With the launch of the new Dropzone Commander Website and Force Builder we felt it was a great chance to do a balance pass for all the units in the game.
Well, it’s been an unusual year, with less people able to go out and play games we decided to leave this balance pass until now. However we’ve had plenty of great feedback and after we managed to get some testing in here and a few online round table discussions. We’ve made some changes to several units.
UCM:
We’ve had 6 units changed for UCM:
Eagle / Falcon B:
Both of these units have had Twin Gatling Guns added to their profile. They don’t change much really, however they are on the model so they should have rules.
Praetorians:
We’ve had an issue getting these balanced for some time. After feedback and testing we’ve made some changes. First they have had a price drop to 40 points a base. Secondly their Grenades are now Energy 6. Hopefully this should help Praetorians get more use on the table.
Archangel Tactical Bomber:
We’ve had a lot of comments about this relatively new unit. Mostly around it’s low weapon Energy. This is intentional, the mission role for the Tactical Bomber is to soften up bunkers and render contested buildings dangerous to enter. To improve it’s performance at this we’ve increased the amount of Collateral Damage tokens caused by Incendiary Missiles to 3D3.
Ferrum Drone Base:
We’ve decided to make some changes to the Drone Base and Starsprite Drones. For the Drone base itself we’ve modified it’s rules a little. Rather than a random number of Drones it now spawns 4 every time, and can do so at any point in it’s activation. The Base itself can only maintain two individual squads of Drones too.
Starsprite Drones:
The Drones have a new ability! Due to the changes in rules on the Ferrum, the Drones can now choose to Self Destruct, allowing the Base to launch another squad if required. We’ve also added a note to their rules to state that Starsprite Drones are Scouts.
Scourge
7 Units for the Scourge.
Minders / Monitors / Vampires
These three units have had Rapid Insertion 0″ added. This means transports no longer need to land to disembark them. However do remember the free disembark only applies to transports that land. This makes more thematic sense.
Screamer:
This unit has had a complete overhaul. After chats with Dave about the units original concept, what it was doing, and how to make it interesting as a unit, we’ve decided to change a lot.
So first of all. The Screamer has changed from Support, to Exotic. With this change it has now also become Infantry, with a 2+ Fortitude Save. This means the Screamer can now enter buildings to hunt it’s prey. It’s also had it’s armour reduced to 9.
We’ve also changed the Hunting Scream. Now it forces Fortitude Saves on the target unit, which makes the target run in terror, or maybe even die from sheer fright.
The Screamer isn’t exactly small though, so it actively damages the building as it moves through it, so causes Collateral Damage tokens to any building it enters or starts it’s activation in.
This makes the Screamer more towards the original intentions, an infantry hunting beast like creature.
Razorworms:
At the beginning of Version 2 we allowed Scourge players to take Razorworms as a troop choice. However at 25 points it was rather steep for a Troop choice that doesn’t claim objectives, so we’ve dropped them to 20 points. Still good for clearing buildings.
Eviscerators:
The Quick version of the Glaives is now Energy Energy 3. This gives more viability to choosing Heavy Glaives in certain situations.
Aged Ones:
We’ve changed these a bit too. At the moment people don’t seem too keen to take them, and going by their representation in Fluff we’ve changed their fortitude to 3+, so they are more likely to run away, after all, the host has slightly more control, even if they are now insane. And we’ve decreased their cost to 25 points. We’ve also fixed the long standing error on the Ravening Attacks profile and it is now RW-2.
PHR:
3 Units for the followers of the White Sphere.
Mercury Scout Drones:
Given Rapid Insertion 0″.
Erebos / Apollo:
The Erebos rule has been reworded to match the Proteus. Instantly making this a very strong unit compared to the old version. This does stack, however this will be monitored.
We’ve also removed the Manslayer Cannon from the game. Almost all PHR players we spoke to always upgraded to the Railgun, and we could see why. So it’s now an Anti-Material gun. The PHR have been busy modifying all the Erebos and Apollo with the new gun. This is designed to target specific armour, especially ones hidden in cover and take them out with a precise shot.
Shaltari:
Nothing for our space hedgehogs this time. We’re quite happy that generally Shaltari are in a decent place, however please let us know if you have any feedback as always.
Resistance:
We have 4 units with changes for our more rugged humans.
Remote Bomb Bus:
The rule has been clarified for the detonation of it’s rigged explosives now.
Battle Bus:
The Rocket Battery has had an upgrade to make it a more viable choice compared to the Heavy Machine Gun.
Napoleon:
After a lot of feedback and playing here, we really weren’t satisfied the Napoleon felt like it looked. So we’ve had a rethink on it’s weapons. We love the model here at the TTCombat offices and want the rules to do this expensive model justice and feel thematically correct.
So we went back to the drawing board for it’s guns. and it’s changed a lot. So the main turret is not as strong anymore, but does fire a lot of bullets, and we mean, A LOT. The chainguns have been changed to.
M3 Alexander:
This has had a boost. The Main cannon is now Devastator-3 (All) and has the new chainguns profiles.
Conclusion:
That’s all this time. As always thanks for all the feedback and comments by players, it really helps. If you now need to modify your army a bit, take a look at the webstore.
Please continue to give us any and all feedback, the new Website also has some handy ways for us to monitor the viability of different units, so please take a look at that article for more information.