January 2015 Release: "Storm Zone: Return of the Overseers"

[zacharybinks]

Sulis reminds me of an anchor. Keeps the aquatic theme going

[erion]

Got my box at the FLGS last night, and am building the ships today.  Everything that I haven't seen before (Aquan and Directorate Patrol Fleets are all I have) are very, very nicely done.  

Is it too soon to ask when the Overseers are going to get a whole fleet?  The design of the Anathema probe ship has really caught my eye.  

[ElectricPaladin]

Is it too soon to ask when the Overseers are going to get a whole fleet?  The design of the Anathema probe ship has really caught my eye.  

 

That seems unlikely. Have you seen their stats? They're probably just scenario pieces. Something for the rest of the factions to deal with, not someone for players to portray.

[Pok]

Given that they seem to be the ones who chased the Tarakians out of their own space, and their mere presence gave the aquan HQ the runs, I would say their presence as a playable faction is highly unlikely.

[CoreHunter]

But more units would be nice. Maybe next starter box gets a cruiser

[Pok]

Sure. Stats: Kills everything on board on 2+

 

 

Ancient super-advanced evil empires make for very poor enemies cause either the plot has to gimp them (hi Goa'uld!) or they just win without effort.

[azrael]

The probe is hard enough and now you want to face a cruiser !!!!!

[CoreHunter]

As long as the cruiser comes with whips and chains mmmmm

[quiet01]

The probe is hard enough and now you want to face a cruiser !!!!!

Don't know what to think of you...

As long as the cruiser comes with whips and chains mmmmm

Made me snort soda...

[azrael]

@quiet01

A long time player who is also up for a laugh will do

[Hive]

You know, it probably wouldn't be so bad. You could pull something where their most world/fleet/whatever-annihilating technology requires connection to a different dimension to function. Stat the dimensional gate as a pretty defenseless Battlestation that takes the Anethema as an accompaniment, and give the Anethema a MAR where if it is not within command distance of a Gate (or even its parent vessel, if you want to keep a probe from running to a second gate when its parent gate goes kaput) it loses most of its super shield dice pool and its super gun starts needing 6s to hit. (personally don't know how the Anethema's weapon works, but you get the picture) Basically, a Battlestation whose main weapons fly around it, rather than being on its own profile.

 

You could then tone down the things that the Probe is known for, like its shield pool and mega-gun, and make weaker versions of that the focus of the fleet. You now have a fleet with High shield values, small squad sizes, a focus on one main fore weapon and then other less typical weapon systems as backup. Almost an in-between of Terrans and Directorate, now that I'm thinking about it. Play up the mysterious aspect of them with a few rules- secured bulkheads and high CP values means boarding and taking a vessel would be hard, but low AP values making it just as unlikely that you'll be boarded by them, perhaps? That way you've thematically reduced the in-game exposure of non-Overseers seeing who or what the Overseers look like. Maybe BBs and Dreads have Anethema-level weapons, or can take a single Anethema accompaniment as well for a hefty sum of points, (thematically meaning they've got a dimensional gate on board to support the Anethema) under the same rules- parent vessel dies, Anethema becomes all but useless. 

 

I guess this is all mindless brainstorming, but my point is that the Anethema can be seen as a unique opportunity to create a cohesive and highly thematic fleet, rather than a restrictive piece. I think there's a way to tactfully include the Overseers, even using the Probe's current stats pretty much as they are.

[reddwarf]

Right now the gate and probe don't have weapons in the sense of any other faction.  The gate attempts to pull you into it by force moving models towards it unless they make a command check, and if a model contacts the gate it is removed and considered destroyed (presumably transported to another galaxy or something).  The probe picks a direction randomly then fires and hits EVERYTHING in that direction (so the entire arc) with a beam that makes command checks harder to pass (thus making those ships more vulnerable to getting pulled into the gate).

 

And we already have stats for the gate as well as the probe--it is not "defenseless."  The gate is DR 10, CR 16 with 10 shields (which is still easier to hit than the probe, since thats DR 8, CR 12 with 10 shields and Elusive Target).

[Hive]

Fascinating. Well then. Knowing this... I could still work with this. Without the gate/parent vessel, the de-commandifier should have a mechanic that comes into play letting ships shrug it off, and it should probably be given a maxed range of maybe RB3 using Beams range bands. I would also advocate having it maybe have two of the weapon and have to pick targets, rather than just hitting a whole arc, but that's a minor consideration. I was not aware that the gate was anything other than a terrain feature, so yeah, it would need a nerf shield-wise. (otherwise, considering that its only form of attack is nomming other ships and having a Probe, it should probably be fine as long as it doesn't have more than 7 hull and is priced in between typical Dreads and BBs BEFORE Probe) As for Probes following other ships, I smell even more opportunity knowing this is how it works! If Overseers have RB1 superiority and the T1s can all Hoover other ships closer(minus eating them) then you end up with a VERY interesting fleet, mechanically. I still say interdimensional-ish materials would be justification enough for having the gate and probe be super tanky while other vessels look only slightly tougher than their typical counterparts.

 

Thank you for the clarifications- I still see this as an opportunity more than anything else. Probes could be one of their things, if you introduce a second variety that does have a traditional weapon!

[reddwarf]

If I recall correctly (don't have the Overseers book handy at this moment) the bleeping probe has 8 HP.  The gate had 10 or 12 if I remember right.

 

It's actually an interesting scenario in the book though.  Everything (Overseers, Aquans, and Directorate) basically start near one edge, and the Aquans and Directorate are trying to flee off the opposite board edge and gain battle log for doing so (and lose battle log for each ship that gets sucked into the gate, as well as the normal battle log for shooting up the other force).  Technically both sides can also gain BL for either doing HP damage (Aquans) or capturing (Directorate) the gate, but both tasks are insanely hard (as you can tell from the defenses).  Not to mention that to shoot or board you have to be pointing your ships toward the gate (or at least not away from the gate in terms of P/S arcs, which is what you need to be doing to escape) meaning every attempt to hurt/capture means you not only aren't maximizing your escape possibilities, but you're staying closer to the gate and thus are in more danger of getting sucked in.

[Captain Frederic]

I think it's more likely we could see an Overseer box like the objective marker box containing a few Overseer Models and a small booklet of scenarios or possibly even a campaign utilizing those models. The campaign could even be a solo campaign with the Overseer models all following conditional instructions.

It would be a way for Spartan to keep an FSA torch burning among players who are sparse on competitors.