So I must admit that even though I’m not what I would consider a fluff player I am a big fan of immersing myself into a given setting. And when something bothers me in a suspension of disbelief kind of way, I find it really hard to get over/shake it off. It took me a long time to get used to the idea of Extremely Impetous units (especially monks) that will suicidally hurl themselves at the enemy in a setting that is mostly clandestine operations. But Yuan Yuans... man... seriously? I just can’t make them work for me. So you’re telling me these guys are irregular but at the same time highly trained (=> combat jump) soldiers that are also extremely impetous? I mean they’re not religious fanatics but in it for the money - but how are you going to collect a cheque when your life expectancy must be super low? What kind of mercenary does that? There’s just too much to me that doesn’t add up imo. Which is a shame because apparently they’re super good on the tabletop.
They're Pirates, not a group known for discipline and long life expectancies. Also note that they're not especially well trained as they have inferior combat jump. Whoever gets to the booty first gets the best pick, so they're reluctant to hold back and miss out on the spoils, and what better way to cover up a clandestine black-op than to hire a bunch of hardened criminal scavengers to run interference.
Hmm you make some good points. How do you even become a pirate in this day and age? Poverty leading to a criminal lifestyle? But even then, don’t you need somewhat good gear to do stuff like combat jumps? They still seem to be better trained than our poor Bashi haha! (Ok I’m sure there’s a reason Bashi parachute in - stealth maybe?) I especially like your last point - I read that and was like - yup, that makes sense! Something else I just thought of - how realistic is it for anyone to combat jump into say a somewhat high security or city area without getting noticed before even getting to the destination. And getting out (the aircraft) without pursuit?
I think pirates might be ex-mercs or disgraced military personnel mixed in with criminals. Arms and weapons can be come by easily when you're being a privateer in pan-o space and some yu Jing "lose" a container of weapons to you. In also think impetuous is misinterpreted a lot in this game. It might be a 40k background or similar but the assumption that an impetuous model is like a khorne bezerker or something. They're not. Impetuous is a double of not getting cover and moving forward recklessly and i think it represents reduced concern for ones safety and an elevated need to get into the thick of it. Impetuous models are more likely to take risks that or not be trained enough to use cover while still being effective (or it might be physically impossible (like bikes)). I think the level of recklessness of the unit will vary in the fluff and some of that is represented by the extreme and normal levels. Normal giving you a choice really makes me think it's not about frothing Madmen. I guess Fury: impatient and fury: extremely impatient weren't cool enough sounding.
I dont think you could be a pirate without the yuan yuans qualities: the philosophy of promoting carelessness with your life in order to improve your odds of survival. Hesitation gives your opponent time to read, prepare and counter you. Owning a reputation for being impetuous, decisive, super violent and unpredictable usually results in your opponent backing down and giving you all their stuff, pretty much describes pirate life.
I like to look at it like anime tropes. Why do all these bad guys charge in with wanton abandon: they think they are too bad ass to be put down by their enemies, the rewards will be much better than continuing without them/ having to deal with the punishment of failing, drugged out of their minds, crazy indoctrination, too dumb to know better, muh glory! I think Yuan Yuans can pretty much mix and match a healthy number of those.
By stealth, subterfuge, speed, or superior firepower. Stealth involves "acquiring" a civilian transport most likely, smuggling the trousers in the back of an innocuous looking flier of some sort so the YYs can jump and land before the authorities have time to react. Subterfuge involves bribing/intimidating whoever is on watch or hacking the surveillance systems. Speed is being in and out before anyone can catch you. More useful in rural locations where it might be a while before the rozzers can get to you. Superior firepower is rocking up a heavily armed gunship over a remote research facility, safe in the knowledge that you can see off any local air defense whilst the rest of the crew jump out and get to looting. Of course, sometimes there's those jobs where the organiser doesn't really care about getting them out again, but the prize for actually surviving is so large that the truly desparate might still try it.
Hopefully the survivors got enough booty to buy a resurrection for the rest! Of course then they'll owe them, time for one big last score to wipe away their debts *eight out of ten guys die to Ack-Ack again* Might have to rename my Yuan Yuan to X-Force if that's the survival rate, poor Bedlam, he was gone too soon...
