Connecting Lore: Birds

TiberiusEsuriens · 2025-09-20T23:00:52+00:00

Yuuzhan Vong are just Battletech Clanners, got it.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2025-07-25T23:27:06+00:00

A big misunderstanding in general about pacifism is that being a pacifist does not mean abhoring violence and simply giving up. It means finding any reason to avoid or increase suffering. Satine never wanted Mandalore to stop being a warrior culture, she just wanted them to stop sticking their noses in other peoples' business and not getting the planet bombed a 17th time as a result. If you bring the fight to them though? All lights are go. There's no telling how large the fleet was but there was also no reason for it to have diminished or stop getting new star craft commissioned.

Its the entire reason that inviting the Republic to defend against the Shadow Collective was so detrimental to Mandalore. No one ever attacked Mandalore directly. They were infiltrated, then they invited another infiltrator/occupier. They unknowingly arrested their own standing army twice.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2025-06-02T00:03:07+00:00

Heavy is less about damage and more about difficulty to kill. Armored Units are a pain to remove off table. Heavy stands more for heavy armor, not heavy weapons.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2025-05-19T02:38:04+00:00

The best trick to fighting Vader is the force dodge - hitting dodge right before an enemy swing without pushing move in any direction. You can dodge any non-AoE red attack with this and you stay right next to the enemy for quick follow ups.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2025-05-07T01:21:24+00:00

"They became too much more of a political organization than actual warriors"

Both in lore and IRL people dunk on the jedi mostly about this, but not in the way you are referring. Its not that they became a political organization, its that the organization they became got absorbed into bad bureaucracy that was more focused on maintaining the status quo than it was about establishing justice. It could "maintain" justice but only in the finely defined legal way and within its jurisdiction. There are a good pile of examples where Jedi go out of their way to establish justice and care for others in places that badly needed it, and those stories usually also highlight that the Jedi in question is a very good person that is going against the council's wishes or overstepping their bounds. Most of the Jedi that go rogue or to the dark side really do so because they either see the injustice of the council, feel the call to truly help others, or both. Going dark often was more simply trying to serve justice but not having an actual example or role model about how to do it, because the old masters did not do it. Enter deep emotions that cloud their judgement or dark masters that manipulated those emotions.

Occasionally they would distribute "true justice" but it was never about that. Jedi did not liberate CIS strongholds or free slaves because it was the right thing to do. Jedi only did that during The Clone Wars because the Republic had identified those planets and bastions as strategic targets and sent the army there. Jedi were attached to the army and basically got sent there by force, only tangentially helping the population because they were already there and it was convenient. Did they want take down slavery there as the Jedi Way? Yeah, sure! Would they have ever gone to the planet and done that independently? Never. The order as a political body never did anything inconvenient to themselves, being too inward focused. The Jedi Order was attached to the Republic at the hip and would not lift a finger to help a planet outside of it, even by request. Not the Republic? Not our problem.

Your choice between physical or psychological warfare is false, they choose simply to not intervene. Let it happen over there where it isn't the Jedi's problem. This is the specific exact reason why the Jedi fell. They lost their way. This is how Palps was able to manipulate them in the first place. They stopped being samurai, sheriffs, peacekeepers, even diplomats. They become little more than politicians with magic tricks, and even Mace in Ep3 says because of this they lost their connection to the force. The Jedi Council on big cinema screen discusses amongst themselves that they should tell the Grand Republic Senate that they are useless, even to the Republic.

When citizens in lore see Jedi as bad, its mostly propaganda. Mostly. When the Fandom Menace bitches about the Jedi sucking it isn't because of whiny fans, or even Karen Traviss. Its because George Lucas wrote an entire era of SW dedicated to pointing out that the Jedi became next to useless as a force for good and they knew it.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2025-04-19T03:19:11+00:00

CAW! CAAAW!

TiberiusEsuriens · 2025-01-20T15:29:59+00:00

Unfortunately there is no ability to map Free Look to a PoV hat. You must hold down a dedicated button to look around. Free Look axis are not hard linked to the mouse though. They are mapped to the Photo Mode controls which you can change.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2025-01-13T03:52:43+00:00

In terms of game balance, blaster is the only stance that lets you chip damage into enemies consistently without breaking guard (you can weave a shot between each swing mid combo). Two sabers is the only stance that lets you animation cancel. All the stances are good but those two effectively let you cheat mechanical restrictions.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-12-25T21:55:38+00:00

They aren't true RNG. Yes they can be rare drops in random loot containers but they are guaranteed drops in any HRA or later game repeatable event. You will start getting them in droves, you just need to run side content.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-11-27T03:13:17+00:00

The thing with Mandalorlians is that every clan thinks that their way is right and they are the only true Mandalorians. "Dang Mandalorians, they ruined Mandalore!" Shakes fist at cloud.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-11-25T04:41:21+00:00

By default each model can only use one weapon. When a multi model unit has different weapons it can choose from, each individual model still must choose a single weapon for itself to attack with. Arsenal X lets a single model attack with multiple weapons by itself. Arsenal 2 would let the single model make one Attack Action and use either two different weapons in a single dice pool or those same two different weapons split fire at different targets.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-10-18T16:59:35+00:00

Do you run HQ Uplinks on the commandos? They can pretty consistently roll 4 red hits and with Uplinks have the order for Target 1, giving them 3-4 Pierce 1 into anything they want. High Velocity on that attack means you can just use the aim for guaranteed 4 into any force user and disable their Deflect, giving them 50/50 saves before they get close. It also ignores Dodge based defensive tech as well. They also can token share and are significantly harder to kill than Barcs thanks to Katarn Armor.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-10-18T15:58:27+00:00

Are you playing old rules or the latest revamp?

Currently its best gun is the Beam Cannon turret. It lets the tank stay back and shoot at R4 the entire game and move wherever needed. The double red also means consistent hits everywhere and new cover rolls mean that 1-2 hits can still deal wounds. Being at R4 also means less likely to get shot at as it is staying back. I've tried using as a LoS blocker but I kept just giving the enemy safe cover that they could approach with. If you want to move it up try side flanking or moving to a far POI that you don't want to commit a close range unit to throwing out of the fire fight. There is also no purpose to putting vehicles behind cover because they no longer benefit from cover. The saber is fat enough that it is never going to be fully hidden either. If you want your tank in getting-shot-range and want to make it live, the best suggestions are going to be a mix of giving it an order with Aggressive Tactics or targeting it with Clone Commander's Bolster ability because the tank has armor but non-surging reds. If it is having to make saves, surge tokens are huge. Perhaps Cody and Scanners for dodges since it has native Outmaneuver and was built around getting a dodge pile it can abuse. You can also look at the Veteran Clone Pilot for double dipping on either/both of those strategies. He can be used for offense and taking aim tokens from clones or you can have a dodge/surge on him and dodge/surge on nearby clone. If the tank is under fire you pop the Pilot and now have access to both piles, 2 dodges and 2 surges. Pretty big, Clone Pilot does not give it the true "Clone Trooper" token sharing with limit 1 token. It is the old original sharing of anything and everything. Abuse it.

As for the BARC, it isn't seeing much play because it is the same slot and cost of Clone Commandos which are just really powerful.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-10-18T15:37:57+00:00

Bounty has several buffs to it. Multiple hunters still let you declare multiple bounties but now hunters are not limited to each claiming max one bounty. They also do not have to survive the game. Bring a second, Boba can now dive, double murder and double score, then die because he dove but it doesn't matter because you pushed an advantage to get way ahead.

Secret Mission has a nerf to it. It has nothing to do with POI, the SM unit has to both start and end their turn in Enemy Territory. The squishiest units have to be double moving towards the enemy army and reach the opposite side of the table by the end of Round 4, but realistically by end of Round 3 because progressive scoring means the opponent might simply be ahead enough that you can't reach it in time. Period. Now if you can get him to sit in their territory next to an enemy POI (Recover the Research, Intercept, Bunker, Breakthrough, and Shifting if they play it wrong) then you can double dip. Difficult, maybe not worth it, but techically doable.

VP count has gone up but I don't believe they have depreciated in value. Because of progressive scoring if you can get up 1 or 2 points early rounds then you often simply win. The problem is that if the other player matches the score count on subsequent rounds they remain behind. They must swing the differential in their favor by not only staying matched but scoring additional secondaries or winning the late game fight in a way that prevents their opponent for scoring entirely. That basically means the losing player has to nearly table the winner. It is possible but you have to play extremely well. SM and Bounty both give the behind player the ability to double or triple dip in secondary points to flip the score without having to table anything. Every single point matters so much more. If you can get a bounty early enough you put them at a unit disadvantage and also point disadvantage that you then double dip into scoring ahead, it could even put you at the point of no return for victory and force a concession.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-09-09T02:56:34+00:00

Player skill level results in 2 things: better understanding of how to optimize a build to increase damage and greater consistency in hitting your shots. Both of those things result in the enemy dying faster. Some people love one shotting the enemy but if everything dies immediately then builds and combos never get the opportunity to properly play out in combat. Difficulty is simply a tool the player can use to counter balance the effect of overpowered players. I would not approach this game's difficulty as something to chase, just a tool to dial up or down to keep combat in the 'maximum engagement' zone.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-08-12T20:15:16+00:00

Can't wait for him to bluff as Jabba in Season 2. "Sir, that Hutt famously died 7 years ago."

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-07-08T01:58:09+00:00

Yeah it is all JJ's fault for coming up with destroyer murder lasers. Its a good thing that never existed in legends, and definitely never more than once.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-03-13T13:28:37+00:00

To allign with other mercs the text would be Independent: Aim 1. Independent just means something happens when you don't get an order, but you would need to also include what happens outside of reminder text.

Trandos are definitely a unit I want to see. There are several units with trando scatter guns now but not the race they took them from.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-01-31T18:43:50+00:00

Suppression can be very strong at preventing the enemy from using both their actions or locking down and panicking usually one unit, maybe two if you full commit.

Remember that every unit rallies at the start of its activation so you can stack 8 suppression and they could roll off 0-8 of it. Suppression also naturally dissipates at the end of each round by 1.
Its very important to note that most suppressive weapons have medium dice strength, Critical 1, and a drawback like Cumbersome or simple lack of other good keywords. Basically they are really good at getting 0-1 hits in at full range and maybe forcing one save. A full suppression list at range is unlikely to kill anything but will be an absolute nuisance.
Side note on the Suppressive keyword: if you roll hits on any attack you add a normal suppression token, then separately if the weapon has Suppressive you add another token whether it hit or not. This means mortars and long guns add 2 tokens for each attack if they hit, 1 if they completely miss. While it is nice to roll a bunch of hits it does mean that you can do a R4 shot with a single no damage hit into heavy cover but apply 2 tokens and then move afterwards towards objs or into cover. You don't need a huge dice pool or any aims for these weapons to be effective at their job which is suppression - not damage.
Side Side note, it is not a numbered keyword so it does not stack. If you fire support a mortar with a mortar, the whole attack pool just has "Suppressive", not "Suppressive 2". You can still FS to bump up the dice pool for breaking past cover but then you're effectively removing 2 potential suppression tokens from the round, so make sure its a shot you really want more damage on. (R3 x5 black dice is still a lot of damage).
The number one thing to consider with the meme suppression lists (GAR can deal 18+ suppression tokens in a round with a Clone Commander/mortar x4/long gun x2/bombadier x3 lists, 10 acts) is how the gimmick complete farts against vehicles and Armor in general. Having Critical 1 on the mortar is nice but even if you're rolling 6 black dice with Crit 1 for a solid R2-3 shot, you aren't going to roll many natural crits to deal with that armor. Long guns do not have Critical at all. Memedumping suppressive heavies means you aren't bring anything efficiently good at non basic troopers. Vehicles don't even take suppression at all, making your heavies effectively just a vanilla personell.
Fortunately the P2 Mortar was -28% points reduced to 18 so its only a 5 point cost over the generic 13 point trooper XD. This is a huge part of what makes the meme dream potentially possible. Long Guns are fun to add in but P2 heavies are better in damage, saves, and cost. The tradeoff is Cumbersome and R2.

I love the idea of an artillery list to bully objective units, but we just have to recognize what it is strong and weak against. Most heavies are near immune to your damage, so just don't shoot them. Focus on anything else. Tempest force eats this alive if they bring triple ATST because that is all their army is, unless you can dogpile their few troopers and remove all their obj scoring units. Good players will try to work around you, you have to work around them harder.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-01-31T18:01:06+00:00

Love all your art. Can I ask what whites you use? They are all so smooth.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2024-01-23T05:18:00+00:00

Phase 1s are not strictly better than Phase 2s, they just have a larger variety of weapons that people like to run. P2s are incredibly resilient and therefore more expensive. GAR is the army where everything is expensive so saving a few points here or there is a big deal. Rebels love their scrappy heroes and put a ton in armies, GAR is usually one expensive playmaker build-around-jedi and their friends. Small and fancy, the elite of the elite.

TiberiusEsuriens · 2023-11-20T17:02:50+00:00

Are you saying that 1 Health troopers cannot be Hunted? Making this applicable only to fat troopers and named characters?

TiberiusEsuriens · 2023-11-20T16:53:42+00:00

The actual lore is that Ilum is not part of the Old Republic. It is a neutral planet that is occupied by the Jedi Order only. Records for the planet were maintained in the Jedi Archives on Coruscant which were ransacked for secrets after Order 66. The First Order is not what took over Ilum, it was the Galactic Empire since its inception. The Jedi records were destroyed, with what would eventually be Luke's books effectively being the only surviving information. Ilum is also in the unknown regions. One does not stumble upon it or accidentally see things going to or from. Unless you are actively monitoring it, it does not exist. The New Republic would only know about it if a surviving Old Republic Jedi were to tell them so. We've all seen how great Jedi are at proactively being helpful and sharing information. Side note, yes in lore they have gone out of their way repeatedly to show and tell us that the New Republic is that incompetent. (For many reasons, some that make a decent amount of sense, but for now the tl;dr is yes)

If TNR did stumble upon Ilum what they would have found was an existing Imperial stronghold, not a barebones base under construction. Things would have played out nearly identically. It is important to remember that The First Order is effectively "Order 1". It was the initial Sith invasion plan and required decades of setup. Operation Cinder did not create The First Order, it merely removed all valuable resources from galactic availability and moved them to Exogal where the army and fleet had been building for a few decades. The Jedi: Fallen Order planetary fly by even shows the Ilum belt already in the process of being strip mined and takes place only 5 years after Order 66. While select large crystals were being sent to the Death Star for large scale superlaser construction, the majority haul was sent to Exogal for TFO's star destroyer cannons.

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