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ziggurattt wrote:
Everything sounds awesome, I'm really looking forward to backing this on Kickstarter.

However, there is one thing that is really bothering me:

"cybel"

How is this pronounced?

Thanks!

I think it is pronounced "sigh - bell", correct me if I'm wrong any of you fiction writers

Spammy joke pictures about pronouncing cybel is exactly the kind of thing that leads to complaints about "over moderation"...

 RiTides wrote:

ziggurattt wrote:
Everything sounds awesome, I'm really looking forward to backing this on Kickstarter.

However, there is one thing that is really bothering me:

"cybel"

How is this pronounced?

Thanks!

I think it is pronounced "sigh - bell", correct me if I'm wrong any of you fiction writers

Isn't is 'Sybil'?

Perhaps it is:

"cyb" like cyber
"el" like electronic

Which would be "sigh - bell".

?

Que?

Movink onnnnn.

The two novels that have been released to date, are those Kindle only or can these also be read with an iPad?

BrookM, I use a kindle app on my iphone for things like that... best of both worlds!

Edit: Muwaha, ninja'ed lego

You can install the kindle app on ipad and read them that way (and then on your phone as well).

I have a Blackberry, so phonewise I'm still in the dark ages.

I've probably missed it, but when the rules are going out digitally, will these be in .pdf format as well and not exclusive to certain devices and / or services?

The karist models are amazing.

The art is profesional looking and well done.

The "colonial marine" faction look a ittle "stiff" and all seem to have the same pose/rifle position in the eary pics. Hopefully you have a little more wiggle room to create varied poses/rifle angles than the pics hint at?

 d-usa wrote:
Spammy joke pictures about pronouncing cybel is exactly the kind of thing that leads to complaints about "over moderation"...

Tell that to Raging Heroes or Mantic.

It was a constructive answer with a joke embedded, not spam.

We've seen the sprues, and it looks like there will be some room to reposition limbs and heads to reduce stiffness.

 CT GAMER wrote:

The "colonial marine" faction look a ittle "stiff" and all seem to have the same pose/rifle position in the eary pics. Hopefully you have a little more wiggle room to create varied poses/rifle angles than the pics hint at?

The Epirians contractors look like an overengineered version of



(Robogear by Tehnolog).

Seriously, though, I _love love love_ generic future sci fi infantry. My favorites on the market are Urban War/Metropolis Viridian Colonial Marines, Copplestone Future Wars military dudes, Mantic Enforcer plastics. Just, the top tier of generic sci fi models. Which is why I own scads and scads of them. And about five each of every vehicle Antenociti's Workshop has made, to go with them all, plus tons of 1/48 ultramodern armor. So I'm always looking to get more for various factions for generic sci fi wargaming.

Now...the Epirian contractors...


The kneepads were designed by someone who has no idea how kneepads work. They will slip off the moment the dude takes a step.
The shoulder armor is held on by wishes.
The rifle is somehow even brickier than a Bolter and must weigh about 40 pounds.
There is no abdominal armor despite that being the most vital part of armor (and the reason that modern military has abdominal armor). (and medieval militaries) (seriously no one likes getting shot or stabbed in the gut) (why the shoulder pad fetish?)
The assless chaps. Seriously. Do they have a butt flap as well? Do they eat a lot of Activia yogurt?
THE HEAD SIZE. Their heads appear to be larger than the armored versions of the other two models. and their arms are huge. Like also they appear to be thicker than the dudes in powered armor. (wait, I got it... do the powered armor dudes FIT INSIDE the Epirian skin-suits?)
Actually, these guys look like someone gave hydrocephalic Hobbits some Nerf guns that were spray painted black.
This is a great example of the George Lucas effect - only a few people saying "YES!" and not enough critical eyes saying "NO" before going into production. This is why there is a need for Professional Naysayers that someone can hire, who is not close to the project, and say "this is a terrible design." Oh, man, I wish GW and Mantic would hire one of those.

However,
the Karist trooper

Is a valiant effort by someone to remember what their Warzone Bauhaus faction looked like back in 1998 and recalling the most prominent design queues. A solid model for those who enjoy the 40k/Warmachine shoulder pauldron fetish. Nothing remarkable other than the blatant design influence, but, a solid effort.

The best, of course, is
the Karist Tempest

Now, despite the physically impossible broken wrist design, this model is oozing with great design sensibilities. Segmented armor plates, some sort of jetpack or venting system, enhanced calf/heel thing (sorely lacking on many heavy armor models), just looks great.
This is the model I'm most excited about and will probably buy a ton of and make them Spetsnaz for my future-Russians (who currently consists of two platoons of motorized rifle infantry - Pig Iron Assault Troopers mounted in modified BTR's and supported by four T-80's and T-90's)

Looking forward to seeing what's coming next!

Glad to see you like the Karist troopers/tempests, judgedoug! I am very partial to them, too, although I think it will be possible to field a very robot-heavy Epirian force if you're not a fan of the look of the contractors. I know that's what I'm hoping to do

Roll on Salute, and the accompanying reveals!

(Just a week to go, right?)

 judgedoug wrote:

 CT GAMER wrote:

The "colonial marine" faction look a ittle "stiff" and all seem to have the same pose/rifle position in the eary pics. Hopefully you have a little more wiggle room to create varied poses/rifle angles than the pics hint at?

The Epirians contractors look like an overengineered version of

Spoiler:

(Robogear by Tehnolog).

Seriously, though, I _love love love_ generic future sci fi infantry. My favorites on the market are Urban War/Metropolis Viridian Colonial Marines, Copplestone Future Wars military dudes, Mantic Enforcer plastics. Just, the top tier of generic sci fi models. Which is why I own scads and scads of them. And about five each of every vehicle Antenociti's Workshop has made, to go with them all, plus tons of 1/48 ultramodern armor. So I'm always looking to get more for various factions for generic sci fi wargaming.

Now...the Epirian contractors...

Spoiler:

The kneepads were designed by someone who has no idea how kneepads work. They will slip off the moment the dude takes a step.
The shoulder armor is held on by wishes.
The rifle is somehow even brickier than a Bolter and must weigh about 40 pounds.
There is no abdominal armor despite that being the most vital part of armor (and the reason that modern military has abdominal armor). (and medieval militaries) (seriously no one likes getting shot or stabbed in the gut) (why the shoulder pad fetish?)
The assless chaps. Seriously. Do they have a butt flap as well? Do they eat a lot of Activia yogurt?
THE HEAD SIZE. Their heads appear to be larger than the armored versions of the other two models. and their arms are huge. Like also they appear to be thicker than the dudes in powered armor. (wait, I got it... do the powered armor dudes FIT INSIDE the Epirian skin-suits?)
Actually, these guys look like someone gave hydrocephalic Hobbits some Nerf guns that were spray painted black.
This is a great example of the George Lucas effect - only a few people saying "YES!" and not enough critical eyes saying "NO" before going into production. This is why there is a need for Professional Naysayers that someone can hire, who is not close to the project, and say "this is a terrible design." Oh, man, I wish GW and Mantic would hire one of those.

However,
the Karist trooper

Spoiler:

Is a valiant effort by someone to remember what their Warzone Bauhaus faction looked like back in 1998 and recalling the most prominent design queues. A solid model for those who enjoy the 40k/Warmachine shoulder pauldron fetish. Nothing remarkable other than the blatant design influence, but, a solid effort.

The best, of course, is
the Karist Tempest

Spoiler:

Now, despite the physically impossible broken wrist design, this model is oozing with great design sensibilities. Segmented armor plates, some sort of jetpack or venting system, enhanced calf/heel thing (sorely lacking on many heavy armor models), just looks great.
This is the model I'm most excited about and will probably buy a ton of and make them Spetsnaz for my future-Russians (who currently consists of two platoons of motorized rifle infantry - Pig Iron Assault Troopers mounted in modified BTR's and supported by four T-80's and T-90's)

Looking forward to seeing what's coming next!

See, for me these models don't look bad by any means, but the design points like the segmented armour plates is too generic. Much like the other popular model sci-fi model producers that aren't GW, they aren't bad, but don't seem to stand out from the crowd either. This I think is because each tends to borrow the same nice design ideas which, over time, have become overused. Best I think would be to work out what designs of armour haven't been picked as the emphasis point in other mainstream models (i.e. shoulder pads have been- did GW popularise this?). Overall, nothing to really complain about, but nor anything which jumps out as unique or having that 'wow factor'. However- the one thing which I'm not a fan of is the gun design- with the three slits on the sides and blocky design, I honestly thought they were actual Tau guns for a second.

I guess what I'm saying is- what can the model designers do to make their models distinctive for this game? I like to look at a model and instantly recognise it as belonging to the design aesthetic of a company. I can do that with GW, and with Privateer Press, for example. (for example, compare the Karist Tempest to Mantic's Enforcers for what I mean about lack of distinctiveness).

As for rules- absolutely great that the intentions seems to be take all the best bits of other game systems. I hope that with the experience in the development team Maelstrom's Edge should shape up to have a cracking rule set.

Thanks for all the feedback, guys. Sorry there are elements of the models you're not crazy about, but it is good to hear that there are some things you do like about them.

What I will say is that, while these models do in many ways represent the 'core' of each faction, that kind of by necessity means they're also the least exciting (compartiively speaking). So when we finally are able to show you the rest of what we have planned, I think putting them together as a whole range will give you a clear picture about the design aesthetics of each faction, and you may (hopefully) even find yourself forgetting/forgiving some of the elements that are bothering you now when you see thaf full picture.

For example, some people don't care for the blocky/angular feel of the Contractor's shoulder pads. But I personally feel that when you see them arrayed on the table with all the drones (which are also naturally angular), those shoulder pads actually help to connect them to the force as a cohesive aesthetic. Of cousre, personal taste varies, so it may not work that way for you, but there is very much a design aesthetic for each faction that is distinct and will become more apparent the more models for each of the factions we produce.

 yakface wrote:

Thanks for all the feedback, guys. Sorry there are elements of the models you're not crazy about, but it is good to hear that there are some things you do like about them.

What I will say is that, while these models do in many ways represent the 'core' of each faction, that kind of by necessity means they're also the least exciting (compartiively speaking). So when we finally are able to show you the rest of what we have planned, I think putting them together as a whole range will give you a clear picture about the design aesthetics of each faction, and you may (hopefully) even find yourself forgetting/forgiving some of the elements that are bothering you now when you see thaf full picture.

For example, some people don't care for the blocky/angular feel of the Contractor's shoulder pads. But I personally feel that when you see them arrayed on the table with all the drones (which are also naturally angular), those shoulder pads actually help to connect them to the force as a cohesive aesthetic. Of cousre, personal taste varies, so it may not work that way for you, but there is very much a design aesthetic for each faction that is distinct and will become more apparent the more models for each of the factions we produce.

Awesome. If the game is good, I can handle "not my favorite" models versus the other way around. I do look forward to the other items. And I notice that usually any games first run of models are not the same quality as someone else's 10+ year release. A lot of the other companies had way uglier models and in metal. I'd buy these guys any day over Nyss Hunters (not a dig on your stuff), but I did buy Nyss Hunters because they are a great unit.

For game first folks, just concerned that the pieces are functional.

Wow, this is a very exciting bit of news. Really impressed that the team has been able to reveal a fully formed project rather than something that might happen in a few years.

I look forward to seeing more different models, mainly the character minis and 'heavy' stuff.

One minor concern is with the setting, from what i've read in the quick synopsis there's a rather large plot hole i can see.

The idea of the expanding Malestrom consuming the galaxy from the inside is an evocative one but also highly problematic from a physics standpoint, especially in this 'Edge' region. If the Maelstrom expands outward at a sublight speed slow enough to be appreciable at an interplanetary level this phenomenom would be trivial (at least to mortal, darwinian creatures), taking millions of years to even move between two proximal stars (for example the 4.2 light years between Sol and it's closest neighbour).

Congrats to the Dakka team, looks like a lot of hard work went into this.

I've never played Full Spectrum Warrior but it sounds like it has similar mechanics to the Brother's in Arms series which would make a good table top game.

 Perkustin wrote:
If the Maelstrom expands outward at a sublight speed slow enough to be appreciable at an interplanetary level this phenomenom would be trivial (at least to mortal, darwinian creatures), taking millions of years to even move between two proximal stars (for example the 4.2 light years between Sol and it's closest neighbour).

It's sped up by expanding through the cybel network.

Here are some scale comparison pictures. The first image is Dreamforge Eisenkern, Maelstrom's Edge Epirian Contractor, 40k Imperial Guard, Zombicide survivor, 40k Space Marine, Maelstrom's Edge Karist Tempest, Lego construction worker, Karist Trooper, Mantic Deadzone Orx.









What image do you think would be most appropriate to display on the main kickstarter page as a scale reference?

The one with the Lego guy

The colour scheme of the red Karist Tempest works very well. There's something to be said too for the idea of 'basic' infantry being deliberately less exciting than the more specialised units. If your line troopers look as fancy as the elite stuff, then the elites begin to look that little less special.

Awesome, this is exactly what I wanted to see- a nice scale shot of the minis!

I do have to say that, although I agree with some of the complaints leveled against the Epicurians, I find that they fit in well opposed to the Karists. They seem to be everything the Karists aren't in terms of models. I'm also very excited to see how they stand next to the robots- THAT I think its going to have the biggest effect on the opinions of that faction.

They look much better in those shots, IMO.

 Perkustin wrote:
Wow, this is a very exciting bit of news. Really impressed that the team has been able to reveal a fully formed project rather than something that might happen in a few years.

I look forward to seeing more different models, mainly the character minis and 'heavy' stuff.

One minor concern is with the setting, from what i've read in the quick synopsis there's a rather large plot hole i can see.

The idea of the expanding Malestrom consuming the galaxy from the inside is an evocative one but also highly problematic from a physics standpoint, especially in this 'Edge' region. If the Maelstrom expands outward at a sublight speed slow enough to be appreciable at an interplanetary level this phenomenom would be trivial (at least to mortal, darwinian creatures), taking millions of years to even move between two proximal stars (for example the 4.2 light years between Sol and it's closest neighbour).

Yep, trust me, we got that covered! Some of the people on our team are smart people with big degrees in smart science-type stuff (not me, if you can't tell), and there is totally a logical scientific explanation for it all (as insaniak has already hinted at).

They'll be posting an article soon with some more details about how the Maelstrom functions for people to sink their teeth into.

 yakface wrote:

Thanks for all the feedback, guys. Sorry there are elements of the models you're not crazy about, but it is good to hear that there are some things you do like about them.

What I will say is that, while these models do in many ways represent the 'core' of each faction, that kind of by necessity means they're also the least exciting (compartiively speaking). So when we finally are able to show you the rest of what we have planned, I think putting them together as a whole range will give you a clear picture about the design aesthetics of each faction, and you may (hopefully) even find yourself forgetting/forgiving some of the elements that are bothering you now when you see thaf full picture.

For example, some people don't care for the blocky/angular feel of the Contractor's shoulder pads. But I personally feel that when you see them arrayed on the table with all the drones (which are also naturally angular), those shoulder pads actually help to connect them to the force as a cohesive aesthetic. Of cousre, personal taste varies, so it may not work that way for you, but there is very much a design aesthetic for each faction that is distinct and will become more apparent the more models for each of the factions we produce.

No, I think it's fair to judge the entirety of a line off of one model.

I can't wait to see the kickstarter!

The red Tempest guy looks all kinds of cool.

 KamikazeCanuck wrote:
The one with the Lego guy

Man, that Lego faction is completely overpowered!!

Yay, humans more in proportion! Chaps may take longer to get used too. I guess the concept is a hevey over layer? Ballistic cloth? But then it does not guard the crown jewels though

Is it me or do yours make the guardsman look like he ate all the rations?

Very nice models, you just answered a potential question.

I think the MEdge stuff will blend in well enough with my Mantic and Infinity armies. They're a bit more heroic, but not as much as the cadian.

Keep the contractor next to the cadian, I think he compares favorably and they're relatively analogous.

I think seeing your models next to the regular old GW models many of us are used to seeing really puts the level of detail there into perspective. Although, I also assume you can't use those pictures on your kickstarter page at all. Regardless, I think the mini's look good.

Honestly, I don't mind the chaps or the shoulder pads on the Epirians at all. My assumption is that, if you're a contractor rather than regular military, you don't get issued uniforms that are fitted to you in any way. You're getting the one size fits all ill fitting piece of crap created by the lowest bidding manufacturer that you get to throw on over your work clothes. And that aesthetic is preety much exactly what those look like, so in my mind, they look like what I expect. Same thought process that was used to show the 80's style manual technology in the spaceships in the Alien film honestly. A mining ship wouldn't look like a state of the art overwhelmingly expensive luxury ship built to shuttle a future corporation CEO around. I also think those shoulders are really no bigger than what my old football pads used to look like, even if the arms are proportionally large as well. Heck, I wish my arms actually were that big.

I think the Karist look great period though. I just really like them and I also wondered if you could tell us anything about their paint schemes. I mean will they all generally use the same schemes across the whole army, or would they likely have any differently painted factions, maybe indicative of a specific leader or loyalty within the overall command structure?

Will there be any contractors designed with different body types at some point? I ask only because as non-professional military units, I could easily see using one with a body that was really skinny, or a dude that was somewhat overweight as well. That might be a fun project to add in using greenstuff. I'm very okay with having some variety in that unit versus the more professional military fighting units they'll be seen next too.