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Post by easye on May 27, 2016 15:21:18 GMT
One thing of interest to me about the old Sniper Drones was that the three units were assigned to a regular Tripod. When their "Mother" tripod was destroyed, they were also out of the game. As far as I know, they were the only Drones with those rules.
How do people feel about expanding the assignment of 3 elements of drones to a single tripod, using the same Sniper Drone rules? If the 'Mother" goes down so do the drones, and they have to stay within a certain distance to the "Mother"? What about Lobotons (Besides slowing down the Tripod)?
(I am looking for the full "Assigned" rules here on the site but can't find them anymore. I thought the PDFs were around here? I never got them downloaded.)
Slavers would still be needed for Drone Hordes to function but still allow a player to use a handful of drones. Plus, I think they would make great anti-infantry screens for tripods and allow more Drone usage in lower point games.
Thoughts?
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Post by phgamer on May 27, 2016 15:29:22 GMT
I have a house rule just like that for Marvin's drone, K9.
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Post by billf on May 28, 2016 0:45:55 GMT
The sniper drones moved with their tripod. If it was destroyed,they would shoot at the closest human armored vehicle in range. They would do that each turn for the rest of the game. If nothing was in range,they didn't shoot.
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Post by easye on May 30, 2016 23:09:41 GMT
Perhaps when the tripod goes down the normal drones deactivate, similar to wh n a slaver goes down.
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Post by madmorgan on May 31, 2016 10:36:41 GMT
I've been active on this subject for a short time. Will get back - theres seem to be a problem with the site over the last few minutes.
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Post by terrance on May 31, 2016 18:59:06 GMT
Perhaps when the tripod goes down the normal drones deactivate, similar to wh n a slaver goes down. Or perhaps make it go the other way. Other drones will attack enemies within (say) 12 inches if they have a heat ray and would move to assault enemies within x inches. After all if the sniper drones have the computing power to target without a Martian gunner, why would other drones not be able to do so as well.
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Post by madmorgan on Jun 1, 2016 11:20:31 GMT
Interesting ideas indeed. If we allow that: 1/Assault or Scout tripods may have a Drone squad attached, as with the Sniper drones; 2/that Slaver drones are the apex of standard (e.i. not Dominator/Overseer) controllers allowing say 9 to 12 drones per Slaver (based on 4 squads on an Overseer, so 9 might be the max for a Slaver); 3/that all regular Drones have an automated "advance and attack all within heat ray" program if the Assault/Scout go down; 4/and its debatable if a Harvester or Reaper, etc. machine can have drones attached in the way. 1/ I'd favor a single Drone squad to an Assault and/or Scout with the Drone squad having programmed auto advance & fire installed. 2/ Slavers can control up to 3 squads (9 drones) of any type, not just the Drone, and are often seen with Scorpions & Shock drones. 3/ All regular Drones have the automatic 'advance & fire' orders as default if their tripod goes down. This doesn't apply to the Shock drones of coarse - the Scorpion & Hover drones do act under those orders as a default setting. 4/ You could also allow for Harvesters, Reapers, and other specialty tripods to have a drone squad. The Scientist is limited to one squad of any type. Harvesters would typically have regular Drones and Reapers would probably have Scorpions. The Scorpions would have an automated 'advance and assault' order as a default setting. Comments are most welcome for this and if they seem favorable, I'll work up an optional rule for these ideas
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Post by easye on Jun 1, 2016 14:09:01 GMT
I think we would want to play-test advance and assault.
Do you think the same would happen if the Slaver tripod goes down? Would all 9 Drones be able to advance and assault?
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Post by loyalist on Jun 1, 2016 15:28:51 GMT
I would agree that special tripods like a Dominator or Overseer could act as controllers but don't agree with Assault or Scout tripods having that ability, other than having Sniper drones attached. If the models are produced again the Sniper drone shortage will be rectified.
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Post by madmorgan on Jun 1, 2016 19:35:00 GMT
Although it didn't make it into the stat box, not only did the AD Overseer carry 4 squads of Drones but it was also a Controller. There is no mention of the Dominator being a Controller - which is strange as its kinda the top dog over even the Veteran tripods. I'd suggest the Dominator is also a Controller.
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Post by easye on Jun 2, 2016 14:13:07 GMT
I would agree that special tripods like a Dominator or Overseer could act as controllers but don't agree with Assault or Scout tripods having that ability, other than having Sniper drones attached. If the models are produced again the Sniper drone shortage will be rectified. I agree about the Sniper Drones, but once the door was opened to Sniper Drones, why NOT other drones? Notice, as controllers they would be very limited. Only three drones. However, like other Controllers once the Controller goes down so does the Drones. Plus, I feel like the Assault can only act as Controller for the Drones slaved to it. It couldn't pick-up other drones. lastly, it should also be an additional points upgrade for the Assault, just like a Black Dust or Green Gas launcher. However, with all that being said, I am still concerned about the "balance" of such an upgrade.
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Post by loyalist on Jun 2, 2016 15:37:57 GMT
These proposals will need a lot of play-testing to ensure the balance is not tilted too much in favour of the Martian players.
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Post by easye on Jun 2, 2016 17:37:01 GMT
Agreed!
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Post by tenchuu on Jun 3, 2016 6:50:59 GMT
Copied from my comment on the third section of the living rule book, this is my suggestion:
P. 120 - Slaver Tripod: the range for Controller has, in the games I've played, been very limiting. Given that the range for Controller is 12", and the full movement of a drone is 12", a drone can easily move outside of control range in one turn. A 24" bubble is crippling when drones are intended to be screening units. It also means that a slaver tripod will need to be in range of most Earth guns in order to control drones and zombies. That's one dead slaver. I have two suggestions in this regard: one, increase control range to 18" or 24", and possibly limit the number of units it can control as a result. Maybe the more units it controls, the shorter its range (ie 4 units at range 24", 8 at 18", and 16 at 12", thus giving drones more free range but keeping zombies herded up). The second is to give a limited control range as a possible upgrade to standard assault tripods. Maybe for X points they can control zombies and drones within 6".
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Post by loyalist on Jun 3, 2016 7:31:11 GMT
Copied from my comment on the third section of the living rule book, this is my suggestion: P. 120 - Slaver Tripod: the range for Controller has, in the games I've played, been very limiting. Given that the range for Controller is 12", and the full movement of a drone is 12", a drone can easily move outside of control range in one turn. A 24" bubble is crippling when drones are intended to be screening units. It also means that a slaver tripod will need to be in range of most Earth guns in order to control drones and zombies. That's one dead slaver. I have two suggestions in this regard: one, increase control range to 18" or 24", and possibly limit the number of units it can control as a result. Maybe the more units it controls, the shorter its range (ie 4 units at range 24", 8 at 18", and 16 at 12", thus giving drones more free range but keeping zombies herded up). The second is to give a limited control range as a possible upgrade to standard assault tripods. Maybe for X points they can control zombies and drones within 6". I agree with increasing the control range to 24" and capping the number of elements that can be controlled by a single controller of a type already designated as such in the rules. They are supposed to be able to control hordes of lobototons for example so 12 controlled elements at 24" range per control tripod would be OK with me. The idea of variable numbers/ranges is nice but may add too much to game complexity; part of the attraction of the rules is their simplicity and ability to field large numbers of units.
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