But I have no idea how you did come to the changes. Eldar MMS took various steps to get to a balanced ruleset. I'm not sure if the new XR variant is based on theory (which for a starter is fine) but also has seen a lot of playtesting.
A lot is theory, built on feedback from MSM and XR players. The majority of the responses I received from my survey (both the recent one and the commentary I received about 6 months ago) boiled down to this:
- MSM players would not accept anything that didn't have the ability to move after shooting (in some capacity).
- MMS players had the biggest problem with MSM and holofields having no risk/counterplay.
So I built a compromise based on those premises. Obviously I'll have to gather further data as people play more and more with it, but I knew if I tried getting both sides to agree on a satisfactory set of mechanics, I'd be waiting until the sun burned out (40k fans are a contentious bunch after all).
Have a bad feeling about Marine venerable barges (Basicallt the must of a 6+ armour eludes me in terms of background. Then again. I haven't kept up with what GW did in the last years).
This was the best way to make Venerable's more expensive (and thus not the every-game go-to option), and to match with some of the Heresy fluff I'm peripherally aware of. (Though like you I'm not 100% up to speed on what GW's been saying recently).
On Rogue Traders:
I cannot find how much fortune a captain starts with.
Warrant of Trade origins, on page 115. Note that only a Rogue Trader themselves has a Fortune rating, so you can't just take a Bond Captain if you have anything that costs Fortune.
And the Galleon build rules seem a little unclear. Can I build this:
Chassis +60
Galleon +20
extra Shield +15
No dorsal weapon picked
two sets of large batteries +60
Prow torpedoes +25
Thus for a total of 180 points I get a ship with :
20 weapon batteries to each side?
That's off.
This is correct, but remember that it requires a +50 point Rogue Trader with at least 5 Fortune. For comparison, an Avenger with Torpedoes is 225 points, with +1 Shield, +2 HP, and +1 Turret. So if you're slotting in a Rogue Trader with just their Man O' War, equipped as you've described, you're actually at 230pts with less performance than the equivalent Avenger (other than type limit). If you take any refits, you're adding points cost + more Fortune costs, meaning you're probably taking 10pt Caravels.
Naturally, I'll keep an eye on any feedback I'm getting; if does turn out to be too easy to slot in powerful RT ships, I'll go back through the costing scheme to limit that.
But also: you cannot have a 100% Rogue Trader fleet anymore? That's a pity.
I tried my best to keep it in, but the more I worked at it, the more I realized I was just duplicating an Imperial Navy fleet list. In the end it had no real character of its own, so I dropped it. One day I might take another crack at it, but probably not for the foreseeable future.
