BFG:R Vote 38: Finalizing Tau Empire

[afterimagedan]

Tau Empire. The assumption is there will be more discussion when we talk about the Rogue Trader and Demiurg lists. Other than that, should we finalize this and move on?

[Talos]

You made your point, oh tyrannical one. Let's call this a wrap and move on.

[afterimagedan]

Hehe, it's the zerg avatar that makes me the tyrant, right? Maybe a hive tyrant?

[Talos]

Or maybe it's the fact that you effectively have a very benign dictatorship over this site, oh smashing flyrant.

Plus, I couldn't tell that was anything other than a normal 'nid symbol. Coincidence or....

[afterimagedan]

YES....  Tyranids, I meant... 

[Thinking Stone]

Although mind control is a very Zerg thing... maybe we're being influenced to think it's benign...?

The alternative is that afterimagedan is in fact part of a Tyranid vanguard genestealer cult, 30-odd thousand years early.... Regardless of the source of control, we must be under some malign influence to be seeing 'Tyranid' symbols...  .

(Editation)
I do have a few small suggestions from a brief look-over (I presume that other, more experienced players have debated the points values appropriately).

(a) (Various pages) The titles of Kor'or'vesh vessels have the human translation in inverted commas whereas the Kor'vattra vessels have it in parentheses.

(b) Custodian (pg 7 of pdf). The notes concerning which escorts the gravatic hooks may carry are a little confusing. Perhaps something like 'The gravitic hooks of Custodian battleships are enclosed in a single shrouded, hangar-type enclosure specifically designed for Kir'la “Warden” gunships and are unsuitable for the transport of other escorts. Gravatic hooks mounted on a Custodian class battleship may only transport Warden class escorts.'

(c) The Emissary class (pg 12 of pdf) background states that a group of these boarded an Imperial battleship, despite the fact that this is not allowed in-game or according to Tau philosophy as in the document! Perhaps, 'fended off an Imperial boarding action' would be more appropriate? Or, do Tau board space stations?

(d) Defender class escorts (pg 14 of pdf) are very dangerous! It seems that the Tau are better at making gunship escorts than the Imperium! This is just a note, not an error requiring correction. Also, I guess that Orcas are attactive because they are cheap, but why would one want Orcas when they could get Defenders instead? It seems like these would be a good choice to put on the gravatic hooks because they would be limited in numbers then but the weaker Orcas would be freely available. But I am sure this has been debated elsewhere .

(e) There are references to gravatically hooked Escorts using the leadership value of their parent ship in the Nicassar Dhow (pg 23) and Warden (pg 15) entries. I think it would be appropriate to include this with the other fleet details on page 6, making it clear that Nicassar are the same except for the +1 to leadership. Also, do Nicassar parent vessels also gain a +1 Ld modifier, or is this restricted to Dhows? And how is the leadership of Dhows or Orcas originating from an Orbital calculated (pgs 18,19)? These should probably be spelt out on page 6 to be obvious to readers.

(f) It is confusing which escorts may squadron with Wardens and Orcas. I think it might be best to state at the beginning (probably page ?) that Orcas cannot squadron with any other escorts and Wardens may only squadron with Castellans. Can Orcas squadron with non-Warden escorts?

(g) It might be a good idea to make a note that the Stronghold Demiurg Commerce  vessel (pg 20 of pdf) is not restricted in firing torpedoes AND attack craft, unlike the Bastion class (pg 21 of pdf), to avoid confusion (even though the weapons are detailed differently).

(h) There are some rogue full stops in the Nicassar Dhow background (pg 23 of pdf): first paragraph, 2nd sentence and last sentence. I only noticed these because I haven't read the Nicassar background for a while .

(i) Nicassar Caravan notes (pg 24), first word 'Their' should be 'The'. Also, how does firepower work with the Dhows? Is the directionality obvious from the model or is the firepower directable all-around? Also, the background states that Dhows may separate but they are not allowed to from a Caravan: perhaps this should be modified? Or perhaps Caravans and Rigs should have a combined entry, with the appropriate profile chosen before the game (as usual). Finally, should the Caravans and Rigs (+ Dhows) be of equal points value? This would allow them to be fully interchangeable with regards to campaign points values etc..

I hope these are helpful! I will (probably) vote after someone has responded to these (since they are just small things).
Thinking Stone

[afterimagedan]

Thinking stone! Where have you been!?

[Thinking Stone]

Hello afterimagedan!
Thanks for the concern! I have been wandering... mostly in academia (it was a ridiculously busy year last year!!). That, and my friend and I mostly play WH40K at the moment, so I have been thinking of ways to make it's (considerably dodgier) game system cooler, rather than thinking of cool BFG stuff .

And I've made a small commitment to improve my forum use to responsive levels .

[AndrewChristlieb]

Speaking of the escort squadroning why are Wardens allowed to squadron outside their parent ships squadron? And if they are still allowed to squadron with the castellans how is leadership determined? I think these should go back to the standard orca, drow rules. Did we vote on the final Defender/ Castellan issue? Although i agree the Castellan prickng seems quite accurate the Defender is quite the steal with 2 hits/5 batteries/ and a torp. Given the GW Taus fairly slow average speed the 20m speed isnt too terrable really.

[afterimagedan]

Thinking Stone, thanks for pointing out those errors in the document. I will be going through and fixing them shortly.

As far as Wardens squadroning outside their ships, why would they not be able to? Battles in BFG are in relatively small spaces (notice the use of the word relatively).

[afterimagedan]

Thinking stone, I made those editing changes. Thanks again!

[AndrewChristlieb]

Wardens would not be able to because they are assigned to specific ships and not as independant squadrons, just like Orcas and Drows which are only allowed to be in a squadron with other escorts that are assigned to their parent ship or its squadron.

[horizon]

True.

Kinda weird, from the very first inceptions (back to FW rules days) on Wardens they have been allowed to squadron with Castellans.

[Thinking Stone]

I'm glad to help with proof-reading! It comes naturally to me... . I'll try to make notes when I read the completed BFG:R documents and relay the suggestions to you—the speed of proof-reading will depend on lots of home stuff though, so may not always be prompt .

Thinking Stone

[afterimagedan]

Awesome, TS! Anytime you want to go through the document, let me know and we will work on getting it fixed up.