It’s time for a Dropzone Commander Balance Pass. We’ve had a fair bit of feedback from he community and it was quite clear that there was a faction in need of focus for this balance pass.

We have had a fair bit of feedback from Shaltari players that they are really struggling to feel competetive across the range against all factions. So we’ve had a look and made some changes we believe make everything competetive.

Of course Shaltari should always feel like a Glass Cannon, they don’t do prolonged firefights, but when they get shots off they should be causing a lot of damage.  These changes bring  them to a suitable level.

Of course there are changes for other factions. Let’s take a look:

UCM

Only the one change for the UCM on this occasion. The last balance pass gave them some much needed heavy firepower. However the Braodsword being 75 points considering its firepower and durability was a bit too cheap, so a price increase to 85 points has been applied.

Scourge

We’ve rebalanced the Annihilator to make it more usable now. It deploys as an aircraft and has had a points reduction.

The Screamer has had it’s rules clarified so it’s effect stacks with other effects that impact scanning.

The Overseer has had it’s special rule rewritten. This is too make it easier to use as well as uniforming it’s effect a bit. Now it grants rerolls to all damage rolls made with affected weapons.

We’ve also fixed the Erradicator’s claws to bring them in line with other CC weapons on vehicles.

PHR

We’ve renamed a few of the weapons to make them more uniform. No stat changes.

Shaltari

Many changes, and rather than list them all here let’s go through some key ones.

We wanted the Shaltari to have one vehicle that really exemplified the Glass Cannon strategy of the Shaltari. Easy to destroy but packed a punch that would rip apart absolutely anything it hit. We felt the Crocodile was perfect for this. As a skimmer, even E7 AA-2 weapons can hurt it, firepower from main battle tanks will tear through it. However, the Particle Cannon is now a Heavy Particle Cannon since it’s fitted to a more stable platform than the Ocelot. This gives it the highest Energy shot in the game at E14. The only real difference now is that it crits more often than not, and with Devastator-2 (ALL) when it does Crit that’s 4 damage in one single shot. With Unlimited range that ignores Active and Passive Countermeasures. Two of these will annihilate a Hades more often than not in one turn, so long as they get the first shot of course. With a M&F of 0″, you have to position this right and make sure the shot counts before you take any return fire.

We’ve also made the Gaia gate a little more survivable by increasing it’s damage points and allowing it to control it’s Charged Atmosphere a little more, now it can target Aircraft in it’s own activation. It’s still short range, but it gives you a reason to take this bigger gate.

The Kukri and Tomahawk have also been boosted. Both now have a 4+ passive save. The Kukri has a little more mobility too now.

Both Coyote and Puma have had an upgrade on their Passive save to 3+ to give them a little more survivability.

There has been general point changes throughout the faction, some up, some down.

Take a look at the full changelog to get the full rundown of Shaltari changes.

Resistance

We’ve fixed the Pizzaro’s claws.

The Attack ATV’s Incendiary Grenades now hit on 2+.

Summary

That’s all for now.  Please check the changelog here for more information. The changes are already active on the Dropzone Army Builder.

Please let us know your thoughts on any changes, as always, feedback from the tabletop is very appreciated.