Archer

[Club]

I'm looking through the designs. While I don't always agree with the choices the designers made, I can figure out where they were coming from, with one exception. Said exception is the Terran's Archer.

 

2 medium PBG. Decent infighting weapon, nothing to write home about

2 light R5. Token long range fire. What a waste of peircing

Active Phased Array 2. Takes down ECM or boosts your buddy's shooting. but no other support electronics

Various other survival-orientated SAs

slow speed, but armored just below the top tier.

 

What is it supposed to be? It's as tough or tougher than any other Cav in the game, but under-armed, and doesn't really have electronics for a dedicated secondary role.

 

FIST? Put an officer in?

[Gromik]

Possibly the tough bodyguard for a fire support squad? (5th model and the one that can have a non-fire support task)

 

Anything that comes in close under the range of rockets and guided missiles faces overdriven PBGs.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Gromik

[Club]

If that's the case, why did they build it so tough? And without EST or FCS to support the squad. If it is meant to counter an enemy's jamming units, why doesn't it have a WSO for the bonus? if it's meant to fight at close range, why doesn't it have targeting computer or more weaponry?

 

To me, the thing looks like a jack of several trades, competent at none.

[Jeneki]

ECM and Active Phase Array are annoying, rank 2 versions especially so with their giant five foot circle of annoyance covering most of the table. The difference between 0 damage and 1 damage is often only one point on the die, so neither one of these abilities should be ignored.

 

You can try jamming an Active Phase Array. This is not guaranteed and if the roll fails wastes a valuable ECM action. Honestly I'd rather use that action to turn off target locks than take my chances jamming, unless I've got a large number of spare ECM units sitting in reserve.

 

Because of all this, many players will make killing your electronics warfare units a priority. And since electronics warfare units are a high-priority targets, most owners won't leave them out in the open to get shot up; they'll find some terrain and deny the enemy easy direct-fire access. To weed out these units hidden behind terrain, many players will use scouts or indirect fire or whatever.

 

The Archer has 8 armor and 9 damage tracks though, so casual elimination attempts are not likely to succeed. To eliminate an Archer in defensive terrain takes a real, concentrated effort which forces your opponent to dedicate more resources. I also would not discount piercing particle bolt guns on a unit that forces opponents to come to them.

 

I would say the Terran faction abilities, Thunderbirds, and Archers all fit nicely into a larger overall strategy: using terrain to control where and when the fighting takes place, and forcing your opponent to come to you.

Edited August 29, 2016 by Jeneki

[CAVBOSS]

Something to remember as well (which will make more sense after the release of the new JoR with background info on each model) is I don't try to make every model an optimum design. I want models with "warts" too so you can work through their problems during game play. 

[Savage Coyote]

Archer is a #1 priority, must die on sight unit for me.  Active Phased Array 2 is a nasty game changer.  I played with an Archer in a force for half of a game at CAVCon before reading what it did.  After that turn when my side started using it, we annihilated the other guys.  That +2 was such a boost to the firepower of the Terrans it wasn't even funny.  I see this guy against me?  I'm calling in an orbital strike.

[Vytau]

The Archer, to me, reads like a burrowed-in tick, or maybe an infection:  it gets under the skin, you absolutely have to get rid of it, but you're likely to tear yourself up in the process.  It's a nuisance and it is a tough nuisance at that.  You have to go in and kill it because it's providing way too much advantage to the units that you actually want to be going in and killing, and all the while it's just camped out in some heavy woods giving away your position, ruining your own electronics, and just generally shifting the odds against you.  

 

Then when you do try to take it out, it doesn't even have the courtesy to be fragile, like a Panther or Kahn - nope, it's rude enough to shoot back with upgraded PBGs, and then when you do finally bring firepower to bear, it can't even just fall down and die properly: it's got to be tough to crack AND repair itself every time you scratch its paint.  

[Club]

Wait a minute, I've been reading APA as"provides a bonus to any single friendly faction model if..."

 

Should I be reading it as "provides a bonus to any and all friendly faction model if..."

 

Because if that's how APA is supposed to work, the Archer suddenly makes a lot more sense to me. Except for the paired piercing light R5, anyway

[CAVBOSS]

Per the description on p 119:

 

"1. Provide a (+1) for each rating level to any friendly model's primary combat or strike-point roll if the targeted enemy model is currently located withion its area of effect."

 

The Archer is designed to be the step-child of a Terran Fire Support Squad helping with targeting. The paired R5s come from the legacy design of the model from CAV2 as we tried to stay true to the design within the confines of the new CAV:SO construction system. Since it had a "free" matched pair of weapons to use I went with a paired R5 rather than a single R10. This lets you salvo fire them for a +1 to add to the combat roll. The rockets are "more" powerful on the original design so thats why the pentrating was added giving it the RAV of 3 vs hard like a R10. THis way the archer can throw in some support to other models in the fire squad and can damage most middle of the row models with a decent roll. THe PBGs allow it to stand a chance of killing little fast stuff that comes in to pick on the fire support guys.

[Club]

I'm still not clear on whether APA is supposed to affect A) strictly a single model or  b) potentially your entire army. I have a physical copy of the book and know the wording already; I need a confirmation of which of my interpretations is correct, not a verbatim copy of the rules.

 

Awesome speed on the reply though.

Edited August 30, 2016 by Club

[CAVBOSS]

Your entire force group benefits from its activation as long as the ENEMY model is within the Archers APA range and it is currently active.

[Club]

Yep, Archer now makes sense to me.

[Savage Coyote]

Like I said... must die!