Huh? tantawhat?

I can't see why people are complaining; its just a few bits of Poseidon stuck to a Nova/Omega. Must've taken all of half an hour to design, and uses all the parts that are already in mass production. Another half hour to knock up some stats for it, and you're done. I know the other ships have big problems and are massively delayed and people are angry about that... its not good I know... but really, the 1 hour's worth of work it must've taken to make this ship can't have delayed them much now can it???

Nice ship :D
 
For the record I have:

Shadows (grumble grumble 9 Shadow Ships...all Armageddon points! and about 15 Scouts)
Centauri (Fleet box + reinforcement + 2 Altarians + 2 Sulusts + 4 Corvans and an Octurion and Adira!)
Drazi (about 5pt War worth)
Brakiri (just the fleet box)
Vree (just the fleet box)
Abbai (just the fleet box)
...oh and um two WSCarriers and one Minbari Sharlin.

Not an EA ship in sight yet EA far outstrips sales of all other ACTA fleets combined according to Mongoose!

I think that just adds weight to my theory that the most vocal players on the forums are not representative of the majority of ACTA purchases with respect to models :) There is a silent majority of EA fans who are very, very happy! ;)
 
They're probably very happy because they're completely oblivious to the forums, and have plenty of models and new rules to play with :)

But yeah, I own: Minbari, Vorlons, 1 G'quan and 1 Nemesis

All in all I'm not too bothered about models for my fleets - the Vorlons dont need more models, just more variants (perhaps). The Minbari also have plenty of models, it's just a shame that many of them are pretty much worthless when weighed against other ships in the fleet.

What does bother me is the way that certain rules and the fluff skew towards the EA in the post-third age era (like infinite range scouts, HEL tracking etc). That's not really necessary - if you sell that many more of the EA models, there's no need to encourage more. Why not try to encourage sales of the other fleets?
 
Hash said:
grumble grumble 9 Shadow Ships...all Armageddon points!
Click to expand...

Well at least in V2 you can use them as Juvenile Shadowships at War level :)

Alexb83 said:
I think I only even saw one EA fleet. So you may sell more - but like Space Marines I think people quickly graduate onto more interesting fleets.
Click to expand...

Well Im not so sure about the 'more interesting' part. I always rather liked space Marines and I must say most people I've ever played at 40k seem to play Chaos far more often.

As for EA, theyre got their own style just like any other fleet, tough, loaded with interceptors and lots of misiles, heavy lasers and rail guns. I dont see them as any more or less interesting than the other forces really. I do for the record play Crusade EA, Minbari, Vorlon and Shadow (I like high tech ;)). For similar reasons I would probably have played Eldar in 40k when I originally started but a friend of mine already played them :p

Oh and for the record also, I DONT play Empire in WFB, I play Wood Elves. (And have done for years before anyone thinks I just jumped on the bandwagon with the latest book ;))

Oh well, to each their own :D

ps. regadring the 'skews towards crusade EA'....

1) HEL tracking isnt that great, frankly the Nemesis sucks even with it and no other ship has it (if you like though you could just consider it shadow tech as shadows get that same +1 vs stealth effectively)

2) The Delphi is raid level, has virtually no weaponry of its own and about 2 hitpoints if you pass your stealth check (ok thats exagerating a bit but you get the point). I dont think theres anything wrong with the unlimited range rule for it but I DO think that if the Delphi gets it, then the Leshath and Shadow scout should get it too as they are surely at least AS advnaced? (maybe not the Shadow one for purposes of balance and I know the Leshath has a very respecatably weapon load for a scout but still....)
 
msprange said:
It _does_ take time. We are not using the standard sculpting methods for these new ships, but rather a 3D model/rapid prototyping approach. This involves a great deal of preparation - the flip side is that once the first model comes out (the Z'Takk), the others will be appearing in rapid succession. I believe I am right in saying that within three months, you will see all Armageddon ships (and many more besides).
Click to expand...

I personally work in the 3D modelling and rapid prototyping resin parts field and I can attest that it is a slow process getting to the prototype stage but once past it, production parts come out at warp speed!

I personally will wait some extra time (prefer not 6-8 monthes though :D ) for quality, workable minis.
 
msprange said:
Exactly. Want to see similar things for alien races? Send them in to us!
Click to expand...

Now, that´s a word. Really, while the Tantalus isn´t exactly pretty, and may not be useful in a whole lot of situations judging by it´s descritpion (hence my initial comment of the very specialised ship), it IS a new way of working with existing parts. And it will sure be an interesting aricle once S&P comes out.

There´s nothing to stop players from creating ships for their own fleets this way. Sure, it´s easier with EA as with Abbai, for example, but a metal saw, some pinning and a little inspiration is all that is needed to adopt this idea to other races (I´m sure almost every narn player out there has thought about putting together new ships by recombining the Var´Nic sides into two new, more symmetric ships). Post those ships on the forum, send them in to S&P, make a webpage for them, or built your own company arround them...

If this really was a brand new release for EA, I´d say that all the complains were in order, but for the sake of Kosh, it´s "only" a hobby article... and it´s not uncommon with other companies (note the plural) to put out such kitbash-guides.
 
This aint a great way of putting their best foot forward in mini design. From the command omega I just recieved, I know the Posiden grav section is a mess and the quality for omega parts has never been great either. So why keep combining two of their worst minis?
 
I don't mind the Tantalus as a new model as it's just slapped together out of the bits box. It's like the T'Rakk for the Narn. Something Mongoose can put together quickly to give players new toys while they try and resolve whatever is going on with their molds. New ships=new sales.

My problem with the Tantalus is that it has to be the ugliest ship I've seen. Even uglier than the butt plug and flying wang.
 
As a slight detour back to the ship itself, I had stats (converted from B5W) for the Tanatlus in the EA release of the ACTA Points I did a while back.

http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~mrpunch/Babylon5/B5W/ACTA-Points-EA.pdf

While there have been reservations about points systems in general, this should give a ball-park for the Tantalus to tide you over till S&P41 comes out.

If playing regular ACTA I'd rate my stat-ed version Skirmish

john
 
I have no problem with things like the Tantalus as they clearly take very little effort to produce and add a bit of fun variety to a fleet. Granted they look a bit kit-bashed but then necessity is the mother of invention, especially in warfare.

What I would really like to know is whether any of the existing ships are in line for a resculpt? Granted new ships may seem a higher priority but some of the old moulds are wearing out fast. Omegas and Tinashis are examples of ships that are very poorly moulded and seem to consist mainly of flash out of which you must carve your ship.

So how about it Mongoose? Any chance of bringing some of the old ships up to new standards?
 
it sounds like maybe thats what the 3d prototyping is for but I could be wrong. With all the complaints about the lack of detail on the armageddon models, they could be looking to this as a way to step up the sculpting some. then, refresh some old molds.

Chern
 
RE: EA ships getting more 'love'...

One thing to remember is this-

I will bet you dollars to donuts that Mongoose sells quite a bit of EA stuff to people who don't play ACTA. I know that I bought a lot of the old AOG EA stuff, but HATED the B5 Wars game. The models are iconic, but also look 'realistic' (rotating crew sections, etc) in a genre that isn't terribly known for having the best quality of miniatures (in terms of realism). GW has nice quality castings for their Battlefleet Gothic, yes- but I don't want a fleet of ships with a bunch of skulls on them!

I, for one, think the Tantalus is fine- it looks like what its suppossed to be; a big troop carrier. Troop carriers aren't supposed to be sexy. They are supposed to carry large amounts of not very nice men and women across long distances so they can do not very nice things to people and things that are trying to be not so nice to us back. To wit- Ugly is good. :D

Just my $ 0.02. Your mileage may vary.

Darilian
 
Wow that is lot of comment on one new ship! :shock:

For my money I agree that it is not the most, ahem ... "attractive" ... of ships, but I like it! :D
A very sepecialised ship that would make a good centre piece for a scenario or a useful addition to a planetary invasion fleet.

DW
 
Hash said:
Not an EA ship in sight yet EA far outstrips sales of all other ACTA fleets combined according to Mongoose!

I think that just adds weight to my theory that the most vocal players on the forums are not representative of the majority of ACTA purchases with respect to models :) There is a silent majority of EA fans who are very, very happy! ;)
Click to expand...

I have;

EA (thats made of the Fleet, reinforcement, 4 Delphi, 15 Stands of Star Furies, a poseidon, 1 Warlock, 1 Apollo and 3 Sags)

Narn (Fleet Box Set, Reinformcement, an Extra 2 T'Loths, 1 Rongoth, 2 Bin'Taks, 2 T'Rakks, 1 Listening post, 18 extra Frazi, 3 extra Ka'Tocs, 3 extra G'Kariths, 1 Extra Thentus, 2 Extra Sho'Kar)

Minbari Fleet, and reinforcement box sets

ISA 5 White Stars at the mo

Vorlon 2 Fleet Box sets, and 18 Stands of fighters

I agree with Hash, that mongoose are going to need to meet market demand. A lot of new people come to ACATA, becuase they like the look of the EA ships, or they watch the TV series. So, its in the interest in the company to cater to the new bloods, and keep them happy.

But on the other side, I think that they are churning out a lot of new EA ships. When there have been other issues at hand, regarding the new 'Armageddon' range of mini's. Fans of the game have invested a lot into the game, and some have felt a little 'out in the cold' regarding new stuff and rules.

I suppose its a difficult balancing act, keeping everyone happy.
 
I for one dont see the big deal with this ship, I started off with EA but have moved onto other things( the wonderful dilgar), this ship could have been thrown together over somebodys lunch hour.

I for one think its kinda of an interesting ship myself
 
Good god... so many things come to mind. It's like a confused Poseidon- a Poseidon hermaphrodite. The overall shape also kind of reminds me of that ship from the sci-fi show Lexx. Its's an EA ship with Lexx technology!

Not only that it seems that EA is getting all the attention but when the company is producing minis that are 'frankensteined' together while the fans are creating better minis... it just doesn't look good.

Geez, with all this negativity I'm predicting there's gonna be another 'Let's Be Positive and Thank Mongoose for Everything!' thread... I believe it'll be the third... maybe the fourth... I lost count.

(To all the hermaphrodites out there, I mean no disrespect.)
 
it mayby be very strange, look exactly like two ships thrown togeter and have a section thats 4 times the sixe of the rest of it, but i like it.

its also not like it slowed down any other models production, albeit i do get reminded of a hammerhead shark when i see it.
 
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