New tactics for an Evo world

[MaxSteiner]

No. What I mean is that you'll be able to get 100 (Or a more realistic amount) D6 rolls on the MI which the player will most likely stand there and take because he thinks hes going to have to use it against the Tanker sitting behind them.
Once those all those cliff mites have taken their hits you bury the tanker bug under ground, laughing all the way to the bank.

This threads meant to be about new tactics that people think will work in the new edition, and Im simply proposing that I think bluffs are going to become alot more important due top the one reaction/no carrying readys over new rules.

Just as an asside.... If noone outside of Mongoose knows what 'not-traits' a unit has, how are the 5 good men able to play test properly? Does that mean it is possible to play a game of evo with the old stats? Turtle was saying that it wouldn't work at all because of the lack of balance and I was kinda inclined to agree...

===> Edit: thinking about it theres no better way to detect what needs changing than playing through a couple of inbalanced games I suppose.

 

[Hiromoon]

Just before anyone gets worried, no one outside Mongoose knows what doo-dads (technical term) any SST unit wil be getting. . .

Oh goodie...so I guess you have more lists for the playtest team to go over sometime then, huh? We're still chewing through the book afterall.

 

[MongooseMatt]

This threads meant to be about new tactics that people think will work in the new edition, and Im simply proposing that I think bluffs are going to become alot more important due top the one reaction/no carrying readys over new rules.

You would be absolutely right. You have to think a little further ahead in Evo.

JDoes that mean it is possible to play a game of evo with the old stats? Turtle was saying that it wouldn't work at all because of the lack of balance and I was kinda inclined to agree...

So would I. The stats can translate more or less intact across the systems, but obviously the older stats have not been playtested for balance within Evo. Tweaking is inevitable.

 

[MaxSteiner]

Thats good to hear, it definatly sounds like the MI are going to have to think a couple of turns ahead to maximise their fire compared to the older edition.

 

[JoseDominguez]

Yup, at the moment you can load up everything and launch in your turn, then not really worry about anything other than plasma fire, hoppers and rupture.
No real thinking ahead needed. Better to fire as much as possible every turn. With bugs you've got to have a long term plan or you just go into the meatgrinder.
Having said that, there's nothing better than beating an MI player who thinks he's won before you even start the game

 

[Hiromoon]

*shakes his head*

I've been playing LAMI for the past two mondays..... Thinking ahead is something you really, REALLY need to do...

 

[MaxSteiner]

I like herding the MI to a cluster of buildings with wave after wave of warriors, then knocking it down around they're ears with a Tanker
Gets a little harder every time, but its always just as satisfying!
We actually banned Rupture in our games pretty early on, it just seemed a total cop out.

I think the arachnids are definatly the army with the most scope for supprising the enemy in the current rules, theres alot of dirty tricks you can pull out, where as the MI, once they've nuked a tanker and droped an assasination squad to you're brain bug tend to have shown their entire hand.

 

[Hiromoon]

Actually last game, before the hopper bugs tore the bunker down, I was doing great with interlocking fields of fire....

 

[MaxSteiner]

I still havent gotten around to playing as LAMI yet, got myself a horde of Imperial regulars to use as proxies, all Im missing is an opponant, but I lost my main one to world of warcraft

They definatly sound as though they're a whole different kettle of fish, I guess it takes balls of steel

 

[Hiromoon]

Yeah, well, you get 2x the number of emplacements (adding up to alot of fortifications per platoon), your men loose the Auto trait on the Moritas.... your missile launchers require you to ready before firing them....

 

[Makoto]

Basically: You field longbows in as small squads as possible, back them up by "mobile" squads with snipers an (should points allow) a supermobile squad within a Skyhook. Then think hard how to capture objectives ^^

 

[Proteus454]

Proteus, the exosuits, CapTroopers, and Pathfinders don't even get the neat doo-dads that make the Landwarrior stuff awsome....

At this point, you're basically going to have to start from Square 1 when it comes to SST:Ev because of the rules changes. Thankfully you'll get an easy to read document in each boxed set that'll let you get into the game.

Er, wait, hold on...

Does this mean that the basic rule sheet in SST:E will have different contents than the BF: E basic rule sheet, to compensate for the different setting?

Similar to how Warhammer Fantasy and 40K (hey, quit that booing in the back there, it's only an analogy!) use the same stat terminology, but Strength 4 means two very different levels of stopping power?


I'm so confused!

 

[Proteus454]

Basically: You field longbows in as small squads as possible, back them up by "mobile" squads with snipers an (should points allow) a supermobile squad within a Skyhook. Then think hard how to capture objectives ^^

I FIGURED that was the trick...

 

[Voracioustigger]

Which they also did before the original was released
If we don't discuss the issues then maybe some will be missed?

Definitely speculate and discuss. I look here every day to see if someone thinks up an issue that I haven't thought of. Sometimes there are issues that have been around for months before they're finally noticed, so it's always helpful (to me at least) for you guys to discuss.

@ Sprange... What? What have you been keeping from me and Hiro!?

 

[MongooseMatt]

I've been playing LAMI for the past two mondays..... Thinking ahead is something you really, REALLY need to do...

Even if they are getting nukes in wave 1

 

[Turtle]

I suspect the playtesters are getting a lot of the core rules to test and the new stuff will slowly be shown to them as they get more in house testing?

Man, I'd love to be a SST playtester, alas, I had to give up my demo team status due to college time constraints.

Hiro and others, I know there's playtesters who are commenting on the status of the game, but one problem is that the game isn't set in stone right now with what, somewhere around 2-4 months before SSTE is released? Even in video game development, that's a lot of time to make changes, especially if they're getting all this feedback from you guys.

Likewise, it also seems that some playtesters were looking for something else, or perhaps trying to make the armies fit too closely with the original methods of operation. The problem is that I think the original methods were broken as much as the rules were. So, I'm welcoming any change they introduce.

Also, a lot of this talk has come from primarily MI players it seems. I'm primarily arachnid that uses mainly warrior swarms with some hoppers and a tanker. These core units tend to get wiped out by MI. But I think it's the more extreme arachnid army compositions that are causing trouble for the MI players, such as huge hopper swarms, multiple plasma bugs.

One thing to remember is that the single reaction for units is also good for MI. MI towards the rear can fire on some arachnids, cause them to use up their reactions. Then drop in a squad via drop pods near those bugs and toast some more without fear of reactions. Bugs take a turn and maybe get close enough to attack, when you get to the MI turn again they can jump away shooting. Any reactions used by the bugs to chase those MI can't be used to advance against the bulk of the MI army at the rear. Then if things get too hairy, you can call in a transport to pickup the MI.

Of course, I don't know how the new jump rules work. So far I've heard things like only 1 jump a turn and no jumps on reactions, but that's only rumor so far, and once again things can change.

 

[MongooseMatt]

Does this mean that the basic rule sheet in SST:E will have different contents than the BF: E basic rule sheet, to compensate for the different setting?

No, the core rules are identical.

The clever bit is how the unit cards alter the feel of the game completely

 

[Proteus454]

The clever bit is how the unit cards alter the feel of the game completely

I FIGURED that was the case. And this was what I meant when I mentioned the superiority of the MI's equipment - namely, that the aggregate stats and special rules would, in the end, result in a very different game, working with the same basic rule-framework.

 

[Hiromoon]

Yeah Matt....holding out on me and VT there?

(Turtle, Take note above please, additionally, we were elected for the position by the community..which was nice.)

And yeah Matt, but I'm more interested in numbers instead of nukes.... I had too much fun whiping out far larger groups of Warrior Bugs with 10 member squads...

(on the topic of cards, is having flashbacks to Magic..)

I tap LAMI to deploy three LAMI Tokens...

 

[MongooseMatt]

I FIGURED that was the case. And this was what I meant when I mentioned the superiority of the MI's equipment - namely, that the aggregate stats and special rules would, in the end, result in a very different game, working with the same basic rule-framework.

INdeed. A good example is this;

In BF Evo, troops hug cover as if their lives depend on it (they do!). Get caught in the open by a machine gun, and you can lose an entire squad.

In SST Evo, the MI have Exosuits and power armour - you can bounce into the middle of a street, let loose with a missile or hail of bullets, and have a reasonable chance of getting away with it. You would _never_ do that in BF Evo.

Close combat is also more common in SST Evo, even when bugs are not around. It is a very rare event in BF Evo (though everyone should feel free to rib Fordy about my PLA Ninjas when he asked for a rematch to our battle report!).