jaldon454 wrote:
I will start with the last first, and then move on to the intelligent conversation.
Morgan I plan on moving it to e-mail I was only responding to what I felt was an unwarrented attack I plan to take it no further here.
Replacement/Not A Replacement Statement...........................Reply
Never implied it was, nor said you were doing any different. Who knows you may just be on to something nobody else has thought of, why not, my list is no more special then yours or anybody elses. Doesn't prevent me from asking if you may want to try a combined effort, and in point of fact when epilgrim and myself put up our revised lists your comments and suggestions will be most welcome (And accepted without a bashing fest really)
I apologise for any confusion if I misinterpreted. I took the last two paragraphs of your post to be "There should only be one list, and it should be based on established stuff (ie, Demiurg)." Upon looking closer, no, you didn't say that, though there's a couple of broken sentences that I should have sought clarification on.
jaldon454 wrote:
Too many special rules ......................................Reply
I have felt, and have always felt, that for Epic-A ALL armies should use a minimum of army wide or army affected special rules. My Squat list started with four was reduced to two, and now has One. *snip*
My feeling is still that you are attempting to use too may special rules, and that the ones you have could be simplified and still achieve the results you desire. At the moment I have no good ideas, and I wish I did have some to offer you.
I've only got the Demiurg v3 to go on, but it has one global rule, a technology rule (Tunnelers), and six unit specific rules. Mole Mortars Indirect special, Goliath/Thunderfire activation special, Particle Shielding for the MCF's, Iron Eagle Spotter for Colossus, Power Flux for Cyclops, and the three specials for the Land Train.
My list has the one global rule, one technology rule, and Spotter/Seeker (expanded to hopefully give it more integrated usage), Lance and Piercing Shot (neither listed, but should be), and Support Craft (which I wouldn't be suprised to see the Demiurg list adopt). Of the other three, Support and Linking could be moved to the points list, but were front loaded due to personal preference, and they initially didn't fit. And putting Transport up front just meant saving a lot of space in the stat lists, just repeating the same information over and over. So when a complaint of "too many special rules" is raised, I wonder if people are actually reading them.
Again, I'll reiterate I can only go off the lists I have, and the latest list I was able to find, was Demiurg v3. I tried looking through the Consolidated Squat Lists thread, and Demiurg v4.0, but the forum crash earlier this year has turned those threads into dog's breakfasts. You'ld be in good stead restarting one of those and putting up an old version if the current one isn't ready for release.
jaldon454 wrote:
Alternative List..........................................Reply
Already answered in replacement/not a replacemnt list above. Just to add where did I say you couldn't do what you wanted? Again an offer to join a combined effort IS not a demand you end your efforts or stop what you are doing. Am I missing something here, when is an offer a demand for something else to occur?
The overall feel you want for your list..........................Reply
Is just fine, and nobody, even me, said you couldn't. I will probably not be posting here anymore as it seems my opinions are not welcome. I was going to try and help you avoid some of the pitfalls and hurtles we already crossed, but it may now not be worth the effort as my words keep getting twisted into something I didn't say. I really am already getting tired of responding to things I never said. However I always finish a reply once I have started it.
I accept it's not a demand. But to join the existing list means accepting the 15cm move. I didn't do this on a whim. I read through as many threads as I could before I even started mine. The one thing that was abundantly clear, was that 15cm was immutable, that the developers had determined that 10cm had been proven ineffective, and that arguments had already been heard, for and against. Which is fine from a developmental perspective, you don't want to rehash the same argument every time someone else suggests it. I wasn't (and am yet to be) convinced, but didn't see a point spending months arguing for it, when I could spend those months developing a list independently.
jaldon454 wrote:
In any case, I am talking specifically about the number of units in formations used in the old Titanticus System, NOT they way in which an army was put together. Thus making far easier for those old Titanticus players to field an army with a minimum of modification to their exsisting collections. (For example the Spartan is a Rhino thus allowing old Titanticus players to use their Rhino models. Most old Titanticus players that emailed me wanted to 'get away' from using Imperial names for Squat vehicles, so I did it. A second Squat List I have includes Land Raiders with a different name a stats just a bit different then Imperial Land Raiders)
I'm not sure of your meaning here. I'd renamed a couple of things to hopefully avoid confusion, as you did, renaming the Spartan. I apparently botched that. But everything in the list, with the exception of the Gorgon and Spartan, exist as models that people had in previous Squat lists. The Gorgon, because I wanted a list that used figures I owned that can't be used elsewhere and could easily be subbed for Squat LandRaiders, and the Spartan because it looked like a cool smaller transport. Are you saying that the older playerbase don't like the Spartan?
jaldon454 wrote:
Unfond memories of the old Titanticus list...........................Reply
Yes the old Titanticus Squats were a bit on the firepower heavy side and it was a BIG weakness of the old Squat Army List of that day. I believe what I posted above covers what I was referrng to as to using the old Titanticus organization. The way the old list put an army together, combined with the overall slow speed of the Squat Army, forced them to be played that way. No way I want to go back to that, ever.
My two cents (And please don't add to my words)................................
I would drop the idea of a 10cm movement, but if you don't believe me then purposely exploit it in a couple of games (Without any special rules to compensate for this lack of speed). You will quickly see the Squat Army slipping back into the Titanticus Defense of Guns first maneuver last you and your friends so hated (And rightfully so). Try the army with a 15cm base move and it becomes more enjoyable to use because it can keep up.
I have tried them at 15cm. I've played almost all the published lists (the French Squat one being the only exception), and they all felt operationally, too fast, and not "Squatlike". I have tried to exploit it during playtests, as I wasn't the only one playing the Squat side. I actually played more games in opposition than with. I haven't found the movement to cause them to be too defensive, and a lack of significant range advantage has forced MORE mobility in those games, than less.
This argument does seem kind of circular. I should drop the idea of 10cm, even though I find 15cm is too fast, and not Squat enough, because others have deemed 10cm untenable, though I've found no issue with it.
jaldon454 wrote:
I would par down the army special rules to two at most, and I would make them as simple as possible. Simple rules cause far less confusion and are very hard for game lawyers to exploit. For the Squats a rule for their resolute nature could be as simple as allowing them a +1 to Rally Rolls allowing them to stay together better then everyone else. Or maybe even better saying they are initiative +1 when they make Rally attempts, ignoring their normal initiative rating and get a +1 when attempting to Rally from broken status.
I initially did consider something similar. But found the idea contrary to the idea of Squat stubborness. A modifier on rally rolls indicates the ability to recover from being rattled to the core. Squats, in my opinion, should not GET broken as easily. As it stands, a broken formation simply cannot hold it's ground without fearless. A Squat formation should be resilient to running in the first place.
The only existing mechanic that would allow that, has to do with how BM's are gained, or BM's are counted. As reducing how BM's are gained was something I hated about the all Expendable Tyranids, and the limited ways I could apply this, lead to me working on how to deal with them being counted. ATSKNF covers that, but I didn't even consider using that, as it both should remain the provisio of Marines, and would be fairly costly. Playing around with the ratios was out of the question too (in my experience, people hate math), so saying Squats only count 3/4 of the BM's for ATSKNF wouldn't work either. Making it a simple subtraction let it fit.
The last part about Resolute, the mod to Initiative, was because of the IG-esque feel. Splashing around single BM's to cause activation disruption is a classic tactic against any Initiative 2 army. Again, it didn't fit with my image of how Squats react to incoming fire, and so I changed it. It also allowed me to make the major War Engines Initiative 2, as a single potshot is unlikely to cause a penalty to it's activation. And making the War Engines usable, AND Initiative 2 was another big part. I'm definately not a fan of mixed formations, and I wanted the ability to make a version of the old Ironbreaker formation.
jaldon454 wrote:
I really do hope this lets you see what I mean, Morgan, on special rules and the old/new orgainization. oh and on the 10cm/15cm movement.
But then the list has absolutely no resemblence to what _I_ want to see in a Squat list, and becomes no different to the existing lists. I am not disputing the work that's already gone into the lists pushing towards completion. The team you are working with obviously has both a specific vision of what you want to see, and your own opinions as to what does and doesn't work. You've almost completed your orange. I don't want an orange, I want an apple. Suggesting to me you've tried apples, and that I really want an orange, doesn't stop me still wanting an apple. I'm open to discussion about what kind of apple, I just don't want an orange.
Morgan Vening