September>December 2024: Nuclear winter has struck, leaving room for the N5

It's a trope in transhumanism settings for characters not to look too much like their ethnicities nowadays. And especially undercover operatives can look however they want.

 

Wow, its like you can't tell if the dodge changes to base PH of the TAG +3, or the Dodge in the skill line +3, and the same with the Gizmokit!

Also, kinda nice to see how the Apsaras was too broken and complex in N4 yet this comes now...

But that would be too simple! This is not a wargame, it's a role playing tactical wargame now! RPTW, I claim dibs over the term!

 

I must say I'm kinda disappointed by these new TAG pilots.

If they were an optional upgrade for an existing TAG, say, giving it different additional skills (with the option of choosing from a number of profiles, or forgoing it and sticking with the basic pilot) - sure, that would work.

As they are presented now, i.e. a Light Infantryman occupying a trooper slot in a list in exchange of providing a bonus to all TAGs (of a given type? Sounds like just all TAGs in a given Combat Group) - that doesn't seem interesting. Especially given the bonus is basically +3 to Dodge and +1 PGH for Gizmokit.
Of course, a multi-TAG list is going to benefit from it more than a single-TAG list, but you need very budget-friendly TAGs to have a number of them in the same list (hallo Corregidor, with 4 Geckos at 51/56pts, you can put in 4 of them and still have points for an Engineer, TAG Pilot and a few Regular Orders).

I guess CB will change that troop in time.

 

Honestly, even worse.

If I have a humanoid (sorry, Maggie) armored vehicle with a pilot inside (or remotely inside), I can get behind it. Including if there are various pilots possible, with their own special abilities.
If said pilot has to get out of said armored vehicle to fulfill a mission the vehicle isn't capable on its own (being too bulky, for example), or to evacuate from a disabled vehicle, that's okay.

But having a pilot run and jump beside the armored vehicle, well, that goes against all logic. You put all that big impressive piece of machinery there to haul big guns and protect the expensive-to-train crew under the armor.

Real-life: if you have a tank, you have 3-4 trained crew keeping their butts inside, unless the tank gets disabled. That's where they are effective, and that's where they are protected.
If you had them outside, they'd be prime targets for enemy small arms, infantry support weapons and shrapnell produced by artillery / air-deployed munitions. To speak nothing of anti-personnel mines. All of these being threats the tank itself simply ignores, as long as you haven't brought in a dedicated anti-tank weapon (or a big enough artillery shell / bomb / missile detonating close enough to disable the tank).

So, sorry, but I stand by my opinion.

 

Well, they definitely want you to use TAG Duos. This will be great for light tags.

 

It’s something I brought up in another thread. I think it’s cool to have various pilots adding different skills to a TAG but for a cost. I’m just not liking it here. This one makes no sense since both pilots do the same thing. Also, it’s looking like you can take a pilot without a TAG. I don’t think that’s a great idea. It’s also looking like it’s adding cost to the TAG. Every TAG is going to be about 10pts+.

 

Yeah got to be honest from whats shown I'm not a fan

 

The initial opinions are heavily in favour of changing how the rule works, so there's a chance. Of course there's also a chance of CB stubbornly holding on to their idea for the whole edition, it's not like we weren't there before.

 

I don't hate having something that does this. I just dislike that it's pilot and has the tag name. Both of which appear to be completely irrelevant

 

As always, we need the full n5 rule to actually know if it's a good change or not.

 

Agreed, but the argument isn't about whether it's good or bad, but whether it makes a thematic sense. For me it doesn't, but I admit ymmv

 

I imagine it wont be able to enter supressive

 

To me it has a lot of potential, but it’s not presented well. The way its’ showing it doesn’t’ make sense. But that’s probably due to not knowing other info yet. I think it’s cool for a pilot to add something to the TAG they are in, just not to all TAGs.

 

Its very fitting for him.

I do not like how they make a model, that is realative fresh, is not WYSIWYG anymore. And my theses that the Tunderstick is rarley seen in its intended use because about 85 % percent of the units we saw has a B bonus on it. Overall Maxi gets a budget HMG with an EM sidegreat, stays very good in CC lives up to his role in Aristeia.

I also had a dim hope they will get rid of the escape system. Its rule that most of players will not miss badly. But we see, its still here and resits polishing.

Agree!

Corvus Belli rules team: Vetran classification and Veteran skill is confusing the players ...
also CB: Lets make a TAG support units, that is called TAG Pilot like the TAG Pilots ...

More and more I think they do many changes just to made changes. They are not polishing the Diamond, they work more and more facettes in it.

A Pilot that you can choose and improve your TAG would be a thing. A pilot that cowers in a corner of a house to lend his ... dodgeskills? and voodoo tech remote Gizmo upgrade table wide to the TAGs? That maybe make sense ruleswise but look totaly stupid lore wise. We have REM-TAGs already with their pilots work from home and now we have someone that go the frontlines, makes himself comfortable (remember: rooftops are no longer save!) to lend, somehow, some upgrades for the TAGs. Thats more the job of an EVO.

 

There's nothing wrong with having more facettes, more nuances in the game. That was always a big upside of Infinity, having a lot of available options and possible tactics rather than just "I move, I shoot, your turn". In my opinion we've lost too many of those little options over N3 and N4. But I'd like to see them introduced in a way that makes sense.

There's also a lot of ideas that get introduced... and then abandoned, leaving them half-done, just like REM drivers. It could be such a cool thing; have a team of expert drone operators, each with their own specialty, jumping their focus over the battlefield to assume control and solve the tactical problem there. Instead the whole idea was left half-baked.

 

I liked most of N5 new gears, like bangbomb, discoballer, but not this TAG pilots. As others mentioned above, their name TAG pilots doesn't match with what they do with TAGCom. In adittion, why are they named as Mechazoid Pilot and O-Yoroi Pilot when they have no limitation or interaction with TAGs with the same name?

 

I can only think it's the different weapons and specialists.

 

Yeah, they are more like "TAG commanders"? Or "TAG coordinators".

The interaction between pilots and TAGs they are referring to might be in the TAG's rules, like Manned? If I remember correctly, we've seen three N5 TAG profiles so far. Seraph is Remote Presence, and Maximus uses an Escape System-based Operator. Longwang, on one hand, and uses ancillary pilot bot; on the other - has no Remote Presence rule (error?), so it isn't clear if it is manned or not. So as far as I can tell - it is possible we haven't seen any piloted TAGs yet.

If we are talking real life - tanks are usually supposed to be supported by infantry screening from enemy infantry going tank hunting, because tanks aren't well equipped for dealing with small targets at close range. Cases where tanks fight in urban areas without infantry support tend to lead to high tank losses. So at least the dodge bonus does seem appropriate.

That said - infantry screen usually doesn't include dismounted tankers. I could see a dedicated armor support unit, with TAGCom skill affecting a fireteam the user is a part of. That'd be logical.