do, it's still more than enough to keep the line afloat. Infinity's playerbase is smaller than a lot of younger games, so I really believe there aren't enough players at this moment to support more than one alien faction, but I'm saying this based on my observations rather than any actual evidence.
Oh, this moment was a reason, why one of my friends didn't want to play infinity. For her almost all human factions looks the same exept colors. (plus or minus, but still). And in some way having a little more aliens is good. Or at least some unique designs. Situation is better than before, and I wonder, what new players would think seeing infinity in current condition. May be I would try to ask some of friends. (and one moment... I bought new tyranides. They are charming at my taste x))
To be honest, the strength of the explosion isn't relevant considering the caskuda fell into the exact same pitfall as the liu xing: Bad cc abilities means anything you try to land on can just dodge and lock you in melee...
When you compare the posterboys of Reinforcements or Endsong I think, Maximus will beat up the Caskuda more or less easyly. Given to pose and the blades on the arms of the Caskuda I would like see it better in CC. A CC20, a CC-3 and a AP CCW would fit his look much more and wouldn´t make it so much more expensive. A anti-Hacker equipment would also not bad. But slowly it would get more expensive so maybe this what they want, keep it cheap. Explode look more like a nod to the fluff or the rules of the old one.
It's a close range TAG where it doesnt want to be because it has no CC punch. It's also missing any movement ability like super jump (which is also something all the other Exrahs have) or climbing plus to atleast have some safety via vertical movement on top of buildings. Combat Jump with explosion also won't work because anything with a decent PH will just dodge into the Caskuda and lock into into melee. It's very similar to the Jayths in that regard. It's lore is great but it won't see much use as far as I can predict. Nobody is asking for a OP unit but atleast profiles should make sense and be usable. It's the same with the Bultrak which gets +1 Burst in CC, a place were it never wants to be. The only thing this achieves is that the unit gets more expensive.
