Esmer wrote:
Am I reading things correctly, Crisis suits can take 3 weapons + 1 gimmick now? And the invln shield costs a meagre 5 points? Isn't that a bit of a no brainer?

The durability of crisis suits is crazy. Why pay 5 points for a 4++ when you can pay 12 for a shield drone with 2 wounds that can soak up the wounds? 60 points for an extra 10 wounds with a 4++ is pretty good.

 Esmer wrote:
Am I reading things correctly, Crisis suits can take 3 weapons + 1 gimmick now? And the invln shield costs a meagre 5 points? Isn't that a bit of a no brainer?

There are strong arguments for the Early Warning Override and Counterfire Defense Systems splashed into squads. Those I think will be the primary competition for Generators unless you have a specific plan for the unit. The others are strong, but significantly more situational and will come down to local meta as to whether they see play or not.

Shields aren't auto-takes. They're good, but there are absolutely reasons to use the others.

My issue is with them having access to 3 weapons + 1 support system all the time. Until now, you had the honest dilemma of either picking 3 weapons or 2 weapons + 1 support system, with both routes having pros and cons. The new load-out is obviously better for Tau players but also requires less thinking.
Also, if I am not mistaken, this is the first time where normal, non-Commander suits can equip all 4 slots. Only Commanders used to be able to do that.

 Esmer wrote:
The new load-out is obviously better for Tau players but also requires less thinking.

Hard disagree. The only question in 8th was "Do I go triple weapon or double weapon + ATS?" because the ATS was the objectively correct choice 9 times in 10. You occasionally saw a shield, or a Velocity Tracker on a Riptide, but none of the other systems ever saw play.

In 9th, the compounding weapon points costs and dedicated support slot open up significantly more diverse build options.

Agreed. I'm going to have to actually think about Crisis loadouts and I'll probably end up doing more varied loadouts in order to address a wider range of threats as opposed to my previous methodology of highly specializing my crisis suits into basically 2 different roles.

chaos0xomega wrote:
Agreed. I'm going to have to actually think about Crisis loadouts and I'll probably end up doing more varied loadouts in order to address a wider range of threats as opposed to my previous methodology of highly specializing my crisis suits into basically 2 different roles.

I think suits are still going to be equipped for certain roles, it is just that the efficient load outs for those roles will be a mixture of guns rather than doubling or tripling up on one gun. This is for the simple reason that it allows you to put suits in positions you need them without sacrificing their efficiency. Need to kill that horde of ork boys coming down the right flank? Drop in the horde killing team. Need to take out those buggies on the left flank? Drop in the vehicle killers.

If you have suits with a loadout designed to take out multiple targets then you can be in a situation where they lack the necessary firepower to take out a particular target you want them to, or don't have a good target in range for one of their guns. Sure a fusion blaster will kill an ork boy, but it's hardly an ideal target. Trying to be too generalist can mean that you aren't able to efficiently achieve anything.

 CKO wrote:

 Esmer wrote:
Am I reading things correctly, Crisis suits can take 3 weapons + 1 gimmick now? And the invln shield costs a meagre 5 points? Isn't that a bit of a no brainer?

The durability of crisis suits is crazy. Why pay 5 points for a 4++ when you can pay 12 for a shield drone with 2 wounds that can soak up the wounds? 60 points for an extra 10 wounds with a 4++ is pretty good.

Drones do make you a lot more susceptible to blast weapons. Not really a big deal when youre getting targeted by flamers, but it can be if youre getting targeted by something like a Demolisher Tank Commander or a Full payload manticore. Not the end of the world, bit there are downsides.

Also the drones can be chipped to death much more easily by small arms for example. Yes you need to wound on the battlesuits toughness but for a weapon like a lasgun, the drones 4+ doesnt matter. You can try and tank the small arms on a suit, but then you risk taking a wound and having to continue saving on the suit till it dies.

Thats part of what makes Bork'an so rough. A lot of the weapons you want to target a crisis suit team with to chip drones lose a lot of effectiveness with that trait. Lasguns are doing half as many wounds as before, boltguns are losing a third their effectiveness, etc.

 A Town Called Malus wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Agreed. I'm going to have to actually think about Crisis loadouts and I'll probably end up doing more varied loadouts in order to address a wider range of threats as opposed to my previous methodology of highly specializing my crisis suits into basically 2 different roles.

I think suits are still going to be equipped for certain roles, it is just that the efficient load outs for those roles will be a mixture of guns rather than doubling or tripling up on one gun. This is for the simple reason that it allows you to put suits in positions you need them without sacrificing their efficiency. Need to kill that horde of ork boys coming down the right flank? Drop in the horde killing team. Need to take out those buggies on the left flank? Drop in the vehicle killers.

If you have suits with a loadout designed to take out multiple targets then you can be in a situation where they lack the necessary firepower to take out a particular target you want them to, or don't have a good target in range for one of their guns. Sure a fusion blaster will kill an ork boy, but it's hardly an ideal target. Trying to be too generalist can mean that you aren't able to efficiently achieve anything.

I think the variation in weapon stats now means that any suit with 3 different weapons is going to be much more of a generalist than a specialist.