I've been pretty bored recently playing against players who use Grenadiers, MTs, Warpers and Psykers to create 'walls' of explosions that you have to lose half your units just to penetrate, and I've been thinking about the type of game I'd prefer to play.
The way I see it, the grunt is the main footsoldier of any army, and the other units are there to be used in support. I don't think this gets fairly reflected in most games of LSN, so rather than start a campaign to bump up the fp cost of every supporting unit, I figure I'll save on the flame wars & hate mail by simply starting a new competition of my own.
So, welcome to the Grunt Wars. The idea is for a small league similar to (ie blatantly ripped off from) Archer's Cyborg and ET Leagues, with a dozen or so players fighting randomly selected opponents over four or five games per season, with points scored in game counting towards the final score.
All games would be 30fp / 20 turn / 30 day affairs played on 'Random: Large' maps, and all races would be available for selection, but the troop selection would be strictly limited to each races 'grunt' unit: Grunts, Exterminators, Drones and Sentries. Each player would also be allowed to deploy ONE supporting unit per game, freely available from all remaining units (including HQs).
So, these games would be huge battles between grunt-style footsoldiers, with each player's choice of supporting unit bringing a massive variety of strictly limited tactical options. For example: A Machina deployment could consist of 29 XTs + 1 HQ, 29 XTs + 1 Hunter, 28 XTs + 1 Scanner, 26 XTs + 1 MT OR 26 XTs + 1 AI. So you could deploy an ammo dump, a fast scout to nip round behind your enemy, an early warning detector, limited heavy barrage potential or a heavy unit with the ability to heal.
Of course, the more fp you spend on your supporting unit, the fewer footsoldiers you have. And being outnumbered could well tip the scales against you.
So, anyone have any thoughts? Are there balance issues? I would assume that the basic grunt unit of each race should be fairly well-balanced against the others, and I'm not too worried about choice of supporting units tipping the balance, that's what they're there for. Would anyone be interested in playing in this league?
The way I see it, the grunt is the main footsoldier of any army, and the other units are there to be used in support. I don't think this gets fairly reflected in most games of LSN, so rather than start a campaign to bump up the fp cost of every supporting unit, I figure I'll save on the flame wars & hate mail by simply starting a new competition of my own.
So, welcome to the Grunt Wars. The idea is for a small league similar to (ie blatantly ripped off from) Archer's Cyborg and ET Leagues, with a dozen or so players fighting randomly selected opponents over four or five games per season, with points scored in game counting towards the final score.
All games would be 30fp / 20 turn / 30 day affairs played on 'Random: Large' maps, and all races would be available for selection, but the troop selection would be strictly limited to each races 'grunt' unit: Grunts, Exterminators, Drones and Sentries. Each player would also be allowed to deploy ONE supporting unit per game, freely available from all remaining units (including HQs).
So, these games would be huge battles between grunt-style footsoldiers, with each player's choice of supporting unit bringing a massive variety of strictly limited tactical options. For example: A Machina deployment could consist of 29 XTs + 1 HQ, 29 XTs + 1 Hunter, 28 XTs + 1 Scanner, 26 XTs + 1 MT OR 26 XTs + 1 AI. So you could deploy an ammo dump, a fast scout to nip round behind your enemy, an early warning detector, limited heavy barrage potential or a heavy unit with the ability to heal.
Of course, the more fp you spend on your supporting unit, the fewer footsoldiers you have. And being outnumbered could well tip the scales against you.
So, anyone have any thoughts? Are there balance issues? I would assume that the basic grunt unit of each race should be fairly well-balanced against the others, and I'm not too worried about choice of supporting units tipping the balance, that's what they're there for. Would anyone be interested in playing in this league?
I'd thought as far as the queen laying eggs, but hadn't thought about what might come out of them. Might have to ban 'recycling', maybe even exclude eating and egg laying altogether.. the queen would still be a pretty formidable fighting unit.. or would it be better to ban queens? (and instead give the spawn 2 support units? Spawn don't really have any instantly fatal 'barrage' type units so it wouldn't alter the dynamic vastly...)
I've mentioned this bugbear of mine to other players in the past, it's not meant as a complaint, just a by-the-way.
